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"I don't think Montreal is lacking in political clout in Quebec," stated Qubec solidaire co-spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. "If the price to pay for a Quebec democracy that better represents the regions and better reflects the votes of Quebecers is that Montreal loses three ridings, it is a price we at QS are ready to pay."Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette file photo

The beauty of chess is that it is a game of drawn out strategy whereby you virtually set traps for your opponent, calculated to remove their obstacles of resistance until a checkmate is inevitable.

Politics is arguably a chess game; thats the beastly part.

And arguably (theres a lot of arguably going on here) the proverbial bastion that is the West Island of Montreal (WIM) is a pawn in the provincial game between Quebec nationalists and in-ground federalists.

I have to hand it to the eternal nationalist movement, which has been with us since the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Their strategy of nailing independence (ie. victory) has been remarkably progressive. Like a chess game, they first tried a quick thrust a clear referendum question. That having failed, they tried a quick cloaked version. (We will share the Canadian passport and dollar.) The fast tracks having failed, they settled down to a slow burn with lots of cloaking devices. Their checkmate scenario is best described by the London School of Economics former premier Jacques Pariseaus winning conditions. The idea is if you cant trick your opponent with some textbook moves, you take the long road and disable their board pieces little by little. The opponent loses by attrition.

After an outright separatist party (Parti Qubcois) waxed ineffectiveness over the recent years, we now have a nationalist-lite option (Coalition Avenir Qubec) which presents itself under a more inclusive marquee (ie. We will not hold another referendum, without saying, until we have winning conditions.)

But the chess game goes on, played out by more experienced bushwhackers.

Exhibit A: Garnish English schools (like pawns) one by one, having previously changed the rules of the game with Bill 101. That undemocratic bill still lingers under the cloak of French language protection despite the former concern having been proven to be solid in terms of Quebec society. But the separatists are playing for a win not a draw. I say cloak because Bill 101s contemporary purpose is to create winning conditions. (Theres that chess game again.)

Three more English schools recently closed in the east end due to (101-fabricated) low attendance of historic Anglos (as opposed to other Canadians.) Wow.

Exhibit B: The bling-restricting Bill 21. (You fill in the blanks.) Hardly a champion of Canadas cultural melting pot (versus a record-skipping one-trick tribal pony.)

And yet the chess match, like an exhausting game of Risk (the global version of territory procurement) moves too slowly for the eager vanguard of nation-wanters, so being an inventive baker its got something fresh cooking in the oven:

Exhibit C: Bill 39, the CAQ governments proposed reforms to the electoral system that the non-narcoleptic chess opposition say would reduce the island of Montreals loges in the National Assembly by three. Doesnt seem that much to complain about, huh? But remember, we are now in the long haul, pawns projected to be garnished even further until the moat is dry and the drawbridge down around Fortress WIM. Doesnt matter if the doomed seats are not in the West Island. Its the number of pieces left on the board. Montreals say in the strictest definition of provincial Quebec would be further eroded less irritants to the wanters strategic end game. And like the present use of Bill 101 and 21 cloaked. A loss to Montreal will be counterbalanced with a rural gain no matter their spare population and whether they know where Montreal the provinces economic engine is on the map.

Without being a Quebec political guru how do I know this proposal is bad?

Because Qubec solidaire co-spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois likes it:

If the price to pay for a Quebec democracy . . . (I dont know how he doesnt get struck by lightning when he says that.) . . . that better represents the regions and better reflects the votes of Quebecers is that Montreal loses three ridings, it is a price we at QS are ready to pay. (As Ace Ventura, pet detective says, Reeeeeeeeealy!

Also the Liberal critic for democratic reforms doesnt like it. (Hmmm. Can it be bad for the pawns?)

I could dredge up more examples, but why bother? The writing is on the wall. The chess game is on and we should upend the board. How about a Montreal independent from Quebec?

See the original post here:
Schukov: The chess game continues and the West Island is a pawn - Montreal Gazette

All countries employ spies. They need it to gain intel on their enemy states, and also to make sure their friends are not going to change sides or cook up something against them while they are not looking. Hollywood has created some of its own iconic spy figures, but what the audience is really interested in are the real stories. With so many things going on in the world, we dont know about most of the missions that secret services pull off.

