Latest news with #MichaelAdams
The Guardian
01-08-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Chess: 10-year-old targets world record alongside grandmasters at British Championship
England's grandmasters are in action on Saturday, as round three of the British Championship gets under way at St George's Hall in the centre of Liverpool. Former Russian Nikita Vitiugov, 38, the national No 1, is top seeded while the No 2 and world senior champion, Michael Adams, is the man in form after the 53-year-old from Taunton, Somerset, won the English title in July. The continuing chess boom, reflecting the easy availability of online blitz games, the popularity of the world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, and the success of Netflix's The Queen's Gambit, have combined to spark a record entry of more than 1,600 players for the championship and its subsidiary tournaments. Vitiugov, who switched federations in response to the invasion of Ukraine, and Adams, who defies the years and was impressive when winning the English title at Kenilworth, can expect several challenges to appear during the 11-round tournament, which finishes on Sunday week. Gawain Jones, 37, is the defending champion and No 3 seed. Matthew Wadsworth, 25, and England's youngest ever grandmaster Shreyas Royal, 16, are ambitious for new achievements while Dan Fernandez, 27, is fresh from an impressive first place in the Ghent Open. Bodhana Sivanandan, the 10-year-old Harrow primary schoolgirl who is already in the record books, scored another landmark result last Sunday when she achieved a Fide women's grandmaster performance with 4.5/9 at the Aix-en-Provence tournament in France. In doing so, Sivanandan broke a historic age record set by Judit Polgar, the all-time women's No 1, in London 1988 at age 12, and then broken by Hou Yifan, China's all-time women's No 2, as an 11-year-old at the Beijing Fide zonal in 2005. Sivanandan met a strong field, including a grandmaster and five international masters. Her fast, confident, accurate and impressive defence in a tricky pawn down rook endgame against 2488-rated GM Ortik Nigmatov of Uzbekistan was captured on video by ChessBase India. Her overall performance rating for the event was 2401, providing her first woman grandmaster norm and her second of three required norms for woman international master. Her overall Fide rating leapt from 2087 to 2216, her highest yet. The age record for a national championship was set in July 2024 by a 10-year-old, Abdalrahman Sameh Mohamed, who totalled 10.5/11 with a rating performance of 2466 in the Egyptian championship in Cairo. For the UK, the record holder is Akshaya Kalaiyalahan, who won the first of her two British women's titles in 2013, aged 11. Sivanandan's latest result suggests that she has made a big quantum jump, as many talented juniors do. She currently has momentum on her side. In such circumstances, extraordinary results become possible. The women's championship at Liverpool is incorporated within the open event, and on the face of it, winning the title this year could be a bridge too far for Sivanandan. The three clear favourites are the former world girls champion Harriet Hunt, the English woman champion, Elmira Mirzoeva, and the defending co-champion Lan Yao, who is fresh from a major success at the Andorra Open, where she achieved her third and final norm for the IM title, although she still needs a 2400 rating for that against her current high of Fide 2382. This was Yao's winning final round game, which clinched her final norm. She was unbeaten in the Andorra Open against six IMs and a GM. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Last Sunday, the same day that Sivanandan and Yao reached their norms, Jonathan Pein, 27, son of the ECF International Director and CHESS magazine editor, Malcolm Pein, made his first IM norm in Oviedo, Spain, sharing third prize with seven wins, two losses, and no draws. Chess made its first appearance this week at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a huge $1.5m prize fund. The quarter-finals and semi-finals were both played on Thursday. One game provided an early disaster, as Nodirbek Abdusattorov v Jan-Krzysztof Duda lasted only five moves due to a mouse slip: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bc4 Nxe4 5 Nxe4 d6?? and Black resigned. Of course 5...d5 was intended, when the game is level. In the quarter-finals Alireza Firouzja (France) beat Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 3-1, Arjun Erigaisi (India) beat Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 2.5-1.5, Carlsen (Norway) beat Nihal Sarin (India) 2.5-0.5, and Hikaru Nakamura (US) beat Levon Aronian (US) 2.5-1.5. In the semi-finals Firouzja beat Erigaisi 4-1 and Carlsen beat Nakamura 4-3. On Friday the Carlsen v Firouzja final and the Nakamura v Erigaisi third place match both start at 1pm BST on The games are live and free to watch, and highly recommended viewing. There are several streams available and Stream A has England's David Howell as the lead commentator. 3982 1 g4+! fxg4 (if Kh4 2 Bg3 mate) 2 Rd5+! Ne5 3 Rxe5+ Qxe5 4 Qxh6 mate.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Finch AI and Carahsoft Partner to Bring AI and Data Management Solutions to the Public Sector
