Yahoo! Viswanathan Anand Is Chess Viswanathan!

By drawing 11th game Vishy boy has retained world chess championship. Hoorray!

Well fought Kramnik. Great blog by Susan Polgar - thanks.

Anand Loses 10th Game Against Kramnik In World Chess Championship 2008

Obviously it was disappointing. I thought his position was not that hopeless, but yes the time factor was against him. I think if he had exchanged the bishops on white squares few moves back instead of thinking for half an hour and making a different move would have been better.

Hopefully tomorrow he will finish off the match by either winning or drawing the game.

All the best, Anand.

Will Anand Remain Chess Vishwanathan on 27th Oct 2008

If Anand wins the game on 27th, he will remain Chess Vishwanathan (Lord of Universe).

O' Anand, please give us anand (happiness) after retaining your lordship in the universe of chess!

Anand, Kramnik, Susan Polgar and WCC 2008

I found a fantastic blog where Susan Polgar is giving live expert comments on the ongoing World Chess Championship 2008 games between Anand and Kramnik. During her comments, she gives an advice or two which can help an average player like me a lot.

Her one comment was that when Queens are off chess board, it is well known that Kings should come into play. I'll remember this. It makes sense, kings can move in all directions like a queen (though just one square) and with queens off the chess board, the danger is much reduced.

Another thing she told was that when you can't think of a plan, make logical moves.

It really an 'aha moment' for me! I always have this problem, that in the middle of a chess game, I can't think of a plan to defeat my opponent. I am simply clueless as to how to proceed to capture the enemy king! It seems even GMs have this problem!!

What I understand now is: it's okay if you can't think of a plan as of now. Just make moves for the time being that ensure you do not blunder and that they generally make your position better or at least not worse. After few such moves perhaps you will see the light and a game plan may appear, or hopefully the opponent may blunder!

Here is a link that promises to improve your game tremendously and is worth a look.

Such small but important 'thumb rules' can go a long way in winning more chess games.

Viswanathan Anand Beats Vladimir Kramnik in 6th Game

Well, I won't blame people if they start celebrating already because 4.5-1.5 lead is a huge lead and though "it's not over till it's over" should always be remembered, for once lets get ahead of ourselves and rejoice as if Anand has already won the match!

Cheers.

Now lets hope our chandrayaan voyage is equally successful!

Shame on Raj Thackeray and his think alikes

'Leader' is a positive word. In that sense I would not like to call this politician called Raj Thackeray a 'leader. However as an Indian it pains me to see that a man like this can have such a clout and following.
But I am not really shocked that such a thing can happen. I do realise that this is part of Nature. For many good apples there would be some rotten ones too. But what surprises me is that the custodian of this garden is not making realistic efforts to wean out the bad apples from the good ones. A good gardener knows the importance of getting rid of rotten apples early so that the good ones don't get affected too.
Amitabh Bachchan may have played the role of Bagwan in a movie, but please do not expect a screen hero to stand up real life dadagiri, risking his own and his family's lives. In real life it is the responsibility of real-life gardeners (ruling government - politicians and bureaucrats) to take care of the gulistan-hamara i.e. our garden that is India.
All that Jaya Bhaduri said in a function was that being a UP-ide, she would speak in Hindi. How does this insult the Marathi language? Mind you, Hindi is India's National language not just a regional one. So when Raj Thakeray used his prowess in speech to make it look like an insult to Marathi and prevents release of Bachchan's movie to get some cheap publicity, our government should have taken immediate action against him.
When I entered IIT Kanpur, my best friend was P.L. Vaishampayan whose father was working in UP secretariat. Vaishampayans are Maharashtrians. In IIT, I formed many friends from all over India. If we go by Raj Thakeray's doctrine, IIT Kanpur should not even allow non-UP students in IIT Kanpur!
Beating up young people from other states who came to appear in examination for a job in Indian Railways is despicable to say the least. It is absolutely shameful. And it gives an opportunity to others to laugh at us.
Today we are celebrating Indian victory over Australia in Mohali cricket test match. We are not celebrating Maratha (Tendulkar) victory or Bangal victory (Ganguly) or Delhi victory (Sehwag, Gambhir).
Anand is leading Kramnik 2-0 in world chess championship. So does it mean that it is Tamil Nadu victory? No, it is India that is hoping that Anand would maintain or increase this lead.
In few hours our own Chandrayan will be launched into space, targeting moon. Will we all Indians not rejoice in it's success? Or should that glory be confined to the state from where the rocket is launched?
The very basis of India is that as Indians all Indians have equal rights in any part of India. If someone challenges this very root of India's existence, it is challenging India's very existence. And if such a person happens to be an Indian himself, he should be tried in court for no less a crime than challenging India's existence.

Amazing Cockroaches

While browsing the Net I ecountered a website Ask The Terminator. It really has amazing facts about cockroaches.

One is that there are 5000 species of cockroaches (I wonder if the word species is correctly used here, but in any case there are 5000 types of cockroaces found on earth).

Second is that a female cockroach can mate once and remain pregnant for life! This really is something out of ordinary!!

Inspite of such exotic nature of cockroaches, if you want to get rid of them, click here

Sourav Ganguly Hits Master Stroke

In chess if you sacrifice a pawn which was worthless anyway and gain some advantage, it would be considered a smart move.

Well Mr. Sourav Ganguly has done the same by announcing his retirement today. With Yuvraj and Badrinath scoring centuries against Australian Test Team and Mr. Sourav Ganguly who managed to force an entry into India 'A' team (at expense of some non-celebrity player) to have some practice before the test, scoring hardly anything against New Zealand's 'A' team, the writing was clearly on the wall.

The current Indian cricket team is selected for 1st two tests only. Now suppose Sourav Ganguly fails again in these 2 tests, then with the back drop of recent Sri Lankan disaster, Ganguly may not have found place in 3rd and 4th tests, what to speak of next seriez! And in any case, the FAB 4 (5 if you include Kumble) have their days numbered as far as future seriezes are concerned.

So by announcing his retirement, Sourav Ganguly has hit a master stroke. Now he is likely to play in all 4 tests. The selectors would now be unwilling to drop him from the team, whatever may his contribution be. In addition he will now play without pressure, so there is a good possibility of him clicking.

And if he does click, and scores a century or two, what do you think all the TV channels, fans et al will do? They will force 'Dada' to review his decision "in national interest"! And if he doesn't click, well, he has already retired!

Wow Sourav, I am impressed with your immaculate game plan. You would give good competition to Anand in chess.