1.
Kladno
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Kladno is the biggest city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It is located 25 kilometres northwest of the capital city Prague, Kladno is the largest city of the region and holds a population together with its adjacent suburban areas of more than 110,000 people. The city is part of the Prague metropolitan area, which has the population of nearly 2,200,000 people, the first written evidence of Kladno dates back to the 14th century. In 1561 the city rights were secured, until 1918, the town was part of the Austrian monarchy, head of the Kladno district, one of the 94 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in Bohemia. Kladno was the birthplace of heavy industry in Bohemia. For years, the town was home to the Poldi steel factory, the factory still stands but has been divided into smaller entities after privatisation and changes in ownership. The mining industry here in 1842. A post-office was opened in 1863, the proximity to Prague helped to keep the local economy stable in spite of the heavy industrial decline after the collapse of the communist regime. A series of Western European companies has established production in Kladno, including LEGO, Dr. Oetker, NKT Cables, Jiří Dienstbier, former deputy in Parliament of the Czech Republic senator of Kladno, presidential nominant. Anton Čermák, mayor of Chicago, Illinois from 1931–1933, was here in 1873. Antonin Raymond, Czech American architect noted for projects in Japan, jaromír Jágr, ice hockey player for the Florida Panthers. Michal Pivoňka, former ice hockey player for the Washington Capitals, twice led his team in scoring. Tomáš Plekanec, ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens, ondřej Pavelec, ice hockey goaltender for the Winnipeg Jets. Jiří Tlustý, ice hockey player for the Winnipeg Jets, jakub Voráček, ice hockey player for the Philadelphia Flyers. Michael Frolík, ice hockey player for the Calgary Flames Jiří Sekáč, františek Kaberle, former ice hockey player for the Carolina Hurricanes. Radko Gudas, ice hockey player for the Philadelphia Flyers, one of the main Lego production facilities is located here
2.
Czechoslovakia
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From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate. From 1948 to 1990, Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet bloc with a command economy and its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949, and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of May 1955. A period of liberalization in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was forcibly ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by several other Warsaw Pact countries. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the two states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Form of state 1918–1938, A democratic republic, 1938–1939, After annexation of Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A large strip of southern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine was annexed by Hungary, 1939–1945, The region was split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic. A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and its Allies, after the German invasion of Russia, Czechoslovakia adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and was a founding member of the United Nations. 1946–1948, The country was governed by a government with communist ministers, including the prime minister. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union, 1948–1989, The country became a socialist state under Soviet domination with a centrally planned economy. In 1960, the country became a socialist republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a state of the Soviet Union. 1989–1990, The federal republic consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic, 1990–1992, Following the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, consisting of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Neighbours Austria 1918–1938, 1945–1992 Germany Hungary Poland Romania 1918–1938 Soviet Union 1945–1991 Ukraine 1991–1992 Topography The country was of irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands, the eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin. Climate The weather is mild winters and mild summers, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. The area was long a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire until the Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, the new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was succeeded by his ally, Edvard Beneš. The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, nationalism became a mass movement in the last half of the 19th century
3.
