FILE – In this Dec. 19, 2010, file photo, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, right, greets Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin after the Jets 22-17 win in an NFL football game in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are scheduled to host the Jets in the AFC Championship game on Sunday, Jan. 23.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
(Gene Puskar, AP / December 19, 2010)

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ANDREW SELIGMAN

AP Sports Writer

6:17 p.m. CST, January 21, 2011

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Green Bay Packers were a mess when they hired Dom Capers as their defensive coordinator two years ago, and the Chicago Bears had issues on offense when they turned to Mike Martz after last season.

Well, now look at them.

The Packers and Bears meet in the NFC championship game on Sunday, and the outcome just might hinge on the chess match between two veteran coordinators.

“Mike has certainly been doing this for a lot of years, and he has a lot of little intricacies that are true to his system, I think, that you never know when that’s going to come out,” Capers said. “And he knows when he wants to use them and he knows when I think they’ll be the most effective against you.”

Martz called Capers “a terrific teacher” whose teams have always been “well schooled.” And Green Bay’s defense sure earned high grades this year, helping the Packers get to the conference championship despite a list of injuries that would have derailed many teams.

The Bears, meanwhile, looked as if they were coming off the tracks before making some key adjustments on offense and turning around their season.

Now, these teams are facing off for the 182nd time and the stakes have never been higher. Only once before have they played in the postseason, and that was a week after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when Chicago beat Green Bay at Wrigley Field on the way to the championship.

Finally, they meet again in the playoffs.

Franchises with a combined 21 championships and 47 Hall of Famers — with icons on both sides such as Halas, Butkus and Ditka, and Lombardi, Starr and Nitschke — are set to go at it for a spot in the Super Bowl.

It’s a chance for young and talented quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler to cement themselves among the best at their position, with two of the league’s stingiest defenses staring at them.

Then, there are the coordinators.

“They show you a lot of looks,” Cutler said. “They’re really good. Dom Capers does a great job of preparing each and every week and keeping offenses off balance, which they’ve done to us in the past.”

Statistically, it looks like a mismatch. Capers is leading the fifth-ranked defense, while Martz’s offense ranked 30th, but the improvements the Bears made on that side of the ball during the season helped lift them to the NFC North title and a first-round playoff bye.

For Green Bay’s defense, the work began two years ago. Capers took over a unit that was vulnerable to the big play and couldn’t hold big leads. The transition from the 4-3 to his 3-4 set wasn’t an easy one, but the Packers made big strides and kept it up despite a string of injuries.

Three defensive starters are on injured reserve and several other key players missed time with injuries, but they still have Charles Woodson and Clay Matthews. Tramon Williams developed into a top-tier cornerback, adding depth in a secondary with Pro Bowl safety Nick Collins.

The Packers held opponents to 15 points per game, the second-lowest scoring average, and made things miserable on quarterbacks. With 47 sacks, they tied for second in the league, and leading the way was Matthews with 13½.

That might make Bears fans cringe, considering Cutler got sacked a league-high 52 times. But Chicago also came on strong over the second half of the season after it committed to the run and settled on a starting offensive line, helping spark a 7-1 run that saved the season.

That was something few envisioned when the Bears stumbled into their break at 4-3 after dropping three of four in a brutal stretch. Cutler was taking a pounding behind a line that was being juggled because of injuries and poor execution. The running game was being ignored, too.

The deep drops that Martz likes to use simply weren’t working, and many were wondering if the architect behind “The Greatest Show on Turf” in St. Louis was the right fit. The team that returned from the bye had a different look, a different emphasis.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Park City • When filmmaker Liz Garbus was working on “Bobby Fischer Against the World,” she hoped it might debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

She never anticipated the World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum would wave the banner for the documentary, or that its Friday screening would bring together chess grandmasters and aspiring players who aim to make the game more popular in the United States.

“When you’re making a film you’re doing your work,” said Garbus, who directed the documentary about the enigmatic Fischer, who went from world chess champion to fugitive. “You’re telling a story and you’re pulling it together as best you can.

“I was thinking about finding material about Bobby’s life. I never imagined all of this.”

The World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum, which is scheduled to open in September in St. Louis, saw “Bobby Fischer Against the World” as a way to promote both its opening and chess.

“I’m thrilled they got behind us,” Garbus said. “Chess is a wonderful, intellectual sport. It’s a great learning tool for children.”

