Chess at Age 2? Yes, says Dutch Trainer, Psychologist Karel van Delft

The agony of a chess parent has little relief. The most stressed out people at any kids' tournament are usually the parents!
Common questions go:
- Why is my child losing?
- What is required to become a champion?
- When to introduce my kid to chess?
- How to play, where to play, how to study etc.
Does not a guardian angel exist for chess parents and trainers?
Okay, we found one! In human suit, he goes by the name Karel van Delft.
Location: About an hour's train trip from Amsterdam, in the quaint town of Apeldoorn. 

However, you needn't risk travelling in these pandemic times. New in Chess has just published 2,000 hours of painstaking research, analysis and counselling ideas by this journalist, writer, chess trainer and psychologist.

Our writer, Shilpa Mehra, discusses the book, children's chess and Karel van Delft's online mental training sessions open to players and parents.

 

Chess school Schaakacademie Apeldoorn girls play against boys. As necessary Karel is counted a girl! (c) Karel van Delft

Keeping the Dutch orange ablaze on the cover, the beautifully designed book "Chess for Educators - How to Organize and Promote a Meaningful Chess Teaching Program" serves as quite a guiding light for chess parents and trainers. The book is surely the most comprehensive guide yet for teachers and parents in the chess world.

Karel van Delft and scientist Giovanni Sala at a Japanese restaurant in London. Go on, identify some very strong GMs in the background. (c) Karel van Delft

 

The book begins with a clear premise. "There is a distinction between competitive chess and educational (instructional) chess... Also, the role of parents is often more important." Karel sets out to deal with not which effects chess education can have, but which combination of which chess-teaching methods and which form of didactic coaching can lead to optimal learning effects for certain target groups, and in which circumstances.

"In other words, it’s all about combinations – in the same way that the combination of hydrogen and oxygen produces water," he writes.

Why Chess is Great for Kids?

Chess is a playground for the brain. Children enjoy playing it, and it poses fascinating challenges to their brain. But the game also widens their horizon. Chess teaches us life lessons – for example, the concept of problem-solving. Another example of an insight that children can pick up effortlessly during a chess lesson: at the chessboard, you always have to look first what your opponent can do, and this is just like in traffic – if you don’t look what others are doing, accidents may happen, writes Van Delft.

Karel van Delft says, "I have come to the conclusion, just like many of my colleague psychologists, that chess is a metaphor for life. You can learn to shape your personality, and develop self-knowledge, self-confidence, 

self-management and a ‘growth mindset’: ‘looking, thinking and doing’, judgement and planning etc.

Chess can contribute to the cognitive, social, emotional and meta-cognitive development of children. 

For children with special needs and other groups, chess can also be a means for empowerment. It helps them develop self-respect, and to get a grip on themselves and their environment.

In other words, especially for children, chess has many benefits. What are these exactly, and how can chess have a positive influence on the education of children? That is what we examine in this book, says Karel van Delft.

Chess school Schaakacademie Apeldoorn. (c) Karel van Delft

Grandchildren Hidde and Lois Weller with IM Merijn van Delft and Karel van Delft playing Hands and Brains. (c) Karel van Delft

Sunshine chess: Grandson Hidde takes on Karel van Delft in the Park de Vlindertuin. Photo: Harry Weller

For Karel, this is not pure theory. He backs it up with more than thirty years of practical experience.

The book is surely the most comprehensive guide yet for teachers and parents in the chess world.

First, he has two very worthy chess opponents and research subjects in-house. His son, International Master Merijn van Delft, and grandson, Hidde, 9. The young Mr Hidde is known to train four and more hours a day when required! Hidde's sisters also play chess. 

Hertog van Gelre primary
school chess lesson. (c) Karel van Delft

Merijn, on his part, became the under-16 Dutch champion in 1995, five years after Karel and he "entered the world of chess starting from scratch."

Second, Karel also coordinates the Schaakacademie Apeldoorn. The academy organises classes in schools (individual plus group training courses for older, younger talented players) and groups with special needs (e.g. autism). The Chess Academy publishes a free and weekly online newsletter with many photos that give an idea of the local chess culture. In addition, there is a lot of attention to psychology and teaching. To get an idea, we recommend that you visit the newsletter link. They have been organising daily online chess activities throughout the pandemic.

Based on his experience, some of the specific topics Karel deals with in his book include:
- School chess worldwide
- Pre-school chess
- Organisation of a school chess club, youth tournament
- The role of parents
- Chess, intelligence, and teaching highly-gifted children
- Chess for the blind, partially sighted, the deaf, those with autism and dyslexia
- Girls’ and women’s chess
- Social and therapeutic chess
- Methods and teaching tips for chess educators
- Scientific research (quantitative and qualitative)
- Alphabet (with more than 300 small articles about psychological and didactical insights)

Chess Can Start at Age Two

For parents themselves new to chess, the chapter on pre-school chess is of special interest. Karel writes, "Two-year-old children can already show interest in the chessboard. This interest can be stimulated. You can give a chessboard and (coloured) pieces to infants. You can use the pieces to build small towers with the child, or place pieces neatly in the middle of a square. While doing this, you can mention the names of the pieces repeatedly. You can also put the pieces in the starting position and take turns putting the pieces somewhere – at random: a rook moves from h8 to c5 just like that. As soon as all the pieces are standing in the middle of the board, the game is ‘over’. If you use a chess clock, it’s almost like the real thing."

Tata Steel Chess 2017: Karel van Delft with GM Sipke Ernst (left). (c) Karel van Delft

Delft’s key guideline is: The basis of all training and stimulating is always Variation (methods), Fascination (intrinsic motivation) and Participation (child is actively involved).

Karel and Merijn earlier have written "Developing Chess Talent." The book covers the definition of talent in chess and the method to promote the development of this talent in those young people who have it. The book also elaborates a protocol on how to set up the teaching of chess and how to involve, each one of them in his own specific role, the various components: instructors, coaches, parents and of course the young chess players themselves.

New in Chess has just published 2,000 hours of painstaking research, analysis and counselling ideas by Karel van Delft.

But let's not do all the talking.
Karel van Delft himself is available for compact online training about chess psychology and mental training to chess educators, trainers and parents. He works with players of all levels as well. Themes to discuss are based on personal questions of the participants for example training, learning, self-management.