The governments or the agencies or the spy themselves, sometimes, release these stories for public knowledge years later. This is why, whenever an espionage drama is released, we wonder about its reality. The same question goes for Netflixs Cold War drama, The Coldest Game. To find out how close it comes to real life, read on.

Set in 1962, the film follows the story of a mathematician who is brought to Poland to play for America against a Soviet chess champion. Despite his personal struggles, Joshua Mansky succeeds in winning the first round. However, with the next round, he discovers that there is a lot more at stake and he might have to do much more than just win a game.

No, The Coldest Game is not based on a true story. The film does take into account the political upheaval of the time but puts a fictional spin to it. The chess match, the Cuban crisis, President Kennedy and Secretary Chruszczow were real. The Palace of Culture and Science is still towering over the centre of Warsaw. We hope that the fusion of fact and fiction, the emotions and the intrigue between the two chess masters, as well as secret service agents of two empires, will give the viewers an unforgettable experience, director ukasz Komicki said.

While the director has confirmed that the movie is not based on real events, there are things that remind one of certain events that were marked down in history books. The chess match in the film takes place in 1962, but the one from real life that people remember is the one that took place in 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Taking place in Iceland, the World Chess Championship was called the Match of the Century.

For a long time, the title had been held by a line of Soviet players, but Fischer changed that. His win of the World title was considered a crushing moment in the midst of the Cold War by the former champion, Garry Kasparov. By that time, the situation between American and Soviet Union had started to settle down. The worst part of the Cold War was over, but still, the match held great importance for both countries and was considered a matter of pride.

The political significance of it brought the pressure on both the players, the kind of which we find Mansky and Gavrylov subjected to. If Komicki didnt exactly base the story on this event, he surely must have used it as a reference to set the ground for the characters.

Another thing that you might have found unreal is the use of a hypnotist by the Soviets to distract Mansky. It does seem a rather ridiculous thing, but the strategy is not an alien move for chess players. For example, the match between Anatoliy Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in 1978 became infamous for that. During the match, Korchnoi complained that a man in the audience was trying to distract him. He described him as a peculiar person. It was later revealed that the man was a military psychologist and a part of Karpovs team.

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Is The Coldest Game Based on a True Story? Did the Chess Match Happen in Real Life? - The Cinemaholic

KOLKATA: India's tryst with major global chess event proved to be short-lived as the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) has decided to skip Kolkata as a venue for one of its legs this season.

The city had the honour of becoming the first in Asia to host a segment of the GCT rapid and blitz meet at Bhasha Bhawan of the iconic National Library last November. It was the biggest chess event to visit the Indian shores and saw eight of the top 15 Grandmasters participating.

Near packed house on all the five playing days left the organisers extremely happy and they expressed desire to make Kolkata a permanent stop for the Tour.

However, much to the dismay of chess lovers of India, the GCT calendar this year does not feature Kolkata.

The sixth edition of the GCT will see a truncated edition with five legs instead of eight that were played last year.

While the number of full tour participants was 12 in the last edition, it has come down to 10 this time. Not only will there be no Indian cities as venue, none of the country's players have found place on the roster. Last time, India No. 1 Viswanathan Anand was one of the prominent faces in the GCT. Apart from him, India's Pentala Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi were given wildcards for the Kolkata leg.

While the fifth edition of the GCT featured three classical and five rapid and blitz meets, this edition will see two classical and three rapid and blitz events.

"The main reason for curtailing the number of tour events this year was scheduling," GCT technical director Graham Jurgensen told TOI.

"The Chess Olympiad takes place for most of August while the World Championship event takes place for almost the entire month of November," he stated. "The combination and importance of these two events coupled with the impact on the St Louis events made it difficult for us to schedule additional GCT events in the last three months of the year," he explained.

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Kolkata out of GCT calendar this year - Times of India

A collection of neatly arranged trophies occupy a wooden shelf at K Priyankas home. I have more than 200. My father bought that shelf in 2008 after the prizes started to come in, says the 18-year-old chess player.

