Javier

Ever need to call overseas? yes, I know VOIP (voice over IP) is a serious alternative to calling directly, but you need a microphone or one of those pc handsets and the quality is not very good. Recently I found out about Jajah. The great thing about this system is that a Caller simply types in his own number and his desired destination number in a Web form. The Jajah service first rings the caller. After the caller picks up the phone the destination number is then dialled and the connection is established. It does not require a broadband connection, nor is it necessary to be online when using the service, but it is necessary to have internet access to originate the call. But not just that. FREE CALLS BETWEEN USERS in certain countries. (Most of western Europe, USA, Australia, etc.) REALLY CHEAP SMS! I used to pay over a dollar for an international SMS, now it only costs me around 10 cents to any country in the world! Great rates when calling mobiles phones anywhere in the world. Click here to visit Jajah's website. Check what the wikipedia has to say about jajah.

Although I had been an Australian resident for aproximately 10 years after my arrival in Sydney back in 1982, I had my visa cancelled after not returning to Australia in the alloted 5 year period that I was given when I moved back to Spain. That was a long time ago... My mum, sister, brother and nephews all live here (Sydney, I mean) and got their Australian Citizenship long ago. I can speak the language, support myself, and had been offered a job. When I lodged my resident application 2 years ago I was quite confident that I would get it... But I was wrong! (and no, I have no criminal record, if you're wondering! ) I must confess that it did hurt a little. I don't know, perhaps I'm a bit simple minded... but I see a lot of people who get their resident visas and their baggage is basically language + job qualifications. Nothing wrong with that, but I was under the impression that I met those requirements also Also, I had defended "the flag" at 3 World Junior Championships and 1 Asian Junior. Although my performances had not been outstanding (3rd place in the Asian Junior was my best result), I had paid most of the expenses associated with those trips. I didn't expect any medals for that of course, but at least I hoped that it would give me better chances. Anyway, just a couple of days before my appeal dateline was about to expire, some good friends convinced me to pay the 1400$ fee and send my appeal. To be frank, I didn't think I had much of a chance after the initial rejection (and the fact that only around 10% of appeals are successful), so you can imagine my joy when a couple of months ago I got a letter from the Deparment of Immigration which contained the following line: "...I am pleased to advise you that your application has been approved and permanent visa granted to the following person: Javier Gil." I'ts taken two years. It's been a little hard. Hard but worth it, I guess... and I know because I still smile when I think about it. (oh, and yes, if you win the appeal you do get your money back )

The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has banned Umakant Sharma of Southern Railway for 10 years for cheating during a FIDE rating tournament at Delhi early this month. Full report here.

Armenian grand master Levon Aronyan was recognised the best Armenian sportsman of 2006. Aronyan got 389 points in his favour during the polling initiated by Sports Journalists' Federation. Aronyan has displayed excellent results in a number of international tournaments over the passing year. He also became the winner of World Olympiad. By the way, it is already the second time Aronyan has been recognised the best chess player of Armenia. Read the full story here.

Hi there! The forum software has just been upgraded to the latest version. You've probably noticed that several things (the blog, gallery, etc.) do not work as expect or do not work at all. I'm working on those things and will have them ready before 2007. Meanwhile, I wish you all a very very happy Christmas!

We knew that sooner or later something like this would happen. How did he manage to do it remains unclear but all evidence seems to point at one direction: Sharma used some electronic gadget when he played in some recent chess tournaments in India, and he was caugt! Take a look at these 2 images: The fate of Umakant Sharma, the chess player caught cheating using an electronic gadget last Tuesday during a FIDE tournament, is expected to be decided at the executive council meeting of All India Chess Federation (AICF) this Saturday. Read the full article on the "Calcutta Telegraph" (I originally read about this here)

