Thursday, August 31, 2017

A Right to Live

Bangkok, Thailand: Customs officials display one of 136 live pangolins and 450kg of scales that were seized Wednesday from two pickup trucks after the authorities received a tip off that it had been smuggled from Malaysia. Customs Department Director General Kulit Sombatsiri said his department has seized more than 2.9 tons of pangolin-related items this year worth more than 29 million Thai baht (US$870,000). Photo: Sakchai Lalit/AP.

Filling Empty

Members of the 中国残疾人艺术团简 (China Disabled Peoples Performing Art Troupe) perform “My Dream” at Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Municipal Theatre in Bogotá, Colombia. The company, composed of artists with hearing, mental, motor, visual or speech disabilities, was founded in 1987 and is currently both an honorary and goodwill ambassador of UNESCO for its example of inclusion. Photo: John Vizcaíno/AFP/Getty Images.

Chimera

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: Two zebras come together at the perfect moment to make it seem like they are a two-headed animal. Photo: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza/Solent News & Photo Agency.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Insomnia

The Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” will participate with its own stand through which it will promote both classical and Fischerandom chess in the “Notte Bianca dello Sport” (Sleepless Night Sports Festival) in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, starting in the evening of Thursday, September 7, 2017, and also featuring open shops as well as music, dances, art exhibits, street theatre, and food and wine stalls all night long.

Artwork © bluberry-mist

Not Intuitively Obvious

A prospective bride with a traditionally face painting is seen in Pizren, Kosovo. Photo: Haris Alija/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

A boy admires some of the street art that adorns many of the Aida refugee camp’s walls just outside Bethlehem. Banksy famously created the image of a white dove with a sniper target on its chest on a wall not far from here. Photo: Murad Abusrour.

Five Days in September

As usual, the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” will participate with its own stand through which it will promote both classical and Fischerandom chess in the annual Festa dello Sport traditionally staged at the Giardini del Campo di Marte in Florence, Italy, from Monday, September 4 to Friday, September 8 2017, starting everyday at 16,30 and ending at 19,00.
The event is promoted by the Quartiere 2 Campo di Marte and organized by the UISP Comitato Territoriale Firenze.
The entrance is free.

The Gun of Don Rodrigo

Family, friends and supporters join the funeral of Kian Loyd delos Santos, 17, in Caloocan, Philippines, executed by police death squads during one of their so-called anti-drug operations. Photo: Jes Aznar/Getty Images.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

高粱屬 (Sorghum)

A woman works in a sorghum field in a valley between 遵义 (Zūnyì) and 茅台 (Máotái), 贵州省 (Guìzhōu province). The plant is used to produce 茅台酒 (Máotái), a brand of 白酒 (báijiǔ), a distilled Chinese liquor. Photo: Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA.

The American Astronaut

From his vantage point on the International Space Station, 250 miles above earth, NASA astronaut Jack David Fischer captured this stunning image of Hurricane Harvey approaching Texas. Photograph: Jack Fischer/NASA.

Three in One

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Fabiano Caruana
2nd Speed Chess Championship; match game 8; time control: 5 minutes plus 2 seconds per move; chess.com, August 24, 2017
nrbkrbqn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRBKRBQN w EBeb - 0 1

