How Important Is Gender to Chess and/or Academic Success?

A very interesting article. Nigel Short has certainly started an interesting discussion with his New In Chess articles taking the position that men innately make better chess players. 

If educators, academics, and administrators wish to increase the diversity of a particular discipline, our work suggests that they may wish to alter the messages they send regarding what is needed for success in the discipline. A brief summary of suggestions on how to begin to do this can be found here. In addition to potentially increasing diversity, a very impressive body of work by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and her colleagues reflects that everyone -- regardless of gender -- benefits from viewing success as requiring hard work, dedication, and effort, rather than simply being a matter of raw, inherent talent. Moving away from "brilliance required" cultures may thus have a range of beneficial effects. – From Gender Gaps in Academia, retrieved on May 2nd, 2015.

http://en.chessbase.com/post/women-in-chess-role-of-innate-ability-beliefs

Chess Tonight At The Grindstone Cafe

Join us from 6pm to 9pm. All welcome regardless of ability.

Time for US Postage Stamps Commemorating US Chess Legends

I've made at proposal to the US Postal Service for a sheet of stamps commemorating legendary US chess players. Some may surprise you, but they were all US citizens.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5BAd0RofUJtTXhPclllUkV1REk/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5BAd0RofUJtQmRwMHl1eGlDYlk/view?usp=sharing

Exhibition of Chess During 'The Great Patriotic War.'

Let's hope that this traveling exhibition finds its way to the Untied States---perhaps to the chess museum in St. Louis or the Marshall Chess Club in NYC.

http://en.chessbase.com/post/chess-during-war-an-exhibition-in-moscow

Lyndonville Chess Club at The Grindstone Cafe

Nice, comfortable venue. Every Tuesday evening from 6 to 9.

An Interesting LCC Game From Last Night

Analysis by Stockfish.

[Event "LCC"]
[Site "<Unknown>"]
[Date "2015.05.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Brian  Lafferty"]
[Black "Robert  Kostanski"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[Classes "?"]
[ECO "D02"]
[TimeControl "?"]
[WhiteElo "0"]

{Game analysis^13 ^10 Processor: AMD A10-5757M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
(@2.50GHz)^13 ^10 Engine(s): stockfish^13 ^10 Analysis time: 0:10:38} 1. d4 e6
2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 d5 {[%t Shrt] N} (3... Be7 4. h3 b6 5. Nbd2 c5 6. c3 Ba6 7.
e3 Bxf1 8. Nxf1 {...0-1, Glienke Manfred Dr 2335  - Karpov Anatoly 2710 ,
Hannover 1983 It (cat.9)})(3... b6 4. Nbd2 (4. e3 Bb7 5. Nbd2 Be7 6. h3 c5 7.
Be2 Nc6 8. c3 {...1/2-1/2, Appel Ralf 2490  - Kasparov Garry 2815 , Internet
8/25/1998 Blitz})4... Bb7 5. e3 Be7 6. c3 Nh5 7. Bg3 d6 8. Bd3 {...0-1, Buzzo
- Kasparov Garry 2815 , Internet  5/31/1998 Blitz}) 4. h3 b6 5. e3 Be7 {[%t
Val] 8} 6. c3 {[%t Val] 6} 6... O-O 7. Nbd2 Bb7 8. Bd3 Nbd7 {[%t Val] 8} 9.
O-O c5 10. Ne5 {[%t Val] 3} 10... Rc8 11. Bg3 {[%t Shrt] N} 11... Nxe5 12.
Bxe5 Bd6 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. Re1 e5 15. dxe5 Qxe5 16. f3 {?!}{[%t Val] &} (16.
a4 {!?} 16... Bc6 17. a5 Rfe8 18. axb6 axb6 19. Nf3 Qd6 20. Ra6 Ra8 21. Rxb6
Qc7 {-0.14}) 16... Rfe8 17. Bb5 Bc6 18. Bxc6 Rxc6 19. Qc2 Rce6 20. c4 {?!}{[%t
Val] ^17 } (20. Rad1 {!?} 20... Qc7 21. Nf1 c4 {-0.48}) 20... Qg5 21. Qd3 {?!}
{[%t Val] ^11 } (21. Nf1 {!?} 21... d4 22. Qf2 Nh5 23. exd4 Nf4 24. Rxe6 Rxe6
25. Ng3 cxd4 26. Kh2 Qe5 {-1.30}) 21... Rxe3 22. Qf1 {?!}{[%t Val] ^05 } (22.
Rxe3 {!?} 22... Rxe3 23. Qf1 d4 24. Re1 Qe5 {-2.44}) 22... Rxe1 23. Rxe1 Qxd2
24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Qf2 Qxf2+ 26. Kxf2 d4 27. Ke2 Nd6 28. Kd3 f5 29. a3 a5 30.
b4 axb4 31. axb4 Kf7 32. b5 Kf6 33. g4 fxg4 34. hxg4 Kg5 35. Kd2 Kf4 36. Ke2
g5 37. Kf2 d3 38. Ke1 0-1

Lyndonville Chess Club Moves to The Grindstone Cafe Next Week

It's official! The LCC will begin meeting every Tuesday evening at The Grindstone Cafe on Depot Street in the heart of downtown Lyndonville stating this coming Tuesday, 5/19/15  The Grindstone will be open to us from 6pm until 9pm for chess and the purchase/consumption of coffee and pastries.

