The Last Empress

Nino Batsiashvili – 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn)
Women’s Grand Prix: fifth stage; Khanty-Mansyisk, November 30, 2016
Queen’s Gambit Declined D38

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 0-0 8. e3 Bf5 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 c6 11. 0-0 Nbd7 12. a3 Bd6 13. b4 Qe7 14. Rfe1 Qe6 15. Nd2 Qg4 16. Bg3 Bxg3 17. hxg3 Rfe8 18. Nf1 h5 19. Rac1 a5 20. b5 c5 21. Na4 c4 22. Qc2 Qe6 23. f3 Qd6 24. Ra1 Nh7 25. Nc3 Nb6 26. a4 Qd7 27. Rad1 f5 28. e4 fxe4 29. fxe4 dxe4 30. Nxe4 Qf5 31. Nfd2 Rac8 32. Nf3 Nd5

33. Ne5? A really bad move, after which White’s position quickly disintegrates. Stockfish’s line 33. Re2! Nb4 34. Qb1 Nf6!? seems good enough to maintain a precarious balance. 33. ... Ng5! 34. Rc1 Nxe4 35. Rxe4. 35. Qxe4 Qxe4 36. Rxe4 c3 was completely hopeless, too. 35. ... Nc3! 36. Rf4? Batsiashvili should have played 36. Rh4, although after 36. ... Qxc2 37. Rxc2 Nxa4 38. Rxh5 c3∓/-+ it would have been anyway hard to hope for a salvation of her own. 36. ... Qxc2 37. Rxc2 Nd5 38. Rf3 c3 39. Kf2 Re7 40. b6. Black goes from bad to worse while desperately trying to prevent ... Re7-c7 followed by ... Nd5-b4 as well ... Rc8-c4xa4. 40. ... Re6. The rest is easy. 41. Nd7 Rd6 42. Nc5 Rxb6 43. Ke2 Re8+ 44. Kd3 Nb4+ 45. Kxc3 Nxc2 46. Kxc2 Rb4 47. Kc3 b6 48. Nd3 Rc8+ 0 : 1.

Nino Batsiashvili (R.) vs. 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn)
Photo: wgp2016.fide.com

居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) won the Women’s Grand Prix Series 2015-2016 (the saddest one and perhaps the last one of women’s chess history), thus gaining the right to play a match against the next knockout Women’s World Chess Champion. Photo: Evgeniy Atarov.

Solo Ballet Dancer

Wiltshire, England: A swan drinks from a hole in the frozen lake in Warminster Lake Pleasure Grounds. Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

The Peony Pavilion

London, England: Dancers from the 中央芭蕾舞团 (National Ballet of China) perform during a dress rehearsal of 牡丹亭 (The Peony Pavilion) at Sadler’s Wells theatre. Photo: Ian Gavan/Getty Images.

The 16th century epic, 牡丹亭 (The Peony Pavilion), is one of the most enduring love stories in Chinese literature. Originally performed as a 崑曲 (Kūnqǔ) Opera in a 20-hour cycle, director 李六乙 Lǐ Liùyǐ) and choreographer 費波 (Fèi Bō) have redrawn it into a sublimely enchanting two-act fusion ballet that combines Western classical ballet with conventional Far East influences. [Read more].

牡丹亭 (The Peony Pavilion). Photo courtesy of sadlerswells.com.

黃色潛水艇 (Yellow Submarine)

2016’s “China’s Top Ten Laureus World Sports Awards”

The polls to select 2016’s “China’s Top Ten Laureus World Sports Awards” are underway and they’ll be running until December 12 at midnight. Each microblogging account can vote. The voting results will be then processed and discussed, when a grand jury’s vote will finally designate the top ten winners. The Prize Award Ceremony will be broadcasted live on 北京 (Běijīng) TV Station (BTV) at 20,00.

Breaking poll: 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) as “Sportswoman of the Year”. Hopefully coming soon!

Nothing Personal

如果他们没有真正的了解你，不要放在心上。
Rúguǒ tāmen méiyǒu zhēnzhèng de liǎojiě nǐ, bùyào fàng zàixīn shàng.
If they don’t know you personally, don’t take it personal.

Queer as folk ... a flock of ghost scarecrows in Norfolk, England. Photo: Tom Cox.

Dancing through Wednesday on tiptoe

When you come to Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” tomorrow, don’t forget your ballet shoes.

Fidel Castro and prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya after the ballet “Swan Lake” at Bolshoi Theatre, April 1963. Photo: Vladimir Savostyanov/TASS.

