'; var randomNumber = Math.random(); var isIndia = (window.geoinfo && window.geoinfo.CountryCode === 'IN') && (window.location.href.indexOf('outsideindia') === -1 ); console.log(isIndia && randomNumber A similar platform had existed with the Chess Players Association of India (CPAI) being formed in 2004. However, that body did not last.

CPAI was formed when AICFs former secretary general Ummer Koya decided to reduce players prize money, Barua, who was also a member of that body, told TOI on Wednesday. That forum did not last long, but CPAI was instrumental in Koyas defeat in AICF polls that followed, Barua said.

Indias second GM added although there was no such immediate reason behind CPFs formation, but the present instability within the AICF did play a part.

Some of the players approached the Sports Ministry regarding this turmoil a few months back. We did not get the necessary response but felt the need for a forum to put up the players voice in an organized manner, Barua said.

Continued here:
New chess body CPF looks to learn from failure - Times of India

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has revealed that the value of securities held in CHESS was 13 percent lower than the previous corresponding period (pcp), while the number of dominant settlement messages was 81 percent higher than the pcp.

ASXs monthly activity report showed the value of securities held in Austraclear was 4 percent higher than March 2019, according to the ASX report.

Elsewhere, the report found that total capital raised stood at $4.2 billion, down 22 percent on the pcp.

For clearing and exchange-traded markets, ASX noted that participant margin balances held on balance sheet at month-end totalled $14.3 billion in March 2020, compared to $9.9 billion in March last year.

ASX also reported that in trading, equity options, in March this year, single stock options average daily contracts traded were up 10 percent and index options average daily contracts traded were up 44 percent on the pcp.

Meanwhile, for clearing, over-the-counter markets (OTC), the notional value of OTC interest rate derivative contracts centrally cleared was $1,300.1 billion, compared to $1,051.6 billion in the pcp.

Looking at trading, the average daily futures volume was up 6 percent and average daily options volume was down 49 percent on the pcp.

In the report, ASX said that total average daily futures and options on futures volumes were up 6 percent on the pcp.

View original post here:
ASX sees value of securities held in CHESS decrease - Asset Servicing Times

Still not able to fly back home and unite with his family, GM Viswanathan Anand has posted a video message related to the COVID-19 crisis as other Indian players are also speaking out.

Anand has now been in Germany for just under a month, unable to travel back to his wife and son in Chennai, India. After providing commentary for Chess.com on the FIDE Candidates tournament from Europe, the five-time world champion now spends his time like so many of us in these strange times, mostly inside hisplace in Frankfurt, where he has spent many weeks when preparing for his world championship matches.

Why Germany? Well, he was supposed to play for his team OSG Baden-Baden in the Bundesliga on March 14and 15, but these playing days and the remainder of the season have been canceled due to the coronavirus crisiswhich also halted normal air traffic between Germany and India.

It's not the first time that Anand has been unable to fly. A decade ago, he intended to take a plane from Frankfurt to Sofia with his team for his world championship match with GM Veselin Topalov, but air traffic in Europe was disrupted due to theeruptions of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull. Instead, a van was rented, and after a 40-hour trip, during which his team famously watched the complete "Lord of the Rings" series, he arrived and ended up beating Topalov.

On Monday, the official Twitter account of India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting posted a tweet with a wonderful video message from Anand, intended for Indian citizens but also valuable for anyone else. In it, he mentions his son Akhil, with whom he is playing on ChessKid every now and then as well.

A transcript of the message:

"Ive now been isolated at home for over two weeks away from my family unfortunately and I know that most of you are doing the same, but I wanted to urge you to continue this till the end of the lockdown. This is very important because everything which seems natural and healthy like having social relationships, meeting people, going out for fresh air actually helps this virus to spread easily. So its very important we do this, and this allows us to help the healthcare workers and the government and all the people who are out there in the front line because we minimize the transmission. We should stay at home, protect ourselves, and protect others by withholding contact, by not shaking hands, by always keeping a few meters distance if you see someone, but most importantly, staying at home we stop the transmission and that is the most important thing we can do.

"We should understand that those who are in the front lines, mainly government workers, people in healthcare, nurses, doctors, people who are getting supplies across, they should work with minimum interference and very often they are working to a plan which may not be evident to us so we should trust them and let them go about their work without asking questions.

"If you can, please donate or find some way of letting these people know how much you appreciate the sacrifice they are doing and how hard it is for them and try to lift their morale a little bit.

