The chess blogs had plenty of newsworthy material from the many top class events held during the month of July: Pivdenny Bank Cup (Odessa, won by Vassily Ivanchuk), the Montreal International (Ivanchuk), Banja Luka (Victor Korchnoi, at age 76), Leon (Anand), the American Continental Championship, the World Open, and Biel, still in progress at the end of the month. Three women's events also earned their fair share of attention: MonRoi International Women's Grand Prix, U.S. Women's Championship, and the North Urals Cup. On the human interest side, the news that the Chinook program had solved the game of checkers drew widespread commentary.

Of special interest to the chess blogosphere was the news from the Streatham & Brixton Chess Club that 'we have won the English Chess Federation's Website of the Year Award for 2007': ECF Website of the Year: Winners!. • A good example of the quality of their posts is Ten and a half questions about the "decline of English chess", and two posts on bughouse -- Introducing The Berlin Bug, 2007 and "I beat Aronian," says Andrew Stone. "Sort of." -- a chess variant that is especially popular with younger players.

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. Chess League announced the USCL Blogger Award; 'The award includes a $100 prize and "can be won by anyone from any team, or by any fan of a team."' (boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com). • Do you have a favorite team, but no blog? It takes five minutes to create a new blog on a popular weblog service like Blogger.com. What are you waiting for?

In Elsewhere on the Web, Ladies' Month, 5 August 2007, we commented on the several women's tournaments held during the month. It was also a special month for former Women's World Champion Susan Polgar. Together with her husband Paul Truong, the eldest of the famous Polgar sisters won election to the USCF's Executive Board. Polgar is a prolific blogger and covered the election throughout the campaign. • Her thoughts on the outcome of the election: The final statistics, A new era for the USCF, and One of the first changes that I will make (all susanpolgar.blogspot.com). • 'All board members including me should be held accountable for each of our votes. We should all be held accountable for our actions and conducts. It is time for a new USCF.'

One of the points on which the Polgar/Truong team is sure to be held accountable is the marketing and promotion of chess in the USA: Q & A with Paul Truong, Part 1 & Part 2 (uschess.blogspot.com); and Q&A about Chess Marketing, Promotion and PR (susanpolgar.blogspot.com) • Q: In which areas can you help the USCF? A: A lot actually. Even though my strongest area would be management, I am not for micro-managing. Managing the USCF is the [Executive Director’s] job. What I can bring is my expertise in Marketing, PR and Promotion.

Crossing the Atlantic again, Polgar was featured on My Brilliant Brain, broadcast on Britain's Channel 5 (ITV): My Brilliant Brain - Monday July 16, ('No, I didn't choose this title'); My Brilliant Brain tonight at 9 on 5; What the brain can do?; and Genius or hard work?. • As might be expected, the program met a mixed reaction among viewers who watched it: Susan Polgar's Brilliant Brain (streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com).

Lest we forget that chess is a game, you might be interested in the positions used in Polgar's National Invitational Puzzle Solving Championship: SP Puzzle Solving Championship Part 1 and SP Puzzle Solving Championship Part 2. The winner solved the ten puzzles correctly in 6 minutes 30 seconds.

We'll have more highlights from July's chess blogosphere in our next Elsewhere on the Web. For all posts in this series, see our ChessChrono on Chess Blog Trekking.