|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 5 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
| Apr-05-06 | | Akavall: <EmperorAtahualpa><Since when is it cool to be dumb?> Maybe in Netherlands the situation is different (hopefully it is). However, in the US it appears, that "dumb" and "cool" are very closely related as far as mainstream culture goes. Look at all the hip-hop and pop artists; they at least pretend to be dumb. In high school, for example, it is very "uncool" to be smart and get streight As', while the "coolest" kids in school are those who pretend to be dumb. (unless things drastically changed, since I graduated). IMO, chess is struggling in the US because it is labeled "uncool", becoming the school's chess champion is probably the "uncoolest" thing you can do. For this reason, fewer kids want to play it. I think what Kosteniuk is doing is very important for popularizing chess in the US--she gives it a fun image. |
|
Apr-05-06
 | | TheAlchemist: <Since when is it cool to be dumb?> I would agree with <Akavall>'s comment. In my high school it was also "cool" to get bad grades and skipping classes. I'm sure many of them regretted it later, but it is sometimes too late. Also, kids start smoking and drinking in elementary school already, which is also dubbed as "cool". |
|
| Apr-05-06 | | norami: Beavis and Butthead were cool! |
|
| Apr-07-06 | | EmperorAtahualpa: An article in Dutch by GM Hans Ree about the Women's World Chess Championships, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Xu Yuhua: "De wereldkampioene is weer een Chinese"
door Hans Ree
Doordat de 21-jarige Russin Alexandra Kostenjoek zo'n glamourmeisje is, vergeten we wel eens hoe sterk ze schaakt. Ze is fotomodel, officieel ambassadeur voor het gerenommeerde merk Balmain, ze heeft een rol in een Russische film gespeeld, ze schrijft gedichten en ze loopt rond met een snoezig hondje, Moxi genaamd, dat in haar dameshandtasje past. Ze is ook vierde op de wereldranglijst van de vrouwen en op 1 april zal ze achter Judit Polgar op de tweede plaats komen, vooral dankzij het goede resultaat dat ze dit jaar in Moskou in het Aeroflot Open behaalde, een keihard mannentoernooi. Toch werd ze in het wereldkampioenschap van de vrouwen, dat de afgelopen weken werd gespeeld in de Russische stad Jekaterinenburg, bij ons vooral bekend door de moord op de tsaar en zijn familie in 1918, al in de derde ronde uitgeschakeld. De wereldkampioene Antoaneta Stefanova was haar al voorgegaan en in totaal waren er na die derde ronde van de dertien beste speelsters nog maar twee over. Als schaken een geluksspel was dat door het opgooien van een muntje werd beslist, zou je na drie ronden van een knock-out toernooi hetzelfde verwachten. Het leek of krachtsverschillen helemaal niet meer telden. Van die bovenste dertien waren alleen de Chinese Xu Yuhua en de Georgische oud-wereldkampioene Maja Tsjiboerdanidze nog in de strijd. Tsjiboerdanidze zei in een interview dat ze sinds een half jaar een computer had en verrukt was over wat die computer op schaakgebied kon doen. Je kon er aan zien dat het schaken voor haar al heel lang niet meer dan een aardige hobby is, want alle ambitiueze schakers zitten al minstens vijftien jaar aan de computer. De zesde ronde, de finale van dit wereldkampioenschap, ging tussen Xu Yuhua en Alisa Galliamova. Galliamova is de ex-echtgenote van Vasili Ivantsjoek en speelde toen voor Oekraïne, maar nu voor Rusland. Xu won de finale, die over vier partijen ging, met 2,5-0,5. Na een korte onderbreking is het vrouwenwereldkampioenschap terug in China. Wat of wie had het meest bijgedragen aan haar wereldkampioenschap, werd op een persconferentie gevraagd. Het kind dat ze in september van dit jaar hoopt te baren, antwoordde Xu. Source: http://www.nrc.nl/rubrieken/schaken... (membership required) |
|
| Apr-18-06 | | percyblakeney: If I've understood things correctly Xu Yuhua didn't have the IM title before the World Championship but will become a GM now. |
|
| Apr-18-06 | | alexapple: Xu Yuhua at least got 5 IM norms. She just didn't apply for IM title. Many Chinese woman chess player didn't apply for IM title. As far as I know,WGM Wang Pin got 6 IM norms. Similar things happen to WGM ZhaoXue,WangLei,QinKanying. Zhao Xue successfully got her 3rd IM norm in Hungary when she was 15 years old,but she didn't apply for the title. |
|
| Apr-19-06 | | percyblakeney: <alexapple> I see, it's less strange than it looked then... |
|
| May-11-06 | | crazy monk: If the chinese quit playing their chess, they will dominate this chess, both men & women. Why? pop. over 1.5 billions. |
|
| Jun-15-06 | | alexapple: Chinese Chess much more popular than chess in China. |
|
| Jun-15-06 | | alicefujimori: <alexapple><Chinese Chess much more popular than chess in China>No lies. Even Go is more popular than chess in China. |
|
| Oct-17-06 | | twinlark: Does anyone know why Yuhua hasn't been awarded a full GM title for winning the Women's World Championship? (http://www.fide.com/ratings/seek.ph... for her official rating and title, and http://www.fide.com/official/handbo... for FIDE's rules that presumably govern titles and title norms.) |
