Chess

 I've been finding my chess fix online recently, as there isn't a lot of chess played where I am. In fact, I'm probably not going to play any over the board chess for the rest of the year, other than a few friendly games down the local club. But playing online can be dangerous, just lots of throw away games. So I've tried to discipline myself to take things a little more seriously, and am studying from the games I play. In my study, I saw this position.

Black has just thrown his knight to h5. What do you think White played?

I'll post the answer later this week!

Chess Victims

 I have written about this subject before on my old blog, though the last post was in 2018 not long before I actually stopped blogging. Before I start again here, a quick proviso. I'm not a woman, I'm a 56 year old heterosexual man. Does this preclude me from having an opinion? No, of course not, though generally speaking, I will try to cite those in a more relevant position to understand the full story.

So first, the issue is about FIDE banning Trans players from their events. There are stories across all the major news outlets, so pick any or a few. I've read articles in The Guardian, AP News, and the BBC. There are also views from the LGBTQ+ community, in for example Pink News. The major chess sites have nothing about it so far, though I'd expect some commentary in the coming days. Saying that, a lot of chess politics tends to be discussed on Facebook and Twitter which I no longer belong to, so I tend to find what chess players and officials have said through news sites nowadays.

This ban of Trans players comes in the wake of sexual harassment cases being brought to light in the chess world. One of the biggest chess playing sites, Lichess, came out last week with a statement which essentially accuses the US Chess Federation and St Louis Chess Club of mishandling the case of sexual harassment against GM Alejandro Ramirez and others. The mega chess site says it will no longer cooperate with the USCF or St Louis CC neither of which has "faced serious scrutiny or accountability" over these issues. 

So where am I going with this post? I'm going back to a severe criticism of FIDE and questioning my desire to be part of the organisation. I've left before, but that really doesn't do anything to stop what I see as blatant corruption and bigotry. Here are a few issues that are a problem for me:

1. Ukraine-Russia War: FIDE have not banned Russian players who play under a neutral flag, and calls for the Russian President of FIDE, Arkady Dvorkovich, to step aside have been ignored. As well as going against the dictates of most other sporting bodies regarding letting Russians compete, there have also been high level cases of Ukrainian players refusing to play in events with Russian players competing. This clearly shows that the victims are being made to pay doubly by FIDE.

FIDE banned Sergey Karjakin for openly supporting Putin and the war in Ukraine, but have subsequently done very little. In fact, they did nothing to sanction chess commentator Sergey Shipov for basically the same thing.

2. Cheating in chess: The infamous case of alleged cheating by American GM Hans Niemann by Magnus Carlsen and others. FIDE basically did nothing in this case, and seem to have done little in regards to cheating in chess. They wiped their hands of involvement instead of disciplining either side for bringing the game into disrepute, which is essentially what happened. 

3. Sexual assault: In my opinion, the biggest scandal to hit the chess world in the past few years is the sexual assault case brought to light by 8 women against GM Alejandro Ramirez. Unfortunately, this case represents just the tip of iceberg, and I don't see FIDE doing anything to address this major problem in chess. Women's only chess tournaments have been promoted for helping encourage more girls and women into the game officially. But in reality, they provide a safe space for women to play, because open tournaments aren't being policed properly. Misogyny and assault were the reason International Master Sabrina Chevannes stopped playing. Meanwhile, Tallulah Roberts was assaulted at the Reykjavik Open in 2022. The takeaway from these reports is that chess environments are not safe places for women, and that not a lot is being done to change that.

