exd5!

12.09.2009
– ... with a round to go! Levon Aronian defeated Alexei Shirov to take an unassailable lead of twelve Bilbao points. This means that the Armenian GM, currently number three in the world, is already [...]

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11.09.2009
– In continuation of our Paris
Championship report we follow the successful chess career of a young Indian
grandmaster. Parimarjan Negi participated at his first tournament when he was
four, and became [...]

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09.09.2009
– On August 28 Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang blasted off into space, on the 128th mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program. He conducted a seven-hour space walk at the International Space Station, and also continued his chess game against the readers of a Swedish newspaper. Both the astronaut, who has a tough position, and his opponents have lovely prizes waiting for them.

Swedish Astronaut to play Chess from Space

The leading Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter is covering a chess game between
the astronaut Christer Fuglesang, who is orbiting Earth in the International
Space Station, and the Swedish public. Fuglesang was transported to the ISS
by the space shuttle Discovery, which blazed into orbit on August 28 with seven
astronauts on board (see images below).

Dagens Nyheter is covering the game "move by move" in the printed
version of the newspaper. Chess moderators pick out three different moves that
the public, playing black, are able to choose from by voting online. The move
that gets the most votes is sent out to space. Anyone can join in, and there
are some interesting prizes to win, as the newspaper reports:

A unique prize awaits Christer Fuglesang and one lucky reader when
the chess game is over. Five World Chess Champions have signed two chess games
on Dagens Nyheter's behalf.

Garri Kasparov, Anatoli Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Spasskij and Viswanathan
Anand, all World Champions, and the latter, Anand, in fact the reigning one.
They became so interested when they heard about DN.se's chess game, with Christer
Fuglesang playing from space against the newspaper's readers, they agreed to
jointly sign two software chess game as prizes – one for Christer and
one for the readers who will be raffled in a dedicated chess quiz launched shortly
here on DN.se.

That so many chess greats were all gathered together at one time is extremely
rare, and happened
recently when the world's oldest chess club celebrated its anniversary in
Zurich. "It's like a conjunction of planets that occurs only once every
hundred years," says Frederic Friedel of the German company ChessBase,
who attended the meeting in Zurich and made sure that the autographs were collected.
He also says that the reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand and other grandmasters
have agreed to help Christer Fuglesang if he gets into trouble during his game.

"It is unique that all these World Champions come together simultaneously,
and it is unique to have these autographs in the same place," says Robert
Unt from the Swedish Chess Academy, the association who were the driving force
behind space game, the idea for which originated with Christer Fuglesang himself,
who is also a member of the Chess Academy.

• Original
  Dagens Nyheter article (in Swedish)

In the meantime Christer Fuglesang appears to be in a spot of trouble in his
chess game against the Dagens Nyheter readers.

Fuglesang,Christer - Dagens Nyheter readers [D23]
ISS-Sweden Zurich, 20.08.2009
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Bxc4 e6 6.h3 Bh5 7.0-0 Be7 8.Nc3 0-0
9.g4 Bg6 10.Ne5 Nbd7 11.Nxg6 fxg6 12.Bxe6+ Kh8 13.f3 Nb6 14.Qb3 c6 15.Ne2 Nfd5
16.e4 Nc7 17.Be3 Nxe6 18.Qxe6 Bd6 19.Qb3 Qe7 20.Qd3 Rae8 21.Nc3 Qh4 22.Qe2 Nc4
23.Bf2 Qxh3 24.Be1 Ne3 25.Rf2 Qg3+ 26.Rg2 Qxf3 27.Qxf3 Rxf3 28.e5

Black (the readers) is a pawn up and has brought tremendous pressure to bear
on White's king. With his last move the astronaut has set a little trap: capturing
the rook on g2 with the knight would lead to a recapture by the king and a double
attack on the black rook and bishop. So the latter must retreat, but where should
it go? [Click to replay]

• You
  can follow the game (and in fact participate) here (Swedish)

128th NASA Space Shuttle mission

The midnight launch of NASA's space shuttle Discovery at 11:59 p.m. EDT on
Friday, August 28, 2009, was one of the most spectacular in recent memory. It
is well documented by photos provided by the Space Agency.

