Photo by James Biernat | The Triangle

In Camden, New Jersey, the 76ers went from the basketball court to the chess boards for the second annual Meltons Make Your Move chess event. 76ers players DeAnthony Melton and Paul Reed, as well as President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey and chess influencer, Levy Rozman, were in attendance for a unique community event.

Over a dozen local chess students came to the facility and had the opportunity to face off against all four celebrity participants, with a few students even defeating the 76ers players in their matches.

A chess tournament might seem like an unusual event for the 76ers to participate in, but switching up the nerdy mindset regarding chess is one thing DeAnthony Melton hopes to do.

For me, chess has been a safe haven, Melton said, I play on my phone almost every day and I love how it brings people together.

This was Meltons second year hosting the event, and many believe it was not just a success once again, but an improvement.

I think its important for kids to see that hes a basketball player on the court who has high basketball IQ and high chess IQ, Morey mentioned. We leveled up the event a little bit this year by having Levy (Rosman) whos obviously a big personality. We feel its important for us to keep the kids interested.

A chess influencer is a title that did not exist a decade ago, but Rozman is helping take charge in changing that. The content creator gained popularity on Youtube and Twitch during the pandemic, and has been labeled The Internets Chess Teacher.

Growing up, playing chess got you labeled a weirdo and subject to bullying, Rozman said. So now, its really special that we have so many cool athletes that kids look up to playing chess.

As the chess matches continued, DeAnthony Melton was able to share some special moments with his young chess opponents. Between the playful banter and light trash talk, one thing remained apparent, and that was the care for the communitys youth that Melton promotes.

Melton has been recovering from a back injury that has sidelined him since Feb. 27, and has plagued him since December. The 62 guard was averaging 11.5 points per game prior to his injury, and his along with teammate Joel Embiids absence has been a contributing factor for 76ers fall from fifth to seventh in the eastern conference standings.

As an athlete, taking time away from your recovery is a noble thing, and hosting a community event should earn Melton recognition.

I think its important to realize that anybody can play chess, DeAnthony commented. Some kids might not even watch basketball, but its cool connecting with them on the chess table.

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DeAnthony Melton: From the basketball court to the chess board - The Triangle - Drexel University The Triangle Online

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Breaking barriers in the world of chess, Maurice Ashley became the first Black chess grandmaster in 1999. He fell in love with the game after immigrating to the U.S. from Jamaica. Now, he has a new book that gives life advice drawn from the wisdom of chess.

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Candidates chess 2024: In 2013, right after Magnus Carlsen won the Candidates tournament in London, a frame captured by Norwegian photographer Morten Rakke went viral. In it, the grandmaster is captured behind a door, slumped on the handrail of a staircase, shirt untucked, his face buried into his arm. An ominous sign on the wall behind Carlsen read: Beware of the steps.

Barely had the world championship challenger caught his breath after qualifying for the world championship, he was interviewed by International Master Lawrence Trent, who asked him how he planned to celebrate his victory. Carlsens answer was revealing. My thoughts have not gone further than getting back to my hotel and lying down. Thats whats next for me.

Trent prodded him further, asking if he was more exhausted physically or emotionally. Its a lethal combination right now, offered Carlsen.

In the decade that has followed, Carlsen scythed his way through the world of chess, racking up five crowns after battling through five World Championship jousts, before eventually abdicating his throne.

A case can be made that the World Championship battle is more forgiving than the Candidates. If you err, you come back with redrawn battle plans and take on the same opponent once more. At the Candidates, though, one loss can suddenly become a slippery slope.

It is into this tournament of suffering that R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi. Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali head for the next three weeks. Each player in the eight-man open event and the eight-women corresponding tournament will play the other opponents twice and the winner after 14 rounds will earn the right to challenge the world champions next year.

The missing Magnus effect

Srinath points out that Magnuss decision to forsake his crown and not compete at the current Candidates cycle in the open event means that players, even first-timers, will want to win this time, knowing an easier battle awaits them at the World Championship against Ding Liren. There is also a possibility that the world no.1 Carlsen could decide to compete in the next Candidates, thus making that one more difficult to win.

