I have a new BC chess blog!

Dear chess friends:

I have a new BC chess blog. It is called "Wood Sense" after the Celtic chess-like game "gwyddbwyll". Just click on the Title for this post.

So long, for now, to Manitoba

This blog, having served its purpose of getting me blogging about Manitoba chess, is coming to an end. I have moved to British Columbia and I don't feel that I ought to, in good conscience, use a Manitoba name for what would be a BC chess blog.

Best wishes to my Manitoba chess friends and check here if you are interested in a further chess blog that I might be working on. Until we meet again!

Nigel Hanrahan

Women's World Chess Championship

Now here's an unexpected decision from an Appeals Committee. In the "Armaggedon" game between Pole Monica Socko and Romanian Sabina Foisor in the Women's World Chess Championship underway in Nalchik, the following position (or something very much like it) was arrived at ...



With White to move, and Black having just flagged, the Appeals Committee awarded the win ... to White!

Not enough mating material you say? Look again ...



Apparently, the rule for Armaggedon games is that if a mating position can be constructed (with worst possible play, in this case) against a player whose flag has fallen, then that player loses.

A king and knight versus a lone king would have been a draw. And in the circumstances of the match, a draw would mean that Black would have gone on to the next round.

Weird, eh?

Notable July chess activities in Canada

The Canadian Youth Chess Championships were just completed in Québec.

The Canadian Open Chess Championship is being hosted in Montréal from July 19 to July 27. The weblink at the FQE can be found over here. The only Manitoban I could find listed was Weixi Liu, in the under 2000 Section, although perhaps it is worth noting that former Manitoban Jack Yoos is playing in the Open Section against the big boys. The ChessTalk Discussion Board is reporting the results and pairings on a regular basis over here and here in English, and over here in French. MonRoi is also posting live games, results, and so on ... although I cannot vouch for a good connection and timely updates. Viewers need to set up an account, and some people have been having problems, but I think it should work fine. Here is a link to Monroi.

At the same time, the Chess Federation of Canada is having its Annual General Meeting from July 21 to July 22 (today and tomorrow) . Given recent events, tournament chess players in this country would be wise to follow the results of this meeting carefully. There will be, no doubt, sharp discussion on the respective boards. Here is a link to the CFC website.

NEWS FLASH: Larry Bevand of Chess and Math has noted the following for today's part of the meeting:

About 20 people present (which is a good turnout for this kind of thing). People present included former CFC President Maurice Smith (who chaired the meeting), Ken MacDonald who was the secretary for the occasion, Former CFC President Les Bunning and the Prez to be David Lavin.

The grass routes motion presented by Bob Armstrong and gang was declared out of order by the chair...it is expected to resurface tomorrow. There was heated discussion about the team captain for the women's team.

The FQSE is no longer the Quebec affiliate for the CFC.

Otherwise, the reports were read and the whole thing came to an end early (around noonish) which is a first! The incoming board meets tomorrow beginning at 9 am.

Bevand noted that "I was not there so what I am giving you is based on what I was told."

Exclam! will be preserved in the Manitoba Legislative Library

J. Ken MacDonald, with some help from a few friendly Manitobans, has done the work to bring together a complete collection of Exclam! (and its previous incarnation). The latest news has Ken arranging to preserve the entire collection in the publicly accessible Manitoba Legislative Library.

The Library website is over here.

Here's what Ken wrote in ChessTalk:

My thanks to our friends in Winnipeg who helped me complete my run of this fine publication.

I have found someone who wants to accept/preserve the complete run of this publication. Matthew Handscombe has told me they will become a part of the Manitoba Legislative Library. They will rest among the largest collection of Manitoba newspapers in the world.

They have just been sent to him, but eventually will be found at:

http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/leg-lib/index.html

If anyone could help me determine where Quebec or British Columbia chess newsletters might or might not be maintained, I would try them next.

Well done, Ken!

