Thank you, thank you, thank you [Updated to thank you more] 1

JUde top sign

We did it!

Below are the names of the 100 101 102 103 105 Backers (checks still welcome to help with equipment upgrades, just email dsbnola[at]gmail[dot]com) who have pledged $7,254 of support for The Man in the Red Beret, a documentary about Jude Acers by Class Action Films. These 100 Backers have made it possible for us to follow Jude to Croatia next month for the FIDE World Senior Chess Championship and we’re now collecting funds for equipment upgrades.

Thank you to new Backers, returning Backers, and for all the Backers who couldn’t afford to pledge but still helped promote our Kickstarter campaign.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

  • Patricia Doran
  • David Bridges
  • Steven Thorsen
  • Thomas Long
  • Anita Cage
  • Scott Allison
  • Steve Scales
  • Bart Everson
  • Charles Broome
  • Barnaby Chancellor
  • Jamie Crawford
  • Jeff Burson
  • Tom Long
  • Robert Bell
  • Michele Steinbacher
  • Kim Martin
  • Kiran Frey
  • Joe Hanrahan
  • Victor Golubic
  • Michele Richard
  • Sean Denoyer
  • Cara E. Steger
  • Barry Yeoman
  • John Pearson
  • Erica Therio
  • Jimmy Michaels
  • John R. Texeira
  • Richard Sarver
  • Katherine Bearden
  • David Martin Bridges
  • Dan Marks
  • Carlos Luis Pujol
  • Laura Ponoroff
  • Allison Freeman
  • Paul St. Pierre
  • Michael Tisserand
  • Marilyn Pelias
  • baby mahoney
  • Judith C. Palmer
  • Bob Hate & The Eddy Band
  • Bill Kemp
  • Karen Miller
  • Donna Siegmund
  • Paula Ruff
  • Lee Vinson
  • Sonya Rodrigue
  • Linda Hayes
  • Maitri Erwin
  • Dave
  • James J. Pancrazio
  • Robin Suber
  • Irel Sears
  • Ron & Bernadette Marks
  • “Uncle” Monahan
  • Stacie Langlois
  • Arthur E. Marlin
  • Lori Craven-Doss
  • Renee Hinz
  • Ru Freeman
  • Lori Parsek
  • Colin A Davis
  • Scott Sandler & Jodi Rieger
  • Meredith Bivens
  • Kim Potowski
  • Michael Butcher
  • Cynthia Daffron
  • Mike Olander
  • Michael Smither
  • Adam Meckler
  • glcannon
  • Analia Saban
  • Karen Gadbois
  • Jamey St. Pierre
  • Kelly Stier
  • Thomas Roberts
  • Dan Mitchell
  • Rick Simonson
  • Jerrold Neugarten
  • Patrick Armstrong
  • Meenoo Fugate
  • Ravi Howard
  • Steve Usdin
  • Sam Jasper
  • Craig Isenberg
  • Josh N. Saunders
  • Darcy Courteau
  • Monica Ponoroff
  • Christopher J. Dennis
  • Joey Hanrahan
  • broom
  • George C. Freeman, III
  • Jordan Ollestad
  • Arica Laurel
  • Melissa Perrett Cook
  • Legends of Enlightenment
  • jamie berger
  • Daniel Vidnes
  • Matthew Marks
  • Nicholas
  • Carlos Provencio
  • Ed Wicker
  • Russell Miller
  • Jane Bouldin
  • Sarah Mead Smith
  • John Hicks

jude sign

 

“There’ll be no need for me to cry”: Part 2: In his own words

Drawing with Browne

I’m getting paid twenty dollars running around with Richard Shoreman, who has 200,000 miles on his Volkswagen, fantastic man with glasses, very anemic-looking, tiny short guy, wonderful human being, friend of firemen, could use their Xerox facilities anytime he wants, teaches firemen how to play chess, policeman, has a chess course at Haywood University, he writes a full page in The Haywood Daily Review, a chess column, and he drives me around California to do prison exhibitions at DVI, Deuel Vocational Institute, which I played just after drawing with Grandmaster Browne, he arrives, I’m out waiting to get picked up after the exhibition having drawn with Grandmaster Browne, I’m not sure if he’s heard about it, he circles the flagpole ten times without looking at me, just drives, I was standing in the middle by the flagpole, and he doesn’t even look in my eyes. It was the greatest compliment imaginable. Fantastic man.

