Archives of previous Random Roundup updates

June 15 - 28, 2009

Rounding up this week's universe ...

Our universe is expanding! During recent weeks Goddesschess has been undergoing a massive enlargement of content and categories. Meanwhile, extrordinary events continue to unfold on that little blue planet we call home ...

Women and men in chess – smashing the stereotypes Chessbase article By WGM Natalia Pogonina and Peter Zhdanov "They're all weak, all women. They're stupid compared to men.They shouldn't play chess, you know. They're like beginners. They lose every single game against a man. There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knight-odds to and still beat." - Robert James Fischer, 1962, Harper's Magazine

The Shira Chess Challenge By JanXena (a/k/a Jan Newton) June 23, 2009 : : "From a little acorn, a mighty oak can grow.  Thus goes the old saying.  Nah, this isn't about acorns!  It's about kids, and a friend from many moons ago, and computers, and a chess challenge!

Stress and chess

While Jan Xena cusses Win Zip files the square planet - video (2:57) - paints an interesting portait of players performing under duress. Elsewhere, at Chesstories, Karah Pino (pdf) takes us on a literary tour of her own experiences with a game that some say is not really a game...

"Memories - light the corners of my mind..."

"First Image of a Memory Being Made By Clara Moskowitz LiveScience Staff Writer – Fri Jun 26, For the first time, an image of a memory being made at the cellular level has been captured by scientists.

Reconstructing lost memories - and memes:

The History of India - by Vikas Kamat

Events in the Land of The Timeless Theater
 
How we know what we know?

Sources of Indian History Professor R.C. Majumdar (portrait - interview), a noted Indian historian has said that "... although it is difficult to accept, the Indians totally lacked the historical sense". The ancient Indians made great inroads into astronomy, physics, mathematics, all kinds of literature and arts but never seriously took to documenting their history and their indifference has cost their posterity very dearly."

Iraq - More posterity unfolds online at the Virtual Iraq Museum

Muscial Way-Back Machine

'Oldest musical instrument' found By Pallab Ghosh - Science correspondent, BBC NewsScientists in Germany have published details of flutes dating back to the time that modern humans began colonising Europe, 35,000 years ago.

Musicians Network: No Neaderthal compositions recorded on this otherwise massive compilation - but there is always hope... Included on this site - an annotated bibliography of musical compositions related to chess.

John Greschak - Connections between Music and Chess

Synopsis of The Magic Flute (German title: Die Zauberflöte) An Opera by W A Mozart: "The libretto to "The Magic Flute" is considered such a jumble of nonsense that it is as well to endeavour to extract some sense from it."

"The Magic Flute will protect you, and sustain you in the greatest of misfortunes."

The Chess Museum has a nice store of Chess book bibliographies: "The amount of chess literature written over time is immense - and it is necessary to have a bit of guidance via bibliographical works.  Especially since most collectors of chess books will specialize - some in tournament books, others in autographed books, in game collections, chess magazines, chess instructing books, grand classics, books on chess history, books by eminent problemists  etc."

A large catalogue of books can be found at chessbookshop.com - which also includes a section on Chess History

Mark Weeks also supplies a nice selections of reference items Chess Bibliography: Some of the best chess books ever written "There are thousands of books available on chess, covering just about every aspect you can imagine. Listed here are a few titles considered classics by many experts on the subject. Classic chess books frequently go in and out of print. If you can't find a new copy of a title that interests you, check out used book resources. And don't forget your local library!

Also noted earlier by Mr. Weeks: "During our reviews of chess history sites, we've encountered three online catalogs of chess books. These were the...

Cleveland Public Library - John G. White collection

Koninklijke Bibliotheek - Van der Linde - Niemeijeriana collection

Max Euwe Centrum - Amsterdam, NL

Everything is like chess! "If you do any reading or communicate with anyone, you are bound to hear how something/anything is like chess. Below is a partial list - of games/ideas/work/thoughts/etc. that people think are like chess. I won’t kid you, there are a lot of games and sports, but there are some oddities as well. Maybe one day no one will ever say anything is like chess except chess."

More books on board games and the people behind their creation and history for relaxed summer reading...

"Will it go 'round in circles - will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?" (Billy Preston)

Solstice 2009 : Going round in cycles and on cycles

Partygoers Greet Solstice at Stonehenge By Nardine Saad, AP STONEHENGE, England (June 21) - Pagans and partygoers drummed, danced or gyrated in hula hoops to stay awake through the night, as more than 35,000 people greeted the summer solstice Sunday at the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge.

