Wellbeing is defined as being 'happy, healthy and comfortable'. These are three simple words that on reflection can give powerful inspiration and direction to anyone wanting to improve their wellbeing.

ike so many things in life, wellbeing is not a destination but a journey. It is an ongoing process that requires regular care and attention.

There is a unique formula for everyone. Physical health is a combination of the right amount and mix of sleep, relaxation, exercise, diet, hydration as well as proper breathing (which happens when the mind is balanced) and positive, resourceful thinking.

There is also mental and emotional health which again have their own general parameters but with a unique formula that will best suit you.

'When we are mentally healthy, we can enjoy all the aspects of our life and relationships more. Good mental health allows us to get the most out of spending time with our families and friends, and it helps us through difficult times'. HSE

Emotional health comes when we focus our attention on what we want in life rather than emotionally engaging with we don't like about ourselves, others and our lives. This does not mean we don't strive to improve things - rather self-improvement is inherently part of your wellbeing. To be fully comfortable in yourself involves continuously working on yourself which we explore more later.

Mental health is also about thinking positively and resourcefully. Enthusiasm for life and motivation come when we are growing and involved in what we are doing.

Happiness comes when what you think, feel, say and do are all in alignment. Happiness comes when you feel part of something bigger than yourself. We feel happy when we help others. It also comes when you are in the zone which happens naturally when you are using your talents and engaged in doing things you love to do or spending time with people you love.

Be comfortable

To be comfortable in your own skin is a big very thing. Learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable is an important part of growth in life. It is easy to be comfortable in your comfort zone. To be comfortable in yourself means to fully accept yourself and your past and present choices. This requires regular reflection and effort.

Some years ago, I went to a very powerful talk with international Welsh rugby union referee, Nigel Owens during which he spoke of how the biggest challenge he has ever faced was to accept himself. The same is true for most of us. Life is a journey with many twists and turns. Sometimes it can be a bit like a game of snakes and ladders. Being comfortable in your own skin through the different twists and can be very demanding - particularly when life is busy, or when we face adversity.

If you are inspired to improve your wellbeing, I have 2 suggestions. Think of something that is stressing you or causing you a lot of discomfort and look at strengthening your ability to handle that - either through solving the problem or developing your competency in that area. For example, if you have to speak publicly as part of your work but often dread it, practice and you will improve and may even learn to enjoy it.

And do something to enhance your positive wellbeing - eat better, drink more water and or improve your relaxation or sleep. A one percent improvement in any area of your life on a daily basis leads to a 3800 % improvement over a year.

Calodagh McCumiskey designs and delivers bespoke wellbeing at work programmes to grow people and companies. She also offers regular meditation classes, personal development workshops and wellbeing consultations to help people thrive. Ph 053 9140655 | emailinfo@spiritualearth.com | Visit http://www.spiritualearth.com

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." This phenomenon observed in the 1930s by the English philosopher Bertrand Russell has a technical name, the Dunning-Krger effect. It refers to the tendency for the worst performers to overestimate their performance, whereas the top performers underestimate their own. The Dunning-Krger paradox has been found in academic and business settings, but what about in the context of psychotherapy? Is it better to have a confident therapist or one with self-doubt?

Unfortunately, psychotherapists' self-assessment is biased, too. When asked to rate their own performances in delivering psychotherapy, therapists tend to overestimate themselves. What's more, in one study, overconfidence was more typical of those therapists who were rated to be less competent by an independent expert rater. In contrast, other studies have found that it's the therapists who rate themselves more negatively who are typically judged the most competent by independent experts.

Inspired by these findings, a recent German study compared therapists' estimations of their clients' progress with their clients' actual improvement in therapy. The findings provide the most convincing evidence of humility as a therapeutic virtue to date. The more modest or conservative a therapist's estimation of their clients' progress (relative to their clients' actual improvement), the more their clients' symptoms had reduced and their quality of life had increased.

Such findings help to explain the outcome of a series of naturalistic psychotherapy studies that my colleagues and I conducted recently, in which we assessed the contribution of a variety of therapist variables to therapy outcomes. One particular finding stood out: those therapists with higher scores on professional self-doubt (for instance, they lacked confidence that they might have beneficial effects on clients, and felt unsure how best to deal effectively with a client) tended to receive more positive ratings from their clients in terms of the therapeutic alliance (ie, the quality of the relationship between therapist and client) and the outcomes of therapy. This finding surprised us at first. We believed that less not more doubt would be beneficial for the client. However, the result makes perfect sense in light of the earlier research showing the benefits of therapist humility.

The willingness to listen to the other is probably central in explaining why humility is beneficial. A humble attitude might also be necessary for therapists to be open to feedback about their client's actual progress, rather than just assuming that all is going well, or indeed blaming the client for a lack of progress. Humility might also give therapists the willingness to self-correct when needed, and motivate them to engage in "deliberate practice" (which is intended to improve skills based on careful monitoring of performance and provision of feedback). Referring to their own findings, as well as to research on "master therapists" (therapists who have been nominated as especially competent by their peers), Michael Helge Rnnestad at the University of Oslo and Thomas Skovholt at the University of Minnesota both experts on the development of psychotherapists summed it up thus in their book, The Developing Practitioner: Growth and Stagnation of Therapists and Counsellors (2013): "Humility appears to be a characteristic of [therapeutic] experts across many studies."

Further evidence for the importance of therapist humility comes from research into therapists' "cultural humility". To take a culturally humble approach means striving towards a curious, nonjudgmental, and sensitive stance to what the clients' cultural identity means to them (such as their ethnicity, religion, faith, sexual or gender orientation) and weaving this into the therapeutic work. There is a growing body of evidence linking cultural humility to therapeutic effectiveness, with clients who see their therapists as more culturally humble tending to achieve better outcomes.

Is humility a paradoxical component of expertise? Not really: an expert is first and foremost one who continues to learn and this seems to apply as much to psychotherapists as it does to other professions. As Joshua Hook, a counseling psychologist at the University of North Texas and the co-author of Cultural Humility (2017), and his colleagues put it recently: "At face value, humility may appear to be the opposite of expertise, but we argue that humility is foundational [for achieving clinical excellence]." Taken all together, the growing evidence for the benefits of therapist humility supports the early observation of the Danish philosopher Sren Kierkegaard, writing in 1859, that "all true helping begins with a humbling."

However, therapist humility on its own is not sufficient for therapy to be effective. In our latest study, we assessed how much therapists treat themselves in a kind and forgiving manner in their personal lives (ie, report more "self-affiliation") and their perceptions of themselves professionally. We anticipated that therapists' level of personal self-affiliation would enhance the effect that professional self-doubt has on therapeutic change. Our hypothesis was supported: therapists who reported more self-doubt in their work alleviated client distress more if they also reported being kind to themselves outside of work (in contrast, therapists who scored low on self-doubt and high on self-affiliation contributed to the least change).

We interpreted this finding to imply that a benign self-critical stance in a therapist is beneficial, but that self-care and forgiveness without reflective self-criticism is not. The combination of self-affiliation and professional self-doubt seems to pave the way for an open, self-reflective attitude that allows psychotherapists to respect the complexity of their work, and, when needed, to correct the therapeutic course to help clients more effectively.

What does all this mean? At a time when people tend to think that their value is based on how confident they are and that they must "sell themselves" in every situation, the finding that therapist humility is an underrated virtue and a paradoxical ingredient of expertise might be a relief. I've certainly found that the findings on the importance of humility resonate with therapists, many of whom have been skeptical of overly confident practitioners in therapy and other fields. Now we need to incorporate the message that humility is an important therapist quality into training and supervision. Part of this will involve a cultural change, so that qualified therapists can act as role-models of humility, to clients and to students, without fear of "losing face" or authority.