Position #358

1. Nb3 f5 2. f4 Nb6 3. g3 Ng6 4. Bg2 e5 5. fxe5 Nxe5 6. Nf2 d5 7. d3 Bd7 8. Bg5+ Be7 9. Bxe7+ Rxe7 10. Kc1!? A very subtle concept: White does not castle on the a-side, judging that her Rook on the b-file is optimally placed already. 10. ... 0-0-0. Black adopts a more classic approach, apparently not being afraid of her opponent’s aggressive intentions on the a-side. 11. Nc5 Kb8 12. Nd1 Bc8 13. a4 Qe8 14. a5 Na4 15. Ra1 Nxc5 16. Qxc5 Ng4. Black consolidated very well and has now an excellent position. 17. Nc3. If 17. Bxd5 there might follow 17. ... Re5! (or, more minimally, 17. ... Rxe2 18. Rxe2 Qxe2 19. a6 b6 20. Qc6 Rxd5! 21. Qxd5 Qxd1+! 22. Kxd1 Ne3+ leaving White the task of defending a very unpleasant endgame) 18. c4 c6 19. Nc3 Rd7 (not 19. ... cxd5?? 20. Nb5 and it is White who wins!) 20. d4 Qe7! with clear advantage to Black. 17. ... Rxe2?? Here Caruana, with no more time to move, just blunders a Rook. With 17. ... Ne3 Black would have retained his good chances. 18. Rxe2 Qxe2 19. Nxe2 1 : 0.

Fabiano Caruana – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
2nd Speed Chess Championship; match game 17; time control: 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move; chess.com, August 24, 2017
nbbrnkrq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NBBRNKRQ w GDgd - 0 1


Position #180

1. c4 c5 2. Nb3. An older (and very qualified) try is 2. d4 cxd4 3. Rxd4 Be5 4. Rd1 0-0 5. Nf3 Bf6 6. Bc2 g6 7. b3 Nac7 8. Ne3 Bb2 9. 0-0 Bxc1 10. Rxc1 Nf6 11. h3 b6 12. Qh2 d6 13. Qg3 Qg7 14. Qh4 Bb7 15. Rfd1 Rc8 16. Nd4 Rfd8 17. Rc3 e6 18. Nef5 exf5 19. Nxf5 g5 20. Qg3 Nh5 21. Qe3 Qf6 22. Ne7+ Kf8 23. Nxc8 Rxc8 24. Qd2 Nf4 25. Rg3 Rd8 26. Bxh7 Nce6 27. e3 Nh5 28. Rg4 Qh6 29. Bf5 Neg7 30. Qc2 Qf6 31. Be4 Bc8 32. Bf3 Qe5 33. Re4 Bf5 34. Rxe5 Bxc2 35. Rd2 Bg6 36. Bxh5 Nxh5 37. Rxg5 Nf6 38. f3 Ke7 39. e4 Nh7 40. Rgd5 f6 41. f4 1 : 0 Aronian – Svidler, 5th Clerical Medical World Chess960 Championship, Mainz 2006, match game 1. 2. ... b6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bb7 5. Nef3 Nac7 6. h4 Nd6 7. b3 0-0-0!? The most committal castle, trusting in her two Bishops’s command of long diagonals. 8. Bf4 Ne6 9. Nxe6 dxe6 10. 0-0 h6!? Given the time control (and the overall partial match score) 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is interestingly playing for a win, even at the cost of compromising her position. 11. Qh3? Caruana, too, is playing to win, but in his hurry he overlooks something important. 11. ... Bc7? Black misses 11. ... g5! 12. hxg5 hxg5 13. Qxh8 Rxh8 14. Nxg5 (or 14. Bxg5 Rdg8! 15. Bf4 Rh5! with a terrific attack) 14. ... Rdg8 which would have given her an excellent attacking position for the sacrificed Pawn. 12. Ne5! Now Black looks doomed. 12. ... Kb8!? A clever way of trying her luck. Now 12. ... g5 would have been met by 13. Nxf7 gxf4 14. Nxh8 Rxg2+ 15. Qxg2 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Rxh8 17. Rc1 with a decisive advantage to White. If, instead, 12. ... Rgf8 there might follow 17. h5! which seems to leave Black in a kind of zugzwang. On the other hand, the impending threat by White of Rxd1xd6 does not seem to be satisfactorily parable. 13. Nxf7? Caruana apparently mis-shuffles his winning moves and takes the wrong way. After 13. Rxd6! Bxd6 14. Nxf7 (Her Majesty is trapped) 14. ... Bxf4 15. Nxh8 Rxh8 16. Qxe6 Black has no compensation for the lost crown. 13. ... Nxf7 14. Bxc7+ Kxc7 15. Qxe6 Nd6? But it is Black who makes the last mistake. The right way was 15. ... Rxd1 16. Rxd1 Rd8! 17. Qxe7+ Kb8 and certainly Black should not lose. 16. c5! This little tactics makes all the difference, and now Black can no longer defend herself. 16. ... bxc5 17. Qxe7+ Rd7 18. Qe5 Rgd8 19. Bf5 Qe8 20. Qxc5+ Kb8 21. Bxd7 Qxd7 22. Rd4 Qe6 23. Rfd1 Qg6 24. f3 1 : 0.

