An Amusing Confession

With Magnus Carlsen making the news again (unofficially number one in the world now) I remembered the time our youngest son was born.

Our youngest son was born a few years ago. I was really, really interested in chess back then. I was playing daily and studying the game and such. During the course of my studies, the chess phenom Magnus Carlsen was garnering a lot of attention for his incredible chess talents.

So when our son was born, I tried really hard to convince my wife to name him Magnus. But she didn't like the name. She liked the name even less when I told her it was the name of a chess prodigy.

So instead of naming him after the next world chess champion, we ended up naming him after we heard a contestant's name on The Price is Right.

Chess Around the Net

I haven't done this in a while, but I managed to find some interesting stuff.

This New York Times article reports that American astronaut Greg Chamitoff is playing a game of chess against Mission Control. It also talks a bit about the first chess game played in space (by the Russians of course).

In this Washington Post article, the author relates how he used a chess class as a "crash-protection device" for his GPA. Read the full article for a useful tip in earning a higher GPA by taking a chess class.

Bored with chess? If you're good enough, you can always try rogue financial trading like Matthew Piper ... read more.

First there was chess-boxing. Now we have chess-marathon-running. David Levans, age 69, is determined to play six games of chess using his mobile phone while running a marathon! Read the article here.

In this eulogy, one of the stories described how government officials thought two-time Georgia chess champion A.C. Davis was a spy because he kept sending and receiving mysterious postcards!

"The demise of chess blogging" Response

LEP's post about the demise of chess blogging caught my attention. I've seen it too. I am a part of this falling off. Earlier this year (March-April-ish) my attention to chess blogging (reading and writing) decreased significantly.

In my case, there are number of reasons why. Right now I'm beginning to finish off an 18-month job position that requires me to work shifts. Hopefully I'll be done with this job early next year. The shift work has greatly disrupted my on-line chess activities. I mostly play correspondance chess now.

My family is continuing to grow up. Two kids are on school, one is in pre-K. They have a lot of activities going on and that takes a lot of time.

The last reason why I've decreased time with the chess blogging scene is I've sorta lost interest. I want to spend time on chess, but with so many other "distractions" I've not thought a whole lot about chess (not like I used to). Also, the Knights Errant seems dead. There isn't so much attention to them any more ... and nothing new (on-line) has replaced their gusto and fervor for chess.

One other thought occured to me ... I continue to peruse the chess blogs via bloglines. I agree with LEP's 2nd point ... there is a LOT of chess content on-line now. Information over-load might be another reason for the drop in interest. The vast majority of posts are *yawwwn* boring ... seen that, not new. But once in a while, there is a great post and catches my attention. I used to do "Chess Around the Net" posts and try to find out-of-the-ordinary stuff about chess. I still attempt this exercise, but more often than not, the stuff I find is old-news or not really blog-worthy. I might try it again tonight just for kicks.

Anway ... that is my two cents on the subject.