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Former Eagles Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins has been called a legend based on how he played football. It was why he earned one of the most sought-after sportscoats that every player dreams of who enters the league: The gold Pro Football Hall of Fame jacket.

Dawkins left his gold jacket at home Friday. Instead, he chose to wear his red t-shirt with Blessed by the Best across his chest. Dawkins sat down to answer questions at Harrahs in Atlantic City Friday. Dawkins, who was there for the Maxwell Football Club Gala, was also there to accept the organizations Legends Award.

Part of being a legend was his ability to play in various positions on the field, which was not seen a lot during that period in the NFL. Dawkins not only played the traditional roles that safeties had but lined up in the box to stop the run and line up in exotic looks that would force turnovers.

It is common to see safeties used in creative ways like Dawkins was deployed. Dawkins credited the ongoing evolution of the usage of safeties to one of his former coaches.

Former Eagles safety and Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins (left) sits next to University of Alabama quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young (right) during Friday's Maxwell Football Club press conference.Chris Franklin | NJ Advance Media For NJ.com

Its going where Jim Johnson started it, Dawkins said. He began to do what he did with me. With the way he played me and utilized me, it started way back then, with me being used in so many different ways and varieties on the field. I call them a chess piece. Youre seeing more guys that have to have that versatility to make defenses more successful. Im happy to see that the safety position is finally getting some of the credit for being game-changers and not just deep safeties.

Dawkins also talked about what was going on with his former team, saying last season looked as if the Eagles season was broken up into three acts in a movie, and one of them is the real identity of the team.

Any team that is in their second year together, you are still truly developing who you are, Dawkins said. Do we know who the Eagles are? They started off one way, changed midseason and finished off another way. Which one are you? This coming year, they will figure out who they are during this offseason, watching film, having tough decisions, bringing in the other talent that can fill in some of the gaps they may have had. Then we will see what this team really has.

Another thing to watch as the season and the years progress are who the leaders are on the team and how they develop in their roles, especially with some of the younger corps players such as Jalen Hurts continue to get experience and some of the veterans such as Brandon Graham get older.

Dawkins, who was a captain for the Eagles and widely known for his leadership abilities, said that it does not matter who is wearing the traditional captains C on jerseys that denotes the responsibility. Other players could quietly be contributing to the role.

One of the things about leadership is that there are often times leaders that dont have the platform because you have a leader in place, Dawkins said. Sometimes when some of the other older guys leave, for instance, when Troy (Vincent) left, there was an opportunity for me to step up because Troy had vacated a leadership position.

Those leaders that are already there that just dont have the stage, they can then step up because theyve already learned some say with their teammates already, Dawkins continued. The fans just dont know it, so they can just step into that place and then teach the younger guys what it is to be an Eagle.

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Chris Franklin may be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com.

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Eagles great, chess piece Brian Dawkins asks what version of team will show up in 2022 - NJ.com

The US Chess Girls Club has been invited to compete against Grandmaster Judit Polgar for a special simul event, Judit Polgar vs. the World at 9 a.m. ET on Sunday, Mar. 20.

The simul features Polgar facing off virtually against 10 teams from all over the globe, captained by popular chess personalities including notable female players like Anna Rudolf, the Botez sisters, and Anna Cramling.

Following the games, Polgar will summarize and analyze the moves, discuss strategies, and give feedback on the teams performances.

US Chess Womens Director Jennifer Shahade will captain the US Chess team. This is an exciting opportunity for the Girls Club, she said. Judit is one of the strongest attacking players ever and the greatest female player of all time. It will be an honor to play and learn from her.

Female and non-binary players of all ages who are interested in joining the US Chess Girls Team for this event, should register through our Google form.

Our team will be a truly international team, Shahade added. Well be including our cross-cultural program partners with Business Meets Chess & Kids, the Lighthouse Chess Club, and WGM Nadya Ortiz's Colombian group. Chess-in-the-Slums, based in Nigeria, will also help us make our first moves.

According to Shahade, the invitation to the Girls Club was extended after Polgars positive experience visiting with the Girls Club last summer.

Judit Polgar vs. the World will be broadcast live at https://www.twitch.tv/chessconnectsus.