Grandmaster (chess)
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The title Grandmaster is awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain, once achieved, the title is held for life. It is often abbreviated to GM, the abbreviation IGM for International Grandmaster is also sometimes used, particularly in older literature. The title of Grandmaster, along with the lesser FIDE titles of International Master, a number of women have earned the GM title, with the first two having been Nona Gaprindashvili in 1978 and Susan Polgar in 1991. Since about 2000, most of the top 10 women have held the GM title, a separate gender-segregated title, Woman Grandmaster, is also available. It is awarded to women who attain a level of skill between that of a FIDE Master and an International Master, FIDE awards separate Grandmaster titles to composers and solvers of chess problems. The International Correspondence Chess Federation awards the title of International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, the first known use of the term grandmaster in connection with chess was in an 1838 issue of Bells Life, in which a correspondent referred to William Lewis as our past grandmaster. Lewis himself later referred to Philidor as a grandmaster, and the term was applied to a few other players. In the Ostend tournament of 1907 the term grandmaster was used, the tournament was divided into two sections, the Championship Tournament and the Masters Tournament. The Championship section was for players who had won an international tournament. Siegbert Tarrasch won the Championship section, over Carl Schlechter, Dawid Janowski, Frank Marshall, Amos Burn and these players were described as grandmasters for the purposes of the tournament. The San Sebastián 1912 tournament won by Akiba Rubinstein was a designated grandmaster event, Rubinstein won with 12½ points out of 19. Tied for second with 12 points were Aron Nimzowitsch and Rudolf Spielmann, by some accounts, in the St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament, the title Grandmaster was formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who had partially funded the tournament. The Tsar reportedly awarded the title to the five finalists, Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch, before 1950, the term grandmaster was sometimes informally applied to other world class players. The Fédération Internationale des Échecs was formed in Paris in 1924, in 1927, the Soviet Unions Chess Federation established the title of Grandmaster of the Soviet Union, for their own players, since at that time Soviets were not competing outside their own country. This title was abolished in 1931, after having been awarded to Boris Verlinsky, the title was brought back in 1935, and awarded to Mikhail Botvinnik, who thus became the first official Grandmaster of the USSR. Verlinsky did not get his title back, when FIDE reorganized after World War II it adopted regulations concerning the award of international titles. Titles were awarded by a resolution of the FIDE General Assembly, FIDE first awarded the Grandmaster title in 1950 to 27 players
4.
FIDE
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It is usually referred to as FIDE, its French acronym. FIDE was founded in Paris, France, on July 20,1924 and its motto is Gens una sumus, Latin for We are one people. As of 2015, FIDEs president is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Ilyumzhinov suspended some of his authority at a December 6,2015 Presidential Board meeting, at which Deputy President Georgios Makropoulous received these powers, following the statutes. FIDEs most visible activity is organizing the World Chess Championship, and most particularly the Chess Olympiad and it is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the supreme body responsible for the organization of chess and its championships at global and continental levels. Since 1980 FIDE is a member of UNESCO, FIDE oversees few other tournaments, although other top-level events, almost without exception, respect FIDE rules and regulations. It defines the rules of chess, both for playing games and for the conduct of international competitions. The international competition rules are the basis for local competitions, although local bodies are allowed to modify these rules to a certain extent, FIDE awards a number of organisational titles, including International Arbiter, which signifies that the recipient is competent and trusted to oversee top-class competitions. It also awards Master and Grandmaster titles for achievement in problem and study composing and solving, Correspondence chess is regulated by the International Correspondence Chess Federation, an independent body that co-operates with FIDE where appropriate. The proposed FIDE budget for 2016 lists 2.73 million dollars in expected income, mostly for tournament registration, entry fees, in 2015, the latter two were replaced by the World Cup rights as a source of funds. For 2014, the largest expenditure is combined staff costs of the Athens, Elista, unexpectedly high legal costs were third on the list, just ahead of presidential travel. In April 1914, an initiative was taken in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1920, another attempt to organize an international federation was made at the Gothenburg Tournament. Alekhine, Bogoljubow, Maróczy, Réti, Rubinstein, Tartakower, the only match played under those rules was Capablanca vs Alekhine in 1927. On July 20,1924 the participants at the Paris tournament founded FIDE as a kind of players union, in its early years, FIDE had little power, and was poorly financed. FIDEs congresses in 1925 and 1926 expressed a desire to become involved in managing the world championship, FIDEs third congress, in Budapest in 1926, also decided to organize a Chess Olympiad. The invitations were, however, late in being sent, with the result that four countries participated. The winner was Hungary, followed by Yugoslavia, Romania, in 1927, FIDE began organizing the First Chess Olympiad during its 4th Congress in London. The official title of the tournament was the Tournament of Nations, or World Team Championship, the event was won by Hungary, with 16 teams competing. In 1928 FIDE recognized Bogoljubow as Champion of FIDE after he won a match against Max Euwe. e, including the requirement for a purse of at least $10,000
5.
