Obama Palling Around with Chess Players?

More evidence has surfaced, beyond that already available, that Barack Obama’s administration will be the Chess Presidency. Friday’s New York Times confirmed that until the massive Secret Service security bubble closed in on him following his election, the president-elect got his hair cut at the Hyde Park Hair Salon, on Blackstone just north of 53rd Street. Those familiar with the neighborhood scene know that chess is played at that establishment, yet the obvious suspicion—that Obama may go to the salon to play chess—is never mentioned in the mainstream media. Why?

Considering that the Leader of the Free World can get his hair cut anywhere he wants, why does he go to this particular barbershop, if not to be around woodpushers? Is it just a coincidence that Obama patronized this salon? Are we to believe that the senator only went in for a trim and never once stopped to play a game of five-minute blitz? C’mon.

Let's face it: the 44th president likes chess.

You can understand why Obama has kept mum about his ties to chess. If his tenuous links to Billy Ayers were controversial during the campaign, imagine what would have happened had his connection to the Royal Game come to light. He would have been pilloried by the nation’s trogs, that's what. Just imagine: at the very moment he was being denounced as an elitist for his superior intelligence, Ivy League degrees, and impressive accomplishments, news of his affection for something as brainy as chess could have been the final nail in the coffin of his campaign. I can only assume it was a wish to keep his love of chess under wraps that led Obama to choose Joe Biden as his running mate rather than the obvious choice, Elizabeth Vicary.

By the way, if you want to reach Obama on his Blackberry, better do it soon.

Your Moment of Zen XI

For those of you wondering why I have't gone out and bought my cats one of thise spiffy kitty playgrounds like the one Elizabeth Vicary has (scroll down in the post), it's really quite simple: I'm not sure they'll use it.

While Elizabeth's cats are obviously intelligent enough to know when something is intended for their use, I have no such confidence in Lyra (pictured here) and Yoda. They're always in the way, getting under foot, and appropriating houshold items that simply weren't meant for feline use. The root of the problem, I reluctantly conclude, is that they just aren't that smart. I know that must sound terribly insensitive and speciesist in these times of harmonic convergence, when all the creatures of the earth coexist on a basis of mutual respect, but there it is.

Feel free to provide captions to the above. The same prizes as always are on offer for the best.

Blaze Heats Up

The Chicago Blaze, one of two new expansion teams in the United States Chess League (USCL), now has a Web site and a blog. (Yours truly will be one of the regular posters.) The team is getting ready for its first season, which begins on August 25 with a match against the Arizona Scorpions, the league’s other new team.

This week the Blaze issued an official press release with a preview of the what’s to come. The schedule is now posted online. Mark your calendars and plan to follow all the action throughout September, October, and into the November playoffs.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Vicary is conducting a poll on her blog to see who people think will win the USCL championship this year. You can vote for the team you think most likely to win.

The People Have Spoken

Here are the results of our recent poll. I think it’s clear who people want for vice president.

Vicary for Veep

We Need a Chess Coach in the White House

While the mainstream media are preoccupied with side stories like the presidential election and Scott McClellan’s new book, the majority of Americans have turned their attention to a more pressing issue that has erupted in the blogosphere, namely: How awesome is Elizabeth Vicary? Is she totally awesome or just awesome?

People disagree, and they are arguing the question passionately all over the Internet.

Okay, to be entirely truthful, the debate so far has been confined to Elizabeth’s own blog, but savvy trendspotters that we are here at Castle Kimbark we know how to recognize a meme that’s about to go nuclear viral. (You’ll recall that right after we mentioned the chess hookah thing awhile back it took off and became one of the top stories of the year. You do remember that, right?)

Elizabeth has a lot of supporters, and they have praised her lavishly. But we think she deserves more. So today, we are officially endorsing Elizabeth Vicary for Vice President of the United States and urging our Hyde Park neighbor Senator Barack Obama to name her as his running mate.

We realize that Elizabeth’s nomination may be a long shot. The pressure on Obama to name a conventional politician must be strong. Elizabeth’s name has not appeared on any of the VP short lists that have been floated in the media, and what’s more, we suspect she may be constitutionally ineligible to serve. She’s probably too young to be vice president (you have to be 35), and I seem to recall reading she was born in the U.K., another disqualifier.