|
| Oct-17-06 | | jamesmaskell: Has she got the three GM norms? |
|
| Oct-17-06 | | alexapple: Xu Yuhua has already been a GM for her winning WWCC. Just wait with patience until the FIDE changes her title. |
|
| Oct-17-06 | | twinlark: Does she need to apply or is it automatic? |
|
| Oct-17-06 | | alexapple: It's automatic,I think. |
|
| Oct-21-06 | | twinlark: Doesn't look like it. Titles were confirmed by FIDE's Presidential Board in late September 2006 in Elista: http://fide.com/news.asp?id=1159. Nor was Yuhua's title confirmed earlier: http://fide.com/ratings/top.phtml?l... What's going on here? Has FIDE forgotten how to abide by its own rules? |
|
Oct-29-06
 | | WTHarvey: Here is a little collection of puzzles from her games: http://www.wtharvey.com/xu.html |
|
| Oct-03-07 | | s4life: She's back at the European Club Cup with her first game(a win) in close to two years. |
|
| Oct-09-07 | | trapdor: 2591 performance at the European Club Cup. |
|
| Oct-29-07 | | cn1ght: Might as well add my little tid-bit. I'm going to college in Ohio, U.S.A. and my high schoool, or last year and previous, most of the kids TRIED to get good grades, and rarely skipped, in fact the uncool kids were the ones skipping. Than again, chess was looked up to, it was Jesuit (sect of Christian) and hence private so that might not count. As to college, it seems like the kids only skip the classes where they are not learning anything, they prefer to show up, in fact even if they KNOW they will not learn anything.
As to chess, in high school I was rated between 1700-1800 and I lost maybe once a year and I'd play practically every day at school. And as of yet I've played one person at college and she claimed she hadn't played in a few years so chess is practically non-existent in both high school and college haha. ( high school is grades 9-12 and college grades 13+ for those not in U.S.A.) |
|
| Oct-29-07 | | whiteshark: Player of the day:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Yuhua
http://www.chessbase.com/news/2006/... First duty of a World Champion:
http://www.chessbase.de/2006/Jekate... http://www.interajedrez.com/academi... |
|
| Oct-29-07 | | duffer: private religious schools definitely do not count.
and kids preferring to show up to classes in college most of the time? that's ohio for you. |
|
| Apr-17-08 | | percyblakeney: FIDE's problems when it comes to arranging the men's World Championship are nothing compared to the women's cycle. Xu Yuhua is the current champion since the knockout competition in 2006, but it is uncertain when and where the next event will take place. The only thing that seems to be certain is that the knockout minimatches are here to stay. Some quotes from FIDE and various other sources on a Mark Weeks page: <Presidential Board Meeting, January 26-28th, 2007 [...] Women’s World Chess Championship 2008 will be held on March 8-25th, 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic'> <78th FIDE Congress 14-16 November 2007 Antalya, Turkey • '30. Women’s World Chess Championship 2008. The event shall be held in San Luis, Argentina> <The Women's World Chess Championship was scheduled to be held in Argentina from June 18 to July 11 this year. It is a knock-out event with 64 participants. Unfortunately the Argentinian bid has been retracted, after FIDE extended the deadline a number of times> <...Iran stepped in instead. However problems arose during initial meetings between FIDE and Iranian representatives, when Iran set conditions like wearing headscarves and preventing men from entering the championship arena. Furthermore it said Israeli players would not be allowed into the country> http://worldchesschampionship.blogs... The latest news is that Turkey maybe will host the event in December, but it doesn't seem too certain, at least the information on FIDE's site is sparse: http://www.fide.com/index.php?optio... |
|
| Jul-08-08 | | Strafe: World Women's Chess Championship 2008
Xu Yuhua will defend her title from 28 August to 18 September in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia. Seven other Chinese players will be also there too.
Yang Shen
Yifan Hou
Ruan Lufei
Zhao Xue
Tan Zhongyi
Zhang Jilin
Ju Wenjun |
|
| Jul-10-08 | | percyblakeney: It looks a bit strange with the defending Champion being 139 points lower rated than the rating favourite (and that without Judit Polgar competing). Xu Yuhua is 20th on the women's world ranking and fourth among the Chinese players, and it would be a sensation if she keeps the title. Humpy Koneru and Hou Yifan are the favourites, but the knockout system has never seen the top ranked participant win the women's title before, so it wouldn't be too surprising if for example Sebag or Muzychuk wins. From the draw as published by Chessbase it seems as if Lahno and Dembo won't participate. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... |
|
 |
|
|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 5 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
Kibitzing