The museum’s involvement included bringing grandmasters Joel Benjamin, Alexander Shabalov, Irnya Zenyuk and Jennifer Shahade to play chess with Utah schoolchildren after the premiere at the Thomas Kearns McCarthey Gallery. Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain.

“We are kind of taking on all comers,” Shahade said. “The kids are loving that.”

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“They’re really good,” said 8-year-old Andrew Roach, a member of the Rowland Hall chess club. “They kind of position the pieces the correct way before they make a huge attack on their opponent.”

Clearly, the kids weren’t going to beat the grandmasters. But both groups had fun — including when the adults coached the youngsters as they played against each other. “A lot of times I play a kid and I’m crushing them, and then I reverse the board,” Shahade said. “And then they’re winning and they get a chance to beat me. And it’s a challenge again.”

“It was a great experience,” said 10-year-old Nek Tarios, another Rowland Hall student. “They are so good.”

As for the documentary, the youngsters are a little less clear about Bobby Fischer than they are about chess.

“The movie was pretty good,” Tarios said. “I knew he won the championship. I was devastated when he died. He was a really great man.”

That’s a matter of debate in the documentary, but there’s no debating that Fischer was a great chess player.

“I really enjoyed the movie. And I hope it’s a way to get people interested in chess again like they were when Bobby Fischer won the World Championship,” said Shahade.

“Bobby Fischer Against the World” tells more stories about a man who was once among the most famous on Earth. Fischer eventually had his U.S. passport revoked, was given Icelandic citizenship and died there a recluse.

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Spotlight shines on Bears, Packers coordinators

By ANDREW SELIGMAN | Associated Press | 5 hours, 8 minutes ago in

Sports

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The Green Bay Packers were a mess when they hired Dom Capers as their coordinator two years ago. The Chicago Bears had issues on offense when they turned to Mike Martz after last season.

Well, now look at them.

The Packers and Bears are one win from the Super Bowl. The outcome of Sunday’s NFC championship game just might hinge on the chess match between the two veteran coordinators.

Martz calls Capers a “terrific teacher,” and the defense earned high grades this year. Green Bay got to the conference championship despite injuries that would have derailed many teams.

The Bears, meanwhile, looked as if they were coming off the tracks before making key adjustments on offense and turning around their season.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Classic board games are so easy to create on Facebook. I can’t imagine how many renditions of tic-tac-toe, checkers and Mahjong there are on the website much less chess. That’s why developer Sweet Robot and publisher Funcom decided to mix things up a bit with Chess Attack on Facebook. By shrinking the playing field from an 8×8 to a 6×6 grid, Sweet Robot has made for a much faster-paced version of the iconic board game. However, games tend to feel too rushed for such a thinker as chess–games will automatically end in a draw if a checkmate isn’t reached in enough time.

Find out of Chess Attack makes the right moves after the break.

Aside from the change to the game board, Chess Attack is essentially chess on Facebook, so there’s no need to get into all of the rules. Admittedly, it must be tough to make a game of chess interesting in a social game format, but Sweet Robot pulls it off with smooth animations and a slew of cosmetic features. Note the word “cosmetic.” Thankfully, the developer didn’t get too crazy with paid transactions and limited them to new chess sets and game boards.

While players can practice with the AI opponent set to “Easy” “Standard” and “Difficult,” the core of Chess Attack is competing with other players in real time. Unfortunately, the game launched today, so it’s going to be a rough time finding opponents for a little while. (As of this writing, the game has just over 600 users.) From playing both against the AI and real players, you will advance in level and earn coins for every move made on the board. Your level doesn’t serve much of a purpose aside from making proper matchmaking simple. The coins, of course, will be used to buy new items in the shop. There is also a list of achievements, or “Medals,” to considering when playing Chess Attack, which also unlock new items in the shop.

Chess Master for Facebook is one fine social game. Thanks to real time gameplay and a 6×6 game board, this game is an interesting take on what could have been a yawn-inducing, standard chess game. However, the game tends to rush players through in respect of time, which is not good new for amateurs like myself. Not to mention that finding real people to play with at the moment is a challenge given the fact that Chess Attack just launched. If you want to see an inventive take on chess take off on Facebook, spread the word and give that AI opponent a whipping for me in the meantime. Seriously, it beats me every time.

Click here to play Chess Attack on Facebook now

Have you tried Chess Attack yet? What do you think upon reading about this new approach to chess? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.