ROCKY ROOK

Annotated Game Collections

2012-01-24T21:49:00.002-06:00

Another aspect of my chess study that I really need to ramp up is reviewing games by GMs and other top-notch players.

Heisman, in his February 2011 Novice Nook column, provides some insight for choosing books of game collections to study. I'd like to review Logical Chess Move by Move again and then move on to other books ... specifically the ones he recommends.

For those of you in Houston ...

2012-01-21T13:07:00.003-06:00

As posted on Glenn Wilson's site (http://glennwilson.com/chess/) ... this event is to benefit Larry Englebretson

The Houston Songwriters Association (houstonsongwriters.com) and HoustonOpenMic.com will host a benefit event for Larry Englebretson Sunday, January 29th, 2012. All proceeds will be applied to Mr. Englebretson's short-term living expenses while he convalesces after a serious illness. Mr. Englebreston is an enthusiastic participant in the Houston open mic scene, as it's most frequent acapella performer. He is also the former owner of the Houston Chess Club and was selected as the United States' representative in the senior division of the 2011 World Chess Federation Championship.The event will be held at JP Hops House, 2317 S. Highway 6. Festivities begin at 3:00pm. Attendees will enjoy live bands, a bake sale, silent auction, and chess demonstrations by members of the Houston Chess Club. A prize will be awarded for "best of show" in the bake sale.The silent auction features a wide variety of items to suit any budget. Early donations include musical instruments, music instruction, studio recording services, and an impressive assortment of decorative and miscellaneous items of good value. The silent auction concludes at 7:00pm.Those who cannot attend are encouraged to make online donations at www.houstonopenmic.com/larry.html. A 3rd party donation will be made for every YouTube view of Larry's music video.

The latest news on his condition is posted at the Houston Chess Club under "Coach Larry Updates."Thanks,

Review of Bobby Fischer Against the World

2012-01-20T08:51:00.004-06:00

I watched this haunting documentary last night. There really weren't any shocking revelations in the movie; nothing new that I hadn't heard of before. What was 'new' for me or unique about this documentary was seeing all the old pictures and film footage of Bobby. Other than that, I came away from it with just two thoughts.

The first one was the stark contrast of the Individual versus the Machine. The film did a fantastic job of showing this juggernaut that Soviet chess was. These guys dominated and they did it collectively and mechanically.

On the other end of the spectrum was this boy ... all by himself ... who without much, if any, family support and encouragement, single-handedly took on the Soviets and defeated them. That is a fascinating story line. And it would have been even more amazing had it not been for his delusions, which leads me to the second thought.

His life was so sad. His mom seemed like a kook. All he did was play chess - nothing else. He didn't have any real friends. When he was detained in Japan, he called his body guard from Iceland. He hadn't talked to him since 1972! He had no one else to phone. I don't know how things were in 1972, but did chess players, who got to that level, have a manager or something? But even if there were managers or handlers at that time, I'm not sure that even if he had one, that person could have helped Bobby much. I also wonder how much legal drugs could have helped him. What could have been ...

If you get the chance to watch it, you won't be disappointed.

Stop SOPA & PIPA

2012-01-18T10:12:00.001-06:00

I've been following SOPA and PIPA for a while now. It is so nice to see major websites shedding some bright light on this proposed set of laws.

There is no doubt in my mind that these are harmful and dangerous proposals.

For my part, I wanted to share a few links so that you can be more informed and take action to stop this act of Congress.

For lots of information about what SOPA and PIPA would and could do as well as more broad information about this push to protect certain interests, read techdirt. techdirt also links to another site to take action: stopthewall.us.

Google has also created a petition to stop these acts. Click here to sign the petition.

Drudge is also running a link to the NYTimes that has an article explaining the protest today.

Another blog I regularly read is by Seth Roberts. More than anything else I've read (except techdirt), this post by Seth Roberts explains perfectly what this whole issue is all about.

On this date ... Bobby Fischer

2012-01-17T21:53:00.000-06:00

Bobby Fischer died 4 years ago today.

While performing some searching today, I found that the DVD for the HBO documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World was released last month. I've heard nothing but good reviews of it. I plan to watch it later this week and then I'll post some thoughts on it.

Game 12 of 52

2012-01-17T21:11:00.002-06:00

Feeling pretty confident off my recent win against Trudy, I quickly moved on to the next opponent "above" Trudy in the ladder - Seb.

The dreaded Seb. I'm 0-2 against him. In the last two games, I seemed to start off ok, only to be tripped up and promptly mated. The third time was no charm; I'm 0-3 now against him.

What surprises me is that Trudy seemed so easy to beat. But Seb seems to go into high gear when the game gets heated and then he just puts the smack-down on me. It seems that I wouldn't so easily lose to Seb when I so easily won against Trudy.

After a little analysis, I found there were at least a few moves that I should have considered a bit more.

The first position was this one. He had just taken my night with 13...cxe5.

I played dxe5 ... opening the diagonal between his queen and my king. I don't know if 14. Bxe5 is any better. In fact, I'm not too sure this is even that critical of a position. But I struggled a bit with this one.

After my actual move dxe5, he played 14...Bh4 and I responded 15. Qe2. Next he attacked my bishop with 15...g5 16. Be3 Qe6 17. Bd4 a6 18. f3.

18. f3 may be another move that I should have considered a bit more. In stead, perhaps 18. h3 would be a bit better. He may have played 18...Nh6 and the pressure would have been relieved a bit. But I played f3 and he ended up taking h2. I took his knight with my king, he advanced 19...g4 20. fxg4 and then he played Qh6 and that was pretty much it.

I blundered big time at this point, but upon further examination, I really had no choices whatsoever. I still fail to see anyway to stop his attack.

So I played Be3, he played Bg5+ 22. Kg3 Qh4+ 23. Kf3 Bxg4#. The game was over.

I don't think I was playing my best chess when I started this game. The first hour or so, I was pretty focused, but then I had to pause the game several time when the kids came home from school and we had dinner and other family events going on. I'd like to try Seb again when I have a full 3 uninterrupted hours against him. I'm not giving excuses ... I think Seb is a difficult player for me and I don't think I'll ever so easily beat him. But I'd like a crack at him with full concentration.

After the G/90 game, I played him a G/10. And this is where I had the thought that he goes in to "high gear" when the game is on the line. I was soundly beating him; and then he had about 2 minutes on his clock and then he started making killer moves. Anyway - I need to crack this nut.

Finally - just a quick update on Chess Tempo ... I've managed to stay above 1700 for a full week now. Although, just today, when I did my 20 tactics, I was served several tactics that were well over 1700 and a few over 1800. I choked on them big time. I started off the session over 1730 and ended the session at 1704. Things just weren't clicking today. So the slide back down has begun.

Game 11 of 52

2012-01-13T22:04:00.001-06:00

It was another shellacking of a Chessmaster (Grandmaster edition) opponent. Today I played the "Trudy" personality. Trudy is rated 1290 and I was rated 1082 going into the game. We played a G/90.

When I've played these personalities before, I'd kind of go up in the game, only to later fall into some trap and lose. I've learned to play slow; take my time; and calculate - which is the whole purpose of this 52 game quest. Trudy dropped 4 pawns before she began to fight. But by then, I forced her to trade queens and then eventually went up with 2 rooks and a bishop against two bishops and a rook. I pushed my pawns, queened, exchanged some more and then pulled off the checkmate.

I expect the competition will get stiffer as I move up the ladder in Chessmaster.

Just a real quick accounting update ... before this game, I had played 3 games vs. a Chessmaster opponent. Then I played 5 games in the US Class Championships. Over the Thanksgiving break, I played a couple of other Chessmaster personalities, but I don't remember who. I think I won one of them and lost the other. So with this game, I've now played 11 and have 41 more to go before August. I'm hoping to be more consistent with keeping up on the status of this 52-game quest.

As always, my readers and observers are always welcome to play me a G/90 or G/120 on FICS or in person. Just leave a comment and we can work out a date and time.

Red-Letter Day

2012-01-10T21:37:00.001-06:00

My geometry teacher would often called exceptionally good days "red-letter-days." Today was a red-letter-day for me. In fact, it may become the an official RockyRook holiday - to be celebrated from today hence-forth!

After over 17,700 blitz attempts on ChessTempo, for the first time, I crossed the 1700 threshold. Ok ... I may have crossed it a long, long time ago at some point when my rating deviation was fluctuating like bull-rider, but in recent memory and for as long as I've been consistently solving tactics, I've never crossed this threshold. I've come oh-so-close before ... flirting with it while getting into the 1690's, but I'd always plummet back down to 1660 or lower.

But today ... I smashed through! In fact, last week at this time, after I had done my daily 20 problems, I was sitting at 1645. Then I went on some kind of rampage busting all the way up to 1687 by Sunday. Monday January 9 was a busy day and I didn't have time at night since we went to a BCS party (way to go Alabama!!) So today, I had to do my 20 for yesterday plus my 20 for today. I went 36-4 and broke through that glass ceiling and then managed to stay above 1700 for a few problems. After tonight's session, I'm sitting at 1705.

The lucky problem was number 55162.

*UPDATE*

So I got a little curious ... it just seemed to me that this couldn't have been my first time over 1700 (actively speaking) ... and so I bought a Gold Membership to see the full history (I had bought a membership before, but I had let it expire ... I figured it was time to pay up again anyway ... I really love the site). Sure enough, I was over 1700 a few times. In fact, the most recent time was just last year ... around the May/June time period. That must have been several hundred problems ago.

Oh well ... so I get a little enthusiastic about my rating ...

Let's see if I can maintain it above 1700 a bit longer this time.

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

2011-12-28T22:20:00.000-06:00

So I'm on a bit of a intellectual-reading kick this month. After summarizing what I learned from Waitzkin's book, I picked up Jonah Lehrer's book. This one has been on my to-read list for a couple of years now. Since it fit so well with Waitzkin's book, I moved it up in the queue and dove into it a little over a week ago.

This book was a really good read with lots of fascinating stories and experiments - all of which were highly stimulating.

I'd love to re-cap all the stories and main points, but there is just so much and all the chapters are inter-connected to make one big point. So instead of doing a full-recap, I'd rather advise you to go to the library, check this book out and then read it. There is a lot to chew on and a lot of little things you can learn from this book.

But the main thing to learn from this book is that we need to use both our emotions and our reasoning to make decisions. Sometimes our emotions - our gut feelings - do a better job at deciding, while other times, we should let our reasoning do the steering in order to make the best decision. He has a really good summary chapter at the end and explains when to use our gut feelings and when to use our reasoning.

Another major point that had major overlap with Waitzkin's book, dealt with when to use our emotions. If, we've done the "perfect practice" and have refined our area of expertise with many years questioning about how we've could have done better, then we would best be suited to use our "gut feelings." Waitzkin talked about this in his book. Lehrer also cited quite a few people - from professional backgammon players to quarterbacks to professional poker players - who practiced, practiced and practiced until they were "dreaming it" Then, and only then, could they begin to rely on instinct.

On the flip side, our instincts will fail us when we are presented with random situations. The recounting of the 1980 NBA team the 76ers and the study of the "hot hand" was truly fascinating. The "hot hand" statistically does not exist. Our minds are fixed to look for patterns, but when patterns truly do not exist, and our minds are think there is a pattern, then our instincts are worthless. So, we've got to know when to rely on our gut feelings and we also have to know when to not rely on them and instead, rely on our reasoning.

The story of the veteran smokejumper who was confronted with certain death was amazing. The smokejumpers were dropped into a fire, but the conditions changed in a heart-beat and suddenly they were being chased by a wildfire. They began running from the flames, but one smokejumper overcame his instincts to run and instead stopped and thought creatively. He lit a fire! He purposely burned a fire and then hunkered down while the wildfire passed over him. He was one of a few who survived and his creative technique is now common practice for smokejumpers. The other similar story was of the pilots of Flight 232 who miraculously crash landed the plane - they too were confronted with a new scenario. They emotions bought them some time to reason their way out of the pinch

But now we flip back. Sometimes emotion helps, other times it hurts us (the smokejumpers who didn't survive). Reason is good when confronted with a new situation ... but what if we get trapped into paralysis by analysis? Or what if we choke? This sometimes occurs when we are very proficient at something, but then we begin to over-think it. When we should be on auto-pilot, our unwanted deliberate thoughts begin to interfere with our performance - we literally choke and fail. When confronted with over-think, we should recognize it and then begin to train with cue words. Again, when we've gained proficiency, we need to let our "auto-pilot" take control. If our micro-manager sneaks in, we need to kick him out. We can train our minds to think in broad strokes rather than the micro.