This article was originally published by Aeon, a digital magazine for ideas and culture. Follow them on Twitter at @aeonmag.

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TheDragon Ball series is among the most important and influential anime of all time. The series has a presence like no other of its kind and is well recognized for its contributions to the genre on a global level as the father of shonen. But what about its contributions towards the real lives of its viewers?

RELATED:Dragon Ball: 5 Couples That Are Perfect Together (& 5 That Make No Sense)

Dragon Ball, like many other shonen, has tons of life lessons that are still applicable to this day hidden in plain sight placed throughout the series. These messages are usually placed inside the characters of the show's arcs and this list will be looking at ten of them.

Not many caught this lesson due toDragon Ballseemingly being a series simply about running up and taking on your opponent at the first chance that you get. However, during the Namek Saga through the Frieza Saga, it is evident that at times it's better to avoid conflict and play the smart game instead of going headfirst into a stronger enemy.

Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin went about Namek hunting the Dragon Balls in the shadow until they were faced with enemies that gave them no other choice. They survived longer and got closer to their goal due to this smart tactic.

One of the biggest themes, that is constantly shown throughout literally every series ofDragon Ball,is the fact that an enemy can quickly become a friend. It's one of the reasons that characters are so loved throughout the show. They seem simple at first but as circumstances change so do they.

Examples of this lesson come from Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien, the Androids, Majin Buu, Nuova Shenron, Hit, and to a lesser extent Frieza. These characters were all given second chances and became friends to Goku, or at least a temporary friend in the case of Frieza.

Another huge theme forDragon Ballis, of course, to always set challenges for yourself. This is something that is constantly seen coming from Goku and Vegeta, the two fighters from Earth that are always at the top of the charts when it comes to power level.

RELATED:Dragon Ball: 5 Times Vegeta Was A Good Dad (& 5 Times He Wasn't)

This is because these two Saiyans never stop training and constantly have new goals set for themselves even after they've already reached the top. Whether it's to just keep getting stronger or to keep surpassing your best friend a self-made challenge is always healthy.

Even in the face of utter despair there is always hope if one is willing to go out and do something. This is one lesson that takes a big place in the sagas starring none other than Future Trunks. Future Trunks comes from a world that is ravaged and left a waste due to the evil Androids.

Despite this desolate future Future Trunks still seeks to find peace in his world. He does everything in his power to grow and bring his world back to what it once was and guess what! He succeeds!

Not every lesson has to be teachingone to do something. Some want to show things that shouldn't be done as well. Such a lesson taught throughDragon Balllore is to never be overconfident. This message is constantly shown through the mistakes of villains from almost each and every saga throughout the series.

Piccolo, Tao Pai Pai, Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta, Frieza, each of Frieza's henchmen, the Androids, Cell, Super Buu, Babidi, the Shadow Dragons, Jiren, need we continue? Don't get too confident and never underestimate an opponent.

That last lesson may have made it seem like pride is not a good thing to have but that's not true.Dragon Ballis a series that teaches the viewers to embrace their pride and always believe in themselves and their upbringing. However, this pride needs to be taken in strides instead of being the basis of every argument.

RELATED:Dragon Ball: 5 Couples That Would Make A Lot Of Sense (& 5 That Would Be Awful)

Pride is a double-edged sword as we learn from Vegeta. While it's been shown to lead to his downfall it has helped him and his friends achieve victory as well. Learn to use it the right way.

Another lesson that Vegeta can teach fans ofDragon Ballis that it is always possible to learn from others. No one inDragon Ballgoes through the series on their journey alone. In fact, each character looks to one another constantly for advice whether they say it outright or not.

In fact, even Frieza learns from others inDragon Ball Super once he actually starts training to fight Goku this time around. This leads to him unlocking a whole new transformation.

Dragon Balldoesn't just showcase its cast of characters going through a multitude of battles constantly losing. The series showcases characters losing on a regular basis until they grow and go back to the challenge they once lost against.

This is showing that to win you have to lose. Not only that but you have to learn to love to lose and then learn from that loss. Losses highlight mistakes that can be fixed and are a great part of the self-improvement process.

Dragon Ball is a series all about surpassing limits to unlock the full potential hidden within. In fact, this is exactly what the various Super Saiyan transformations and beyond are all about. While they are partly about the spectacle, the reasons these transformations are so great is because they're showing that someone just became even stronger.

RELATED:Dragon Ball: Every Shadow Dragon, Ranked According To Strength

They've surpassed their last vision of full power and moved on. What always comes after this? Trying to break the next limit and unlock the next transformation of course.

If there's one thing that the originalDragon Ballwill teach, it's that it's not always the destination you should be focused on, but the journey as well.

This series is all about the journey and the trials, tribulations, and lessons that come from it. The Dragon Balls ended up not even being the end all be all. As corny as it sounds, the friends met on the journey to gather them was.

NEXT:Dragon Ball: 10 Super Saiyan Forms (That Only Exist In Fan Fiction)

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You Make it Past These Critical Benchmarks

99.99% of people quit a new hobby, goals, side project, venture, etc before six months is up. Probably 90% of people quit before 90 days.

I see this in writing all the time.

Sometimes I go to check on the blogs of writers Ive met over the years most often the blogs lead to broken links. They vanish, burn out, give up.

If you can work at something for 90 days straight without quitting, youre in good shape.

If you can work at something for six months without quitting, youre in great shape.

Make it a year or two in,getting small successes along the way, and youd be dumb to quit.

Make it five years, and youll never quit.

People permanently quit their dreams because of all of thestarts and stops causeso much fatigue. Hesitation causes more fatigue than actually doing the thing and it causes anxiety. You beat yourself up each time you procrastinate or stop your routine.

You do this because youre worried about the effort it will take to succeed, but youre actually exerting more effort and making yourself more miserable by staying stagnant.

My YouTube channel is now starting to generate some views passively. Guess how long Ive had it? 6 months. I shot roughly 90 videos.

It seems like a lot, but it feels as if Ive been doing it forever. The first video seems like a distant memory, even though back then doing a bunch of videos seemed like a long road.

Six months is the magic number. Make it.

You dont want money. You want the freedom to do what you want when you want.

Sure, you want the status that comes with your creative passion, but ultimately, you want to create.

You understand that many of the worldly metrics we live by money, status, audience, physical attractiveness, are bi-products ofdoing the work.

If you took perfect care of your health, found a profitable skill you genuinely enjoyed doing, and shared your gifts with the world, it would be odd if youdidnt get rich and sexy in the process.

On the one hand, you dont want to live solely for your desires.

But on the other hand, you dont want toact like the scoreboard doesnt exist.

The people who often say things like I just want to be content, are some of the most unhappy people youll ever meet. A content person wouldnt say they just want to be content. Theyd justbecontent.

I can see through people, easily. They live in castles built by rationalizations. They tell themselves they dont want what they really want because they dont think they get it.

People like me and you, we understand that the entire game isnt the endpoint, its thetrying itself that matters.

The fun of accomplishing a dream isnt what you get, itsseeing if you can pull it off.

The process of trying to do what most people cant and trying to exert your will over reality is fulfilling.

You want to feel like you have some damn power over your own situation, thats all. You dont need mansions, but you want to build successful businesses. You dont need insane fame, but you want a tribe of people who love a message you work hard to craft. You dont need to be uber-successful, per se, but like the late great Kobe Bryant, you want to leave it all on the court.

Most importantly, you dont want regrets.

