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Vast Oklahoma Tornado Kills at Least 91MOORE, Okla. — A giant tornado, a mile wide or more, killed at least 91 people, 20 of them children, as it tore across parts of Oklahoma City and its suburbs Monday afternoon, flattening homes, flinging cars through the air and crushing at least two schools. The injured flooded into hospitals, and the authorities said many people remained trapped, even as rescue workers struggled to make their way through debris-clogged streets to the devastated suburb of Moore, where much of the damage occurred. Amy Elliott, the spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City medical examiner, said at least 91 people had died, including the children, and officials said that toll was likely to climb. Hospitals reported at least 145 people injured, 70 of them children. Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore was reduced to a pile of twisted metal and toppled walls. Rescue workers were able to pull several children from the rubble, but on Monday evening crews were still struggling to cut through fallen beams and clear debris amid reports that dozens of students were trapped. At Briarwood Elementary School in Oklahoma City, on the border with Moore, cars were thrown through the facade and the roof was torn off. “Numerous neighborhoods were completely leveled,” Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department said by telephone. “Neighborhoods just wiped clean.” More here.Here is how you can help: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/20/help-tornado-victims/2344493/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=206567Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Devastate White with The Sniper! by GM Ron HenleyDevastate White with The Sniper! by GM Ron HenleyPosted on May 20,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos. The Sniper Opening is an exceptionally versatile weapon for black as it can be played against virtually any set-up by the white pieces. And who better to explain the basic concepts and subtle positional intricacies of the Sniper Opening than the world's leading expert in this effective opening system for black - Grandmaster Ron W. Henley! Not only has GM Henley played the Sniper Opening with incredibly solid results at the Grandmaster level for n[...]Destroy the Grunfeld Defense by GM Rafael LeitãoPosted on May 20,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos. Although in the early and mid 20th century the Gruenfeld Defense was thought to be a very dry chess opening that black would play to achieve a draw, in today's game it is one of the most dynamic chess openings that black can employ against 1. d4 - played at one time by nearly every leading Grandmaster (Svidler, Caruana, Giri, Topalov, Gelfand, etc..) In the following chess video, viewers are going to receive a special treat as Brazilian Grandmast[...]IM Andrew Martin Presents: The French Defense, Rubinstein VariationPosted on May 17,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos, Beginner's Corner. IM Andrew Martin states that former World Chess Champion Mikhail Botvinnik described the French Defense as a difficult and dangerous opening, although IM Martin still believes the French Defense to be a very versatile and effective opening weapon for beginner and intermediate players. In the below chess video excerpt from the chess DVD ¨French Defense, Rubinstein Variation: Busy Man's Chess Openings¨ IM Andrew Martin presents the main benefits of[...]Psycho Knock-out Chess with GM Maurice Ashley and Daniel KingPosted on May 15,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos, Classic Games (Pre 2010). The following chess video excerpt reflects some of the most exciting chess games and commentary every caught on tape. GMs Maurice Ashley and Daniel King explain incredibly tense battles between Super-GMs Alexander Morozevich and Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Vassily Ivanchuk, and Viswanathan Anand and Garry Kasparov from the 1995 Intel Grand Prix in Moscow, Russia. This footage is unforgettable as the viewer is treated to a highly enter[...]OnlineChessLessons.net is a producer of thousands of free chess articles and free chess videos by FIDE chess masters. They recently released the renowned Empire Chess series that has been taking the chess world by storm. Please consider checking out their chess blog and chess shop with tons of free updated previews.Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Can you name this legendary player?Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

