The Mars Opposition

On Wednesday, August 27 2003, at 10:51 GMT, the planet Mars approached the earth closer than at any time during the last 60,000 years. It became the brightest object in the night sky, a beautiful red jewel in the firmament, with an apparent diameter to in the sky of about 25 arc-seconds (on October 13 this year during Mars opposition the planetary disk diameter will be 22.4 arcsec).

In 2003 The two planets, Earth and Mars, were separated by 55,758,006 kilometers (34,646,418 miles). This has not happened since the Neanderthals shared the world with early humans, who as you know were lucky enough to find the Obelisk and learn how to use the thigh bones of animals properly. The next closest approach will be in 2287 we will bring you live coverage at the time.

A Hubble picture of Mars taken eleven hours before its closest approach. Source: NASA, J. Bell (Cornell U.) and M. Wolff (SSI).

In the parlance of astronomers Mars was in opposition, a term they have obviously borrowed (without giving due credit) from the chess world. The close approach of the two planets happens regularly when both are on the same side of the Sun. On this occasion Earth was about as far from the Sun as it ever gets, and Mars as close as ever (the orbits of the two planets are not quite circular).

At the time our resident scientist GM John Nunn informed us:

The close approach of Mars suggests that this would be a good time for the Martians to invade Earth. The last time they did so, in June 1902, they caused considerable devastation. I have a personal interest in this because the first Martian cylinder plunged into the sandpits on Horsell Common, just down the road from where I currently live. Apparently they did not use retro-rockets or parachutes, and it has always been a mystery how the relatively fragile Martians survived the deceleration of impact. Moving out from this first landing, they advanced through Ottershaw (where GM Murray Chandler owned a house) and devastated Weybridge and Shepperton. Armed with a heat-ray and a deadly poison gas, it seemed that nothing could stop them. Eventually, as everyone now knows, their invasion was defeated when they caught a nasty cold and died.

The event is commemorated in various ways and has inspired various films and radio broadcasts (see, for example, thisWar of the Worlds movie, in which the invasion was switched to America). Curiously, although the Horsell area has changed greatly in the past century, Horsell Common and its sandpits are still much the same. I am somewhat concerned that the Martians might aim for the same spot again and am keeping a careful watch for any meteorites leaving a strange greenish trail. If one falls, I intend to call Tony Blair or George W. Bush theyll know what to do.

There is another important aspect to this close approach of Mars. Everybody knows that strange rock formations have been photographed on the surface of the planet, the most famous being the Face on Mars. It was obtained in 1976 by the Viking Orbiter 1. In the Cydonia region of Mars it photographed a region of buttes and mesas along the escarpment that separates heavily cratered highlands to the south from low lying, relatively crater-free, lowland plains to the north.

One of the images showed a face-like hill, which led many people to argue, mostly in the lay literature, that the hill was artificially shaped. The Face on Mars web site provides us with the raw Viking images and a brief tutorial (with examples) of image processing techniques applied to create better looking images.

Due to the near approach new images have been obtained which should delight amateur conspiracy theorists all over the world. They show the Cydonia region and the face in unprecedented clarity.

Above is the latest Hubble image taken on August 27 2003 at 10:34 GMT, seventeen minutes before the true opposition of Mars. The enlargement reveals an incredible geological formation that looks eerily familiar. Perhaps our readers can help us (and NASA): whom does the rocky formation remind you of?

A week after the above report appeared on our news page (on August 27, 2003) we learned that the Face on Mars picture was probably flawed. Javier Sanchez de la Barquera of Monterrey, Mexico, informed us that Hubble cannot take pictures with the zoom given, and that pictures were taken from satellites orbiting mars.

On the top left is the original fase as it appears on most conspiracy sites, next to it a JPL/NASA picture, which softens into the face, and below that an angular view which makes it even less face-like.

We investigated the matter and discovered that some misguided soul in the ChessBase team had faked the picture, photoshopping an image of Garry Kasparov into the surface of Mars. We even found what is probably the original source of the picture.

Above is a picture of Garry Kasparov during a press conference.

We also traced the jokers practice efforts a Mars surface picture with many Kasparov faces copied into it. The prankster simply took the one which looked most plausible.

Our apologies to readers who took the whole business seriously.

More:
Who is the chess player on Mars? - India Gone Viral

New York is a remarkable city. The metropolis on the east coast of the USA is set to overtake London as the largest city in the world in terms of inhabitants. According to estimates about six million people live currently in New York, almost as many as in London and three times as many as in Berlin. The constant and fast growth of the city is a sign of the economic power and the growing influence and importance of the USA in the world.