Id rather you overshoot on your goals only to realize your dreams werent all they were cracked up to be than the opposite fate of always having to wonder what if.

Am I guaranteeing youll be successful just because you have ambition? Hell no.

But then again, if youre really ambitious, you dont need guarantees because you haveyou.

And thats more than enough.

Ayodeji is the author of Real Help: An Honest Guide to Self-Improvement.

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Rumours of Keith Earlss Test-playing demise may have to be revised. His provincial team-mate, Andrew Conway, may have overtaken him in the Ireland pecking order, and Garry Ringroses fractured thumb may have opened the door to a place on the bench, but Earlss performance against Wales was a reminder than an old dog doesnt forget his old midfield tricks. He still adds real value to this team.

The debate once raged as to his best position, even if the 32-year-old has long since become more of a specialist winger. Memories will never completely fade of his try-scoring debut for Ireland at fullback against Canada at Thomond Park in November 2008. This is even truer of his only other Test start at fullback, in the home win over England in 2011 when he looked like Irelands version of Christian Cullen, albeit such was Irelands dominance he didnt have to make a single tackle.

Ronan OGara, for one, always disputed the notion that Earls didnt have the passing skills for an outside centre, where he has started 14 times for Ireland. Whats more, his scoring ratio there (five tries) is only marginally less than on the wing 24 tries in 58 starts.

Yet his last start at centre for Ireland was in the World Cup quarter-final against Argentina in 2015. His last start at 13 for Munster was on New Years Day 2018 against Ulster. His last cap as a replacement was against England in the Aviva Stadium seven years ago.

All of which made his performance last week, after a three-week break, all the more impressive.

Earls replaced the hitherto excellent Robbie Henshaw in the 45th minute at outside centre. Inside a minute of his arrival, Earls received a pass from Conor Murray. Waless line speed meant an attempted pass would have been picked off by Nick Tompkins. Earls pulled the ball back in and, with Jordan Larmour checking and altering his angle in toward Earls, he hit the fullback with a delayed pass in the tackle.

Quickly settling into Irelands defensive rhythm, Earls then produced the pass of the match. After Murray had sniped off a maul, stepped and passed, Johnny Sexton quickly transferred the ball to Earls. About to be smashed by George North, Earls gathered and fired the ball right-handed from his right shoulder, like a dart, into the path of Larmour. The move eventually led to Irelands third try.

Near the end, Earls accelerated onto a blindside pass by John Cooney to release Conway with a rapid fire transfer. It looked like hed been playing at outside centre all his life.

After the World Cup disappointment, a less than distinguished campaign for Munster and bothersome back and knee issues, it was one of the better postmatch feelings hes had in a while.

Yea, with Munster, being out of Europe is tough, getting beat by Racing away and then I didnt play against Ospreys. So it was my first run out in a while and it was good to get one back over Wales and in the manner we did as well. We played some exciting rugby but whats brilliant is theres plenty more to come.

Along the way, Earls has often switched from the wing to fill in at centre, and has tried to do some reps there in training, so he wasnt playing there entirely from memory.

He particularly enjoyed the pass to Larmour.

Under Joe, he had us wingers trying to pass quite a bit. Stephen Larkham is huge on it as well about getting quick hands and passing under pressure, and Cattys massive on it as well so its something that weve been doing the last couple of years and months, but particularly the last few weeks under Stephen and Catty.

The arrival of Larkham and Mike Catt at Munster and Ireland has clearly enthused Earls in his constant seeking for self-improvement. Interestingly though, Earls disputes the theory that outside centre is still the hardest position to defend.

I think wing has got a lot harder these past couple of years. Both of them are extremely hard but I think the wing is probably the toughest, having played both. Massive decisions. One bad decision almost leads to a try out in those channels. Thats the reality of it. You need to be consistently switched on.

Earls is never less than an engaged and endearingly honest interviewee, and he is quick to hail Conways all-round excellence against Wales, describing it as the best game Ive ever seen him play.

All round, anything he touched, something was happening, which is great to see but Id like to see him looking over his back as well, as I was for the last couple of years, he says with a knowing laugh.

Looking very relaxed, Earls is also enjoying the more easy-going environment at both Munster and Ireland, whereas before, he admits: There were times when we were scared to laugh. If you were laughing you werent switched on or you werent concentrating or you werent being professional.

Last week after we did the Captains Run we didnt meet again until we were getting on the bus going to the game. Usually youd have a couple of meetings beforehand and you might have a meeting at 10 in the morning and the anxiety starts coming in from there whereas its completely chilled.

We are trying to enjoy ourselves but once you walk out in the four lines you have to be switched on. Its being able to switch on for the hour or so rather than wasting energy all morning or two days or a day out, wasting energy on thinking about plays or stuff like that. Yeah, its definitely a lot more relaxed in Munster and Ireland as well.

Were barely in the classroom as well, he added. We see our classroom as being on the field. Faz brings down a TV to the side of the field at the HPC [high performance centre] and well look at a play and then well go out and rep it. Its just coaches are different.

In other ways too, all has changed utterly since his early days in the squad, when so much of Irelands energy for games against England was emotionally charged.

Definitely there was a generational thing. I think thats why it took me so long to find myself as well because maybe I was trying to be like Paulie or Rog or some of them old fellas who try and play on emotion every week, which is impossible to do, he says with a smile.

Its a breath of fresh air coming in now. Like, completely chilled out and being able to enjoy a sport, thats so important. Its great.

Trying to keep a perspective is important for Earls, who used to be consumed by nerves and self-doubt. In the build-up to the World Cup quarter-final against the All Blacks, he said the worst thing that could happen was that Ireland would lose and hed get to go home and see his wife and kids.

Looking back, the constant gym work on his ailing knees had meant the World Cup campaign was just full-on, full-on rugby.

Then, unfortunately, we were knocked out and I got away and spent a bit of time with the kids in Center Parcs with Peter OMahony and his kids, and it was just a normal life getting away from rugby. But its amazing, a week later youre like: Jeeze, I just want to get back on the field now.

We had time off at Christmas and it was probably my first time, in my career Id say, I found myself drinking and eating over Christmas. Its amazing, when youre playing youre like: Jeeze, I wish I could be out with the family or out with the lads having drinks. And I was doing that this year and I was like: I definitely prefer playing. I think the couple of days is great but then after a week you want to get back into it.

The fire in the belly, as he puts it, still burns.

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Brothers Aaron and Abram Burnett are usually the first two to arrive at CPR Chess Club -- the CPR standing for Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, Reading -- which meets from 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesdays at Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas in southwest Little Rock. They are in the advanced class.

A recent Tuesday finds Aaron, an 11-year-old fifth-grader at Scholarmade Achievement Place in Little Rock -- wearing multiple medals around his neck ... medals won in chess tournaments, which he's showing visitors. He has been part of the club for about five years.

"At first, I wasn't really interested" in chess, he says. Aaron's grandfather signed him up for it. "And then I just started coming and then I started to get interested in it. You know how in school some people don't really focus? It basically challenges you" to focus, he says.

CPR Chess Club member Aaron Burnett displays some of the medals he has won in chess tournaments. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)

Aaron got his first medal at his very first chess tournament.

"I just kept on doing chess tournaments. Like, the people that I play ... sometimes I used to hope that [beating them] would be easy. But then -- what's the point of playing 'em if you're just going to beat 'em? Usually when I play people ... that makes me better because I kinda see their strategies, and next time I know how to prevent it or use it against somebody."

Abram Burnett, 9, is in third grade.

"It's like life," he says of the game. "You have to strategize, out-think your opponent."