The training consists of two hours Zoom contact and/or e-mail about chess psychological questions (based on personal experiences and/or documentation which comes with the training).

You may contact Karel van Delft via karel@kvdc.nl.

You can purchase his book in India from www.mychessdreams.com or, internationally from New In Chess.

Once a journalist, always a journalist: NK Dutch championship journalists during Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2016. Alexander Münninghoff (left) with Karel van Delft. (c) Karel van Delft

-------- Games ----------

Game 1: Loek van wely - Karel van Delft MEC Kloksimultaan 2013 Game 2: Ruud Janssen - Karel van Delft July 2012 Game 3: SV Keep it Simply Lucas van Foreest - Karel van Delft

  

Karel van Delft Vs Lucas van Foreest (right) during the simul festival held at the Max Euwe Centre in Amsterdam. Photo: Merijn van Delft. See game above.

Note: The game comments have been auto translated from Dutch to English via Google Translate.

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Aicf to Start Indian Chess League, Bid for Chess Olympiad

New Delhi, February 14: The newly elected president of the All-India Chess Federation, Dr Sanjay Kapoor, unveiled a blueprint to turn the country into a chess superpower here on Sunday, starting with the decision to bid for the next available Chess Olympiad and commencing a high-profile Indian Chess League soon.

Caption: The newly-elected president of the All India Chess Federation Sanjay Kapoor (second from left) was felicitated at the start of the Annual General Body meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. Also seen are, from left, AICF secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan, Delhi Chess Association secretary A K Verma and AICF treasurer Naresh Sharma.

"We want India to become the chess destination for the world. We have drawn out a detailed plan to achieve this goal,” Dr Kapoor said at a press conference, immediately after a power-packed AGM.
He revealed that a foolproof bid would soon be prepared to bag the coveted world event as and when the process would begin.
“For a long time, we have been keen on starting the Indian Chess League with an international flavour to popularise the game even more. The first edition, following the franchise-model, will be organised before this year is through,” Dr Kapoor, who is also the chairman of the Kanpur Cricket Association, said.
Dr Kapoor added that the AGM had also decided to host the Women’s Grand Prix, which is an important part of the world women’s championship cycle, to give a huge boost to women players in the country.
“Not just that, we are also going to initiate an AICF-Chess in Schools program to popularise chess at the school level. All our 33-State affiliates will be implementing this simultaneously. We want every school-going kid in India to play chess. This will help in developing smarter future generations, thanks to the life-skill benefits that come naturally from the game,” Dr Kapoor said.
Among the other major decisions taken at the AGM are: single window registration for all players, establishment of a Centre of Excellence and Organisation of a Super Tournament.
“The Super Tournament will see many top-level players in action. It will give our higher-ranked GMs an opportunity to compete with the best in business at home while also help upcoming youngsters improve by watching them from close quarters,” Dr Kapoor explained.
Honorary secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan underpinned the importance of the single window registration process too, saying that from now on every player will be registered for his or her district, State as well the AICF itself.
“The Centre of Excellence will help tap and train talent at the grassroots level, with the ultimate vision of infusing at least 10 players from India in the Top 50 rankings of the world,” Mr Chauhan said.

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Indian Chess Set Gifted by Elena Burmistrova to Russian Museum

Moscow: Elena Burmistrova, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee/Director General of Gazprom Export, has presented the CFR Chess Museum with a unique art gift for the New Year. 

It comes from a limited edition of handmade chess sets titled "Indian," manufactured at the porcelain enterprise "Delta-X" of Kislovodsk in the 1990s. To design the chessmen, the artist A. Lyubkin resorted to ancient legends and tales' motives. Pieces of gilt and overglaze painting join the combat on a chessboard of marble and serpentine stone, with a unique house for chess pieces being a rare and distinctive feature of this particular set. The tradition of tucking the pieces away "to rest" in a dedicated "accommodation" instead of a dark wooden box dates back to several centuries ago. This is both a respect for the wise game's porcelain participants and a practical solution to keep beautiful pieces on the table as a kind of display.

"Indian" chess set by A. Lyubkin takes an honorable place in the exhibition of the famous G. Alexandrov's Museum of Porcelain Chess in St. Petersburg. It is now at the full display to visitors of the Russian Federation of Chess as well.

Andrey Filatov, President of the Chess Federation of Russia, expresses his gratitude to Elena Burmistrova for such a valuable New Year’s present.

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True Story of Chess Kid Tani: I Believe in Miracles!

Excerpted with permission from My Name is Tani by Craig Borlase and Tanitoluwa Adewumi published by HarperCollins.

Prologue 

My name is Tani, and my family says I like to ask a lot of questions. They’re right. I like puzzles. I like riddles. I like trying to figure out why things happen and how things work.

But things have been different lately. Instead of asking the questions, I’ve been the one trying to answer them. A lot of people have wanted to know all kinds of things about me and my life. They want to know what life was like for me and how I feel about the way things have changed. They want me to tell my story, and I want to tell it, but there’s never enough time to say everything that’s in my head.

So this book is going to be my answer.

But if I’m going to tell you my story, I need to start by saying that I don’t remember much about Nigeria. I know that I was six years old when these really bad people called Boko Haram tried to kill my dad and we had to leave — but honestly, I was asleep most of the times they came looking for my dad, so you’d have to ask him about that.

What I do remember about life in Nigeria is playing soccer and my brother, Austin, trying to teach me chess and how one day I was watching the news on the TV and there was this airplane pilot on it who had just done something amazing. He was Nigerian like me, and there must have been a really serious problem with the plane because everyone was excited about the fact that he had landed safely, and everyone survived. From that moment on I wanted to be a pilot. It’s not because of money, though. Being a pilot makes you rich, but I don’t mean money rich. I liked the idea of doing something like that, to help people.

I remember a lot about life in America. Like how when we moved to New York I learned about chess properly this time and discovered that the very best players in the world are called grand masters, and so, from then on, I started to think that it might be good to be a grand master too. And then one day Coach Shawn actually took me to meet Fabiano, who is the number-two chess player in the whole world! He shook my hand and we talked, and from that moment on, I decided that I definitely wanted to be a grandmaster.

And then something happened.

