ROME 25/10 – Day 3: Farming and salty little fish

The day brightened considerably at 7:04.

It will darken considerably at 18:55.

In other times the 19:15 Ave Maria Bell would give us information about the dealings of the Curia. But, no. It ringeth not, except at The Parish™.

It is the Feast of St. Jerome, patron of curmudgeons.  His tomb is somewhere in Santa Maria Maggiore.

It is also the Feast of St. Francis Borgia, a remarkable early Jesuit.  Although he died in Rome in 1572, his body was moved first to Madrid and then to Valencia.

Speaking of The Parish™…

Wavy flag says “Salvete omnes!”

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK HERE  WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Welcome Registrant:

*******marykay@gmail.com

Noteworthy: Fr. MacTeigue is having a fundraiser for his show and station. He did a live video segment answering questions. HERE

Also noteworthy:  TAN Books has Latin Grammar: For the Reading of the Missal and Breviary, by Charles L. Scanlon, on the Sept. $5 sale  HERE  – last day!

Quite noteworthy: An initiative for priests who have been persecuted by their bishops. HERE

This news is getting around, but I want as many people as possible to understand what this bishop has done.  In his letter to the faithful whom he has oppressed, he says that he knows that the chapel isn’t going to be big enough.  “I am the good shepherd!”

“Beginning Oct 5, this community & 3 other parish TLMs (with combined weekly attendance of 1200+) will be funneled into 1 rural chapel, 45 minutes to 2.5 hrs from where they currently go to Mass. One chapel, seating 350, for the entire Diocese of Charlotte.” #TraditionisCustodes https://t.co/9gIBKTv5H1

— Diane Montagna (@dianemontagna) September 29, 2025

Breakfast of champions. Casareccio bread, with butter and anchovies.

From last night – figs and prosciutto!

Interesting!

US President Donald Trump delivered a message marking the Feast of St Michael the archangel

“Today, I salute the millions of Christian believers in the United States and around the world observing the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel.” pic.twitter.com/YIbmr08bjy

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) September 30, 2025

Figures…

BREAKING: Cardinal Cupich has canceled two meetings where he’d face criticism for giving an award to pro-abortion Senator Dick Durbin.

That means he’s feeling the heat.

ACTION: Tweet @CardinalBCupich, email bcupich@archchicago.org or call 312-534-8200 pic.twitter.com/QlJpH7BkHY

— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) September 29, 2025

In chessy news… this is pretty big.

Recently, Hikaru Nakamura [World #2 after Magnus] was a bunch of games short of the number he had to play in order to qualify (by his rating) for the Candidates (to challenge the World Champ, Gukesh). He played in a coupled of regional tournaments where he cleaned up and gained rating to boot. This is called “farming”. The world’s governing body for chess has stepped in.  Naturally, this has sparked controversy.

From chess.com and FIDE:

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced a change to its rating regulations that will already take effect on October 1, removing the so-called 400-point rule for players rated above 2650. The change was triggered by GM Hikaru Nakamura’s race to qualify for the Candidates, but will affect around 70 of the world’s top grandmasters.

FIDE’s rating system continues to be a heavily debated topic in the chess world. Today, the governing chess body has announced a significant change that will go into effect from October 1, intended to address what is known as “farming” by top players. The final decision was made by the FIDE Council after a proposal by the Qualification Committee, FIDE said.

“This amendment ensures that rating adjustments at the highest level accurately reflect a player’s performance against a pool of statistically equal opponents, safeguarding professional standards set by FIDE,” they said in a statement.

Since the last change in 2024, a player was never treated as more than 400 rating points higher-rated than their opponent. That meant that a top player could earn the minimum 0.8 rating points for every win against significantly weaker players.

Under the new rule, the full rating gap will always be applied for players rated above 2650. Instead of a rating gain of 0.8 per win, their expected score can now be as high as 99 percent, which equals a rating gain of 0.1 point, or 100 percent, and zero points gained if the rating difference is more than 735 points.

In other words: For the very best players, games against much lower-rated opposition will now be almost completely “rating-free” on the upside, but highly punishing in case of a draw or a loss.

The timing of the change has raised eyebrows, as it comes just weeks after Nakamura gained nine rating points from his 11 wins against players rated as low as 1800 in the Iowa Open and the Louisana State Championship this month.

[…]

There’s more. HERE