Defeating anyone else in the World Championship is definitely relatively easier than trying to beat Magnus in a match. This makes winning the 2024 Candidates more lucrative. Ding has not been in his best shape at all in the past one year. He has a year more and even a weakened Ding is by no means easy. But if he plays at his current form at the World Championship, then the challenger will be the favourite against Ding, points out Srinath.

However, Srinath warns against trying to floor the pedal in a desperate bid to come out flying from the start of the tournament.

For any player competing for the first time, ideally its important to not get overawed by the occasion. Throwing the kitchen sink might actually backfire. This is not the kind of event where you can blitzkrieg your opponent. Its really important to wait for your chances, says Srinath.

Experience matters

Some of the greatest last names in the world of chess Petrosian, Najdorf, Euwe, Spassky, Tal, Fischer, Korchnoi, Karpov, Anand, Topalov, Kramnik, Carlsen and Liren have fought their way out of the trenches of the Candidates tournament before they were deemed worthy of taking a crack at the kings throne.

For all three Indian contenders in the open category (and Vaishali in the womens event), the Candidates will be their first brush with an event with the stakes so high.

There are two ways of neatly dividing the eight-man open category. The 30 somethings Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura who have been around for a while at the elite level, and have considerable experience of how to tackle such events. Then come the players in their late 20s: Vidit Gujrathi and Nijat Abasov. And the final group is the one that has made the world sit up and take notice since the pandemic, 20-year-old Alireza Firouzja, 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa and 17-year-old Gukesh, who is the second youngest player ever at the Candidates after Bobby Fischer.

In many senses its a battle of generations. Its a good platform for youngsters to make their mark at the highest level, says RB Ramesh, who is Praggs coach and has also been instrumental in the development of Vaishali.

The other way of separating the eight-man pack is prior Candidates experience. On one side are the haves: Nepomniachtchi (playing at his third consecutive Candidates tournament and chasing his third win), Caruana (fifth Candidates appearance), Nakamura and Firouzja. And the have nots: Vidit, Gukesh, Pragg and Abasov.

In the womens category too, Viashali steps into her first Candidates event, while Humpy has been there last time.

Over the next three weeks, Pragg, Gukesh, Vaishali, Vidit and Humpy will try and climb the staircase, one treacherous step at a time through a haze of opponents, to be able to take on Liren and Ju Wenjun in the World Championship battle.

But they must be wary. As the sign behind Carlsen warned, Beware of the steps.

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Candidates chess tournament: Why playing at the Candidates and winning it is as tough as the World Championships - The Indian Express

The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 is set to take place in Toronto, Canada, on April 3-23. This event marks a historic occasion as it is the first time the Candidates Tournament will be held in North America (as a round-robin). Another first for the 2024 edition: the Candidates and the Womens Candidates are organized together under one roof on the same dates.

Eight players in each category have gone through the excruciating qualification process to earn a chance at becoming a challenger for the World Championship title and facing Ding Liren (open) and Ju Wenjun (womens) at the end of this year.

The lineups pique curiosity as several young talents enter the late stages of the World Championship cycle for the first time.

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Attack like a Super Grandmaster

In this Fritztrainer: Attack like a Super GM with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

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The Candidates are ready - First impressions from Toronto! - Chess News | ChessBase

#chessnut #chesschats

Chessnut Store (Affiliate Link):https://www.chessnutech.com?sca_ref=4294516.IoYAy1V8Gt Or use my coupon code for a discount on checkout:CHESSNOOB64

Chessnut has been working hard on a new app for the Chessnut Air, Air+, and PRO and have put it out as an early release for the community to give a go. At the moment, it's only available on Android but once it's complete, it should be on both Android and iOS.

NEW Chessnut App (early release at time of this article) OG Chessnut App

The new app is definitely still a work in progress so there are likely to still be bugs. It uses the Chessnut EVO's onboard user interface, harmonising the the line.