GM Gata Kasmsky writes: I’m absolutely aghast at the new proposal published on FIDE’s website. Frankly, I’m surprised at how Candidates were being handled. Of course having 16 candidates is a problem, but we cannot be blamed for lack of sponsorship or interest when FIDE wasn’t doing much in promoting or organizing the event. Every time I spoke with someone from FIDE, I got the response that FIDE right now is WAITING on bids, or it’s WAITING on elections, or its WAITING on re-unification match. Second, I absolutely PROTEST the tendency to give the world champion a privilege dating back to the Karpov era, where the champion was waiting for the challenger to go through cycles. The democratic and fair knockouts of the last decade, including the tournament of 8, were fair ways to find a champion, and as such should not be treated lightly in giving back champion privileges from a time before that. Third, I’m absolutely against any mini-tournaments. Collusion, despite whatever minimal chance, has no place in fair competition. Every winner has to be determined based only on his own result against his opponent, nothing less, hence the match system that has been proven and remains strong. Fourth, I’m surprised as to why the original system which was proposed before Khanty-Mansyisk changes was not implemented. The original system had 6 or 8 candidates and had the challenger and world champion being seeded into the Candidates. Then the number of candidates was considerably expanded and Last Chance tournament eliminated. Hence, the solution speaks for itself. I propose either to reduce the number of players in the knockout or go back to an Interzonal swiss system down to 64 players. reduce the number of Candidates from the Knock-Out down to 6. (Rapid games should eliminate the other 2 in the knockout, or however many others in the Interzonal swiss. I mean if rapid games were good enough to declare the unified world champion in the Topalov-Kramnik match then rapid games should be good enough to declare the winner for the candidates spot.) In the next step, these 6 candidates play matches of 6 games each so that 3 winners remain. (This means that the FIDE will only have to ACTIVELY look for sponsors for ONLY 3 matches , which should be pretty easy to organize ) The current world champion joins the 3 winners and they play matches of 8-10 games each. The final 2 winners are declared to be playing a match for the world championship title in a 12-16 games series. The main point that I protest is allowing the world champion to have the old privileges that were revoked ever since the 1993 split between FIDE and Kasparov. The current success or for some shame of the re-unification match hype as well as the interests of the world champion should not take precedence over the interests of fair play, fair competition and other professional players.

Although this interview was published a while ago, I'm sure many chess players never had the chance to read it. Anyway, Smyslov, 73 at the time, has quite a few things to say! Here's the link.

The main circumstances of the current cycle which make it “bulky” are its complicity [a Freudian slip for "complexity" no doubt -ed]. It is a complicated formula (for example, Candidates’ matches) that is difficult to be presented and advertised for potential sponsors. This is also one of the reasons for the top Grandmasters’ unwillingness to participate in the World Cup due to its formula. 1. The following simple scheme is proposed: in odd years (November- December) to organize World Cup with 128 players, the winner of which will play a match of 12-16 games with the World Champion in even years. Advantages: - Every year FIDE will be organizing one of the most important events (which is significant for potential sponsors and for FIDE PR activities). - The FIDE shares from the prize funds of these events shall become more regular in timing. - A more harmonious calendar (now: The World Cup and World Championship are organized the same year during the period September-December). - The leadership and FIDE employees can concentrate on the most important event and will not be “distracted” during the preparation and organization. 2. It is proposed to change the formula for the World Cup: Initial stage 128 players are divided into 16 groups with 8 players each on the following principle: group 1 (numbers 1, 32, 33, 64, 65, 96, 97, 128), group 2 – (2, 31, 34, 63, 66, 95, 98, 127) etc. Free days – after 4th and 7th games. Then 16 winners are divided into 2 groups with 8 players based on their rating: 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16 and 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15. Free days – after 4th and 7th games. In the final, there is a match of 4 games and possible tiebreak. Advantages: - We shall not have criticisms from the participants and mass media in respect of first round: “knockout is roulette”, “lucky – unlucky”, “did not sleep well”, “one blunder and you are out” etc. - The number of accidental results will fall – a total of 7 games in the first two stages is enough for the top Grandmasters to prove that they are the best. Among the 16 group winners, there will not be weaker chess players. - All the games will be played with the same time control. - The tie break might be necessary only in one case – if there is a tie in the final. - There will be no necessity to have a large number of additional local arbiters for the tiebreaks during initial stages. - Weaker participants have opportunities to meet with 7 different players from various continents, get substantial experience, and not leave after the 1st round as under the current format. - The top Grandmasters will have difficulties in explaining the reason for their non-participation. - No more confusion with the hotels and air-tickets, there will be a firm plan for the departures of those who are knocked out. - Organisers will have more chances for the media coverage of the World Cup participants. - It is easier to negotiate good prices with the hotels, as the number of the nights spent in the hotels will drastically increase. These reasons will promote the increase of the status of the event with mass media, possible organizers and sponsors and therefore, encourage the participation of all leading Grandmasters.

