Chess

Anya Taylor-Joy hosted the season finale of Saturday Night Live Tonight (May 22), joking in his opening monologue about fans of his Netflix chess drama The Queen’s Gambit who continued to take the game for themselves.

“I’m happy to say that after watching the show, millions of people bought chess sets, and dozens of them actually learned to play,” the actor joked.

She also asked how anyone in the audience could not have seen the hit Netflix series, asking, “For those of you who haven’t seen it: what were you doing in quarantine? It was King tiger and Queen’s Gambit, it was the only new TV for, like, months.

Earlier in the monologue, Taylor-Joy pointed out that the Saturday Night Live The crowd was the first of the year to be: “a completely complete audience, completely vaccinated”.

“If you’re feeling nervous sitting so close to another person, just imagine them naked,” she suggested. “Just kidding, we’ve all been inside for a year, everyone already imagines everyone naked.”

Referring to her distinct British accent, Taylor-Joy said: “Now that you hear my accent, you might be surprised to know that I was born in Miami, raised between Argentina and London, and that my mother tongue is spanish so legally my ethnicity is ‘fashion week’.

Taylor-Joy concluded the monologue by introducing the show, including musical performer Lil Nas X, in Spanish.

She then returned to play various characters, including Emma ‘Baby Spice’ Bunton in a Hollywood Squares-themed sketch.

Earlier in the show, Chris Rock had joined the cast as they offered their memories of making Saturday Night Live during a year of restrictions related to the pandemic.

The upcoming FTX Crypto Cup online chess tournament is set to pit the top ten players in the world against each other, allowing the global chess elite to compete for USD 100,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC), provided by the event sponsor and the exchange of cryptographic derivatives FTX, and $ 220,000 in cash.

Among the grandmasters who will take part in the cup, described as the world’s first bitcoin-priced chess tournament, are Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the world’s highest-ranked chess player, and Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, number four. global. The event will precede their 14-game world title match scheduled to take place in November-December in Dubai.

The event, which is part of this year’s Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, will be held May 23-31, allowing fans to follow the pot value of the prize in real time and its fluctuations, organizers said in a statement.

FTX has also entered into a long-term agreement with Play Magnus group, who is the organizer of the cup, to become its official crypto exchange partner.

“Online chess and digital finance are growing rapidly,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO and Founder of FTX.

If Carlsen got the crypto bonus, it would allow the player to further diversify their budding investment portfolio. In a tweet on April 29, the Grandmaster admitted to having gone online six months earlier.

“Strategic planning and research are also essential here. No shortcuts! Carlsen noted.

Trade publication Chess24.com claims the next cup “could be the strongest chess tournament ever, with a 16-player field including the full Top 10 from the May 2021 FIDE Classic Ranking List “, referring to International Federation of Chessworld ranking of (FIDE).

The event, which will air on television and online streaming platforms Twitch and YouTube, will secure its winner a spot in the tour finale in San Francisco in September.

In another example of how the worlds of crypto and chess intersect, last November Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin participated in a live showdown against Alexandra Botez, a female FIDE Master. recognized by FIDE and five times Canadian Women’s National Champion. Buterin, who is an amateur chess player, was checked and mate in over a minute.
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Rob Ward takes an in-depth look at the upcoming privatization of the Port of Santos and explains why the process is going to be very complicated.

“The situation in Santos today is very complicated with regard to the next phase of privatization,” says a seasoned port consultant based in the Brazilian port city. “In fact, you can compare it to a 3-dimensional chess game,” he said.

The port of Santos – the continent’s largest for containers, with 4.23 million TEUs handled in 2020, up 1.6 percent – is preparing for the privatization of both the port authority (Santos Port Authority, or SPA), and various vacant or put in -for the renewal of terminal concessions.

As always, this key port, which aims to become THE hub port on the east coast of South America in the near future, is plunged into the usual political and interest turmoil for which it has long been renowned.

THE NEW “SUPER TERMINAL”

For nearly a decade, the Saboo area, close to the historic downtown port area, has been assigned a new ‘Superterminal’ which would include the old terminal successfully operated as a car terminal by Deicmar, the terminal at Rodrimar boxes (which peaked in 2011 with 203,410 TEUs and a 7.5% market share but has been closed since 2017) and Citrosuco, a fruit terminal.

These facilities cover approximately 270,000 m2 and are located right next to Brasil Terminal Portuaria (BTP), the joint venture between MSC Line / Terminal Investment Limited (TIL) and APM Terminals (APMT), which processed 1.75 million d ‘TEU last year (already beyond its nominal annual capacity).