Rollout of space shuttle Discovery was slow-going due to the onset of lightning
in the area of Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo
Courtesy of Justin Dernier/EPA

Billows of smoke and steam rise above Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center in Florida alongside space shuttle Discovery as it races toward space
on the STS-128 mission. The STS-128 mission is the 30th International Space
Station assembly flight and the 128th space shuttle flight. The 13-day mission
will deliver more than seven tons of supplies, science racks and equipment,
as well as additional environmental hardware to sustain six crew members on
the International Space Station. The equipment includes a freezer to store research
samples, a new sleeping compartment and the COLBERT treadmill. Image: NASA/Sandra
Joseph and Kevin O'Connell.

Viewed from the Banana River Viewing Site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, space shuttle Discovery arcs through a cloud-brushed sky, lighted by
the trail of fire after launch on the STS-128 mission. Liftoff from Launch Pad
39A was on time at 11:59 p.m. EDT. The first launch attempt on Aug. 24 was postponed
due to unfavorable weather conditions. The second attempt on Aug. 25 also was
postponed due to an issue with a valve in space shuttle Discovery's main propulsion
system. Image: NASA/Ben Cooper.

Endeavour performs a backflip, officially known as the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver,
shortly before docking with the International Space Station. The backflip allows
astronauts on the station to photograph the orbiter's underside, one of several
procedures designed to inspect the shuttle's heat shield. Photo NASA.

European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang is visible in the reflection
of NASA astronaut Danny Olivas's helmet visor during this, the STS-128 mission's
third and final spacewalk. Olivas and Fuglesang deployed the Payload Attachment
System, replaced the Rate Gyro Assembly #2, installed two GPS antennae and worked
to prepare for the installation of Node 3 next year. Image NASA.

Before boarding a space shuttle to leave the International Space Station Christer
Fuglesang showed how "sweet" a space mission can be. During a special
video downlink held with Swedish officials and celebrities early Monday morning,
Fuglesang and fellow European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne from Belgium
let loose several small space shuttle shaped candies, before catching them with
their mouths, Pac-Man style.

Return to Earth

Space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew are expected to return to
Earth Thursday. Two landing opportunities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida are available at 7:05 p.m. and 8:42 p.m. EDT. NASA will evaluate weather
conditions at Kennedy before permitting Discovery and its crew to land. If bad
weather prevents a return on Thursday, both Kennedy and the backup landing site
at Edwards Air Force Base in California will be activated for consideration
on Friday.

Christer Fuglesang, ESA Astronaut

ESA Astronaut Christer Fuglesang [Image NASA]

Born March 18, 1957 in Stockholm, Sweden. Graduated from Bromma Gymnasium,
Stockholm, Sweden, in 1975; received a master of science degree in Engineering
Physics from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, in
1981; received a doctorate in Experimental Particle Physics from the University
of Stockholm in 1987. He became a Docent in Particle Physics at the University
of Stockholm in 1991. Honorary Doctorate from Umeå University, Sweden
(1999). Honorary Doctorate from the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia (2007).
NASA Space Flight Medal (2007). H.M. The King’s Medal (Stockholm, 2007).
Married to Elisabeth Walldie, three children. He enjoys sports, sailing, skiing,
frisbee, games and reading.

As a graduate student, Fuglesang worked at CERN (European Research Center on
Particle Physics) in Geneva on the UA5 experiment, which studied proton-antiproton
collisions. In 1988 he became a Fellow of CERN, where he worked on the CPLEAR
experiment studying the subtle CP-violation of Kaon-particles. After a year
he became a Senior Fellow and head of the particle identification subdetector.
In November 1990, Fuglesang obtained a position at the Manne Siegbahn Institute
of Physics, Stockholm, but remained stationed at CERN for another year working
towards the new large hadron collider project. Since 1980, when stationed in
Sweden, Fuglesang taught mathematics at the Royal Institute of Technology.

