William Atkins
Friday, 26 September 2008 22:31
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
Here is how the chess match will be set up:
“Key players in the game will be the kindergarten through third grade U.S. Chess Championship Team and its chess club teammates from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Wash.”
“The K-3 champions will select up to four possible moves on Earth's turn.”
“The public then will vote on the move transmitted to orbit. The USCF will facilitate the match on its Web site at: http://www.uschess.org/nasa2008”
The USCF website is entitled
“Earth vs. Space Chess Match 2008.”
Hal Bogner, USCF match director, states on another
USCF website,
“The young champions - who have graciously offered to let Greg play first - will recommend up to four choices for Earth's first move here on Monday, and the winning move will be relayed by Mission Control to Greg, more than 200 miles above the rest of us, aboard the International Space Station (ISS)."
Bogner adds,
"The game is expected to proceed at a pace of roughly one move for each side every two days, but it may move faster at times, and slower at others, so check here frequently for the latest moves, discussion, and more.”
Specifically,
“The game against the public will move at a pace of one move per day on weekdays only. Play may be slower, however, because Chamitoff only makes moves when his workload permits.”
[It sounds to me like Chamitoff is already making excuses. Of course, now, he is playing against a championship team from the state of Washington and a potential mass of people in excess of 6.6 billion. So, he’d better have his chess-playing hat on while competing against this vastly talented group.]
Page three contains comments from NASA and USCF.