"It's the reason I stopped playing chess. It's completely prevalent, it's something that has been sat on and suppressed on for many years. I guess they don't want to ruin the image that chess is a gentleman's game." - Chevannes

“The chess world isn’t a safe place for us, and it’s time to stop pretending these issues are in the past or that people are only sexist online. It’s 2022 and this happens.” - Roberts

4. Trans Player ban: I'm really not sure what FIDE is doing here, as more often than not they tend to sit on the fence and do nothing. So for FIDE to actually ban Trans players is a statement by them. I have trans friends who play chess and I know that some of them struggle with their position in society, suffering depression, anxiety and even having suicidal thoughts. Every time they are victimised will only make matters worse for a minority that only want to be accepted for who they are. The most high profile trans chess player, French master Yosha Iglesias said on her Twitter account, “If you want to help women in chess, fight sexist and sexual violence, give women in chess more visibility and more money, don’t use trans women players as scapegoats. We contribute to the development of women in chess. We are women in chess.” This is a position I fully agree with. As an example of disparity, at the current World Cup tournament, the winner of the Open section will receive $US 110,000, whereas the winner of the Women's section will get $US 50,000, or less than half. The total prize money pool in the Open section is $US 1,843,000 whereas in the Women's section the total prize pool is $US 676,250, or about 1/3. And this works its way through the whole spectrum of the chess world, even at local level. The current State Championship in Victorian, Australia sees a total prize pool of $2000 where the winner will get $1000. The Women's Championship has a total prize pool of $1000 and the winner will get $500.

So victims are not being taken seriously by chess authorities at the International, National and Local levels and until they do the chess environment will only be safe for first world white hetero males. This most recent attack on Trans Players shows that chess is subject to ingrained bigotry at the organisational level, but I don't see where the necessary change is going to come from. Reading the comments at the end of any of the articles I've cited, especially from the chess sites, will show how deeply embedded bigotry is in the chess world.

Where were you when.....

 You often hear people saying that they clearly remember what they were doing when 9/11 struck, when Princess Diana died, or when JFK was shot, those historic newsworthy moments. I can only remember the first two of these as I am too young to remember Kennedy's murder. I was in Florence/Firenze, Italy, when I heard about 9/11 and in Stratford-upon-Avon in England the morning after Diana's death when I heard the news.

The same will be said for Trump in the future. Even now, people are reminiscing about what they were doing on January 6th 2021, but any indictments that stick will be massive news. There have been some highly prominent trials in the fairly recent past, with Saddam Hussein and OJ Simpson coming prominently to mind. But these will be nothing compared to what we can expect from the upcoming Trump trials.

Currently there are 4 major cases in Florida (secret documents), New York (Stormy Daniels hush money), Washington (January 6th), Georgia (election interference). There's also the civil case brought by E Jean Carroll and possible future indictments about retaining documents in his Bedminster home. There's a good case tracker in the Guardian.

Of all of these, the January 6th case seems the most important after the dramatic scenes of the US Capitol being stormed. It may not be the one that eventually brings Trump down, but it is certainly an epic trial, hinting at insurrection and treason. Living in Australia, we often hear American news the next day because of time zone differences. But the news of this indictment came to me in real time as I was climbing the Nut in Stanley to try to see a sunrise. The Nut is a large headland overlooking the historic town of Stanley and the surrounding coastline of North West Tasmania. The walk around the Nut gives great panoramic views and is listed as one of Tasmania's 60 Great Short Walks.

Unfortunately, I was not to see a sunrise because of cloudy weather, but I did see a lot of beautiful scenery, lots of gorse showing and wattle beginning to flower, and a load of pademelons, small marsupials that look like little wallabies.

Gorse grows abundantly in Tasmania although considered an invasive species

Wattle flowers beginning to show on this Coastal Wattle

Pademelons are small Marsupials

Local Chess While I'm Away

 I'm writing a lot about travelling around Tasmania at the moment, because, funnily enough, I'm travelling around Tasmania. But while I'm away, I'll miss the Tasmanian Rapid Championship where I'm the defending Champion. The tournament is being held in Burnie in the north of the state, while I'll be over on the east coast at that time. To be honest, I didn't have much choice with timing because of my house renovation, it's just a little sad that the two things coincided. Ah well, never mind.

