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Nix has played the game off and on since his grandfather taught him moves at 4 years old. He truly fixated on the game when the 1978 World Chess Championship between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi hit the news.

"When I knew that there was such a thing as a world championship and that grown adults played the game seriously, and it was a newsworthy item, that really caught my imagination," Nix said.

The Greenville Chess Club has been around longer than Nix has been a member, and its origins are elusive to him. He started attending during college in the mid-1980s.

When he retired from the military, he stayed with the club and today serves as its president and the treasurer of the South Carolina Chess Association.

The club meets weekly at Boardwalk, a games store near the Haywood Mall. Each meeting usually attracts 20 mostly adults but the occasional middle- or high-schooler. Ten of the players are regulars and the rest drift in and out.

"It's just remarkable to me how many people I'm always announcing, 'This new person is playing their first-ever tournament,'" he said.

Players start showing up around 6 p.m. and pay an entrance fee of $5. At 7 p.m., players shake hands, start their clocks and play three rounds of 30-minute, quick-rated chess until the shop closes at 9 p.m.

The group has talked in the past about introducing instructional elements to the club meetings but, ultimately, the consensus is that the majority desire rated games.

"I'll give the people what they want," he said.

Similar to Greer, Vincent Iorga learned chess as a child living in Romania alongside his father. He still remembers on Saturday when his father beat him at the game well over a dozen times.

When Iorga finally won a round, his skills grew quickly, and he was playing any chance he got.

When he moved to the U.S. nearly 11 years ago, he struggled to find a competitor in Anderson County, eventually teaching a friend how to play at a more advanced level so he could have a mate.

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Upstate kings and queens: A look at those who unite the region's ... - Charleston Post Courier

The Department of Health has today published a final review of the 10 Year Tobacco Control Strategy for Northern Ireland.

The review takes account of the separate report published by the Institute of Public Health which looked at the relationship between mental health and smoking, along with a report produced by the University of Stirling (and facilitated by the Institute of Public Health) which reflects on progress made in reducing second hand-smoke exposure in NI.

Professor Sir Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer, said: The end review reflects on the achievements and progress made in relation to tobacco control since 2012, highlighting remaining challenges and setting out further considerations for the development of a successor strategy.

In particular, the review highlights the strides made in protecting people from second-hand smoke along with the overall progress made in reducing smoking prevalence with adult smoking rates falling from 24% to 17% over the lifetime of the strategy. The review also reminds us of the numerous regulatory developments over recent years, including those aimed at reducing childrens use of tobacco such as tobacco display bans and enhanced penalties for tobacco retailers who sell to children.

However, it also highlights persistent smoking related inequalities and acknowledges new challenges posed by emerging nicotine products. The review also recognises the changing narrative in relation to tobacco control with many nations adopting measures which seek to eliminate tobacco use.

Work will now commence on a successor strategy, which will be co-produced with stakeholders and will seek to address these remaining and new, emerging challenges. Further details of how to get involved in strategy development workshops will be made available in due course.

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End Review of Tobacco Control Strategy for NI - Department of Health

US Chess solidifies its commitment to support initiatives for underrepresented communities by hiring a Program Director to oversee its Womens, At-Risk, and Older Adult programs. This is a new position that also will support strengthening these programs through scholastic chess and other activities, and advancing the US Chess missionto empower people, enrich lives and enhance communities in chess.

The position is Full Time, 40 hours/week (exempt) and based inSt. Louis, Missouri (remote possible).

Position Overview

The Director of Programs will advance the US Chess mission to empower people, enrich lives and enhance communities through chess. The Director of Programs will carry out initiatives to support underrepresented communities in chess including but not limited to Women, Underserved Youth, Older Adults, and other communities as identified. Given the youth-centric nature of US Chess membership, this role also will support Scholastic Chess.

Essential Job Functions

Requirements

This role is based out of the US Chess St. Louis headquarters, with remote work being possible for an exceptional candidate. US Chess offers a competitive salary and benefits package. Please send cover letter, resume, and 3 professional references (with contact information) to carol.meyer@uschess.org. Primary consideration given to complete application packages received by October 10, 2023.