Fabiano Caruana – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
2nd Speed Chess Championship; match game 27; time control: 1 minute plus 1 second per move; chess.com, August 24, 2017
qnrknrbb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QNRKNRBB w FCfc - 0 1


Position #207

1. g4 Nc6 2. f4 g6 3. c4 0-0-0 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nf3 f5 6. g5 d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Nb5 Nd6? This is a bad positional mistake due to the inhuman time control. 9. Nxd6+ Rxd6. Since 9. ... cxd6 10. Bd4 would be horrible for Black, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) decides to reconvert her previous blunder into an Exchange sacrifice, which, quite incredibly, might even offer some compensation (especially if White doesn’t play at his best). 10. Bc5 Rfd8 11. Bxd6 Rxd6 12. Qb1 a5 13. Qc2 Qa6 14. Ne5 Qb6 15. Qc3? White should have been content with something like 15. Nxc6 Rxc6 16. Qb3 retaining his edge. 15. ... d4? And 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), on her part, throws away her last chance of saving the game: after 15. ... Nxe5 16. fxe5 Rc6 17. Qa3 Rxc1+ 18. Kxc1 Bxe5 Black seems to have full dynamic compensation for the Exchange. 16. Qc5 Qxb2? This quickly runs into mate, but being positionally doomed Black must play for his opponent to commit some error. 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. Bxc6 Qxa2 19. Rf3. White could have already played his mating Bishop sacrifice here as well on his 21st move. 19. ... Bb3+ 20. Ke1 Qb2 21. Kf2 d3 22. Bb7+! Kxb7 23. Qxc7+ Ka8 24. Qc8+ Ka7 25. Rc7+ 1 : 0. Fischerandom chess would need more classic time control games rather than super-syncopated blitz’n’bullet jokes, but what offered by the online circuit of chess.com is at least better than nothing.

More Than, Less Than

A Chinese man sorts abandoned share bicycles stored at a temporary parking lot in 上海 (Shànghǎi), China. The bike-sharing industry has known a boom with Chinese city-dwellers, but has grown so much that 上海 (Shànghǎi)’s authorities last week had to prohibit any further deployment of bikes in the city in order to prevent sidewalk clutter. Photo: Chandan Khanna/Getty Images.

Lost in the Shuffle

Ian Aleksandrovich Nepomniachtchi – Levon Grigori Aronian
2nd Speed Chess Championship; match game 27 (1’+1” per move); Chess.com, August 23, 2017
rnbkqrnb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBKQRNB w KQkq - 0 1
Position 631


1. b3 g6 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb2 f5 4. g3 d6 5. f4 Bd7 6. 0-0-0. It could be White’s decisive mistake! 6. ... a5! Black prepares for a straight Pawn sacrifice in order to punish his opponent for having castled on the a-side. 7. Kb1 a4 8. Nxa4 Bxb2 9. Nxb2 Nf6 10. c3 e5 11. d3 e4 12. Qd2 b5 13. Nh3 h6 14. e3 Qf7 15. Nf2 0-0 16. h3? And this is surely White’s crucial mistake, even if it is not clear whether and how he could have avoided the worst of what is about to happen. Stockfish gives 16. dxe4! Rxa2! 17. e5! (17. Kxa2? Ra8+ 18. Kb1 Qxb3 19. Nd3 fxe4 20. Nc1 Qa3 21. Kc2 Be6 also seems to offer Black an overwhelming attack) 17. ... Qxb3 18. exf6 Be6 19. Bd5 Rfa8 20. Bxb3 Bxb3 21. Nbd3 Ra1+ 22. Kb2 R1a2+ with perpetual check.