Lehrer also gets into it a bit about the moral mind. That was also an intriguing chapter about what makes us human - the ability to think about how others feel and thus act accordingly.

Lastly - he puts it all together by giving tips on when to use emotion versus when to use reasoning.
When expertness has been reached, gut feelings are the way to go
SIMPLE PROBLEMS REQUIRE REASON
NOVEL PROBLEMS ALSO REQUIRE REASON
EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY
YOU KNOW MORE THAN YOU KNOW and
THINK ABOUT THINKING.

On that last point, he says, "if you're going to take only one idea from this book, take this one: Whenever you make a decision, be aware of the kind of decision you are making and the kind of thought process it requires. The best way to make sure that you are using your brain properly is to study your brain at work, to listen to the argument in your head"

And consider this passage ... "Of course, even the most attentive and self-aware minds will still make mistakes. Tom Brady, after the perfect season of 2008, played poorly in the Super Bowl. Michael Binger, after a long and successful day of poker, always ends up regretting one of his bets. The most accurate political experts in Tetlock's study still made plenty of inaccurate predictions. But the best decision-makers don't despair. Instead, they become students of error, determined to learn from what went wrong. They think about what they could have done differently so that the next time their neurons will know what to do. This is the most astonishing thing about the human brain: it can always improve itself. Tomorrow, we can make better decisions."

The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

2011-12-18T22:39:00.000-06:00

I finished reading The Art of Learning several days ago and then for the last few days, I've been re-reading several passages; highlighting parts I thought stood out.

The first eight chapters were fascinating from a chess perspective. Those first chapters read more like a biography, but there are a few smatterings of key points he uses to connect back into the main topic of the book.

Chapter 9 introduces his stepping into the world of Tai Chi - and this is where the real meat of the book begins. I've marked several passages in the second half of the book and I'll note those below.

I think a lot of these lessons are very applicable to chess. They are applicable to pretty much anything in life. I found value in many of these passages as I think about applying them to my performance in my career.

But if you are interested in this "softer" side of learning, then I highly recommend the book. And what I mean by 'softer' is that, everything he discusses is built on the premise that you must become proficient and even expert in the technical aspects of your performance (chess, career, sports, etc.) Once you have put in the learning and practice, then these other, softer, aspects will help you perform better.

Michael Jordan - He made a point about Michael Jordan, in the chapter "Investment in Loss." He states that MJ made more last-second shots than any other player in NBA history. MJ also missed more last-second shots than anyone else in NBA history! I think the point is well-taken, but since then, there has been another player who has taken and missed more shots than MJ - Kobe Bryant. According to this analysis, MJ is 9/18 on last-second shots while Kobe is 6/23.

But again, the point is still valid. To succeed, you have to take risks - you have to risk loss to become great - this was the essence of chapter 10.

Circles - A lot of this book was de ja vu - in that I've heard this before. He references Pirsig in his Zen book about this girl who sets out to attempt to write a 500 word essay on her town. She thinks there is nothing to write about - experiences writer's block. So Phaedrus asks her to begin describing the opera house - brick by brick. She thinks it won't work, but then she begins and a "torrent of creativity" floods her mind and the block is removed. He then makes a point (back to the premise his book is built on) that excellence is built on depth over breadth - that you must dive into the micro to understand the macro.

In chess-speak - to get really good at blitz, you must play a lot of long, slow games. To get good at tactics, you must understand tactics - begin small/slow and being working up. We've all heard of The Circles - that is why many of us bloggers started blogging - to achieve that Don de la Maza experience!

To quote Waitzkin, "We have to be able to do something slowly before we can have any hope of doing it correctly with speed."

In describing a pattern in Tai Chi, he says, "Over time, I'm not thinking about the path from foot to fist, I'm just feeling the ground connecting my fingertips, as if my body is a conduit for the electrical impulse of a punch."

Using Adversity- He mentions three steps, when learning to deal with adversity. I thought they were worth capturing.

1) "we have to learn to be at peace with imperfection"
2) "in our performance training, we learn to use that imperfection to our advantage - for example thinking to the beat of the music or using a shaking world as a catalyst for insight."
3) "learn to create ripples in our consciousness, little jolts to spur us along, so we are constantly inspired whether or not external conditions are inspiring."

Slowing Down Time- Earlier in the book, he mentioned breaking his hand in a competition. At that moment, time slowed down and he was able to move "Neo-like" and defeat his opponent, despite the broken hand. He talks about this experience repeatedly - and you can understand why he wants to break down the mechanics of "slowing down time." Who wouldn't want to slow down time?

Going back to the premise - much of what he discusses in this chapter absolutely depends on your proficiency. He even dips into the "chunking" we've all heard discussed. For my own sake (and if you understand it, your benefit too) I've documented those parts that build a recipe for slowing down time.

"I realized I had to delve into the operating mechanism of intuition."
"My numbers to leave numbers approach to chess study was my way of having a working relationship with the unconscious parts of my mind." Note - his numbers to leave numbers as far as I understood, means getting technically proficient/expert in order to become creative.
"In my opinion, intuition is our most valuable compass in this world. It is the bridge between the unconscious and the conscious mind, and it is hugely important to keep in touch with what makes it tick."
He then gets into chunking ... I won't get into his quotes on this.
So, now that your mind is "chunked", "this is where things get interesting. We are at the moment when psychology begins to transcend technique. Everyone at a high level has a huge amount of chess understanding, and much of what separates the great from the very good is deep presence, relaxation of the conscious mind, which allows the unconscious to flow unhindered."
"The idea is to shift the primary role from the conscious to the unconscious without blissing out and losing the precision the conscious can provide."
So, once you have the knowledge and the chunking, then you can begin to practice relaxing to the point that your unconscious can handle all the peripheral data, so your conscious can intensely focus on the critical data.

If you can practice this, then you can slow down time!

The Illusion of the Mystical - To be honest, I didn't quite 'get' this chapter. To me, it read more like "how to figure out the tells of a poker player." I didn't see a whole lot of use of this chapter.

Immunity - In "The Power of Presence" chapter, he wrote something I thought was powerful. It was simply another way of stating the premise of the book - that you must master the technical aspects of your profession in order to use much of what he discusses in the book. He said, "Grandmasters know how to make the subtlest cracks decisive. The only thing to do was become immune to the pain, embrace it, until I could work through hours of mind-numbing complexities as if I were taking a lovely walk in the park."

On the following page, I basically highlighted the whole thing. It touches a lot on "perfect practice" and making your practice feel "real" so that when the real deal does come, you are prepared to act under no pressure - because you've already been there.

"In every discipline, the ability to be clearheaded, present, cool under fire is much of what separates the best from the mediocre. In competition, the dynamic is often painfully transparent. If one player is serenely present while the other is being ripped apart by internal issues, the outcome is already clear. The prey is no longer objective, makes compounding mistakes, and the predator moves in for the kill. While more subtle, this issue is perhaps even more critical in solitary pursuits such as writing, painting, scholarly thinking, or learning. In the absence of continue external reinforcement, we must be our own monitor, and quality of presence is often the best gauge. We cannot expect to touch excellence if 'going through the motions' is the norm for our lives. On the other hand, if deep, fluid presence becomes second nature, then life, art, and learning take on a richness that will continually surprise and delight. Those who excel are those who maximize each moment's creative potential - for these masters of living, presence to the day-to-day learning process is akin to that purity of focus others dream of achieving in rare climatic moments when everything is on the line."
"The secret is that everything is always on the line. The more present we are at practice, the more present we will be in competition, in the boardroom, at the exam, the operating table, the big stage. If we have any hope of attaining excellence, let alone of showing what we've got under pressure, we have to be prepared by a lifestyle of reinforcement. Presence must be like breathing."

Searching for the Zone - He then gets into how we can build our own trigger of getting into that constant state of presence. In a nutshell - it is High Intensity Internal Training - otherwise known as HIIT. For those of you unfamiliar with HIIT - go google it and get to know it. If you're lazy, then I'll just say that HIIT means exercising at high intensity for a small amount of time and then recovering and then repeating the high intensity and then recovering ... repeated several times. A HIIT workout typically lasts 20-30 minutes and is generally known to be the secret to burning fat.

Waitzkin sees it as a way of building that bridge between conscious and unconscious; as a way to always be present. He analyzed his chess games and found that his best thinking occurred in spurts of 10 minute 'moves.' When he was not "present" he found that he spent much longer thinking and that his decisions were not great at all. So he learned that he could improve his thinking process by monitoring how he felt - how efficient he was thinking. If he started to 'falter' then he would take a break - go do some sprints (HIIT), return, cool off with water to the face and then look at the position anew.

"If you are interested in really improving as a performer, I would suggest incorporating the rhythm of stress and recovery into all aspects of your life. Truth be told, this is what my entire approach to learning is based on - breaking down the artificial barriers between our diverse life experiences so all moments become enriched by a sense of interconnectedness." He then mentions that meditation - a few minutes a day - in which your mind gathers and releases with the ebb and flow of breathing.

In the following chapter, Building Your Trigger - he also discusses other ways to get into that zone. In essence, you find what makes you feel relaxed - so that when it is time to perform, you can quickly gather your presence and then perform well.

Once you identify what makes you feel focused - in the zone - present (whatever you want to call it), you then associate music, routines or anything else that you want to do to get you in the zone. You can start off with a 20-30 minute routine, and then you slowly begin to whittle it down to minutes. Then, if you are called to perform unexpectedly, it will only take you minutes or seconds to get in the zone.

He mentions a man he worked with to build his trigger. He felt most relaxed when playing catch with his son. So he set up a routine:
1) Eat a light consistent snack for 10 minutes
2) 15 minutes of meditation
3) 10 minutes of stretching
4) 10 minutes of listen to his music
5) Play catch

He set up this routine and followed it for a month. Then he transported it to the day of his big performance - it worked!

Next he began cutting out playing catch and did 1-4 ... and slowly began working his way down doing minutes of meditation until finally he was able to get into the zone with just a few minutes of meditation - and it would have the same effect.

The rest of the book brings much of the previous chapters together. The last few discuss how he used all that he had learned to become world champion in push hands. Again, that part was more biography, but still fascinating to read about.

So, I know this was a long post - but there were so many intriguing parts to it, I felt I needed to capture what stood out to me. I actually do this with almost all the books I read, but since this one crosses over into my "chess world" I decided to post my review on this blog.

Anyway - I recommend the book - I found some use out of it and I'm thinking about what I can do to incorporate what I learned into my life - both chess-wise and career-wise.

Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev

2011-10-23T22:54:00.001-05:00

I have finally completed reading Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev.

This little project of mine has been going on years and it finally came to an end on the evening of Friday October 21, 2011. I can't recall when I received my copy of the book ... it must have been around 2003 as a Christmas present. I wanted it, because, back then, it was the book to have if you were aspiring to improve your chess.

At about this same time, I heard about the Polgar Brick and the subsequently how a few old Chessville denizens worked on that "project". I missed out on the project and therefore was reduced to scouring the Internet for that .pgn file.

So to tie these two thoughts together - when I received my copy of Logical Chess, I decided to make a "project" out of it. I would work on it game by game - page by page. Sometimes I would spend a lot of time on one game, other times I would blow through a game fairly quickly. Then there came a time when I abandoned it altogether ... only to just pick up the book and read over the games, but not work on the project.

Then the desire came back ... I just had to finish it. Granted, it may not be perfect, but in my opinion this book is one of those timeless books and it felt better to have it all in one file.

My future plans for this book include additional review. I've done some of the variations, but not all of them. As I have more time to really dive into the games, I'll add the variations. But for now, it is in a form I've always wanted it in.

Enjoy.

Rules for Entering Class Divisions in a USCF Tournament

2011-10-05T13:45:00.002-05:00

This question if for all you USCF TDs and frequent tournament players.

So while I was registering for the US Class Championships this year, I entered into the Class C division because my rating was 1434P and the Class C division showed ratings from 1400 to 1599. But after the tournament, I noticed that there were three players, going into the tournament, who had a rating higher than 1599 (see note below).

Why could these three players enter a class division from 1400-1599 when they had a rating higher than 1599?

Note: the three players had ratings of 1639, 1690 & 1702, so a couple of players were around 100 points higher than the upper limit of the Class C.

US Class Championships 2011

2011-10-03T22:11:00.000-05:00

Friday September 30, 2011

After a long day of work, I drove down to Hobby Airport at the Hilton. A cold front finally moved through South Texas and the weather was perfect in every sense of the word. It was a great night to watch a football game and look at the stars. But I had other things on my mind - the Class C section. Round 1 for the 3-day was that night.

