CONTACT INFORMATION

Be Someone, Inc.
Lithonia, Georgia
info@besomeone.org
www.BeSomeone.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 12, 2008

TROUBLED YOUTH RISES FROM DESPERATION TO ACCOLADES

(ATLANTA)- Be Someone founder, Orrin “Checkmate” Hudson was surprised and pleased today to be informed of the upcoming appearance on nationwide television of a former youth in crisis, Robert Curry who he has mentored through the Be Someone program. The segment will air on CBS Early Show this Friday May 16, 2008 and features ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

A former DeKalb county student, Curry who now is a student Georgia Perimeter will be featured on CBS Early Show this Friday May 16, 2008. Debra Curry a single mother of Robert Curry was having trouble with Robert and was at her wits end after trying every agency in metro Atlanta to help her child. Out of desperation, she called a complete stranger at 1:00 AM to ask him if she could fill out a form and be a volunteer to help her son. The form was to be turned in early the next morning to the court. Orrin Hudson, a former state trooper and Air Force veteran, accepted the call and has been mentoring Robert every since.

Hudson uses the game of chess to teach young-people the game of life and he will be teaching chess in New York this Friday on CBS Early Show. His goal is teach 1,000,000 young –adults and to convert cell blocks to class rooms. CBS Early Show check your local listing.

Former State Trooper and United States Air Force veteran, Hudson has used his leadership skills and dedication to community service, combined with his innovative award winning education techniques for the past 7 years to teach at risk kids life mastery skills through the game of chess.

Hudson has mentored over 20,000 kids since the inception of his non-profit crime prevention program, Be Someone, in 2001. Students learn life mastery skills which improve their concentration, increase their grade point average and keep them in school; teach them teamwork and instill dedication to work for the good of their communities, creating leadership and commitment to American values.

Hudson continues to expand his outreach program across the country. “My goal is to mentor one million students, in all 50 states, by 2010. Every child deserves to have the right tools to help them Be Someone special. I need the help of dedicated business people, community leaders and educators to continue this work.”

Hudson will be doing a summer chess camp June 9 -13 , 2008 at Redan Elementary School form 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Investment for this world-class training is 250.00 (early bird before May 21) and 325.00 (after May 21). Special guest at the camp will be 5-time Georgia State Chess champion Stephen Muhammad every camper will received a trophy. Lunch and snacks will be provided.

For more information about Be Someone Summer Chess Camp, call 404.578.5278. For more information on Be Someone please visit www.BeSomeone.org.

The MTel Masters had kicked off! The double round-robin is an attraction for six of the world’s top players. Over the years it has been a venue for Veselin Topalov’s amazing performances. The players participating are: Topalov (Bulgaria), Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Bu Xiangzhi (China), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan).

Official website (English): http://www.mtelmasters.com/en/

Just posted an oldie, but goodie. The game is actually one-sided attack, but show how to conduct an attack against the king. Chicago native Marvin Dandridge is one of the most gifted tacticians I have ever seen. I had the opportunity to train with him and was on the bad side of his sacrifices. In analysis sessions, he was quick with tactical variations. When you played him you could sometimes feel that something bad was about to happen when the position got complicated. As I matured, I was able to do better against this style, but he certainly made a positive impression on me.

Marvin Dandridge and Daaim Shabazz at 1989 U.S. Open

Dandridge was also one of the funniest chess players around. His sense of humour was raucous and sometimes off-color, but he kept things enjoyable around Chicago’s Tuley Park chess club back in the 80s. He was also the best trash-talker and would perform any number of songs, foreign accents and chants during a blitz game and yell “MATE!” when he chalked up another victory. We all loved it! He is now affectionately known in the Chicago area as “Uncle Marv.”

Back in the glory days, Dandridge was a chess terrorizer… a muscular fit of a man and champion wrestler. We both attended the same Chicago Vocational High School (CVS) and played under Tom Fineberg. Dandridge was several years ahead of me, but by the time I met him, his fame had already preceded him. He has a twin brother Martin Dandridge, who was the captain of the football team. Marvin was also on the team, but not as accomplished as his brother. If you asked Marvin what position he played, he’d laugh, “I played the bench.”