A very good thing that Chessnut has done is that they've made this new app SEPARATE to their existing one, and indeed, I have both the original and new apps installed with no problems. So, there is no need to choose one or the other to install!

One of the features in the new app that I really like is the "Clock Mode"; it is a simple but well designed automatic chess clock designed for use with the Chessnut Air/Air+/PRO to record over-the-board games! It is very easy to set up the clock for the time controls you want, and the clock automatically advances with each move.

The new app also knows the correct board orientation depending now how the White and Black pieces are physically set up on the board. This is especially important in OTB games as having to rotate the board when swapping colours is counterintuitive.

The app will, of course, record the OTB game and at completion, an option is given to either discard or save the game. This saves the game onto Chessnut's server, and the PGN can be accessed fairly simply once logged into your account on Chessnut's website.

Give it a go!

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NEW Chessnut APP | I LOVE the CLOCK MODE for OTB games! Chess Chats #7 - Chess.com

A sixth consecutive victory! The last time Magnus Carlsen played in a tournament and did not emerge as the winner was in November last year, when he played on the top board for Norway at the European Team Championship Carlsen scored 6/8 points in Budva, nonetheless. Before that, the world number one had struggled at the Qatar Masters, where he scored 6/9 for a disappointing 16th place in the final standings.

Since then, however, the 33-year-old (his birthday is on November 30) has collected six tournament victories in a row. Carlsen won the Champions Chess Tour Finals, the World Rapid Championship, the World Blitz Championship, the Chessable Masters, the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Challenge and now the Grenke Chess Classic.

In Karlsruhe, Carlsen claimed his third triumph in the Grenke Classic. The Norwegian played in 5 out of the 7 editions of the event, failing to claim first place twice in 2017, when Levon Aronian took first place, and in 2018, when Fabiano Caruana emerged victorious.

Carlsen won the previous edition of the Classic, in 2019. The event was a 10-player single round-robin with a 2724 average rating. Carlsen remained undefeated and obtained a 7/9 score to leave Caruana a full 1 points behind in sole second place. The impressive showing granted the long-standing world number one a 2983 Tournament Performance Rating.

Magnus Carlsen defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final round of the 2019 edition | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

This time around, the organizers put forth a more dynamic format, with a fast-classical time control (45+10) and a playoff section at the end of the event. Following the 6-player double round-robin, those placed first and second in the standings fought for first place in a 2-game match. Carlsens opponent, Richard Rapport, defeated the eventual tournament winner in the first round of the event and finished the all-play-all in clear second place.

The final saw Carlsen winning the first game with the white pieces and then saving a draw from what at times looked like a completely losing position.

Matches for third and fifth places also took place on Monday. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat Vincent Keymer in blitz playoffs (2-1) to grab third place, while world champion Ding Liren got the better of Daniel Fridman in regulation (1-) to secure fifth place.

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Magnus Carlsen wins Grenke Chess Classic for a third time - Chess.com

William Keegan's in my view

The shadow chancellor is often criticised for her centrist positions, but Labours plan for a long-term rescue is a vital difference between the parties

Sun 31 Mar 2024 02.00 EDT

When preparing to become Labours chancellor in 1964, James Callaghan used to go up to Oxford for economics lessons at Nuffield College. The present shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is already steeped in economic knowledge, including that of the UKs economic history, as her recent Mais lecture at Bayes business school made clear.

I was amused by some of the pre-lecture media speculation that Reeves might express her admiration for Margaret Thatcher. On the contrary, she let it be known, in an aside not in the printed text, that distaste for Thatcherism was one of her motives for going into politics.

It is now a commonplace that the wounded chickens of Thatcherism are coming home to roost. It is a myth that Mrs Thatcher injected a new entrepreneurial dynamism into the British economy: whole sections of manufacturing industry were damaged or even destroyed by her early flirtation with what I dubbed sado-monetarism. In the end, Thatcher resorted to membership of the European single market in 1986 as a means of attracting crucial overseas investment from countries such as Japan. These valued their access to the wider European market from a safe base in the UK.