Tony Davis, nine-time Arkansas state chess champion, uses a hanging chess demonstration board to teach the movement of different chess pieces to young members of the CPR Chess Club. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)

In another classroom, nine-time state chess champion Tony Davis, a volunteer coach for the club, is teaching beginning players. He uses a vertical cloth chessboard with pockets to hold the pieces.

"The Queen always goes on the same color as her dress," he tells the students. "So the white queen goes on white. Black queen goes on black. ... Whoever has white always moves first."

Davis shows off a knight game piece.

"This is everybody's favorite piece. He's shaped like a horse, and he jumps over other pieces. He's the only piece that can do that. And when he makes his move, he makes a little L ... he can move over two and up one, or back two and over one. It can be a backwards L, a sideways L, an upside-down L ... Once you master how a knight moves, all the other pieces are easy because all the other pieces move in a straight line."

Davis demonstrates how the other pieces move ... pawn, rook, bishop, queen, king. In chess, the main goal is to capture, or checkmate, the opponent's king, so the direction in which each piece can legally move is vital to winning the game.

Going back and forth to make sure everything runs smoothly is Georgia Morris, the club's founder, who, ironically, doesn't play chess.

Georgia Morris, founder of CPR Chess Club, makes a few practice moves on the board with club member Hansika Ulaganathan, 7, a third-grader at Williams Magnet Elementary School. The club, which also has a Pine Bluff chapter, is a vehicle by which a diverse group of students learns life skills via chess. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Pradeep Parmer)

Morris, an Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield retiree, started CPR Chess Club in August 2013. Her idea for the club was born of a similar but simpler game: Morris' father, who raised her and her seven siblings as a single parent, showed them all how to play checkers.

As he taught, he was "telling [us] all this life-skills stuff, but I didn't really know it was life skills then," Morris says.

A dedicated community volunteer, Morris was pondering ways to work with youth when she met Davis at her former church, Hoover United Methodist. Davis' chess club, the Urban Knights, met across from Central High School. Morris visited the club gatherings to learn how to play. She never mastered the game but learned the basics and was intrigued by it.

"I started Googling, seeing how good [chess] was for kids," she says. "I know it was good for all this critical thinking and focusing and planning ahead -- everything that a child would need to kind of keep them on track," as well as help them in school. "So I decided that I was going to start a chess club."

Morris wanted the club to be near a church so that if the club kids wanted to go to church, they'd be within walking distance. That's what brought her to Mosaic, where she eventually became a part of the congregation. She asked church officials if they'd be open to hosting the chess club, and got a yes.

Morris asked for help from Davis, who did a youth program at Hoover and has worked with young people at several schools. "I've heard people for years talk about how they would [like to] learn to play chess and how they would like to do stuff like what [Morris is] doing," Davis says. "She's the first one I ran into that actually followed through."

She has done outstanding work, says Mark DeYmaz, founding pastor of Mosaic Church -- work "born out of Georgia's passion for young people and our community."

Morris' idea for the program fits in nicely with the church's mission, which was established not just to put on Sunday services but to "empower and free our members" to go after their callings during certain seasons of their life, he says.

"What might seem to be a limitation wasn't a limitation for her. It wasn't really about chess; it was about young people. Chess was a vehicle for their minds and their hearts."

This is evident on this particular Tuesday.

Tessa Vocque considers which chess piece to move during a meeting of the CPR Chess Club at Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas in Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)

Settling at a table across from the Burnett brothers and three other boys is Tessa Vocque, a 7-year-old first-grader at Forest Heights STEM Academy. She has been coming to the club about four months.

She likes the fact that "it doesn't exactly matter who wins and loses," at chess, she says. Here, one doesn't lose. One learns.

"I also like that it's just fun to play," Tessa adds.

Her mother, Cindy Vocque of Little Rock, is just outside the classroom.

When she found out about the club, she felt it would be the perfect outlet for her daughter, Vocque says. "I thought this [would] be great to help her learn some self-control, planning skills, sitting still and just how to use strategies -- not only in a game, but ... in her community and her life."

She sees her strong-willed daughter learning to "self-regulate her emotions," Vocque adds.

Teaching the advanced class is Nate Martin, an architect with WD&D Architects in Little Rock and another of the club's volunteer coaches. Martin became involved with the club more than two years ago when he saw a segment about it on the evening news. He has been playing casually since he was a child.

"What I enjoy the most is when I see something click with a student," Martin says. "One minute they didn't grasp something, and another minute, they grasp it. ... And you see them build on that week after week.

"It's fun just watching the kids ... make some crazy moves and [seeing] what happens."

Darius McCree Sr. of Little Rock, a teacher and the chess coach at Dunbar Middle School, has been plugged into CPR as a coach for about two years. When his students graduated from middle school, he sought a way to keep them together despite them going on to a handful of different high schools. He got in touch with Morris and his former Dunbar students began to visit CPR, becoming members of the club's high-school team.

He uses chess to teach students about life, McCree says. "If you [want to] teach a kid discipline and maturity, chess is the greatest way I know to do that."

KenDrell Collins, a trial attorney at the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of Arkansas, coaches young chess enthusiasts during a weekly meeting of the CPR Chess Club. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)

When he first came to CPR, McCree says, he was amazed at what he saw.

"I tell people all the time that I've been playing this game for 30 years but, I learned from a 5-year-old here. He was 5 when I met him but ... he talked like he was, like, 54."

Fellow coach KenDrell Collins of Little Rock also enjoys seeing the students learn life through chess. A federal public defender, Collins thought he was just going to be helping out here and there with the club. But now, he's teaching a beginner's class, populated primarily with children kindergarten age through second grade.

"In chess, if you make a wrong move ... it has consequences. You might lose that piece," he says. "I deal with people every day who made a lapse in judgment or ... didn't strategically think about an action, and then there was a consequence. So we kind of teach that on a small level, a micro level, to the kids."

Racquel Green of Little Rock is not only the mother of CPR member and trophy winner Kenneth Clay III, a 10-year-old fourth-grader at Pulaski Heights Elementary School, but she's also a volunteer parent.

Davis, Green says, recruited her son to come over and play chess, which he began doing in late 2018. "And ever since, he's been right over here. He does not miss a Tuesday ... If he's had a stressful week, he's looking forward to Tuesday ... 'I have got to go and take this strategy out on chess.' So I like to hear that."

The club has coaxed the once-introverted Kenneth out of his shell, Green adds. "Now, he's more sociable. Now, he's more outgoing. Now, he's more ... proud of himself."

And Green is impressed that Georgia "just knew what God wanted for her to do."

"She didn't wonder how she was going to get the resources. She didn't wonder who was going to support her. She didn't wonder if she was going to have a kid. She just did it."

And Morris was instrumental in getting the Little Rock School District to change its rules about chess.

The district hosts chess tournaments, but these were once open only to the schools that had chess clubs.

Siblings Mert and Nur Korkmaz learn the game of life while play chess during a Tuesday-evening meeting of the CPR Chess Club. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)

Most of the school-based chess clubs were under the schools' gifted and talented programs. On several occasions, Morris went to the district's former fund and budget coordinator and pleaded with him to allow her club members to participate in these tournaments. He finally relented. The club went to the tournament for the first time in 2017.

"She was doing something that was virtually undone -- in fact, not just virtually undone here, but virtually undone anywhere in the country," Davis says.

Today, CPR's teams are the only community-based teams that can compete in Little Rock School District tournaments. On Feb. 8, more than 20 children from the club participated in the district chess tournament. Members have racked up numerous medals and team trophies; the club itself has garnered such honors as the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award, KARK Pay It 4 Ward Award, and the Dunbar Community Award.