American GM Hiraku Nakamura has just won the National Chess Congress held in Philadelphia between november 24-26. This is Hiraku's first tournament after the break he took to enroll in college. US Chess' site publishes quite an interesting game which I'm including here. I really liked the way Hiraku handled the initiative without worrying about sacrificing a pawn when necessary. Click here to read more about it. National Chess Congress 2006-11-25 White: Nakamura, Hikaru Black: Sarkar, Justin

I've just released the LOCMAI 1.1.0 which includes a small improvement in the installation script and an update to the credits section. Download from here.

A real pity because Kramnik achieved a very comfortable position with the black pieces... Things don't look too good for the "humans" after this, mainly because I can't see how Kramnik is going to win a game, I mean, he's very solid and I was sure that he could hold level positions, but I didn't think he stood much of a chance in really complext position, and now comes this... White: Fritz 10 Black: Vladimir Kramnik

The first game of the match was drawn. It was a rather boring game, Queens came off rather quickly and Vladimir's advantage was always "symbolic". Click here to visit chessbase's site

It was back in 1997, and the following game shocked the chess world. Although computers were not as advanced as they are right now, a loss by Kasparov was not unthinkable at all. However, what took everyone by surprise was the way Kasparov went down in this game. Judge for yourself: Comp Deep Blue - Kasparov,G (2795) [b17] New York (m/6), 1997 } 7. N1f3 {This is one of the critical moments of the game. 7...Bd6 is considered best here. Kasparovs choice is very risky. A lot of games had been won by white until then from this very position after whites sacrifice, not to mention the fact that computers are at their best in this type of positions. Kasparovs choice was simply unbilievable for most Grandmasters all over the world. Why was he playing this defence? And why such an incredibly suspect variation? and this is precisely the center of the controversy, was Kasparov throwing the game and, at the same time, telling the world that there had to be a reason for doing it, that theres no way he would play like this under normal circumstances?} h6 8. Nxe6 {Strong move} Qe7 9. O-O fxe6 10. Bg6+ Kd8 11. Bf4 { The position is unclear. Blacks a piece up but his development is very poor and its very hard to see where his pieces are going to go. White doesnt need to get his material back inmediately, he can take it easy, piling up along the e-file, playing c4 perhaps, slowing building up his position. Theres no way Kasparov would walk into such a risky situation just like that...} b5 { At the time this was assessed as a bad move. Im not saying it isnt, I just think the position is bad for black no matter what he plays.} 12. a4 {strong move} Bb7 13. Re1 Nd5 14. Bg3 Kc8 15. axb5 cxb5 16. Qd3 Bc6 17. Bf5 exf5 18. Rxe7 Bxe7 19. c4 {And here Kasparov resigned. 19. c4 bxc4 20. Qxc4 Nb4 {20... Kb7 21. Qa6 is mate} 21. Re1 Re8 22. Bd6 {22. Rxe7 Rxe7 23. Qxb4 +-} 22... Bxd6 23. Rxe8+ Kb7 24. Rxa8 Kxa8 25. Qe6} 1-0 ' margin=0 width=584 height=399 marginwidth=1 marginheight=1 name=pgnboard scrolling=no border=0 frameborder=0> But why would Kasparov want to throw a game like this? Certainly not money, he'd never do something like that. There are several theories. The only one I give some credit to is the one that claims that Kasparov's family was threatened by the Russian Mafia, who had bet very large amounts of money on this particular game... What do you think?

BIG NEWS!! After many months of work, my first ever electronic chess book was released on September 21st "Learn chess or call me an idiot!!" is a FREE book for people who don't know anything about chess and for beginners as well. I have also created a support section for readers who want to ask questions about the book and the things that I explain in it. Support is completely free also. Click here to download the book now!! Click here to access the support forum for the electronic book. Click here to access the support forum for LOCMAI's on-line quizzes, which now include 6 completely free on-line flash quizzes! I hope you enjoy it!

White: Astronaut Frank Poole Black: Computer HAL 9000 [C86] Discovery 1, 2001

Please note that in order to be able to vote, you must be registered and logged in. This quiz was released on November 1st, 2006. Click here to take the quiz now! If you've taken this quiz, please vote for it here. Suggestions welcome!

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