AJEDREZ EN MEXICO REPRINTS A FULL PAGE ARTICLE WRITTEN ABOUT CLAUDIA IN THE MEXICAN NEWSPAPER "LA PRENSA DE MONCLOVA"

Along our chess journey we have made numerous friends in various countries, one of them is Mr. Hugo Aranda - editor of AJEDREZ EN MEXICO (Chess in Mexico). His chess portal is the best known in Latin America with an enormous amount of traffic. His portal can be found at www.ajedrezenmexico.org,

About a month ago, we received an email from a newspaper in Monclova, Mexico requesting permission to interview our daughter, WCM Claudia Munoz. As our readers know, Claudia is American born but currently lives in the U.S. - Mexico border. As a Hispanic chessplayer, she is a source of inspiration not only for Latinos but for Hispanic girls on both sides of the border. Her achievements on both sides of the Rio Grande, along with her enormously popular Spanish language blog: www.chesscampeona.blogspot.com, have positioned her as a Mexican-American to keep an eye on. Especially now that she is 4 weeks away from returning to North Texas to concentrate on chess, after only playing in 13 rated chess events in the United States in the last 4-years while on vacation.

Reporter Luisa Chavez Leija from "LA PRENSA DE MONCLOVA" interviewed our daughter in Spanish about her chess career since age 6, her chess achievements in Mexico as an American living there and about her return to the United States.

The newspaper printed pictures of Claudia receiving an award from the Governor of Coahuila in 2008, Mr. Humberto Moreira Valdes, after becoming the first chessplayer in the history of the state in becoming runner-up to the state's high performance award after winning 3 medals in the Mexican national olympics. Also, pictures of Claudia in Texas at the Susan Polgar National Invitational along with GM Susan Polgar when she won the Susan Polgar National Open in 2008 - undefeated.

The article demonstrates how Claudia's achievement in both countries - the United States and Mexico.

The full page article from "LA PRENSA DE MONCLOVA" can be seen at the following link as it was republished by AJEDREZ EN MEXICO:

http://www.ajedrezenmexico.org/articulos/2828/art%C3%ADculo-la-prensa-monclova-sobre-claudia-toda-una-plana,

SPORTS POLTICS AND ANTI-SEMITISM

By DAVID BEDEIN, Middle East Correspondent

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Jerusalem – Moments after her moving victory in the world junior chess championship, Marcel Efroimsky of Kfar Saba, Israel, stood proudly at the podium as the new world champion. She grasped her silver cup, stole another glance at the gold medal around her neck, and expected the Israeli national anthem to be played in the background, as is customary in every competition. But silence filled the air. An irksome silence.

Ms. Efroimsky, 14, comes from a dynasty of chess masters. She began playing at the age of 6 and at 9 competed in her first world championship. Her dream came true when she won the first place in the world championship for players ages 14 and under, which was held in Turkey, but was very disappointed when the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikva,” was not played, as the winning country’s national anthem customarily is.

“This is simply a scandal,” fumed Shai Efroimsky, the new champion’s father. “How dare they mix politics with sports? The rules explicitly say that the national anthem is to be played. And that was the case two years ago as well, when she won the championship for girls up to the age of 12 that was held in the same location in Turkey.”

Indeed, two years ago Ms. Efroimsky won the championship for girls aged 12 and under, held in Turkey, and she became the first Israeli girl to do so. At that time, before relations between Ankara and Jerusalem had deteriorated, the Israeli national anthem was played.

But, this time the competition ended in a very different way. The medals were handed out, the trophy was presented to Ms. Efroimsky and, after the speeches, the organizers suddenly decided not to play the national anthems of the countries from which the award-winners hailed. The exception was the Russian national anthem, after Russia won the largest number of awards in the various competitions that were held. This is the second incident in the space of a week in which Israel’s national anthem was not played despite the fact that an Israeli won first place.

The organizers claimed in their defense that they had been forced to shorten the ceremony and that was the reason why the national anthems were not played, but officials involved in the competition said they suspected that the Turks’ intentions had been clear—to refrain from playing the Israeli national anthem. “I suspect that this was a specific move against Israel,” said Mr. Efroimsky.

In the wake of the incident last night, Aviv Bushinsky, the chairman of the Israeli Chess Association, sent a telegram to the president of the World Chess Federation with a request that he investigate the incident. Mr. Bushinsky wrote that steps ought to be taken against the Turks if it should become evident that the decision to refrain from playing the national anthem was deliberate.

Hatikva Not Played At

Fencing Championship

Precisely one week ago Daria Sterlinkov, of Israel, won the gold medal in a prestigious fencing competition in Austria, while Alona Komorov won the bronze medal. However, in this case, too, the Israeli national anthem was not played upon the conclusion of the ceremony at which the awards were handed out.

The Israeli team coach, Yaakov Federman, said that the person responsible for playing the national anthems told him they were unable to find the Israeli national anthem.

“So, we decided to take the initiative and all the members of the delegation, 22 in number, sang Hatikva ourselves,” said Mr. Federman, who added that this was not the first time that an incident of this sort has happened. “Five months ago in Sweden we had the same story,” he said.

Yesterday, a moving ceremony was held at the Ort Maalot school in honor of the pupils Ms. Sterlinkov and Ms. Komorov, and in honor of the teacher at the school, Yaakov Federman, their professional coach. “We decided not to be silent over the Austrian decision to ignore playing the national anthem of the first place winner and that is why we held a ceremony at the school, in the course of which the Israeli national anthem was played proudly,” said the school’s principal, Avi Manshes.