Elo rating system
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The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in competitor-versus-competitor games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor, the difference in the ratings between two players serves as a predictor of the outcome of a match. Two players with equal ratings who play against each other are expected to score a number of wins. A player whose rating is 100 points greater than their opponents is expected to score 64%, if the difference is 200 points, a players Elo rating is represented by a number which increases or decreases depending on the outcome of games between rated players. After every game, the player takes points from the losing one. The difference between the ratings of the winner and loser determines the number of points gained or lost after a game. In a series of games between a player and a low-rated player, the high-rated player is expected to score more wins. If the high-rated player wins, then only a few rating points will be taken from the low-rated player, however, if the lower rated player scores an upset win, many rating points will be transferred. The lower rated player will gain a few points from the higher rated player in the event of a draw. This means that this system is self-correcting. A player whose rating is too low should, in the run, do better than the rating system predicts. Arpad Elo was a chess player and an active participant in the United States Chess Federation from its founding in 1939. The USCF used a numerical system, devised by Kenneth Harkness, to allow members to track their individual progress in terms other than tournament wins. The Harkness system was fair, but in some circumstances gave rise to ratings which many observers considered inaccurate. On behalf of the USCF, Elo devised a new system with a sound statistical basis. Elos system replaced earlier systems of competitive rewards with a based on statistical estimation. Rating systems for many sports award points in accordance with subjective evaluations of the greatness of certain achievements, for example, winning an important golf tournament might be worth an arbitrarily chosen five times as many points as winning a lesser tournament. A statistical endeavor, by contrast, uses a model that relates the game results to underlying variables representing the ability of each player, Elos central assumption was that the chess performance of each player in each game is a normally distributed random variable
6.
Chess
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Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on a chessboard, a checkered gameboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. Chess is played by millions of people worldwide, both amateurs and professionals, each player begins the game with 16 pieces, one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. Each of the six piece types moves differently, with the most powerful being the queen, the objective is to checkmate the opponents king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. To this end, a players pieces are used to attack and capture the opponents pieces, in addition to checkmate, the game can be won by voluntary resignation by the opponent, which typically occurs when too much material is lost, or if checkmate appears unavoidable. A game may result in a draw in several ways. Chess is believed to have originated in India, some time before the 7th century, chaturanga is also the likely ancestor of the Eastern strategy games xiangqi, janggi and shogi. The pieces took on their current powers in Spain in the late 15th century, the first generally recognized World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886. Since 1948, the World Championship has been controlled by FIDE, the international governing body. There is also a Correspondence Chess World Championship and a World Computer Chess Championship, online chess has opened amateur and professional competition to a wide and varied group of players. There are also many variants, with different rules, different pieces. FIDE awards titles to skilled players, the highest of which is grandmaster, many national chess organizations also have a title system. However, these are not recognised by FIDE, the term master may refer to a formal title or may be used more loosely for any skilled player. Until recently, chess was a sport of the International Olympic Committee. Chess was included in the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games, since the 1990s, computer analysis has contributed significantly to chess theory, particularly in the endgame. The computer IBM Deep Blue was the first machine to overcome a reigning World Chess Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997, the rise of strong computer programs that can be run on hand-held devices has led to increasing concerns about cheating during tournaments. The official rules of chess are maintained by FIDE, chesss international governing body, along with information on official chess tournaments, the rules are described in the FIDE Handbook, Laws of Chess section. Chess is played on a board of eight rows and eight columns. The colors of the 64 squares alternate and are referred to as light, the chessboard is placed with a light square at the right-hand end of the rank nearest to each player
7.
Candidates Tournament
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The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chesss international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent World Champion, the last FIDE World Chess Candidates tournament took place in Moscow, Russia from 10 to 30 of March,2016. The number of players in the tournament varied over the years, most of these qualified from Interzonal tournaments, though some gained direct entry without having to play the Interzonal. The first Interzonal/Candidates World Championship cycle began in 1948, before 1965, the tournament was organized in a round-robin format. From 1965 on, the tournament was played as knockout matches, in 1995–1996, the defending FIDE champion also entered the Candidates, in the semi-finals, so the winner was the FIDE world champion. FIDE discontinued the Candidates Tournaments after 1996, though they have returned in a different form for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. During its 1993 to 2006 split from FIDE, the Classical World Championship also held three Candidates Tournaments under a different sponsor and a different format each time, in one of these cases no title match eventuated, under disputed circumstances. The tables below show the qualifiers and results for all interzonal, Candidates, players shown bracketed in italics qualified for the Candidates or were seeded in the Candidates, but did not play. Players shown in italics with an asterisk were excluded from the Candidates by a rule limiting the number of players from one country, players listed after players in italics only qualified due to the non-participation of the bracketed players. After 1996, interzonals ceased to exist, but FIDE continued to organize qualifying zonal tournaments, after the reunification of the FIDE and classical titles, the Chess World Cup and FIDE Grand Prix series were introduced as qualification for the Candidates Tournament
8.