I won a chess competition, and lots and lots and lots of people wanted to talk to me. It wasn’t just people from New York or even America. People from all over the world wanted to know my story. Some of them still do.

A lot of the people I have spoken to ask me about chess. They say things like how has chess changed your life? Or, what do you like most about playing chess? I mostly give them the same answer to both questions, which is chess has taught me how to do deep thinking. 

Sometimes people laugh when they hear me say that, but I don’t see how it’s very funny.

The more I think about all this, the more I know that I can’t answer either of those questions quickly. I 

need a lot more than one minute to be able to explain everything. And I don’t think I can even do it all myself because there’s so much that I don’t remember.

So the best way to tell my story is to have my parents help me. They know all the details of everything 

that’s happened, and they’re also my heroes. None of this would’ve even happened if it hadn’t been for them.

I would have asked Austin to help tell this story, too, but he likes basketball a lot more than he likes 

writing. But he’s still my hero as well.

After I won the chess tournament and spoke to all those people, life changed really quickly for all of us. 

Recently I’ve been thinking again about being a pilot. Since talking to everyone, I now know that there are a lot of places I’ve not been to, and if I was a pilot, maybe I could go see them. I could fly to China, Japan, Arizona, Washington, DC, Kentucky, Turkey, England. I want to go to these places and live there for maybe one whole year or maybe just five months. I read in a book that the average person lives to be seventy-one years old, but I think I’m not going to live the average. I think I’m going to live to be more than one hundred. So maybe I’ll do 

both—be a grand master and a pilot too. I’d like that.

I don’t know what I’m going to be. My dad says that’s okay.

But I do know this much. I believe in miracles.

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Aman Goel Wins CCBW Bruce Lee Memorial on Lichess

Lucknow, July 20, 2020: Aman Goel (Sil3entAman) won the Remembering Bruce Lee Memorial CCBW Global Online Lichess Tournament on July 20.
Shaan Garg (brrrruuuuuhh) came in a creditable second with Enaith Habibullah (Enaith) standing third.  PreciousBansal (preciouschesschd) was the Best Girl (overall third).

Aman, playing strategically, put up some nice ideas in the Sicilian and English. In an interesting Najdorf battle, Aman polished off the runner-up with a back rank mate.
Shan Garg dropped only two games for a creditable second playing totally unlike Aman with tactical mad fire on the chess board.
Enaith Habibullah, home from boarding school, showed remarkable resilience in his 1.e4 games to take the third place.
Precious Bansal, held her own, amidst the strong competition to easily pick up the Best Girl Prize without much difficulty.

Martial Artist legend Bruce Lee's poem, "Be water, my friend" is the philosophy for Chess Club Black and White (CCBW).

"Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

A nice quora post explains it as, "Water is easy-going. Water doesn't fuss, it doesn't push, or pull. It fills the space allowed, no more, no less. This saying is basically to remind you to just relax, go with the flow, be present and in the moment; let things happen and enjoy that you're there to take it all in. Be water, my friend."
You can find a very nice podcast on the quote on the official Bruce Lee website at this link.

DO like the CCBW FACEBOOK PAGE PLEASE 

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800 Years of Chess Art in One Book: Amazing Research by Peter Herel Raabenstein

Chess has been a royal discipline for more than 1000 years…

“Chess teaches us that even when everything seems to be going badly for us we should not lose heart, but always hoping for a change for the better, steadfastly continue searching for the solutions to our problems.” Benjamin Franklin

Regardless of whether you consider yourself a very good or an average chess player, or prefer to watch the game from a distance with one of your loved ones who succumbed to the chess game, you still belong to a very prestigious circle of people. Only the initiate knows what such a true and genuine “game” entails.

Like any thing that has stood the test of time, chess has evolved and has influenced many personalities during that time. Chess can be seen as a tool that allows you to penetrate human development - artistic, social, political, industrial and technological. This game has been able to influence society for centuries. 

Peter Herel Raabenstein, a conceptual artist from the Czech Republic, realized the same thing. Chess has been his passion since 2003, when he was looking for a suitable gift for his uncle who loves chess, art and history. Peter decided to buy a special book for his uncle, but later found that no one had ever published any such publication. Finally, he collected 12 portraits on chess and made them a calendar. Uncle was enthusiastic and advised him not to give up his vision of creating a book that would connect the world of chess and art.

In the following years Peter continued his studies and deepened his artistic and chess knowledge. In 2009 he met his friend at the Wijk aan Zee chess tournament and introduced him his project. His friend liked the idea very much and the result was an epilogue for his book, which had not existed at the time. Soon after, both artists had to break up, but Peter was fascinated by the symbolism of chess and was still working on his book. 

“Enthusiastic reactions and support from my surroundings motivated me to complete the project. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I couldn't stop and actually disappoint every lover of chess and art”, explains Peter Herel Raabenstein, author of the publication. 

Now after 10 years, he can finally introduce you to a unique publication “Chess in art” with a collection of chess themes. On 320 pages, the author captured 800 years of development through paintings by more than 700 artists with a detailed description of how they perceived kings' play through art. The book simply delights every chess player, painting and history. In other words, life is composed of various battles and not from just the chess battles. 

The book “Chess in art” will give you a few unforgettable moments when you will feel like a king for at least a moment. The author and the whole team behind the creation of this publication wish you not to get checkmate, not only on the chessboard but also in your life 

Web: 

http://www.chessinart.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chessinart/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chessinart/

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GM Grivas Message of Hope before World Stars Sharjah Chess June 12-13

GM-FST-IA-IO Efstratios Grivas is living in United Arab Emirates for the past 15 months, operating as the Director of the Sharjah International Chess Academy and General Coordinator of the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club. He will also be the Official Commentator of the World Starts tournament.

What do you think about the new reality in the chess world caused by Covid-19?
Some three months ago players were enthusiastic on the new online reality, but they soon understood that the thieves were multiple and unstoppable! There is no point to explain further what has been already seen in various publications, but for nowadays we need to play online as there is no real alternative. But after the end of the pandemic, we will go back to normal life. The online chess platforms weren’t ready for it and although they ‘solved’ somehow the necessity of playing, they created more problems and drove many players to feel disgusted about the online chess - nearly everybody can tell a nasty story! If the online cheating is not ‘cured’ online chess will step back and at the best it will go in a bit worst scale that it was before the pandemic.