All are welcome regardless of skill level. Join us!!!!!

New Feng Shui at The Grindstone Cafe

Looks good! The Lyndonville Chess Club will begin meeting there a week from today, 5/19/15.

The Next to Last Blunderer Usually Wins

Well illustrated by this game Tuesday evening with my friend Brett at the Lyndonville Chess Club playing at NEK Vapor. See Black's 24th move.............:

[Event "LCC"]
[Site "<Unknown>"]
[Date "2015.5.5"]
[Round ""]
[White "Brian Lafferty"]
[Black "Brett  Hoffmann"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "A41"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]

1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 f6 {?!} $14( 2...Bf5 {!?} 3.c4 Bxb1 4.Rxb1 c6 5.b4
Nd7 6.e4 e5 7.d5 Be7 8.dxc6 bxc6 9.Ng1 h6 10.Qg4 Bg5 11.h4 Ngf6
12.Bxg5 $10) 3.Bf4 {?!} $10( 3.e4 {!?} e6 4.c4 Be7 5.Nc3 Bd7
6.d5 e5 7.h3 f5 8.exf5 Bxf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 a5 11.c5 Nd7 12.Qb5
Qc8 $14) e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Bg3 Bb4+ 7.c3 Bd6 8.h3
g5 9.e4 h5 10.Nbd2 h4 11.Bh2 Nc6 12.Bb5 a6 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.O-O-O
Be6 15.Kb1 a5 16.a3 a4 17.Ne1 Ne7 18.f3 Rb8 19.Nd3 Bxa3 20.Nb4
{?} $19( {'better is'} 20.Kc2 {'better is'} Bd6 21.c4 Ng6 22.Ra1
Ra8 23.b3 axb3+ 24.Kc3 Rxa1 25.Rxa1 b2 26.Ra8+ Kd7 27.Rxh8 Nxh8
28.Kxb2 Be7 29.Bg1 Bf7 $15) Bxb4 21.cxb4 Rxb4 22.Nb3+ Kc8 23.Nc5
Bc4 24.Nd3 Bb5 {??} $20( {'better is'} 24...Rb5 {'better is'}
25.Ka1 c5 26.Bg1 Rd8 27.Nf2 Rd4 28.Rc1 a3 29.bxa3 Bf7 30.Rb1
Ra5 31.Kb2 Nc6 32.Rc1 Rd2+ 33.Rc2 Rxc2+ 34.Kxc2 $21{%08DA} )
{%09DB} 25.Nxb4 {%09DB} Rd8 26.Rxd8+ Kxd8 27.Rd1+ Ke8 28.Bg1
Kf7 29.Bc5 Ng6 30.Rd7+ Ke8 31.Rxc7 Nf4 32.Nxc6 Bd3+ 33.Ka2 Bc4+
34.Ka3 Nd3 35.Re7+ Kf8 36.Bd6 Bb5 37.Rb7+ Ke8 38.Rxb5 Kd7 39.Rd5
Nf4 40.Nxe5+ Ke6 41.Ra5 Kxd6 42.Nc4+ Ke6 43.Rxa4 Nxg2 44.Ra6+
Kf7 45.Nd6+ Ke6 46.Nf5+ Ke5 47.b4 Nf4 48.b5 Nxh3 49.b6 Nf2 50.b7
Kf4 51.b8=Q+ Kxf3 52.Qb3+ Kxe4 53.Qe3+ $20{%08DA} 1-0

Lyndonville Chess Club Will Be Meeting At The Grindstone Cafe Starting 5/19/2015

Lyndonville Chess Club

Every Tuesday 6pm to 9pm
at The Grindstone Café
102 Depot Street
Lyndonville, VT. 05851

All skill levels are welcome—even if you don’t know how the pieces move. We’ll show you.
Join us for chess and conversation. Coffee and pastries available for purchase from The Grindstone.


For more information contact Brian Lafferty LaffertyChessVT@gmail.com
On Facebook as Lyndonville Chess Club
More news and information available at VermontChessNews.blogspot.com

Lyndonville Chess Club Tonight at NEK Vapor, Lyndonville, VT

Tonight from 6pm to 10pm. More information will be reported on a possible move of the club to The Grindstone Cafe. See ya'll there.

Lyndonville Chess Club at The Grindstone Cafe---It's Coming

It appears that we will begin playing chess at the Grindstone on Tuesday, May 12th. The hours are to be finalized, but will likely be 6 or 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. If there is enough traffic during the first few weeks, Kim, Levi and Mark may provide basic coffee/tea service and pastry for sale for the first hour or hour and a half that the club is open.

Once all is formalized, it will be essential that we get the word out to the local community, especially the students at Lyndon State College and any area high schools like St. J. Academy from which we can potentially draw chess players. Stay tuned..........

Yet Another Chess Cheating Scandal

http://en.chessbase.com/post/yet-another-case-of-cheating-in-chess

Take a look at how small the min-receiver in his ear is.........