Alas, thanks to the all too successful campaign run by the egregious Nigel Farage and his predecessors, the safe base was removed by the ill-conceived referendum of 2016.

One of the many benefits of our membership of the EU was steadily tightening anti-pollution rules which no longer apply, as the scandalous dumping of raw sewage into our rivers reminds us.

The damage resulting from the chickens of deregulation coming home to roost is all around us. The scale of the problems facing a putative Labour government is so manifest that Keir Starmer and Reeves lose no opportunity to warn that, if elected, it will take them two terms to repair the damage.

Starmer and Reeves are doing their best to shake off any echoes of Corbynism and to woo the City and big business. They are desperate not to diminish their impressive lead in the polls. Reevess emphasis on the importance of fiscal rules leads many people to wonder whether there is any significant difference between what they offer and the present governments approach.

Well, her Mais lecture provided a welcome answer. While wanting to have strict rules about balancing current expenditure with tax receipts, Reeves recognises that investment which brings benefits in the long term does not have to be paid for in one year! The canard, promoted by too many Tory politicians, that capital expenditure must be balanced by taxation year-by-year is one of the reasons why the UK has underinvested for more than a decade, resulting in what my old friend the late Prof JK Galbraith famously described as public squalor.

Contrary to what the pre-Keynesian brigade still argue, public sector investment does not land future generations with the cost: it lands them with the benefits.

It is interesting that the former top civil servant at the Treasury Lord Macpherson has said that the financial constraints facing the next government may not be as severe as widely feared. He ought to know, and his qualifications for fiscal responsibility are second to none.

Reeves places great emphasis on long-term investment. This will be a necessary condition of a rescue plan for this economy. But I knew, gentle reader, that you were waiting for this we also need to remove the trade barriers that have increasingly been restricting growth since Brexit.

Having criticised the inhibitions on investment that have characterised the 14 years of government since 2010, Reeves added: A rushed and ill-conceived Brexit deal has brought further disruption, with the Resolution Foundation estimating that new trade barriers are equivalent to a 13% and 21% increase in tariffs for our manufacturing and service sectors respectively, and the OBR finding that long-run GDP is expected to be 4% lower.

So what will a Labour government do about it?

If it wins handsomely, the party can stop being so timid about the red wall voters who were conned into voting for Brexit. For sustained growth we need the investment and reduction in trade barriers that rejoining the EU would facilitate.

I find Lord Mandelsons view that our former EU partners would not wish to engage with a UK request to rejoin seriously defeatist. We may be on the verge of war with Putins Russia. The EU needs us back.

On a lighter Easter note, I like the story, told by herself, that Reeves, a junior chess champion, once cheekily asked the great Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov for a game. When one of her aides said it was a bad idea because she had another appointment, Kasparov apparently said: This wont take long. It didnt.

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Rachel Reeves the chess player has an eye on the economic endgame - The Guardian

Five years since its launch, the Infinite Chess projecthas expanded globally, offering valuable insights to the chess community on its potential to enhance the lives of individuals on the autism spectrum

The World Health Organization notes that autism affects one in every 100 children worldwide. In 2007, The United Nations General Assembly established April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) to raise awareness and provide opportunities for people with autism not only to survive but also to prosper. In 2019, FIDE answered the call and launched the Infinite Chess project aiming to help children with autism thrive using chess as a vehicle for developing important life skills.

What began as a pilot program in 2019 has grown to encompass 19 countries worldwide, including Albania, Latvia, France, Spain, Portugal, UK, Gibraltar, Mongolia, Turkey, Morocco, Cyprus, India, Gambia, South Africa, Tanzania, Brazil, Taiwan, Malaysia, and New Zealand. Another six countries are expected to join this year: Jamaica, Botswana, Nigeria, Pakistan, Maldives, and Puerto Rico.

Today, the project equips autistic individuals with essential life skills through free training and resources, promoting their acceptance and contribution to society.

