ChessCongress         bbermingham@corkcity.ie    www.bbermingham.com

Cork City Chess Congress Prize giving

I am delighted to be present as Deputy Lord Mayor representing the City of Cork to day.

May I Congratulations the Organisers of this –

Cork City Chess Congress Prize giving ceremony.

Brief History

Chess is played throughout the world; it has fascinated people for centuries.

Though it dates to antiquity (some researchers believe terra cotta pieces, found in the middle east around 6,000 B.C. were used in chess),

There is debate as to which culture its origins should be credited.

A Dominican Friar from Italy wrote a chess treatise in the middle Ages. Its 1474 translation by Englishman William Caxton standardized play for a short time, but it was not until international play of the 1500’s that rules were widely agreed upon.

A Syrian, Philip Stamma, acclaimed as the pioneer of modern chess technique, helped popularise the game in the middle of the 1700’s [18C] through publications, and play that stressed strategy.

London was the site of the first modern international chess tournament in 1851 from which players, in officially sanctioned modern chess tournaments, can accumulate point’s won at various levels and can advance toward the top designation of grandmaster.

In time, Tournament play  - used clocks to limit the time permitted for moves, heightening the concentration and fatigue of a match, requiring players to be in top physical condition.

Players

The USSR and Russia who have dominated international play since the late 1940s produced outstanding players of their day and were considered world champions.

The 1972 World Chess Championship, held in Iceland, between the American Bobby Fischer and Soviet Boris Spassky, received unprecedented worldwide coverage and boosted the game's popularity.

The American Fischer broke the Soviet stranglehold on the world title in a match reflective of cold war tension.

Fischer, however, forfeited the title in 1974, the first player ever to do so, by refusing to play a championship match.

Chess's popularity was enhanced in the 1980s by championship duels between Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.

In 1993 Kasparov, who had held the world title since 1985, broke with the International Chess Federation (FIDE), which reinstated Karpov as champion after a playoff.

In 1997 Kasparov, still regarded the best player in the world, lost a match to the IBM computer “Deep Blue”,

Various players have become famous for their openings, middle games, or end games, and many tactics have acquired the names of players or countries of origin, as in the Ruy Lopez opening or the Sicilian defense.

The Web

As you can see I searched the Web to find some data on chess and was met with hundreds of Web sites giving access to a Hugh variety of creative colourful and detailed sites including individual chess clubs, books and chess materials to purchase etc –Very impressive indeed.

But more importantly the web opens one up to a worldwide community of chess players.

Arising from the exciting game of chess, the opportunities to meet and play chess with others on this Global village is enormous.

Twinning

There are over Two million interactive chess games online and many opportunities to chat.

This represents an enormous network to represent Ireland and the City of Cork, and thereby creating opportunities in so-many ways sporting, social, economic.

You are aware of our sister city links to Britain- Swansea, Coventry, France-Rennes, Germany-Cologne and USA-San Francisco.

Annual Twinning Grants are available to develop these links for groups like yourselves and your counterparts in our twinned cities.

I hope your sport goes from strength to strength

Many Thanks

Brian Bermingham,

Deputy Lord Mayor

http://homepage.eircom.net/~bbermingham/