Goddesschess Random Roundup

Susan Hollis “Holly” Bloom Heisman (1953-1994) was Dan Heisman's first wife, who passed away from breast cancer. Holly worked as a social worker, helping women in need such as runaway teenagers and battered wives. After her passing, Dan’s sister Eileen Heisman, a professional gift trust fundraiser, arranged to start a charitable trust in Holly’s name at the Philadelphia Foundation (www.philafound.org) to support women in need, specifically those with breast cancer, battered wives, and runaway teens. This was done in 1995 and Eileen was appointed as the primary point of contact with the Foundation.

Dan looked for ways to make the Fund more active. Soon after, he helped create the first charitable chess tournament. Dan asked some of his contacts to donate prizes. In turn, the players were asked to voluntarily make contributions to The Holly Heisman Fund. The first event was held in the summer of 2003.

Over the years the Holly Heisman Fund has raised over $14,000 towards these charitable ends for the Philadelphia Foundation. About half those funds have been raised via the Holly Heisman Memorial Tournament. Among the prize donors this year are
Susan Polgar Foundation and Susan Polgar, Chessville, Plunder Chess, Bookup, House of Staunton, the Internet Chess Club, John Bain, and IM Igor Khmelnitsky. This year is the fifth annual event, and it features two major new sponsors: USCF Executive Director Bill Hall donated a free Tournament Life Announcement (TLA) and radio personality Howard Stern has donated a prize of a tour of his radio studio/show (limited to adults only!)

In 2005 Dan decided to create a second charitable Fund at the Philadelphia Foundation, The Dan Heisman Chess Support Fund, which supports scholastic events in the Philadelphia area through the Philadelphia Foundation and the PA State Chess Federation.

The 2007 Holly Heisman Memorial tournament will be held Aug 12. It is a five-round swiss, G/30, with three sections: Open, Under 1500, and Scholastic Under 900.

More on the event:

To make mail or online donations:
(under the Chess Support Fund)

Thanks! - Dan Heisman

The Giza Archives Project (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) Read about the project in this recent article (in PDF).

Nothing New Under the Sun Those flashy "grills" that some people wear (think diamond studded braces) - well they ain't got nothing on an ancient Roman woman with a golden smile...

Iran's Shar-i Sokhtah (the "Burnt City") is back in the news - this time, for an artificial eyeball.

Is an Inca Indian buried in Norway - in a 1,000 year old grave? Read all about it here - and here.

Several intact burials were excavated in east China's Jiangxi Province, dating to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-221 BC). It is the largest group of coffins ever discovered in a single tomb and the excavation has been dubbed "the most important archaeology project of the year" by cultural experts and media.

Spiegel Online has an excellent story/review on the Archimedes Manuscript/palimpsest. "In October 1998, when a fragile, handwritten manuscript with mold spots and blackened edges was offered for sale in an auction at Christie's in New York. After a contentious bidding war, the auctioneer's hammer fell at a price of $2.2 million. An anonymous "billionaire from the computer industry" had apparently purchased the rare work..."

Faked image? Real? Buddha? The Virgin Mary?
Image photographed on July 1, 2007 at Zushan Mountain after a heavy rainfall in Qinhuangdao, North China's Heibei Province. Maybe it's Xi Wang Mu, Queen of the Heavens, Queen Mother of the Western Mountains and goddess of the ancient Chinese game Liubo.

7-year-old already a chess queen!

Local girl has the skills, drive and strategic forethought to become a chess master An insightful article on Arissa Jade Torres by the Bakersfield Californian. Arissa recently won the 2007 Susan Polgar World Open Chess Championship in Las Vegas in the under-8 category.

July 8, 2007

The Art and Archaeology website offers reviews of museum exhibitions from around the world.

News: 19 June 2007 Chicago
Gold Processing Center Discovered in the Ancient Kingdom of Kush Archaeologists have discovered a gold processing center in Sudan that documents the ancient African kingdom of Kush.

For Love or Money
The Egyptian government is going to "crack down" on young Egyptian men in Luxor marrying foreign women of a "certain" age. Hmmmm, do these "foreign" women then move to Egypt and actually live with their young husbands - or do they just send money every month to support their stud-muffins and visit once a year on vacation???

Blast from the Past: Shelby Lyman, From "Chess - Are Girls too Nice to Excel in Chess?"

Chess historian Edgar Winter has written a review on the 1989 smash hit book "Searching for Bobby Fischer." For those of you who haven't read it, we highly recommend it. For those of you who aren't particularly chess fans but are fans of Goddesschess, we recommend the movie - it's chess' version of "Rocky."

The 'Kings of New York' Win Again
The Edward R. Murrow High School chess team that inspired the book by Michael Weinreb has won the 2007 National High School Chess Championships!

Boulder covered with petroglyphs stolen near Yuma, Arizona - It seems likely the boulder was stolen by someone looking to sell it on the black market. Keeping sacred relics "on site" is, unfortunately, not working - particularly in this day and age, when modern technology and communications make it easier than ever for antiquities thieves and looters to ascertain the location of valuable sacred relics and archaeological finds. Are Native American tribes jeopardizing their cultural heritage by refusing to allow objects such as this boulder to be removed for safekeeping and further study to museums?

The Dragon and the Pearl: One of the great mysteries of world mythology and symbolism is the universal association of a cosmic serpent with a glowing sphere in the heavens. The association is too consistent to be explained as accidental convergence.

Darrian Robinson is 12 years old, ranked third in the United States among girls under 13. Last year, Darrian represented the United States at the World Youth Chess Tournament in 2006 in the Democratic Republic of Georgia. She was the only Black from the United States, which it is common for her to be in competitions. At nationals, boys can outnumber girls at least 15-to-1. At invitationals, such as the World Youth Chess Tournament, girls and boys are equally represented. Read Darrian's story.

July 1,2007

Egyptians, not Greeks were true fathers of medicine Scientists examining documents dating back 3,500 years say they have found proof that the origins of modern medicine lie in ancient Egypt and not with Hippocrates and the Greeks.

Did the ancients cross the Atlantic?
In July a reed ship will leave Jersey City, New Jersey (USA) and head east across the Atlantic. This grass boat, the Abora III, will help the Germany-based Association for Experimental Archaeology and Research attempt to prove that trade existed 14,000 years ago.

35,000-Year-Old Mammoth Sculpture Found in Germany - In southwestern Germany, an American archaeologist and his German colleagues have found
the oldest mammoth-ivory carving known to modern science. And even at 35,000 years old, it's still intact.

An Italian archaeologist claims to know the location of the "Holy Grail."

American taxpayer dollars at work, funding those geniuses in the Pentagon. The U.S. military is issuing "archaeological" decks of playing cards to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to "educate" them about the countries' antiquities. Unbelievable.

Mummy of Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut found!!
Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, sent out this announcement:

A Maze of Morris Essays: Well, just two, actually... but a maze of amazing facts and speculations...

1) Some Notes and Thoughts on The Daunce of Nine-Men's-Morris and the Boundaries Between Worlds by Tracy Boyd© 2004

2) From Circle and Square to the Image of the World: A Possible Interpretation for some Petroglyphs of Merels Boards by Friedrich Berger

The Nebra Disc is back in the news (and the ongoing debate "it's a fraud", "no it's not", "it's a fraud", "no it's not...")