“The Austrian ambassador was also invited to the ceremony, but he did not attend and sent a letter of apology about what happened in Austria as well.” The ceremony was conducted with the blessing of Dr. Orna Simhon, the director of the Israel Education Ministry’s northern district.



David Bedein can be reached at bedein@thebulletin.us

GOD ALWAYS HAS ANOTHER MOVE....

http://www.newburyportnews.com/punews/local_story_331212247.html,

By Rev. Clinton L. Barlow

In an art gallery in London, there hangs a famous painting that depicts the great encounter between Faust and the devil. The painting shows Faust and the devil seated at a chess board. The devil is leering at Faust, with a self-satisfied air about him, because he has just checkmated Faust's king and his knight.

Through the years, many people have stood before this painting. But one day, a famous chess master went to the art gallery in London to study the picture. He stared, he paced, he thought. Suddenly, the famous chess master saw something. And in the quiet and staid surroundings of the art gallery — and to the utter amazement of those standing around him, who were also looking at the picture — he shouted out, "It's a lie! It's a lie! The king and the knight both have another move!"

My good friend and colleague, the Rev. Kurt Traugott, recently shared this story with me. Reflecting on this story, Kurt had this to say: "It seems to me that, in a strange way, this is the meaning of the Incarnation and the blessing of Christmas. In Jesus Christ, God always has another move."

As we journey through this Advent season — recalling the stories of Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, Herod, and wise men — let us ponder how 2,009 years ago God made another move. It is a remarkable story in the face of many checkmates. But each time that it seems that the story will end in disaster and unfulfilled promise, God makes another move. A move that no one else saw — a move that no one thought possible.

Certainly in these dark economic times we are looking for a sign, we are looking for hope, we are looking for light in the darkness of the world — light in the darkness of our own life experience.

Reflecting on all of this, the author Kathleen Norris has written out of her own life experience: " ... even in terrible circumstances and calamities, in matters of life and death, if I sense that I am in the shadow of God, I find light, so much light that my vision improves dramatically.

"I know that holiness is near. And it is not rooted in majesty. It does not assert itself with raw power, but it waits in puzzlement. It hesitates. Coming from Galilee, as it were, from a place of little hope, it reveals the ordinary circumstances of my life to be full of mystery and gospel, which means 'good news.'"

_____________

The Rev. Clinton L. Barlow is interim pastor of the Millbury Baptist Church.

WHY IS THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING CALLED "BLACK FRIDAY"?

Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. The term dates back to at least 1966, although its usage was primarily on the East coast. The term has become more common in other parts of the country since 2000. Because Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday occurs between the 23^rd and the 29^th of November.

Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employees have the day off (with the exceptions of those employed in retailing, health care, and banking), which increases the number of potential shoppers. Retailers often decorate for the Christmas and holiday season weeks beforehand. Many retailers open extremely early, with most of the retailers typically opening at 5AM or even earlier. Some of the larger retailers (depending on the location) such as Sears, Best Buy, Macy's, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart have been reported to open as early as midnight on the start of Black Friday in localized areas and remain open for 24 hours throughout the day until midnight the following Saturday. Upon opening, retailers offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1960s.

The term "Black Friday" originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day (see Origin of the name "Black Friday" below). More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit).

source: wikipedia

WE WISH YOU A BLESSED HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY

We ask our readers to take a minute to reflect on God's blessings upon us and our family, it never hurts to give thanks to the almighty for His goodness. As we sit to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal, let us also think about what more we need to do in our lives so that we may be a blessing to others.


On behalf of the www.claudiachess.blogspot.com family: Abed, Claudia, Faith and Claudia Elizabeth we wish you a blessed Thanksgiving Day.

THE NATIONAL SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP IN DALLAS, TEXAS BEGINS IN 15 DAYS

December is a time for numerous changes in the Munoz family as our children will be getting ready to go to a regular school in January. They have been homeschooled for two years and in a few weeks they will be traveling to North Texas for testing prior to registering in school. During the trip, Claudia will swing by to Dallas to play in the NATIONAL SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP.

We are very excited as our family prepares for Claudia's assault on the USCF rating system, after having played mostly chess as an American living in Mexico since she was 6 years old. She would only play tournaments in the United States while on a quick vacation back home. In January 2010, Claudia will be living in Wichita Falls, Texas specifically to focus on school, church and chess.

Her 1484 USCF rating is extremely deceiving since its based on 3 rated tournaments per year, while on vacation in the United States, the last 4-years. When she begins to plays every two weeks in the Dallas Chess Club within 90 days an enourmous improvement will have ocurred on her rating.

2009 National K-12 Chess Championship

438 Teams from 38 States:

AR 8

AZ 23

CA 29

CO 9

CT 6

DC 3

FL 26

GA 2

IA 2

ID 3

IL 11

IN 3

KS 4

KY 5

LA 12

MA 5

MD 3

MI 5

MN 4

MO 6

MS 1

NC 4

NE 1

NJ 16

NM 5

NV 3

NY 46

OH 8

OK 14

PA 4

RI 1

SC 1

TN 2

TX 125

UT 5

VA 13

WA 12

WI 3

XX 1