Like last year, the accommodations were nice. The Friday night round was quiet as usual as only about half show up while the other half prefer to start round 1 on Saturday morning.

Round 1
The G/120 game started at 8:00pm. For me, it lasted well past midnight. I played an older gentleman who was a little late for the start. I started the clock and then he showed up a few minutes later.

I didn't get off to a great start and was quite rusty. My pawn structure was all awry and he took full advantage of it. I went down a pawn very early. Later in the game, he left a pawn en prise and I returned the favor by not taking it (smack to the head!). After I made my move, I realized I should have taken the pawn. Then my whits really started failing me. I held on for a few more moves only to commit an outright blunder by leaving my rook undefended. I immediately resigned. He was very cordial and reviewed the game with me for the next 45 minutes. In the course of talking to him, it was apparent he had a lot of knowledge of the game. He said he was retired and that was all he does anymore - study and play chess for several hours each day. He seemed like the person that might win the Class C tournament.

Saturday October 1, 2011

Round 2
I tried to get some sleep after that tough loss. I didn't get much. I woke the next day, went on a walk in the crisp morning air, returned, mowed the lawn and then watched some football on TV. I headed back to Hobby around noon to start round 2 at 1:00pm.

White pushed back

My next opponent was a kid who is in 6th grade. My opening was much better than the day before. I was black and played the KID. After speaking with my opponent the previous night, he told me a bit about the plans of the KID ... it was useful for me since I know nothing of openings. Like I said, I developed well and castled early, kept developing and then was able to get his bishop for one of my pawns. He didn't castle, and instead swung both rooks over to my kingside to try a full-on attack. But was able to hold it off and I then proceeded to drive his pieces back to where they came from.

We traded a few pieces, he attacked, then I counterattacked and then be blundered. He thought he could check me and capture my rook, but he failed to see that my queen was defending h8. But by this time, my clock was down to two minutes. So I quickly promoted and mated him.

Round 3
After I won my first game, I got away from the place and ate some dinner - a nice sirloin steak - and watched some more football and baseball. I went back to Hobby feeling pretty good.

27...Bxe3??

My third game was tough and I felt I should have lost it. I played white and opened with the Torre. He then captured my bishop and then I had doubled pawns. It wasn't looking too good. I held on for dear life. He placed his rook on the back rank, pinning my bishop to my king, then he followed up with his queen at c4, defending the rook. I was on the verge of being mated. And then he blundered. He took a pawn with his bishop, thinking it was only defended by my queen. Had I taken the bishop with my queen, it would have been mate by queen and rook. But he failed to see my rook defending the pawn and he lost his bishop. I took the bishop, the played 29. Rc3 and again, he failed to see that he had to recapture with his queen. Instead he captured with the rook and I took his queen and he resigned. I dodged a bullet.

So I went home Saturday night with two wins under my belt! I didn't feel deserving of both of them, but I took them all the same.

Sunday October 2, 2011

Round 4
I drove to Hobby again feeling anxious. My unspoken goal was to get three wins, and I wanted to win round 4 and then still have round 5 for a shot at earning some prize money.

Queen stuffed in the corner

I played with black and played some opening ... not even sure if it exists. Chessbase calls it the Bishop's Opening (C24). Like round 2, I ended up pushing this guys pieces back-back-back-back. But I also ended up with doubled-pawns again! After played 25...h4, the push was complete when he stuffed his queen in the corner. All my pieces were aiming in the right spots. I moved my rooks up more, swung my queen over to h8 and then he crumbled. He ended up checking me with 34. Nd6+, I captured and then his queen came and cleaned up a few pawns after checking me on c6. But I got my king all safe and my pieces were still trained on his king. I mated him in 41 moves. I had won 3 games!

Round 5
I cannot lie - I was feeling really good. The only way I can describe it is how Harry Potter must have felt after taking that "feel-lucky" potion. I just felt I could do no wrong. My confidence was to the point of brewing over - border-lining on genuine hubris! I failed to mention earlier, that I was the lower-rated player in all these games coming in at 1434.

28. e7 and Black resigns

I played with white in the last round. I was relaxed, confident and feeling really good. It was another older gentlemen - no doubt retired. I played, again, what I assumed is the Torre. He ended up pushing his pawns on the queenside - I thought he was pushing them a bit prematurely. After it was all said and done, I ended up with a pawn chain from f2 to c5 - and this chain would be his un-doing. Once I had that spearhead firmly in place, I proceeded to plant my bishop and knight deep in his territory. We did some exchanging after which I was up a pawn. We did some moving around and wrangling, but with each move, my position was getting stronger until I had a death-grip and he had nothing. I felt kind of bad for him ... every time I moved, he would shake his head, sigh and then shake his head again. My d-pawn eventually broke free and it was over. I scored 4.0/5.0!!!

I had about an hour left on my clock and he had over an hour left on his - it was a "quick" game both by time elapsed and moves.

The people in Black and Gold were the Saints fans

So I stayed around, snapped some pictures and watched the remaining Class C games. I had a shot at some prize money. I strolled around a bit too. Over the weekend, I noticed a few families that were playing. On Sunday, they were all wearing New Orleans Saints shirts. So I asked one of the dads what the deal was. He explained to me that there were 4 families who all lived next to each other and their kids went to the same school. They all love and play chess - including the parents. I thought that that was so cool - a real dream of mine!

Finally the games in Class C finished and they put up the final results. I came in "4th" and scored $150! I checked the tournament results tonight and my rating went from 1434 to 1617! Indeed, it was a great weekend.

FICS SurveyBot September 2011

2011-09-30T14:20:00.001-05:00

A few years ago, I published the FICS SurveyBot results comparing FICS Standard ratings with USCF ratings.

Last year when I jumped into OTB by playing at the US Class Championships, I had to enter the "Unrated Division". I came out with a 2nd place result and about a 1200 rating. I then played in another OTB and my rating jumped up over 1400. So I was curious about what to expect playing in the Class C division this year. At least according to FICS SurveyBot, I'm in the division I should be in. I'm sitting at 1434 USCF and 1630 on FICS. So I think the SurveyBot (in my case) is in the ballpark.

And this is about right for my expectations. Three things could happen for me this weekend:
1) I blow through the field and go 5-0; in which case that'd would be wonderful. Odds: pretty low.
2) I am somewhere in the middle ... 2.5-2.5, maybe worse, maybe better. This is what I'm anticipating. Odds: fairly high.
3) I turf it big time and fail to win a single game. This would be a blow to the 'ol ego and it would be a bit surprising. Odds: somewhat likely (yikes!) I played a 1400 rated player back in June and it was a slog-fest. I won, but it was a really hard-fought win. I could end up with 4 or 5 losses that are decided by a pawn.

My overall approach to this weekend is just to have fun. I didn't do any post-game skittles room analysis last year, but I hope to this year. So if I lose, I plan on really picking the other guy's brain and even try to get some tips for improvement.

UPDATE: September 30, 2011
: FICS USCF
: ---------
: 1220 982
: 1240 1004
: 1260 1026
: 1280 1048
: 1300 1070
: 1320 1093
: 1340 1115
: 1360 1138
: 1380 1161
: 1400 1183
: 1420 1206
: 1440 1230
: 1460 1253
: 1480 1276
: 1500 1300
: 1520 1323
: 1540 1347
: 1560 1371
: 1580 1395
: 1600 1419 <<---
: 1620 1443 <<---
: 1640 1467 <<---
: 1660 1491
: 1680 1516
: 1700 1540
: 1720 1565
: 1740 1590
: 1760 1615
: 1780 1640
: 1800 1665
: 1820 1690
: 1840 1715
: 1860 1740
: 1880 1766
: 1900 1791
: 1920 1817
: 1940 1843
: 1960 1869
: 1980 1895
: 2000 1921
: 2020 1947
: 2040 1973
: 2060 1999
: 2080 2026
: 2100 2052
: 2120 2079
: 2140 2105
: 2160 2132
: 2180 2159
: 2200 2186
: 2220 2213
: 2240 2240
: 2260 2267
: 2280 2294
: 2300 2322
: 2320 2349
: 2340 2377
: 2360 2404
: 2380 2432
: 2400 2460

SurveyBot(TD): A list of the estimated USCF ratings has been displayed above. The 257 submitted USCF ratings fit the best power curve given by formula USCF=a*FICS^b, a>0, where a=0.06364782, b=1.35707831 and coefficient of determination r^2=0.517.

Biggest Rating Jump in One Problem

2011-09-22T18:06:00.001-05:00

Granted my RD was around 46 at the time of the problem, but even still, when my RD has been this high before, I've never had a big of a jump as this one!

Now if I can just consistent avoid losing to the 1500 and 1600 rated problems!

What's the biggest rating jump you've had at ChessTempo?

By the way, it was problem #78276.

RHP Update

2011-09-17T16:58:00.000-05:00

I stopped playing at RedHotPawn about a year ago, but then I picked it back up a few months ago. I've won another game there just today.

On White's 20th move (where the game begins below), it got interesting. He planted his knight deep in my territory, but I managed to scrape out a lead by taking out his supporting pawns and then exchange my bishop for his rook. From there, we did some posturing, but I finally was able to sweep up some pawns and he resigned.

So now I'm 64-19-2 with a rating of 1635 at RHP. I have 4 current games going right now.

It's been a while since I played my last G/90 game. Life has been busy and the last two weeks I had higher priorities early Saturday morning. But I'm thinking next Saturday morning I should be able to get another game in. I'm looking forward to the 5 G/120 games coming up in a couple of weeks at the US Class Championships!

Chess Player Look-a-Likes: Svetushkin-Crow

2011-09-15T15:12:00.000-05:00

Dmitry Svetushkin and Russell Crowe ... maybe?

Sharp Eyes

2011-09-10T12:13:00.006-05:00

A good friend of mine took some pictures of our family earlier this year.

He took a few of me and my boys playing around on the chess board.

He posted one of them on his artistic photo-feed. Click here to see the full photo.

Chess Merit Badge

2011-09-07T22:56:00.000-05:00

I'm an Eagle Scout ... so when I saw this in the news, I got a little excited. Although, I was surprised the chess merit badge had not already been available. My son, who is in Cub Scouts, earned his chess belt-loop and pin.

The requirements seem fairly comprehensive and they address all the key aspects of the game ... not only do they address the rules, but they delve into strategy, tactics, playing, problem solving and even running a tournament.

The first couple of the requirements also get into chess history, etiquette and describing the benefits of chess.

Maybe the local troop will let me be the merit badge counselor!

Game 3 of 52

2011-09-03T15:33:00.000-05:00

I finally pulled off my first victory in this march to 52. I tried fishing for a game early on last night on FICS ... I trolled channel 90 for a bit asking for any takers, but there were none. So I stayed up and watched the TCU at Baylor game (what a game!) and then decided to sleep in. I worked it out so I could have 3 hours to myself in the afternoon. So I had 1:00pm to 4:00pm blocked off. I tried fishing for a G/90 game again on FICS, but there were still no takers.

So I fired up Chessmaster again. I couldn't play Seb ... the highest rated player it would let me play was Hayden (1282). Fifty moves later I had won. Unfortunately, the Hayden personality wasn't so keen. You know when the computer makes a seemingly dumb move like just giving up a pawn or exchanging a bishop for pawn? Well, that is what it was like playing this personality. I would have thought it would've played a bit tougher. Seb was like 1300 or something ... anyway.

The cool part about playing from 1-4pm on a Saturday was being able to watch all the college football while playing chess. Maybe that doesn't exactly help me make the best moves, but it was fun.

I'm on game 20 in Logical Chess - still enjoying that. I should be done with the project around the end of October now. I'm averaging about 3 pages a day now.

This 3-day weekend should be fun ... I should have lots of time to do tactics and play some blitz. I'm for sure going to the LHCC Tuesday night. I also need to renew my USCF membership and sign up for the US Class Championships scheduled in about a month.

Game 2 of 52

2011-08-27T15:13:00.002-05:00

What a week! We got back from vacation Monday afternoon. We had driven 22 straight hours between Sunday morning and Monday morning. We crashed at a friend's house in Dallas; did some school-shopping Monday afternoon and finally made it back to SE Texas late Monday afternoon. So I've been trying to catch up on sleep all week long. Work was a killer this week - lots of fires to put out. Then our AC unit decided to quit; so we had a big chunk of it replaced. Glad this week is in the books!

But I'm determined to keep this chess quest up. I did get up one morning this week to read over Logical Chess. I also manged to get 20 tactics in this week on ChessTempo. Then this morning, I struggled to get out of bed to play my G/90 game. I rolled out at around 6:30am and decided to play Seb again (Chessmaster). I played with Black this time.