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US Chess is Hiring Director of Programs - uschess.org

Wednesday the Free Software Foundation celebrated "the 40th anniversary of the GNU operating system and the launch of the free software movement," with an announcement calling it "a turning point in the history of computing.

"Forty years later, GNU and free software are even more relevant. While software has become deeply ingrained into everyday life, the vast majority of users do not have full control over it... " On September 27, 1983, a computer scientist named Richard Stallman announced the plan to develop a free software Unix-like operating system called GNU, for "GNU's not Unix." GNU is the only operating system developed specifically for the sake of users' freedom, and has remained true to its founding ideals for forty years. Since 1983, the GNU Project has provided a full, ethical replacement for proprietary operating systems. This is thanks to the forty years of tireless work from volunteer GNU developers around the world.

When describing GNU's history and the background behind its initial announcement, Stallman (often known simply as "RMS") stated, "with a free operating system, we could again have a community of cooperating hackers and invite anyone to join. And anyone would be able to use a computer without starting out by conspiring to deprive his or her friends."

"When we look back at the history of the free software movement or the idea that users should be in control of their own computing it starts with GNU," said Zo Kooyman, executive director of the FSF, which sponsors GNU's development. "The GNU System isn't just the most widely used operating system that is based on free software. GNU is also at the core of a philosophy that has guided the free software movement for forty years."

Usually combined with the kernel Linux, GNU forms the backbone of the Internet and powers millions of servers, desktops, and embedded computing devices. Aside from its technical advancements, GNU pioneered the concept of "copyleft," the approach to software licensing that requires the same rights to be preserved in derivative works, and is best exemplified by the GNU General Public License (GPL). As Stallman stated, "The goal of GNU was to give users freedom, not just to be popular. So we needed to use distribution terms that would prevent GNU software from being turned into proprietary software. The method we use is called 'copyleft.'"

The free software community has held strong for forty years and continues to grow, as exemplified by the FSF's annual LibrePlanet conference on software freedom and digital ethics.

Kooyman continues, "We hope that the fortieth anniversary will inspire hackers, both old and new, to join GNU in its goal to create, improve, and share free software around the world. Software is controlling our world these days, and GNU is a critique and solution to the status quo that we desperately need in order to not have our technology control us." "In honor of GNU's fortieth anniversary, its organizational sponsor the FSF is organizing a hackday for families, students, and anyone interested in celebrating GNU's anniversary. It will be held at the FSF's offices in Boston, MA on October 1."

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GNU Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary - Slashdot

Press release by the International Chess Federation

After a 13-year hiatus, chess is back to the 2023 Asian Games, which officially started on September 23, in Hangzhou, China, with a glittering opening ceremony. This return will give our game broad exposure in one of the worlds most dynamically developing parts.

Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Mller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, in an exclusive interview with CGTNs Liu Xin, said:

Chess belongs to the family of mind sports that have a special place in the Olympic family. Currently, the International Olympic Committee doesnt foresee chess to be included in the 2024 and 2028 Olympic games. But the development that we saw during the last few years with FIDEs active participation gives us real hope that we will be able to include chess in Continental Games. Asian Games is one of such examples. Chess was an exhibition sport in the European Games and African Games. It is a part of the official program in some American Games, including the Central American and Caribbean Games, this year. It is a very good development. I hope that at some point a chess player will become an Olympic champion.

The chess program of the 19th Asian Games features four competitions: mens individual, womens individual, and mens and womens team tournaments. The individual events with rapid time control run from September 24-27, while team competitions with classical time control will stretch from September 29 to October 7.

The list of the countries-participants includes Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Rep of Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, UAE, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Many countries fielded their top players for this prestigious sports forum. We will see in action such strong and popular players as Hou Yifan, Tan Zhongyi, Zhu Jiner, Bu Xiangzhi, Wei Yi, Harika Dronavalli, Humpy Koneru, Gukesh D, Arjun Erigiasi, Vidit Gujarathi, Praggnanandhaa R, Pentala Harikrishna, Parham Maghsoudloo, Amin M. Tabatabaei, Zhansaya Abdumalik, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Dinara Saduakassova, and the winners of the 44th Chess Olympiad Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Javokhir Sindarov, Jakhongir Vakhidov, Shamsiddin Vokhidov and Nodirbek Yakkuboev.

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Chess returns to 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China - ChessBase