I have seen people get angry at Marvin’s barbs, but end up laughing at themselves. I remember Dandridge was in a blitz session with Albert Chow at Jules Stein’s Chess Center on North Halsted. After Dandridge’s antics and a couple of losses, Chow got very, very angry. Chow later chuckled, “I don’t know why I got so mad at Marvin Dandridge.” He also got under the skin of Larry Chachere after humiliating him in blitz games. Chachere, a rising star then, said to Dandridge, “You’re just a bowl of tactics.”

Marvin was never confrontational, but his raucous laughter was infectious. Nowadays, he doesn’t play in weekend tournaments, but had he put time into his game, he could have certainly been stronger than his 2350 maximum rating. Here is one of his bashings against Boris Kreiman, who was then a young star and now a Grandmaster.

If you haven’t been paying attention to coverage here at The Chess Drum, you may have missed these gems. OK… two of the solutions are from the usual suspects, IM Emory Tate and GM Pontus Carlsson. However, two of them are from two teenage girls who showed some creativity at the chess board, Jasmine Fermin and National Girls Champion, Medina Parrilla. Check out the position below…

Fermin - Rao
2008 All-Girls National Championship
White to Move and win!

Here are the other Chess Crackers!

Viswanathan Anand has won his fifth Oscar for the 2007 year after scoring a double crown of the World Champion and the world’s #1-rated player. The personable India Grandmaster will face rival Vladimir Kramnik in the qualifying match for the world title. Gata Kamsky will face Veselin Topalov in the other qualifier.

Any combination will prove to be an exciting matchup and a Kramnik-Topalov will cause the chess world to relive memories of “Toiletgate.” Kramnik-Kamsky will have the least appeal (to the chess world and sponsors) given the throwback to the old Soviet “K vs. K” matches.

Most of the top players were nominated and in the coming years, we will no doubt see some new faces.

Kenyan team to Dresden Olympiad selected
By Lt. Edwin Korir

After 3 gruelling phases to select the Kenyan chess Olympiad team, it was finally chosen last weekend. Peter Gilruth, Ken Omollo, Martin Gateri and Ben Magana make up the team with Ben Nguku as first reserve.

The qualifiers started last December during the national championships where the top 20 finishers advanced to the next phase. Phase two of the qualifiers took place in march and ten players were eliminated with the remaining ten players (Peter Gilruth, Ben Magana, John Mukabi, Martin Gateri, Githinji Hinga, Mehul Gohil, Ken Omollo, Ben Nguku, James Apiri and Nathan Ateka) playing in the last round robin phase.

The final phase took place at the KCB sports club from 1st may to 4th of May 2008. Drama and disappointments were a hallmark of the matches. Peter Gilruth proved once again that he is class above most other players with his convincing win. Ken Omollo rebounded back to the heart of Kenyan chess in a spectacular manner. Martin Gateri proved his critics wrong by once again qualifying for the Olympiad. Ben Nguku struggled in the competition and mehul gohil handed him his place on a silver platter after losing his final game when he had a winning position.

But Mehul Gohil taught us all what it means to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. In more than 3 games Mehul had winning positions but threw them away. This was Mehuls real chance to qualify he was playing exceptional chess but it seems the psychology part of his game still let him down. Nathan Ateka days as a Kenyan chess giant seem to be over his performance in the 90s seem to be his best moments.

But after playing in 6 consecutive Olympiads John Mukabi finally gave in to new blood. Mukabi has been playing chess actively since 1983. He has seen the ups and downs of Kenyan chess. Mukabi stands on per with other Kenyan chess greats for his dedication to Kenyan chess. But don’t write the beast off yet for he promises to bounce back and play in the next chess Olympiad in Siberia.

The selection process locked out some of Kenyas big names notably Mathew Kanegeni who did not make it to the final phase. The young duo of Akello Atwolli and Obutu were also outplayed by their senior players. After the maiden appearance of Atwoli at the African games last year much was expected of him this time round. Steve Ouma, George Mwangi and Ricky Sang are other notable absentees.

So what are the chances for this Kenyan team? Bleak if you ask me. The highest rated Kenyan in the team Gilruth probably is around Elo 2200 and the lowest FM Gateri has Elo 2089. This team can not obviously trouble the big boys but what should be interesting is how many GM and IM scalps they can get and obviously finish above Uganda and other African teams.