Video report from 97 Cdn Open in Winnipeg

MCA Secretary Cecil Rosner has recently posted a video report on the 1997 Canadian Open. The Open was held in Winnipeg and included 11 GM's, some of whom are (briefly) interviewed in the video.

And here it is:

Manitoba Chess Champions

Some recent discussion in the MCA Board led me to do a little investigating. It turns out that David Cohen has done much of the work in documenting and recording past, and present, chess champions in Canada. There is also considerable data relating to Manitoba. Just click on the link in the title of this blog entry.

I've updated David Cohen's entries, and added a few, and I've come up with the following... Up to 1999, there were separate Manitoba Open and Manitoba Closed tournaments. During this time the winner of the Manitoba Closed tournament was considered the Manitoba Champion.

By the way, there was also a Manitoba Reserves tournament; this tournament enabled the top player among those who were not able to qualify for "the Closed", by virtue of rating, to qualify in another manner for the Closed.

In any case, here is a listing for recent winners of the Closed:

Manitoba Closed winners:

1999 Kevin Gentes
1998 Kevin Gentes
1997 John (Jack) Yoos
1996 Fletcher Baragar
1995 John (Jack) Yoos
1994 Fletcher Baragar
1993 Kevin Gentes, Frank Kollar
1992 Kevin Gentes
1991 Kevin Gentes, Aron Kaptsan, Arthur Prystenski
1990 Kevin Gentes
[missing a few here!!]
1934 David Creemer

After 1999, or thereabouts, the Manitoba Closed was no longer held. To make a long story short, Manitoba players were able to qualify for the Canadian Closed directly. This made a Manitoba qualifying tournament redundant. However, there was still a need for a Manitoba Champion. The winner of the Manitoba Open was, thereafter, the Manitoba Champion.

So, here are some results from the Manitoba Open. Please note that the results go back BEFORE 1999, i.e., before the time when the winner of the Manitoba Closed was considered the Manitoba Champion. Are you confused yet?

Manitoba Open winners

2002 Waldemar Schulz
2001 Danny Federkevic
2000 Kevin Gentes
1999 Irwin Lipnowski
1998 Kevin Gentes
1997 Aron Kaptsan
1996 Fletcher Baragar, George Vlaovic
1995 Aron Kaptsan, Les Mundwiler, Waldemar Schulz
1994 Fletcher Baragar
1993 Arthur Prystenski
1992 Aron Kaptsan
1991 Sasho Kalajdzievski
1990 Kevin Gentes, Arthur Prystenski

Since 2002, the name of the tournament traditionally called the Manitoba Open has been changed to the Albert Boxer Classic, the winner of which was eventually considered as the Manitoba Champion. There may, therefore, be a year or two in which there was no official Manitoba Champion. In any case, here are the recent

winners of the Albert Boxer Classic:

2008 Trevor Vincent
2007 Kevin Gentes
2006 Samuel Lipnowski
2005 Samuel Lipnowski, Joseph Van Wyk.
2004 Samuel Lipnowski*, Sam Cleto, Kevin Gentes.
2003 Samuel Lipnowski, Harley Greenberg

---------------------------------------------------------

I've also found some data regarding the Manitoba Junior chess champions.


Manitoba Junior Chess Champions

2007 Trevor Vincent
2005 Daniel Oberton
2003 Samuel Lipnowski
2001 Samuel Lipnowski
2000 Joshua Henson, Trevor Vincent
1999 Justin Gushuliak
1998 Justin Gushuliak, Joshua Henson
1997 Joshua Henson
1996 Joshua Henson
1995 Joshua Henson, Samuel Lipnowski
1994 Alexander Kniazhevskyi
1993 Danny Federkovic
1992 Danny Federkovic
1991 Blaine Bray, Danny Federkovic
1990 Blaine Bray
______________________________________

Corrections, additions, etc., are welcome, of course. Please provide a reference or a source when making such proposed corrections or additions, if you are able.