最新新闻 (Breaking news)

Breaking poll: 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) & 施廷懋 (Shī Tíngmào) on top of 2016’s “China’s Top Ten Laureus World Sports Awards” as “World Team of the Year”. Photo: news.sina.com.cn.

吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) & 施廷懋 (Shī Tíngmào) cashed in (at the moment) 128,682 votes, equivalent to 44.6%, with a gap that seem to be insurmountable now. Image courtesy of news.sina.com.cn.

Feast of the Seven Fishes

Nikita Kirillovich Vitiugov (‏@n_vitiugov)

That is no doubt a good point, but how the rules are written also depends upon players and “players”’s ideas and upon managers and “managers”’s ability to promote them. It was not hard to discuss the World Chess Championship’s format (both for men and women) with living former World Chess Champions rather than with Yeltsin’s ghost. It’s very interesting, for instance, what 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov told TASS today: “Upcoming developments during the tie-breaker have nothing to do with the game of chess. It is wrong to determine the new World Champion this way. Rapid games are more or less suitable, but blitz and the possibly ensuing Armageddon (game) are stupid. Such a system can only choose a neighborhood champ, but never the World Champion. This is a monstrous invention, which totally goes against all common sense”. It’s hard to disagree, even if I personally would regard Fischerandom chess (with classical time control) as a more probing tie-break system than Rapid.

觸控螢幕 (Touchscreen)

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and Sergiu Paramanov in the backstage of the 10th ROMGAZ Kings Tournament in memoriam of Elisabeta Polihroniade (Mediaș, November 28–30, 2016). Photo: Ziarul de Iaşi.

Enceladus’s Dance

Hanging on Saturn’s rings: Enceladus’s dance
Photo credit: NASA/JPL

Cassini Mission, started in 1997, prepares for its “grand finale”. On November 30, the probe will start the maneuver that will crown its space odissey, scheduled for 2017, with a spectacular series of daring dives between and into Saturn’s rings which will last until September 15, 2017, when Cassini will plunge into the upper atmosphere of the gas giant planet, where it will burn up like a meteor, ending its epic mission to the Saturn system. Cassini Mission is a NASA/ESA/ASI mission to explore the Saturnian system, and expecially the ringed planet and its moons in detail. Among the most important discoveries are a global ocean hidden beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s geologically active moon Enceladus and methane seas on Titan (Saturn’s largest moon).

Guys and Dolls

On Saturday, November 26, 2016 FIDE President Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov paid a visit in Bucharest, Romania in order to bless the 10th ROMGAZ Kings Tournament in memoriam of Elisabeta Polihroniade, featuring a 16-game rapid and blitz match between 13th Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and 14th World Chess Champion Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik, which will take place in Mediaș from 28–30 November, 2016. The guest appearance of 12th Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov and Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenko at the inaugural press conference as well as at the business lunch and the evening gala dinner did obviously not go unnoticed. Photos: Elista.org.

Not in Vain

Alicia Alonso, “Swan Lake”, 1955

In 2000, Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro presented Alicia Alonso, prima ballerina assoluta and director general of the National Ballet of Cuba, with the José Martí Order, the highest distinction awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. Photo courtesy of the National Ballet of Cuba.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

From old comrades to musicians and doctors, thousands turned out to commemorate the revolutionary leader who transformed their country. [Read more].

• Jonathan Watts, “I’m here because of Fidel”: Cubans gather to pay last respects to Castro, The Guardian, Monday 28, 2016

Cubans wait to pay their last respects to Fidel Castro in Havana on Monday. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images.

Cuban student Lisandra Esquivel shows her arm on which she has written “Yo soy Fidel” (I am Fidel). Photo: Sven Creutzmann/Mambo Photo/Getty Images.

A student cries during a gathering in Havana, Cuba. Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images.

Cubans gather to commemorate Castro at Havana University. Photo: Alejandro Ernesto/EPA.

The amphibious Queen and her sunny days

Diving Queen 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) appearing as a guest of honour at the closing ceremony of the second Citizen Sports Meeting “Greenland Holding Group Cup” held in 上海 (Shànghǎi), China on November 27, 2016. Photo: chinadaily.com.cn.

Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess?