But the experience of playing in the Olympiad is obviously great for these players. In places like Kenya chances of playing against a GM are so slim. The interaction with the big boys of chess should be fun. Who knows maybe round 1 pairing Kenya vs. Russia? Gilruth vs. Kramnik?

(Lt. Edwin Korir is a military officer working with the Kenyan army. He also runs a blog on Kenyan chess at http://www.kenyanchessblog.blogspot.com)

Chess Association of Malawi says the newly-introduced ladies category in the Lab Enterprise individual championship will help them to inspire women to form a formidable national team to participate at World Olympiad shortly. Chessam vice-president Mark Chikoko made the remarks ahead of this year’s Olympiad games that will be held in Germany in November.

Chikoko said Chessam was unable to send a women team to the championship due to the fact that they are not well exposed because of lack of competitions for ladies. “The first time we participated in Olympiad games was two years ago but we only sent men,” Chikoko said. “We were unable to send a women team because there were no competitions to assess and select national team women players. “We could not just take ladies that were participating in junior competitions to the Olympiad because of lack of experience at national level.”

Chikoko said the ladies category, which was won by Ellyn Mpinganjira on its inception, would help them to identify players for the national team. “We want these ladies to represent their country as well. The introduction of this competition was very welcome move to the development of the sport in Malawi,” he said.

Chikoko said the onus was now with ladies to prove their worth that they can compete at top level. “I would like to encourage ladies to take this competition seriously because it will be one of the yardsticks used to select players for national assignments so that women should participate at Olympiad too,” he said.

Chikoko asked other companies to sponsor chess at national level. “The sponsorship should cover for women categories as well,” he said. Lab Enterprise Financial Director Friday Mtali said their firm was determined to develop the sport especially in ladies category where the standards are low. “Ours is a noble gesture so that the sport should develop rapidly. We thought of introducing ladies category after Southern Region Chess League official asked us,” he said. Mtali said their sponsorship would stimulate women to join the sport.

Among the women that are participating in local tournaments are Vitumbiko Gondwe, Tumpale Mhango, Patricia Chihana, Chikondi Mwapasa, Carol Mwale, Susan Namangale and Royce Msiska.
SRCL chairman Wesley Mankhoma said they would strive to have more ladies participating in the tournament so that the country should have better women players.

Malawi national chess squad consisting of Chiletso Chipanga, Joseph Chalemba, Fiskani Mwangomba, Chuma and Joseph Mwale would travel to Germany for the event.

This is chess-related… sort of. Years ago, I wrote an essay titled, “The Beauty of Capoeira and Chess.” It is about the similarity between chess and the Afro-Brazilian martial art capoeira. Capoeira was used by the African slaves (mostly from Angola) to fight against the Portuguese colonizers and lead to the building of liberation settlements called “quilombos.” I saw capoeira years ago, but first started training after returning from Brazil and seeing a demo at Universidade Zumbi dos Palmares. The university was built to cater to Afro-Brazilians and was named after Zumbi, an African revolutionary who lead uprisings to protect the Quilombos.

There is a movie being shot now from the video game, “Tekken.” Lateef Crowder (below left) is rumoured to be playing Eddy Gordo. Crowder, who was born in Salvador Bahia, Brazil, is a gymnast, stuntman and capoeira practicioner and is perfect for the role. You all may remember Tekken where two fighters square off in a death match. It is a match likened to chess because you are calculating and using all types of techniques to throw the opponent off guard. Each fighter in Tekken has a different style.

The Afro-Brazilians were deadly in using this art against the Portuguese oppressors, but disguised the movements in dance forms and African instruments… most notably the one-stringed berimbau. In capoeira, there is the “roda” or the circle where the “jogo” or game is played. It is here where you will see the dynamics of a chess match played. To those who say capoeira is not a martial art, don’t be mistaken. The sheer power, unpredictability and grace make capoeira an amazing cultural artform. Capoeira appears to be an ancestor of “breakdancing.”

You can read my essay, “Chess and the Beauty of Capoeira,” but enjoy the videos below. Although I was never a video game enthusiast, can’t wait until Tekken movie comes in 2009!

Another Drum Major on the move!