The Albert Boxer Tournament and Der Alter Goniff

Der Alter Goniff is a Yiddish expression meaning "the old swindler". I read about it in Ed Gaillard's blog by the same name. "Hmm," I thought to myself, remembering Albert's habit of handling the captured chess pieces in his free hand like a magician rolls coins during a trick,"that would have been a cool nickname for Albert." I lost a few games against Albert, watching those pieces in one hand while he pillaged the board with his other hand. Those who remember playing Albert in the former home of the MCA in the Cornish Library will remember his running banter that went along with his magician's tricks. It used to drive me nuts but he was powerless to resist. You had to play him.

Anyway, I have been behind in my posting here for the Albert Boxer Tournament but I shall, over the course of this weekend, post a couple of previously unpublished photographs of Albert, and try to provide a few updates on the event. By the way, the event has been called the Albert Boxer Classic, ever since it was held on one of the same weekends in August/September that the Winnipeg-Regina CFL football rivalry takes place. I think the event should be called the Albert Boxer Memorial - but then again, I can be pretty old-fashioned sometimes.

Maybe we could establish a chess award - in a particular tournament or over the course of a longer period of time - in honour of Albert Boxer, and call it Der Alter Goniff award for the best chess swindle.

Albert would have liked that, methinks.



© Andrew Gillies & Nigel Hanrahan

Active Team Chess Tournament

An Active Team Chess tournament will be held on June 22 at the University of Winnipeg. Here are some tentative details: in general, the event will be much the same as last year.

Each team must consist of 4 players (Master or expert, A, B and C or D) with total points (as of June 1st) not to exceed 7100. This rule might be varied by having the ratings published for all to see. Entry is $10 per player, which would probably be best organized as $40 to be paid by team captains. 5 rounds if 6 teams. Time control of 30 minutes. There is a suggested entry deadline of June 17.

Attention prospective players and captains! Feel free to post here on Exclam! online to indicate your desire to play, name a team, and so on. I will make sure the information is passed on.

Please note that these details are tentative.

Location: University of Winnipeg

Contact: MCA. TD will be Alex Nikouline.

April Weekend Tournament

The April Sectional Tournament is fast approaching. The original deadline for registration was Tuesday, April the 15^th but it's not too late to give Lorne a call and register!!

NEWS FLASH: TD Lorne Gibbons is seriously considering changing the event to an Active tournament. He suggested 2 rounds on Friday and 3 on Saturday. If you are interested in such a tournament, then show up this evening and register.

Prospective players can contact Lorne Gibbons during the TNT evenings at the University of Winnipeg or at 222-0855. They can also e mail me at the following address: niginator AT shaw DOT ca. (Replace AT with @ and DOT with . ) I will be posting the updated list of players on this blog as they are added. The parings will be posted on the MCA website as well, and that will probably be done by Alex Nikouline once registration is over.

The event is a 5 round Round Robin tournament broken into sections of 6 players. Typically, there is also a final "open" section of the players with the lowest ratings that cannot be fit into a section of 6 players. The tournament will be played in room 5L24 at the U of W.

Time controls for the event are as follows: Fri all moves/120 minutes; Sat & Sun 30/90, then all/60.

A sectional tournament is an opportunity for players to have a series of games against players with ratings similar to their own. The opponents, and colours, are known in advance. The only caution is that byes are pretty well impossible to get so players should expect to play all 5 rounds.

Let us know of your intention to play. I will add the names as they come in.

Name	Rating
Khedkar, Jay S.	1883
Kong, Dezheng	1862
Iomdina, Bella	1775
Gannon, Keith	1685
Green, Aaron	1667
Green, Jim	1662
Lipic, Stephen	1599
Goodman, Clifford	1595
Letain, Cory	1430
Green, Leah	1163

-------

Chess Federation of Canada makes plans for HUGE changes ...

