The 2006 Curacao Chess Festival will take place from July 22 to July 30, 2006. Some of participants are:
GM J. Ehlvest (EST)
GM A.Shabalov (USA)
GM G. Sagalchik (USA)
GM J. Werle (NED)
IM A. Zatonskih (USA)
WGM R. Goletiani (USA)
WGM J. Shahade (USA)
Here is the official tourism website of Curacao.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Much as I think it’s great the Jennifer Shahade is playing in a tournament, doesn’t this illustrate a point you made in an earlier post? That is, she’s also the editor for USChess Online. Given the massive amount of work the site still seems to need, shouldn’t getting it in shape be a full-time job, not a job split with beinga pro-Chess player?
Just to be clear, this isn’t meant to single out Jennifer for special criticism — far from it. (The work she’s done so far has been very good.) But isn’t this an example of what you mentioned earlier about the federation needing professional staff at crucial positions, full-time?
As a friend of Jennifer’s. I can assure you that Jen is not playing in Curacao. She does have a ton of work as most employees of USCF do.
It’s very possible she will do some coverage of the event, but she’s not playing unless she has an 11th hour change of mind.
To be honest, I think Jennifer is TOO YOUNG to give up competitive chess. I believe she needs one more norm for her IM title. She should try to get it and I am rooting for her to get it.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
Susan,
I am generally persuaded by your arguments in favor of having some female-only events. Even without the several good points you note justifying female-only events, there is ultimately the simple right of free association.
However, I am unsure about the subtopic of special titles available to females only, such as WIM and WGM and the others. I do not recall personally seeing anything you have written specifically about those titles. So I am curious…
What is your response when people may question the female-only titles?
Thanks.
Gene Milener
http://CastleLong.com/
Gene,
I never applied for female titles and I would never want to do it. However, if it helps motivate many women to stay in the game then it is fine. I hope that one day many women will surpass me and my sisters.
My goal is to get more women to stay in the game. Until we succeed in that front, the title issue is not a big concern to me.
As you can see with my own situation, I cannot play a normal schedule because I have 2 children to care for. Many men do not have to deal with it. If I take my kids, I would need a full time babysitter. To find a trustworthy babysitter is a task in itself and it is costly.
I can give you another perfect example from Dresden recently. IM Monika Socko had a baby not long ago. She is still nursing so she had to take her baby AND her mother along. In between rounds, she had to nurse. When we were at dinner, others can enjoy their meals while she had to take care of her baby. I am sure she did not sleep good at night either. She did not complain. She fought like a warrior. Men do not have to go through that. That is why I do not want to hear that it is 100% equal.
In any given game, women can play as well as men do IF they put in the same effort to train. But over a long term career, women have some serious handicaps. But not to train hard to be as good as you can be is an excuse. I did it and so did my sisters.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com