The facility replaced Santos Brasil’s Tecon Santos facility as the main Brazilian terminal for boxes three years ago. BTP currently has a 43.7% market share (compared to 40% in 2019).

This new “Super Terminal” concession has been described by several Santos stakeholders, including Leandro Carrelli Barreto, director of the consulting firm Solve Shipping, as the “jewel in the crown” or “A Ultima Noiva Linda” (the last beautiful bride ) and is the flagship offer of the current wave of Brazilian port concessions.

“It is the most valuable of all the installations for sale and it will attract a lot of attention nationally and internationally,” Barreto said. Port strategy. The ‘Super-Terminal’ is a coveted enough prize on its own, but the surprising news in early March is that not only would Ecoporto Santos (the box terminal become a general cargo facility) would not be allowed to bid on the new facility – it lies adjacent to the southeast of the Saboo area just as BTP is to the northwest – but also that it would not benefit from an extension when its own concession ends in 2023. Ecoporto was the third largest terminal in Santos boxes and managed a peak of 325,000 TEUs in 2012 (a 16.4 percent share).

Luiz Araujo, Commercial Director of Ecoporto Santos, told Port Strategy that Ecoporto “has been fighting to renew the contract since 2014”. “It is very disappointing news to learn that we will not get our extension because they want to create another large container terminal,” says Araujo, who works at the Ecoporto Santos terminal (and his previous incarnation under the name of Tecondi) for over 20 years. “It doesn’t make sense either, because we need more general cargo capacity, not more for the boxes. “

Ecoporto Santos is currently grappling with three unused ship-to-shore gantry cranes, which recently cost over US $ 25 million and have barely been used. It is understood that Ecoporto will be partially compensated for these units if the concession expires and the equipment is used by the receptive operator.

Diogo Piloni, Minister of Ports of Brazil, confirmed to Port Strategy that Ecoporto’s concession would not be renewed because the Ministry of Infrastructures (MINFRA) wishes to create a “very large terminal” to be conceded to the highest bidder.

“We have carried out our detailed analyzes and decided that we need another large 400,000 m2 container terminal in Santos as this, added to a breakthrough in cabotage legislation (BR Do Mar), will greatly help Santos to become THE hub port for ECSA, ”he confirmed.

WHO WILL WIN?

So who will win the auction for the new area, dubbed the “SuperTerminal” in Saboo? So far, a number of international companies have shown interest, including Hutchison Ports, Singapore’s PSA, ICTSI, and China Merchants Port Holdings (which already controls TCP in Paranagua, Brazil’s second-largest port for boxes).

In addition, Santos Brasil and, of course, BTP are very enthusiastic. The favorite is the construction industry, but since this will give it a massive 830,000m2 terminal if added to its existing terminal, it seems likely that this will force the Brazilian monopoly watchdog CADE to step in with close inspection. of the regulations.

However, to bypass CADE, according to several reliable Santos sources, a potential scenario would be for APMT and TIL to split up their joint venture, with APMT retaining BTP for most of the Maersk Line vessels and TIL taking control of the new “Super Terminal” at name of MSC.

As captain of a chess team at the University of Chicago in 1968, Harold Winston won a decisive match that won the National and Pan American Championship.

Among his college chess rivals was George RR Martin, the future author of “Game of Thrones” who wrote about a certain rival in his short story “Unsound Variations”.

Martin “put him in a story like ‘Hal Winslow’,” said Mr. Winston’s wife, Dr. Carol Weinberg.

Winslow was the captain of the U. de C. in “Unsound Variations” which also shared Mr. Winston’s initials.

“It was never easy between U. of C. and Northwestern,” says a character in Martin’s story. “Throughout my college days, we were the two great powers of the Midwest, and we were rivals. Chicago captain Hal Winslow became a good friend of mine, but I gave him a lot of headaches.

A representative for Martin said the author was unavailable.

“They played chess together in college leagues, and you read the passage, and you know it’s Harold – with the clipboard, a little disheveled,” said Al Lawrence, general manager of the charity. American Chess Trust. “There are too many clues to deny.”

Mr Winston, who chaired the US Chess Trust and was a supervisor in the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, died of heart failure in February at the age of 75. He resided in Naperville.

From 1987 to 1990, he was president of the trust’s parent organization, the US Chess Federation, America’s governing body for chess.

Mr Winston used his knowledge of openings, maneuvers and endings as he struggled to overturn convictions and win new trials for defendants as a supervisor at the Public Defender’s Office, where he had worked since 1991.

“He knew both strategy and tactics,” said Robert C. Drizin, deputy public defender. “I called him the grandmaster of post-convictions – like a chess player who always thinks about moving forward.”