So the good news is this:
1. I actually played and finished the 2nd game.
2. I used most of my clock - I had about 6 minutes left when the game finished.
3. I got to move 28 (rather than move 15) before screwing up.

So move 28 was where the wheels came off. Here is the position:

Seb just checked me with his queen. I had Kf7, Kh8 or Rf7. I played Rf7 thinking I could get the rook more involved with a counterattack. Kh8 felt like I was painting my king into a corner. Kf7 felt like the king would be more exposed.

But again - my tactics antennae failed me. I failed to see Nd7 and with the queen pinning the rook, there was no hope.

The good thing about playing Seb is he punishes me for these types of mistakes - which is exactly what I need - I need to be able to spot these.

Going back a few moves before this one, I had pushed the d-pawn. This opened up this very diagonal, which of course in this position burned me.

It's tough trying to nail down everything at once. Chess is kind of like trying to stop 5 leaks with just 2 hands. You stop one leak, another crops ups. You gotta keep an eye on everything.

So after going 0-2 against Seb, I'll probably be playing the next lower rated player in Chessmaster (if I can't find someone on-line to play against next week).

One other thing - one nice feature of CM is the ability to pause the game. My kids and wife are always interrupting me later in the game. Today, I just paused it, addressed the family issue and then came back to the game when I had some time. Not exactly the best scenario to play chess, but you do what you can :-)

Game 1 of 52

2011-08-06T13:05:00.000-05:00

So I decided to really do it. My goal is to play 52 of any G/90 or G/120 games I can get over the next year. What I mean by "any G/90 or G/120 game I can get", I mean OTB, games over the Internet or against Chessmaster (Grandmaster Edition) - in that order of preference.

Generally speaking, I want to play one game a week, but I realize there will be times when I won't get a game in for a week and there will be times when I can get multiple games in a week (i.e. tournament).

At Least it's a Start
I sent out a seek on FICS this morning, but got no takers for a G/90. So I fired up Chessmaster and played the Seb personality. A sub-goal, now, is to raise my embarrassing CM rating ... after my lost to Seb this morning, I'm at 898.

I still need to work on taking more time and looking at all variations. I got burned this morning for not seeing a fork. Also, as a TL team member told me, I need to play more defensive chess. In other words, I need to improve at looking for tactics against me and not just be looking for tactics to score against my opponent.

White to move

Here is the position right before I moved 15. Rb1 followed by Black's 15 ... Bxd2 16. Qxd2 Qe4!

While considering Rb1, my "defensive tactic antennae" (which I need to develop) should have shot up ... seeing that there is the potential for the forking of the rooks. After seeing the potential fork, I should have either developed a defense of it or tossed the Rb1 move out.

I think Fritz suggested Bg2.

The other key mistake I made was in the opening ... another theme of my mistakes. After 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 c5 I decided to move 4. c4? It really makes no sense now that I look at it. The only reason I can think of about why I made this move was because of a game I was reading in Logical Chess Move by Move ... it had seemed to me the c2 pawn should have been on c4. Even that doesn't make much sense because the move sequence in the book was different.

Anyway, the correct 4th move should have been e3 or e4.

Developing the Habit
Next steps now ... I need to return and play another game. I need to get this weekly habit going. Unfortunately, we are leaving on a family vacation for the next week and a half and I won't have a chance to play until the week of August 22. The good news is that my schedule is fairly clear from August 22 to the end of the year and therefore nothing should trip me up on trying to form this habit.

Lake Houston Chess Club

2011-08-02T10:35:00.001-05:00

We finally have a place to meet and play on the NE side.

Check it out: Lake Houston Chess Club; meets Tuesdays at 7pm at Panera Bread on 1960.

July Update

2011-07-28T16:11:00.000-05:00

I have a post I've saved as draft - it's been sitting around for a while now. I wrote it after my dismal performance in the last team league tournament. I'm not sure I'm willing to publish it quite yet. So in the mean time, I'll just post an update of what I've been doing.

Anyway - I've been getting into a good routine lately. I've been getting up early in the morning and working on chess for an hour before I go to work. My first goal, with this dedicated chess time, is to finish Logical Chess by Chernev. I'm reading, transcribing it into a pgn and then trying to absorb the information. At my current rate, I should be done with it this fall.

As for play - I was about to sign up for the NAS-NAJ tournament at Hilton Hobby in Houston, but some friends of ours changed plans at the last minute and decided to stay with us on the weekend rather than the following Monday and Tuesday. So I missed out on that opportunity. Then, I will miss the tournament on August 13 because my sister-in-law is getting married and we'll be driving there on the 13th. All these wonderful OTB opportunities going by are driving me nuts. As of today, I am still on playing in the Class Championships 9/30 to 10/2.

I've had a thought stirring in my mind for a while: play 50 G/120 games in one year. There are a number of reasons for the thought. 1) I need to play lots more than I am now. 2) I need to play long games ... G/60 and 45/45 seem a bit fast for my slow brain. 3) I need more practice at 'Real Chess' 4) I'd like to have a set time every week that I play the game - something I can depend upon.

So I'm considering setting aside Saturdays at 03:00 FICS time to play. If I can find someone to play on-line, so be it. If not, then I'll play the 'personalities' on Chessmaster. As for finding people to play, I can troll the STD forums as well as the other chess forums. I've also thought about putting a google spreadsheet out there for people to sign up for a time to play me.

That's the update for now.

I'm still reading lots of blogs out there. I've enjoyed the carnivals - maybe I'll get creative one day and submit something.

Houston Swiss Open

2011-06-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

Just found out about another tournament here in Houston. The Houston Swiss Open will be Saturday August 13, 2011 at the University of St. Thomas.

Three rounds; G/90 w/ 5 second increment.

I'm planning on it.

By the way, if any of you are interested in playing a G/120 or G/90 on-line - or even in person - sometime, drop me an email or leave a comment.

Chess Pistols Tournament at Rice University

2011-06-08T21:57:00.000-05:00

The Chess Pistols chess club held a G/60 +5 SS tournament on June 4. I took my 1244 provisional rating into the tournament determined to come out with at least one win.

Game 1

The first game was typical ... I blundered early ... was moving too quickly; not paying attention to the threats after my candidate moves. I went down a bishop. But, I kept fighting and came back big time.

I equalized the game by trapping his bishop and then later on, I sacrificed a pawn to clear the way for my rooks to do some serious damage. I eventually was able to trade a rook for his queen.

From there, it was even more stressful. I had to win the game now with limited time on my clock. I managed to screw myself by not managing my remaining pawns well. We dropped the pencils and focused entirely on the board. I kept giving check. My strategy, at this point, was either to force him to lose on time, force a draw by repetition. But I managed to maneuver his rook and king to the edge of the board and with my king and my solitary pawn, I was able to mate him. I honestly didn't see the mate until after I made the move. We were both in shock that the game was over.

Later on in the day, I found that he was rated over 1800 - making this the biggest win of my entire chess career!!

Game 2 and 3

With my extraordinary win in round one, I was paired with one of the top players in the tournament. He was rated over 1900. I got crushed in 23 moves. I wasn't so disappointed in the loss per se, but rather in the lack of effort on my part.

Game 3 was pretty much the same. I played a 1700 player; blundered and then got blistered on a brutal checkmate. That game also went a measly 23 moves.

Game 4

I was finally paired with someone with about the same rating - a 1400. This game was a slog-fest going over 60 moves. I managed to find a crucial tactic that secured me a pawn lead. I went on to force trades of the remaining pawns and then cleared a path for my remaining pawn to queen. He resigned before I could queen.

So I went 2-2 and placed 2nd in the U1600 division and scored $10!

Now - can someone answer me this: how did I get paired with an 1800-rated player in round 1 when there were 1400-rated players? Hind-sight: I'm glad I did, but I would think that they would pair me - a 1244P player - with someone around my rating.

Here is a link to some pictures of the tournament. My rating is now 1434 after 13 games.

Cheating??

2011-05-28T13:30:00.001-05:00

I've always been a little leery of whispering in my games while playing them (in Team League play). Generally speaking, there can be three to several people observing your game. But what if your opponent is also logged in as a guest and sees all the whispers that are being made during the game - especially the whispers you're making?

This screen-grab is from a game of one of our team members. When I first started observing the game, it was just me, TeamLeague and that guest observing that game.

Rocket Chess

2011-05-26T08:57:00.000-05:00

hat tip to chesshouse ... follow the link to see a couple of pictures.

The Pin

2011-05-21T22:39:00.002-05:00

Second TL46 Game

I won my 2nd game in TL46.

The first caption is move 15. I started licking my chops when he moved that king behind his queen.

I stayed patient and resisted the urge to capture his knight with my white-square bishop. Then move 19 came and I saw what I was looking for.

After clearing one rook, my knight attacked his bishop and queen. After taking the bishop and he the knight, he'd be pinned. He opted to just drop the bishop altogether.

I kept up the pressure. He eventually resigned on move 28. I was about to mate him or clear all his pieces.

It was just neat how I kept chipping away at trying to get that pin. I knew at any point the position could have changed and the pin would have been an after-thought. But it felt good to be patient, develop pieces and prepare the position entirely.

Case for Wood Board

I finally got around to finding a case for a wood board (23x23). House of Staunton has one for $35. If any of you know of a better price for a wood board (that does not fold), let me know. Link to case.

Tron Legacy

What a great show. I finally watched it last night. I loved the music to it.

NAS-NAJ Open July 22-23

I was aware of the Senior and Junior opens July 22-24 at Hilton Hobby, but what I was not aware of was the Not-a-Senior-Not-a-Junior Open going on at the same time and place. I found it will perusing Cajun Chess. Here's a link to the tournament details. I think I may play it.

The Chess Pistols & Misc.

2011-05-18T10:20:00.000-05:00

I've not visted this marauding club yet, but I will on June 4.

They're hosting a 4SS tournament at Rice University.

I've not been over to Rice yet, so I don't know what their commons room is like. I would assume it'll be relatively quiet as it'll be summer term or perhaps in between terms.

Anyway, if you're in the area and available that day, sign up (Donnie? Ivan?)

In other news, TL46 is up and running. I like the new format and I'm glad they've come up with their own little formula for a TL-rating. It better represents the kind of competition you'll be up against.

Lastly, it's good to see Wahrheit back to blogging.

My Favorite Chess Blog

2011-05-16T06:56:00.000-05:00

The Chess Improver (by Nigel Davies)

I've yet to find a post I thought was rubbish.

Chess Around the Net

2011-04-29T13:25:00.000-05:00

I haven't done this in a long time ...

Surf n Chess Club
"An avid chess player, Neely had read dozens of studies on the positive effects of chess on learning and wanted to introduce it to his students.

There was one hurdle.

"A 'chess club' is something for eight or nine bright nerds," Neely said. "I wanted something more than that. I wanted something cool for the kids."

So Neely, also a longtime surfer, decided to jazz up the game with Beach Boys tunes and a beach party atmosphere. There was also one hard and fast rule: Students had to shake hands with their opponents to wish them good luck before each game. His students became known at chess tournaments for being the most polite."

Fischer Spassky Board

Bridge (not Chess) in School
"Chess is still the game of choice among educators, but bridge is catching on at a growing number of schools, community leagues and recreational centers across the nation, many of which see the card game as offering similar mental benefits to those of chess, but with a social component."

A Different Kind of Talking Chess Set
Not sure I would pay even $19.99 for this ... interesting.

picking up the pieces

2011-04-02T09:39:00.001-05:00

i had a very interesting week this week. licked my wounds a bit only to be comically re-injured when i challenged my team league team mates to a 45 0 game. my captain took me up on the offer and then handily whooped my ass. i was literally laughing at the utter breakdown on my part coupled with his flawless play.

i joined the 21st century and discovered pandora this week. quickly i found the android app for it and have been listening to my one selection of genre the whole week. it had picked up a song i shared on facebook (a william orbit song) and auto-generated my personal radio station.a couple of days ago, i installed the windows 7 gadget - it is the perfect companion for doing tactics at chesstempo.

last night i was doing just that - tactics and listening to pandora - when this exceptional piece was played. it is called 'our breath shall intermix' and is by a group called symbion project. again, i finally caught up. this group (artist?) has been around for 20 years. come to find out that the album this piece is from is called immortal game and there are two tracks on it that reference chess 1) pawn to king 2) bishop to king 7, checkmate.

another interesting thing from my tactics session last night ... i was limping along ... 12 right 8 wrong. it felt like a real struggle; like my head was in the fog; like i wasn't really paying attention. like a switch, i just said to myself, 'enough. i am going to get these problem right.' it seemed to work. i ended up with 36 right and 12 wrong.

and now, for your listening pleasure. find 10 uninterrupted minutes, sit down, put on some wicked headphones and listen to this track.

