Posted in Asia, China, India, Opinion/Editorials, Philippines, Vietnam on Oct 25th, 2008 2 Comments »
No… this is not an article about the southeast Asian economies (e.g., Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan). It is an article about the rise of chess in the Asian region. Over the last 20 years, Asian has begun to assert itself and is producing a massive wave of talent. This talent will certainly [...]
Posted in Asia, China on Oct 17th, 2008 No Comments »
China put on an impressive display in the chess discipline at the inaugural World Minds Sports Games in Beijing, China. More than 3000 competitors from 130 nations descended up the site of the 2008 Olympiad for perhaps the strongest collection of diverse talent in history. Five premier minds sports were featured and the traditional powers [...]
Posted in Asia, India on Aug 15th, 2008 1 Comment »
David Howell (England) battling Abhijeet Gupta (India) for the title. Arik Braun (Germany) battles Parimarjan Negi (India) on board #2. Gupta would beat Howell to claim the title and Negi would place second after drawing with Braun. Photo courtesy of wjcc2008.tsf.org.tr In perhaps the most exciting World Junior is recent memory, GM Abhijeet Gupta won [...]
Posted in Asia, Sri Lanka on Aug 12th, 2008 1 Comment »
Anatoly Karpov Chess Club, Sri Lanka During the 2004 Chess Olympiad in Calvia, Spain, I met the Sri Lankan national women’s team. They primarily consisted of school girls, but they were charming with such bright smiles. I also met the team captain Dr. Vineetha Wijesuriya who told me about the developments in Sri Lanka. Sri [...]
Posted in Hip-Hop, Media Stories on Apr 16th, 2008 7 Comments »
Capitalizing on the momentum from the hip-hop chess movement, RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan has launched wuchess.com. One has to credit Adisa Banjoko and Leo Librian for there pioneering concept of hip-hop chess. Although there were others who tried mixing the two genres, the Hip-Hop Chess Federation clearly gave the concept credibility and RZA’s voice [...]
Posted in Asia, Philippines on Apr 5th, 2008 14 Comments »
The Philippines has had a tumultuous time rebuilding their chess community after vicious infighting. Young Filipino GMs Mark Paragua and Wesley So certainly are bright spots. More on So later. I remember seeing Paragua (pa-ra-gua) playing at the 2000 Chicago Open as a 16-year old upstart. He was tactically sharp and gave an impressive exhibition [...]
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