Magnus Carlsen – Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
World Chess Championship match game 12; New York, November 28, 2016
Spanish Game C78

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 0-0 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1. In the third game Carlsen played the weird 10. Re2 b6 11. Re1. 10. ... Re8 11. Bf4 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. c3 d5 14. Bd3 g6 15. Na3!? A very insignificant novelty, but quite good to repeat without repeating: 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Nf3 Bf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Qe2 c6 19. Re1 Ng7 20. Be5 Bxe5 (20. ... Ne6 21. Bxf6 Qxf6 22. Ne5 Re8 23. Ng4 Qd8 24. Qe5 Ng7 25. Qxe8+ Nxe8 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27. Nf6+ Kf8 28. Nxe8 Kxe8 29. f4 f5 30. Kf2 b5 31. b4 Kf7 32. h3 h6 33. h4 h5 ½ : ½ Carlsen – Anand, Chennai 2013, World Chess Championship match game 8) 21. Nxe5 Qd6 22. Qf3 f6 23. Nd3 Re8 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Qe3 Ng7 26. h3 Kf7 27. Qh6 Kg8 28. Qe3 Kf7 29. Qh6 Kg8 30. Qe3 Kf7 ½ : ½ Carlsen – Kramnik, 2nd Qatar Masters Open, Doha 2015. 15. ... c6. “Such a pity to see this symmetrical positions at highest level! When helping Kramnik with the Berlin I didn’t know we were killing the game!”, Grandmaster Miguel Illescas Córdoba said. 16. Nc2 Ng7 17. Qd2 Bf5 18. Bxf5 Nxf5

19. Ne3 Nxe3 20. Qxe3 Qe7 21. Qxe7 Bxe7 22. Re1 Bf8 23. Kf1 f6 24. g4 Kf7 25. h3 Re8 26. Rxe8 Kxe8 27. Ke2 Kd7 28. Kd3 Ke6 29. a4 a6 30. f3 Be7 ½ : ½. “I guess the players must be exhausted by their surfeit of rest days”, Grandmaster Nigel David Short said. It’s the failure of the format (but not only). I wonder why the so-called playoffs aren’t played at Fischerandom chess (with classical time control), rather than Rapid-Blitz-Armageddon, but nobody answers. Shall we have to ask Yeltsin?

Pamela Wasserstein, New York Media’s CEO, made the ceremonial first move for World Chess Championship match game 12. Photo: Max Avdeev for World Chess by Agon Limited.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

Cuba’s literacy rate is at 100% and life expectancy parallels first world nations, despite limited funding and supplies. [Read more].

• Sam Jones, Castro’s legacy and the envy of many nations: social care in Cuba, The Guardian, November 27, 2016

Fidel Castro, Igor Zakharovich Bondarevsky, and Robert James Fischer in Havana, Cuba, 1966. Photo: torre64.com.

Requiem for the Pioneer

As reported by TV Channel “Saint Petersburg”, chess Grandmaster Mark Evgenievich Taimanov was died last night in Saint Petersburg, Russia, at the age of 90. Taimanov was born February 7, 1926 in Kharkhiv, then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, to Jewish parents. His mother, a piano teacher, introduced him to music. His family moved to Saint Petersburg (them renamed Leningrad) when he was 6 months old. He studied and practised chess at the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers, and music at the the Leningrad State Conservatoire named after Rimsky-Korsakov. In fact, he also was well-known as a top concert pianist in the Soviet Union. With his first wife, Lyubov Aleksandrovna Bruk, he formed a piano duo, some of whose recordings were included in the Philips and Steinway series Great Pianists of the 20th Century. Taimanov is unjustly remembered for his 6–0 loss to Robert James “Bobby” Fischer in the 1971 World Championship Candidates match. However, few players have beaten six World Champions (Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov, Mikhail Nechemevich Tal, Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian, Boris Vasilievich Spassky, and Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov) as he has.

Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (left) and Boris Vasilievich Spassky (right) were habitués of the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers. Photo: eg.ru.

No One Writes Back

Diving Queen 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) appeared at the closing ceremony of the second Citizen Sports Meeting “Greenland Holding Group Cup” held in 上海 (Shànghǎi), China on November 27, 2016. The citizens games started on Saturday, April 23 and lasted 218 days, featuring many sports and events and involving about 1,500,000 people. All photos: weibo.com/wuminxia.

Things That Happen Along the Way

The Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” will participate in the second edition of the ballet festival “Le ali della danza”, which will be staged at the Teatro Aurora, Via San Bartolo in Tuto, 1, 50018 Scandicci, Florence, on Friday, January 27, 2017, starting at 20,45. The event is organised by Lions Club Fiesole under the patronage of the Comune di Scandicci. As usual proceeds will be donated to support non-profit charity institutions. Further details will follow.

