Towards a replacement for the PGN format

The PGN format has been a common format for recording chess games for a long time. Is it time we changed it? Play Magnus guys discuss. 

Since it was introduced more than twenty years ago, Portable Game Notationhas been by far the most widespread and portable format for exporting, importing and sharing annotated chess games in the software world. Even today, it remains a fundamental part of computer chess infrastructure.

However, as groundbreaking as PGN was back when it was introduced (at a time where no open and widely implemented document format for chess games existed), time has moved on, and modern chess software struggles to work around the various limitations in PGN.

At Play Magnus, we're working on a new chess game file format that we hope can replace PGN in the future, and that can also be used in many situations where the limitations in PGN makes it too awkward to use. We already use an early version of this new format internally. It will take a while before we are ready to publish a specification, for a number of reasons: The format is still rapidly evolving, as we keep discovering new features that we need. Along with the specification itself, we'd like to have some open source libraries for reading and manipulating games in the new format, as well as some friendly end-user software for producing and consuming content. And finally, since we've got an awful lot of other work to do, we can't prioritize this task as much as I'd like. We don't expect the new format to be ready for external use before some time towards the end of the year (and that's an optimistic estimate).

The reason we bring up the work on the new format so far in advance is that we'd like to give the wider community a chance to share their thoughts about what they want to see in the new format, and what limitations in PGN annoy them the most.

Here are a few of the most significant weaknesses and limitations we've identified so far:

1. PGN is designed to be somewhat humanly readable, at the expense of making it harder for computer software to parse and produce. We believe this is a design mistake. Few users read PGN without the help of some kind of software anyway, and writing a working PGN parser is needlessly hard – even more so because in practice you also need to be able to parse all the subtly broken PGN that's produced by other programs that fail to implement the spec 100% correctly.
2. PGN is ASCII encoded, making it unsuitable for both player names and textual annotations in most of the world. A modern format should obviously support Unicode (in fact, many recent implementations of PGN do permit Unicode, even though this is technically breaking the standard).
3. No support for including engine analysis in the game. Various programs do support annotating games with engine analysis, but only using the standard PGN mechanisms of comments and recursive annotation variations. Data like search depths and evaluations are included as textual comments, and the syntax of these comments vary from program to program. This makes it difficult to exchange computer annotated games between different pieces of software.
4. No support for formatted text in comments – not even paragraphs. In our new format, we're toying with the idea of using some kind of Markdown for comments, including support for things like images, videos and hyperlinks.
5. No top-level elements other than games. We'd like to be able to group the games into rounds and tournaments, and to produce ebook-like documents with chapters and text between the games.
6. Variations can only appear after the main move in a position, and not before. Often the annotator wants to present some variations before the move that was played in the game, in order to explain her choice of move. For instance, it is not unusual to first present the move you were originally planning to play along with some variations, the explain why you decided that it doesn't work, and how you arrived at some other move (the one you ended up playing) instead.
7. No support for null moves in variations. This makes it impossible to annotate a move with something like "threatening 31. Nx7 Kxg7 32. Rg1+ Kh8 33. h6, with a strong attack" (except in a purely textual comment, where you can't play through the moves).

If you have other PGN annoyances you would like to see addressed in a new format (or if you have comments to the above list), please let us know about them, and there's a chance we can consider your wishes while developing the format.

Merry Christmas

From myself & family i wish all readers of this blog a merry christmas.

Narrated Chess can be Hazardous to the Listener

Speaking as a fan and occasional player of the fascinating International Worldwide Game of Chess, I have a few observations to share.
First, let me say, for us chess fans, computers and the net have revolutionized our experience. My favorite is YouTube which carries wonderful videos made by good chess players who are also good communicators. The video reports of chess matches, classic games, and personal or locational sidelights are entertaining interesting and educational. A wonderful use of the YouTube medium. Read the full article

Angola, Potugal Sign Chess Agreement

Luanda – The Angolan Chess Federation (FAX) and its Portuguese counterpart (FPX) are expected to sign on Wednesday, in Luanda, a co-operation protocol in the training fields with Portuguese experts and exchange of experience in training centres.