How did the organizers make the decision to organize online tournament of such a high level as the World Stars Sharjah Online International Chess Championship 2020?
The Sharjah Cultural & Chess Club is a historical chess club of nearly 40 years and the biggest in the world. It has organised various and plenty of tournaments from beginners to World Class players, as multiple FIDE Grand Prixes. Earlier this year we had to cancel our annual Sharjah Masters Tournament due to the CV-19, where more than 60 GM had been registered, but we couldn’t do without ‘active’ chess life. Since March middle we have organized various online tournaments as the Ramadan Masters and the Future Stars, as well as seven matches with foreigner clubs and academies. Here I have to note that we are also running a daily 7-hour online training program (via Chess Evolution platform) with top-trainers, for our players and the Arab Chess Federation, all for free! As the Coordinator, I am proud of our motto: Because We Care!

Why do you think people should follow your commentaries during the tournament?
Well, because they will not be in the dark during the games, they will have fun and they can learn something! My CV is a good proof of the above.

Who do you think is a favorite in the tournament with the format 10min+3sec?
Unpredictable. Shorter time controls usually doesn't favour the strongest in rating. This fact promises an interesting and fighting tournament, where everything is possible.

When do you think the Sharjah Masters will be organized? Is there a hope chess will be back to normal?
Chess is related to life; life will come back soon and chess will follow - no alternative to talk about. I have some hopes that we might organize the Sharjah Masters later this year, but we still need some time to check all data and make the necessary procedures. Of course, do not take anything for granted, as this CV-19 is unpredictable as well!

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Escape from Covid to Chess Planet: Play with CCBW

No stopping the chess, but parents must counsel kids to not go overboard and stay safe online, writes Shilpa Mehra

Lucknow: While the world shut down, the chess community went berserk. The world's top chess websites saw traffic treble in just a few hours.

The scene here in Lucknow on first day of lockdown: We quickly created a WhatsApp group, set up an online page, pinged our friends at chess clubs in Dehradun, Chennai, Madrid and London, got zoom meeting app going and life was set.

By 5 pm a serious tournament with Anna Nagar Chess Academy (ANCA) Chennai was on. Right after that at 7 pm the gang headed to the Etlantis Club Dehradun blitz evening practice session and midnight was for show of strength in Mexico City at the Ajedrez en línea event. The gang included 6-70 year olds with Silentman and Lizzyosmond leading the boys and girls charge.

For once, no school, no work and we could play into forever.

While the rest of the world wondered what to do with tension, fear and questions, we had escaped to another planet under the guidance of idiamin100!

Arbiter and professional chess trainer, Naveen Karthikeyan would know: "As a chess trainer I can tell you, every single chess kid is happy right now anywhere in the world. We study chess professionally in Chennai even during school days but this is full steam ahead. We are practicing and studying almost round the clock and with chess players of all strengths across the world."

Karthikeyan says, "The best part is our kids at the ANCA and CCBW are not only competing among themselves and with kids in other cities, but are also getting a chance now to grab games with Grandmasters and International Masters who are all also playing online in lockdown."

The schedule is set.
CCBW friend, journalist and chess player from Chandigarh, Jupinderjit Singh, tunes in via zoom for banter blitz of crazy fun with kids shouting out moves to his opponents on video chat. Banter blitz is when a senior player takes on one opponent at a time and plays while explaining his thought processes aloud as a chess teaching method.

International Master Nubairshah Sheikh tunes in from Mumbai for serious chess study with intermediate students of CCBW even though it's fasting time in Ramzan. Just 21 with GM norms, Nubair is sure to be Grandmaster as soon as mortar-n-brick venue tournaments resume. The children already call him GM!
Tiger201, aka Rohit Rana, holds our place at the evening blitz at Etlantis Chess Club in Dehradun. Our in-house organiser, Resistiré scourges the net for chess events on the hour. There are tournaments of varying time controls happening every minute. We don't want to sleep.

Yet, it's an online world so quick tips to stay safe:
- keep security settings safe in WhatsApp group so as not to be added automatically to random chess groups mushrooming all around
- be careful about playing tournaments with entry fee as online payment gateway needs to be used; plenty of great free tournaments around though
- discuss with your coach how and what chess activities to join in as there's a boom in choices
- discuss time controls and specific events with your trainer lest you catch an online playing addiction
- discuss all privacy issues with your kid about online behaviour including not divulging private and contact details to strangers online
- rationing online time and checking eye strain
- draw up specific schedule for eating, sleeping and exercise otherwise this may get a tad out of hand
- online cheating is a reality, face it without anger. Choose to hang out with the right people as real chess lovers don't cheat. If you suspect someone of cheating, submit their name to the website online moderator for evaluation

Meanwhile, this Sunday 8 pm we are at the Ajedrez con Cabeza Club in Madrid on a special invitation by Pedro M. Vincente to compete with chess teams from Spanish-speaking countries Cuba, Argentina, Spain, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Mexico. After the 5 +2 one hour tourney, we will do a ten minute zoom session to cheer everyone and plan to meet in person when the magic returns to the real world.

Want to join Chess Club Black and White team for the Sunday tournament?

Join here on lichess and send real name to resistire in lichess for approval.
https://lichess.org/team/chess-club-black-and-white-ccbw-lucknow

The tourney link will be sent to you after Id approval.

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Moscow Chess Olympiad: Anand, Humpy to Lead India

Five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand will be back to head the Indian team in the 44th Chess Olympiad to be held in Moscow, Russia in August this year.

World number two in Women and going great guns in her second innings, Grandmaster Koneru Humpy will lead the Indian women team for a maiden medal aspiration in the biennial event that is likely to see participation of around 180 countries.

Anand participated in the last Chess Olympiad at Batumi, Georgia and even though the Indian team remained in the medal hunt for a long time in the 11-round swiss event, we missed out on the medal finally.

This time renewed energy will be put on performance as the plans are to have now-retired former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia as the trainer for the men team for at least two camps.

The trainer for the women team is still being debated but the AICF will ensure that they also get the best of facilities.