CPR didn't just grow bigger; it expanded outside Little Rock. Laverne Tyler of Pine Bluff is over the CPR Chess Club's Pine Bluff branch. Open to anybody and free of charge, it meets from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursdays -- and has an in-house tournament -- at the Trinity Annex Building, 2900 W. Sixth Ave. in Pine Bluff. The chapter currently has nearly 20 members ranging from first grade to junior high school. These children also participated in the Feb. 8 Little Rock School District chess tournament.

A member and past master with Cornerstone Lodge No. 1601, Prince Hall Masons in Pine Bluff, Tyler also coaches three youth football teams and shepherds a group of Junior Masons. Determined after a visit to a CPR meeting to take the program back to his own youth, he rounded up some of his football players, and invited a few more, to play chess. "They had never seen chess," Tyler says. "And probably about a month after that, they were playing chess like they'd been playing all their lives."

The game, he explains, "raised up their confidence level. All their teachers [are] saying their grades have come up, their attitudes have gotten better ... And then they're learning to work through difficulties."

CPR-Pine Bluff recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. "We've been competing and winning," Tyler says.

"For me to see them sitting and thinking -- it showed me the potential that exists within them."

Volunteers and donations are welcome at both CPR clubs (Tyler especially seeks male volunteers, whether or not they're chess players). Little Rock donations should go through Vine & Village, vineandvillage.org with the CPR Chess Program indicated. For more information, contact Morris at (501) 416-5348 or gmmorris.cpr55@att.net. For Pine Bluff, contact Tyler at (870) 329-4398 or lavernetyler1975@yahoo.com.

Style on 02/16/2020

Link:

Game changer: Volunteer creates chess club that gives kids all the right moves - NWAOnline

This is a variant from the game Nana Dzagnidze v Valentina Gunina, Cairns Cup, St Louis 2020. Black has the brutal threat of Rh8, Qxh2+ and Rxh2 mate. Can you find Whites only move to escape?

Guildfords stranglehold on Britains Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) is set to continue for an eighth consecutive season as the Surrey club steamrollered two more opponents at Daventry last weekend, while their sponsored rivals from Yorkshire and the Isle of of Man lost ground on the leaders. Guildford last lost a match, 3.5-4.5 to White Rose, on 5 May 2012, since when the teams unbeaten run stretches to 81 wins and two draws.

Each of two sections qualifies four teams for the championship pool. Guildford lead the A group with 8/8 ahead of Chessable White Rose and Wood Green 6/8. The B group has Chess.com Manx Liberty 8/8, Grantham 7/8 and Guildford B 6/8. Guildford have won all four matches by at least 7-1 so are already well ahead on game points.

A mix of experienced English and French Olympiad grandmasters form Guildfords core and it was a specially good weekend for Michael Adams. The seven-time British champion is aged 48 and has recently struggled to hold on to the England No 1 spot against his younger rivals Luke McShane, Gawain Jones and David Howell. But Howell had a form dip at Hastings while Jones has been held back by draws, whereas in the last few weeks Adams scored an unbeaten 7/10 at Gibraltar, then defeated GMs Stephen Gordon and Jon Speelman at the 4NCL.

The Cornishman has now recovered not only his England No 1 position but also a 2700 elite rating and is the second oldest 2700+ after Indias former world champion Vishy Anand. Matthew Sadler, the England No 2 four rating points behind Adams, is co-author of Game Changer, the acclaimed AlphaZero book, and an amateur GM who plays little apart from the 4NCL yet hardly ever loses. In his game against 3Cs Sadler won what he later described as his most AlphaZero-like game yet.

It was also interesting that Guildford fielded the Leicester GM Mark Hebden on bottom board. Hebden, who will be 62 on Saturday, played a key, though understated, role in the 1970s and 80s boom when England for a few years became the No 2 chess nation after the Soviet Union. Many opening novelties worked out then were developed on the weekend circuit where few games were published and where Hebden evolved a purpose-built repertoire which made him a prolific prize winner.

The Grand Prix, Barry and 150 Attacks were his weapons, with easy to understand strategies which attracted a host of followers and are still popular among online blitz players. Hebden was at it again last weekend, where his opponent seemed unfamiliar with the 150 Attack and was crushed in short order.

Blacks 7 a6? (better c6 to secure d5 for the f6 knight) was far too slow and could already have been met by 8 e5!, but Hebden preferred the classical plan of switching his queen to boost his K-side attack. Then 12Nbd7? put Blacks minor pieces in a tangle, and the position fell apart.

Mark Hebden v Aisha Benhamida (Guildford v 3Cs)

1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 g6 3 e4 d6 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Be3 0-0 6 Qd2 Nbd7 7 Bh6 a6? 8 0-0-0 Nb6 9 h3 Be6 10 Qg5 c6 11 Qh4 Qc7 12 Ng5 Nbd7? 13 f4 Rfe8 14 Bxg7 Kxg7 15 e5 Nh5 16 g4 h6 17 Nxe6+ fxe6 18 gxh5 1-0

When Manx unleashed Hungarys world No 14, Richard Rapport, against Guildford in last seasons final match, it seemed this might be a foretaste of a sustained title challenge. This has not happened yet, as both Manx and White Rose have relied on their pre-sponsor squads. The challenging pair are expected to make their effort at the final league weekend in May when they will probably bring in some overseas heavyweights, but it will be a slim chance. White Rose have already lost a match while Guildford are already virtually assured of superior game points.

Irelands Gonzaga, newly promoted from Division Two, and Scotlands Alba, newly relegated from Division One, are both effectively national teams, though far from full strength. Both have the same basic problem.Their squads are expert level with a sprinkling of masters, and this formula is insufficient for consistent survival in the top division, so both may be in a pattern of yo-yoing between divisions.

A former world champion in action in Division Two is a rare sight. Chinas Tan Zhongyi, fresh from winning the 20,000 womens first prize at Gibraltar, played No 1 for Kings Head, the London chess pub team, and won two smooth strategic games.

On the international front,the central action this week is at the Prague Masters including six GMs from the world top 30. Chess fans will be watching Alireza Firouzja,16, in his second elite tournament following Wijk aan Zee, where he was wiped out 5-0 by the super-elite but scored well against others.

3658 1 cxb4! draws. If Rh8 2 Qc6+! Kg7 3 Qc3+! Kg6 4 Qd3+! when Black must repeat by 4..Kg7 since 4f5? loses to 5 Qd6+! when the BK must self-block by Kh5 or be mated. The Cairns Cup of 10 top women players is the female version of the elite Sinquefield Cup, and its final rounds can be watched free and live online this weekend.

More here:

Chess: Guildford extend unbeaten run to 83 matches over nearly eight years - The Guardian

2/13/2020 In Vienna, chess is back in the public space. People play on streets and squares, in the Main Library, and even in coffeehouses where chess once was very popular. The driving force behind this movement is the Dutch chess activist Kineke Mulder. Who is very active indeed.

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The coffeehouse is the cradle of European chess club culture. A lot of clubs were founded in coffeehouses and the coffeehouses in Vienna arguably provided the archetype of a cultivated atmosphere that came with a cup of coffee, intellectual conversations and a few games of chess. Coffeehouses also offered an opportunity to play chess for money and to enter heated debates about the best move while analysing.

But in the last decades the classical chess coffeehouse has been on the decline. However, in Vienna, formerly a stronghold of the game and coffeehouse culture, chess is in the process of reconquering public space. Driving force behind this development is a woman: Kineke Mulder. Who hails from the Netherlands, from Groningen, another stronghold of chess. Which is fitting because in its heyday the chess culture in Vienna was also very international.