This was said to ANGOP on Tuesday by the secretary-general of FAX, Abraão dos Reis.

Abraão dos Reis said that the chairman of the Portuguese Chess Federation, Jorge Antão, is in Luanda for this purpose.
The accord, whose period of validity is undetermined, will be signed before the last round of the CUCA international chess tournament that is taking place in Luanda.

LUCKY DUBE, CHESS AND I

Lucky Dube a great African musician died on Friday aged 43. His music is a great part of my chess heritage. My friend Samuel Chebii introduced me to his music and I introduced him to chess. One part of this unique equation has been taken.


Lucky dube one of Africa’s greatest stars was shot dead in South Africa on Friday after an attempted car jacking incident. He was 43. Dube was one of Africa’s great reggae stars whose music transverse all continents and whose songs played a pivotal role in the struggle aganaist apartheid.

lUCKY DUBE WHO WAS KILLED ON FRIDAY AGED 43

Ministers of religion
have visited me many times
to talk about it
They say to me
I gotta leave it I gotta leave it
It's a bad habit
for a man
But when I try to leave it
my friends keep telling me
I'm a fool amongst fools

Now I'm a slave, a slave
I'm a slave
I'm a liquor slave

Luky dube in the song slave


I know most of my readers are wondering why I am writing about music in a chess blog. But lucky dube and chess to me are so entwined. Although I will always be posting on chess I want to take readers back on memory lane where lucky dube, chess and I met.

Deep in the winding hills and the beautiful countryside of the rift valley in Kenya lies what the early European settlers called the white highlands. In this land reminiscent of the British Isles countryside, early settlers found a home away from home. They led a lifestyle similar to that in Britain; reared ashire and freshian cattle, planted rose flowers, built churches and yes played cricket.

After independence in 1963 Kenyan natives were resettled in these farms and my grandfather was a beneficiary and this is where I was born. I completed college in 2002 and I did not get a job immediately so for one year I had time that completely altered my chess life.

Samuel chebii had also completed college but did not also have a job and one day he made a remark that no one could beat him in chess. We did not have a board to prove this so we looked for wood and carved out pieces that looked similar to chess pieces. For the board we cut out a carton box and used red paint to color the dark squares. Within 2 days the board was complete and our first game was underway. I crashed him in 15 moves, that day we played 17 games and I won 17 - 0. You see he was a complete patzer but he could not believe how I won. We played daily for the next 6 months from 0800hrs to 2200 hrs averaging 19-25 games a day. We did not have clocks; I had never seen a chess book and no other person could play the game in the area.

In the evenings after playing long games and getting mentally tired we visited a local brews den to drink local alcohol. I did not drink myself but my friend was the real drinker of the local stuff called chang’aa. After a few bottles he would sing lucky dubes songs. He was so obsessed with lucky dube and chess that he compared lucky dube and chess in the slightest opportunity he could find. He explained to me how the creativity in dubes songs was compared to capablanca’s. He fed me this ideology everyday for so many months that I nearly accepted it. On our way home he would sing his songs that I got to know the lyrics although I had never had of the song.

Over a one year period his chess improved so dramatically that he was competing with me. We acquired some chess literature although we still used our old playing set. We argued about the universe, light, event horizon, chess, politics, women but on lucky dube and chess that is where we agreed.

So when I received the news of lucky dube’s death it was double mourning when I called my friend he just told me “chess is dead”. That represented how much chess and dube were so close to him and me.

CONTROVERSY IN KENYAN CHESS TEAM SELECTION

By paul maloba

Is there anything that can be done here??

Preamble

This decision was reached by the executive of Chess Kenya after Kenya sports
council only allotted 5 slots to chess instead of the earlier anticipated
number which was to include; men's team (6 – Ben Magana, Ben Nguku, Akello
Atwoli, Wycliffe Obutu, Steve Ouma and Martin Gateri), women's team, two
coaches (Atwoli Lukoye – Men and Isaac Babu- Women) and a team manager
(Lawrence Kagambi). The teams were selected after a round robin tournament
late last year

The cut number saw a reduced number of both officials and team to 5; Ben
Magana, Ben Nguku, Steve Ouma, Akello Atwoli and Lawrence Kagambi- official.

