Chess and Nuclear War

Source: Ma'ariv, 11.5.2010, p. 1.


Source: Ma'ariv 11.5.2010, last page.

Only in Israel, I presume, can the following happen: a chess item appears on the first page of the most popular (or second most popular) daily in Israel, Ma'ariv. Serenity in the Middle East at last? Not quite: the item, 'Kasparov Came out a King', is right above the main headline of the day -- where the previous Chief of the General Staff of the IDF, Moshe "Boogi" Ye'elon, declares that Israel 'has the ability to attack Iran' and that Israel is 'already is in a military conflict with Teheran.'

Be that as it may, on the last page of the paper, more details are given, including a large photograph, of the chess item's subject: a simultaneous display by Kasparov in Tel Aviv University given the previous day (10.5). Kasparov defeated all of his 30 opponents in a little more than three hours. The report adds, inter alia:

The time Kasparov spent next to your board soon became a status symbol -- if he lingered for more than a few seconds, you probably have challenged him...

...When after two hours all the games were still in progress, and some in the audience believed a sensation is about to happen. But it soon became clear... nobody really stood a chance. In the beginning of the fourth hour of play Kasparov began to get tired and blew away his opponents one by one...

...The only one to steal the show was Sa'ar Drori [pictured - A.P.], who is only eight and already has in his resume a game of almost three hours against a grandmaster. 'He plays a really strong game', Drori concluded.

Well, they say chess is a war game.