Priyanka recently bagged the Woman International Master (WIM) title at the IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Chess Tournament, becoming the first person from the city to win it. She played against Mithil Ajgaonkar from Maharashtra in the competition. He is a higher rated player than I am and it was a tough match. He played well, but I did better, smiles Priyanka who started playing chess as an eight year old after watching her father and grandfather playing. I would observe the game for hours. My dad taught me the rules and soon I was contesting in competitions. The first was a local championship and I came fourth. In the next six months, Priyanka was competing in State tournaments and, in 2011, represented the country at the World Chess Championship in Brazil. I was too young to understand its significance. But now, as I think back, I understand how big an opportunity it was, she says.

It was not always easy. In 2012, her father passed away in an accident and that caused a gap in her playing. But, after a point, she missed the game and started to participate in championships again. Those were dark times. It took me two years before I could bring myself to play chess again. I lost in most competitions and did not know how to handle failures. I was under a lot of pressure. It took me a while to realise that doing my best was all that mattered. This helped me get back on track, she recalls.

Priyanka won the first norm out of the three to win the Woman International Master title in 2016 at the World Junior Chess Championship held at Bhubaneswar. The second was in 2018 at the Goa Grandmaster Chess tournament. It took me three years to win the final norm. I missed it many times by minute point differences, she says.

Being a Woman International Master gives her many privileges. She does not have to pay participation fee and also gets free accommodation at many championships, something that is of great help as she is yet to find a sponsor.

Favourite players

Priyanka works hard to stay in form. I do not have a fixed schedule, but I usually practise for at least eight hours every day. I analyse games of other players and see how they plot their moves. She trains under grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna from Chennai. We do online sessions where he clears my doubts, she says.

Balancing studies and chess is hard, admits Priyanka. I am in class XII at Chinmaya Vidyalaya and it is an important year of my life. I have missed most of my classes and now I only have a month to catch up on my portions before the board exam. I plan to concentrate on my studies for the time being. I will be back in championships from April, she says. Priyanka dreams of winning the coveted Grandmaster title. Another dream is to be a civil servant. I know it is tough but it is also possible, she smiles.

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View original post here:
Advantage Priyanka; K Priyanka on becoming a Woman International Master - The Hindu

Most serious players I know would just as soon keep something as important as chess and something as trivial as politics as far apart as possible.

But this is the season of caucuses and impeachments, and the global FIDE chess organization, whose membership includes Israel and Palestine, China and Taiwan, Azerbaijan and Armenia, the U.S. and Cuba and Kosovo and Serbia, has found itself in the middle of some sticky political wickets over the years.

Many of the most recent ones involve a country that, ironically, has been a major success story on the chess front: Iran. The country that gave us the word checkmate has one of the deepest and strongest chess programs in the Middle East, and boasts as a rising superstar in 16-year-old GM Alireza Firouzja.

But Iranian players have been docked for refusing under orders from officials in Tehran to play against Israeli competitors. (Firouzja, whom some tout as a future world champion contender, has recently been playing under the FIDE flag rather than his home country to sidestep the ban.) And major newspapers around the world have tracked the plight of Shohreh Bayat, the highly respected arbiter who refereed the recent womens world title match, but now says she is afraid to go home after a picture circulated of her at the match not wearing the headscarf mandated for women in Iran.

Still, you could argue things have actually improved in recent years. In the depths of the Cold War, the rivalry between East and West and the long Soviet dominance of chess routinely put a heavy political spin on high-stakes chess matches. It wasnt just Fischer-Spassky this year marks the 50th anniversary of the epic USSR vs. the World team challenge in Belgrade, the so-called Match of the Century that produced both some memorable chess and some down-and-dirty politics.

The event may be best remembered for the stunning decision by Fischer returning to the game after a lengthy absence and two years away from his date with destiny in Reykjavik to step aside and let Danish GM Bent Larsen play first board for the West.

Although the Soviets boasting Spassky and four former world champs in its 10-player lineup were heavily favored, the World team ended losing by the barest of margins, 20-19, with Fischer chipping in with a 2-0-2 whipping of former champ Tigran Petrosian on Board 2. Larsen held his own against Spassky, with 1 points in three games, but was on the wrong end of one of the most one-sided losses of the event.