The criterion that was used to select the team of four was based on, in
order;

1. Order of qualification
2. Medal prospects
3. Attendance
4. Discipline and commitment to team

The final line up of the team was selected with Obutu and Gateri being left
out.

The Questions

I am basically questioning, limiting the comparison to Obutu and Ouma. I
have raised some of these questions with the team elect (including Steve
Ouma in a long phone conversation), Larry Kagambi (in along phone
conversation, unfortunately severally my efforts to meet him and further
discuss this bore no fruit – I'm to wait for two more weeks to meet him.
That is what lead me to do this mail), and several chess players.

1. Appropriateness of the criterion

A good friend of mine told me that *'we are unable to see the forest because
of the trees', *we lose focus of the big picture because of technicalities.
Processes are there to support the objective and should never supercede it.
Good performance and future of chess in my opinion should've been the
objective.

The four point criteria was quite innovative of Chess Kenya, when a decision
had to be made and I acknowledge that

a. Order of qualification

This being listed as the first criteria I presumed it carried more weight
(in my opinion, justifiably so). the order of qualification is as their name
appears in the first paragraph above

b. Medal prospects

Shock unto you, Steve scored highly than Obutu on this, because he has more
international exposure. Anyone who has been following recent tournament
results would bet that Obutu plays superior chess than Steve (It can be
proved further by playoffs) plus this is an upcoming player a learning curve
chances are that his tomorrow's chess will be better than his today's. How I
see it is that (for medal prospects) if your chess strengths are equal then
the alternative of 'international exposure' can be looked at. Debutants,
Nguku and Wachania registered impressive performances in their first outings
if this is anything to go by.

c. Attendance

This was attendance to training sessions, Here Steve scored the highest
13/13! and this must have greatly tilted the weight to his favor. Obutu had
8/13. Attendance was vital since KNSC (Kenya National Sports Council) could
do an impromptu visit to check on the player's seriousness in practice to
determine their chances of retaining their slot in teams to Algeria.

Unfortunately players used to show up to play blitz. The coach made a
program that was to start with a rapid round robin tournament, this
happened, but there after players used to just show up to sign in, its
apparent that at times Obutu could show up and end up reading his class
work, further more UoN students had exams and CATs coming up thus they had
limited time.

THERE WAS NO TRAINING TAKING PLACE. CK had frequent meetings with the player
emphasizing on the importance of attendance and warning/threatening that
this could jeopardize their future (in my opinion this is why CK wants to
show their iron fist, for being ignored after repeated warnings). Well it
almost appears that CK have a case here but look at it this way, CK take
time to hold meetings and discuss the importance of attendance but are not
taking steps to ensure activity during these sessions, infact the players
were complaining that its becoming more and more senseless. Considering the
neglect on CK to their duty, they should have exempted players from these
criteria. You do not warn against doing a wrong while your self you do
wrongs with impunity and expect utter obedience.

d. Discipline and commitment to team

Here Steve outdid Obutu, more or less due to the attendance, and perhaps
because of some antagonistic characteristics and utterances that the
upcoming players (Obutu and Atwoli) have been showing.

Well considering their level of maturity some of this is expected, the mode
of punishment has to be weighed. You don't use a shot gun on your
indisciplined son. More so the approach CK was taking in tackling issues
left a lot to be desired, even to the older players. Use of threats is not
so apt while leading/dealing people/team.

1. Discontent in chess fraternity.

Interestingly enough all the chess players I have talked to so far (with the
exception of Mr. Kagambi and Mr.Ouma) feel the same, this includes the
current elected team members! Who were also very bitter about this

*Why isn't any one saying anything?* Well, while replying to this mail, you
will be saying something (your honest opinion, you don't have to share my
sentiments).

For the future of chess most players saw it fit not to air our dirty linen
in public lest chess loses an opportunity of all African games
representation.