Apart from Anand, Grandmasters P Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi remain a certainty for the men team. It’s going to be a close race for the remaining two spots in the five-member team with B Adhiban having the best chance currently to hold the fourth spot. K Sasikiran, S P Sethuraman, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Aravindh Chithambaram are the remaining four in contention for a spot in the team.

Amongst the Women, Humpy and Harika qualify themselves while for the remaining three slots, Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni and R Vaishali have a strong case as on date. However, the finally decision will be based upon how the perform in the coming months. According to rules the final decision on the composition can be taken only on May 1, 2020.

Speaking about the new development, AICF secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan said that this will be our best chance. “I think this could be our chance to show the world that we are indeed the new power in Chess, we have a string of young grandmasters waiting to be world class players in the years to come and at the top we have some of the finest players today”, he said adding "and we have to thank Microsense India for agreeing to support the training program with Mr Kramnik."

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Mind Training Chess App: Psychologist Bjarne Eiholt, WFM Louise Fredericia

Improve your chess by mental training 
Introducing the MindMaster App

For decades it has been common practice in physical sports to use mental training as a means to improve performance. In some mental sports as well, like bridge and poker, mental training has become a common training tool. In chess however, the benefits of mental training are uncommon and underestimated.
Until now, a mental training program for chess players hasn´t been available, but with the recent release of the MindMaster App, it is now! Chess players now have the opportunity to use mental training just like other athletes in physical and mental  sport have done for years with good results. The purpose of the MindMaster App is to provide chess players with strategies to feel more at ease, focused, self-confident and motivated when they play chess. In this introduction, we will give you an insight into mental chess training and why we believe you can improve your chess by mental training using the MindMaster App.

Why mental chess training?
A wise man once said: The most dangerous weapon of a chess player is his mind. To this he could have added: The only weapon of a chessplayer is his mind. It follows that the more you work on the mind the better it will work for you, just as a sword must be sharpened before a battle.  No matter how many chess books you read, or how many hours you spend preparing your opening, such work cannot prevent you from losing your confidence and nerves, or help you to rebound after a defeat and focus and concentrate during your game.
In certain situations, a chess player’s mind can trick him to the point where he misses moves that he would easily have seen in a blitz game. In situations where there are high stakes at risk chess players tend to miss mates, give away pieces, lose track of time or lose focus on the board.
Sometimes you can hear statements like these from chess players before a game:
- I always play badly against a lower rated - or higher rated - player.
- When I lose, I cannot motivate myself to move on for the next game, and then I tend to lose that one too.
- I can already see myself mess it up in the middle game because my opponent is such an annoying player.
- I’m so nervous – how can I focus and concentrate?
- I haven’t slept all night because I lost yesterday.
- I gave away a piece yesterday, so I’m an easy victim today

Now the interesting question with regard to mental training is:
Who is surprised when these scenarios actually come true and the one who stated them losses?
The list is – almost – endless on how chess players’ expectations to the game, preparations and sleep can be disturbed and affected. No matter how long the list above may become, the bottom line is the same: in situations where you perform way below your normal level, it is not because you suddenly have become a bad chess player and lost your chess skills. You perform below average level because of your poor mindset.
Now the answer to the question above shouldn’t be that difficult – should it?

What to gain with mental chess training?
When you start mental chess training, the aim is that your average level of performance will increase. The increase in performance is caused by an improved mental condition and mindset.
Our users tell us in feedback that they sleep better, that their loses affect them less and that they are able to focus better on the next game. Others have sensed a good feeling of mental preparation and fewer nerves, which has lasted throughout the game. Others tell us that they have felt in a strong winning mode, which has made them play with more energy and belief in themselves.
The mental training sessions in the MindMaster App have different themes. It is therefore the user’s choice what to focus on, and thereby what to gain. Focus, concentration, increased confidence prior to an event, the proper mental state for competing – there are many different effects of the mental chess training. The effect will depend on how often, how much and how the training is used. The more you use it, the better it will work.

What does the MindMaster App contain?
The MindMaster App is developed for tournament players, regardless of strength. It contains no opening theory, no advice on the latest novelty in Ruy Lopez, no explanation of chess technicalities, strategy or structure. It can be used by any chess player.

The app contains 15 sessions of spoken text, with optional background music, spread over three categories of themes of mental training:



• Optimise your thought processes – 6 sessions
• Deal with distracting thoughts – 6 sessions
• Achieve mental wellness – 3 sessions

Each session has its own specific aim well recognised by tournament players. Examples are:  move on after a defeat, regulate your use of time, control your nervousness,  play your game when it is best, prepare mentally for your game.
The sessions in the first two categories incorporate three elements, each serving their own purpose:
Physicality: Breathing and deep relaxation of body and mind. The relaxation will get you in the right state of mind.
Visualization: You visualize different scenarios, based on the idea that if you can imagine it, you will be able to do it.
Repetition of a statement: You make a statement, based on the idea that if you can tell it to yourself, you can also make it happen.
The sessions in the third category (achieve mental wellness) are mainly about getting your mind to be calm so that you can stress down or get help to fall asleep.

If you are interested in the idea of improving your chess by mental training you can visit our homepage: http://mindmasterapp.com/ Here you can try a free sample of a session Prepare mentally for your game. On the homepage you can also find details and further information.

The MindMaster App has its own FB-page: Mental Chess training. Here you can post questions or commentaries.
The MindMaster App is available on App Store and Google Play and costs 7 Euro.
The authors of the app are Bjarne Eiholt, who is a chess player and psychologist, and WFM Louise Fredericia, who is a chess player and mental trainer.

-- By Bjarne Eiholt and WFM Louise Fredericia

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Chess train runs Oct 11-15: Prague - Carlsbad - Cesky Krumlov - Brno - Trencin - Prague

Medieval pearls by Chess Train 2019: Chess train, a unique project of Prague Chess Society and Czech Railways, will take place again! The Chess Train 2019 will run from October 11th to 15th on the route Prague - Carlsbad - Cesky Krumlov - Brno - Trencin - Prague. On the train, a 11round tournament in rapid chess will be played.

