Friday, August 14, 2015

3rd Steinitz Memorial on Saturday, 10am Start Time

It's all systems go for four rounds, Game/40 with a 5-second delay on Saturday, August 15.

Hope to see you at the church after 9:30am... first round will start at 10am.

Details posted on the Illinois Chess Association site:  << Click Here >>

Saturday, August 1, 2015

DeKalb Chess Club Observes MTV's Launch Anniversary

What a better way to observe the 34th anniversary of a cable channel's initial broadcast than a four-round, dual-rated chess tournament.

Beginning at 10am on August 1st, chess stalwarts will compete most likely without music playing, in fact humming is also discouraged. For those arriving late, a first round, half-point bye will set them up for the second round beginning at 11:45.

Game/45 with a 5-second delay will be the time control. No prizes, but the entry fee is only $6 so what the heck!

According to the information bible Wikipedia: On Saturday, August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time. MTV launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll....played over footage of the 1st space shuttle countdown (Columbia) which took place earlier that year... and of the launch of Apollo 11.

Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song... playing over photos of the Apollo 11 moon landing, with the flag featuring MTV's logo changing various colors, textures, and designs. MTV producers .. used this public domain footage as a concession... they had originally planned to use Neil Armstrong's "One small step" quote, but lawyers said Armstrong owns his name and likeness, and Armstrong had refused, so the quote was replaced with a beeping sound.

The shuttle launch identification ran at the top of every hour in various forms from MTV's first day until it was pulled in early 1986, in the wake of the Challenger Disaster.

The first music video on MTV was the Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star.

Probably more than most chess players want to know about MTV but it makes for a good excuse to hold a tournament on a hot day with summer winding down.