"Finally, the most important thing we can do is not to allow ourselves to get depressed. We should try to keep a positive attitude, a little bit of exercise during the day, social contact through the internet or sending each other videos, these are excellent ways to cheer each other up. We have to maintain positivity. My son, for instance, is enjoying these little chances to go to the balcony and show a light or thank our doctors in some other way. These kinds of events, if carefully controlled, are a nice way to maintain positivity. He is also taken to drawing about the coronavirus and its impact on us. Its an interesting way to let out your feelings so I feel that if we can all find our little way of coping, we just need to hang in there, we are more than halfway across the lockdown period, and if we just hang in there we will come out of this well, but this is the crucial moment. This is when we should not relax our efforts. Thank you all."

A day later, Anand suggested a charity via a tweet.

Two of Anand's colleagues have also sent video messages, via the Twitter account of their sponsor, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).

Here's GM Humpy Koneru:

"This is grandmaster Koneru Humpy, a proud ONGCian. We are one nation, we are one people. Crisis unites us. Adversities strengthen us. In these times of adversity, we salute all the health workers and government agencies, working day and night to save the people. We in ONGC are doing the same, working non-stop in adverse conditions to ensure that energy resources keep flowing and India stands tall in its fight against an unseen enemy. Please follow social distancing norms, stay home, stay safe and follow all government guidelines. We are here to make a difference. Jai Hind!"

And here's GM Krishnan Sasikiran:

"I am Krishnan Sasikiran, Arjuna Awardee and a proud ONGCian. Friends, these are difficult times and the nation needs to be united in this hour of crisis. Our brothers and sisters in the health sector, sanitation, arm forces, media, delivery and other services are working night and day to save lives, harnessing resources to ensure that every citizen is taken care of. We in ONGC are doing the same. Our energy soldiers continue to work night and day in some remote inhospitable locations to ensure India's energy needs are met. These difficult times demand from us to stay home, stay safe, maintain social distance and observe all norms issued by the government. We are here to make a difference. Jai Hind!"

Six of India's best players will offer simultaneous exhibitions on Chess.com to support the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund. Set to start on Saturday, April 11, at 6 a.m. Pacific Time (14:00 CEST, 6:30 p.m. Indian Standard Time), former world champion GM Viswanathan Anand will be joined by GMs Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, Baskaran Adhiban, Humpy Koneru, and Harika Dronavalli as they each will offer a twenty-board simultaneous exhibition for donors to take place on Chess.com. Find more info here.

Read the original:
Still Stuck In Germany, Anand Joins COVID-19 Initiatives - Chess.com

Recent (and quasi-regular) outages of US Chess information technology (IT) services prompted me to offer a preview of our efforts to upgrade our US Chess IT infrastructure.

Last summer, US Chess signed an agreement with Skvare, an information technology firm that specializes in assisting nonprofit organizations with their technology needs. Skvare was selected as a result of a competitive bidding process announced in February 2019. The RFP sought proposals from firms that specialize in deploying CiviCRM, an open source customer relationship management platform. We selected Skvare based on their expertise with Civi and their approach to learning from and working with their client organizations.

This infrastructure upgrade has been many years in the making. Our current systems have served us well for a very long time. We are grateful to Mike Nolan, former US Chess IT Director, for his continued involvement in keeping our current environment up and running while offering his expertise to the Skvare team during this transition.

Since August, Skvare has been working with US Chess to learn about existing capabilities, workflows, and idiosyncrasies within the US Chess IT environment and designing and developing a new database and related services. Skvares efforts, and those of Boyd Reed, the US Chess Project Manager for the IT upgrade, have resulted in Phase I being on a track for completion between July 7-9, 2020. Here is a summary of upcoming changes that are expected for the July release:

We are looking ahead to the following changes and improvements in Phase 2 and beyond:

We are pleased to report that all of the Phase I requirements are on schedule for the July launch, as are many of the Phase II requirements.

Much of what is being done in Phase I is an upgrade to our underlying database infrastructure and less visible to you. In July, your member data will be served from our new database. You also will be able to access US Chess information systems through a single log-in, requiring that you reset your current US Chess login credentials. The TD/Affiliate system will be revamped, the TLA system will be upgraded for simpler submission, and a new complaint tracking system (for Ethics, Rules, TDCC, and other sanctioning committees) will be deployed. In addition, Civi provides US Chess staff improved access to organizational data and can assist members with better information in the future. The new systems will offer familiar interfaces that are consistent with todays design principles and will offer important security upgrades for member data. A new website overhaul will come with Phase II.