Fuglesang during an EVA (extra-vehicular activity) – Image NASA

Christer Fuglesang entered the Mission Specialist Class at NASA Johnson Space
Center, Houston, in August 1996, and qualified for flight assignment as a mission
specialist in April 1998. From May to October 1998, he resumed training at TsPK
on Soyuz-TM spacecraft operations for de-docking, atmospheric re-entry and landing.
He was awarded the Russian 'Soyuz Return Commander' certificate, which qualifies
him to command a three-person Soyuz capsule on its return from space.

Christer is a member of ESA’s European Astronaut Corps, whose home base
is the European Astronaut Center located in Cologne, Germany. He was assigned
collateral duties in the NASA-JSC Astronaut Office and was assigned to the ISS
Payload Branch. He has logged over 308 hours in space, including three EVAs
(spacewalks) totalling 18 hours and 14 minutes.

Previous ChessBase reports

Chessbase.com

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07.09.2009
– It was the best-kept secret of the year: Magnus Carlsen, at 18 already the fourth highest ranked player in the world, has won the legendary Garry Kasparov, arguably the greatest player in chess history, [...]

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06.09.2009
– At the Kolkata Grandmaster Open one of the top seeds, GM Vladislav Tkachiev, appeared for his round three game in an intoxicated state, fell asleep at the board and was ultimately declared the loser. In our previous report we published a letter from one of the participants criticising the arbiter for waking the grandmaster. Is that a breach of the rules?

Not so, says R. Anantharam.

As we reported,
the 4th Kolkata Grandmaster Open was marred by an incident in round three: one
of the top seeds, Vladislav Tkachiev, who recently won the French Championship,
appeared in an inebriated condition for his game and was unable to complete
it. He was defaulted after fifteen moves of play. One of the participants sent
us an eye-witness account, in which he criticised the arbiter:

The chief arbiter totally mishandled the situation. First of all he should
never have permitted various players to give illegal assistance by trying
to wake Tkachiev up.

Secondly, and even more inexcusably, he had absolutely no right to try and
wake him up himself when the Frenchman was down to his last few minutes. If,
during a normal game, the arbiter were to inform a player game that he is
about to lose on time, he would be guilty of gross professional misconduct.
It is hard to see how the present case differs, in this respect.

The arbiter then compounded this error by seeking the support of members
of the Appeals Committee for his action during the round! The Committee Members
were participants and, rather than be disturbed during their games, were obviously
likely to agree to any course of action suggested by the official whose job
it is to make such decisions. Even so, as one Appeals Committee member later
confided, he would have strongly advised against waking Tkachiev, had he been
informed that he was drunk (rather than merely ill).

In reaction to this the Chief Arbiter of the event, R. Anantharam, has sent us
the following letter:

In your article you mentioned that one of the participants in the tournament
stated that the chief arbiter mishandled the Tkachiev situation. As chief
arbiter, I have to explain the remaining part, which are missing in the version
of the anonymous eye witness.

First of all, there was no illegal assistance to wake up Tkachiev. His opponent,
Praveen Kumar (rating 2354), informed us that he wanted to continue. He said
that he did not want to miss an opportunity to play with such a highly rated
opponent (2669), which he gets rarely and requested me to wake him up. When
the top seed Mamedyarov Shakhriyar, a member of the Appeals Committee, was
taking a stroll in the tournament hall after his move, I informed him the
matter and he volunteered himself to wake him up. This is what happened.

For your reference, I am quoting an answer from Mr. Guert Gijssen, the Chairman
of the Rules and Regulations Committee, FIDE regarding this matter in his
Column "An Arbiter's Notebook" in the February 2000 issue of Chess
Cafe.

