After the final 7th round. Ronnie Lim (standing) with Ian Udani(sitting) in post mortem after the CAS 2nd Quarter Allegro. Chow Mon Ben (in red) looks on..
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Archive for 13 April 2008
Picture of the week 13 April 2008 at 9:24 pm by GilaChess
+ Selangor Open – Serious tournament By GilaChess 13 April 2008 at 2:05 pm and have 8 Comments
I’m thinking twice about entering the Selangor Open 2008. I have 3 reasons stopping me from registering. The high RM70 fee, self-preparation and the venue. I don’t know how to get there but that’s a lame excuse I guess. 
Ghost Game film But RM 70 it’s a bit high. I’m sure the organisers have a reason but with RM 70 (for CAS members, RM 110 for non members) it means this is a serious tournament. I’ve entered once and it was a very good experience for me. But it requires commitment in time and energy. I remember how drained I was after the last time I entered this tournament.
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I don’t think I’m serious enough to enter it. Still, I wait for 2 more weeks to decide whether I can put in some work into my chess to consider entering.
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+ Leonid Gaponenko – blind and brave By GilaChess 13 April 2008 at 7:11 am and have No Comments
It’s not uncommon to hear of a tournament consisting of blind participants but it’s rare to see a sole blind participant taking part in a tournament. It’s even rarer when the tournament has as many as 29 GM taking part in it.
He is blind, but that has not stopped him from playing his favourite sport: chess.
Defying all odds, he has reached the sixth round of the Dubai Open Chess tournament competing against some top players. Leonid Gaponenko from Kazakhstan is an inspiration for all players at this tournament. It is the first time in the history of this ten-year old tournament that a blind man has entered as a contestant.
Mogambo hd Gaponenko’s wife guides him to his seat. With a constant smile that lights up his face, he makes his moves by touching the pieces on a special board. “I was not born blind. At 13, I had a car accident and lost my sight. Before that, I used to play checkers, but when I joined university, some of the students there taught me chess and I fell in love with it,” said Gaponenko who turned 64 on April 6, the opening day of this tournament. “Chess means a lot to me. It has added a new dimension to my life.
It has helped me travel and make new friends. Frankly, chess is the happiness of my life,” he added. Gaponenko does not consider blindness as a handicap. He proved it in 1986 by emerging the champion of the then USSR in a tournament for the partially blind. He then went on to compete in the European Championship for the partially blind, but missed the title by a mere half-a-point.
~ http://arabfide.com/dubaiopen2008/Interviews.htm download Ted Bundy movie
PS: IM Mas is also taking part in this tournament. Mas is currently 4.5/7 in the tourney. Also check out Hairulov’s excellent review of Mas games Cellular download .
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