The elect team (excluding Steve) see the unity of the team as key to
performance (they are eyeing for medals) and wouldn't want to raise any
antagonism which could leave Steve feeling unwanted (I must apologize to the
team, for this mail goes against their wishes. But I feel that laying low on
this would be a bigger crime) this came out after I suggested to them that
if they strongly feel the decision was wrong as they are saying, why not act
and write a letter to Chess Kenya expressing the same? One of the players
told me that CK stated that if the men's team wasn't up to it, then they
could replace it with the women's team – perhaps CK can clarify this
(threats).

If Chess was to be a democracy, this decision would definitely be thrown out
the window, but with the status quo, unfortunate conclusions are being drawn
(some of which may be inaccurate) e.g. Chess Kenya is a one man show,
dictatorship, favoritism, personal interest, corrupt, sleeping… (I beg to
clarify that am neither insinuating nor accusing, much as this comments have
been mentioned in my presence, I don't intend to digress from the issues am
raising, like I said before I don't entirely agree with all of them) my
point is that ivory towers and iron fists explains why some members jump to
conclusion. While managing people, if some fundamental requirements aren't
met then such behaviour is inevitable.

*Points trying to explain this decision for instance include;*

• * 'perhaps you need to look at it from chess Kenya's side and
you'll see it makes sense'* as Steve mentioned to me: I have been trying a
lot to do this but from what I have gathered so far over the phone it still
doesn't add up, setting up a meeting wasn't fruitful either.

• '*The criteria'* as CK indicate in their letter to Obutu. In my
opinion this still favors Obutu over steve, otherwise perhaps they could
have agreed of the criteria with the team (since it was a novelty-
consultation seems apt) and ensure its just before executing it.

• '*Where is the justice in throwing out the man who has been there
for the team? – Steve had a 100% attendance*' as Steve mentioned to me. I
must confess that this is the point I started seeing it a bit differently
and noting that perhaps CK didn't just act for favoritism's sake, that maybe
they had an argument… but for the sake of seeing the '*forest*' this stint
dint last for long. Steve did great, unfortunately the slots for chess were
cut down to five, the proper criteria 'the forest' - Good performance and
future of chess, leaves him out. If the disciplinary case against Obutu
would have been major then e.g. fight (disrespectful heated argument) with
CK, absconding training/showups in total or misbehavior in camp then his
exclusion would have been warranted.

• '*Don't say I didn't warn you*…' this is (my opinion) what makes
sense to me, otherwise, favoritism. But like I said, the slap is not
warranted, the punishment does not commensurate the indiscipline, CK's
neglect in training schedule wasn't a morale booster as such.

• '*Obutu is young and still has future chances'* as Obutu's regret
letter after his appeal read, in fact it acknowledged the fact that he is an
upcoming player. This is absurd.

1. what the future holds

In a recent tournament 'Uganda Open' in Kampala, more than 60% of
participants were young upcoming competitors from primary, high school and
colleges, it was magnificent, on this, Kenya has a lot to work on to attain.

Again in a recent interuniversity sports tournament of East Africa in Uganda,
University of Nairobi (Ben Nguku, Obutu, Atwoli and George Mwangi) took the
title. This tells you that despite our poor development of young chess we
have a crop of young, strong chess players (it in fact they made 50% of the
Kenya team). My question to CK is, are we reading from the same scripts?
It's a rather an unfortunate reward for work well done.

1. Conflict of interest

It happens to be that Steve is a member of CK executive committee (but Larry
assured me that he didn't sit in the meeting that deliberated on this
decision), eye brows get raised when a contentious decision which raises so
many questions involves/favors one of the executive members.

Conclusion – walk the talk

CK has the authority to make decisions (whether good or bad) we mandated
them to do so, but when injustices of such magnitude happen (especially to
those who lack tact of stand for them selves), how do we address them?

UGANDAN CHESS TEAM TO ALL AFRICAN GAMES STRANDED

The 9th All-Africa Games will take place in July 11-23 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. CHESS is a medal sport for the second time after Abuja in 2003. drama has already started with Ugandan team getting stranded.



With the first batch of the Ugandan contingent leaves on Wednesday, the national chess team is until now not sure of its participation in the 9th All Africa Games set for July 11 to 23 in Algiers, Algeria

Uganda Chess Federation (UCF) had handed in a team of six players to Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) but was told the sport had not been included in the Games' budget.