Huge Pre-Stonehenge Complex Found via "Crop Circles" James Owen in London for National Geographic News June 15, 2009 - Given away by strange, crop circle-like formations seen from the air, a huge prehistoric ceremonial complex discovered in southern England has taken archaeologists by surprise.

White Mares and Crop Circles Epona is a Celtic horse goddess - a White Mare. A nice play of words could be made on Night Mare, and probably was, hmmm..

Knights Eco-Tour on Bikes Saturday, June 13, 2009
Canadian Press Jessica Murphy - Montreal cyclists bare it all to raise awareness on green issues: - Sporting only helmets, shoes and a blatant disregard for full body sunburns, some 25 nude cyclists took to the streets of Montreal to raise awareness of global environmental issues.

Knight's Tour Notes compiled by George Jelliss — © 2000 – 2004 The mother of all knight's tour web sites...

Bonjour! Hola! and Hello!

Goddesschess is pleased to announce
our sponsorship of special awards
for women participants in the

2009 Montreal Open Chess Championship
More special coverage here and more to follow...

Shira Evans'
Computer Labs for Kids Foundation

We enthusiatically encourage our readers to
JOIN SHIRA'S CHARITY CAUSE ON FACEBOOK!

This year Shira started a foundation called Computer Labs for Kids. Shira receives donated or buys laptop computers with donations and then gives them to needy children and provides training and orientation on how to use the laptops! Wow!

Shira's first activity was to travel to Agra, India where she taught several girls who are residents of a girls' school there. This You Tube video follows their progress.

Shira has just returned to the states from Ashkelon, Israel, and later this year she'll be going to Egypt. You can read more about Shira's foundation work and travels at her Facebook site.

Archives of previous Access Mundae updates

Chesstories
• Final Gambit by Karah Pino: We received this very interesting chess story for publication from Karah Pino, who stopped playing chess in 1999 after a personal trauma and subsequent realization. This is the true and well written story of her final game.

• George Koltanowski Remembered: Just who was George and what made him so special to chess? The Knight's Tours of George Koltanowski, by Frederic Friedel takes us on a brief journey back in time...

Chess Goddesses
• FILE UPDATE: The Cleveland Public Library has a collection of articles and materials on Gisela Kahn Gresser's chess career. The Gisela Kahn Gresser Collection is available for use by researchers in the John G. White Special Collections Department on the 3rd Floor of the Main Building.

Chessays
• L’Occident chrétien médiéval et les échecs. L’évolution des pièces non figuratives du 10e au début du 16e siècle. Modified for html access March 22, 2009 English-French introduction to French text - Pierre Mille offers a graphically rich and rewarding survey outlining the 10th - 16th Century evolution of non-figurative western chess pieces. Merci, Pierre!

• The Literary World of 15th Century Valencia: The Scachs d'amour Manuscript and its Three Authors by M.C. Romeo. A wonderful description of the Spanish literary circle that made modern chess what it is today.

Chessquest
• Lawrence Totaro has put together a nice pictorial essay on Salvador Dali's artistic interest in chess we are pleased to incorporate into our current library. Updated March 22: This page now hosts recent photos of the Dali Museum - St. Petersburg, Florida and some additional bits of information.

GoddessVision

"The Godesschess
Brooklyn Gambit 2009"
video (4:34)

Our first video adventure takes us to Egypt via the Brooklyn Museum. Our lips are padlocked - but the Goddesschess Light Orchestra plays on. An original composition "Everybody's Searching for Home", by Dondelion provides the sonic muse for some mysteriously and typically Egyptian board game items, but it is Babi the blue baboon who steals the whole show. No chess in Egypt says H.j.R. Murray - but apparently lots of Egypt in chess ... quite apparently...

" No one should gather wisdom in a bag, put it in a box, and then stand on a road and say, “Teach me wisdom!” - African Senufo tribal saying

“ It is right to teach young people that chess is not a game of war, but is a beautiful game.” - Russian Chess Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh

" Remind me again he said, how the little horse shaped one moves." - Terry Pratchett

" Chess predates the universe, as I recall. It was the reason life arose."

"Chess is the greatest game ever invented, because it only looks like a game." - Scott Kerns

 

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