In the lead up to the early-July launch, we will share additional previews of whats coming through a series of blog posts. We look forward to continuing this project into Phase 2, where our public-facing presence on the web will be updated, along with additional US Chess services. Thank you for your patience as we undergo this important infrastructure transition to better serve our members and the chess-playing public.

See the article here:
Yes, IT is coming! - uschess.org

Weve been focused on the loss of professional sports worldwide because of the coronavirus, but competitions of all kinds are being postponed and canceled. On Wednesday, the N.H.L. became the latest North American league to announce a round of schedule changes, postponing its scouting combine, annual awards ceremony and draft, all of which had been set to take place in June. There was also deflating news about the Scripps National Spelling Bee and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

They may not be the Summer Olympics, but their enthusiasts are lamenting the same sudden voids in their lives as sports fans.

The National Spelling Bee scheduled for this week was postponed indefinitely. The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, scheduled for last weekend, has been moved to September. And perish the thought, the Eurovision Song Contest was canceled outright. How will the next Abba or Celine Dion, competitors in their unknown days, emerge on the music scene?

The World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, which starts its preliminary events in late May, is still on for now. Casinos on the Strip are closed for now, with many scheduled to reopen after March 31. People from all over the world converging in one place and passing cards around. What could go wrong?

One event proceeding as scheduled is the chess Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg, Russia. One of the most important events on the calendar, its winner will challenge the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, for his title.

Its a rare gathering of human beings in this time of social distancing, but precautions are being taken. There are no spectators, and news media members have limited contact with the players and must wear masks. There are no pre- or postmatch handshakes, with elbow bumps the favored replacement. Players and officials are being checked by doctors twice a day.

Still, the decision to press on certainly drew some critics. One of the eight qualified players, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, pulled out because of virus fears and was replaced by an alternate.

When the tournament started on March 17, things were unclear, said Milan Dinic, the press officer for the event. In Russia, they do not have many cases.

Theyre playing in complete isolation, Dinic said. If someone feels unwell, they will stop the event.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia were the early leaders in the event, which is to run through April 4. The lone American is Fabiano Caruana, who was the last challenger to Carlsen, losing in a tiebreaker after 12 consecutive draws in 2018. He is in third, within striking distance for another shot at the title.

Fabi is a perfectionist, said Mehreen Malik, his co-manager. I think hes been relaxed and very positive. There is all still to play for.

Chess tournaments are tough during the best of times and certainly much tougher now, Caruana said. Hopefully it gets peoples minds off of the epidemic.

The tournament is streaming online, and Chess.com and other sites report strong viewership numbers from quarantined folks desperate to watch some competition, any competition.

Top athletes need to train. But in all likelihood they are currently cooped up inside, perhaps with children underfoot. So theyre getting creative in using what they have.

Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City did leg lifts, with his children providing the weight. Curiously, while one wore a De Bruyne jersey, the other opted for Raheem Sterling.

The boxer Tyson Furys live-streamed workout with his wife, Paris, was repeatedly crashed by twirling, jumping and dancing children. Hey, thats cardio.

For the runner Ben Bruce, training was a treadmill session while shooting arcade basketball with his son feeding him. He reported going at a sub-10-minute pace while scoring 36. Listen to the man, and dont try that at home.

The Chicago Bulls player Zach LaVine, on the other hand, found his dog Grizzy was a good defensive player in quarantine. LaVine, however, got the shot to fall: 2-0. AirBud, youre up next.

As usual, there were more cancellations. The Kontinental Hockey League, based mostly in Russia, had stopped play in the middle of the playoffs. Now they have called the season off entirely. Well, Russian fans, theres always chess.

Horse racing is one of the last sports still trotting along, with races scheduled in Florida, Ireland and South Africa in coming days. But not in Victoria or New South Wales, Australia, where racing was shut down after a jockey flew on a plane with a confirmed coronavirus case among its passengers.

But Belarusian soccer plays on. Round 2 of its Premier League season begins Friday.

There may be light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel. Japans J-League, the top soccer competition, has set a date of May 9 to resume play. (And if youre even more desperate, the second division is to start May 2.)

It may not happen, of course, but well gratefully take the hopeful signs when they come. And maybe someday soon we will crowd out the cancellation news with a slew of sports relaunch stories.

Read more:
On the Schedule: Chess, Horse Racing and Children Lifting - The New York Times