CHESSFLASH WORLD NEWS

October 9, 2013

US CHESS GREAT H. NAKAMURA IS WORLD #5 RATED  PLAYER … St.  Louis, Missouri … up to the second World Chess Federation (FIDE ) Live ratings of the Top 5 chess grandmasters are:
  1. carlsen illustrationM. CARLSEN (ELO 2870) — the real deal, the highest  rated player of all time and just 22  YEARS OLD, a Norwegian chess millionaire several times over … he goes for it ALL … world title play versus #8 World Chess Champion V. Anand  (ELO 2775) India … JUST 30 days away in Chennai, India … it is going to be  real war folks – many games could go 100 moves .. endgames are going to be king versus king .. “I just  feel we have an obligation to  play out the games” — Magnus Carlsen
  2. V. KRAMNIK  of Russia (ELO 2796) — age 38
  3. L. ARONIAN, ARMENIA’S GIANT  (ELO 2793)– 31 year old WORLD TEAM CHESS CHAMPION BOARD ONE
  4. F. CARUANA  of Italy (ELO 2791) — Age 21
  5. H. NAKAMURA  OF THE UNITED STATES (ELO 2788) —  Age 25

— Jude Acers

Image credit: Luke McKernan

Your Move

Many folks have had lots of nice things to say about the video footage we’ve posted from our documentary-in-process about Jude Acers. A few folks have had some not so nice things to say about Jude Acers (more about them in a moment). I wanted to emphasize a couple of the nicer kind.

The first is from a chess blogger, The Armchair Warrior, who talks up our project and shares a thoughtful account of meeting and playing Jude in the French Quarter:

Please go to ClassActionFilms.com, where you will find a short film that captures the quintessential Jude. I promise it will be the best nine minutes of your day. It was one of the best parts of my yesterday. It shows Jude being, well, Jude!

Be sure to read the rest of his post.

And over on Facebook, a friend, the celebrated novelist Ru Freeman, raved:

I’ve donated to some kickstarter projects before, but this one is THE BEST of them all. The men in my family all play chess. They play it exceptionally well. They’ve managed/played and raised money for/coached our national team. They may be able to drop kick Jude’s bottom but I’m guessing not. I love this project. And I love the New Orleans that comes through too. Besides, Derek Bridges is a former loafer*. Please, if you’ve got a few to spare, do help this documentary along – they are so very close to their goal! (Oh, and I play chess too – and I was a star when I was on a team because people feared that the skill of my father and brothers must surely be embedded in me too. I won from psyching people out with that fiction).

I should clarify that being a “former loafer*” does not mean I’ve changed my sometimes aimless ways, it just means I went to Bread Loaf in 2007 (and that’s how I was fortunate to meet Ru). More importantly, check out this New York Times review of her new novel:

CHESSFLASH WORLD NEWS

OCTOBER 5, 2013

ACERS TO PLAY IN 11 ROUND WORLD  NOVEMBER, 2013  FIDE INTERNATIONAL  SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS TOURNEY IN OPATIJA, CROATIA…….

The Other Shoe Drops

Borislav Ivanov had already been banned once for suspicions of cheating when forty Bulgarian players signed a boycott. But he allegedly gave cheating another go. From a fascinating report at ChessBase.com who interviewed the player who seems to have broken Ivanov’s code,  Grandmaster Maxim Dlugy:

So we all go into this room: the director, the head of security, my friend, myself and Borislav. They have metal detectors and go over every place very carefully if it beeps, and show that there is nothing there. The security guy says at the start “Look, I’m going to search him, you’re going to watch. If you want something else you tell us, but whatever it is we will do the exact same thing on Borislav’s opponent. I said yes, of course, no problem. This was a very funny moment. The search is completed and my friend goes “Okay, and now take off your shoes.” The security guy looks at me. Without a word I take off my shoes, I take off my socks and throw them to the floor – just ba-doom, there, I’m done, now show me your shoes, please.

Photo credit: ChessBase News

Nefarious Chessplay in SF?

SF chess

Neal J. Riley @ SFGate:

On Tuesday afternoon, the only sign of street chess was at the feet of Marvin Boykins, 57. Across from his latex chessboard, a friend moved chess pieces at the command of a smartphone computer game set at the grandmaster level, which Boykins refused to listen to after it warned him that he’d made a bad move.

“I’ve been playing since I was 7 or 8 years old,” said Boykins, who has been playing at the spot for decades. “Chess is a true San Francisco tradition.”

His friend, Hector Torres Jr., said chess saved him from a gambling addiction when he moved to San Francisco from Las Vegas more than 20 years ago. He said the chess games are a discrimination-free zone that has welcomed everyone including San Francisco Giants players, millionaires and people who have been in prison for decades.

 

What joy is in cheating?

morse

From the New York Times:

The tournament’s director, Christian Goldschmidt, said in a note posted online that when he asked to see the cellphone, [Jens] Kotainy pulled it out of his pocket and said it was turned off, as required by the rules. But Goldschmidt said that while he was holding it, the phone started giving off vibrations that resembled Morse code.