And I'm still following the Victorian State Championship with interest. Top seed, IM Stephen Solomon took 2 half point byes in the first two rounds, but then has since been held to two draws leaving him well off the pace after 4/9 rounds. He'll probably need a clean sweep of 5/5 in the second half if he wants a chance at first place. It will be interesting, as he is definitely capable of that sort of run. There are still two players on 4/4 and surprisingly neither of them are hot favourites for the event. Both are untitled with Cheng Dai being the 8th seed and Tejas Datar 11th. But they are just two of a bunch of talented young players who are really taking it to the established elite.

Standings: Datar, Dai 4/4; FM Wallis 3.5; Rozuwiecka, FM Ilic 3; Ilic, FM Soo, CM Bassig, Gibson, FM Nemeth, IM Rujevic, Annapureddy, Zafirakos, J. Li, Raine 2.5...36 players.

It seems I'll also miss the next Australian Championships which is being held in Adelaide from 2-14 January 2024. I have apparently qualified as Tasmanian State Champion. but won't be able to play. I can't see a website for it, but it is another event to look forward to. the last time I played in the Australian Championship was 2016, when I scored a creditable 5/11 including Draws with FM Nakauchi, IM Tan, Choong, Puccini, Nemeth and a win against IM Andrew Brown. I also scored a draw with my dear friend Malcolm Pyke who I remember fondly...

I had some fortune along the way, including the draw against Jack Puccini who wasn't an FM then, but is now a strong FM.

As Black I'd been fighting a losing battle for some time, until Jack just took one pawn too many with this swindle that I'd set. 1.Rxc6? Rd2 with a miracle draw 4 pawns down. Black will play Nh2-f3-h2-f3 and White can do little to stop it. The game finished 2.Ne2 Nxh2+ 3.Kf1 Nf3+ and Jack accepted the draw by moving his king back to e1. 

Stage 2 Road Trip

We left Stanley and headed south to Queenstown along the Murchison Highway. The Murchison Highway is named because it passes the Murchison ranges and Mt Murchison, the highest mountain in the region, a little bit higher than Mt Wellington/Kunanyi. Mt Murchison was named after the geologist, Baronet Roderick Murchison. Interestingly, Murchison made great discoveries helping to map the age of rocks and establish the Silurian system. His work was based on the successive age of rock groups and he also discovered elements leading to the later Devonian period being established. But he opposed Darwin's revolutionary evolutionary theories, believing that species were created in successive waves over long geological periods until humans were finally created. In Queenstown, there is a garden with rocks and geological information about them, the oldest being over a billion years old Quartzite.

Nelson Falls flowing freely after heavy rain 

This particular part of our journey saw both Caroline and I weary. I guess the combination of driving and cold weather had taken its toll and we didn't do as much as in Stanley. The drive down was during very heavy rain which meant driving slowly but it also allowed us to go to Nelson Falls and witness it in full flow. The walk to the falls is through lush, moss covered, forest with plenty of myrtle beech and sassafras trees as well as ferns of many different types and is well worthy of being one of the 60 Great Short Walks of Tasmania.

The Nelson River running through moss covered forests 

We also took a drive to Strahan, a small coastal town set in a bay on the west coast. The Ocean Beach is the longest in Tasmania at about 40 km, while the area is dominated by the Henty Dunes and Henty River. The River was named after William Henty, a lawyer and member of the legislative council of Tasmania. The Henty family were largely based in Victoria and are considered an important colonial family in that part of Australia's history. We followed the Henty River (panerunner is the believed aboriginal name?) and then the Little Henty River before heading back to Queenstown.

Henty River 

Stormy conditions at Ocean Beach, Strahan 

Learning about the land we live on, it's history and cultural significance, as well as it's natural beauty and features, will be a lifelong endeavour. But for now, here's a start on a day off from sightseeing to refresh and reflect.

