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2007

June 24, 2007

Free Online Chess Coaching - in India
For the first time in the country a unique online chess coaching camp organised by cyberchess.co. in was formally inaugurated by Sanjay Jaju, Special Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, in his official chambers here on Tuesday. The camp is free for all chess players and the salient features include a direct interaction with Grandmaster Tejas Bakre. The site has players from Denmark, Malaysia, USA and Finland registered with the website designed by Andhra's first IM Lanka Ravi. Ravi says that very soon many more Grandmasters and International Masters will be joining the line up to provide a rich variety to chess players of different age groups.

Fascinating Chess Prodigies
Experts say the four greatest prodigies in chess history have been Paul Morphy, Jose Raul Capablanca, Samuel Reshevsky and Bobby Fischer.

Are They Real or Are They Fakes?
Hershel Shenks and the Biblical Archaeology Society recently convened a symposium of experts on the authenticity of certain well-publicized relics, including the James Ossuary. He is now offering a downloadable report on the group's findings (free of charge) or you can order a hard copy for a reasonable price.

Does the Phaistos Disk Contain a Message Left by Extraterrestrial Visitors? (Pssst...guys, it's probably just a board game variant...)

Rock Etchings Discovered
Discovery of some c. 8000 year old rock etchings in Algeria gets scant coverage while discovery of some rock etchings in Egypt that may be about 15,000 years old gets rock star coverage (heh heh).

13th century text hides words of Archimedes: The pages of a medieval prayer text also contain words of ancient Greek engineer Archimedes. It takes high-tech imaging to read between the lines.By Jia-Rui Chong, Times Staff Writer

Satellites hovering above Egypt have zoomed in on a 1,600-year-old metropolis, archaeologists say. Images captured from space pinpoint telltale signs of previous habitation in the swatch of land 200 miles south of Cairo, which digging recently confirmed as an ancient settlement dating from about 400 A.D.

Pyramid-style crop circle
points the way to Wiltshire's White Horse

We don't often write about crop-circles, but this one is a real beauty, as is the white horse (not carved in antiquity). This was reported on June 19, 2007 in The Daily Mail. If you want more information, the New York Times published a "travelogue" about the white horses carved out of the chalk hills in Britain. How do these kinds of formations show up overnight?

June 17,2007

The IPCC report on the future effects of global warming is out and, even watered down, the news ain't good. Given that there is plenty of archaeological evidence showing that climate change wiped out previously thriving civilizations all over the world throughout the millennia, will our governments listen and act? (We're not holding our breath...) For lots of information on climate change, check out New Scientist/Environment's Special Report on Climate Change.

So - what does climate change have to do with chess? A blast from the past courtesy of The International Chessoid muses over ice age chess. Well... it happened before, didn't it?

News from CAIS
Who's that lady with the golden eye? Archaeologists working in the continuing excavations of the "Burnt City" have some thoughts on the subject. That famous "oldest backgammon board" is back, too - Goddesschess has it's own take on that!

Smugglers eye underwater treasures
Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, told China Daily that the illegal foreign salvage ships were often equipped with the most advanced technology, in contrast with rudimentary ships and equipment used by Chinese archaeologists and conservationists, who are trying to protect China's underwater heritage.

A salvage operation on a sunken Chinese merchant ship is the first of its kind. Related: Experts believe the wooden merchant vessel belonged to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) in the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, and the discovery provides important evidence that there was an established trade route between China and the rest of the world even at that time.

Check out this list of power chess couples.

Under the "We couldn't make this kind of story up" category - Ohio inmate executed for killing cellmate after they fought over chess game.

Oh my - now even octogenarians are getting involved in antiquities fraud: A couple in their 80s and their sons were charged with conning a council into buying a fake ancient Egyptian statue that was supposed to put the Louvre's similar piece of art in the shade.

Film Series on Alexander the Great

The Oriental Institute will screen the acclaimed PBS series In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, which retraces the 20,000-mile trek of Alexander as he conquered the world from Greece to India. Free admission. August 5: Part 1: Son of God; August 12: Part 2: Lord of Asia;August 19: Part 3: Across the Hindu Kush;August 26: Part 4: To the Ends of the Earth.