Question: Dear Geurt, a situation occurred in a match I
had recently. My opponent fell asleep. I was looking at the position, with
my opponent to move, and suddenly heard him snoring. One of his teammates
poked him, he woke up and continued the game. As a matter of interest (I raised
no complaint during the match): does the waking of a player by a teammate
amount to interference such as when a teammate points out an illegal move
or that a flag has fallen, etc.? I know that I play solid openings, but I
didn't think the position was boring enough for my opponent to fall asleep!
Dave Burtonshaw (London, England)

Answer: Article 13.6 says: "The arbiter shall refrain
from informing a player that his opponent has made a move, or that he has
failed to press the clock." Article 13.7 says: "Spectators and players
in other games are not to speak about or otherwise interfere in a game."
The question is whether waking up a sleeping player is interfering in a game?
I can imagine that some people have this opinion. But I can also imagine that
a snoring player disturbs his opponent. The only way to stop this is to wake
up the player. But to be serious, I believe it is not a problem to wake up
a sleeping player. I, for sure, would never blame someone who woke up a sleeping
player.

I acted only as per the precedence quoted by Mr. Guert Gijssen himself.

In addition I would like to mention that according to Article 13.2 of the
Laws of Chess "The arbiter shall act in the best interest of the competition.
He should ensure that a good playing environment is maintained and that the
players are not disturbed."

Only to ensure a good playing environment, I had to wake him up. The scene
of many players coming to his board and watching him sleeping was a disturbance
to the nearby boards.

Thanks and regards, R. Anantharam, Chief Arbiter - Kolkata Open R. Anantharam is a retired professor of chemistry. He is a member of Swiss pairings Programs Commission, FIDE, and has served as chief arbiter in the World Schools Championship Singapore 2008 the Asian Individual championship 2005 the Asian Junior 2007,2008 and 2009 the Asian Youth 2009 and deputy chief arbiter in World Youth Vietnam 2008 and as Technical Official - World Mind Sports, Beijing 2008

Reader feedback

Jason, Buczyna, Charlottesville, United States
This is certainly not a flattering situation for a very talented grandmaster.
Hopefully he can resurrect his career and image soon, though that is made
all the more difficult by the pictures of him with a cancer stick in his mouth,
making him look even more ridiculous in the background of the incident.

Ching Kim Lye, Malaysia
Oh no! Does anyone have a photo of this drunk chess champ dozing off during
tournament? He needs help!

Daniel Tapia, Bogotá Colombia
While reading the introduction I felt glad that Vladislav was in huge trouble,
but now I am happy if he is OK. I don't understand why he drinks. I am sure
it must be horrible to fight the bottle, but I hope he wins because he is
simply too colorful a person to lose.

Scott Young, Crawfordville
Ya got to love this guy! He is a free spirit! Definitely not your bespectacled
introverted young GM. He is not the first GM to let it all hang out –
remember Tony Miles? However he should search for the meaning of life AFTER
the game, not before!

Michalis Kaloumenos, Kallithea, Greece
If a player falls asleep (no matter why) should there be a doctor to examine
his medical condition.

Kajetan Wandowicz, Wroclaw, Poland
Vladislav Tkachiev arrived totally inebriated for a game in an open in India.
Apparently, he wasn't expelled from the tournament. He didn't even forfeit
the game. He did lose though – on time. Well, that's what happens when
you pass out on the board and can't be woken up while your clock is running.
Hou Yifan was recently defaulted for not actually sitting at the board. Where's
the logic? I do realise those are different events, different organisers,
but some consensus is just screaming to be reached on what is accepted and
what is not. Right now it looks like you could turn up drunk and refuse the
handshake while your manager holds a press conference accusing your opponent
of computer assistance, provided that your drunk, handshake-refusing, accusation-hurling
bottom is actually seated at the table when the round starts.

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