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Chess In the Media

Expert chess player at weekend exhibition (Exeter News-Letter)

The Town Hall was hushed on Saturday as nervous chess players waited in turn for their chance to make a move against a master-level chess expert during the Newfields Youth Chess Club’s simultaneous chess exhibition. Master chess player Bart Gibbons played 13 simultaneous chess games with players ranging in age from 7 to 60, who had come from as far away as Haverhill, Mass., for a chance to play against a nationally ranked player.

In a simultaneous exhibition, an expert chess player competes against many people at once, stopping at each board to make a move and then moving on to the next player. While the master makes his way from board to board, players plot their next moves. Because each player gets much more time to think of a move than the expert does, ordinary players have a chance to win against the expert. Unfortunately, none of them did.

Gibbons, a Newmarket resident who recently moved to New Hampshire from Los Angeles, took just a few seconds at each board to make his move. After three hours of chess, he had beaten 11 players and agreed to a draw in two other hard-fought games.

Popular Comic Launches National Chess Week (Community Newswire, UK)

A national children's charity is today celebrating after popular comedian and panto star Joe Pasquale took time out from his busy schedule to help launch the second National Chess Week.

National Chess Week, hosted by leading children's charity Barnardo's, encourages youngsters to put down the game controller, switch off the TV and engage their brains.

The charity aims to raise £50,000 to help its bid to free children throughout the UK from poverty, abuse and discrimination.

Chess team ranked 12th in hemisphere (Emory Wheel)

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Ba4 g6 5.Nge2 Bg7

This notation may not make much sense to most people, but it might as well be a second language to a member of Emory’s chess team. It represents the opening moves between College freshman A.J. Steigman and Stanford University’s (Calif.) Nathan Solon at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship.

Emory’s team placed second in its division and 12th overall in the tournament, which was held from Dec. 27-30 in Wichita, Kansas.

It was the third time Emory competed in the tournament. Last year, Emory placed first in its division, narrowly edging out Duke University (N.C.).

Do you know of an interesting, humorous, or unique chess story published online? E-mail us at newsletter@uschess.org.