North West: Tasmania Road Trip Days 2 and 3

 After driving to Stanley, we decided to use it as a base to explore the North West of Tasmania a little. To be fair, this is only going to be a taste of the Island which we'll hopefully be able to explore in more depth over the years.

The journeys from Stanley on Days 2 and 3

On day 2 the main effort was a journey to the coast. But I decided to take a walk up The Nut in Stanley to see if a sunrise would happen. It didn't because of cloud cover, but I did hear about Trump's latest indictment while taking my early morning walk!

The Nut overlooking the town of Stanley 

Some of the best views of the North Coast are from The Nut 

 When I got back to our hotel, Caroline and I headed off to Arthur's River and the Edge of the World where nothing stands between us and South America on this latitude. The sea is big and the waves are immense as the Roaring Forties rage in from the Southern Ocean. After checking out the Edge of the World we went back to Stanley via a stop at West Point where we saw wombats roaming around and the most amazing rocks and surf.

Foamy seas at the Edge of the World 

Great surf crashing into the rocks at West Point 

Tasmania is a lush, verdant land. This pond has formed inland at West Point 

We were both aching a bit when we woke this morning, but decided to take a trip to Dip Falls Forest Reserve. And what a trip! The falls were flowing madly after recent rains. The sound was thunderous as the water cascaded over 2 drops of about 40 metres total. It was the most powerful waterfall I've seen in Australia, and the forest surrounds were lush and verdant. After viewing the falls we walked to some huge trees, over 60 metres tall and one giant was 17 metres in girth around the bottom. 

The monumental Dip Falls 

Dip Falls, lower tier (Caroline's photo)

Since coming to Tasmania a year ago, we've learned that the island is full of waterways. There are many rivers, including some major systems like the Derwent in the south, the Esk in the North, the Gordon in the West and the Huon in the south east, but there are some other major rivers that are less systemic like the Arthur River in the North West which is the state's third longest river. The Dip River flows from the Dipwood Mountain range to its east, and then carries on north until it joins the Black River which also comes out of the same range. Tasmania also has a large number of lakes some of which we will be seeing on our trip in days to come, and is, of course, surrounded by sea. So the island is incredibly lush all over.

Lots of fungus around in the damp conditions like this Coral Tooth Fungus 

This massive Brown Top Paperbark is over 60 metres high and has a 17 metre girth!

Ferns are abundant, and some even look to be smiling at you 😊 

The lush, verdant Dip River Forest Reserve 

It's a great place for walking, although a lot of the walking tracks are quite challenging. There is a list of Tasmania's 60 Great Short Walks which I'm beginning to work my way through. Stanley Nut is one of the walks in this series, and I'm hoping to get to a couple more before the trip is through.

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Tasmanian Road Trip Day 1

Day 1 of our road trip

Due to our house turning into a building site because we're having our bathroom renovated, we decided to leave the builders to it and take a road trip around our new home state. We moved to Tasmania just over a year ago (26 July 2022) settling in Beaconsfield in the Tamar Valley, north of the state's second biggest city, Launceston. Actually, calling Launceston a city is a bit of a stretch, as a lot of towns in the UK are bigger, and my birth town, Basingstoke, is about twice the size of Launceston!

Penguin is a small seaside town on the northern Tasmanian coast that is crazy about penguins!

So yesterday, we took a leisurely drive across the north coast from our central position westward. The drive started by cutting inland, skirting Narawntapu National Park, but then catching the coast at Devonport where the Spirit of Tasmania sails to Victoria which was how I'd come to Tasmania last year. From Devonport, it was a mostly coastal drive, including a coffee stop at the picturesque seaside town of Penguin. We arrived at our destination, Stanley mid afternoon, and settled into our hotel, and explored a little. We are staying here a few days, hoping to get to Arthur's River and the Edge of the World coastline before heading south on the next stage of the journey.

Penguin's fabulous Uniting Church

Rocky Cape National Park

This really cool Exchange Library apparently appeared in Penguin in 2019 and has been here since!