UOC president Francis Nyangweso had disclosed last week that chess had been dropped due to several technicalities.

The chess team cannot comprise of less than six players at the continental showpiece and it's not clear whether government will raise enough funds to cater for all of them.

"Every player plays for six hours, so it's technically impossible for us to send less than six people," UCF general secretary Godfrey Gali, who also intends to play in Algeria, was quoted by Daily Monitor on Tuesday as saying.

Other members of the team are Shadrack Kantinti, Moses Kawuma, Harold Wanyama, Bob Bibasa and John Kikonyogo.

UCF officials opted to look for private sponsorship, a move that had also hit a dead end.

"We tried our best to look for sponsorship but it was too late.It's very hard to approach a sponsor on short notice and expect positive results," said Gali.

UCF then appealed to the sports minister Charles Bakkabulindi, whom they met Monday evening but little success was registered.

"We've just been in a meeting with the sports minister but he told us to come back tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. But since he is the minister, we are very confident something good will come out,"Gali said.

"I am meeting them again tomorrow (Tuesday) and hope a solutioncan be reached. At the moment I am doing my best to make sure theytravel," said Bakkabulindi, who will be heading Uganda's delegation to the Games.

Uganda is sending its biggest ever contingent of 70 to the biennial games with government paying allowances and accommodationfor 32 athletes and 22 air tickets.

CHESS JOKES

Chess is not a funny game. But this has not prevented some comedians from poking fun in this noble game.

A group of chess enthusiasts had checked into a hotel, and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.
"But why?" they asked, as they moved off.
"Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."


A chess master died - after a few days, a friend of his heard a voice; it was him!
"What's it like, where you are now," he asked.
"What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news."
"Tell me the good news first."
"Well, it's really heaven here. There are tournaments and blitz sessions going on all the time and Morphy, Alekhine, Lasker, Tal, Capablanca, Botvinnik, they're all here, and you can play them."
"Fantastic!" the friend said, "And what is the bad news?"
"You have Black against Capablanca on Saturday."


A Chess Player is walking from the lake carrying two fish in a bucket. He is approached by the Game Warden who asks him for his fishing license. The Chess player says to the warden, "I did not catch these fish; they are my pets's pawn. Everyday I come down to the water and whistle and these fish jump out and I take around to see the sights only to return them at the end of the day; remember that the Chess Board is like an ocean; full of fish". The warden, does not play chess, he not had any idea what he's taking about; not believing him, reminds him that it is illegal to fish without a license. The Chess Player turns to the warden and says,
"CHECK" "If you don't believe me then watch," as he throws the fish back into the water. The warden says, "Now whistle to your fish and show me that they will come out of the water." The Chess Player turns to the warden and says, "What fish!?"


In a park people come across a man playing chess against a dog. They are astonished and say:
"What a clever dog!"
But the man protests:
"No, no, he isn't that clever. I'm leading by three games to one!"


Frasier: I can see why she likes the game - "the king is stationary, the queen has all the power".


"So I was having dinner with Garry Kasporov - Problem was, we had a checkered tablecloth and it took him two hours to pass the salt!"


Q. Which chess piece is the most powerful?
A. The Knight, It goes over the top.


2 friends see themselves by the street and one of them says:
- My wife says that if tomorrow I go to the chess match, it will take my children and it will leave me.
The other friend asks to him:
- And what you will do?
And the other answers to him:
- E4, how always!


Q - Which group of women are the best chess players?
A - Feminists. Their opponents begin with King and Queen, but *they* always start with 2 Queens.


Three retired International chess grandmasters were playing chess in the park.
The first grandmaster said, "it is windy today."
The second grandmaster said, "no, it is Thursday today".
The third grandmaster said, "me too, let's go back inside for a drink"


The young apprentice went to his master and asked him:
"Which is the best game man made?".
The old master though a little bit and said
"It's chess I guess, no?".
"What about go?" came the next question instantly.
"Aah, go was already here!"