As it is clear from the itinerary, this year the real medieval pearls are waiting for the participants of the event - beautiful cities of the Czech Republic and Slovakia with picturesque historical centers. And two of the cities have the extraordinary chess tradition also. Rembember famous tournaments Carslasbad 1907, 1911, 1923 and 1929 or Prague Olympics 1931. In the capital of the Czech Republic was born the 1st World Chess Champion Wilhelm Steinitz and in the present days there live several top-class grandmasters of different chess federations – David Navara (Czech Republic), Pentala Harikrishna (India), Sergey Movsesian (Armenia), Pontus Carlsson (Sweden) or Maxim Rodshtein (Israel).

If you want to attend this extraordinary event of the Chess Train 2019 and meet chess-tourists from around the world, do not hesitate to book a place on prazska.sachova@gmail.com. The number of seats on the train is limited. The ticket to the Chess Train and the tournament fee cost 199 Euro, the ticket for a non-playing partners costs 149 Euro. Accommodation can be booked by the organizers in the selected hotels in 3 categories (3*, 4* and 5*hotels), or you can arrange for it yourself.

Details of the Chess Train 2019 can be found here.

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CCBW u20 Chess: Prithvvi 1st on tiebreak; Himmika best Girl

Lucknow,  seedJune Top23:  and reigning state u13 champion Prithvvi Singh (1669) won the CCBW (Chess Club Black and White) Junior Rapid Chess Championship 2019 on tie-break at a city hotel on Sunday. 

(From left) Tanishq Gupta, Prithvvi Singh, Harshit Amarnani, Himmika Amarnani, Myra Agarwal. (More photos on Facebook)

This was Lucknow's strongest-ever u20 chess championship as it also included current state U15 and U17 champion Tanishq Gupta (1660) as second seed and third strongest rated Lucknow junior Harshit Amarnani (1522) as third seed.

Complete media coverage collated on Facebook.

The three-way tie of six points each occured after a very interesting series of results: Harshit beat Tanishq in round 4,  Prithvvi beat Harshit in round 5 and Tanishq beat Prithvvi in round 6!

Prithvvi grabbed an early centre pawn in a 1.d4 game then followed it up with excellent technique for his win over Harshit.

In the top clash, Tanishq vs Prithvvi, Tanishq played Colle system of Queen pawn opening. In the middle game, Tanishq grabbed a pawn and steered the game into a minor piece ending with pawn majority scoring the crucial win.

In Tanishq vs Harshit, Tanishq playing white opened with the Zukertort variation of the Colle system.
The game was somewhat complicated in the middlegame and then harshit went for a pawn sacrifice,vwhich if accepted by Tanishq would have allow Harshit to gain material with a piece  superiorposition.Tanishq eventually accepted the sacrifice and lost.

The seven-round, 15 0 time control tournament witnessed an even closer finish in the girls' section.

Top-seed Himmika Amarnani (1181) could win best girl prize only on tiebreak. Also a state-level tennis player, Himmika used her attacking 1.e4 games for successive wins.

The four-way tie for first saw unrated Myra Agarwal perform way above her strength to claim second. Simran Sadhwani continued her steady play to score ahead of second seed Jusfica Lilium Lobo (1032) for third place. Simran, is also a state-level player, who has improved considerably over the last year winning district championships in girls. All four scored 4 points each.

Six-year-old Pranav Rastogi surprised everyone by coming first in the u7 category on tiebreak ahead of state level player Aryan Sadhwani and district U7 champion Devaagyh Dixit who stood third. Aryan showed amazing calm to climb back from his losses to nearly snatch first place. Aryan will be representing UP in the Nationals in his section.

The tournament had players come in from Banda and Kanpur as well.

Former state champion, senior international player, Dr Junaid Ahmad was tournament director and senior international player Pawan Batham was the chief arbiter. Participants said they always find chess tournaments organised by those who are players themselves as far better in facilities and fairness of conduct of play as compared to other tournaments.

Chief guest renowned orthopaedic and diet expert Dr Gopal Goel (also felicitated by state government for welfare work in aiding and rehabilitatiom of physically challenged) spoke about nutrition specifically to suit chess players  For improving brain power, he suggested daily intake of at four walnuts twice a day, handful of almonds once (soaked overnight) and curd twice a day along with regular exercise and yogasans like dandawat pranaam for brain power.
He warneda indiscriminate eating of bread, packaged chips and even milk. He mentioned the importance of taking vitamins as required without assuming that "vitamins" are only for senior people.

*Results*

Open Section 1-6th: Prithvi Singh, Tanishq Gupta, Harshit Amarnani (all 6 points), Anupam Dutta, Meetansh Dixit, Atharva Rastogi (all 5 points).

Girls section 1-6th: Himmika Amarnani, Myra Agarwal, Simran Sadhwani, Jusfica Lilium Lobo (all 4 points), Vartika R. Verma 3, Saanvi Mehrotra 2.

U7 1-3: Pranav Rastogi, Aryan Sadhwani 2, Devaagyh Dixit 1.5

U10 1-3: Akshin Srivastava, Vyom Ahuja, 3 points, Arsh Hussain Naqvi 1.5

U13 1-3: Sarthak Singh Basera 3.5, Shaan Garg, Enaith Singh Habibullah 3 points

U15 1-3: Nikhar Saxena 4.5, Adarsh Pal, Aman Goel 4 points

U20 1-3: Anubhav Singh 4.5, Shaishav Srivastava, Tanmay Mishra 4 points

Consolation: Aditi Mohan, Akshat Abhinav, Priyam Khandelwal, Vasav Rastogi, Aniket Mohan, Utkarsh Dixit, ADSV Prasad. 

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French Toast: How India No. 2 Harikrishna fries 1... e6

India's number two chess player, the in-form Super GM Pentala Harikrishna, is offering a unique chance to have training time with him.

The 2730-rated grandmaster has launched a competition to win a place in one of two group lessons focusing on one of his opening systems.

Harikrishna, aged 33, recently released his first chess instruction course, an anti-French repertoire titled French Toast: How Harikrishna fries 1... e6, through the online training platform Chessable.com.

The course has a points leaderboard to show who has studied the most, and Harikrishna will host a lesson with the top 5 each week.

