There is no denying it – Social Media brings our chess community closer together. In March I received a Facebook message from Renate Garcia of El Paso, Texas explaining that she wanted to host a chess lecture, a simul for girls only, and a two-day rated tournament with several sections. She wanted me to play in the open section. She shared she wanted to fulfill a wish for her daughter Anneliese in having an event like this one. 

They wanted to name the tournament after me: ‘WCM Claudia Munoz – Chess Campeona on the Move Chess Challenge’.  I was extremely honored that they would ask me, a 17-year old girl to take center stage in an event such as this one. 

See Claudia's full article.

In this Times of India story, which is labeled "Excerpts from a freewheeling chat", Harika tells the author that she had to wait until she was 24 to take her first vacation. At the age of thirteen she became the youngest member in the Indian national team and after that never found time to do anything but play chess. After ten years she was eager to catch up, and after the Women's World Chess Championship desperately needed a break. So she went on a one-week holiday to Singapore, Sentosa Island and Malaysia, together with her sister. 

Cooking at tournaments

Some years ago I met Harika at a chess event and, as always, had a great time chatting with her. Suddenly she said: "Frederic, can I invite you to dinner?" – "You invite me?" I asked incredulously (she was like sixteen at the time). Sure, she said, and when I asked her to what restaurant she said "No, in my room." Turned out she cooked a meal there, in a little rice cooker, with vegetables bought at the local market and homemade spices she carried around with her. The meal was delicious – and all the Indian players were jealous that I go to eat it, not them. I asked Harika why she did this – the meals in the hotel were part of the package. "But they are so bland," she said. "I can't taste anything!" Harika comes from Guntur, a coastal town in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The food from that region is know to be very spicy, but deliciously so.

Back to the Times article: Harika tells the author how she travels with a "pressure cooker" (actually it is an electric cooker without pressure). "My mom packs all the necessary masalas for me. So, once I am in my hotel room, I cook. Of course, the hotel officials don't know that. Actually, I got caught in Russia this one time. I, like a stupid girl, kept the pressure cooker out and the someone at the hotel noticed it and took it away. Other than that one instance, I have never been caught. You know what? I actually made this practice (of carrying a pressure cooker and masalas) popular in the chess circuit. Now, some other players also do the same (grins, mischievously). I am not a great cook, but my co-players seem to enjoy what I make.


Another aside: Back around 2008 Harika promised me that she would become a full GM (fulfilled), the Junior World Champion (fulfilled) and Women's World Champion (pending). When she lost very unluckly to Mariya Muzychuk in the rapid chess tiebreaks of the semifinals in this year's World Championship she actually apologized for this mishap. I had shown her some important functions of ChessBase 13 and she wrote me in Skype: "[31/03/2015 19:13:09]: Cloud engines were really useful, thank you so much for providing the needful. Maybe in future will make u proud. At least will try." You have already made me very proud, dear girl!

Chilling at home

Harika has been travelling to tournaments all over the world for the past fifteen years and says that she is now tired. Given a choice she'd rather stay at home, 24/7. "Actually I have become a homebird. I just love to laze around in my PJs and spend the entire day sitting in my room," she told the Times. "It's a task to get me out of the house." She reads chess books and play the game for hours. She is also addicted to TV series. "What I really like doing is plonk myself on a couch and binge watch TV. I watch every possible soap that is aired on TV, in any language. I know all the storylines and love drama."

Harika says that people find her strange, because she doesn't like hanging out and does not go out of her way to make friends. "Partying? It's just not my thing. I might go out for a movie once in a while with family. I don't even have another hobby, come to think of it. People must think I am 'uncool', but like I care.. I am 'cool' with that!"


See the article.

China's biggest talent made the next step in his career. On Friday 15-year-old GM Wei Yi finished clear first at the Chinese Championship, ahead of former champions GMs Ding Liren, Wang Hao and Yu Yangyi.

The Chinese Championship took place 18-29 May at the Xinghua Tianbao Garden Hotel in Xinghua, China. Although big names such as Li Chao, Wang Yue, Ni Hua and Bu Xiangzhi did not participate, it was fairly strong nonetheless with four 2700 players.

GM Yu Yangyi was defending his 2014 title. Last year he edged out on tiebreak GM Ding Liren, who played this year as well. The third ex-champion in the field was GM Wang Hao, and then there was the rising star GM Wei Yi.

Wei took sole lead in round 5, and after 8 rounds he had increased the gap to 1.5 points. Eventually he won the tournament with 7.5/11, despite his first and only loss in the last round. He drew his games with Yu Yangyi and Wang Hao, but beat Ding Liren in round 4 with an interesting exchange sacrifice in a Berlin Ending.

See the article.