A gentleman must play a game of chess with a blind person, he proposes to the blind person:
"As him cannot see he will grant an advantage to him as part of the deal. We will not play in equality of conditions."
"This sound really fair" replied the Blind Person.
Then he asks the gentleman: "When?"
"Very well", the other men responded to him "any night that you prefer."

1000 hits and counting

The kenyan chess blog recived its 1000th visitor on 23/05/07. thanks a lot for all your support. Our audience have come mainly from kenya but hits from such places as lithuania, madagascar, uganda, UK, US and even greenland have been registred. Thanks a lot.

Game of the week: Mukabi - Annand

During the Olympiad at thessaloniki in 1988, mukabi played annand in round 2. Then annand was not a big name as he is today. In this weeks game of the week, we look back at this game played 19 years ago.

[Event "Thessaloniki olympiad"][Site "Thessaloniki"][Date "1988.??.??"]
[Round "2"][White "Mukabi, J."][Black "Anand, V."][Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C68"][BlackElo "2555"][Annotator "korir"][PlyCount "130"]

1. e4 1... e5
{Opening = C68 - Spanisch-Abtauschvariante /Ruy Lopez-Exchange Variation}
2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. Nc3 f6 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 Qxd4 8. Nxd4 Bd6 9. Be3
{a fairly common position played by alekhine and lasker.}

(9. Nde2 Ne7 10. Bf4 10... Be6 {alekhine-teichmann})

9... Ne7 10. f3
(10. O-O-O O-O 11. Nb3 11...Ng6 {alekhine-lasker})
10... O-O 11. O-O-O Ng6 12. g3 Re8 13. Nb3 Bb4 14. Bd4 b6 15. a3 Bf8 16. f4
(16. h4)
]16... Bb7 17. Rhe1
{with blacks light squared bishop on b7, and ...c5 eventually to be played whites rook on h1 will have to move.}
17... Rad8
{annand delays c5 for as long as he can to develop his pieces.}
18. Bf2 c5 19.Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Nd2
(20. h4)
(20. Rd1 Rxd1+ (20... Bd6 21. Nd2 (21. h4 h5) 21...b5) 21. Kxd1 21... Bd6 {leads to a minor piece middle and endgame})
20... Ne7 21. g4 21... Ng6
{f5 will not be able to boot the knight as it will now have an outpost on e5}

22. Bg3 Bd6 23. e5 fxe5 24. fxe5 Be7 25. Nc4
(25. e6 !?)
25... Bf3 26. e6 Rc8
(26... Bxg4 27. Bxc7 Re8 28. Ne4)
27. Ne3 27... c6
(27... Bg5 28. Kb1)

28. h3
{mukabi has played well. his pieces are more active and blacks uncoordinated pieces are still looking for what to do}
28... Bg5 29. Kb1 Re8 30. Nc4 Nf8 31. Nxb6 Rxe6 32. Rxe6 Nxe6 33. Nd7 Bg2 34. h4 Be3 35. Nd1 Bd2 36.Nf2
{blacks double bishops are making life hard for white.}

36... c4 37. Ne5 Bd5 38. c3 Nc5 39. g5 Na4 40. Kc2 Be3 41. Nxc4 Bxc4 42. b3 Bb5 43. bxa4
(43. c4 Bxc4 (43... Nc5 44. cxb5 cxb5) 44. bxc4)
43... Bxa4+ 44. Kb2 44... Kf7

{so far the game is evenly balanced. blacks bishop pair seem to be the only
strong point but with good play this should be a draw.}

45. Ng4 Bc5 46. Ne5+ Ke6 47. Nd3 47... Be7
{whites knight harass black pieces, but for how long?}

48. Nb4
{the knight will soon run out of squares.}
(48. c4 Kf5 49. Bf2 49...Kg4 {leads to very sharp play})
48... a5 49. Nd3 Bb5 50. Nf2 Kf5 51. a4

{I cant figure out what this pawn sac was for, this gives black a definite
advantage}
(51. Nd1 51... Bc5 ) 51... Bxa4 {Black gets the initiative}
52.Bc7
(52. c4 h6 53. gxh6 53... gxh6 )
52... h6
{as the bishop abandons its defensive duty, blacks centralized king causes mayhem on the king side }