Harikrishna, from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, has been in sparkling form this year and narrowly missed out on top spot at the elite Shenzhen Masters earlier this month

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Yugina Chess Art: Chance to Buy Talented WFM's Paintings

Maria Yugina (Mariya Yughina) seduces her fans with bold shapes and vibrant colors weaving her passion for romance, travel and the royal game of chess into her paintings.Maria is a talented artist from St. Petersburg, Russia.  She is also an accomplished chess player with a women’s fide chess master title and elo of 2183. She is married to Romanian chess grandmaster Mihail Marin. The two of them travel the world competing in chess tournaments and showcasing Maria’s chess themed collection of work.

She is quickly taking the world by storm with her flirty and whimsical cubism style. Before now, her paintings have been sold primarily through word of mouth. This alone has resulted in her selling close to 15 pieces of work a month in over 8 countries!

She has now partnered with chess marketing company OFF da ROOK Entertainment to expand her reach and brand YUGINA ART as a household name.  Original art can be found for purchase at  yugina.com.

To kick things off, Jennifer Vallens, founder of OFF da ROOK Entertainment and a huge fan of Yugina’s work, will have a YUGINA ART table set up at the International Chess Festival in Las Vegas June 14 and 15, 2019.  Exclusive YUGINA ART poster art will be available for sale.  Stop by and say hello and get your limited print!

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World Fischer Random Chess Championship okayed by FIDE

Arne Horvei and Jøran Aulin-Jansson received FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich a few weeks ago in Oslo.

Oslo, April 20, 2019—The World Fischer Random Chess Championship is now officially recognized by FIDE and will start on Chess.com.

This historic event will feature an online qualifying phase on Chess.com, beginning April 28, and is open to all non-titled players. Qualifiers for titled players begin June 30. The finals will be held in Norway this fall, with a prize fund of $375,000 USD.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has granted the rights to host the inaugural FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship cycle to Dund AS, in partnership with Chess.com. And, for the first time in history, a chess world championship cycle will combine an online, open qualifier and worldwide participation with physical finals.

“With FIDE’s support for Fischer Random Chess, we are happy to invite you to join the quest to become the first-ever FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Champion” said Arne Horvei, founding partner in Dund AS. “Anyone can participate online, and we are excited to see if there are any diamonds in the rough out there that could excel in this format of chess,” he said.

"It is an unprecedented move that the International Chess Federation recognizes a new variety of chess, so this was a decision that required to be carefully thought out,” said FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich, who recently visited Oslo to discuss this agreement. “But we believe that Fischer Random is a positive innovation: It injects new energies an enthusiasm into our game, but at the same time it doesn't mean a rupture with our classical chess and its tradition. It is probably for this reason that Fischer Random chess has won the favor of the chess community, including the top players and the world champion himself. FIDE couldn't be oblivious to that: It was time to embrace and incorporate this modality of chess."

The 2019 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship features chess superstars such as World Champion Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Fabiano Caruana. Wesley So, Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Peter Svidler are also confirmed to play. This historic event will feature a qualifying phase open to all players beginning April 28. Players can enter at www.FRChess.com, and the qualifying rounds will be hosted by Chess.com.

"We are thrilled to be the organizing partner for the 2019 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship," said Daniel Rensch, chief chess officer of Chess.com. "We're excited to be teaming up with Dund AS to provide an accessible path to stardom for players around the world!"

Non-Titled players may register for qualifiers here

Titled players may register for qualifiers here

About Dund AS:
Dund AS organized the 2018 unofficial Fischer Random (FR) world title match between classical chess champion Magnus Carlsen and recognized Fischer Random ace Hikaru Nakamura, who won the final Mainz tournament in the discipline in 2009. The enormous interest generated by the event, which stole nearly two million Norwegian television viewers away from the national obsession of the Winter Olympics, showed that the world was ready for more FR chess.

About Chess.com:
Chess.com is the world’s largest chess site, with a community of more than 27 million members from around the world playing millions of games every day. Launched in 2009, Chess.com is the leader in chess news, lessons, events and live entertainment. Visit Chess.com to play, learn and connect with chess—the world’s most popular game.

About FIDE:
The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) is the governing body of international chess competition. Founded in 1924, it was one of the first institutions of its kind and it is now one of the largest, with a total of 190 affiliated national chess federations.

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Aryan Singh wins Speed Chess on Running Lucknow Metro

GIANT LEAP FOR CITY: SPEED CHESS ON LUCKNOW METRO: Lucknow took a giant leap in chess awareness Sunday morning (April 7, 2019) with several chess whizkids in the age-group of 8-15 playing a speed tournament on the Lucknow Metro from the IT station to airport – a revolutionary concept, which is the first in India and only organised in tube rails in Europe.

Fourteen-year-old Aryan Singh of Jaipuria School won the Chess Club Black & White (CCBW) Speed Chess trophy and Himmika Amarnani, city’s top-rated Under-14 player was awarded the Best Girl trophy. Lucknow’s youngest FIDE-rated girl player Sanvi Agarwal also participated in the tournament. The event was supported by the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation with CS, PRO, Pushpa Belani accompanying the team through the entire stretch.

Morning Metro commuters were in for a surprise when they saw boys and girls playing speed chess with a three-minute time control in twin Metro coaches. An added draw was the youth members of the Ilyas Khan group playing guitar and playing Bollywood songs to cheer the players on.

The speed of the chess moves on the 64 squares matched the speed of the Metro skimming through the city skyspace. “If you love chess, you can play it anywhere, anytime. And like the Metro, chess resonates in the history, art and culture of Lucknow. We wanted to tell Lucknowites to come out and play,” said Dr Junaid Ahmad, CCBW director and former UP chess champion.

LMRC CS, PRO, Pushpa Bellani said, “I was impressed by the confidence and focus of the children despite the tournament happening in the Metro. LMRC is happy to have supported the tournament.”

Urdu poet and chess lover Anupam Srivastava, who was the chief guest, said he was impressed by the quality and sharpness of the chess moves by the kids in such an environment. Usually chess tournaments are organised in quiet halls. FIDE arbiter Hemant Sharma pulled off an acrobatic feat by balancing the laptop in one hand and conducting the parings in the moving Metro.

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Delhi Chess: Gukesh becomes World’s 2nd Youngest GM

New Delhi: Chennai's Gukesh D. made his third and final Grandmaster norm in the penultimate round of 17th Delhi International chess tournament now underway here. 