The Greek Chess Federation welcomes 12 of the world's leading Grandmasters who are participating in the Thessaloniki Grand-Prix tournament. It is a unique honour for Greece and Thessaloniki that this great event takes place in our country and especially in the city which hosted the famous Chess Olympiads of 1984 and 1988.Those Chess Olympiads were the first steps in turning our country into a major chess destination on the world map: Greece is now an active member of the world chess community with 14 of its own Grandmasters in both men and women categories, a full calendar of international chess tournaments organised every year and many important FIDE events taking place in Greece, from the World School Championships to the most prestigious Grand-Prix event in Thessaloniki.Our results have, furthermore, been very encouraging at the Youth level with several first places and medals for Greek young players in European and World events.With this opportunity, I would also like to thank once more Mr Ivan Savvidis, a true supporter of chess in our country. As government grants are now becoming very difficult for sports in Greece, the generous contributions of Mr Ivan Savvidis have helped the Greek Chess Federation to remain active and continue its chess development program despite the strong financial crisis which hit our country.I wish success and good games to all the participants and I am sure they will leave Thessaloniki with the best memories of Greek hospitality!Georgios MakropoulosDeputy President of FIDEPresident of the Greek Chess Federationhttp://thessaloniki2013.fide.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

The players:Bacrot, Etienne FRA 2725 Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2774 Dominguez Perez, Leinier CUB 2723 Grischuk, Alexander RUS 2779 Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2755 Kamsky, Gata USA 2741 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam UZB 2699 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2760 Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2775 Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2742 Svidler, Peter RUS 2769 Topalov, Veselin BUL 2793 2753Official website: http://thessaloniki2013.fide.com Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Practice makes perfect? Not so muchTurns out, that old “practice makes perfect” adage may be overblown.New research led by Michigan State University’s Zach Hambrick finds that a copious amount of practice is not enough to explain why people differ in level of skill in two widely studied activities, chess and music.In other words, it takes more than hard work to become an expert. Hambrick, writing in the research journal Intelligence, said natural talent and other factors likely play a role in mastering a complicated activity.“Practice is indeed important to reach an elite level of performance, but this paper makes an overwhelming case that it isn’t enough,” said Hambrick, associate professor of psychology.The debate over why and how people become experts has existed for more than a century. Many theorists argue that thousands of hours of focused, deliberate practice is sufficient to achieve elite status.Hambrick disagrees.“The evidence is quite clear,” he writes, “that some people do reach an elite level of performance without copious practice, while other people fail to do so despite copious practice.”Hambrick and colleagues analyzed 14 studies of chess players and musicians, looking specifically at how practice was related to differences in performance. Practice, they found, accounted for only about one-third of the differences in skill in both music and chess.So what made up the rest of the difference?Based on existing research, Hambrick said it could be explained by factors such as intelligence or innate ability, and the age at which people start the particular activity. A previous study of Hambrick’s suggested that working memory capacity – which is closely related to general intelligence – may sometimes be the deciding factor between being good and great.While the conclusion that practice may not make perfect runs counter to the popular view that just about anyone can achieve greatness if they work hard enough, Hambrick said there is a “silver lining” to the research.“If people are given an accurate assessment of their abilities and the likelihood of achieving certain goals given those abilities,” he said, “they may gravitate toward domains in which they have a realistic chance of becoming an expert through deliberate practice.”Source: http://scienceblog.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

http://www.calgaryinternationalchessclassic.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Abu Dhabi Chess & Culture Club and Abu Dhabi Sport Council organize the 20th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival which will take place from 30th June to 8th July.The Festival consists of the Master Tournament (for players rated above 2200 FIDE and Abu Dhabi players), Open Tournament (for U2200 players), Junior Tournament (for U15 players), and Blitz tournament.Masters and Open will be 9-round Swiss events, Junior will be 7-round Swiss and Blitz will be 11-round 3?+2” Swiss.The top prizes in Masters are USD 8000, 6000, 4000, 2500, 2000 etc Top prizes in the Open are USD 2500, 2000, 1500, 1200, 1000 etc Top prizes in the Junior are USD 1500, 1000, 700, 500, 400, 300Contact Mr.Zuhair Ahmed mobile phone +971 56 6113117 e-mail: adchess@eim.ae or visit www.abudhabichess.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

White to move. How should white proceed?Source: ChessToday.netChess Daily News from Susan Polgar