Play Like a Girl! Tactics by 9 Queens February 10, 2011
Posted by Jennifer in : books,chess,feminism , add a comment
My new book, Play Like a Girl! Tactics by 9 Queens has arrived. The book is filled with chess puzzles and combinations, all executed by female players and is a perfect “prequel” to my first book, Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport. All the author royalties go to 9 Queens initiatives to bring chess to inner-city youth and girls. Find out more on the Mongoose Press homepage and look for more details coming soon.
Sundance Gallery February 6, 2011
Posted by Jennifer in : art,chess,travel , add a commentA couple of weeks ago, I attended the Sundance Film Festival and saw the Fischer biopic Bobby Fischer Against the World, directed by Liz Garbus. I had a great time–Park City, Utah was absolutely gorgeous and the film was tight. The purpose of my visit was generally to promote chess and specifically to participate in a reception hosted by the World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum (mark the museum’s grand opening for September 8, 2011.) The reception displayed stunning never-seen before photos of Bobby by Harry Benson, who will also be showing his photos at a World Chess Museum exhibit in 2012. Watch the HBO Buzz clip below, where I was interviewed about the museum and Bobby’s influence on my generation of chessplayers. The Bobby Fischer Against the World section starts at 1:35.
Check out some photos of the event below by Shannon Bailey of the World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum and add the World Chess Museum on facebook for more. Also coming soon to uschess.org/clo is “Grandmasters Sundancing” a piece on the trip by three-time US Chess Champion Joel Benjamin.
The beautiful Sundance setting
At the reception
Promoting chess at Sundance
WIM Iryna Zenyuk, GM Alexander Shabalov, GM Joel Benjamin and me
Alexander Shabalov teaching a young Utah chess player.
Chess at Sundance! January 18, 2011
Posted by Jennifer in : chess,travel , add a commentBobby Fischer Against the World premieres at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum (to open in Saint Louis on September 8th) will present a photo exhibit and will host a series of chess exhibitions by chess players, including me, Alexander Shabalov, Joel Benjamin and Iryna Zenyuk.
Being in Sundance for a few days should be great inspiration for the Extreme Chess shoot on Sunday the 23rd. See the flyer for details, and if you’re within striking distance, join the fun!
Extreme Blitz Chess December 6, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : chess , 4 commentsCheck out the video, Extreme Blitz Chess, which I helped produce and first published on Chess Life Online. The video features my brother International Master (IM) Greg Shahade and IM Robert Hungaski. The editing and directing is by Daniel Meirom. Greg, Daniel and I are teaming up for another chess promotion video project early in 2011, which will involve talented young American masters facing off in an exciting format. If you want to know more and get involved by volunteering or sponsoring the production with a tax-deductible gift, please contact me.
Going Deep in Guggenheim YouTube Play and WCOOP September 25, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : art,chess,feminism,hooping,poker , 5 commentsI’m happy to report here that Hulachess has been shortlisted for the 1st Guggenheim YouTube Play biennial! 125 videos made the cut out of over 23,000 entries from 91 countries. Browse the shortlist at YouTube.com/Play and find hulachess either by my username (Superjenium) or in the “Non-Narrative” Category. Now an art and filmstar jury including Shirn Neshat and Takashi Murakami will whittle the field down to 20 videos to be installed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (as well as the Bilbao, Venice and Berlin institutions) from October 21-24.
Because I play in so many Multi-table poker tournaments (MTTs) I have a good sense of the luck and skill required to go deep in a field with thousands of contestants. Funnily enough, the day prior to the shortlist announcement I made the money at a NL Hold Em World Championship of Online Poker event (WCOOP) on pokerstars. I grinded the Sunday away, sadly missing a South Philly street fair outside my house, with drinks, dancing, sausage sandwiches and lemonade and carnival games. But when the bubble burst, I was happy to be indoors on a gorgeous day. Out of almost 10,000 players I ended in 514th place for a decent cash. Still, the 280K first prize was many dreams and coinflips away.
