Sorry everyone, my main computer had been in the shop, and I'm swamped with the start of a new academic semester. We'll do what we can to get things back on track shortly.
Some recent stories worthy of note: Ultimate Moves was mostly successful for the U.S. players, as Fabiano Caruana easily dispatched Garry Kasparov (though the latter was often his own worst enemy), Wesley So crushed near-namesake Veselin Topalov, and Hikaru Nakamura came back from a terrible start to defeat Levon Aronian. Only Peter Svidler successfully upheld the cause for the rest of the world, besting Leinier Dominguez.
The world's hitherto second oldest-living grandmaster, Pal Benko, has passed away. He was 91. I didn't know him well, but did interact with him several times during my time in New York. He was very approachable, and was never made to feel as if I was supposed to genuflect in the presence of a two-time Candidate. He was a great player in his peak, and was even better known as an endgame specialist and study composer. Rest in peace.
The World Cup started a few days ago; tomorrow (or today, for those of you in Europe) is the second day of round 2. There have been a few upsets so far, and one vulnerable favorite is Nakamura, who was manhandled by Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in the first game in round 2. Among the underdogs, Indian super-prodigy Nihal Sarin is one to watch. He defeated the favored Jorge Cori 2-0 in the first round, and defeated Eltaj Safarli in the first game of round 2. If he finishes Safarli, however, he'll have a big task in round 3, with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov his likely opponent.
Finally, here's an interesting story: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving. Of course there's a little snark (already evidenced by the title), but it's a good article overall. (One correction though: the world championship Kasimdzhanov won wasn't a six-game match. That was just the final stage of the event, and there were eight games in that match, and 30 overall. He played for three and a half weeks, with just three days off along the way. That makes his losing 17 pounds far more comprehensible, though it's still a significant figure. (Adding my own experience to the mix, when I was 16 I played in a U.S. Open, and wound up losing 12 pounds over the two weeks.)
In case anyone is wondering, the blog won't continue. This is my "penance" for being delinquent in dispatching the books.
UPDATE 1: This series on Vladimir Kramnik's training camp with six Indian child prodigies is interesting as news, but also for the insights we can enjoy from the few snippets we're granted. This is the last entry; you might scroll to the bottom for all the links and start with the first one first.
UPDATE 2: Nakamura is out of the World Cup. Rats.
UPDATE 3: The world's greatest football team (okay, college football team) is now 2-0, pasting Louisville 35-17 in week one and terrifying New Mexico 66-14 yesterday (still today for some of you). Oof.