53. gxh6 gxh6 54. h5 Bh4 55. Nd3 Bb5 56. Nc5
{with a series of forcing moves annand is able to maintain his advantage and threaten to win a second pawn. black is now winning}

(56. Ne5 )
56... Be7
(56... a4 57. c4)
57. Bb6
(57. Nd7 a4 58. Ne5 58... Bg5 )
57... a4 58. Ka3 Kg4 59. Kb4 59... Kxh5
{with both black bishops still on the board, blockading of the passed h pawn
will be an impossibility}
60. c4 Ba6
(60... Kg4 61. cxb5 cxb5 62. Kxb5 )
({even here black wins} 60... a3 61. cxb5 (61. Kxa3 Bxc4) 61... a2 62. bxc6 a1=Q)
61. Kc3
(61. Kxa4 Bxc4 62. Kb4 62... Bd5 )
61... Bxc5
(61... Bf6+ 62. Kb4 a3 63. Kxa3 (63. Nxa6 63... a2 64. Nb8 a1=Q 65. Nxc6 Qb2+ 66. Ka5 66... Kg4 ) 63... Bxc4 64. Kb4 )
62. Bxc5 Kg4 63. Bd6 h5
(63... Bxc4 64. Kxc4 Kf3 65. Kb4) 64. Kd4 (64. Kb4 64... h4 )
64... h4 65. Kc5
(65. Kc3 Bxc4 66. Kxc4 )
65... a3
{Threatens Kf5}
(65... a3 66. Kxc6 66... a2 (66... Bxc4 67. Bxa3 Kf5 68. Be7 ))
0-1

Promised land

Purity Maina send this picture and wrote "Remember the white mans' promises to the qualifiers for the all African games in Abuja Nigeria?That remains the promised land....Hope this year things will be mucho beta!!"

CHESS KENYA JUNOIR RATING LIST

After the senior rating list came out, the junior rating list is now out too. With more than 50 players the future if kenyan chess is not that bad.

CHESS KENYA JUNIOR MAY 2007 RATINGS: TOP 50 PLAYERS
Rahul Mohan 1939
Devisalini Sivaraj 1891
Ankush Nagda 1854
Casper Da Costa Luis 1835
Vaishnavi Ram Mohan 1824
Aneurin Howorth 1799
Peniel Weru 1795
Kush Shah 1791
Akshay Shah 1766
Christian Asiema 1761
Isabelle Asiema 1739
Brian Obilo 1730
Daniel Chol 1723
Joab Odera 1716
Kunj Shah 1710
Rishi Kotecha 1709
Tina Sathyanarayan 1705
Shiv Shah 1702
Sharan Shah 1700
Chiraag Devani 1697
Kevin Nyota 1684
Fredrick Opicha 1684
Vincent Tuwei 1680
Aden Jones
Sahil Shah
James Panther
Collins Apiri
Divvya Sethumathavan
Abishek Umashankar
Saurabh Agrawal
Lawrence Andanje
Roy Ambia
Alasdair Howorth
Victor Karani
Victor Hongo
Patrick Gakuru
Viswanathan Gopakumar
Savan C. Haria
Allan Chege
Sankavee Karunakaran
Brian Mahehu
Alex Mc Vicker
Charles Wanjohi
Karani Pattni
Rushab R. Shah
Daniel Mbogo
Will Mynot
Mathuri Karunakaran
Christine Ng’ang’a
Raihan Jadavji
Erick Kimunyu

Kenyan chess pictorial part one

Part of this blog is to bring you those memorable pictures you would want to see. Thanks a lot for all those who send in photos, your contributions are highly appreciated. Here i have posted quite a few pics i felt are interesting. hope you enjoy.


Down memory lane: KK karanja

	KK Karanja playing the Alehkine's Defense against Georgia's GM Maia Chiburdanidze in an 1987 simul at the Marshall CC. Chirburdanidze was the Women's World Champion at the time.

The young at heart

Kenya's young star in the making weru, displays some of his many trophies. The young lad captured the hearts of many kenyans and had extensive media coverage. He is probably the most known chess player in Kenya.



