The death of smoking

The decline of smoking at chess tournaments pretty much followed the decline of smoking in (western) society. It was around for a couple of years when I first started playing, but most chess clubs and tournaments became smoke free around the mid 1980's.
I can remember some controversy at a Doeberl Cup in the 1980's when the organisers were asked to contribute to the anti-smoking movement by putting up the "smoking harms you health" type signs at the tournament. The only problem was that smoking hadn't actually been banned at the tournament at the time, and Max Fuller requested the signs be removed as he found them either offensive/annoying or stupid (I cannot quite remember which).
Of course prior to this smoking in chess clubs was far worse, or maybe better (given that almost everyone smoked). A couple of people have regaled me with stories of the Canberra Chess Club in the 1970's being constantly clouded in smoke but this excerpt from a 1945 article probably covers it best. Attempting to define various types of chess players it says

6. Non-Smoker: Little is known of this type as he is practically non-existent, and therefore his inclusion is purely nominal.

(btw the same article has "The Ejaculator" at number 13 on the list, although the behaviour refers to verbal emission's only!)

ICGA lowers the boom on Rybka

Earlier in the year I reported on the growing controversy about early version of Rybka being a clone of the Open Source chess program Fruit. At the time the International Computer Games Association were planning to investigate the claims. The investigation is now finished and the verdict is now in.
Basically they have found that Vasik Rajlich (the author of Rybka) based his early versions of Rybka on Fruit and Crafty (both open source) and failed to declare that Rybka was based upon these programs when entering ICGA events. As a result Rybka has been stripped of the World Computer Championship titles it won in 2007,08,09 and 10. Vasik Rajlich has also been banned from entering any ICGA events for life.
There is also the issue of whether Rybka breaches the Gnu Public Licence that was attached to Fruit. This case may be taken up by the Free Software Foundation, and may either see Rybka entirely withdrawn from the market, or that Rybka be subject to the GPL (ie source code being made public).
Chessvibes has extensive coverage of the ICGA findings, including links to the relevant documents concerning the case.

Miniature of the Month for May(!)

While I draw my material for my Open & Shut column from a number of sources, I normally use the Chess Today archives to select my miniature of the month. As their monthly database is released in the following month, there can be quite a gap between when a game is played, and when it appears here (especially if I dawdle over my choice of game). So here is a game from May 2011. I don't know anything about the players involved, except that White seems to have a keen eye for an attack.


Mayorga, Nicolas (2293) v Kropff, Ricardo (2298)
Asuncion, Paraguay, 20.5.2011

The World Open

While a number of Australian players headed across the Indian Ocean to play in the Commonwealth Championships, a couple decided crossing the Pacific was the way to go. Young Australian FM's Junta Ikeda and Moulthun Ly have travelled to Philadelphia to take part in the 2011 World Open. The event has a guaranteed prize pool of $225,000 (US), and over 1000 players are expected to take part.
Before the main event starts, both Ikeda and Ly are warming up by playing in the Philadelphia International. This is a 9 round, 5 day event, with a $10,000 prize pool. At this stage Ly is on 3.5/5 while Ikeda is on 2/5.
If you can navigate the World Open website (it can be a little tricky) you can follow the progress of the Australian players.

Peter Falk

Actor Peter Falk passed away on the 23rd of June. He was one of my favourite actors, appearing in The Princess Bride, the Columbo TV series, and playing himself, as an angel, in Wings of Desire (amongst many other films and TV shows).
His connection with the world of chess was two-fold. In real life he was a chess aficionado, who spectated a couple of big chess events in the US (the 1983 US Open being one). In the character of Columbo, he matched wits with Grandmaster Emmett Clayton, who had attempted to murder a rival. Of course in this episode, "The Most Dangerous Match", Columbo outwits his opponent, and gets his man.

2011 Commonwealth Championship

The 2011 Commonwealth Championship gets under way in South Africa tomorrow. At this stage the tournament is looking massive, with about 450 players in the championship event, and another 350 players in the supporting event.Most of the players are from South Africa, or neighbouring countries like Botswana and Namibia, but both India and Australia have reasonably sized contingents. The Australia charge is head by GM David Smerdon, who is making his way to Amsterdam, via South America and Africia. (btw You can read all about his travels on his blog).
Top seeds are Nigel Short, Abhijeet Gupte and Gawain Jones. Smderdon is 6th seed, while Tristan Stevens is seeded 48th. As in the previous Commonwealth Championship, players from non-Commonwealth countries are allowed to take part, but are ineligible for the title.

The crackdown begins

News from the Russian Championship (Ht Milan Ninchich), shows that what the public demands, the organisers enforce. This tournament, which is a qualifier for the real Russian Championship aka Russian Super Final, has a couple of extra playing conditions.
The first is the extension of the "No draws in under 30 moves rule" to "No draws in under 40 moves" rule. I'm guessing this is not too onerous, although it does require a few more "non-book" moves from players determined to split the point.
The second is substantially more drastic, especially in its enforcement. Players are forbidden from leaving the playing area, although this rule hasn't been enforced in the past. However GM Dmitry Chuprov found that it was being enforced this year, and had a win turned into a loss due to his breaking the rule twice in a game.
Chessbase has a report on the tournament, including the enforcement of these new rules.