The Wild Bunch

Sam Sloan, a long-time friend of Bobby Fischer, backed 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s creative protest in Gibraltar and was critical of the establishment punitive policy against her: “I think 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) had a valid complaint. It is mathematically impossible for her to get all seven women opponents in a Swiss tournament with 90 men but only 7 other women. They must have set the pairing program as though it had a woman’s section. Probably since she refuses to compete in the World Woman’s Championship nowadays they rigged the pairings so it came out like this”.

Root sum squared

For the Ukrainian women’s team, the European Championship has opened with a nuisance. According to our source, Muzychuk sisters have missed their flight, which resulted in them failing to appear for the first round (England vs. Ukraine). Since there is only one reserve player in the team, a loss by forfeit was unavoidable: Houska 1–0 A. Muzychuk (board 1). [Read more].

• Reykjavík: Ukrainian Women’s Team Started With 0-1 Score as Muzychuk Sisters Missed Their Flight, Chess-News.ru, November 13, 2015

Evgeny Surov (‏@surovlive)