Pontus Carlsson is in a field of 337 male players competing for the crown of European Champion. There are 159 players in the female section. According to ChessBase…

The IX European Individual Chess Championship is taking place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from April 21st to May 3rd 2008, with one free day, on Monday, April 28. The tournament halls are in the Novotel Plovdiv. The championship is an 11 round Swiss, playing time is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. The total prize fund in the men’s section is 92,200 EUR (first 15,000, 2nd 10,000, third 8,000, fourth 6,500, fifth 5,500 etc.) and in the women’s section 34,500 EUR (first 6,000, second 5,000, third 4,000, fourth 3,000, fifth 2,000, etc.). According to Bulgarian law all prizes are taxable (10%).

Carlsson is having a rough go it so far and after eight rounds he is on -1. He has a scintillating win against Bulgarian FIDE Master Valeri Lilov and a wild loss to Alexander Moiseenko of the Ukraine.

Carlsson,P (2513) - Lilov,V (2385) [B46]
9th European Individual Ch (m) round 5 (5.116), 25.04.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Re1 Bb7 10.b3 Bb4 11.Bd2 Qa5 12.a3 Bxc3 13.b4 Qc7 14.Bxc3 Qf4 15.Bd2 Qc7 16.e5 Nd7 17.Qg4 g6 18.Qh4 h5 19.Bg5 Nb6 20.Qf4 c5 21.Qf6 Rg8 22.bxc5 Qxc5 23.Rab1 Nd7 24.Qf4 Bc6 25.c4 d4 26.Bf1 a5 27.Rbd1 Qxa3 28.Rxd4 Qc5 29.Red1 a4 30.g3 a3

31.Rxd7! Bxd7 32.Rxd7 Kxd7 33.Qxf7+ Kc6 34.Bg2+ Kb6 35.Qb7+ Ka5 36.Bd2+ Ka4 37.Bc6+ 1-0 (See Game)

Moiseenko,A (2650) - Carlsson,P (2513) [A60]
9th European Individual Ch (m) round 6 Plovdiv BUL (6.72), 26.04.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 b5 6.e4 Nxe4 7.Qe2 Qe7 8.Bg2 Nd6 9.Be3 Na6 10.Nc3 b4 11.Na4 g6 12.Nxc5 Nxc5 13.Bxc5 a5 14.Bd4 Rg8 15.0-0-0 Qxe2 16.Nxe2 Nb5 17.Be3 d6 18.Be4 Ba6 19.Rhe1 Kd7 20.Kb1 Bg7 21.Bc2 Rab8 22.Ba4 Kd8 23.Rc1 Na3+ 24.Ka1 Bb5 25.Bg5+ f6 26.Nd4 fxg5 27.Ne6+ Ke7 28.Rc7+ Kf6 29.Nxg7 Bxa4 30.Re6# 1-0 (See Game)

Official Site: http://www.eicc2008.com/en/

Ronnie Simpson has left his New York chess domain, but has settled in North Carolina and made his presence felt. The FIDE Master earned his stripes in the “Black Bear School of Chess” and developed a reputation as a swashbuckling tactician. Recently, he competed in the North Carolina Invitational event against five other Masters and came out joint 1st on 4.5/5.0 with Andrey Chumachenko.

Results here… http://www.ncchess.org/Recent%20Results/05Results.htm

News just in from Rodney Thomas… Medina Parrilla wins the All-Girls invitational sponsored by the Kasparov Chess Foundation. Parrilla won the under-18 section and by virtue of her victory, she wins a scholarship to University of Texas at Dallas. Parrilla beat top-seed Courtney Jamison to take top honors. (See results here.)

According to Thomas, Jim Stallings presented her the scholarship which is valued at over $65,000 for an out-of-state student. Several players of African descent have done well including a win by Stephanie Ballom in 2004. Ballom is now at Texas Tech.

About 200 players registered and competed in six age groups (under-18, under-16, under-14, under-12, under-10, under-8). Parrilla, a Bronx native, has been one of the top-rated girls for the past five years and has anchored the DeWitt Clinton High School team. Last weekend she competed in the National High School championships in Atlanta, Georgia. This win should put her close to 2000 USCF rating and she would be the third Black female to accomplish this since Baraka Shabazz and Colette McGruder.

Photo by Elizabeth Vicary.

Emory Tate has been on the chess scene for the past 30 years cutting a swath of memorable wins into his historic journey. The journey has been a challenging one, but the famous tactician continues toward his goal. He is currently competing in the Benidorm International and is battling amongst the likes of GMs Julio Granda Zuniga, Boris Avrukh, Victor Mikhalevski and the legendary Ulf Andersson.