Chess fans and members of the Chess Federation of Canada may be very interested to know that huge changes are planned for the CFC. These changes, as outlined by the CFC Executive, are as follows:

1. Outsource our daily operations.
2. Broker our merchandise business
3. Sell the CFC Office
4. Replace the printed magazine with an online version.
5. Strategic alliances with CMA (and the FQE, see move 6.)
6. Comprehensive review of our membership structure and revenue split with the provinces, including Quebec.
7. Better support for organizers and arbiters in pursuit of better tournaments.

The most recent Governor's Letter can be downloaded online and includes much more details about the plan of action.

The 2007/08 GL7 can be downloaded here.

It should be noted that there are some complaints about the lack of consultation with the Governors themselves. However, it is only fair to point out that the Executive views the current situation of the CFC as an emergency. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Please feel free to post remarks on this blog or elsewhere, such as on ChessTalk.

Gwyddbwyll, or wood sense, has a new beginning at Exclam! online.

Long ago the ancient Celts played board games not dissimilar to the game that preceded modern chess. There is some scant evidence for what these games were like. Literature and oral tales taken down had interesting references as well: gwyddbwyll and fidchell are mentioned.

Roughly translated, gwyddbwyll, or fidchell (pronounced fickle) in Irish, means "wood wisdom" or "wood sense".

The graphic above is author Nigel Suckling's imaginative version of what a fidchell board might have looked like ... His essay on the origins of fidchell can be read over here. Suckling also outlines some rules by which fidchell can be played using this board.

In one of the few remaining texts for insular Celtic prose mythology, The Mabinogion provides us with a Star Wars like image of gwyddbwyll pieces that come to life and move by themselves like the holograms in the Millennium Falcon. We also have this piece ...

Peredur came to the castle, and the castle gate was open. And when he reached the hall the door was open, and when he went inside he saw a gaming board in the hall, and either of the two sets of pieces was playing against the other, and the one to which he gave his help began to lose the game. And the other side gave a shout, just as if they had been men. Then he grew angry and took the set of pieces on his lap and threw the board in the lake.

The quote comes from 'The Magic Gaming Board' whose 12th century Welsh author is unknown. Bad sportsmanship, it seems, is timeless.

There are also fascinating models of boards in which all the pieces other than the king move like modern rooks. Here is one such board ...

However, there is no certain version of a fidchell or gwyddbwyll board in existence. In 1932, the Ballinderry Game Board was found, near Ballinderry, West Meath in Ireland, and it is surmised that this is a fidchell board. (See below for a photograph of this board.)


With the coming of Christianity to the British Isles, all things associated with Druids and Druidism were suppressed, especially cultural practices like fidchell or gwyddbwyll. For what we would today describe as a board game, even a game as great as chess, the Celts viewed as divination, or perhaps a portal to another world, or as prophesy of what was yet to be.

Although the Celtic Christian Church was fairly tolerant in many aspects regarding traditional pagan practices. It was firmly opposed to Druidism, and all things affiliated with it. This association of Fidchell and Gwyddbwyll with magic and Druids may thus explain why these games were abandoned.

Abandoned, or stamped out? More information about the origins of gwyddbwyll can be found over here.

Modern day Welsh chess players use the ancient term of gwyddbwyll to describe chess as it is played today. Many websites attest to the popularity of this terminology: here at blogwyddbwyll, or here at gwyddbwyll ar y we.



So, why all this discussion of games lost in the mists of time? Well, I needed to explain why this column will be called gwyddbwyll. Chess players are intensely jealous of their game and somewhat conservative to boot. But I hope that a little "wood sense" will be welcome anyway. Perhaps I can even popularize the term somewhat, and thereby rescue a little bit, even if only a word or two, of what our modern game has vanquished.

Iechyd Da!



_____________

A blog reader has provided the following links with information about the related game of Hnefetafl. Thank you, Martin!

Hnefetafl: a Norse game

Hnefetafl: Viking Chess

Active Chess in Manitoba - Interested?

Some interest has been expressed in an Active chess tournament in Winnipeg. Time controls would be 30 minutes a side (or something like that).

