The De Kring art society in Amsterdam hosted the closing ceremony of the Max Euwe Memorial on November 20th. I played against three nude opponents as the prize-giving commenced. In addition to referencing Marcel Duchamp, the striking visuals showed two important themes. Firstly, it was a humorous take on the many tourists who come to Amsterdam for sex and drugs. Here we had a show that was only sexual on the surface but at heart cerebral. Secondly, it played off the general theme of simultaneous exhibitions, which are so common in the chess world. The master or grandmaster giving the simul is in a position of power and by defeating numerous opponents at once, the public and the media is informed of her dominance.

More photos are on the official site–the piece was also featured in the Amsterdam Daily “Het Parool” and inspired the following drawing by Edgar Jansen.

Short Stacked Shamus of Hard Boiled Poker wrote a blog on strip poker and art about a recent installation in New York, “I’ll Raise You Once” by Zefrey Throwell. Shamus also touched on naked chess:

The strip poker piece reminds me of a similar but more interesting work, a short film titled “Naked” in which poker pro and chess champ Jennifer Shahade plays chess against a nude male amateur, Jason Bretz. That piece plays off of a famous photo of Marcel Duchamp (a big influence on the Fluxus crowd), reversing the roles of the man and woman to make a comment on the relationship of the sexes.

Naked Checkmate from Poker Fairy Tale on Vimeo.

The Max Euwe Memorial tournament itself was also very exciting, featuring a combination of veterans, strong young players and inspiring female players such as Pia Cramling, one of the first women to earn the Grandmaster title. Find more information on the event on the official website which also features more details on my other appearances in Amsterdam and the closing ceremony.

Collusion is rampant in live super satellites and it is very tricky to draw the line between lack of incentives toward taking risks and actual cheating. On the softer end of the spectrum, if you have a friendly dynamic with the table throughout a super-satellite, players with large stacks may fold to you in spots where they have correct odds but gain very little from calling a shove or three-betting (re-raising) a minraise. This is certainly not cheating but it does point to some inherent flaws with live supers. This tournament was pretty extreme though, as one entire table folded to the big blind for over an hour. The situation got so out of hand that the tournament directors redrew for seats.

The Borgata Main was a grueling, deep-stacked event and some of my tables were quite tough. Mostly I felt happy that I combined long stretches of patience (we played ten-handed for most of the event) with well-timed aggression. However, in my latest piece for PokerStars Women, I touch on a poorly played hand against David Williams and how I was able to recover quickly from “Mistake Tilt.” This type of tilt refers to be really hard on yourself when you make an error in-game. I was made more aware of how destructive it can be in the excellent book, The Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler and Barry Carter.

After being eliminated from the Main, I stayed for a guest spot at the Borgata Poker Blog. I enjoyed reporting quick profiles and hand recaps, including an online turned live pro that doesn’t fit the typical profile, a controversial hand and the final two women in the tournament.

Soon after AC, I was off to London for a short trip. Not much time for much sight-seeing or boozing as I booked a slew of meetings, PokerStars Women interviews as well as quality poker time. On the chess end, I met some great people including Sabrina Chevannes of the Chevannes Chess Academy and Malcolm Pein, organizer of one the greatest chess events in the World, the London Chess Classic.

Sabrina Chevannes with Magnus Carlsen. Let the record state I made her pose with him!

I also got in touch with some people who have common interests in the artistic side of chess, including Etan Itfeld, owner of Tenderpixel Gallery and organizer of the Mind Sports Games and Tom Hackney, an artist who paints abstractions based on chess games.

At the London Bridge and Games Shop signing a copy of Play Like a Girl

I’m going to write up my British Chess Adventures in an article in Chess Life Magazine, so look out for that.

I busted the £550 PS Women Live Event in London in disappointing fashion but had some interesting experiences and will be writing a piece on it for PokerStars Women. I was happy to see Jan Combes aka JamJars take down the event for £8,700. Earlier this year, when I could still play on PokerStars I beat her to win a package to the EPT Madrid Ladies Event and felt a twinge of sympathy since she started that battle with a significant chip lead. She was radiant as she took down this London event and I thought it was cute that she posed for the winner’s photo (by Mickey May) with her son. Congrats.

I’m really into twitter these days (the max length I can be funny at is 140 characters), so follow me there as well as my sister accounts, USChess & The Grindettes.

Greg, Daniel and I are also going to be unveiling episodes for a new reality chess TV show in the next weeks and if you follow us at XtremeChessChamps you won’t miss a thing. On that note, I leave you with the host of our new show, Kacie Marie, with a quickie chess refresher.

While in Vegas, I thought about some of the things I’m doing right and other things I need to do to take my game to the next level. Frankly, because of Black Friday I frequently wandered the halls of the Rio, wondering: “What’s Next?” Playing online was always my main poker activity. Would I quit poker after WSOP, despite feeling more connected and passionate about the game than ever before? Happily, I think I’ve found enough projects & plans to stay pretty involved in the world of poker for at least the rest of the year. Look for more details as the summer turns to autumn. And if you haven’t already done so, watch Cin I, Cin II and Goldilocks on Poker Fairytale. Those projects express more deeply in images & sounds than I can in words and that’s why Daniel and I made them. This may be my favorite:

Cin II from Poker Fairy Tale on Vimeo.

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.

As you can see from the photo from my hotel room balcony, the Atlantis was an easy place to enjoy. The waterslides and aquarium made me feel like a kid again and it was lovely to meet and drink with people I had previously only known from their online screen-names. I actually felt sad to leave at the end of the trip, which is rare for me–I’m usually excited to get back to Philly.

The photo gallery below includes shots from the tournament, the resort and Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. Also look for my full recap later this month on PokerStarsWomen.com. Many congrats to Change 100 (Kristin Bihr) who took down the tournament for almost 30K and wrote a candid recap rich in details on her blog, Pot Committed.

What were the chances that the final four would be all blonde? I came up with about 50 to 1.

Daniel tapping the glass.

A statue of Columbus and Bahamian schoolchildren.

A cannon used as a horizontal trash can.

At this point the tournament was down to just four players, including Team Pokerstars Pro and writer Vicky Coren and the eventual winner, Kristin Bihr.

Talk show host & actress Ricki Lake and Poker Player/tax attorney Jamie Kerstetter

Maryann Morrison, the editor of Woman Poker Player Magazine and producer of Women’s Poker Hour

Lauren Kling, highstakes tournament player and PCA Ladies Event runner-up.

Carmelita Cothron (left), who won 100K on PokerStars’ Million Dollar Challenge and Stella Davila (right) a Women’s Poker League regular.

Kalik, a Bahamian beer drunk in spades by poker players last week.

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!

I’m excited to announce that I am part a brand new team of writers for PokerStars Women! My first article covered Lauren Nakhoneinh Pottmeyer’s (pictured below) big win at the US Ladies Poker Championship. Lauren’s successful but risky road to immigration really put into perspective the vast difference between fortune in life and poker. To be clear, it’s more important to be lucky in the former

My second piece for PokerStars Women will detail how to qualify for the Ladies PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Weekend (January 14-16) and provide basic satellite strategy tips. I’m really psyched to be part of this unique initiative to bring more women into poker via live events, the Women’s Poker League and an online community. Rebekah Mercer, who wrote a profile of me earlier this year in her Examiner column is the Senior Editor while my Women’s Poker Hour co-host Amy Zupko is also a contributing writer.

Speaking of Amy, listen to our latest Women’s Poker Hour shows (also available for free download on itunes!), with Team PokerStars Pros Maria “maridu” Mayrinck, Celina Lin and entrepreneur Ellen Leikind, author of PokerWoman.