The US Chess Girls Club board will be streamed live with commentary by WFM Alessia Santeramo on her twitch channel.

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US Chess Girls Club Invited to "Judit Polgar vs. The World" - uschess.org

The landscapes in Davide Monteleones images of Chinas belt and road initiative are very familiar to me. We can see desert, uninhabited wasteland and views along the Yangtze River and in north-west China. There are also photographs showing the characters Stay strong, Wuhan! on skyscrapers in neon lights.

They are reminiscent of images I took in China, which captured dilapidated cities before they were rebuilt; energy plants; the development of impoverished areas and large-scale architecture. At that time, I wanted to write a new encyclopedia to elucidate new concepts and thoughts that emerge with rapid urbanisation, and to form a new language. The project was too ambitious, and I did not complete it. It was my failed belt and road.

Stay strong, Wuhan! The Chinese city of Heihe seen from Blagoveschensk, Russia, across the frozen Amur River, February 2020

The initiative, which has been likened to the Silk Road trade routes of imperial China, was proposed by the current Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, as a blueprint to reposition China in the era of globalisation, and to change the world order in a Chinese way. The thinking behind this $1tn project is ambitious. Such long-term planning, coherent political goals and effective implementation are rare, both in Chinese and in human history. The ruling party in China has laid bare its determination to occupy an important role in the world.

Local people at work on the Great Renaissance dam, Ethiopia, September 2019. The mammoth project, which began on the Blue Nile in 2011, is one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world. China has contributed about $1.8bn of the $4.8bn total cost

The Tecno Mobile factory in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, September 2019. The Chinese phone manufacturer stopped doing business in Asia in 2008 to focus on the African market. It is now the second biggest supplier of smartphones on the continent

The goals of the belt and road initiative are pragmatic, unlike those proposed by the Chinese Communist party in their early days, and embodied in slogans such as Exceeding the UK, Catching the US in the 50s and 60s. China, with a huge amount of accumulated wealth and managerial and production experience, has understood that it can fill the gaps in parts of the world that are forgotten and abandoned by the west. These regions thirst for a strong economic entity to piece together fragmented, disorganised territories with longstanding historical differences. This is where China comes in.

About 145 nations have joined the belt and road initiative by signing a memorandum of understanding with China, including countries in Europe, south-east Asia and the Middle East. It is an initiative that mainly focuses on basic infrastructure and engineering projects, such as transportation through rail, road and ports, to facilitate global trade and offer solutions to the problems of developing countries as the Chinese saying goes, If you want to be rich, build roads first. Many people in China, and also in the developing world, feel optimistic about this initiative, and mock Europe and the US for failing to match its vision.

Aktau, Kazakhstan, October 2017. The citys port offers access to the Caspian Sea; from 2016 to 2020, trade between China and the Caucasus region almost doubled

A monument in Nurkent, Kazakhstan, October 2017. The newly built town will accommodate 100,000 workers serving the nearby Khorgos dry port. A Chinese logistics company has 49% ownership of the land

The belt and road was not a decision taken on a whim. The idea comes from an article by Mao Zedong titled People of the world, unite and defeat the US aggressors and all their lackeys, published in 1970 and commonly known as the 520 statement. In this article, Mao prompted the developing world to be united and fight against western political power led by the US. He stressed the importance of nationalist revolutions, independence and liberation movements as the wave of unstoppable historical change. Mao quoted the Confucian philosopher Mencius a just cause attracts much support, an unjust one finds little to illustrate his belief that people in the world would triumph over Anglo-American imperialism.

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When my generation was growing up, these thoughts permeated the entire country. I belong to the same generation as Xi. We were encouraged to have the entire motherland in mind and the whole world in view and to start revolutions everywhere in the world. These arrogant ideas relate to the ideology of that era. Based on these thoughts, the belt and road initiative is a strategic move that corresponds to the countrys rapid development. The question is: will its goals be achieved in a world that is much more complicated than it once was?