Add your name as a comment on this blog entry, or contact me through the MCA website, or call me over the phone if you want to see this happen.

Nigel Hanrahan

Exclam! cover shots

I hope this is the first of many. I'm just experimenting with the scanner right now. The quality leaves a great deal to be desired - but then again, I'm using a .gif file of less than 1 MB. A full bitmap image is over 10 MBs - which is about 2 MB over the limit for blogger photos. So I've got to play around with it a bit.

My plan, of course, is to provide a library of EXCLAM! cover shots. Maybe .pdf file versions of all the old issues of EXCLAM! would be a good idea as well.

What's up in Manitoba Chess?

What's happening in Manitoba chess, you ask? Well, lots, actually.

We're now 2 weeks into the Thursday afternoon Blitz events at Portage Place. Check the Manitoba Chess Association website for particulars on the Wednesday before the tournament. The location has changed from Edmonton Street Court to Kennedy Street Court so checking the MCA site will be useful. These Portage Place Blitz events will go on for nine weeks in total, with the week of March 20th off, and there is no entry fee. In week one, Winnipeger Jordan Kwiatek took top honours. There was a bit of a mix-up in week two and no tournament took place. Week three should be fine.

Plans are still afoot for a Saturday event at a Casino in Winnipeg in March or later. (probably McPhillips Street Station Casino) This will be a 5 Round Swiss, 20 minutes a side or 20/game, with an entry fee of $20 and a $500 Prize Fund. Since the event is at a Casino, all players will have to be 18 years of age or older.

Samuel Lipnowski won the February TNT, making that the 3rd event he's won in 2008 in Manitoba, in addition to winning the Kent Oliver Memorial and the January TNT. Can anyone stop Sammy "the steamroller"? We'll see. The March TNT begins on Tuesday the 4th.

With 20 players for the January TNT and 24 players for the February TNT, these events seem to be the most popular competitive chess format in Manitoba right now. The time control is game/120 min. at the University of Winnipeg venue. (ETA: Thanks for the correction, Tony!) By the way, and this is advice for every tournament, players are encouraged to bring their digital chess clocks to ensure that every board has such a clock.

The Manitoba High School Championship was held on February 22nd, with Kelvin HS taking first prize. Plans have been made to schedule the event on a more suitable day to generate a better turnout than this year's modest turnout of 6 teams.

The Chess Manitoba blog now has the chess problem from Cecil Rosner's column in the Winnipeg Free Press. The plan is to give players an opportunity to find a solution to the problem, when they're stumped, without having to wait two weeks for the solution in the next column. There should soon be a link from the MCA website to the CM blog on this new initiative. That's quick work from Tony Boron!

I've put my name forward for the position of Tournament Coordinator and the MCA Board has accepted my offer. Most of the duties are already being ably carried out by Lorne Gibbons (our prolific TD for most MCA events) and Alex Nikouline but I will be making sure that the MCA website schedule is up-to-date and the events publicized.

Please feel free to post comments about any of these matters mentioned, or any other matter relating to Manitoba chess, on this thread.

Nigel Hanrahan

Yet another Manitoba chess blog!

Jim Green has made a few entries in the new Manitoba junior chess blog. I've provided a permanent link to the blog among the "Related Chess Links" in the column on the right hand side of this blog. Hooray Jim!

Come to think of it, there are other chess blogs by Manitobans. At my last count, Jason Repa was up to 10 blogs ... although not all of them are strictly related to chess. While some of the material is controversial, I would be remiss if I did not add that Jason also administers a yahoo chess discussion group. Please feel free to let Exclam! online readers know about any other chess blogs by/about Manitobans.

