More signs of a chess addict

By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso

SEVERAL months ago I wrote an article about signs of being addicted to chess. Engr. Ed Beronio of Cavite, who regularly read this column, sent me additional information on this subject. Here are his notes on this matter.

During sex, you and your partner use blitz time controls. You deleted Windows from your from your PC to have space for your chess data bases.

You ask new acquaintances if they know how to play chess. You ask all chess players, “What is your rating?”

You kick out your teddy bear in exchange of your chess pieces. You own more chess clocks than watches.

You keep a chess set in your office or in your back pack. You think the Olympics take place every two years.

You pay more attention to a chess game in a movie than the story. When asked about that movie you say the white square was not on the right corner of the board.

You walk to the chess section of any bookstore. You call your girlfriend a “novelty.”

You drop everything if you hear someone say “Hi Bobby” behind your back. You have checkered underwear with a sign “It’s your move” on the front.

You end your e-mails with “P.S. It’s your move 1.e4,” hoping to start a game. You explain that you live one block up or one block down or like a knight or bishop move.

You own more books about chess than any other subject. You read all this and did not laugh.

TOP PLAYERS. The World chess federation has recently released its last quarter ratings for this year. Veselin Topalov has taken the No. 1 position due to his excellent performance in the Bilbao tournament last month .

1.) Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, 2791), 2.) Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 2787) 3.) Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2786) 4.) Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2786) 5.) Viswanatan Anand (India, 2783), 6.) Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2772) 7.) Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2757) 8.) Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, 2751) 9.) Peter Leko (Hungary, 2747), 10.) Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia, 2737).

Here are the top Women players 1.) Judit Polgar (Hungary, 2711) 2.) Koneru Humpy (India, 2618) 3.) Hou Yifan (China, 2578), 4.) Xie Jun (China, 2574), 5.) Pia Cramling (Sweden, 2550), 6.) Antoanetta Stefafanova (Bulgaria, 2548), 7.) Marie Sebag (France, 2533) 8.) Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia, 2525) 9.) Xue Zhao (China, 2518), 10.) Elina Danielian (Armenia, 2513).

The top Juniors (20-Under) and their rating and ages are: 1.) Magnus Carlsen (2786, 18) 2.) Sergey Karjakin Ukraine (2730, 18) 3.) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France, 2716, 18) 4.) Wang Hao (China, 2696, 19) 5.) Fabiano Caruana (Italy, 2640, 16), 6.) Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan, 2631, 20), 7.) Yuri Kuzubov (Ukraine, 2622, 18), 8.) Li Chao (China, 2622, 19) 9.) Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia, 2616, 18) 10.) Jianchao Zhou (China, 2612, 20).

Wesley So of the Philippines, who will be 15 this month is rated No.11 with a rating of 2610 and is the world’s youngest super GM.

The top girls (20-Under ) and their ages are: 1.) Hou Yifan (China, 2578, 14), 2.) Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia, 2508, 18) 3.) Katyrena Lahno (Ukraine, 2488, 19), 4.) Harika Dronavalli (India, 2461, 17) 5.) Shen Yang China (2450, 19), 6.) Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2436, 16), 7.) Elena Tairova (Russia, 2422, 17), 8.) Wenjun Ju (China, 2395, 17) 9.) Tan Zhongyi China (2395, 17), 10.) Kruttika Nadig (India, 2387, 20).

Hou Yifan, who was the runnerup in the World Women Championship behind Alexandra Kosteniuk, is the world’s youngest GM.

MIND GAMES. Filipino GM Mark Paragua (2526) settled for a fourth-place finish in the just concluded chess section of the First World Mind Sport Games-Individual Blitz Chess Championship in Beijing, China.

More than 3,000 competitors are playing in the World Mind Games in Beijing for the next two weeks featuring chess, Go, checkers, bridge and xiangqi or Chinese chess.