Chess Advice from the Strangest Places

Scott Tortorice

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It never ceases to amaze me that you can find chess advice being offered at the strangest places. The following article, advising players to use 36 ancient Asian strategies of warfare in your game, came from a vitamin website! :laugh:

PillFree Vitamins

Win More Chess Games Using the Ancient 36 Strategies
Chess is a game of substitute war, so you will win more chess games by taking advantage of the ancient wisdom distilled from the art of military strategies. This includes a collection of strategies compiled in China at least 1,500 years ago.

These strategies are taught to school children all over China, Japan and probably much of the rest of Asia even today.

If you think Chinese children learn the 36 Strategies as "classic literature" the same way American children must read Mark Twain . . . you are too foolish and naive to be allowed near a serious chess tournament....
 

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Interesting article. Most of these are already well known chess precepts though. Maybe the Chinese don't practice what they preach, for there seem to be very few world class Chinese players for a population that size. :)
 

Scott Tortorice

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But they are up and coming. They already dominate women's chess (I think the top three players are chinese), and are aggressively promoting men's chess as well. I think they want to step into the void left by the USSR.

Of course, India will have a thing or two to say about that....

Go Anand!
 

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Aside from the USCF magazine I used to subscribe to Informant, NIC monthly mag and the NIC yearbooks. Now nothing, so I've lost touch over the last 4 years. I recall the Polgar sisters dominated the womens' scene for awhile. I take it from your comments not any more?

I don't know why they have seperate world titles betwen men and women anyway. That seems a bit dated in thinking, as if women aren't as smart and may get physically damaged or something. :rolleyes: But then again perhaps the men who created and currently run these federations like to believe they are vastly superior and need to give the poor hapless females a break. :cheeky: Or maybe they are worried what will happen if they allow a co-ed championship. :D

I think they've been reading too many psychology magazines! :kotz:
 

Scott Tortorice

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I stand corrected! According to FIDE, the top 10 women players are:

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year
1 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2727 6 1976
2 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2567 15 1987
3 Cramling, Pia g SWE 2530 21 1963
4 Zhu, Chen g QAT 2518 18 1976
5 Xu, Yuhua wg CHN 2517 0 1976
6 Kosteniuk, Alexandra g RUS 2515 9 1984
7 Chiburdanidze, Maia g GEO 2510 7 1961
8 Hou, Yifan wf CHN 2509 30 1994
9 Kosintseva, Nadezhda m RUS 2496 18 1985
10 Stefanova, Antoaneta g BUL 2483 6 1979
Although, China does hold two slots (#5 & #8 Maybe #4?:hmmm:)

Top 10 players are:

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year
1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2783 17 1975
2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2779 0 1969
3 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2766 11 1975
4 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2754 25 1985
5 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2750 33 1969
6 Leko, Peter g HUN 2749 9 1979
7 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2744 13 1982
8 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2741 15 1977
9 Adams, Michael g ENG 2735 0 1971
10 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2733 19 1968
Perhaps someday an American will grace this list again....:cheeky:


As for women's chess, I remember reading somewhere that when asked, women chess players express a preference to play against other women. It is only some of the top female players that are itching to play the top male players (for understandable reasons). I think the whole issue has less to do with discrimination and more to do with simple preference.
 
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