The idea was born in 2015/16, at a time when many people had fled their homes,were travelling around Europe and were looking for a place to stay. Many stranded in Vienna, did not know where to go and were literally living on the street. Kineke Mulder saw this and came up with the idea to give them at least an occupation: chess. Chess is easy to learn and connects people. Even if you do not speak a common language, you can quickly play a game of chess with each other. "We are all equal when we play," is Kineke Mulder's motto.

Soon Kineke Mulder found supporters and the project grew. Chess is now played regularly just like that on the squares and streets of Vienna and at street festivals. But not only there. The Main Library is also regularly imbued with coffee house atmosphere during the monthly chess tournament.

In the Vienna Main Library

Chess is also played at the junk goods market 48-Tandler. The blitz-tournament even attracted almost the entire women's national team of 1996, that is WIM Helene Mira, WFM Jutta Borek and WFM Maria Horvath.

The trio

Christian Hursky, president of the Austrian Chess Federation and member of the Austrian Landtag took part in the simul. Incidentally, this year the Austrian Chess Federation celebrates its 100th birthday.

And it is even back in its old stronghold the coffeehouses. Not in each and every one but nevertheless getting more and more popular.

Schachcaf

E.g. with the "Chess Unlimited Krampusturnier" in the Caf Ritter, with sociable Dieter Chmelar (journalist, TV host, cabaret artist), Nikolo and Alma Zadic, minister of justice.

Prominent people at the Krampusturnier

The house was packed...

...the games exciting.

With Kineke Mulder and her friends chess in Vienna has also become more feminine, and thus more sociable. There is even a women's chess club in Vienna, for a few years now. For all women who want to start with chess, but don't quite dare to make the move, comrade-in-arms Eva Husar has a tip from woman to woman: chess can be crocheted first.

Photos:Little hussar chrochet. P.S: All materials are recycled. The little extra: the board is also the bag for the pieces.

As a trained advertising designer Kineke Mulder is also able to show what she and her chess friends do and recently she published a brochure (PDF) with the chess events of the last year. There were plenty of them.

Meanwhile, chess columns, e.g. Ruf & Ehn in the Standard, have noticed this new chess culture in Vienna and expressed their joy in a number of articles.

There's also a video about the new chess movement:

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

Excerpt from:

The new chess culture in Vienna - Chessbase News

In 1843 Andrei Alexandrovich Ascharin was born in the Estonian coastal town of Prnu. His parents were of mixed origins: Alexander, of Russian extraction and Louise, of German extraction. This was common among the Baltic people at the time. His family moved from Prnu to Dorpat 80 miles due east. He went to the Dorpat High School and attended the Universitt Dorpat, now the University of Tartu, where he studied law, until 1874. After graduation he moved to St. Petersburg as a journalist for the German language newspaper Sankt Petersburger Heroldand then for it's competitor Sankt Petersburger Zeitung.

Ascharin learned to play chess while attending high school in Dorpat. There, his chief rival was his classmateHermann Clemenz who would himself become a strong player. His other chess friends included Friedrich Eisenschmidt, G. Vogt and Friedrich Amelung.

Here's a couple youthful games between Ascharin-Vogt and Ascharin-Clemenz. The mistakes (even blunders) show how far they needed to go but the ideas evidenced their potentials. It also demonstrates that Ascharin wasn't yet standing out from his classmates. Vogt was a talented blindfold player. Herr Stud of Dorpat had written in a letter published in the Neue Berliner Schachzeitung in 1866 which said "The talent of my friend Vogt in blind-playing has often given us the opportunity to watch such a production with six, seven and eight simultaneous opponents. Calmness, clarity of combinations and a lively presentation are very much in his mind."

As can be seen in the above 1892 photograph of Ascharin with Mikhail Tschigorin, our subject was a man of small stature. He also spend most of his life in somewhat poor health which eventually led to his premature death at age 53. In 1878 he married Alwine Runge. Together they had three children: a son, Fredja, born in early 1887 but who died from the dreaded scarlet fever on March 24, 1892, a son, Andreas, born Sept. 13, 1889 and a daughter, Lydia, born Dec. 30, 1891.

While in St. Petersburg, Ascharin was exposed to some of the great Russian players of the day such as Emanuel Schiffers, Ilya Shumoff and Mikhail Tschigorin. In fact in November of 1876 --Tschigorin had already started editing his chess paper, the Shakhmatnyy listok-- Ascharin, Tschigorin, Schiffers and Shumoff held a small tournament in the Caf Dominic. This knock-out tournament was won by Ascharin (two days after the completion of that small tournament, an even smaller one was held between Tschigorin, Schiffers and Shumoff).

A game from that event:

Between October and December of the next year another tournament was held, this time with more contestants and the venue was a restaurant/caf operated by a Mr. Prader. The competitors were:Ascharin, Schiffers, Tshigorin, Clementz (who had only arrived in St. Petersburg 4 weeks earlier) and Semyon Alapin. Tschigorin won this event (and the 15 rubles prize), followed by Schiffers, Ascharin, Clementz and Alapin.

Below is a game between Ascharin and Alapin from 1877, also at the Caf Prader, but several months prior to the tournament played there:

The Baltische Schachbltter of 1891 published an 1878 letter from Friedrich Amelung which gives a sense of the chess situation in Russia at the time, :

...in the course of the last year 1877 three new strong Russian chess players became known, namely: Mr. Solowzow [Alexander Vladimirovich Solovtsov] in Moscow, who successfully played against Messrs. Urussov [Prince Sergey Urusov], Drosdow [Alexander Dmitrievich Drozdov (1838-1904)],and Schmidt [Dr. Eugen von Schmidt, an Estonia who moved to Moscow], also Mr. Alapin in Petersburg and Mr. Hellwig in Dorpat [A. Hellwig eventually moved to Moscow for at least a time]. In my chess report No. 1, 1877, I named strongest chess players of Russia: Mr. Winawer in Warsaw, Messrs Schiffers, Shumoff, Tschigorin, Asharin in Petersburg, Messrs. Drosdow, Urussow and Schmidt in Moscow, finally the provincial players Messrs. Clemenz, Chardin [Andrey Nikolaevich Chardin, a lawyer who moved to Samara in 1878. He lost a tightly contested match to Schiffers in 1874. A young Vladmir Lenin worked as his legal assistant in 1893. They were known to have played many games together] and V. Knorre [Viktor Knorre, the Russian astronomer, was originally from Dorpat, then moved to Berlin], i.e. a total of 11 chess players of the first rank along with several players of the second rank, to which we now add the three named players, and we are thus getting a handsome majority of strong chess players in Russia, like no other European or non-European country may be, except in Germany and England alone.

A game between Tschigorin and Viktor Knorre in 1874:

In 1877, after his little victory (1876) in St. Petersburg, Ascharin lost a close 9 game match to his chess mentor, Friedrich Amelung, 5-4. By 1879, Tschigorin had risen tremendously, winning the St. Petersburg tournament (after a play-off with Alapin) while Ascharin languished in 6th place out of the 9 contestants. When he secured a position teaching German literature and language at the Alexander High School for Men and the Lomonosov High School for Women in 1879, Ascharin and his wife, who also hailed from Prnu, moved back to the Balkins but this time to the Latvian city of Riga where they would live out their lives.

Riga provided a whole new chess frontier for Ascharin.