The overwhelming impression the city leaves on most visitors is mainly caused by its many skyscrapers. Most of these skyscrapers are built in Manhattan, the business center of New York. Until 1890, the 87 meters high tower of Trinity Church was the highest building in the city but then the World Building on Park Row was erected, stretching 106 meters into the sky. In 1910 the architect Cass Gilbert designed the Woolworth Building and three years later, in 1913, the building at 233 Broadway was finished. Towering 241 meters into the sky it is currently the highest building in the world.

The Woolworth Building

But architects and business people want to go even higher. Frank Winfield Woolworth, owner of a chain of department stores, ordered the building that carries his name. It cost him about $13.5 million which Woolworth paid in cash (!).

The whole of the United States, New York in particular, is now, six years after the Great War, in a tremendous economic upswing. US President Calvin Coolidge, originally a lawyer, believes in economic laissez-faire and those who have good ideas about how to make a profit are not hindered by politics.

After the motorization of the country had been neglected for a long time, this has now changed due to the experiences of the war. Masses of commercial vehicles and private cars are built. Since 1914 the Ford company has been producing cars with prefabricated parts and this line of production has made cars much more affordable. The price for a single car dropped significantly, from over 800 to 350 dollars, but all vehicles are black. Ford simply does not make colorful cars.

Most of the cars run on gasoline which is obtained by refining oil though there also attempts to power the cars with steam, gas and electricity. But it is hard to imagine that gasoline that is so difficult to extract from the earth will last for a long time if more and more people buy cars.

Cars also need proper roads and in 1916 the first continuous road that links the east coast and the west coast was built: the Lincoln Highway.

The film industry is also one of the expanding industries in the USA. Until 1910 New York was the center of this new industry but then director and producer D.W. Griffith of Birth of a Nation fame shot several films outdoors on the West Coast near Los Angeles. By now almost the entire film industry has moved from New York to Hollywood, a village near Los Angeles.

The studios wanted to flee from the demands of the New York Motion Picture Patents Company and also claim that the climate and the light on the West Coast are much better suited for filming.

In Hollywood historical films, dramas and romances are made. Also popular are the so-called slapstick films, in which stars like Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd or Buster Keaton perform breakneck stunts - without breaking their necks.

These film comedies are silent films but the industry works hard to find methods to bring sound and spoken words to the screen. But for now viewers have to be content with the music that usually accompanies the films.

A strange thing is the Prohibition. In the middle of the last decade, the temperance movement gained great influence in the USA, and under the pressure of this movement the US government in 1919 passed a law that prohibited the trade and consumption of alcohol in all states. However, there are great difficulties in enforcing this law and illegal "speakeasys" sprang to life everywhere. In New York alone there are said to be about 20,000 of them.

The strictness of the prohibition stands in strange contrast to the joie de vivre, which the young people of New York radiate and that expresses itself in wild dances such as the Charleston.

The so-called shimmy dance is also popular, but in some places it is forbidden because it is considered to be indecent.

With F. Scott Fitzgerald, New York has a young, very talented and famous author. His novel "This Side of Paradise" is an absolute bestseller. Three years ago Scott Fitzgerald married Zelda and the two of them and their excessive lifestyle do not fail to provide the gossip columns with lots of material. Currently there are rumours that the couple wants to move to Paris and that Fitzgerald is working on a novel about New York, featuring a decadent and mysterious millionaire.

Another successful artist who likes the spirit of New York is Karl Gustav Vollmller. He was born in Stuttgart and has tried his hand in numerous fields. In the course of his career, the 46-year-old has worked as an archaeologist, philologist, writer, poet and playwright, screenwriter, translator, racing driver, aircraft designer, and film pioneer, entrepreneur and at times even as a politician. Vollmller comes from a wealthy family, is a cosmopolitan and dandy.

Karl Gustav Vollmller

He mostly stays in Berlin, where he works a lot with the renowned director and founder of the Salzburg Festival, Max Reinhardt. Vollmller's play "The Miracle" premiered in London in 1911, was filmed in 1912, and has been shown in New York on Broadway every day since the beginning of the year in the Century Theatre. Usually, it is sold out. The play has no spoken text but a lot of music and dance. The music is by Engelbert Humperdinck.

Vollmller is also an active cultural manager and agent for artists and recently he discovered a chorus girl on Broadway in the surprise hit "Shuffle along" whom he now wants to send to Berlin and Paris. Her name is Josephine Baker but though her performance might be remarkable chances are high that she might soon be forgotten again. However, the name of Karl Gustav Vollmller will certainly be remembered for a long time.