RESTON, Va., June 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Finch AI, a leading developer of powerful AI-enabled solutions for Government and commercial enterprises, and Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®, today announced a partnership. Under the agreement, Carahsoft will serve as Finch AI's Public Sector distributor, making the company's AI and data management solutions available to the Public Sector through Carahsoft's reseller partners and Information Technology Enterprise Solutions – Software 2 (ITES-SW2), National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) ValuePoint, E&I Cooperative Services Contract and The Quilt contracts. "We believe the tremendous capabilities of Carahsoft will help bring increased awareness of Finch AI's breakthrough technologies across Government and other clientele," Finch AI Chief Executive Officer Steve Baldwin said. "Carahsoft is known for bringing new, cutting-edge solutions to customers and we're excited to have the opportunity to bring our innovative AI products – and all of the unique ways we leverage AI to accelerate analyst workflows – to the forefront." Finch AI currently offers three products including Finch for Text, an entity intelligence solution that leverages a proprietary approach to semantic understanding and provides a non-negotiable base layer for getting data ready for use in AI applications; Finch Analyst, an AI-powered discovery and exploration surface where users can interact with their data and the inherent relationships within it from a single pane of glass; and Finch Insight Reports, AI-enabled entity intelligence reports that can be generated in seconds and shared instantly and easily with key stakeholders. "Carahsoft and its reseller partners are thrilled to have the Finch AI solution set added to our portfolio," said Michael Adams, Program Executive for AI Solutions at Carahsoft. "Finch AI's commitment to intelligence, defense and homeland missions, and to providing tools that meet the unique needs of these communities, makes Finch AI a sought-after partner across the Federal Government." For more than 20 years, Carahsoft has worked with resellers, systems integrators, consultants and sales and marketing teams to provide industry leading IT products, services and training to Public Sector agencies across hundreds of contracts. Its staff of more than 3,000 professionals work alongside mission-driven technology companies to bring their solutions to Public Sector customers. Finch AI's solutions are available through Carahsoft's ITES-SW2 Contract W52P1J-20-D-0042, NASPO ValuePoint Master Agreement #AR2472, E&I Contract #EI00063~2021MA and The Quilt Master Service Agreement Number MSA05012019-F. To learn more about this partnership, contact the Carahsoft Team at (703) 871-8548 or FinchAI@ About Finch AIFinch AI develops super powered tools for analysts. It's innovative, AI-driven products accelerate workflows and allow users to find and leverage insights from massive amounts of unstructured text in real-time and at-scale. Finch for Text is an entity intelligence solution that leverages a proprietary approach to semantic understanding and a retrieval augmented generation pipeline to provide a non-negotiable base layer for getting data ready for use in AI applications; Finch Analyst is an AI-powered discovery and exploration surface where users can interact with their data and the inherent relationships within it from a single pane of glass; and Finch Insight Reports are AI-enabled entity intelligence reports that can be generated in seconds and shared instantly and easily with key stakeholders. Learn more at About Carahsoft's AI Portfolio Carahsoft's Artificial Intelligence (AI) Portfolio includes leading and emerging technology vendors that are enabling government agencies and systems integrators to harness the power of AI and ultimately meet mission needs. Supported by dedicated AI product specialists and an extensive ecosystem of resellers, integrators and service providers, we help organizations identify the right technology for unique environments and provide access to technology solutions through our broad portfolio of contract vehicles. Our AI portfolio spans solutions for Data Center & Hardware, Generative AI, Synthetic Data & Labeling, Autonomous Systems & Robotics and more. Learn more about Carahsoft's AI Solutions for Government here. About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator® for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Customer Experience and Engagement, Open Source and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles. Visit us at Contact: info@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Finch AI Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kentucky leaders see change in voter registration trends: ‘Candidates should take note'
FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — State leaders are seeing a spike in voter affiliation shifting away from Republicans or Democrats. Secretary of State Michael Adams announced on Friday in a news release that Kentuckians registered under 'other' political affiliations have outpaced Republican and Democratic registrations combined for three straight months. 'As the Democrats move further left and the Republicans move further right, more voters are registering as Independent,' said Adams. 'Kentucky has a large and growing political center; candidates should take note and court this growing bloc of voters.' Owensboro's blue bridge to close for up to 3 months Kentucky gas tax to see reduction next month Kentucky health officials urge vaccines after infant deaths State officials said in a news release that Republican voter registration made up 47% of the electorate in Kentucky, with 1,582,699 voters, gaining an increase of 1,026 voters for an increase of 0.07%. Democratic registration makes up 42%, with 1,391,172 voters, seeing a decrease of 838 registrations. Adams wrote that by comparison, voters registered under other political parties saw an increase of 0.38%, or 1,352 voters. Secretary Adams' office wrote in a news release that 4,157 voters were removed in May, including 3,173 who died, 440 who moved out of state, 402 convicted felons, 65 who voluntarily de-registered, 49 voters adjudged mentally incompetent, and 28 duplicate registrations. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Spectator
04-06-2025
- Sport
- Spectator
Four Nations