Sihanoukville, Cambodia, December 2019. The once quiet tourist town on the coast has been transformed, its skyline dominated by casinos built to accommodate those seeking to avoid the ban on gambling in mainland China. More than 90% of businesses are Chinese-owned and locals complain the newcomers are turning the city into a de facto colony, forcing up rents and making them second-class citizens in their homeland

Monteleones photographs are broad in scope and encompass many stories and strange landscapes. The Italian photographer began his project in Russia in 2014 before visiting vast rail and road projects across Asia; container ports; factories; casinos; and the Grand Renaissance dam in Ethiopia. The images clearly depict Chinas strategic ambitions, very different from the original Silk Road, which operated from around 130BC until the mid-15th century. The Silk Road was a network of trade routes, whereas the belt and road initiative embeds a political ambition beyond commerce. The issue in question here is: who will be the centre of the world? Who will rise to world power?

A copy of Moscows St Basils Cathedral in Manzhouli, China, August 2015. The small city on the Russian border is one of Chinas biggest trade hubs. The Ukrainian crisis has given fresh impetus to Chinese efforts to forge a closer relationship between the two nations, as Russia faces sanctions from the west

From my perspective, China refuses to waver in its policies, no matter what setbacks it encounters. The belt and road initiative is its counterattack in a global game of chess. The democracies of Europe and the US are very different from China.

Under pressure to solve short-term problems during their terms of office in order to get re-elected, western governments concentrate their efforts on capital projects and economic competition. The corporatocratic west, primarily measuring political success according to economic profitability, has lost its vision of pursuing mutual benefit and the wellbeing of humankind.

This, however, is not to say that China is necessarily bringing real benefits to the developing world. The belt and road initiative, launched to benefit China, is tinted with colonialism.

It leads this ancient country of 1.4 billion people to a swamp of pragmatism and egoism. While China is pumped up with ambition, it also sinks into contradiction and confusion, because of its lack of self-awareness. The ideological superstructure and economic base will be at odds with each other for a long time.

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Ai Weiwei on the new Silk Road: 'This is China's counterattack in a global game of chess' - The Guardian

PTI

Lausanne, March 16

World chess governing body FIDE on Wednesday suspended Russia and Belarus from all its tournaments until further notice due to the invasion of Ukraine, jeopardising the two countries participation in the 44th Chess Olympiad in India later this year.

FIDE, however, said in individual tournaments of the World Championship cycle, players from these two countries can participate under the world bodys flag. Russia invaded Ukraine in February and found support from Belarus.

Taking into account the current recommendations of the IOC, the FIDE Council suspends the national teams of Russia and Belarus from participation in official FIDE tournaments until further notice, the FIDE said in a statement.

In the individual tournaments of the FIDE World Championship cycle, players from these countries will be able to participate under the FIDE flag.

The International Olympic Committee had recommended all the sports federations to exclude Russia and Belaruswhich has extended support in the invasionfrom international events, but had left the final decision to individual governing bodies.

Several international federations have since then banned athletes from Russia and Belarus from their events.

The recently concluded Beijing Winter Paralympics had also excluded athletes from these two countries just before the start of the showpiece.

The 44th Chess Olympiad will be organised in Chennai later this year, making it the second major global event of the sport to be held in India after the World Championship match in 2013.

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World chess body FIDE suspends Russia and Belarus from its official events - The Tribune India

Chess players from seven countries around the world have converged in Kimberley for the Mojo Chess Extravaganza. The players are battling it out in their different categories.

The tournament is the first in the world and ends on the 27th of March.

Honing their skills to perfect their craft, the diamond city is playing host to this international game. And the rule of the game is to overthrow your opponent.

With the queen and king being the most important pieces on the board, this game improves concentration and develops problem-solving skills amongst others.

The Vice President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Nigel Short says the tournament is important for the continent.

Just to promote the game in South Africa. South Africa is of course extremely important in chess, not only in chess but in chess in this region and for Africa as a whole. So its great to see a lot of people and battling, battling away, says Short.

The event is an economic booster for the city. The end game is to protect your king while defeating your opponents king for the prize money. When that happens, its checkmate.

VIDEO: Chess becoming a growing sport in South Africa

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Kimberley hosts Mojo Chess Extravaganza with players from seven countries around the world - TDPel Media