“Harold was a giant at chess,” said Lawrence. “Many of those in our kingdom of 64 squares and a ticking clock – where debates only resemble life and death – had little knowledge of the importance of Harold in the world of real arguments of life and death. He has won new trials for those convicted of murder in at least seven separate cases. “

Mr Winston helped free Alton Logan, who spent more than 25 years in prison for the 1982 murder of a security guard – a crime he did not commit.

Marvin E. Winston

Another man, Andrew Wilson, admitted to his lawyers he was involved in the murder, but Wilson’s lawyers said they could not share the confession due to attorney-client privilege.

It wasn’t until Wilson’s death in 2007 – who had been convicted of the murder of Chicago cops William Fahey and Richard O’Brien – that his lawyers came forward, with Wilson’s approval, to share his confession.

Al Podgorski / Sun-Times file

At one point, he also portrayed serial killer John Wayne Gacy when he was on death row.

“He was a unique individual,” said his wife, “because many people of his intelligence and ability would be entitled to the money, and he was entitled to the service.

“He really tried to make the world a better place,” she said.

Growing up in the Bronx, young Harold loved strategy games like Risk and Monopoly. By playing Clue he would solve the murders before anyone else, according to his brother Marvin Winston, who said: “He was like a Sherlock Holmes.”

He played on chess teams at the Bronx High School of Science and at the City College of New York. After studying history at the University of California, he obtained his law degree from Loyola University in Chicago.

Mr Winston worked to distribute chess games inside prisons, tried to keep the price of chess conferences low enough for players on a budget to attend, and organized tournaments for women .

“He understood that chess could help everyone and should be open to everyone,” said Lawrence, “whether they were African American players, female players, disabled players, junior players, of incarcerated players. “

In chess, Mr. Winston obtained the official designation of “expert” – the ranking just below “master”. This placed him above 99% of tournament players in the United States, Lawrence said.

He loved a Christmas Eve tradition known as “simulations” – playing simultaneous chess matches. At the invitation of an Oak Park rabbi, he would play a dozen or more games at the same time, moving from table to table to play members of his congregation.

He loved to travel, often stopping to see Civil War battlefields as he traveled and returned from chess events.

Mr. Winston is also survived by his daughters Elizabeth and Katherine Winston. Services have taken place.

Playing board games is something my group of friends miss the most during ongoing closings and social distancing, but there are ways to keep having fun even without being in the same room and moving around. the meeples yourself. Digital board games deliver a much needed dose of turn-based tactile play in an otherwise frenetic video game landscape. If you don’t feel like repurchasing your entire board game collection, there’s a way to play almost any online board game you can think of, and it’s especially immersive when paired with a headset. VR like the Oculus Quest 2.

But the secret sauce in all of this is Tabletop Simulator, a toy box with slightly crazy potential that gives you a digital hand and a virtual play space to explore. Combine that with the Steam Workshop and thousands of dedicated board game fans, and you’ve got a recipe for being able to play any game you love.

You can buy the board game sandbox on Steam for around $ 15 (cheaper in sets of four or during Steam sales) and get immediate access to a number of classic games, from chess to BackGammon and poker. There are even a bunch of models and components for performing tabletop role-playing games, each with their own custom motion and death animations. Open Discord or your favorite chat app, and you and your friends can quickly and easily move around on a digital table together.

There are official DLC games you can buy that feature great scripts for automating the more mundane parts of board game setup and teardown. Popular games include Scythe, Zombicide, Wingspan, Blood Rage, Boss Monster, and Scuttle!, among others.

But the real joy and almost limitless potential of Tabletop Simulator lies in the Steam Workshop. Here you’ll find just about every board game you can think of, from monstrous Kickstarter-funded campaigns with hundreds of components, to quirky card games that will have your friends laughing at their microphones.

At the time of writing, there are over 47,000 entries in the workshop. Some cover custom gaming tables and backgrounds, new game components, or templates that players can use in their own custom designs, but there are thousands of fully-made board games out there, many of the more popular ones. .

Many are also beautifully scripted, which eases some of the tedious micro-management that can be present in real-world board games. This means that some games work better through Tabletop Simulator than they would in person.

If all of that still doesn’t feel like you’re sitting around a table with your friends, you can use Tabletop Simulator’s relatively robust VR integration. It fully supports Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Valve Index headsets (although with an Oculus Link cable it is also possible to use the Oculus Quest 2.)

It works well as a seated, standing, or room-wide experience, and being able to pick up and move coins with your hand, especially with more advanced controllers, makes for an even more board game experience. more tactile. You can even shrink yourself down to the size of a room, allowing for some surprisingly immersive RPG gameplay moments.

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