NICK BARNETT CHESS

xHE CHESSA website has some interesting stats, leading with the number of players who are presumably registered with them. This number is 4,411. Considering that on the 1 January 2018, the population of South Africa was estimated to be 56,007,479, is that encouraging? It would be interesting to see what the norm is in other countries, ie what % of the population registers with its FIDElinked body? A breakdown of our figure is as follows: Male 3,324 (75.4%); Female 1,087 (24.6%) Juniors 4,085 (92.6%); Adults 269 (6.1%); Seniors 57 (1.3%) Top 5 active regions: Western Province 1,186 players, Eden District 511 players, Tshwane 327 players, Ekurhuleni 306 players, Buffalo City 234 players. Why Western Province and then Districts and cities? Grapes and Truksvy? TITBITS • On February 8 the oldest grandmaster Yuri Averbakh, turned 97. I met Averbakh in 1967 in Sydney when I was working there. Fortuitously both of us were staying in the same hotel and our chess connection meant that we spent much time in each other’s company. I came 4th in the Sydney Open, which he won. There are some interesting YouTube videos featuring him, if you are interested in exploring. • While you are there take a moment to find the clip of 4 year-old Misha Osipov playing Averbakh when he was 95. Even more endearing is Misha playing Karpov and displaying remarkable confidence and poise, until he lost! • Tarjei J. Svensen is a Scandanavian chess journalist who naturally follows Carlsen. ‘Surprise, surprise. If I remember correctly, this is Carlsen’s 9th Titled Arena win,’ he recently tweeted after Carlsen won the Lichess Chess960 Titled Arena. Carlsen, appearing on a Norwegian version of the British TV comedy panel show Have I Got News for You, was asked ‘Have you ever played when you were drunk?’ He replied ‘I can’t remember.’ • These are the FIDE top five: 1. Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2869; 2. Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2845; 3. Dominguez Perez, Leinier USA 2816; 4. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2810; 5. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime FRA 2800. • Leinier Dominguez has shot up in the rating rankings even though he confined himself to only playing online recently. He is a Cuban-American chess grandmaster who now represents the United States. He was world champion in blitz chess in 2008. (Note: some media refer to him as Domínguez Pérez.) • Vladimir Kramnik recently retired from competitive chess: ‘I felt I could no longer give my all. I still, as before, have a real love for chess, but I suddenly began to feel that the result of a game had stopped bothering me...’ He has a new role: Continental Assistant for Europe for FIDE. For comment or news write to thechessnik@gmail.com