If only the Guggenheim gallery morphed into a cardroom to determine the YouTube Play finalists! I could I face my artist, musician and game designer opponents in either six max Sit and Gos (the winner of each six person poker tournament would advance to the top 20), a regular Multi-Table satellite or even a Heads-up Knockout. To be honest, I don’t think the Guggenheim jury intends to decide it heads-up, since they only picked 125 videos, and the round one heads-up brackets would need 128 artists. Well… a few videos, such as hulachess, could be seeded into round two 
See a few of my other favorites below. In other words, I hope these aren’t seated to my left.
Congrats also to co-creator Daniel Meirom, dancer & choreographer Gabrielle Revlock and Director of Photography Blake Eichenseer. For more press on the 1st Guggenheim YouTube Play Biennial, see mashable, flavorwire, the Huffington Post, and Alexandra Kosteniuk’s chessblog.com. Also thanks to Samara O’Shea for letting me and Daniel know about the contest, and for a nice post about hulachess on letterlover.net.
Chess Scoop Up High September 17, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : art,chess , add a commentI had a great time last weekend in New York visiting the G-Star RAW chess challenge, where World #1 ranked chessplayer GM Magnus Carlsen took on, and defeated, all online comers. I also went gallery-hopping in Chelsea, and saw some amazing shows like Pippolini Rist at Luhring Augustine–Wouldn’t it be lovely to own an underwear chandelier?
I wrote an in-depth Chess Life Online blog on the G-Star event and Daniel and I made two chess scoop videos atop the Cooper Square Hotel.
Play by Play and Women’s Titles on NPR August 25, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : chess , 1 comment so far
I was interviewed on NPR about women’s chess titles and tournaments in a piece by Sean Phillips on All Things Considered. IM Irina Krush (not rapping this time) and Jean Hoffman of 9queens were also featured. A week later, me, GM Maurice Ashley and GM Ben Finegold were in Rachel Lippmann’s story on play-by-play chess commentary in “Only a Game”. Check out the links above and my CLO blog piece contrasting these NPR hits with other recent depictions of chess in the mainstream.
Hula Chess Spins on in 2010 July 27, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : chess,feminism,hooping , add a commentThe US Women’s and US Junior Champs are a wrap in Saint Louis! In the middle of the event, Channel 5 Show Me Saint Louis host Dana Hendrickson came to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis to learn chess and hooping moves.
The final cut included footage both from the original video art (often left out of hula chess press) and my hulachess stint on ESPN2′s First Take.
Additionally, at the two-year anniversary of the CCSCSL, Iryna Zenyuk and I hulachessed, which Suzy Gorman captured beautifully in photographs. I also added additional photographs to my hulachess gallery.
Looking for Revenge in Chess Poker July 7, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : chess,poker , add a commentThe first ever chesspoker match began randomly in the miles-long hallway of the Rio, World Series of Poker 2010. After busting out of a single table satellite, I was desperately seeking a carb fix when a couple of chess turned poker players recognized me from my 2010 US Chess Championship commentary. After consoling me that my 72 offsuit shove was indeed, the right play, we turned to discussing the parameters of our imminent chess poker match.
My opponent Brandon Lee, was a former 1900 player who long ago gave up chess for poker. We decided on a six-game chess match at 5 to 2 odds. Each chess game was worth 50 poker chips—after the chess match, we’d move on Heads-Up No Limit poker. There was a base of 100 chips each, so even if one of us swept, there would still be a poker match.
My first game was a sweet victory in the King’s Indian Defense, ending something like this:
Things went downhill from there and we split the next four games. In the final game, I reached a lost winning rook endgame. Yes, you read that right! I was up a pawn but had about eight seconds to my opponent’s 30. Somehow, I managed to balance that to 2 to 8, and Brandon offered a draw. I took it
We moved on to heads-up poker. The blind structure was pretty deep at 1-2 with 15 minute levels, but I felt good about my chip lead—a starting stack of 275 to Brandon’s 225.
Things started off badly for me as I lost a bunch of small pots and I was down to 235 when we reached a critical hand. Brandon made it 7 on the button, I re-raised it to 22 and he 4-bet me to 83. He raised me off pots and showed bluffs a few times already, so I thought his range was much wider than it actually was. This is the danger of using too many “instincts” in poker. My gut said that he was trying to bully me, but logically, his range is pretty narrow. I five bet-him all in with QTs and he called with AJo. Everyone laughed at my play but at least I was a little over 40% to win the showdown and of course I made a flush on the river.