Josephine Bakes dancing Charleston

Another great artist of the city is the pianist and composer George Gershwin. He is 26 years old and the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. His real name is Gershowitz and on February 24th his work "Rhapsody in Blue" was performed in New York at Aolian Hall. The work combines modern jazz with concertante symphonic music. The audience was rapt and the performance was celebrated as a once-in-a-century event.

But Manhattan has not only skyscrapers to offer, it is also host to the legendary Manhattan Chess Club, founded in 1877. From 1908 until last year, the club was based at the Sherman Square Hotel but now resides in the Beacon Hotel. The most famous member of the prestigious club might be Jos Ral Capablanca from Cuba and World Chess Champion since 1921, who joined the Manhattan in 1905, at the age of 17.

The current World Champion: Jos Ral Capablanca

The Russian grandmaster Alexander Alekhine is one player who wants to challenge Capablanca for the World Championship. In 1923 Alekhine visited the USA and on New Year's Eve 1923/24 Herrmann Helms, chess player and columnist of the New York Times, Norbert Lederer of the Manhattan Chess Club, Harry Latz, the owner of the Alamac Hotel and Alexander Alekhine met to discuss the possibilities of a Alekhine vs Capablanca match for the World Championship.

Alexander Alekhine - will he be Capablanca's next challenger?

Though they came to the conclusion that it would be too difficult to raise the money necessary for such a match they had the idea to organize a world-class tournament instead. Such a tournament would cost about 10,000 dollars, a sum that could probably be raised with the help of the dignitaries of the Marshall Chess Club. After that, everything happened very quickly.

Harry Latz immediately offered 2500 dollars and the hospitality of his hotel for all participants and for the tournament. Richard Hirschfeld & Co. in Berlin helped to invite the players from Europe. The champions, including the 55-year-old former World Champion Emanuel Lasker, who for some time lived in the USA but now stays in Berlin, accepted quickly. Under the direction of the president of the Manhattan Chess Club, Herbert Limburg, a committee was formed that started to collected donations.

Within two months the tournament took shape and became reality.

Emanuel Lasker, World Champion from 1884 to 1921

The European champions - Efim Bogoljubow, Geza Marozcy, Richard Reti, Savielly Tartakower and Emanuel Lasker - met on February 28 in Hamburg to embark on the SS Cleveland. The English mates Frederick Yates boarded at Southampton. Alekhine was still in the USA, busy playing simuls.

In New York the European masters met the other participants of the tournament: Capablanca, Frank Marshall, Dawid Janowsky and Edward Lasker. An illustrious tournament field! Of the world's best players only Akiba Rubinstein and Aaron Nimzowitsch are missing.

In New York angekommen, trafen die Europerauf die brigen Teilnehmer des Turniers, die "New Yorker", Raul Capablanca, Frank Marshall, Dawid Janowsky and Edward Lasker. An illustrious field! From the world's best players only Akiba Rubinstein and Aron Nimzowitsch are missing.

For a long time, however, people were worried about Capablanca, who had recently fallen ill with a flu. But now he is back on his feet and ready to play. But flu or not, at the blitz tournament that the champions played with the amateurs of the Manhattan Chess Club before the start of the main event Capablanca showed good form and won convincingly. However, Lasker, Alekhine and Marshall did not play in the blitz but preferred to save their energy for the long and demanding tournament.

The tournament will be played in the Japanese Hall of the Alamac Hotel, 71st Street and Broadway. A special feature of the tournament is the fact that the drawing of lots takes place only 15 minutes before each round to reduce the impact of the ever-increasing opening preparations of the masters.

First prize is 1500 dollars, the second receives 1000 dollars, the third 750 dollars. Fourth prize is still 500 dollars and the winner of the fifth prize gets 250 dollars. 300 invited guests attended the magnificent opening banquet at the Hotel Alamac. New York will experience a great chess tournament that will be talked about for decades to come.

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

See the original post:
World class tournament in New York about to start - Chessbase News

The bishop pair is sometimes like a pair of scissors that can cut through an opponents position. With this hint in mind, please try to find whites winning attack.

Whites bishops, f1 rook and queen target blacks king-side, as if they were scissors, rock and paper ready to pounce. White first pounces with the f1 rook capturing blacks bishop on f6. After blacks g7 pawn takes the rook, whites bishop on e5 captures blacks pawn on f6 and delivers checkmate (see next diagram).