Larsen played his own pet opening (1. b3) in Game 2, but its Black who looks like he knows what hes doing. Spassky already has a free and easy development after 6. Nxc6 dxc6 7. e3 (d4?! exd3 8. Qxd3 Qe7 is much better for Black) when things go sideways in a hurry for White on 10. f4?! Ng4! (already threatening the crushing 11Rxd2! 12. Nxd2 [Qxd2 Nxe3 13. g3 Rd8 14. Qc1 Ng2+ 15. Kf1 Bh3 16. Bg4+ Bxg4 17. Kxg2 Bf3+ 18. Kf1 Qd7] Nxe3 13. Qc3 Nxg2+ 14. Kd1 Rd8, with an overwhelming attack.

Its over after one more bad defensive move: 11. g3 h5 12. h3? (h4, closing the flank and accepting a bad position, was the only option) h4! 13. hxg4 hxg3 14. Rg1 (Rxh8 Rxh8 15. gxf5 [Bf1 Rh1 16. Ke2 Bxg4+] Rh1+ 16. Bf1 g2) Rh1!, and White is busted. There followed 15. Rxh1 (Kf1 Rxg1+ 16. Kxg1 Qh4 17. gxf5 Qh2+ 18. Kf1 Qf2 mate) g2 16. Rf1 (Rg1 loses to 16Qh4+ 17. Kd1 Qh1! 18. Qc1 Qxg1+ 19. Kc2 Qxc1+ 20. Bxc1 Bh7 21. Nc3 g1=Q) Qh4+ 17. Kd1 gxf1=Q+, and White resigned just ahead of mate in three on 18. Bxf1 Bxg4+ 19. Kc1 Qe1+ 20. Qd1 Qxd1 mate.

The close final result was considered a major embarrassment for the Soviet chess machine, and the sting might have been even greater but for todays second game, the last-round match between GM Viktor Korchnoi, who six years later would defect to the West, and Hungarian star Lajos Portisch. For the fury of Fischer and others, Portisch won the exchange and built up a nearly won position, only to allow a draw with a threefold repetition.

In the final position, after, say, 25Qb5 26. 0-0-0 d6 27. Ne4 Qc4+ 28. Nc3, Whites king is completely safe and the win is just short of a matter of technique. Had Portisch taken the full point, the Match of the Century would have ended in a 20-20 tie.

The mix of politics and chess at its least attractive may have at last been found: The Collectors Edition 2020 Battle for the White House Chess Set, with President Trump as the Red king, aided by Vice President Mike Pence as the Red queen (hmmm), and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other conservative luminaries as the pieces. The Blue king and queen have yet to be crafted with impeccable detail, but Team Blue does include former President Barack Obama as one rook, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer as knights, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg as a bishop.

Most details, including the Red elephant and Blue donkey pawns, can be found at chess2020.com. It may be a good conversation starter, but if you have a serious chessplayer with a birthday or bar mitzvah coming up, think long and hard before clicking on the link.

Larsen-Spassky, USSR vs. the World, Belgrade, March 1970

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nf3 e4 5. Nd4 Bc5 6. Nxc6 dxc6 7. e3 Bf5 8. Qc2 Qe7 9. Be2 O-O-O 10. f4 Ng4 11. g3 h5 12. h3 h4 13. hxg4 hxg3 14. Rg1 Rh1 15. Rxh1 g2 16. Rf1 Qh4+ 17. Kd1 gxf1=Q+ White resigns.

Portisch-Korchnoi, USSR vs. the World, Belgrade, March 1970

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e6 6. g3 Qb6 7. Nb3 Ne5 8. e4 Bb4 9. Qe2 O-O 10. f4 Nc6 11. e5 Ne8 12. Bd2 f6 13. c5 Qd8 14. a3 Bxc3 15. Bxc3 fxe5 16. Bxe5 b6 17. Bg2 Nxe5 18. Bxa8 Nf7 19. Bg2 bxc5 20. Nxc5 Qb6 21. Qf2 Qb5 22. Bf1 Qc6 23. Bg2 Qb5 24. Bf1 Qc6 25. Bg2 Draw agreed.

David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email [emailprotected].

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Playing politics -- some of us would rather be playing chess - Washington Times