In March 2024, a three-day seminar at the Second International Congress of Chess, Education, and Health showcased studies on the project's impact. The results confirmed that chess has helped children with autism improve their socio-emotional well-being and build a stronger foundation for life skills.

In March 2024, a three-day seminar at the Second International Congress of Chess, Education, and Health showcased studies on the project's impact. The results confirmed that chess has helped children with autism improve their socio-emotional well-being and build a stronger foundation for life skills.

In the same month, the Spanish island of Menorca hosted the Second International Congress of Chess, Education, and Health as part of the FIDE100 Celebration program. The congress brought together experts in the fields of chess, education, and health. The three-day seminar showcased studies and experiences from different parts of the world about the role of chess in education and health, including the Infinite Chess project. The results showed that chess has helped children with autism improve their socio-emotional welfare and provided them with a stronger foundation for grasping important life skills.

Reflecting on the past five years, WIM Anastasia Sorokina, the project leader, emphasizes the significant learning experience for both the chess community and health experts. "It has been an important learning curve for both the chess world and health experts. Through direct work with children who have autism, we gained a better understanding of how chess can be made more accessible. Chess is for all we are all one family and FIDE is steadfast in its commitment to providing everyone, regardless of their background or life circumstances, with an opportunity to learn and play chess as it does help make one's life better," she said.

Running in sync with FIDE's Social Commission and supported by the International Olympic Committee, the Infinite Chess project explores how chess can help children with autism develop through the 64-square game. Through specially designed courses and seminars, educators are taught how to present chess to children with autism and help them learn the game.

The program, available online on theInfinite Chess website, as wellas through courses and seminars published on YouTube, has been translated into five languages (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Russian) and is currently taught to more than 150 children between the ages of four and 17.

You can watch a video on the Infinite Chess here.

See more here:

Breaking the limits: How FIDE's Infinite Chess project helps people with autism - FIDE

DeKALB The DeKalb Public Library will host two Teen and Tween Chess Club sessions for patrons to play chess.

The free sessions will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. April 3 and 17 in the librarys Nancy D. Castle Collaboration Studio, 309 Oak St.

The sessions are intended for youth ages nine to 18.

Attendees can learn about and play chess. Snacks will be provided. Due to limited space, registration is required to attend. To register, visit dkpl.org.

For information, email stevenm@dkpl.org or call 815-756-0568, ext. 3400.

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Teen and Tween Chess Club April 3 and 17 in DeKalb - Shaw Local

The chess world is still feeling the vibrations of the buzziest chess story of 2022, which went down in St. Louis and featured one prodigy of the game being accused of cheating via vibrating anal beads in his rectum.

The sex toy-centric chess controversy started here when grandmaster Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup in a coy manner that many interpreted as an accusation of cheating against the person he lost to, then-19-year-old Hans Niemann.

One thing led to another, Elon Musk escalated the matter via a tweet, and in a classic example of the arc of all things bending toward the weirdest and least plausible explanation, the anal beads rumors inserted themselves into the discourse. The whole thing even spawned a lawsuit filed in federal court in St. Louis by Neiman against Carlsen. That was dismissed last summer.

Though the lawsuit might be dead, the relationship between anal beads and competitive chess now seems permanent, like Cracker Jacks and baseball or domestic beer and the NFL.

With that in mind, wellness company We-Vibe is offering "free anal stimulation toys" to all players in next month's World Chess Championship in Toronto.

As the world watches in anticipation, We-Vibe is proud to support the World Chess Championship," the company said in a statement. They said they hope to "empower players to make their moves with confidence, both inside and outside the game."

The eight player, double-round-robin-style Candidates Tournament will take place over about two and a half weeks in Toronto, starting April 3. The winner of that will take on defending champion Ding Liren.

Curiously, Carlsen has already withdrawn from the affair. No word yet from We-Vibe if he still gets a free butt plug.

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St. Louis Chess Scandal Inspires Offer of Free Anal Vibrators to Level the Playing Field - Riverfront Times