The final weekend of the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) took place on the early May bank holiday, and promised a close race between the defending champions Wood Green and the strong Manx Liberty team, who began the weekend a couple of match points in front. The league looked likely to be decided in a final round pairing between the two. It was an underdog team, The Sharks, which played the role of kingmaker. They began by holding the Manx team to a draw, enabling Wood Green to narrow the gap in the title race. But in the next (penultimate) round, The Sharks faced Wood Green, who fielded England heavyweight Michael Adams on top board (whose win is shown below). Despite that, the Sharks scored a 4.5-3.5 upset. Meanwhile, Manx Liberty won their match easily, leaving them three points ahead of Wood Green in the title race. That dashed Wood Green's hopes, so their final match with Manx Liberty mattered only for pride, and ended in a 4-4 tie. Michael Adams-Peter Roberson 4NCL, May 2025 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Bd7 6 Be2 Nge7 7 O-O cxd4 8 cxd4 Nf5 9 Nc3 Rc8 10 a3 a6 11 Rb1 Qb6 12 Be3 Na5 13 Bd3 Nxe3 14 fxe3 Be7 15 Nd2 O-O 16 Qh5 16 Rf6!! was even stronger, e.g. 16…gxf6 17 Qg4+ Kh8 18 exf6 Bxf6 19 Qh5. Bobby Fischer played a similar blocking move with a rook to win a famous game against Pal Benko at the 1963/64 US Championship. g6 17 Qh6 (see diagram) f5 White threatened Rf1-f3-h3, so this appears essential. But 17….Qd8 was better. After 18 Nf3 (to prevent Be7-g5), the rook's path is blocked, so there is time for counterplay with 18…Na5-c4. 18 exf6 Rxf6 19 Rxf6 Bxf6 20 Bxg6 hxg6 21 Qxg6+ Bg7 22 Nxd5! Using the pin on the sixth rank.
Globe and Mail
03-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
New Zealand Energy Corp Announces 2024 Quarter 4 Results
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 3, 2025) - New Zealand Energy Corp. (TSXV: NZ) ("NZEC" or the "Company") announced today it has filed with Canadian regulatory authorities its Q4 2024 consolidated financial results and an accompanying management discussion and analysis report, which documents are available on the Company's website at and on SEDAR at Commenting on the Company's 2024 end of year results, CEO Michael said "The results saw a loss of $8,179,276 (compared to the 2023 loss of $2,075,929) which included significant non-cash expenses including depreciation and depletion. Overall, there was a $3,568 increase in cash at year end and $1,131,605 was held as at 31 December 2024. Cash used by operating activities was ($1,962,125), compared to 2023 of $1,404,159 of cash used by operations. The Company achieved average net daily production of 17 boe/d (98% oil) through 2024 compared to 27 boe/d (99% oil) during 2023. Waihapa/Ngaere production was curtailed through Q4 2024 while the Tariki-5/5A well was being drilled and tested, and there was no oil production from Copper Moki through the whole year. With respect to development operations, Mr Adams commented: "In the final quarter of 2024, the Tariki-5A gas development and storage well was successfully drilled, confirming the anticipated excellent reservoir quality, and the initial flow test results were very encouraging. However, since February 2025, the well has faced challenges in maintaining continuous flow due to liquid loading in the 3.5" completion, which was initially optimized for gas storage operations. This issue has led to an earlier focus on converting the field to gas storage operations than originally planned, and work on this conversion is currently underway. The Copper Moki-1 and -2 wells have been out of service since 2022 and 2023, respectively, due to pump failures. Plans to work over these wells in the second quarter of 2025 are progressing as scheduled, with the RIVAL rig set to arrive at the location in early June 2025. This joint project with Monumental Energy Corp. (MNRG) has the potential to add more than 200 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and associated gas to the company's production by the end of Q2 2025. At the Waihapa-Ngaere oil field, efforts are in progress to bring several wells back into continuous production service. This work involves a combination of surface and sub-surface low-cost interventions and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2025. The company anticipates that this will result in a further uplift in oil production of 25 to 40 bopd (100% share). With these production redevelopments in place, New Zealand Energy Corp. (NZEC) will be well-positioned to advance the Tariki Gas Storage project through to the Final Investment Decision (FID) stage. Following that, the company will continue with the appraisal and exploration of opportunities within the acreage it already holds." On behalf of the Board of Directors "Mike Adams" CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING RESERVE ESTIMATES This document, the consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 and the Management's Discussion and Analysis contain certain forward- looking information, forward-looking statements ("forward-looking statements"). The reader's attention is specifically drawn to the qualifications, disclosure and cautionary statements in these documents regarding forward-looking statements and reserve and resource estimates. The Company notes that such forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond NZEC's control, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, currency fluctuations, imprecision of reserve estimates, environmental risks, operational risks in exploration and development, competition from other industry participants, the lack of availability of qualified personnel or management, stock market volatility and the ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources. Although the Company believes that the expectations in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, they are based on factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate. Those factors and assumptions are based upon currently available information. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results or events and cause actual results or events to differ materially from those stated, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking information. As such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking information, as no assurance can be provided as to future results, levels of activity or achievements. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document or the date of the documents referenced above, except as required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to revise any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
