World Champion(s)

While much of the country was focused on Red vs. Blue during last week's midterm congressional election, a select group of Americans donned the Red, White and Blue and brought home gold (or silver) at the World Youth Chess Championships and World Senior Chess Championships. Steven Zierk of California won clear first place in the Under 18 section, earning him the World U18 Champion title, the International Master title and a Grandmaster norm (three norms and a minimum rating of 2500 are required to achieve the title). In the U12 section, Kayden Troff of Utah took home the silver medal, as did Jeffrey Xiong of Texas in the U10 section.

Meanwhile, over in Greece, Grandmaster Larry Kaufman of Maryland tied for first place in the World Senior Championship. He took fourth place on tiebreaks, which meant he did not receive a medal, but it is nevertheless an impressive performance from the man who achieved the Grandmaster title by winning the World Senior back in 2008! Hearty congratulations to Zierk, Troff, Xiong, Kaufman and all the players who represented the United States with class and aplomb.

On the gridiron, the Dartmouth football team (5-3, 2-3 Ivy) put up a solid second-half showing to down the Cornell Big Red 28-10 on Saturday. With Brown (4-4, 3-2 Ivy) next week and Princeton (1-7, 0-5 Ivy) the week after, Dartmouth is in great position to make a strong finish to the season and secure a winning Ivy record. Go Big Green!

In other news, I went in for my seasonal flu shot today. The nurse asked me which arm I preferred for the injection, and I said my left, since it's my non-dominant arm. Then she saw my shirt, which prominently featured the New York Yankees' logo, and deadpanned, "Oh, you're a Yankees fan? Let me see your right arm ..."