CHESSFLASH WORLD NEWS

September 15, 2013

Carlsen

Chess Club & Scholastic Center of St. Louis — World #1 Magnus Carlsen Wins $70,000 first prize … with $220,000 cash at stake and 4 top chess grandmasters playing each other twice, it was the highest rated chess grandmaster of all time with ferocious chess endgame play…… M. CARLSEN, WHO TOOK HOME $70,000 first prize today via 3 wins, three draws, 4.5 POINTS .. . and sending the Norwegian chess monster player on a cloud to Chennai, India for his $5 million world title play versus world chess champion V. Anand of India this November. US chess great Hikaru NAKAMURA WAS CLEAR SECOND in St. Louis at 3.5 with Levon ARONIAN (AREMINIA) THIRD, Gata KAMSKY, US, LAST.

— Jude Acers

Jude Meets #ProjectGlass

I quickly diced up a video clip I shot Thursday evening of George “Loki” Williams of HumidCity.com introducing Jude to Google Glass. It’s rough, no post-production, and I’ve only included footage from one of our two cameras. I just want to give folks a sense of what to expect when […]

Morphy House Evolution 2

brennan

The Brennan’s nameplate has been removed and a “new concept” restaurant is planned for the storied building. From Nola.Eater:

Yesterday afternoon the goldleaf Brennan’s name was spotted being scraped off the side of the The Big Pink, which is a fair indication that Brennan’s years of extreme family dysfunction are finally coming to an end, or the restaurant is shuttered for good anyways. Now Ralph Brennan— the new-owner/cousin of former owners Pip and Ted Brennan— has released a statement to The Times-Picstating that yes, in fact a “new restaurant concept is being finalized.” However, Brennan states “there is no set timeline for making a public announcement regarding those plans,” which basically translates to I’ll never tell fun time for all.

CHESSFLASH WORLD NEWS

September 10, 2013

ACERS HITS TV BIG TIME! EmojiEmojiEmojiEmojiEmoji   

wgno logo

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — The Chesslab Monster Road Machine, Jude Acers, on a fantastic promo roll (when it rains, it pours), hits ABC affiliate WGNO Channel 26 in New Orleans at 6 p.m. Thursday, September 12–to be twice repeated Saturday, Sept 14. A two hour monster filming session by WGNO feature journalist Tyler Wing wrapped today … The event to be videostreamed around the world … will be featured on WGNO’s website around the clock … just in time too as Acers is madly promoting his epic and absolutely free of charge 10 board simultaneous New Orleans children’s chess exhibition “Little Chess Monsters” 1 p,.m. Saturday, September 28 at the St. Claude Avenue Healing Center in New Orleans.

— Jude Acers

CHESSFLASH WORLD NEWS [Updated] 2

September 9, 2013

NEW ORLEANS , LOUISIANA — It’s on BIG TIME! Absolutely FREE to all players and spectators. All media welcome. New Orleans professional chess master Jude Acers’ “Little Chess Monsters” 100 opponent free young people’s simultaneous chess exhibition: 1 p.m., Saturday, September 28, 2013 at the St. Claude Healing Center in New Orleans. The “Little Chess Monsters” world exhibition featuring the Chess Lab Monster Road Machine Acers (wearing Google Glass) playing 100 children while broadcasting live videostream around the world as he is being filmed for a huge New Orleans film documentary as well … Oh, Mama … This is the life!

Again, absolutely free and all are welcome. An opportunity to see (and play for free!) the World Famous New Orleans chess master (Drawn match in 1970 with Gradmaster Walter Browne; Guiness World Record for simultaneous exhibition–179 boards, Mid-Isle Plaza, now Broadway Plaza, Long Island, New York, NY, July 2-3, 1976) … The two-time World Guiness Book of Records simul player does it one mo time!

Chasslab readers worldwide: This is it! If you have a “Little Chess Monster” who wants to play free … 100 boards available right now.  Charter a plane … fly the “Little Chess Monster” in! Enter him/her today with Mr. Jeffrey Vollmer, Chief Exhibition organizer-umpire, whose decisions are absolutely final. Email for registration and all details: jeffrey.vollmer[at]att.net.

And GOOD LUCK to all! You are going to need it.

Exhibition credits: Celebrity limo Service C. Charles “THE FIRST CITIZEN” Broome.

— Jude Acers

 

Editor’s Note: Details are still getting worked out regarding Jude’s use of the Google Glass. Due to technical limitations, it may will not be possible to livestream the simul, though we will try. Further details will be announced here closer to the event. We’re using the Google Glass as part of a collaboration between B2L2 and #ProjectGlass with George “Loki” Williams at Humid City.

Update: We would like to emphasize a comment George “Loki” Williams has added:

Jude’s enthusiasm is a wonderful thing, but he is a bit mistaken about the technology. At present Glass cannot live broadcast since it is not yet capable of using Hangouts On Air. What we will do is record parts of the event from his unique perspective which will them be shared on YouTube and in the documentary that B2L2 is working on.

I cannot wait to collaborate with him on this event as it was Jude who taught me my first Chess moves in a NOLA coffeeshop back in the late 70s / early 80s.