Epic Failure

2011-03-19T15:17:00.000-05:00

Winning! - not.

T45 is over. My last loss of the season summed up perfectly how T45 went for both me and our team.

I went 1-4. The team finished with 1 match point and finished last.

The last loss ... I had no vision, no desire, no fight ... nothing.

Bleah.

I guess it's time to re-group.

Cogmed and Chess

2011-03-18T13:47:00.000-05:00

Our 10 year-old daughter has been diagnosed with ADD. We've been working with psychiatrists and psychologists to help her overcome this disability. At the same time, we've been trying other methods to try and tackle her focus issues. There is no doubt in our minds that our daughter is very intelligent, but we see that focus is an issue. We also think this issue is hereditary - my wife and I experience the same issues that are described in our daughter.

So in discussing these challenges with other parents who's kids have the same issues, we came across a program called Cogmed. We just heard about it last week and I finally got around to going to the website to get more details.

As I was reading some of the user case studies, I found that one user used Cogmed to improve his chess. Not only did it help him improve, he went from placing 26th in a tournament before using Cogmed, to winning the state championship after using Cogmed for a month.

Click here to read this brief case study.

Chess Boxing to Control Your Emotions

2011-03-09T06:51:00.001-06:00

I ran across a fascinating article that discusses using chess-boxing to create the "ability to effectively regulate emotions in order to maintain cognitive control."

You can read it in its entirety: "Could Chess-Boxing Defuse Aggression?"

LOL

2011-03-08T20:35:00.000-06:00

In playing a 3-game set with another player, I lost the first game and was about to crash and burn in the 2nd and 3rd games ... but I didn't.

Game 2
Game 3

Burning Castles

2011-03-08T20:32:00.000-06:00

Even though he hasn't posted for almost a year now, I still find Wormstar's blog highly fascinating. I've been toying with the concept of trying to replicate what he did.

Burning Castles

Chess Reference

2011-03-08T10:28:00.000-06:00

I would have just copied the chess reference quote and included a link, but it looks like the author (Scott Adams) had to take the post down. It is a worth-while read ... and I bolded the chess reference.

The topic my readers most want me to address is something called men's rights. (See previous post.) This is a surprisingly good topic. It's dangerous. It's relevant. It isn't overdone. And apparently you care.

Let's start with the laundry list.

According to my readers, examples of unfair treatment of men include many elements of the legal system, the military draft in some cases, the lower life expectancies of men, the higher suicide rates for men, circumcision, and the growing number of government agencies that are primarily for women.

You might add to this list the entire area of manners. We take for granted that men should hold doors for women, and women should be served first in restaurants. Can you even imagine that situation in reverse?

Generally speaking, society discourages male behavior whereas female behavior is celebrated. Exceptions are the fields of sports, humor, and war. Men are allowed to do what they want in those areas.

Add to our list of inequities the fact that women have overtaken men in college attendance. If the situation were reversed it would be considered a national emergency.

How about the higher rates for car insurance that young men pay compared to young women? Statistics support this inequity, but I don't think anyone believes the situation would be legal if women were charged more for car insurance, no matter what the statistics said.

Women will counter with their own list of wrongs, starting with the well-known statistic that women earn only 80 cents on the dollar, on average, compared to what men earn for the same jobs. My readers will argue that if any two groups of people act differently, on average, one group is likely to get better results. On average, men negotiate pay differently and approach risk differently than women.

Women will point out that few females are in top management jobs. Men will argue that if you ask a sample group of young men and young women if they would be willing to take the personal sacrifices needed to someday achieve such power, men are far more likely to say yes. In my personal non-scientific polling, men are about ten times more likely than women to trade family time for the highest level of career success.

Now I would like to speak directly to my male readers who feel unjustly treated by the widespread suppression of men's rights:

Get over it, you bunch of pussies.

The reality is that women are treated differently by society for exactly the same reason that children and the mentally handicapped are treated differently. It's just easier this way for everyone. You don't argue with a four-year old about why he shouldn't eat candy for dinner. You don't punch a mentally handicapped guy even if he punches you first. And you don't argue when a women tells you she's only making 80 cents to your dollar. It's the path of least resistance. You save your energy for more important battles.

How many times do we men suppress our natural instincts for sex and aggression just to get something better in the long run? It's called a strategy. Sometimes you sacrifice a pawn to nail the queen. If you're still crying about your pawn when you're having your way with the queen, there's something wrong with you and it isn't men's rights.

Fairness is an illusion. It's unobtainable in the real world. I'm happy that I can open jars with my bare hands. I like being able to lift heavy objects. And I don't mind that women get served first in restaurants because I don't like staring at food that I can't yet eat.

If you're feeling unfairly treated because women outlive men, try visiting an Assisted Living facility and see how delighted the old ladies are about the extra ten years of pushing the walker around. It makes dying look like a bargain.

I don't like the fact that the legal system treats men more harshly than women. But part of being male is the automatic feeling of team. If someone on the team screws up, we all take the hit. Don't kid yourself that men haven't earned some harsh treatment from the legal system. On the plus side, if I'm trapped in a burning car someday, a man will be the one pulling me out. That's the team I want to be on.

I realize I might take some heat for lumping women, children and the mentally handicapped in the same group. So I want to be perfectly clear. I'm not saying women are similar to either group. I'm saying that a man's best strategy for dealing with each group is disturbingly similar. If he's smart, he takes the path of least resistance most of the time, which involves considering the emotional realities of other people. A man only digs in for a good fight on the few issues that matter to him, and for which he has some chance of winning. This is a strategy that men are uniquely suited for because, on average, we genuinely don't care about 90% of what is happening around us.

I just did a little test to see if I knew what pajama bottoms I was wearing without looking. I failed.

Endurance

2011-02-24T16:12:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking a lot about endurance this week ... especially since my loss earlier this week. Wasn't it Dan Heisman who said your game is only as good as your weakest move ... or something like that. I felt I was playing pretty well the whole game. Then I saw a way to promote my pawn. Being under a bit of time pressure as well as being a bit tired (it was around 11:30pm at this point in the game), I simply didn't calculate well - I didn't count the squares the king was from a8. And so I threw the game away.

Here is a link to the game.

So my thoughts, this week, have been directed at how I can maintain focus for the length of the 2-3 hour game. I personally think this issue of lack of focus and enduring to the very end is a broader issue in my life and it just manifests itself in my chess.

One thing I've tried to change this week is in my exercise routine. Instead of giving up when I'm feeling tired, I been trying to stretch myself into working out longer. Before, I would bike for 20 minutes and jog for 20 minutes. During those workouts, I'd take frequent breaks. This week I've been focused on riding consistently for the full 30 minutes and then to push myself for the full 30 minutes at jogging. I've been successful so far (Monday through today). This is just one example, but I've been trying to keep the topic of endurance in my mind in all the things I do. I aim to improve my endurance and capacity in all aspects of my life.

Off to a Good Start for 2011

2011-02-12T07:28:00.001-06:00

My first game of the year was a win. You can replay it here on ficsgames.com.

This was the move that started the chain of events. A bit earlier in the game, I was trying to maneuver both knights and my white bishop to attack e4. But he ended up taking one of my knights and then advanced his d-pawn.

I still needed to get my other knight off the peripheral - he wasn't doing any good there anymore. So when he moved Qd2, it didn't take me long to move Nc5 (37.5 seconds to be exact). The intention of course was to plant the knight on b3 for the fork. He ended move moving his rook to b1.

My next move was a bit aggressive. I plopped my queen on g4. I had this idea for a while. I was a bit unsure of this move, but decided to go ahead with it as it created an attack on g2 and e4. I figured I could recall the queen back to safe land if the plan didn't fly. He followed with g3. I had a decision to make ... take e4 or pull back. I tried to calculate as many possibilities as I could and I'm sure I was not thorough. After over seven minutes of internal debate, I decided to go for it. I thought he would move Nxe5 and we would go down the path of exchanging pieces, but he opted for exchanging the knights right away.

So, 16...Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Qxe4 18. Rd1 cxd5 19. hxg6 (this was a bit surprising to me). Qxg6 otherwise I'd be mated with 20. Qh6. Next he moved Rh6, I moved Qg7.

And then his blunder - Nh4. Before he made this move, I was planning on e4 to bump his knight off f3 after which I'd follow up with the fork (Bf5), but he obliged without me even asking.

He played Nf5, I took his queen (check) and then moved my queen out of the way. From there, I just needed to ensure I didn't stumble in the end. There was still a possibility of him aligning rooks and bishop to attack h7. But I managed it successfully, got rid of his knight and then eventually was forced to take his bishop with my queen after which I took his rook and I was up a full rook. He capitulated fairly quickly - he didn't resign, but he didn't fight either.

As a side note, the time negotiations for this game were a bit strange. But in the end, we ended up starting the game at 5:00am my time. Early morning games aren't my preference, but sometimes you have to play at that time to accommodate the Europeans. Even though I was a bit worried about lack of sleep, I was able to get a good sleep and my brain wasn't too foggy. To help clear the cobwebs, I got up a few minutes before 5:00am and played a few games of Bejeweled Blitz. I've found that playing Bejeweled Blitz is a great way to scan an 8x8 grid extremely quickly - I highly recommend this game!

January Stats

2011-02-01T20:55:00.000-06:00

Well ... let's try this again.

ChessTempo: Blitz 389/523 (74% - 5.3 hours) Rating 1708.8
Slow Games: 0 Rating: 1584 (RD 85.3)
Reading/Studying: None

February Goals
1) Continue with at least 20 tactics a day
2) Play 3 long games
3) Study/input to .pgn 2 games from Logical Chess

T45 has just started. My first game will be this week or next.

This is a trend I must reverse (link)

Double Your Chess Analysis Powers

2011-01-27T16:08:00.002-06:00

Have you read this article? Alien Hand Syndrome sees woman attacked by her own hand

In a nutshell, this woman suffered from epilepsy. Doctors remedied her ailment by "cutting out a small section of her brain." In her case, they did something a bit more drastic - they severed the corpus callosum - which is the link between the two halves of her brain. This effectively, it would seem, create two brains and thereby doubling the processing power - your very own dual-core processor!

Of course I would imagine there is a little bit of re-conditioning and training you would have to do to get both halves to not only work properly and independently, but also to work towards the same goal.

That BBC series, by the way, looks absolutely fascinating. I'll have to look it up and DVR it sometime.

via: Scott Adams blog
picture: DesktopNexus

BabasChess Background or Wallpaper for your Board

2010-12-26T10:04:00.002-06:00

One of the commenters from my post "Configuring BabasChess to look like Fritz" noted that they were having issues with white space behind the playing board. I have seen this before when trying to apply a really nice background image.

BabasChess requires the background images be a bitmap. You cannot load .png, or .jpeg .jpg or any other image type. It must be .bmp

This doesn't present a big problem as long as you have the right image editing tools.

1) Google the image you want and save it. For me, it was 'dark wood'

2) Convert the image to bitmap (skip this step if your image is already in bitmap type)
2a) Open your image edit tool. For me, I use SnagIt. But any basic edit tool should work.
2b) Convert the image type. Depending on the tool you are using, this step may vary. But if you are using SnagIt, there is a 'Convert Image' option. Using the wizard, it walks you through ... at the right step, choose the .bmp option. Windows Paint program can also convert images to bitmaps. Open the image, and then simply choose, 'save as' and choose bitmap.

3) Save the bitmap (or copy it) to the Data/Backgrounds directory in the folder where BabasChess is stored. For me it is C:\Program Files\BabasChess\BabasChess\Data\Backgrounds

4) Open Preferences (F11) in BabasChess and choose the background.

Enjoy!

Avatar Review

2010-12-11T10:27:00.001-06:00

Pocatar

First off - this is not a chess post. I doubt anyone even looks at this blog very much, but I felt a little rant coming on and needed a place to release it.

I know - I'm a little late with this review. I've yet to watch the other James Cameron movie (TITanic). There's something about the raving mad crowds of people who gush over how great a movie is that just turns me off and I don't want to watch it. Avatar was kind of like that as well. So I never saw it in the theater. I finally watched it over Thanksgiving after my brother in law got the blue-ray for a birthday present.

Don't worry - this rant won't be too long.

Point one: the American military general was insane. I don't deny there may very well be insane soldiers, but those are exceptions in my opinion.