In 1880 there were no first class players in Riga other than Ascharin himself. His arrival seemed to spark interest in the game. Ascharin joined the Schachclub des Gewerbevereins, the trade association chess club which met at the Hotel Deutsches Haus and where he could give their best players knight odds. Bored with that poorly attended venue, he seldom frequented it himself, preferring the coffeehouses where chess was commonly played. The chief among these was the Caf Krpsch which had the reputation as being Riga's Caf de la Rgence. He also played visiting masters. The three columns below indicate "win, lose draw."

Below is one of the games between Emil Schallopp and Ascharin in 1890:

The above game was played in 1890. This was a hallmark year for Riga chess for this was when Ascharin organized the Riga Chess Club, which in turn elevated Riga into a first rate chess locale.

Before delving into that, three Riga chess enthusiasts are worth mentioning: the Behting brothers, Johann, Carl and Robert. All three were problemists, Though Carl and Johann were the most successful in that area. Robert, on the other hand won the 1st Baltic Championship (the Baltic Chess Union Congress) in April, 1899. Carl and Robert were also strong correspondence players.

The first discussions concerning the establishment of the Rigaer Schachverein (the Riga Chess Club) took place in March 1890 at a meeting which included Mr. Ascharin, Dr. Alex Helling, and Pastor N. Hugenberger (ironically, the latter two mentioned both died the following year). With C.arl von Reisner and Paul Kerkovius added to the commission, the Grand Opening took place on Dec. 4, 1890, A letter written by Ascharin dated Oct. 17, 1890 gives some insight:

Dear friend! - Our chess club is blooming mightily! We are already 50 members. We have rented a nice big restaurant consisting of two, large nicely furnished halls and a room for the deliberations of the bard . The cost [for the venue] for two game nights a week is 200 rubles annually. However, we receive 100 rubles a year from the Rigaer Tageblatt, a local newspaper, for the chess number [the chess column] that appears every two weeks. It is edited by three members of the chess club, P. Kerkovius, Ellinson and Carl Behting, the problem artist, under my supervision and, as can be seen from the magazines, receives many good reviews. The board consists of 5 members and 2 substitutes. President: Asharin, Vice President: Dr. med. Helling, Secretary: C. v. Reisner, treasurer: Kerkovius, archivist: Pastor Hugenberger. . . . The annual membership fee is 5 rubles and 1 ruble registration fee. . . . As a result of donations, our library already consists of around 40 chess books. We hold the German weekly chess, published by Schallopp, Heyde and Hlsen, and the Petersburg Schachmaty. It goes without saying that we bought the two issues of your latest chess opus.

Below is a game between Ascharin and fellow club founder, Pastor N. Hugenburger. Hugenberger taught Religion at Lomonosov High School. One can see the apparent skill disparity. Another founder, Dr. Alexander Helling had received his degree from Dorpat University in 1884. He set up practice in Riga in 1885 where he also operated a boarding school. He was known in the Riga music circles as a cellist. He died from pneumonia on May 14th 1892 at age 36. Paul Kerkovius (1868-1940) was the publisher of Riga's main newspaper, the Rigaer Stadtbltter. Between 1896 and 1916 Kerkovius was one of those involved in a famous series of correspondence games played between Riga and various foreign chess clubs such as Orel, Moscow, Stockholm and Berlin during an extended period of time. At the conclusion, although delayed by the war, a book was published by Helms and Cassel (both of whom owned and edited the extraordinaryAmerican Chess Bulletin). Due to the Riga's reputation for analyzing and compiling data, these matches, as well as the analyses, were considered very important at the time. The "Riga Defense," also referred to as the "Bohl Variation" was elevated from relative obscurity into prominence thanks to this series of games.

Above you can see Paul Kerkovius, Carl and Robert Behting in 1916.

Here is a game demonstrating Carl Behting's skill as a correspondence player:

And here are the two games from the 1896 Riga vs. Orel correspondence match:

The Riga Chess Club was already developing a reputation in 1892. That along with Ascharin's connections convinced a handful of world-class masters to visit the club. The club rented rooms in Riga's impressive Grossen Gilde or Great Guild, one of the oldest building in the Baltics.

Mikhail Tschigorin visited in September 1882. He conducted a 30 board simul (against 40 opponents since 10 played in consultation) that lasted almost 6 hours, non-stop. Tschigorin won 28, lost 2. He also played Ascharin in a 3 game match, winning all three. Ascharin compared their duel to that between Hektor and Achilles, with Ascharin as the doomed Hektor and Tschigoin as the invincble Achilles.

In March 1893, Emil Schallopp who had been to Riga on two previous occasions, gave a 21 board simul, winning 20 and losing one to Carl Behting. The simul lasted from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Ascharin played Schallopp in a three-game match, winning all three games.

Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch visited the club inNovember 1893. He also held a 30 board simul that lasted 6 hours. Of these he won 25, drew 4 and lost one to Carl Behting. On the second evening he gave a 6 board blind-simul, winning all the games. On the third evening Tarrasch was scheduled to play a mini-match with Ascharin but Ascharin was ill and had to forego that which he had probably been keenly anticipating. Instead, a hasty simul was arranged with mostly different players. Initially set up to be a 15 board event to lighten Tarrasch's load,, there were so many complaints that it was expanded to 30. The exhausted Tarrasch rushed through this second simul in 4 hours winning 22, losing 5 and drawing 3. Those beating Tarrasch were Messrs. H. Ehlert, R. Behting, Kandaurow, and the lawyers Wittram and Henrichson.

September of 1894 saw Emanuel Schiffers arriving in Riga where he played a 23 board simul against selected opponents. He won 14, lost 4 and drew 5. It was observed that Schiffers didn't take the battles as seriously and other masters. the simul lasted 5.5 hrs.

William Steinitz came to Riga in February 1896. the first evening, Feb. 10, he played a two game match at the CafKrpsch against Carl Behting, giving him Knight-odds, each winning a game. On Feb. 11 he gave a 30 board simul. Steinitz won 29 and drew one after 6 hours. A match between Steinitz and Ascharin had been scheduled for Feb. 15 but Ascharin was too ill to play. Instead, a consultation game between the team of P. Bohl, M. Ellinson and K. Kupfler (playing white) and Steinitz was hastily arranged. Steinitz won. A banquet following the game.

Tschigorin paid the Riga Chess Club a second visit in September 1897. Yet another 30 board simul was held. Tschigorin won 22, lost 4 and drew 4. It was noted that all 30 of the boards were in consultation. During the banquet in his honor, Tschigorin raised a toast to the departed Andreas Ascharin (who had died in December 1896)..

Having played against various masters, comparisons of their styles and conduct was inevitable.

(below are, in some cases, somewhat liberal translations using Google )

Tschigorin: Tschigorin is of medium height, slim, black, the bronze-colored face that reddened under the exertion of the brain, narrow, not too thin, the look friendly, harmless, but also penetratingly sharp. The whole appearance gives the impression of restlessness. . . . If Tschigorin does not finish a combination quickly enough, he gnaws on his thumbnail, or nervously runs his forefinger through his mustache or small full beard, or taps with the same index finger in quick succession, (calculating the variations). Of course, he doesn't have the unpleasant habit of speaking during the game. With the exception of a few brief replies, the five hours were almost silent.

Schallopp: The dark-eyed, brunette, hot-blooded Russian (Tschigorin), as he showed himself in the same lower rooms of our great guild in his 30 simultaneous games, plays violently, as a falcon quickly strikes and captures its prey; the bright-eyed, blond, cold-blooded German (Schallopp) follows his game calmly, evenly, indifferently removing the small obstacles, carefully clearing them out of the way before he makes the surprising ingenious advance; that is to say: he does not scorn a seemingly insignificant pawn who covers his dominion with his body, but quietly captures it in before he dares the main attack. Yet Mr. Schallopp still smiles mildly and kindly, like a man of gentle temper- while Mr. Tschigorin did not smile in the course of his nearly five-hour game. And while the latter face gradually reddened and his forehead shone in the sweat of effort, Mr. Schallopp remained chastely white and only at the last his cheeks shimmered in redness.