The Dance of Reality

Thanks to all those who today paid a visit to Mado Flynn’s Abstract Flowers Christmas Exhibit at Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”, but after all, tomorrow is another day, and it’s time for dance!

Fidel Castro and prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (L.) after the ballet “Swan Lake”. Photo © Sputnik/Vasily.

Un día después del sábado

Bogotá, Colombia: People hold flowers in front of a portrait of Fidel Castro. Photo: Guillermo Legaria/AFP/Getty Images.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

A Spider in the Tower

Barcelona, Spain: French urban climber Alain Robert, also known as “The French Spiderman”, scales the 38-story skyscraper Torre Agbar, with the city’s famous Sagrada Familia in the background. Photo: Albert Gea/Reuters.

Red carpet

Fidel Castro outside the Statler Hotel on a visit to New York, United States. Photo: Dan Farrell/New York Daily News via Getty Images.

They That Wait

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin – Magnus Carlsen
World Chess Championship match game 11; New York, November 26, 2016
Spanish Game C78

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 0-0 9. Nc3 Be6. In the 2nd game Carlsen preferred 9. ... Na5 10. Ba2 Be6. 10. Nd5 Nd4 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. f4 c5 15. Qg4 Qd7 16. f5!? Karjakin’s cooked-up novelty. In Schröder – Schoppen, 19th Open, Hoogeveen 2015 was seen 16. Bd2 c4 17. Rae1 c3 which doesn’t seem to worry Black one little bit. 16. ... Rae8 17. Bd2 c4 18. h3!?

18. ... c3! “Feels like Black got a better version of what he is supposed to get from this variation. If 18. ... e5!? I put $ on Carlsen”, Grandmaster Anish Giri said, but Carlsen claims the initiative with unexpected straightforwardness. 19. bxc3 d5! “Fascinated by the positional physics behind Magnus’s decision to play 18. ... c3 & 19. ... d5. Strategy is about energy, not just mass”, Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson said. 20. Bg5! But Karjakin doesn’t lose his head and firmly keeps at least one foot on the ground. 20. ... Bxg5 21. Qxg5 dxe4 22. fxe6 Rxf1+ 23. Rxf1 Qxe6 24. cxd4 e3! Very Morphy-like. 25. Re1 h6 26. Qh5 e2 27. Qf3 a5 28. c3 Qa2 29. Qc6 Re6 30. Qc8+. Of course not 30. Qxb5?? because of 30. ... Qd2 31. Qb1 Qe3+! 32. Kh2 Qf2 33. Qb8+ Kh7 34. Qg3 Qf1 35. Qg4 Re7! 36. Qg3 Rf7 with a deadly Zugzwang. 30. ... Kh7 31. c4 Qd2 32. Qxe6 Qxe1+ 33. Kh2 Qf2 34. Qe4+ ½ : ½. That’s all: a textbook draw by perpetual check.

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin vs. Magnus Carlsen
Photo: World Chess by Agon Limited

The Everblooming Garden

Thanks to all those who today paid a visit to Mado Flynn’s Abstract Flowers Christmas Exhibit at Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”! And there we’ll wait for all those who will come tomorrow!

Las ideas no se matan

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has died at the age of 90, state television in the country has announced. Castro was known as one of the most iconic revolutionary leaders in recent history after he led a communist guerrilla army to replace Fulgencio Batista’s corrupt dictatorship, and went on to survive countless CIA-backed attempts on his life. The government has declared nine days of national mourning. “During the mourning period, all public events and activities will cease, the national flag will fly at half mast on public buildings and at military facilities and television and radio will broadcast informative, patriotic and historical programmes”.

Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, January 1959. Photo: Roberto Salas.

Adoring members of the Bolshoi Ballet, including prima ballerina Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (left) surround Fidel. Photo © Alamy.

11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer with Fidel in Havana, Cuba, 1966. Photo: cubadebate.cu.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

ABSTRACT FLOWERS CHRISTMAS EXHIBIT

ONE HUNDRED FLOWERS

by

Mado Flynn

EXHIBIT OF ONE HUNDRED ARTIFACTS WITH ORIGINAL DESIGNS

“Stella di Lago” ™ © Mado Flynn

Saturday and Sunday, November 26–27, 2016 Saturday and Sunday, December 10–11, 2016 16,00 – 19,00

c/o
Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”
Viale Edmondo de Amicis, 99/A
50137 Florence, Italy

Handmade in Italy by Mado Flynn

See further details at http://madoflynn.blogspot.com