Last edited Tue May 8, 2012, 09:03 PM - Edit history (1)
The US Championships have begun in St. Louis, Missouri. In first round play:
General Group:
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Alex Stripunsky . . . . . . . 0-1 . . . . . . . . Alex Onischuk
Hikaru Nakamura . . . . . . 1-0 . . . . . . . . . .Robert Hess
Gata Kamsky . . . . . . . . 1-0 . . . . . . Alejandro Ramírez
Alex Linderman . . . . . . . 1-0 . . . . . . . . . . Ray Robson
Varuzhan Akobian . . . . . 1-0 . . . . . . . Yasser Seirawan
Yuri Shulman . . . . . . . . ½-½ . . . . . . . .Greg Kaidanov
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Women's Group:
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Anna Zatonskih . . . . . . . 1-0 . . . . . . . . . . Alena Kats
Irina Krush . . . . . . . . . . 1-0 . . . . . . . . .Sabina Foisor
Rusa Goletiani . . . . . . . . 1-0 . . . . . Camilla Baginskaite
Iryna Zenyuk . . . . . . . . ½-½ . . . . . . . Alisa Melekhina
Viktorija Ni. . . . . . . . . . ½-½ . . . . . Tatev Abrahamyan
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Commentary
Since I do not feel duty bound to accept a poor definition of an online dictionary, I will offer my own definition of sport: Sport is organized human competition in which a game is played to determine which player or team of players is more skilled. This definition encompasses baseball, football, American football, basketball, bowling, golf, chess, checkers, poker, track and field events, swim races, boxing and wrestling. It includes Monopoly, but not hairdressing unless the results are scored by qualified judges, like figure skating and Olympic gymnastic events. Yes, pie eating is a sport. Even baseball with the designated hitter is sport. If you deny that chess is a sport because it only entails the ability of the player to lift a piece of wood, then we must also deny the designated hitter the right to call himself a sportsman.
So why should chess not be a sport? It celebrates that one human trait that, more than any other, sets us apart as a species and is responsible for our survival and success over the beasts of the fields and forests, the birds of the air and the fish of the rivers, lakes and seas: our ability to think quickly in order to solve strategic and tactical problems set immediately before us.
That is what makes us human. If we had to depend on our ability run short distances at about 20 miles per hour, which is very slow compared to other species that evolved in savannahs, or on our awkward ability to climb a tree, we would have become extinct long before now. But with that magnificent mind, we find ourselves with no enemy but other member of our species.
So, yes, chess is a sport. And Bobby Fischer could trash talk his opposition as well as the legends of other sports.
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