Point two: The business dude running the show was a bit insane too ... and dumb. If that stuff was really worth that much money, I think the company could have been a little more patient.

Point three: the movie/story ended a bit prematurely.

Point three dot one: The military lost just one battle - the blue people kicked them off the planet. The military, if indeed they wanted to pursue taking over the planet, would have come back much stronger and with much more force.

Point three dot two: As soon as the company/military/science officers found out that they could attempt to "transfer" human souls into blue-people bodies, I think they should have taken a different route than trying to destroy the planet and people. They could have started charging humans to come to the planet to get a soul-transfer and start living on Pandora. There's probably a lot more money in that market. Plus, with the migration and influx of humans living in blue-people bodies, who's to say the company/military/science officers couldn't have pulled off the original plan - and that was to essentially put a spy in the midst of the blue-people.

Point four: Avatar was really just a re-vamped, slicked up re-do of Disney's Pocahontas. That movie bombed because the story sucked. Avatar would have flopped too if it weren't for the absolutely cool effects and 3D technology.

PS - as I was looking for a picture for this post, I found that there were already stored searches for "avatar pocahontas comparison" The picture shows I'm not the first one to see the similarities.

HCA - RMS Tournament

2010-12-05T12:19:00.001-06:00

My son and I played in the RMS tournament here in our hometown. This was the first time I played chess in almost a month. Work and family life have been so extremely busy, that I hardly have time to play, study or write about chess. But things are starting to slow down again to normal speeds and my chess enthusiasm is starting to come back.

The HCA RMS tournament was a scholastic tournament, but adults are allowed to play in the advanced section. I knew I would be playing against mostly kids and teenagers. Time controls were G/45. I ended up playing three Asian kids (between the ages of 7 and 10) and one adult who I played against in the Class Championships. It was nice seeing and talking to him. Another adult in the section was the father who was helping his son cheat in the Class Championships. The kid was also playing, but in a different section.

First off - all the games were very quick. All my opponents played very quickly. We had completed our first 20 moves and only 5 minutes would be gone off the clock. The game went down to the wire and I was able to rattle off a few checks while the clock was beginning to expire. I was able to mate him with 8 seconds on my clock.

The second two games were boring and both ended up on a draw. In fact, the third game should have been a loss for me, but I was able to force a draw by repetition. Afterward, a few other kids analyzed the game and showed us how the kid could have beaten me.

My last game was easy. My opponent dropped a piece early on and I won no problem. It was satisfying as this was the gentleman I drew with in the Class Championships.

My son did well for his first tournament. I won a couple and drew one and lost the others. He had fun. His games got over much quicker than mine did. He enjoyed it enough that he wants to do it again.

I need 10 more games to get the P to drop from my rating. I'll be trying to find some time to play a few more rated games over the next few months.

*Update* Here is the crosstable for the section in which I played. Looks like my new (provisional) rating will be 1244 ... up from 1114.

Still Need to Learn My Lesson

2010-10-28T08:49:00.000-05:00

Serves me right for drawing. What makes it more painful is that I knew I needed to slow down - the time pressure was all in my head. Had I simply got up, walked out, breathed deeply and took my time to assess the position, I would have won (most likely). Instead, I rushed into it and didn't even consider the perpetual check or even the loss. I was still lucky to even get a draw out of it after my failure to take time to assess.

Anyway, here it is; and here is the key position (at least for me):

I've included in the screenshot the time left on our clocks.

It took me two days to finally come back to this game and look at this position - it was really burning me up inside.

Qa7+

...Kf6 ... the knight is pinned and I my queen is on the right diagonal to defend against the black queen check. My pawn is then free to capture the knight and I'm up a full rook.

What puts a burr up my butt is my failure to even analyze the perpetual check and potential loss - instead I succumbed to the perceived time pressure and went with the immediate knight capture.

I know how to not be rattled. I've got to learn how to recognize when I'm being rattled. From there, I can just right the ship.

Configuring BabasChess to look like Fritz

2010-10-07T05:39:00.004-05:00

I am constantly surprised, when talking on-line chess with people, how many haven't heard of FICS or BabasChess - one of the many clients that interfaces with FICS. In the next few posts, I'll discuss setting up BabasChess to look like Fritz and then how to log onto to FICS and issue simple commands. For me, having a nice interface really enhances the on-line playing experience.

A number of years ago, I found someone who was able to configure BabasChess to look like Fritz' board. I really liked that setup. I've had my set up the same ever since.

Step 1:
Download and install BabasChess (click here).

Step 2:
Download this zip file to get the data needed for this theme (click here)

Step 3:
Extract the files under the Data directory to their proper folders. In other words, go to the Data directory where BabasChess was installed on your PC and then copy the data from the zip folder to the matching folder. So the file in the Fonts directory in the zip file will go in the Fonts directory in the Data file.

Step 4:
Import the BabasFritz.bcpref theme from the zip file. Click 'File' then 'Import Preferences' then choose the BabasFritz.bcpref file.

Step 5:
Click on the 'Preferences' button in BabasChess (or hit F11) and configure the board settings as per the screen shot below

If the setup worked it should look very similar to the Fritz Wood setup

The first screen shot is Fritz while the second is BabasChess configured to look like Fritz.

Final Thoughts on US Class Championship

2010-10-05T22:15:00.001-05:00

The last time I played in an OTB tournament, I was in 6th grade. The tournament was a lunch-time event involving a handful of students. I won that tournament. This tournament was essentially my first real-live chess event I've ever participated in. To say the least, it was fascinating.

It amazes me that in all my interactions with so many people in my neighborhood, church, work and school that I don't regularly find serious chess players. I mean, chess is a very popular game and has a huge following, but I've never found that one friend who will stay up til midnight playing chess with you. When we moved to Houston, I began in earnest to ask more often if people actively played chess. Miraculously, I've been able to find a couple of gentleman who play. One goes to my church and the other I met at at chess meetup.

Then I go to this tournament and it's as if I've finally found the party after searching all these years. The best thing I liked about the tournament was simply talking to others about the game - knowing that there are other people like me who have the same crazy delusions about getting better at this game. Getting the prize money wasn't the most valuable thing I got - rather it was the experience of the event ... one that I'll never forget the rest of my life. It was exchanging contact info with other people and meeting fellow chess bloggers.

I was a little apprehensive about the tournament at first, but now all that anxiety is gone and I'm planning which tournament I want to sign up for next. This addiction has gone to the next level.

Rounds 4 & 5 US Class Championship (Unrated Section)

2010-10-04T23:01:00.000-05:00

The 4th and 5th rounds were much better than the 2nd and 3rd. After doing some calculating, I figured if I won both games and the gentleman who I drew with either loses or draws a game, then I'd earn 2nd place and $100.

The 9:30am game began. Us unrated folk are sitting in the back of the hall - having to endure people constantly walking in and out of the hall (we were right by the doors). We also had to deal with all the traffic that was getting water (we were right by the cups and water). About 2 or 3 times during the game, the waiter would push his cart full of water into the hall and then dump all the ice water into the water dispensers - it was very loud.

So about 15 or 20 minutes into the game, I notice the kid next to me jumping up and down, moving around a lot, going back and forth between his board and his dad who was sitting in the back of the hall with his laptop - you know where this is going. I kept an eye on the dad. I couldn't see what was on his screen, but I am curious because the kid is constantly going back and forth. A few more minutes pass and I notice the dad has now turned sideways - and plain as the noon day sun, I saw a computer board on the laptop screen! I immediately went to the director and told her what I saw. She promptly came over, made the dad shut the computer down. Right when the dad was closing the lid on the laptop, the kid walks over and with a shocked look on his face, raised his hands as if to say "what?" The director then told the kid that outside help was not allowed.

Now up to this point, the kid and the gentleman who he was playing were even. After the computer was shut down, the gentleman won easily and quickly.

After the round, I told my fellow unrated players what happened and we were all angry to put it mildly. We just couldn't believe in the unrated sections of all sections that cheating was going on.

I won my round 4 game and then had all morning and afternoon to think about round 5 and my next opponent who I had just caught cheating. That's right - I was playing the kid next. Two of the other unrated players and I discussed the next round quite a bit - especially what I would do if this kid was bouncing up and down during the match.

The time came for round 5 and the kid and the dad were all ready to go. I sat down, looked behind me and noticed the dad was also taking notation of the game - great! So the rest of us kept a sharp eye on the kid to see what he would do. The first time he got up to walk over to his dad, I stopped looking at the board and deliberately followed him with my eyes. Sure enough, he was going to his dad. I decided that if he did that again, I'd stand up and actually follow the kid. But he actually stayed put the rest of the game. He made his moves in under a minute every time. I took my time and made sure not to blunder. Twenty-six moves later, I had him check-mated. Again, I was the last one to finish my game - the other two games had ended quickly. A few minutes later, I mated the kid - all the unrated section was done in a matter of 20 minutes.

The cherry on the top ... the gentleman I was tied with lost his final game, which gave me sole possession of 2nd place and a hundred bucks!

I hung out in the hall observing other games for the next 90 minutes. Then when I had had enough, I packed up and went home. Then that same night, I played my first game of the new season in the team league and I won that game as well (click here and here for the game - there was a disconnect during the game, therefore there are two parts to the game). 3-0 in one day and a hundred bucks - not a bad day at chess at all.

I'll post some additional thoughts and comments on the tournament tomorrow.

Rounds 2 & 3 US Class Championship (Unrated Section)

2010-10-03T08:14:00.002-05:00

I lost round 2. It went 60 moves. But ultimately it was me not seeing the knight fork after his rook sacrifice. I'll post the games later after I load them in pgn.

The 2nd game was also 60 moves and resulted in a draw. There were some very crucial positions and a lot of calculation involved on both sides. I was up two pawns at one point, but then was just up a pawn with two pawns on the g and h files to his one and one pawn on the a file to his one. He had a white-square bishop and I a knight. I'm sure there was a win there somewhere, but 1) I suck at endgames and 2) I suck at endgames. Anyway - he offered a draw, but I told him I'd prefer to play it out - heck, we're paying to play right?

Regardless - it was fun and I'm looking forward to rounds 4 and 5 today.

Donnie is cleaning house! Good luck to him today. Ivan had an interesting ending last night - after my game was over, I watched the end of his. He won after his opponent's flag fell.

We had our picture taken ... Ivan's posted it here.

Round 1 US Class Championships (Unrated Section)

2010-10-02T07:51:00.002-05:00

Here it is - my first official USCF over-the-board game - and it's a win to boot! I played with Black and I put my own annotations in. I'll run it through Fritz later to see how many missed opportunities my opponent and I had.

This was the longest time-controlled game I've played (120 mins).

Round 2 is today at 1:00pm, followed by round 3 at 6:30pm.

Also, I got to meet two fellow bloggers: Ivan and Donnie. Both of them won their games too.

Deep Blue - the song

2010-09-23T15:05:00.002-05:00

via Boylston Chess Club Weblog

Kubrick and Chess

2010-09-23T05:07:00.007-05:00

I watched this video yesterday:

I did a little searching and found a few interesting tid-bits about George Scott and Stanley Kubrick.

Here's what wikipedia had to say about George Scott's performance in Dr. Strangelove. "Kubrick tricked Scott into playing the role of Gen. Turgidson far more ridiculously than Scott was comfortable doing. Kubrick talked Scott into doing "over the top" practice takes, which Kubrick told Scott would never be used, as a way to warm up for the "real" takes. Kubrick used these takes in the final film, causing Scott to swear never to work with Kubrick again."

The entry went on to state: "During the filming, Kubrick and Scott had different opinions regarding certain scenes, but Kubrick got Scott to conform largely by repeatedly beating Scott at chess, which they played frequently on the set. Scott, a skilled player himself, later said that while he and Kubrick may not have always seen eye to eye, he respected Kubrick immensely for his skill at chess."

Then I read another article in which the interviewer asked Kubrick about chess:

"Q: You are a chess-player and I wonder if chess-playing and its logic have parallels with what you are saying?

"A: First of all, even the greatest International Grandmasters, however deeply they analyse a position, can seldom see to the end of the game. So their decision about each move is partly based on intuition. I was a pretty good chess-player but, of course, not in that class. Before I had anything better to do (making movies) I played in chess tournaments at the Marshall and Manhattan Chess Clubs in New York, and for money in parks and elsewhere. Among a great many other things that chess teaches you is to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good. It trains you to think before grabbing, and to think just as objectively when you're in trouble. When you're making a film you have to make most of your decisions on the run, and there is a tendency to always shoot from the hip. It takes more discipline than you might imagine to think, even for thirty seconds, in the noisy, confusing, high-pressure atmosphere of a film set. But a few seconds' thought can often prevent a serious mistake being made about something that looks good at first glance. With respect to films, chess is more useful preventing you from making mistakes than giving you ideas. Ideas come spontaneously and the discipline required to evaluate and put them to use tends to be the real work.

