Chess, Cycling, Sports

May 20th and May 21st where the play-offs of the Dutch team chess championships. Cycling and chess, both for leisure, are the two only "sports" I actively pursue, although I follow more or less all sports passively. Of my fellow bloggers I know Janine is a triathlete, Carla is a long distance runner, Andy is into outdoor sports (climbing; the image could be faked :-)). The only sports pursued by Lilia appear to be as closely to an internet connection as possible and plane hopping (is that a sport?).

My chess team (ING/ESGOO from Enschede) became second in the competition and I helped out by creating the website of the event. One of the advances of technology is that chess tournaments can be followed live. The pieces generate a pulse that is picked up by special chess boards and software translates these into moves and diagrams. Thousands of people from all over the world followed the games.

Chess on the Internet started for real in 1994 when Mark Crowther started The Week in Chess (TWIC). I helped out by writing the support software, which is still being used, to generate cross-tables and machine readable games.

Since 1993 (World Championship qualifiers in Groningen; first chess event covered on the Internet albeit with limited technology) I have been involved in about 30 chess tournaments covered on the Internet. Although declining the offer to help out is difficult, I like chess and I think Internet readers deserve adequate coverage, these days I prefer cycling. It is more addictive than chess.

Comments

[Lilia]

Plane hopping is not a sport really... it's just a warming-up you can't avoid before the real one - learning about new places, new cultures and new people...

And, hey, I do diving!