Top brass
Gm Nigel short visit to Kenya gave us all an opportunity for a souvenir picture. Here chess Kenya officals pose for a photo with him.



Who said blitz was bad.
Gm short gave us all a lesson in fast chess. Only in the coastal city of Mombasa did James apiri give the commonwealth chess champion a test of defeat.


Olympiad:

Kenya vs Cyprus in the chess olympiad.




Kenya vs qatar

After poaching many of our top class athletes qatar faced Kenya in the Olympiad and from the look of kenyan players faces they were not in the mood for petro dollars.






Kenya vs macao
The tiny enclave of macao got its independence from portugal only 10 years ago. Like hong kong and taiwan china claims them to be part of its territories. here macaoians or is it macoese (whatever) faced Kenyan players.




The ladies
Not to be left behind, the kenyan ladies battled it out for supremacy with their Albanian counter parts.




Kamba's know their trade

Even though kenya is not known worldwide in terms of chess performance, one of the highest selling souvenir chess boards come from Kenya. chess boards like the one seen above go for upto £1000 at amazon.com. in fact a search for Kenyan chess at Google will give you more of this boards and kisii soap stone chess pieces than gateri or kanegeni.

An introduction to kenyan chess

AN INTRODUCTION TO KENYAN CHESS

Players

A concoction of Kenyan players during GM Nigel short visit to kenya

THE BIG SEVEN

Ben Magana

By far magnum is the strongest Kenyan player at the moment. He finds ways of winning even from the minutest advantages. His play during the 2006 Kenya national championships which also doubled as qualifiers for the all African games was phenomenal. His only drawback is his performance against international players. The recently concluded Olympiad and the Ugandan tournament bring into question his ability to perform under pressure.

Mathew kanegeni

Kanegeni is a precise calculator, great competitor, good instructor and generally a complete chess player. I never saw him play during his heyday but from media reports I could judge that he was a class above his peers. Although ‘young players’ are shoving him off the scene he is still a great player.

Ben nguku

Nguku is a volatile player on the board. He is a great attacker and most of the time comes off with the win. GM Nigel short was so impressed by his play that he posted one of his games in his weekly chess column in the UK.

John mukabi

Mukabi is a cunning player. With his choice of openings including 1.Nf3 and 1. c4 or even 1. g3 and preferring the closed Sicilian he will always wait for you to make a mistake and then strike with lethal precision. He has been playing competitive chess for over 20 years and still has the enthusiasm to compete.

Mehul gohil

From chess ninja website to chessbase.com and everything in between you will find mehuls contributions. Locally he is one of the best analysts around. He is fond of revolving a pawn around his fingers while playing. His best moment was winning the checkmates round robin one of the strongest tournaments held locally.

Martin gateri.

You should look at gatteri’s score sheet after the game. Anyone who can read must be a genius. Gateri spends most of his time recording moves than thinking! But someone suggested that in fact gateri maybe a very good blindfold player. He is not really having problems recording his moves but he his really thinking.

Nathan ateka

He will be found in Ugandan tournaments than Kenyan ones, maybe because he is closer to Uganda than Kenya. A player of great experience ateka had great duels with andolo in the 90’s.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Akello atwoli, george mwangi, wyclife obutu,

The future of Kenyan chess lies in these young men. But chess is not for the faint hearted and they have to claw their way to the top.

THE ALMOST THERE

Victor ngani, Paul maloba, ken omollo, William wachania, Lawrence khaduli, Philip singe, isoe moseti, james apiri, steve ouma.

They struggle to get to the top of Kenyan chess. Sometimes they make it at times they don’t. but they give the strong players a run for their money.

NEVER SAY DIE

Philip mwashe, atwoli lukoye, andolo ambasi, peter jaoko, cyrus ambasi, brian mmata e.t.c

You will always find them in tournaments, they may never win but they give Kenyan chess its flavor.

THE QUEENS

Linda abur, jane wambu, phina magara, rose wabuti, purity maina, Beatrice kwanya.

The queens of Kenyan chess. What would the kings do without the queens?

ORGANIZERS

Isak babu, Lawrence kagambi e.t.c

The main organizers of Kenyan chess from chess Kenya.