16. ... Rxa2!! Aronian sacrifices a whole Rook for a mating attack. 17. Kxa2 Ra8+ 18. Kb1 Qxb3. White is harmless against the double threat of ... Bd7-e6 and ... Nc6-b4. 19. dxe4. Desperation, for after 19. Qc2 Ra1+ Black would win very heavy material. 19. ... b4?? A terrible and very strange mistake by Aronian, when by now everything seemed so easy for Black. After 19. ... Be6! White had no (economic) way of parrying the threat of ... Ra8-a1+. 20. Rc1?? And here Nepomniachtchi misses his only (good) chance to claim the point: 20. Qd3! (in order to exchange Queens by Qd3-c4+); Aronian should have probably continued 20. ... bxc3 21. Qc4+ Qxc4 22. Nxc4 Ra4 aimimg for an ending the Exchange down, with all his hopes laid in his (mystical) Knight pair. 20. ... Ra3. Now it is all finished: Black wins. 21. c4 Na5 22. Nd3 Qa2+ 23. Kc2 Ba4 mate.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

It was such a stroke of luck to have found today a framed art print of the French Algerian-born painter Thierry Ona’s danseurs, just to remind everyone what can (still) happen to those who don’t squeeze themselves into suburban shopping malls for common Sunday people! Photo: Isadora Duncan.

The Door to the Missing Link

Police using water cannon and batons have clashed with refugees who had occupied a square in Rome, Italy in defiance of an order to leave a building where they had been occupying since 2013. Photo: Angelo Carconi/AP.

Migrants and refugees demonstrate as police continue its operation of eviction. Photo: Angelo Carconi/AP.

Slow waltz

Two bears show off their dance moves on the beach in Oregon, United States. Photo: Karie Lefebvre/Solent News & Photo Agency.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Frenemies

Robert James “Bobby” Fischer (pictured left) and Boris Vasilievich Spassky (pictured right) argue a point at a cocktail party after a news conference in Sveti Stefan, Yugoslavia on Monday, September 15, 1992. At that point, Fischer was leading 3–2 in their 10-game, open-ended rematch, with their next game scheduled for Wednesday. Photo: AP.

The Desecrated King

11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer (pictured right), shakes hands with the then President of Serbia Slobodan Milošević (pictured left) in Belgrade, Yugoslavia on Tuesday, October 6, 1992. Fischer’s rematch vs. Boris Vasilievich Spassky would be continued on Wednesday in Belgrade with Fischer leading by 5 to 3. Speaking on the occasion, Milošević said that the match was proving that “Chess and sports cannot be limited by politics”. Photo: AP.

The Open Stage

And, of course, our penetrating eye could not overlook so great a vision as the dancers of Italian sculptor Davide Dall’Osso, still on display downtown in Pietrasanta, Italy.

Umbrellas in the Sun

And finally, after purifying our House with Crying Windows from the filthy fluids of Arcovazzi, we took a day of holiday, wandering around the art town of Pietrasanta, Italy just in time to admire the view of more than one thousand of colourful, floating umbrellas covering almost one km above the main centre street. Photo: Isadora Duncan.

A Summer on the Sofa

A Chinese woman browses her smartphone on a sofa displaying a panda and bears at a shopping mall in 北京 (Běijīng), China. Some shopping malls and retailers in the capital are staging installations and decorations to attract shoppers in the summer holidays. Photo: 王身敦 (Andy Wong)/AP.