So what? Amend the Constitution already—what’s the problem? It’s been done plenty of times before, and besides, there’s something deeply flawed about a system that allows Dick Cheney to be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office but not one of the top chess coaches, writers, and players in the country. We’re Americans, doggonit, and when we see something wrong in our political system we fix it, don’t we?

Our voice here at Castle Kimbark should not be the only one, of course. The people should decide, and for that purpose we’ve started a poll at the right. Please vote your conscience, but above all, vote.

Disclaimer Boilerplate (legalese):
For the record, this endorsement reflects the considered and unanimous judgment of the entire Castle Kimbark Editorial Board. It is made freely and without quid pro quo. It has nothing to do with the fact that Elizabeth links here from her blog. Nor is there any truth to the suspicion that in taking this step we hope to curry favor with U.S. Chess League Commissioner Greg Shahade, a major Vicary booster, just as the new USCL season approaches. And certainly there is not an ounce of truth in the ludicrous idea we are hope to surpass Chessdad64 in the Chicago-area competition to kiss up to a major chess celebrity. Finally, and above all, we are categorically not doing this in a craven attempt to attract attention, traffic, and links to this blog. Perish the thought, and shame on all of you for thinking such things.

Top Chess Site Publishes Blog Roundup

Goran Urosevic of Chessdom.com has put together a roundup of assorted chess blogs, including such A-listers as Michael Goeller, DG of Boylston Chess Club, Dennis Monokroussos, Streatham & Brixton, Elizabeth Vicary, and Polly Wright.

This humble blog is also privileged to be among these eminent celebrities, for which I'm grateful. Thanks to Goran for showcasing your colleagues, to DG for getting the word out, and to Chessdad64 for calling the original alert to my attention.

Vicary is Brilliant

Best game in women’s championship wins prize

You don’t hear the word “brilliancy” in everyday usage, but in chess the word has a popular and specific meaning, referring to a game that is, well . . . brilliant. International Master Jeremy Silman defines brilliancy as “A game that contains a very deep strategic concept, a beautiful combination or an original plan.” Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan has published an entire book of brilliancies, plural.

And sometimes, when you play a brilliancy, your achievement is duly recognized, as it was for Woman FIDE Master Elizabeth Vicary, a competitor in the recently concluded U.S. Women’s Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Elizabeth didn’t win the tournament—Irina Krush did that—but thanks to a special prize from the Web site Goddesschess.com, Ms. Vicary won $300 for a thrilling game against Woman Grandmaster Camilla Baginskaite, in which she defeated the higher rated player with the black pieces, playing the Bogo-Indian Defense. (I confess I don’t know that opening well, though I have always liked the sound of it. It’s named for the late Grandmaster Efim Bogoljubov, who played it frequently.)

It was an exciting game. One commenter on Mig Greengard’s Daily Dirt blog called it “a kitchen-sink attack . . . Thrilling to watch - I was on edge for the final 10 moves or more.”

Sacking the Exchange
I haven’t seen the game annotated anywhere, but Elizabeth herself comments on it in a blog post at the USCF site. Note that she likes “sacking the exchange,” as she does with 21...Rxb4, allowing her rook to be captured, for which she gets only a knight and a pawn in return. The term refers to giving up your rook for a minor piece, the intention being to get some kind of compensation for the sacrifice, such as a positional advantage or a better attack. See what GM Robert Byrne had to say about it 20 years ago.

As you may know, great chess players are not compensated the way rock stars and major-league ballplayers are. The figure above is not a typo; $300 is what you get for a brilliant chess game. Barely enough to make a dent in Elizabeth’s stay at the Stillwater Quality Inn during the tournament, though I guess it’s better than a poke in the eye with a stick.

Play through the game, and enjoy. Congratulations, Elizabeth.

Endgame: Congratulations to Eric Rosen for winning the recent blitz tournament at Evanston Chess and to Vince Hart for taking first place in the club’s “economy open.” Vince blogs about his chess adventures occasionally (hat tip: Chessdad64), so maybe we can expect some commentary on this tournament, if he is so moved. . . . Congratulations to Ron Washington and the other woodpushers at the North Avenue Chess Pavilion, who got some high-profile coverage last week from the Chicago Reader, in addition to our recent post. The Reader's Ted Cox did a nice job on the article, despite having run smack up against the pavilion's top two players in his first encounter with chess in many years.