Tarrasch: Tschigorin plays like a hawk, sharp, hot and bold; Schallopp - like an armored dove, gentle, smiling, but greedy for food; Tarrasch - like a raven, looking wise, very deliberate, prey promptly before he attacks.

Schiffers: ...Schiffers is not attached to the game with body and soul, and still pursues physical interests: Tschigorin and Dr. Tarrasch did not smoke at all, Schallopp smoked coldly on a cigar, Schiffers smoked almost 25 cigarettes during the 5 hour game and drank a glass of beer, which his predecessors also carefully avoided. From all of the chess masters who have been seen here can be observed: they all boast enviable, thick hair, which, like Mr. Schiffers, has a mane-like appearance and gives his head a somewhat artistic appearance. How can one explain this phenomenon? Apparently, excessive thinking does not cause baldness, as some people want to believe.

Steinitz: Steinitz observes a deliberate, never rushing, downright relentless style of playing.... The big man is as small as possible in figure, round, stocky, the large, moderately hairy head with the reddish full head seated deep between his shoulders, his little nose is set apart only by his bulging nostrils, the forehead high and square, the small eyes as if protected from an overhanging hawk skin, the gently reddened, full face usually shines with a jovial smile. Beautifully soft; the hands with the pointed fingers are small and delicate, which old master Steinitz sometimes drums lightly on the table during play or makes an innocent fist, depending on the case. Otherwise he will not reveal any trace of nervousness.

Due to failing health, Ascharin resigned his position as president of the Riga Chess Club in 1895. Ottomar von Haken (Otomrs fon Hkens 1854-1929) was elected in his place. and served until 1899Paul Kerkovius took over.

In 1894 Ascharin published a little collection of his anecdotes, originally released in supplements (feuilleton) in theRiga Tageblatt, in a book entitled Schach-Humoresken.

During his life Ascharin had over a dozen other books published, mostly involving translations of Russian poetry into German. However, he also published a book of his own poetry in 1878,Gedichte von Andreas Ascharin. Below is an example of his writing (with English translation assistance kindly provided to my own interpretation by chess.com member @white_castle27)

An Unsterblichkeit zu glauben, Bringt unzweifelhaft Gewinn, Keinem will den Trost ich rauben. Da ich selbst unsterblich bin.

Deine Augen geben Kunde Von der Liebe Himmelreich, Und ein Ku von deinem Munde Machet mich den Gttern gleich.

Believing in immortality Undoubtedly yields profit I don't want to rob anyone of solace. Since I am immortal myself.

Your eyes give honor From the love of heaven, And a kiss from your mouth Makes me like the gods.

Upon his death on Christmas Day 1896, the Baltische Schachblatter was filled with memorials celebrating his life, his legacy but even more so his gentleness, kindness and generosity.

[While Wikipedia and several other places online list his death as Dec. 24, Jeremy Gage, as well as most contemporary reports tell us it was Dec. 25]

and we finish up with a strange, but fun, little odds game:

Visit link:

Ascharin and Other Things - Chess.com

2/10/2020 Chess compositions have been around for over a thousand years, and composers aim to tap not only the practical but also the aesthetic sense of solvers. Recently AZLAN IQBAL has investigated the potential of fully-computer-generated chess problems, and here he presents some conclusions about what passes the threshold of beauty.

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Perhaps the earliest recorded chess problems were by al-Adli who was reputedly the author of the first book about chess (or rather, an earlier but still recognizable form of the game) and lived in the 9th century CE. He is also said to have played it in the presence of one named, al-Mutawakkil, and therefore was not likely just or even primarily a composer of problems [1]. In the 21st century, however, composing original chess problems is no longer something that only humans can do autonomously. Chesthetica, a program I developed, has been doing so for years now with no end in sight. It composes, quite literally, like a machine. Also, it does not use any kind of machine learning but a totally different approach I call the Digital Synaptic Neural Substrate or DSNS, for short. There is, in fact, no learning going on at all despite having the word neural in it (related books on the subject can be found here).

The feedback I have received over the years about these compositions from the general chess-playing community has been largely positive. However, among master or even grandmaster composers, less so. This is despite some of Chestheticas compositions being intriguing enough for publication in a chess problem magazine [2]. Perhaps the first ever to publish compositions composed entirely and autonomously by a computer program.

Personally, I lack the necessary experience (and frankly interest or inclination) to be able to appreciate all the intricacies of traditional chess problems, which apparently put them on a higher aesthetic level than anything Chesthetica has produced so far. I suppose the same could be said for other artificial intelligence (AI) systems even with far more resources behind them that generate things like paintings and music. The best human painters and musicians are still better. Perhaps they always will be as far as humans are concerned.

Regardless, in this article I wanted to share with readers what the general global chess community, not just master players and composers, apparently find appealing when it comes to chess problems. For that purpose, I exported the post data from the Chesthetica Facebook page between May 26th and November 21st 2019 (Facebook only allows up to the last 180 days). This showed various statistics regarding all the chess problems published there within that period. Pundits may prefer to just call them constructs, a type of chess problem, since the expression of themes (in particular) is not a critical component. I had been sharing these problems composed by Chesthetica to a selection of large chess problem/puzzle communities that are also on Facebook. Each post there can potentially reach tens of thousands of people. None of these posts were ever boosted by me, by the way (e.g. with money to Facebook or requested assistance from anyone).

Since every few weeks Chesthetica composes far too many problems for any one person to go through in detail individually, for the purpose of online publication (and with the help of more filtering tools I have programmed into Chesthetica), I am able to choose some and reject others based on certain criteria. The process undoubtedly means I would have rejected some problems that others would likely have found appealing and this cannot be helped. To be fair, some problems are also just bad, weak, too weird or make no sense in my view and rejected for those reasons too. The information of primary interest to me in the exported data was what Facebook calls lifetime engaged users which they define as, the number of unique people who engaged in certain ways with your page post, for example by commenting on, liking, sharing, or clicking upon particular elements of the post.

For the given period mentioned earlier there were 87 posts that included mates in 3, 4, 5, and study-like constructs. Even the main line of the solution was selected by Chesthetica. After ranking them in terms of lifetime engaged users, I could contrast the top 5 compositions by Chesthetica versus the bottom 5 which presumably reflects what most people like (and dislike) about these compositions. Here they are (with the Chesthetica version number that produced them):

Tip: You can play against each diagram to checkmate!

It should be noted that aesthetics is a significant but not the only aspect that attracts people to chess problems. My experience working in this area for over a decade (with chess as the primary domain of investigation) suggests that, rather obviously, different people tend to like different things. Even so, there are still clearly bad compositions and clearly good ones that most of us (i.e. with a working knowledge of the game or better) would generally agree on if we are not told in advance what to look for. Perhaps in a thousand years some of Chestheticas compositions would also have survived and be marvelled upon, if not for their aesthetics then maybe due to the fact that a computer program back then could compose original chess problems autonomously at all.

Having said all that, do you, dear reader, agree with the ranking of a sampling of the general global chess community as shown above or would you arrange the compositions in a different order?

Let us know in the comments!

Want to learn more?

The top 5 and bottom 5 problems shown above (click or tap a game in the list to switch)

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What do people really find attractive in chess problems? - Chessbase News