Blacks best reply to rook takes bishop is to not capture the rook but to move its queen to e7. This defends f6 and threatens whites rook. White is winning, but black has not lost.

White, however, cuts through this defense with the unexpected queen sacrifice on g7. That is, after the black queen moves to e7, whites queen takes blacks g7 pawn and checks black. After the black king takes the queen, white wins with rook takes blacks pawn on f7 (see next diagram).

Both the rook and bishop on e5 check black. The black king thus retreats to g6 or h6. Whites rook snatches blacks queen, and white now has an overwhelming material and positional advantage.

The lesson this week is that if a police officer pulls you over and asks for your papers, as if it were the 1940s, just reply scissors and drive off. Of course, you may then need a rock to break out of jail.

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Chess Corner: Scissors, rock, and paper - Muskogee Daily Phoenix

WASHINGTON Zahir Muhammad is a nationally ranked chess player who volunteers teaching chess at local schools and camps.

Hes also Howard Universitys chess coach.

And now with social distancing, the DeMatha Catholic High School Senior is keeping busy by offering discounted chess classes online at Full Circle Chess.

"I was taught that if I can be so good at something but not improve the community in which I reside in, then Im not really doing anything with the gift that I have," Muhammad said.

Once the pandemic started, he moved his lessons online. With his rsum, he could charge $40 or $50 an hour, but he knows the struggles families are facing.

FullCircleChess.org

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"My mother has four children, so I am the oldest of four, and so whenever she wanted to pay for something it was always four of them. It was a whole lot," he said. "I wanted to offer a service, and so thats why I made the price is $6 per half hour and $10 an hour for children, and then for adults its $11 per half hour and $20 per hour."

Here's how it works.

Zahir uses a physical and virtual chess board to teach lessons, and he says hes doing his best and adapting to this new normal.

Full Circle Chess

"When youre one on one, you can feel the energy better. You can interact. You can touch the chess pieces. You can place it across the board from somebody. You can use more materials to reach them," Muhammad said. "When youre not face-to-face, when youre over a computer screen, you have to do more to reach their mind."

Full Circle Chess

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Stuck inside and bored during the pandemic? How about learning chess online? - WUSA9.com

By VICTOR OTIENO More by this Author

Chess Kenya has been thrown into confusion following the postponement of the 2020 World Chess Olympiad due to coronavirus pandemic.

Last month, the World Chess Federation announced the postponement the 44th edition of the Olympiad, which was due to be held in Russia from August 5 to 18, with a view of protecting the well-being of the entire chess community.

It rescheduled the biennial competition to the same time next year.

Chess Kenya is undecided on whether to hold new qualifier or to maintain the team of 10 players who had been selected.

The 10 had clinched tickets for the Olympiad in the qualifiers held last month at Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Sports Club in Nairobi.

Normally, the team that represents Kenya in the Olympiad is selected from the national championships of the year preceding the global competition.

The top 24 players in national championships in both mens and womens categories battle for tickets in two stages, with the top five in every category qualifying for the biennial event.

The postponement means we have to go back to the drawing board. We will sit as a national executive and decide on which way forward, said Chess Kenya chairman Benard Wanjala.

He noted the need to get players who are on form, as the main reason why Chess Kenya uses the national championship to select the national team for the prestigious competition.

The mens players who had booked tickets to the 44th Olympiad are KCB Chess Clubs Ben Magana, Ben Nguku, Joseph Maragu, Jackson Kamau and Ricky Sang.

Their female counterparts are Woman Fide Master Sasha Mongeli, Woman Candidate Masters (CM) Joyce Nyaruai and Lucy Wanjiru, Nakuru Chess Clubs Julie Mutisya and Glenda Matelda of Equity Chess Club.

Magana who is also a CM, was due to feature in his seventh Olympiad, while Mongeli, Nyaruai, Wanjiru were due to make a return, having competed in the 2018 event held in Baitumi Georgia.

Should Chess Kenya decide to hold new selection exercise of the team to represent country in the Olympiad, reigning mens champion Mehul Gohil will have an opportunity to make amends after failing to qualify for the competition.

Gohil finished a disappointing seventh in the March qualifiers.

As Chess Kenya awaits to make a decision on the matter on a date yet to be agreed on, Wanjala has asked the players not to lose focus.

They (players) should take advantage of extended time and continue training to better themselves, because as a country, we want to improve on our performance, he said.

See more here:
Virus sends Chess Kenya back to the drawing board - Daily Nation