I now had him down to about 30 chips! Unfortunately, after folding a couple hands, he won a race with J2s vs. something like T9 and was back to 50 chips. A little later, we had this annoying hand:
I raised the button with T6s and he called. Flop came 467 rainbow. He checked, I bet out 12, he raised to 30 and I called. Turn was a 7 and he bet out 45. I thought for a while and folded—at the time completely unsure about my play. After the hand, I knew he had me beat because earlier he was showing bluffs whereas in this hand he sheepishly tossed his cards into the muck. Later he told me he had 35o for a sucker straight-more like a crusher straight heads up.
So eventually he regained a chip lead, the blinds blossomed and I got it all in with A3o vs. K5o. You can see the result of that race from my expression in the photo.
Overall, the format was very fun. So if you’re good at poker and chess, go ahead and challenge me. I’m hungry for a win.
2010 Ladies World Series of Poker Redux June 20, 2010
Posted by Jennifer in : chess,feminism,poker,travel , add a commentI’m back from Las Vegas, where I played in the Ladies World Series of Poker and covered the National Open for Chess Life Online. I also made a quick stop in Saint Louis for meetings related to the 2010 US Women’s and US Junior’s Championship (July 9-19)and to give a group of Saint Louis women a sneak preview into “Play Like a Girl”, the 9queens/Mongoose Press collaboration that will be coming out later this year. It was all a blast, though predictably, I came back with a serious case of the Vegas/airplane flu.
I reported on the Ladies World Series of Poker on the second episode of Women’s Poker Hour and in an article on WomanPokerPlayer.com, which begins thus:
At the Ladies Event of the World Series of Poker, Vanessa Hellebuyck of France won her first bracelet and a prize of $192,000. Despite the uproarious applause of what seemed liked every French man or woman in Las Vegas, Vanessa’s win barely registered a peep compared to the media coverage of the dozen men who took their legal right to play in the “Ladies’ Event” seriously.
About ten minutes into the event, Seth Palansky made it clear that Harrah’s was not happy about the men who infiltrated the Event #22 of the World Series. A woman, who I later found out was Joy Miller representing Bluff Magazine, also announced soon after the tournament started that online poker legend Shaun Deeb was playing (in drag) because he lost a prop bet.
Women’s poker tournaments have a great atmosphere. Daniel Negreanu called it “electric!” We compliment each other’s clothes and handbags, offer each other gum and lip-balm, and spend the first three levels set-mining and waiting for aces. Except of course if Shaun Deeb is on our right in which case we three-bet him until his mascara, applied by none other than Liv Boeree, drips and he changes his mind, decides that drag is uncool and women’s poker tournaments are just wrong.
Some more salient points from my reportage:
1. I was eliminated from the Ladies WSOP shoving A3o from the Cutoff in an unenviable but inevitable spot. My opponent called with AQo and I was busto minutes before the dinner break.
2. I cashed in my private lesson with pokerstars pro Vanessa Rousso of Big Slick Bootcamp. Vanessa is really passionate about poker and teaching, and I will write a full article on my lesson with her. One tidbit: she is not a big fan of three-bet shoving, which was comforting cause there were a few such spots in the WSOP that I wisely chickened out on. Rousso is currently in the Elite Eight of the 10K Heads-Up competition, which started with 256 players. Good luck!!
3. Phil Ivey is better looking in person than on TV poker tables because a. he is much taller than you’d expect (often obscured by slumping over the poker table), and b. he dresses well (often obscured by full tilt gear).
4. Of the dozen men who crashed the Ladies WSOP, one used a tampon as a card-protector. While this may be a rude, I don’t think it merits a penalty. The same sort of male tournament director who gives a penalty to someone for that is the type of boyfriend who would think it’s “gross” to run out to the CVS and buy a pack of Tampax for his girlfriend. It’s a tampon, not an illicit device!
5. Two more stories coming on my aforementioned lesson with Rousso and a pokerchess match that I contested against a chessplayer turned poker pro.
