Both the Arctic and the Antarctic are cold because they don’t get any direct sunlight. However, the South Pole is a lot colder than the North Pole. At both Poles the Sun is always low on the horizon, even in the middle of summer. In winter, the Sun is so far below the horizon that it doesn’t come up at all for months at a time. So the days are just like the nights—cold and dark. Both Poles get the same amount of sunlight, so why is the South Pole colder?
The Arctic is ocean surrounded by land. The Antarctic the opposite...it is land surrounded by ocean. The ocean under the Arctic ice is cold, but warmer than the ice! So the ocean warms the air a tiny bit.
Antarctica is dry...and high. Under the ice and snow is land, not ocean. And it’s got mountains. The average elevation of Antarctica is about 7,500 feet and the higher you go, the colder it gets.
Research at the Vostok Station includes ice core drilling and magnetometry. It was also the location of the oft-repeated story about a researcher killing his opponent with an ax in 1959 after which chess was supposedly banned at Russian Antarctic facilities.
I am not 100 percent positive this is a true story. A Smithsonian magazine article I read called it an “unconfirmed story recounted by John Bennett at Canadian Geographic.” The story is also quoted in books, blogs and other assorted locations.
One book, Antarctica and the Humanities, edited by Roberts Peder, Lize-Marie van der Watt, and Adrian Howkins said the incident was in the 1980s. It states that “there have been two alleged Antarctic murders, neither leading to a conviction. The more mythic of the two involved an ax and a chess game on a Soviet station in the 1980s. According to some sources, this led the Soviets to ban cosmonauts from playing chess in space.” BTW, the second murder involved an astrophysicist, Rodney Marks, who died of poison at the American Scott-Amundsen station. See Universe Today, Space and Astronomy News.
Two people have been murdered on the SA Agulhas, a South African polar vessel from 1978 to 2013, while it was on relief voyages. The first murder occurred on the ship's first ever voyage to Marion Island ( a South African sub-Antarctic station), a member of the crew was killed by another crew member, using a fire axe. On arrival back in Cape Town, the suspected killer could not be found on board the vessel. It was speculated that he jumped overboard before arrival in Cape Town.
On September 27, 2007, Ordinary Seaman Edward Hudley was stabbed and killed while the Agulhas was near Gough Island. The island is located about 1/3 of the way between the tip of South Africa and South America. It’s one of the most important seabird nesting sites in the world.
Two crew members were accused of the murder and the environmental protection vessel Sarah Baartman was dispatched and took custody of the two accused and the deceased's body on October 3, 2007. Both accused were charged with murder on arrival in Cape Town, but all charges were dropped on April 6, 2009.
In confirmed chess reports that took place in 1959, Frank Street (born 1943) won the US Amateur Championship. He was the first African-American to win a national championship and the second to achieve a National Master Rating.
In the 1960s, along with Masters Walter Harris and Kenneth Clayton, he blazed the trail for black players in the country. Just before Street became a National Master in 1965, Walter Harris went over 2200 to become the first after his performance at the US Junior Championship. Later that year Harris was unable to get a hotel room where the U.S. Open was being held in Omaha, Nebraska, because he was black. See A Conversation with Walter Harris HERE.
The winner of the U.S. Junior Championship, Robin Ault (1941-1994), was allowed to play in the 1959-1960 US championship, but lost all 11 games. After that, the U.S. junior champion was not seeded into the US championship. Ault was the first person to win the US Junior championship three times (1959-1961).
Ault dropped out of chess and went on to a successful career in other fields. He was a college mathematics professor, computer software engineer and social justice activist. He passed away at the early age of 52 on September 16, 1994 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts. His brother is National Master Leslie Ault.
The big news was in October when Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) won the Candidates Tournament at Bled, Zagreb and Belgrad. Unlike the previous candidates tournaments (Zurich 1953 and Amsterdam 1956) this one consisted of only eight players who played a four games against each other.
Only a few days before the start of the tournament Tal had been in the hospital to get his appendix removed. Yuri Averbakh reported that Tal looked pale and haggard, but Tal wrote that he was allowed 10 days to recover and during play he felt OK except he just didn’t feel inclined to walk around. Tal became popular during this tournament because of the way he electrified spectators with his risk taking and sacrifices.
At the end of the year, starting on December 30th, the 35th Hastings Christmas Congress began; it ended on January 8, 1960.
Back in those days the Russians always expected to take first place in any tournament in which they participated. So, when Yuri Averbakh finished tied for 2nd with the East German GM Wolfgang Uhlmann behind the Yugoslav GM Svetozar Gligoric who dominated the tournament all the way, it was disappointing news for the Soviets. Averbakh, a former Soviet Champion, had never played in England before and Uhlmann was the previous year’s winner.
This tournament was not so strong as many previous Hastings had been and the poor finish of Arturo Pomar was disappointing.
The three players at the bottom aren’t so well known today. The West German Hermann Heemsoth (December 21, 1909-January 20, 2006, 96 years old) was born in Bremen, Germany was awarded the Correspondence IM title in 1972 and the Correspondence GM title in 1987. He was German Correspondence Champion in 1954 and 1969.
Burger was Dr. Karl Burger (January 22-1933-April 1, 2000, 67 years old) from the United States. William Winser was a local player from Hastings. The following Burger-Winser game was interesting. “Burger builds up a kingside attack with great patience. He has two bishops against 2 knights, so when the breakthrough finally arrives it is deadly.”
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