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apocalypse now
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Chess
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apocalypse now
bobby fischer is dead at 64
Bobby Fischer's Endgame
"What is chess, do you think? Those who play for fun or not at all dismiss it as a game. The ones who devote their lives to it for the most part insist that it's a science. It's neither. Bobby Fischer got underneath it like no one before and found at its center, art." — Searching For Bobby Fischer. Robert James Fischer was equal parts genius and raging lunatic; icon and iconoclast in the same tightly wound package. And he was quite possibly the most intriguing personality of the Cold War period of the 1960s and '70s. Talk about your anti-heroes; Barry Bonds is a pipsqueak when placed beside this most irascible of coots. Fischer died on Thursday in a Reykjavík, iceland hospital due to an undetermined illness. He was 64. More »
pawn3d
High School Chess Team Cheats En Passant
Today's high school student-athletes face so many more distractions than yesteryear, even at the high school level: national media scrutiny, drugs, and pretty girls. Not so with chess players (such as the one pictured here — I believe this is a young Keith Olbermann) although they have it tough as well. They can't always find a stable Wi-Fi connection at school to play World of Warcraft between classes. Some also suffer from chronic backne. But what once separated chess players from the rest of the varsity world was their ability to play by the rules. Now the lines are blurred. More »
chessboxing
Rook To Queen's Knight One, Bitch
If only chessboxing had come along a couple of decades earlier, we could have had some of the most entertaining championship bouts known to mankind. "Holmes is attempting to move his queen while still wearing his boxing gloves; pieces are flying everywhere! Spinks believes his bishop is made of chocolate ... and now he's eaten it! And that's the end of round two!" More »
Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov is running for president of Russia. He's a strong advocate for equal rights, democracy, and moving rook to H3. [Boston Globe]
chess
Welcome To The House of Pain, Bitches
The Miami-Dade Community College chess team — as seen above — has steamrolled several Ivy League schools to reach the Intercollegiate Chess Final Four. Naturally, we demand a steroids investigation. More »
asian games
The Asian Games Will Brook No Shenanigans
As if you didn't know, the Asian Games begin today in Doha, Qatar. And no one involved is taking any chances. One of the events is chess (seriously), and before they can compete, all participants had to be tested for performance enhancers. More »
chess
Hey, Some People Think Better In There
The world of chess has been brought to its knees. Controversy has gripped the sport, and play has been suspended in the World Championships. ChessBase.com says "the World Championship and FIDE is in its deepest crisis ever." Why? Because Vladimir Kramnik can't drag himself away from the shitter. More »
chess
Just A Reminder That Salsa And Chess Do Not Mix
If you know anything about us, you know that we love a good chess brawl. And the more sex and international intrigue thrown in, the better. So come with us now as we recount a story that is a few days old, actually, but one we cannot ignore, because hey, it's chess! Our players are British grandmaster Danny Gormally, Armenia's Levon Aronian — the No. 3 player in the world — and teenage Australian champion Arianne Caoili, dubbed "the Anna Kournikova of chess." Gormally had reportedly had an Internet relationship with Caoili, but things went awry during the World Chess Olympiad in Italy, when Gormally caught Caoili dancing with Aronian at a Turin nightclub. Gormally cut in and punched Aronian, knocking him to the floor. Thus, we get this fine quote, from Caoili's mother: "She's salsa crazy and was probably dancing salsa and looking a bit sexy and that's why [Gormally] got upset.'' More »
weird sports
Presenting The Stupidest Sport Ever
We were pretty sure that the end of civilization was near when we discovered Korfball. After a close examination of Korfball, it became very clear that humans have too much time on their hands, and it would be better for everyone if we just gave everything back to the lower mammals, letting them start the evolution process all over again.Now meet Chessboxing, which is even more pointless. It's what one might imagine — wherein opponents square off in alternate rounds of boxing and chess. Played exclusively in Europe, the sport is organized to the point where there's a world champion, and devotees claim that it's headed to the U.S., having already made inroads through — wait for it — the Wu-Tang Clan.
Well, bring it on, chessboxing. We'll grind you under the heel of our future national pastime, the competitive staring contest. And, of course, Calvinball. More »
