Posted in Media Stories, USA, Videos on Mar 16th, 2008 3 Comments »
by Greg Neri, art by Jesse Joshua Watson Lee & Low Books, Inc, 2007 ISBN: 1584302798 hardcover, 64 pages A new book out by Greg Neri takes an imaginative look at the life of Marcus an 11-year old who faces life’s troublesome puzzles. He finds solace in chess and has a mentor who shows him [...]
Posted in Asia, China, Media Stories, The Chess Drum on Mar 2nd, 2008 31 Comments »
China: The old and newPhoto by Daaim Shabazz. Ni Hao! (means “hello” in Chinese) I’m in Shanghai now. We’re 14 13 hours ahead of EST time. I am here as part of a university delegation, but I will certainly look out for chess. I’m going to Shanghai University and I believe either Bu Xianghzi or [...]
Posted in Europe, Media Stories, Videos on Feb 23rd, 2008 1 Comment »
Following the 2008 Linares tournament, I watched the Ivanchuk-Aronian video with a bit of pity. Ivanchuk is one of the world’s top players and needs no pity, but when one blunders in a chess game, it is a crushing blow and you can’t help but to empathize. I remember reading somewhere that “one bad move [...]
Posted in Africa, Media Stories, Olympiad, Opinion/Editorials on Feb 15th, 2008 26 Comments »
Exhibit at U.S. Chess Hall of Fame on the ancient Egyptian game, Senet. Copyright © 2001, Daaim Shabazz. Dr. Joseph Bailey, II has recently penned an article titled, “Chess Originated in Africa.” We have all heard this before, but let us be specific! For example, Bailey states in his essay, But Western literature admits that [...]
Posted in USA on Feb 14th, 2008 19 Comments »
I found this story from the New York Times columnist Dylan McClain. This was a report released by Bill Goichberg, the U.S.C.F. President. He is best known for running the World Open, America’s largest and most lucrative international tournament. The report is not rosy. There are mentions of short falls in revenue particularly in terms [...]
Posted in Africa, Opinion/Editorials, USA on Feb 5th, 2008 No Comments »
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) February is “Black History Month” and although we should celebrate history all year around February is the month that we pay special tribute to Black pioneers in the U.S. Over the years, my standing issue is that we are often presented with histories only of U.S. figures to the exclusion of [...]
Posted in Africa, Kenya, Opinion/Editorials, Politics, Videos on Jan 31st, 2008 1 Comment »
Alex Makatia and Issac Babu Odiah (both of Kenya) at 2004 Chess Olympiad (Mallorca, Spain). Photo by Daaim Shabazz. As you all know, the country of Kenya is gripped in a tragic crisis. While not going into specific details, the nation is literally being torn asunder. Kenya, one of Africa’s most stable economies, has taken [...]
Posted in USA on Jan 25th, 2008 10 Comments »
In a recent ChessBase.com article, Bobby Fischer’s last movie was said to be “The American Gangster.” That is unfortunate because that is not a favorable last impression of Black people. However, he did have some interesting interaction with Black chess players. Archie Waters at a Fischer analysis session when the young GM played the brilliant [...]
Posted in Opinion/Editorials on Jan 24th, 2008 37 Comments »
I just penned an article that may pique your interest. It examines the “first mover advantage” in chess. I have had many online debates (mostly notably on The Daily Dirt) about this issue and most of the arguments point to white’s plus score in games played in the database. However, there is much more to [...]
Posted in Caribbean, Jamaica, Media Stories on Dec 15th, 2007 3 Comments »
Attorney Ian Wilkinson signs a copy of his new book, “Excitement Galore: Chess in all its Glory”, for former Jamaican international footballer, Wolde Harris. Both Harris and Wilkinson are Alumni of Kingston College (KC). Well… as I continue to recover from the crash of my hard drive, I bring a very nice story out of [...]
Posted in Africa, Senegal, Videos on Dec 9th, 2007 10 Comments »
I have written a few stories about draughts (checkers) on The Chess Drum. What is amazing is that players of African ancestry have a formidable presence in the game with many Grandmasters in French-speaking Africa. One of the best players ever is Baba Sy (pronounced “see”), a Senegalese master who would become World Champion. I [...]
Posted in Opinion/Editorials, Videos on Sep 28th, 2007 21 Comments »
Tom Murphy in his office at the famous Dupont Circle. Photo washingtonpost.com Vaughn Bennett just sent me a link to an article from the Washington Post on Tom Murphy, a DC-based legendary chess hustler. Those who have been to Dupont Circle in Washington, DC have no doubt heard his name uttered. Those who have been [...]
Posted in Asia, China, Opinion/Editorials on Sep 11th, 2007 1 Comment »
China in the process of crushing the UK in the Liverpool Chess Match. Photo from liverpoolchessinternational.co.uk. China has been on the fast track to success over the past two decades. Having boasted held the Women Chess title on four different occasions (Xie Jun – twice, Zhu Chen, Yuhua Xu). They also have current stars in Zhao [...]
Posted in Media Stories, Opinion/Editorials on Aug 16th, 2007 No Comments »
On a recent eight-hour drive from Miami to Tallahassee, I listened to “The Google Story” by David Vise (on audiobook). It is an interesting story on the rise of the world’s most visible and most popular search engine. I use Google almost exclusively for all my search needs and news alerts in chess. However, there [...]
Posted in Computers, Opinion/Editorials on Jul 21st, 2007 1 Comment »
A report has been released that a computer scientist from the University of Alberta has solved the game of checkers (8×8 version). The venerable game which has been a source of entertainment for families has now joined the ranks of tic-tac-toe. This is what Professor Jonathan Schaeffer claims on his website dedicated to his checker [...]
Posted in Australia, Media Stories, Opinion/Editorials, Pacific, The Chess Drum on Jul 14th, 2007 44 Comments »
Back in June, I had an exchange with International Master Javier Gil, the creator of the website, Chessnia.com. I first visited this site in 2001 and remember writing him to ask if he would consider changing the fluorescent blue background of his site. He had interesting content, but it was very difficult to read for a long [...]
Posted in Opinion/Editorials, USA on Jul 13th, 2007 1 Comment »
U.S. Chess Life online ran a story about IM Greg Shahade who was in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. His sister WGM Jennifer Shahade had won $8,000 and both Greg and father FM Michael Shahade were on the tables. After the WSOP, Greg was contacted by “Danny” who set up a chess [...]
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