Q: Did you play chess on the set of The Shining as you did on Dr. Strangelove (with George C. Scott) and on 2001?

I played a few games with Tony Burton, one of the actors in the film. He's a very good chess-player. It was very near the end of the picture and things had gotten to a fairly simple stage. I played quite a lot with George C. Scott during the making of Dr. Strangelove. George is a good player, too, but if I recall correctly he didn't win many games from me. This gave me a certain edge with him on everything else. If you fancy yourself as a good chess-player, you have an inordinate respect for people who can beat you."

source: Wikipedia: Dr. Strangelove and Kubrick on The Shining
image source: Playing Chess with Kubrick

Make Your Own Chess Board (the cheap way)

2010-09-22T15:01:00.000-05:00

I ran accross this post today: Decorative Chess Sets.

She did a little dumster diving, some garage-sale hunting, cutting, glueing and painting. Not sure I'd want to play with the set, but it would be a good conversation piece sitting in the guest room.

source & image source: Just Something I Made

2010 Class Championships

2010-09-16T09:03:00.000-05:00

I tossed in my hat. I joined the USCF and registered for the 2010 Class Championships October 1-3 in Houston.

Restlessness

2010-09-12T07:04:00.002-05:00

Volcano in Eyjafjallajokul - what I saw in my dream

I was talking to my older brother. He had some disease that made his fingertips look like they had leprosy. His breath smelt badly too. I felt so bad for him - but he was taking medication. We were standing outside with hundreds of other people in the town. This huge storm with really dark clouds was moving in. Then there was an explosion in the clouds and lightening - red, firey lightening. The clouds were moving more quickly - like they were going to collapse on us. We all started running - the earth was quaking - then my alarm turned on. I was in a sweat. It was 4:30am. The lengths I go to get in a good chess game online.

I walk to the guest bathroom, grabbing the eye drops on the way. I turn on the light, put a few drops in my dry eyes and then I walk into the office. He's not online. I check my email - he's going to be 15 minutes late. We finally play - and we're playing like it's a blitz game. The game is 45 45, but we both end the game with more than 45 minutes on each of our clocks! Of course I lost the game. No surprise there. But why is the question.

Like usual, I blunder in the opening moves. After doing some post-game checking, I see I went out of book on move 5. I lose a pawn. I know it's over. This guy is too good.

But why didn't I take time to think a bit more? Sometimes I can get in the groove and really enjoy the thinking and analyzing. Other times, like this morning, I am just restless and want to be moving - not thinking. How do I combat this? I need to find a solution to combat this anxiety when it occurs. Deep breathing? A bit of jogging in place or some exercise before or during the game? Meditation? I'll have to think of this a bit more. I know in the past, I have gotten up and walked around a bit - not because of restlessness, but because I needed a drink or to go to the restroom. When I did that, I became more settled. Maybe I need to incorporate this into my start-of-the-game routine - force myself to walk around a bit - think about a move a bit longer.

With the loss, my rating dropped below 1600 for the first time since - I don't know - maybe 2004? I ended up playing a couple of 15 0 games with a 1584 player (I was 1590ish). I won both of them easily and my rating bumped up above 1640. I don't even know why I care about the rating - consistency is what I desire. And to know what the hell I should do in the opening so I can give myself a chance.

image source: The Big Picture

9-11-01

2010-09-11T19:00:00.000-05:00

Inspired by wang's post, I figured I'd write a few thoughts as well.

I too remember that day. Like most, I was going about my business at work. I had been in my first career job out of college for 9 months. I heard the secretary gasp - she said one of the towers had been hit. In those first few hours, everyone was scrambling to find news and pictures on the Internet. All the sites were swamped - I finally went to beethoven.com and found pictures. It was shocking. Many of us left work early. I drove past DFW airport and didn't see one solitary plane in the sky - it was very creepy. My wife and I just watched the news with our 1-year-old in our arms - then the 2nd plane hit and later both towers came tumbling down. It was surreal. Of course there was the attack on the pentagon and the other plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Wow ... it makes one speechless.

#39

2010-09-09T16:19:00.001-05:00

This is out of the blue. Susan Polgar featured another blog's post about 50 great chess blogs. ROCKY ROOK is featured as #39 on the list. This is how he described my blog: "Learn how to improve prowess by developing an appreciation for the rich history and eclectic culture of chess."

Go check it out - your blog is probably on the list too.

source: onlinemasters.org
via Susan Polgar

Chilean Miners and Chess Violence

2010-09-08T12:27:00.003-05:00

The King is Dead

It should be no surprise by now that I regularly document chess violence. Chess indeed is a game of egos and some people just can't handle losing - so they resort to violence. I think losing with grace and dignity and also learning from lost games is a mark of maturity and civility.

I read a very fascinating article about those Chilean miners who are trapped 700 meters underground and are stuck there until December. They've been trapped down there over a month now. Due to their extreme conditions and isolation, there are worries now about their psychological well-being. NASA has even sent a team to help them deal with the isolation. The rescue team has been sending them provisions, but they are extremely careful not to send any games to them. Read this:

Most of the miners remain upbeat, but there are ominous signs. Some of the men are already depressed, and a few refused to appear in a video the miners made. They will almost certainly have other problems, which is why officials were careful not to send down any games that might spark conflict. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union banned cosmonauts from playing chess in space after a Soviet researcher at an Antarctic station killed a colleague with an axe, after losing at chess.

It is only going to get worse as the weeks drag on, and the miners are going to have to come up with a set of rules and procedures for allocating scarce resources, resolving grievances, and dealing with deviant behaviour. What they need, in short, is a system of laws. As the 33 unfortunate Chilean miners will soon realize, even hell needs a government.

source: Chilean miners: That far down, who decides what's law?
image source: kalafudra.wordpress.com
other reading: Chess Related Deaths

*UPDATE*
Boston.com just posted a bunch of pictures of the rescue effort. In photo #26, you can clearly see a bag of dice which is part of a "package" that was to be sent to the 33 miners. The photo's caption mentions that games were going to be sent. So there is some conflicting information out there as to whether games are going down there or not. You can also see in photo #26 that a PSP is being sent down as well.
source: Trapped in a Chilean mine

Long Term Improvement Plan

2010-09-06T09:07:00.001-05:00

Update: September 6, 2010

I've been thinking about my improvement plan a lot lately and when Thomas commented on it, I figured now is as good a time as any to update my plan.

I finished The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess 3rd ed. - as for Logical Chess, as I said in the comments section, I've read most of it. Now I'm just going back and transposing the games. I've got a whole separate post I'm going to write about the way one is supposed to study GM games.

Tactics - I was doing quite a bit clear up until May of this year. Then I basically stopped. I'm still wondering about the benefit of doing tactics on ChessTempo. I was trying to do 30 a day. Maybe 20 is about right.

The best update is that I'm playing much more often than before. I still need a play more games - long games. Teamleague has helped a lot with that - but I'd like like to play a bit more - perhaps twice a week. Sometimes I think 45 45 is too quick for me.

I think the general idea for my long-term plan that I've outlined below is still valid, but I doubt the dates will be accurate.

Right now, I want to intensely focus on the following:
1) Play as many long games as possible - shooting for two a week - 45 45; 60 5 or longer

2) Analyse the games and analyse the games. Let Fritz analyse them. Annotate them myself. Use the whisper feature during the game. Review the opening - see where I went out of book - learn how to stay in book longer.

3) Go over GM games - I've not been doing this - I need to let my brain absorb quality games. As a side note, I should also watch my teamleage team play games - and comment and think about those games - as time permits.

4) Tactics - I think 20 a day is about right - shouldn't take too long (10 mins or so) to do 20.

First published January 1, 2009

The biggest obstacle I face is carving out time once a week to play a slow game. I figure if I can get at least one slow game in a week, then I'd make great improvements.

Redhotpawn has been a great resource for me. I enjoy being able to take as much time as possible to evaluate a position.

I continue to work on tactics almost every day. My goal is to do 20 tactics a day at chesstempo.

The other area that is lagging is finishing books I've started and going over as many GM games as possible. I'm mostly done with Wolff's book and I've dabbled a lot with Logical Chess Move by Move, but have yet to finish it.

At this point, let me back up a bit. The premise of my goals and improvment plan is based on Dan Heisman's article entitled "An Improvement Plan." Currently, I'm trying to finish steps 1 and 2. From there, I plan to complete the remaining steps and would hope to complete the whole "plan" by January 2015.

Here are the details:

Goals Without an End Date
Play one long game a week (60 5), review, annotate
Go over several annotated GM games a week (reading books)
At least 20 tactics every day

January 2009 to June 2009
Finish The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess 3rd ed.
Finish Logical Chess Move by Move
Read Everyone's 2nd Chess Book
Read or review archived Novice Nook articles

July 2009 to December 2010
Study positional play (I'll fill in the books later)

January 2011 to January 2013
Fill in the gaps ... enlist the help of a professional instructor

February 2013 to 2016
I would hope by the time I reach this phase, I would be around 1800 (2000 FICS) and would begin to fine tune my game and eventually reach a rating of 2000 (2200 FICS). As I write this post today, I do not know how reasonable this timeline is. It may take me an entire lifetime to reach 2200 FICS. But for now, I feel I need to set some goals and dates.

FICS Standard Ratings
Date................Rat. .....RD.........W.......L.....D.....T........Best (date)
12/19/07...... 1628.....110.6.... 102... 89.. 6.... 197.....1733 (04/17/07)
01/25/09...... 1668....134.8.....128....111..7.....246.....1733 (04/07/07)
09/06/10...... 1614....97.2......142....128..9....279.......1733 (04/07/07)
03/29/11.......1603....66.2......167....158..12....337.....1733 (04/07/07)

Punches Over Chess Game

2010-09-03T10:30:00.000-05:00

Continuing with the chess violence theme, here is another reported incident:

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- A chess game led to an altercation between inmates at the Indian River County Jail.

Indian River County Sheriff's Office deputies said Christopher Brown was playing chess with another inmate in the cell block Wednesday when Christopher O'Neal interjected on the other inmate's behalf.

Brown said he told O'Neal to leave them alone, but O'Neal ignored him and began yelling at him. Brown said he left the table and walked back to his cell when O'Neal followed him.

Deputies said other inmates witnessed O'Neal punch Brown several times. It took several detention deputies to break up the fight.

According to the incident report, O'Neal told deputies it was simply "a misunderstanding between them."

O'Neal was arrested on charges of battery on a detained person and resisting arrest without violence.

source: Chess Game Leads to Fight At Indian River County Jail

Deep Blue's Brother: Watson

2010-08-31T14:17:00.002-05:00

source: datacenterknowledge.com

Practice and the Illusion of Winning

2010-08-30T17:09:00.000-05:00

The age old topic of practice and greatness reared its head again today. This time it appeared on Scott Adams' blog (the guy who draws/writes Dilbert).

He says, "I've spent a ridiculous number of hours playing pool, mostly as a kid. I'm not proud of that fact. Almost any other activity would have been more useful. As a result of my wasted youth, years later I can beat 99% of the public at eight-ball. But I can't enjoy that sort of so-called victory. It doesn't feel like "winning" anything.

It feels as meaningful as if my opponent and I had kept logs of the hours we each had spent playing pool over our lifetimes and simply compared. It feels redundant to play the actual games.

I see the same thing with tennis, golf, music, and just about any other skill, at least at non-professional levels. And research supports the obvious, that practice is the main determinant of success in a particular field."

The comments to his post are equally entertaining.

source: dilbert.com
image source: 8vsb.wordpress.com

Full Throttle Shankland

2010-08-27T11:33:00.003-05:00

How about this for a pretentious comment: “the sharpest rating curve in American [chess] history, meaning I learned the fastest, I improved the fastest, I think of any American of all time.”

"Although Shankland admitted he does not know for certain how his improvement compares to all other players, he said it was a quicker improvement rate than many of the best in history, including Bobby Fisher."

“I have a lot to learn about modesty. I’m not as modest as I’d like to be. It’s one of my big problems in life I guess or one of the problems with my character.”

Really?!

Now for the good inspiring stuff ... “Chess has also sort of made me learn to fight adversity a little bit better.” As a child and even during the beginning of high school, Shankland said he was “ruthlessly made fun of.”

“It definitely taught me to keep on fighting even if other people are making fun of you or whatever. Just believe in myself.”

source: Chess King

I just want to puke ...

