ECF Important News

A section to discuss matters not related to Chess in particular.
John Anderson
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ECF Important News

Post by John Anderson » Tue Apr 01, 2014 12:35 am

Worrying news for all tournament players following a very sad incident in Hungary:

Doctors are blaming an electrical imbalance in the brain for the bizarre death of a chess player whose head literally exploded during the final round of the recent Ist Saturday tournament in Budapest, Hungary.

No-one else was hurt in the fatal explosion but five players and an Arbiter were sprayed with blood and grey matter when Nikolai Titiakov`s head suddenly blew apart. Medical experts say he suffered from a rare condition called Hyper-Cerebral Electrosis (HCE).

“He was in deep concentration with his eyes focused on the board,” said his shocked opponent. "All of a sudden his hands flew to his temples, he rose from his chair and screamed with pain. Everyone looked up from their games, startled by the noise, a few shushed, and then his head just popped open like a firecracker had gone off inside his head”.

Incredibly, Titiakov`s is not the first recorded case in which a person`s head has spontaneously exploded but it is the first for some 25 years. In 1989 a Russian scientist died from HCE in Moscow but the event was not picked up by the Western Press.

Dr. Tomas Varga, a Consultant Neurologist who did the autopsy on the talented chessplayer said “HCE is an extremely rare physical imbalance, a condition in which the circuits of the brain become overloaded by the body`s own electricity. Victims are always highly intelligent people with great powers of concentration and are intense people who keep their cerebral circuits overloaded for extended periods.”.

Although Dr. Varga says that there are probably many undiagnosed cases, he hastens to add that very few people will die from HCE. “Most people who have it will never know and as there are so few fatalities it will probably be years before research money becomes available”.

In the meantime, the doctor urges people to take it easy and not think for too long without a break.

In light of this, the ECF are urging all members, especially Gold members, who may have experienced a milder form of HCE, namely EHS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome to seek the appropriate medical advice.

Fide are currently looking into whether or not the faster time limits it has introduced might have been a contributory factor.

Source: Thompson-Reuters

Paul McKeown
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Re: ECF Important News

Post by Paul McKeown » Tue Apr 01, 2014 12:39 am

Yawn.

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Rob Thompson
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Re: ECF Important News

Post by Rob Thompson » Tue Apr 01, 2014 3:16 am

One would hope that an april Fool's joke wouldn't be a decade old, but perhaps that is too much to ask.
True glory lies in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read.

Paul McKeown
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Re: ECF Important News

Post by Paul McKeown » Tue Apr 01, 2014 12:21 pm


Jonathan Bryant
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Re: ECF Important News

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Tue Apr 01, 2014 12:38 pm

John Anderson wrote:Worrying news for all tournament players following a very sad incident in Hungary:
Ah, but which John Anderson are you? The one that’s >200 or the one that’s less than <100? The erstwhile Yes frontman here under cover, perhaps?

I gots to know.

Bill Porter
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Re: ECF Important News

Post by Bill Porter » Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:38 pm

Not the Grauniad's most convincing April 1st article.