Meanwhile, users of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin can more easily escape detection, since these drugs are flushed out of the system within a week to 10 days.

And what if an employee drinks to oblivion every night, and comes in to work hung over every day? They don't seem to test for that....But alcohol is one of the hardest drugs of all, legal or not....

That person would be a lot more of a danger to himself and others, than the one who smokes a spliff on weekends....

I also want to say that I greatly admire your playing style--you are genuinely original. You are one of only a handful of players whose games I play through just to see how they handle situations. I am always rewarded with new insights--if I think long and hard enough. I am working on the 2. a3 response to the Sicilian currently. When I say working, I am mostly talking about playing over your old games. (I just discovered that there is a fairly recent book, which I have ordered too.)

In my experience, the question of lack of power in relation to drug testing is a legitimate point. I formerly was in-house counsel for a very large corporation. I spent a lot of time in plants investigating problems and what caused them. I had to take a pre-employment drug test. For cause, I could have been asked to take another (I never was). Managers did not get tested for their decisions to buy or not buy equipment, to implement or not implement particular policies, etc., although those decisions frequently affected (or adversely affected) safety. The guys who worked out in the plants, however, were subject to frequent random drug testing, as well as being drug tested if there was any type of incident that might affect safety. It is fair to say that there were some legitimate reasons for the differences in policy. It is also fair to say that those with more power in the company were tested far less than those with less power. It is also fair to say that many of the problems that drug testing was purportedly designed to prevent (e.g., safety, human health), were much more widely and profoundly affected by the actions (or lack thereof) of managers rather than workers.

SetNoEscapeOn: I'm not sure if this was intended as a joke of some sort or not, but it's not true, at least not in the US. School children are never tested for drugs, at least not in public schools (unless as part of some sort of anonymous survey). Amateur athletes not good enough to participate in world class competitions (well over 99% of them) are never tested for drugs in connection with their competitive activities.

Meanwhile accountants (or any other professional, no matter how well educated or "privileged") who works for a large corporation is going to have to take (and pass) a drug test before they are hired (not to mention the random drug testing commonly seen in several of the biggest companies). Drug testing for police officers is also the norm throughout the US. For instance

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...

and Deep Fritz

Up a Tree

C_H_E_A_T_I_N_G

That reminds me of a great sketch from the 80s HBO show "Not Necessarily the News," which I think I commented on somewhere else. (Remember this is from the apartheid period.)

A white man and a black man are sitting down to play a game. The white guy (playing white) makes a move, thinks hard, then makes another move, then another and another until mating the black guy, who hasn't moved at all.

The camera moves behind the black man, showing his hands tied behind his back, and the announcer says: "South African Rules Chess."

yes he mentioned in the book that his indonesian stepfather(lolo) played countless of hours playing chess with (gramps) his grandfather while they were still in hawaii.

after years of spending time in indonesia(going with his mom and stepdad) he go back to hawaii to study highschool and he complained nobody among the kids play ches, badminton or football, hawaiian kids is in baseball.

<im actually in the first hundred page of the book and i enjoy reading it the way i enjoy reading the autobiography od collin powell and dennis rodman.>

Open letter
Dear Mr. Ilyumzhinov and the FIDE Presidential Board,

In the wake of recent events surrounding the FIDE Grand Prix and the General Assembly's decision to alter the current World Championship cycle, I feel obliged, as a participant and a leading chess player, to express my disappointment. I must request you to critically view and question the GA's latest decisions and the processes to which they came. I must stress that I am not one for scandals and do not wish to cause unnecessary fights – however I believe it is my duty to act as the voice of the players.

Firstly, the decision to alter the World Championship cycle at this time is not in the spirit of fair competition. We can draw a parallel to the following example: the rules set before a race state that the marathon is 42km, and while the runners are still running, having already completed 20km, the rules are suddenly changed to make the marathon an 80km run. The runners thus lose motivation to run and consequently distrust the rule makers. This is comparable to the situation the participants of the FIDE Grand Prix will be in if the GA's decisions are made final.

After severe criticism for many years over the World Championship cycle, FIDE finally created a promising new system, only now to self-impose new waves of criticism. When the initial World Championship cycle was set in place and the Grand Prix system was created for players to qualify legitimately for a chance to challenge the world champion, we had the belief that there was finally a fair and reliable system (which my federation also supported).

Does this mean that the chess players have lesser rights than others? The GA appears to act with no concern for the players. The decision to suddenly change the World Championship cycle has damaging effects on the career plans of leading chess players. It is also reasonable to ask: why should we go through several tournaments over several years and fight for a place in a tournament that another player gets by losing a match? The GA's decisions remove the motivation for players like myself to take part in the World Championship cycle.

It should be noted that Mr. Mastrokoukos' reason to change the cycle because of the unforeseen events of two legs of the Grand Prix withdrawing is not convincing and does not reflect reality – because a Grand Prix event in Yerevan has already been announced by FIDE as a replacement. It is clear that the withdrawal of Doha and Montreux are not endangering the system, as he would have us believe in his letter to Mr. Carlsen.

It seems that FIDE was on the right path towards a reliable World Championship cycle, which had the support of leading players and chess federations worldwide. However, with the GA's recent actions, FIDE has left the right path and will lose its credibility in the eyes of chess players world wide – not to mention, ruin its efforts to be recognized as a sport by the IOC. I hope that the above arguments will be heard before finalizing the decisions of the GA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4xu... (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpV8... (part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iaia... (part 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBbt... (part 4)

Part 1 – news, airport, state honors ceremony

Part 2 – awarding of medals and news

Part 3 – news and fireworks

May I learn if there are any laws which prohibit freedom of speech and freedom of expression in free world. I didn't violate any laws neither in US nor in Europe. This is a bogus claim in the first place. I was the one who was reminding the international treaties that commit various European countries including Britain, France, Greece, Italy.

I was away and I didn't know that my previous posts are deleted by the administration. I am angry now and I want a valid explanation on this matter right now.