Chess blogs can be a great source of information and discussion. They typically allow the reader to respond, make remarks, and sometimes get feedback from the author. Some of my favourite chess blogs are The Daily Dirt, a kind of chess gossip blog from journalist Mig Greengard, ChessVibes, with great short videos, and Susan Polgar's chess blog. The Kenilworth (NJ) chess club has a listing of interesting chess blogs. There are many, many other blogs as well. Do you have a favourite that you would like to share ? Please do. Add a comment here or e mail me at Exclam DOT online AT gmail DOT com (Replace DOT with a . and replace AT with a @ .) and I can add the link to this blog if it's of general interest.

Corus 2008 comes to an end.

The annual Super Tournament in Wijk aan Zee has come to an end. This year was very exciting with some novelties, especially by Veselin Topalov in his winning game against Vladimir Kramnik, and outstanding results from 17 year old Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen and Armenian Levon Aronian led the tournament with 8/13 in the "A" group. Also noteworthy was the clear first in the "C" group by Italian/American Fabiano Caruana.

There is plenty of information available on the tournament at the official website. Games scores and annotations can be found at The Week in Chess (TWIC), Mig Greengard's Daily Dirt, the Internet Chess Club and other sites on the web. ChessVibes is also worth checking out for some great interviews and commentary by the players on their own games.

The professional and amateur chess events were only part of the story, however. The official site notes that:

Yochanan Afek: Amongst the special events celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Corus Chess Tournament, stands out the International composing tourney for endgame studies. A turnout of 151 entries submitted by 90 composers from 29 countries, makes it one of the biggest composing events ever. Especially successful was Yuri Bazlov from Vladivostok who shared the top honours and won the third prize too.

Here is the winning endgame composition:



White to play and win.
Yuri Bazlov

A 19 page .pdf file listing all the winning entries, with the solutions, can be found at the official site and at TWIC. There is also a .pgn file of all the winning compositions at TWIC.

Robert James Fischer (1943-2008)

Robert James Fischer, 11th World Chess Champion in the modern era, has died. For many players, Fischer was the greatest of them all. Fischer transformed many aspects of chess and inspired millions to take up the game competitively. However, as former World Champion Garry Kasparov remarked, his ugly anti-Semitic tirades and extravagant life after his retirement from serious play did not contribute to the popularity of chess.

In an ironic twist, Fischer was 64 when he died. There are, of course, 64 squares on a chessboard.

Last Friday I watched as part of a church film group the Bergman film, The Seventh Seal, in which a Christian knight plays chess with death. Death won, but the knight managed to save a few lives in the course of his struggle with the Grim Reaper. Millions of people were influenced by Fischer - including me when I took up competitive chess back in 1992 as others did - to play the great game of chess.

There will be Fischer Memorial tournaments around the world. And, paradoxically perhaps, I expect the Russian chess public to honour Fischer as much or more than his own country will. The Cold War battle that the 1972 Championship became did not stop them from having an attitude of admiration towards Fischer. And I expect that no U.S. government will be able to forgive Fischer for his remark that a real cause of 9-11 was the U.S. foreign policy that preceded the horrific events in New York City. Blowback is now an acknowledged fact to many observers but it was not so in 2001. It would probably be useful to recall an Icelandic response to the choleric attack on that country by the U.S. newspaper The Washington Post following Bobby Fischer's arrival in Iceland. In an Editorial dated 29 March 2005 the Morgunbladid in Reykjavik, Iceland noted:

Bobby Fischer has not come to Iceland because of his opinions. They are his, and he is responsible for his words just as any other Icelander is.

When Mr. Fischer became World Champion, Americans were eager to cloak themselves in this eccentric chess genius’ victory over the Soviet chess dynasty, but since 1992 their intransigence toward him has been unalloyed.

Early this winter, Mr. Fischer wrote to the authorities in this country and requested asylum in Iceland. Minister of Foreign Affairs Davíd Oddsson demonstrated both valor and philanthropy when he decided to honor that request. Icelanders have formed a group of Bobby Fischer supporters who have worked tirelessly to get him released, and it is thanks to this group and the Minister for Foreign Affairs that Mr. Fischer is here. The original intent was not to grant Mr. Fischer Icelandic citizenship, but when it became clear that the Japanese would not release him, the decision was made to take this step. Althingi (the Icelandic Parliament) did not bring Iceland to shame with this decision; instead, it saved the United States the shame of having imprisoned Robert James Fischer for the sole crime of not having behaved in harmony with American foreign policy.