June 10, 2007

Stonehenges all around us! Architectural relics and modern structures show that we may not be much different than our ancient ancestors.

China.Org.cn reports on excavations taking place in the 3000 year old Chinese city of Jinsha. The specialists aren't sure yet, but among dozens of tombs they may have uncovered the tomb of a "sorcerer." 40,000 year old skeleton discovered in China points to problems with the "out of Africa" theory of human evolution/migration.

Out of Africa? Are the Massais, Canaanites and the Inca connected by ancient religious and creation myths and etymology?

Age for farming pushed back in North America Evidence indicates maize farming on the Gulf Coast of Mexico about 5300 BCE, some 1,700 years earlier than scholars previously thought.

Congratulations to the United States' newest Grandmaster, Jesse Krai, who earned his final GM norm at the recently concluded Foxwoods Open. At the age of 34, Krai, who holds a Ph.D, earns his living by giving chess lessons, and he is America's first new GM in 10 years. Krai follows the beat of a different drummer. It's not about money, says Krai, it's the game.

A new book release, Omm Sety's Egypt, A Story of Ancient Mysteries, Secret Lives, and the Lost History of the Pharoahs. Who is Omm Sety? Her name was Dorothy Eady. She was born in London in 1904 and believed that she had been a priestess of Isis in the ancient Temple of Seti. Many people believed her. Hmmm...

Egyptology.com offers Reeder's extensive list of Egypt/Egyptology and related resources on the web. A great source to find information.

The Silk Road - is a website! This one, devoted to various products produced in mid-Asian countries. It's worth a visit just to read the description of the traditional Kazakh game "Catch the Girl"...

Chuck Ayoub has an interesting site chock full of Bobby Fischer info. Check it out!

Evidence of an Ancient Universal Written Language? "First Tongue" - not original, but the premise is intriguing. Thanks to the internet, images and research from disparate sources all around the world, from both "professionals" and "amateurs," can be assembled, compared, dissected and discussed as never before.

Original Wisdom Man’s perceptions are not bounded by organs of perception; he perceives more than sense (tho’ ever so acute) can discover. – William Blake, There Is No Natural Religion. Is intuition a matter of heart - something we too often ignore, to our detriment?

Amazingly, archeologists have uncovered the 1,300-year-old skeleton of a ruler or priest of the ancient Tiwanaku civilization together with precious jewels inside a much-looted pyramid in western Bolivia.

Who Was Cleopatra? Mythology, propaganda, Liz Taylor - and the real Queen of the Nile... We're always interested in queens - both chessly and human. The Smithsonian online magazine discusses Cleopatra's history - and what kind of pharaoh she was for, too often, people forget that she was a popular and resourceful ruler of a wealthy country and ancient culture.

Here is another Egyptology blog, aptly called - Egyptology Blog. It has archives dating back to December, 2004.

Time Magazine Top 100 Garry Kasparov was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world, according to the new Time Magazine list.

A Chess School specifically geared toward children has opened in Miskolc, Hungary bearing GM Peter Leko's name and endorsement, in close association with the local government of Miskolc. Seventy are already registered, and there is a waiting list of 60 more students!

Get Good or Else... Azerbaijan's President issued an executive order that the country's ministries are to come up with a plan to improve chess playing nation-wide between 2008-2013.

Blast from the Past: Chess Hustlers Never Die, They Just Get Evicted...

The Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. One might wonder why sane people would want to live life as it was lived hundreds of years ago, with no modern conveniences like bathrooms, antibiotics and McDonalds. One might also wonder why sane people have devoted eight years and counting to the concept and philosophy behind the research and articles presented at Goddesschess...

"Two Technologies" Theory of Stone Age Culture Cast in Doubt - New finds in southwest China indicate that its stone age was just as advanced as "western" stone age culture.

New link to free online chess games at ChessBoss... Download free chess games and chess softwares from Chessboss.com, the premier chess server on the net.

Is this a "Unicorn?"

Ruins in the Cholistan Desert may be identical to those at Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Looters have already been digging in one of the mounds. (Given the explicit location described in the newspaper articles, why not just draw the looters a road map?) Objects discovered on the surface include four "unicorns."