GM Joel Benjamin "Game  of  the  Week"

Game of the Week

Only for members. New on ICC Chess.FM! Three-time U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin starts his new weekly show every Friday at 15:00 Server Time. Joel is regarded by many as one of the best commentators and analysts' we have in the game today, and each Friday he will be giving us his insight and spin with his selection of Game of the Week.

This is a not-to-be-missed 30-minute video is exclusively for ICC members only -- so if you want to get ahead of the game, get ready to tune-in! By popular demand and requests from members, ALL of Joel Benjamin's GOTW videos will be available now 24/7 by clicking here for his library site archiving all shows. Enjoy!

Remembering My Good Friend Duncan

*Tomato Central*

In light of the saddening news of the death of my good friend Duncan Oxley, who meant so much to ICC and especially the Tomato community, I feel it's appropriate to spend a moment reflecting upon his life this week. I'll resume the regular "Tomato Central" content again next week.

Known to many as "Autobot" and "dro", Duncan was a manager, trainer, and admin on ICC for many years. He managed 9620 tournaments during his time with Tomato. It saddens me that I'll never get to play in his 10,000 tourney celebration. Duncan was particularly fond of late night under 1700 rated bullet tourneys. Many players used to stay up just to play in those spontaneous events. The fact that he cared to run so many of these tournaments for lower rated players such as myself truly showed the passion Duncan had for promoting chess among those still learning or even just beginning. Duncan wanted everyone to love the game as much as he did.

Duncan was also the driving force behind the formation of the Daily Standard tournament. He loved standard chess and correspondence chess; anything that would allow people to take their time and better learn the intricacies of the game. You see, Duncan appreciated the beauty of chess. He devoted much of his life to it. You could find him almost any hour of the day on ICC. And the times he wasn't logged in, you could probably find him at the Marina Library helping to promote chess at his local Chess Club.

Nearly all of the big tournaments on ICC were run by Duncan. And those that weren't, you could be sure he had a hand in them. Duncan was a huge part of the Dos Hermanas team, the largest online tournament in the world. Finals for championships were regularly managed by Duncan. If you've been around ICC for more than a couple of weeks, you already know much of what I've just told you.

But those of us who really knew Duncan… the fellow managers, trainers, and admins… will miss much more than his impressive contributions to the game of chess. We'll miss the tremendous person who was always there to greet you when you logged on. Duncan was like a father to all the newbie managers. Heck, I've been a manager for 10 years now, and he was like a father to me! You could always ask him a question without fear that he'd laugh (and he always knew the answer too!) And you could always talk to him about real life issues. Duncan was all for chess, but his real love was people. I assure you that all the other managers would agree with me that Duncan cared about them… and you just knew it from the way he'd talk to you. When I logged on, I was usually greeted with a " in one of the channels. Duncan was sharp, witty, comical, and a gentleman.

Chess has lost one of its foremost ambassadors. And ICC has lost a good friend. Duncan Oxley will never be replaced nor forgotten. We'll always miss you my friend!

Respectfully submitted,

Drew Toucher (Chickenman)

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