Gukesh has secured 7 points in nine rounds  to become the second youngest grandmaster in chess history, behind Sergey Karjakin of Russia but ahead of Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan. He won his game in the ninth round against Dinesh Sharma rated 2303.

Meanwhile Grandmaster Pantsulaia Levan of Georgia stayed ahead of the field after defeating overnight leader Mosadeghpour Masoud of Iran. Kerala’s Grandmaster S. L Narayanan outwitted Odisha’s Debashis Das to take his tally to 7.5 points. 

The Rs. 35 Lakh tournament will come to an end on Wednesday. The tenth round will witness clash of overnight leaders Pantsulaia Levan and S.L Narayanan. 

Local hopeful GM Abhijeet Gupta has a chance to finish in top five if he can win his last round game against Gukesh D. However, the young Chennai prodigy is in top form here. 

There were norms galore at the tournament.  International Masters Gukesh D and Visakh NR secured GM norms while Aditya Mittal, Saurabh Ananad, Bharat Kumar Reddy and Neelash Saha scored IM Norms respectively.

Pairings for final round: http://chess-results.com/tnr393175.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=10&fed=IND&turdet=YES&flag=30

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Delhi Chess 2019: Masoud pulls ahead

New Delhi: Twenty-two years old Iranian Grandmaster Mosadeghpour Masoud pulled ahead of the field with a finely crafted victory over Tran Tuan Minh of Vietnam in the eighth round of 17th Delhi International Grandmasters Tournament underway here on Monday. 

Playing with white pieces in Sicilian Najdorf Bg5 variation which lasted 33 moves, Masoud, rated 2517  got better of Grandmaster Tran Tuan Minh, rated 2541. Tran obtained a small advantage after making exchange sacrifice of his rook for knight on the 23rd move. Later he landed in a piece-down position, prompting him to resign.  

With his sixth victory in eight games, Masoud took his tally to a whopping 7 points out of a possible eight and emerged as sole leader with a half-point lead over nearest rivals. Just two rounds are remaining in this Rs. 35 Lakhs prize money tournament. 

Among other important games of the day, Indian Grandmasters Debashis Das and Diptayan Ghosh played out a quick draw to inch up to 6.5 points while Grandmasters Erigaisi Arjun and Stupak Kirill signed peace treaty after a tense struggle to also reach 6.5 points. 

Seven players are closely trailing behind the leader.  

Category ‘C’ tournament which boasts participation of more than 1500 players came to the half-way stage with 56 players scoring 4 points out of 4 rounds. Six more rounds are remaining in this 33 lakhs prize money event. Total prize of the 17th Delhi International Grandmasters Tournament is One Crore One Lakh Rupees. 

Pairings for round 09: http://chess-results.com/tnr393175.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=9&fed=IND&turdet=YES&flag=30

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Delhi International Chess Festival: Rs 1 cr Prize Fund

One Crore prize fund for the first time in the country

29 Grandmasters compete in premier group ‘A’

Local star Vaibhav Suri starts as the highest ranked Indian in the biggest ever Indian open that kickstarts in the National capital on Wednesday.

With 29 Grandmasters in the fray in a field of over 300 participants, the premier event promises all the excitement for the chess buffs. Making it an open event for everyone this year means that the tiny tots will also get a chance to match their wits against much accomplished names.

However, it is not the premier event alone that is generating most of the buzz. The excitement also lies in the B and C group that has a rating cap for below 1899 and 1499 players. With list is growing with over 900 participants in the B group while over 1200 players have already registered for the “C” group that starts after four days.

This means that the Delhi open is actually set to breach the 3000 entry mark and might be referred to as the biggest open festival of the world. There is no other tournament across the globe where so many competitors participate.

The total prize pool that exceeds a 100000 Rupees over the One Crore mark is the biggest attraction this year and clearly the think tank lead by Delhi Chess Association President Bharat Singh Chauhan who also doubles up as the Secretary of Indian Chess Federation have made it the biggest extravaganza of 2019.

Grandmaster Farrukh Amonatov of Turkmenistan, a former winner here, starts as the top seed and rating favourite in the premier section but surely he will face stiff competition from the likes of Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia, Alexandre Predke from Russia and another Indian star Abhijeet Gupta.

There will be host of opportunities for the players seeking their International norms and talented youngster like D Gukesh can hope to become the next Grandmaster from India.

Apart from the main chess tournaments the organisers have planned many extra activities not only for the participants but also for visiting parents and accompanying persons with several players.

There will be sessions on parenting done by some of the best in business and a training camp for wannabe chess coaches is also planned. The lectures on parenting and making your child ready for the future will be done by, among others, Paarth Ashok Narang, a life coach.

The training for coaches will be imparted by super coach R B Ramesh along with FI Praful Zaveri and Vishal Sareen.

The icing on the cake will be of course the simultaneous displays in which the young players will get a chance to compete with India’s youngest ever Grandmaster R Praggnandhaa and former Asian queen Tania Sachdev. In another simul, GM K Priyadharshan will also give an opportunity for the young kids to have a go at him!

“We believe in creating opportunities and that’s what we are trying to do here. I had dreamt of a One Crore Prize Fund Chess festival about 30 Years back and here we are living the dream of every chess player in the country. Hopefully we will see many such events in the future in the country”, said Bharat Singh Chauhan on the eve of the beginning of the mega event. 

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Young Chess Star Nihal Sarin may Write for Chessable!

India's young chess superstar Nihal Sarin is considering turning his hand to writing about the game.

The 14-year-old, who became India’s 53rd grandmaster after bagging his third GM norm at the Abu Dhabi Masters on Tuesday, is understood to be talking to Chessable about a possible openings book for youngsters.

Chessable is a learning site designed to help players learn chess openings, chess tactics and chess endgames and several GMs and IMs have written courses specially for its format.

Nihal's current ELO rating is 2556 and he is the twelfth youngest grandmaster in chess history.

He was immediately congratulated by India's top Grandmaster, former world champion Viswanathan Anand, who took to Twitter to congratulate him.

“Congrats and welcome to @NihalSarin ! The boys are on a roll!” he tweeted.

Nihal is part of a cohort of young stars alongside Chennai-born Ramesh Praggnanandhaa. In June, Praggnanandhaa became the world’s second-youngest grandmaster, and India’s 52nd, aged 12 years, 10 months and 13 days.

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