World Chess Championship
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The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in chess. From 1886 to 1946, the set the terms, requiring any challenger to raise a sizable stake. From 1948 to 1993, the championship was administered by FIDE, in 1993, the reigning champion broke away from FIDE, which led to the creation of the rival PCA championship. The titles were unified at the World Chess Championship 2006, other separate events and titles are the Womens World Chess Championship, the World Junior Chess Championship, and the World Senior Chess Championship. There is also a World Computer Chess Championship, which is the only event computers may participate in, the concept of a world chess champion started to emerge in the first half of the 19th century, and the phrase world champion appeared in 1845. Until 1948 world championship contests were matches arranged privately between the players, as a result, the players also had to arrange the funding, in the form of stakes provided by enthusiasts who wished to bet on one of the players. In the early 20th century this was sometimes a barrier that prevented or delayed challenges for the title, however these attempts were unsuccessful in practice, as the same issues continued to delay or prevent challenges. The first attempt by an organization to manage the world championship was in 1887–89. A system for managing regular contests for the title went into operation in 1948, under the control of FIDE, however, in that year reigning champion Kasparov and challenger Short were so dissatisfied with FIDEs arrangements for their match that they set up a break-away organization. The first match proclaimed by the players as for the championship was the match that Wilhelm Steinitz won against Johannes Zukertort in 1886. However, a line of players regarded as the strongest in the world extends back hundreds of years beyond them, and they include Ruy López de Segura around 1560, Paolo Boi and Leonardo da Cutri around 1575, Alessandro Salvio around 1600, and Gioachino Greco around 1623. At present de La Bourdonnais, like Alexander the Great, is without heir, the earliest recorded use of the term World Champion was in 1845, when Howard Staunton was described as the Chess Champion of England, or. The winner of the battle in Paris should not be proud of his special position. Although Kennedy was a member of the committee for the tournament. The 1851 London tournament was won by the German Adolf Anderssen, Anderssen has been described as the first modern chess master. Anderssen was himself defeated in an 1858 match against the American Paul Morphy. Morphy played matches against several leading players, crushing them all, soon after, Morphy offered pawn and move odds to anyone who played him. Finding no takers, he retired from chess the following year
9.
Skopje
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Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia. It is the political, cultural, economic, and academic center. It was known in the Roman period under the name Scupi, the territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC, remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans, when the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992. From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire, in 1392, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who called the town Üsküp. The town stayed under Turkish control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküb, at that time the city was famous for its oriental architecture. In 1912, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars and after the First World War the city part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats. In the Second World War the city was conquered by the Bulgarian Army, in 1944, it became the capital city of Democratic Macedonia, which was a federal state, part of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. The city developed rapidly after World War II, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake, in 1991, it became the capital city of an independent Macedonia. Skopje is located on the course of the Vardar River. It is a center for metal-processing, chemical, timber, textile, leather, industrial development of the city has been accompanied by development of the trade, logistics, and banking sectors, as well as an emphasis on the fields of transportation, culture and sport. Skopje is located in the north of the Republic of Macedonia, in the center of the Balkan peninsula, the city is built in the Skopje valley, oriented on a west-east axis, along the course of the Vardar river, which flows into the Aegean Sea in Greece. The valley is approximately 20 kilometres wide and it is limited by several mountain ranges to the North and South and these ranges limit the urban expansion of Skopje, which spreads along the Vardar and the Serava, a small river which comes from the North. In its administrative boundaries, the City of Skopje stretches for more than 33 kilometres, Skopje is approximately 245m above sea level and covers 571.46 km2. The urbanised area only covers 337 km2, with a density of 65 inhabitants per hectare, Skopje, in its administrative limits, encompasses many villages and other settlements, including Dračevo, Gorno Nerezi and Bardovci. According to the 2002 census, the City of Skopje comprised 506,926 inhabitants, the City of Skopje reaches the Kosovo border to the North-East. Clockwise, it is bordered by the Macedonian municipalities of Čučer-Sandevo, Lipkovo, Aračinovo, Ilinden, Studeničani, Sopište, Želino
10.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