After winning the King’s Island Open with Grigory Kaidanov and Carl Boor, his U.S. activity has declined as GM norm opportunities are rare and conditions are meager stateside. This puts chess professionals as the mercy of personal funds and private sponsors. Thus, Tate has gone abroad for more opportunities and more hospitable conditions. Tate told The Chess Drum that the window of opportunity is closing for attainment of GM norms, but it is apparent that his will is everstrong. (Follow Tate at the Benidorm International!)

(Note: While Tate was snubbed in Chess Life’s coverage of King’s Island back in Febuary, he certainly deserves mention. Jerry Hanken spent a bit of time writing of his own experiences and half of the article was on Carl Boor. Meanwhile he only gave a cursory mention of Tate’s 4-1 score and never associated this score with joint first. This is a horrible and egregious omission in journalism.)

HEROES DAY CUP

Celebrating our Heroes in Chess
Bridgetown, Barbados,-May 24-28, 2007

PRESS RELEASE: 2008-05-25

Grandmasters in for Digicel RBTT Heroes Day Cup

The Grandmasters are in the house.

US Grandmaster Julio Becerra and English Grandmaster Keith Arkell will be featured players in the Masters Section when the pawns start pushing at this year’s Digicel RBTT sponsored Heroes Day Cup International Chess Tournament.

Schedule for April 26th- to May 1st, 2008, the Bridgetown Chess Centre will be the centre of local chess as twenty four players from the USA, England, Surinam, Martinique, Trinidad & Tobago, Bermuda, Cuba, Sweden, Colombia and Barbados via for honours in two sections, the Digicel Masters and RBTT Candidates.

Chairman of Heroes Day Cup Organizing Committee Allan Herbert, left, receiving RBTT Bank Sponsorship Cheque from Joseph Charles, Marketing Officer, RBTT

In presenting the sponsorship cheque for the RBTT Candidates Section, Mr. Joseph Charles, Marketing Officer, said that RBTT was pleased to continue the association with the Heroes Day Cup. He added that RBTT welcomed the increased participation the RBTT Candidates Section which provides an opportunity for a number of young players to play against strong regional competition as well a the much needed chance to qualify for an International Rating from FIDE.

A distinguishing feature of the 2008 edition of the Digicel Masters Section is the fact that all the participants are International Titled players, a first for the tournament and the English Speaking Caribbean.

In addition to Grandmasters Becerra and Arkell, the section will feature two International Masters, Augusto Moran of Ecuador and Kevin Denny of Barbados and six FIDE Masters, Mauricio Uribe of Colombia, Bengt Hammar of Sweden, Ryan Harper of Trinidad & Tobago, and from Barbados National Champion Delisle Warner, Terry Farley and Dr. Philip Corbin.

Play commences Saturday April 26th, 10:00 a.m. at the Barbados Bridgetown Chess centre in Cavans Lane, Bridgetown. Admission to the public is free.

When one thinks of chess-playing nations, Somalia would not be one of the first nations one would think of. However, the nation has been promoting chess as a means for academic improvement with a “chess-in-schools” program. According to an article on the Somali Chess Federation website, federation President Dr. Abdi Hassan has signed agreement headmasters of 50 Mogadishu-based schools to include chess lessons in schools academics starting in 2008-2009.

The federation also has a website (www.somchess.com) and states that for the first time “Somali school children will be taught chess-related lessons at schools.” In some inspiring pictures President Hassan can be seen gathering materials for the program. If you’d like to provide assistance in Somalian efforts, contact the Somali Chess Federation at info@somchess.com.

Ahmed Abdi Hassan, President of Somali Chess Federation

Pham Minh Hoang vs. Amon Simutowe

Amon Simutowe continues his march toward the final requirement for the GM title by coming clear 2nd in Rhône International Open in Lyon, France. He lost only to the winner, GM Vadim Malakhatko who scored 8-1. He drew with GM Jozsef Horvath of Hungary. Several of Simutowe’s games were one-sided as he punished players with quick defeats.

Standings: http://www.open-rhone-echecs.com/ga2008.html

Simutowe: http://www.thechessdrum.net/palview3/simutowe(rhone08).htm