Fischer was a warrior on and off the chessboard. It is a pity that his great fighting spirit was not put to better use after his retirement from serious play. What he lacked for that was a knight's humility; however, it is also true that Fischer was once quoted as saying that humility would be hypocritical of him since he viewed himself as the greatest chess player ever.

One minute of silence was observed prior to the start of Round 6 at the Corus Tournament in Wijk aan Zee to remember Bobby Fischer.

I cannot say enough good things about the new chess video site, ChessVibes. Their speedy coverage is simply amazing and a real treat. Have a look at ChessVibes There is the actual recording of the moment of silence in honour of Fischer at Wijk aan Zee. Reactions are available, so far, from GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic, GM Nigel Short, GM Michael Adams, GM Teimur Rajabov, GM Jan Timman, and GM Veselin Topalov. I particulary like what Topalov said: "He really loved chess and his ideas ... still live."

He never fixed a game, never played for a draw, and gave us a legacy of total devotion to an art. He was, simply, for his brief shining moment, the best that ever was.

from Brenan Nierman over at Mig Greengard's, The Daily Dirt

Here is that minute of silence. What else need be said?




Hmm. Apparently, Kasparov found something to say. One great champion gives his best to another.

Fischer's beautiful chess and his immortal games will stand forever as a central pillar in the history of our game.... It is with justice that he spent his final days in Iceland, the site of his greatest triumph. There he has always been loved and seen in the best possible way: as a chessplayer.

The Kent Oliver Memorial tournament and the AGM

Although he was before my time in Manitoba chess, I heard enough about Kent Oliver to know that he was a player and past officer/president of the Manitoba Chess Association. For many years now, a supplement has been added in memory of Kent Oliver to enrich the prize fund of this important annual event. Those with a longer memory are welcome to add more details about Kent Oliver and/or the tournament named in his memory.

This weekend is also the occasion for the Annual General Meeting of the Manitoba Chess Association. The AGM will be held between the 4th and 5th rounds of the event ... and it looks like the 4th round will be starting an hour early (at 9 am rather than 10 am) to create time for the meeting. While the free pizza tradition has, I think, been abandoned, this is still an important meeting for Manitoba chess. Heheh. As it is between rounds of the KOM I expect it not to last too long. Plan to attend if you are able and interested in Manitoba chess in 2008.

Nigel Hanrahan

Problem 3: hdp 5.5

It's time for another heterodox chess problem. Our problemist, Zoltan Bodnar, has worked on the previous composition and come up with some improvements. The problem is, once again, a thematic one dedicated to this new blog. The layout of the pieces begins in the form of an exclamation mark or "exclam".

The start position has White pawns on b5, b6, and b7. The pawn on b7 is a royal pawn; it has the same properties as other pawns with the additional property that it can be checked. In this problem, the only Black piece that can "check" this pawn is the Black king. The royal pawn is indicated by an upside-down pawn. In addition, White has a double move rook hopper on b4. It is indicated by an upside-down rook. This piece is called a clam and it can be compared to a checker piece that must make two jumps and two jumps only. Such a piece could, for example, jump over an adjacent piece, or pawn, and jump right back to its original square, provided it wasn't temporarily blocking a check, etc. It is indicated with a "C". White has no king on the board.

Black has a king on b2.

The problem is a help double stalemate. The final position will have both players stalemated. By convention, Black moves first in this problem.

So, we have ....

White: pawns on b5, b6. royal pawn on b7. clam on b4.
Black: king on b2.

hdp 5.5
ZKBodnar
condition: black must not "check"

Given the lack of response to these heterodox problems so far, the solution will be provided in the comments section. Good luck!