2010-08-27T11:12:00.000-05:00

Our team is playing a warm-up tournament before T44 starts. I played the first game yesterday. I got off to a fantastic start - found a really nifty tactic, won a bishop, made it to the end game and then ...

Well - let me put it this way - what would happen if Lance Armstrong decided to quit the last 100 miles of the 2000 mile race? How would the world react if Federer threw in the towel in the last set at Wimbledon? Or if you were running a marathon and collapsed with 1/2 a mile to go? Truly frustrating and agonizing - it has taken me a full day to even talk about it.

So here is the justification - I had about 10 minutes on my clock and I needed to go pick up my kid from the bus stop. Under that pressure, I simply dropped my rook. I was truly blind and not thinking - the only thing I remember was the need to defend that pawn and that the rook would be defended by the king - which obviously he was not. It's like my brain short-circuited - there is something fundamentally un-nerving about that game that makes me wonder if I really have brain-function issues. Even under those pressures, I should not have dropped that rook.

... and the rook of all pieces! My flippin handle is the rook - holy hell.

One of the biggest things I learned and liked from the game was the 'whisper' command. I've never used the whipser command before in a game I was playing. So I used it quite a bit and it helped me a lot - helped me see variations, avoid traps and what not. I think I'll be using that feature again.

And with that - here is the game.

image source: bildungblog

Chess and the Stock Market

2010-08-24T11:50:00.001-05:00

This blogger has learned to apply chess principals to investing in the stock market.

Of all of the lessons I learned over the board, one saying has consistently resonated with me. I'm sorry that I can't remember the author, but I certainly recall the quote: "When you see a good move, sit on your hands and look for a better one." Equated to investing, this does not mean that you should be looking to hit a ten-bagger every time. Nor does it mean that, in times of general uncertainty, you should turtle up like Claude Lemieux under a barrage of Darren McCarty haymakers (anyone who knows what I'm referencing there immediately gets me as a groupie).

Simply put, it means be certain that the move you make is the right move. It may in fact be the wrong move, or a neutral move. But what you can not do is compromise and select a move for the sake of doing something and hope that it works out. In some ways investing is more forgiving than chess. At the highest levels, chess games are lost by the slimmest of margins. You may get only one opportunity, if that, to claim a victory at the master level. On the other hand, even a misplaced pawn can bring about a swift, catastrophic demise. With investing, you may miss one opportunity. But another will come along at some point.

Referring to his quote about finding a better move, I believe it was Emanuel Lasker who coined the term.

source: How 64 Squares Have Helped Me
image source: chessformoney.com

OpEd: Mr. Obama - play some chess!

2010-08-24T11:21:00.000-05:00

"Dear Mr. Obama: Center yourself" is an OpEd letter to Obama to play some chess (and to learn from it) while he is vacationing at Martha's Vineyard. The author quotes Benjamin Franklin, "The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. ... We learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of persevering ..."

source: capecodeonline.com
image source: The Daily Telegraph

Chess Joke Recognized

2010-08-23T09:50:00.002-05:00

A chess joke was nominated as one of the worst jokes told at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Emo Philips' joke was "I like to play chess with bald men in the park although it's hard to find 32 of them." Despite having one of the worst jokes, another one of his jokes placed 3rd in the competition - "I picked up a hitchhiker. You've got to when you hit them."

source: Best joke at Edinburgh Festival Fringe revealed
image source: emophilips.com

Graphic Novels, Business School and Chess

2010-08-21T12:17:00.000-05:00

One Texas Tech teacher is using graphic novels instead of traditional textbooks to teach his students about business. The character's name in the graphic novel is Atlas Black.

Atlas plays chess with his friend and they discuss the similarities: "In both chess and business you have to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty. You have to anticipate your opponents moves. You have to consider a lot of potential options that aren't necessarily clear or perfect. In business and chess, you can take 'old moves' and put new twists on them."

From reading the article, it sounds like the format of content has changed, but the content has remained relatively the same. In MBA school, we were always reading cases that had background scenarios. In almost all of those cases, we had to decide what was relevant information and what was fluff. If you've ever read The Goal then you could easily imagine it being reformatted into a graphic novel.

image source: online.wsj.com
source: usatoday.com

Conniving and Crushing Instinct

2010-08-20T11:25:00.000-05:00

“Chess is a war game,” he said. “You’ve got to have that conniving and crushing instinct in you. I have a lot of anger and I express it in that."

source and image source: Chess man plots his next move to citizenship

Prison Chess

2010-08-19T12:09:00.001-05:00

Oliver Fluck took pictures of inmates while they played Princeton University students. Here are 21 pictures from that series. He has little profiles about each of the inmates - it is interesting reading these and viewing the pictures.

source: oliverfluck.blogspot.com

Words of Wisdom: Think before you Act

2010-08-19T05:18:00.002-05:00

"Think very hard before you go down a road, because you never know where it is going to lead you and how much time it will involve. The rewards are sometimes different from what you expect."

- Stephen Lipschultz, MD (Food For Thought Software)

Source: Doctor creates software to help kids "think like a king"

When Did the Black and White Boards Disappear?

2010-08-18T10:56:00.002-05:00

Steve Rushin at SI discusses "Vanishing traditions in sports" and muses ...

Auto racing's checkered flags are still checkered, black-and-white as a chessboard. Which is more than can be said of a chessboard. At the 2010 World Chess Championships in Sofia, Viswanathan Anand of India defeated Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria on a board of brown and beige squares.

This color scheme -- along with green-and-white -- has become standard in tournament chess. But let's set aside the question, then, of why the player who goes first in chess is still White and the player who goes second in chess is still Black. Let us wonder, instead, what we're to sing when the Yes song "I've Seen All Good People" comes on the classic rock station in the car. Not, apparently, "Move me on to any black square, use me any time you want ..."

It does beg the question "when was the last time a tournament or major event used a black and white chess board?"

Here is what FIDE has on their site with respect to the chessboard:

image source: echindasontheloose.com

More Chess Violence?

2010-08-17T23:37:00.000-05:00

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 16-year-old is recovering after being shot in the foot overnight. Syracuse police say it happened around midnight at 686 South Ave at The Chess Club.

Witnesses told police a fight broke out at a party and as the crowd was leaving, a man wearing a plaid shirt, grey vest, and blue jeans fired a handgun toward the crowd. They also say that at the same time, a red Pontiac stopped at Hudson Street and fired back toward South Ave as well.

At 2:30 this morning, 16-year-old Damani Prince walked into Upstate University Hospital with a gunshot wound to his foot. Police say that Prince told them he was shot when trying to get away from the gun fire coming from the Pontiac.

source: Police investigate overnight shooting

2 Months Jail Time for Talking in a Chess Game

2010-08-17T13:58:00.007-05:00

Think twice the next time you're in Taiwan and want to talk during someone else's chess game ...

Opinionated spectators beware: talking loudly during a game of chess can land you almost two months in jail.

The Taoyuan district court has sentenced an elderly man to 59 days of detention for assault. The man, surnamed Lin, was watching a chess game at a local park when he made excessive remarks disparaging the players' strategies and got combative when they told him to keep quiet.

The incident occurred last September in Taoyuan, in an open space in front of a temple where public chess games were popular. Lin, 79, was standing behind a sexagenarian chess player surnamed Tao, giving him and his opponent unwanted advice and commentary.

When Tao and his opponent had a dispute regarding a move, Lin threw in his two cents as well and pointed to Tao as the one in the wrong. Tao responded by telling him to be quiet, causing the more senior Lin to fly into a rage and beat the younger man.

The judge sentenced Lin to 59 days of detention — the equivalent to NT$59,000 (US$1,850) in fines.

Playing chess in front of local temples or in public parks is a favourite pastime of many senior citizens across Taiwan. The activity often draws a substantial crowd of elderly people with the same interests.

Source: Old Man Gets Jail Time for Being a Loudmouth
Image Source: chess-poster.com

T43 Results

2010-08-15T14:04:00.001-05:00

I went 2-1 in T43. My two wins are here and here. My loss is here.

The first win was quite interesting - as usual, I worked myself into a poor position. But my opponent allowed me to push a pawn and he didn't capture it. He let me hang in long enough and I was able to convert a lost game into a win.

The second win was nice - but really nothing more than a blunder on my opponent's part. He came at me with a blistering king-side attack which I managed to survive. I finally got some counterplay and was able to corner his king until he resigned.

The loss - well - that wasn't too surprising. I got into trouble early and never really recovered.

Our team almost made the playoffs. I think we're in a good position to do well in T44.

200 Points in 200 Days

2010-06-08T15:51:00.002-05:00

Here's the recipe boys:

Add 1 titled-player instructor to regularly review your games.

Remove excess studies/books on openings - instead study pawn structures.

Play higher rated players.

Analyze your blitz games.

Add 30 minutes of chesstempo a day.

Exercise regularly.

Voila! You're now 200 points higher!

Details found here: Moving up the Ladder: A Class Player on Gaining 200 Rating Points

Chess Around the Net

2010-06-05T00:43:00.000-05:00

Here are two articles discussing the benefits of kids playing chess. The cut-off age is 12-years-old. After that, you might as well play checkers :-)

Brain over pawn: Childhood chess studies have benefits beyond the board
The benefits of playing chess for children

This is an interesting read: True past of Oregon man emerging from federal probe. This 'avid' chess player isn't who he says he is. There's only the one mention of chess in the article, but it's still a interesting read. There are lots of other articles about this same case as well - 495 according to google.

Playing and improving at chess means happiness. Read this inspiring article (which notes chess in a list) that talks about how to be truly happy: The Secret to Happiness. This same article also talks about flow.

May Misc.

2010-05-19T14:24:00.000-05:00

So I played that guy I noted in my last post. It wasn't such a crushing defeat. I was expecting a swift knockout, but I actually put up a fight for 55 moves.

The last game I played in T42 ended in a agreed draw. I admit I was happy with the draw considering I had all losses in T42 and this guy was almost 100 pts higher than me.

I finally made it to the local chess meetup. I've been meaning to go for the last year, but finally made a priority of it and went this month. This might sound a bit shocking, but it was the first time I've played over the board with other people (besides my kids) since I was in college about 10 years ago. It was a load of fun! I met a couple of people who live in the same part of the city as I do and we joked how we travelled all the way downtown to play! So there is talk of starting our own little club in our neck of the woods. I played a couple of people at the meetup. I think I was hustled by one of the regulars. I won the first game, drew the 2nd and then lost the last two. All were exciting games. I think I'll definately do that again - lots of fun!

Lastly, I thought I'd put a standing "seek" out there for the next few weeks until T43 starts. Let me know if you want to play. A really good time for me is Sunday mornings at 3:00 FICS time.

Oh man ...

2010-04-28T16:30:00.000-05:00

Pairings for T42 came out ...

PLUS

EQUALS

Rush Limbaugh & Chess

2010-04-21T13:51:00.000-05:00

This ought to be interesting.

Here is the source:
www.bookwormroom.com/2010/04/20/ordinary-people-view-rush-as-a-dangerous-svengali/comment-page-1/

Here is the quote:

It’s also very frustrating to me because, in a funny way, I agree with my liberal friends that Rush can rejigger their world view very quickly. The only thing is that I don’t believe Rush works his magic through hypnotism and trickery. Instead, I think Rush’s real magic lies in his ability to view the political world as a vast chess board, one on which he can see multiple future moves; his prodigious memory; his well-informed mind; his logical analyses; and his funny persona. He convinces by appealing to our rational mind, our sense of humor, and our knowledge of the world as it is, and not as some Ivory Tower liberal tells us it should be.

Entertaining Read

2010-04-16T15:10:00.000-05:00

Maybe it is because of the underdog theme, but I really enjoyed reading Mike Griffin's (rated 1813) post about winning 2 points from 3 masters.

March Stats / April Goals

2010-04-02T05:23:00.001-05:00

Here are my March Goals with a status for each one:

1) 30 tactics a day (930 total for the month) - SUCCESS! 676/931 (73%)
ChessTempo Blitz rating improved from 1673 to 1717.
2) 3 long games - FAIL. played one game against the computer.
3) Study and input into .pgn at least two games from Logical Chess - FAIL.
4) Consolidate previously captured tactical misses into one .pgn file (missedtactics.pgn) FAIL.
5) Review missedtactics.pgn every week - add problems to file as needed. FAIL.

Perhaps most of those goals were too ambitious in light of the fact that I don't have that much spare time. So I'm going to re-focus on what really matters.

April Goals:

1) 30 tactics a day (900 total for the month)
2) Play 3 long games (should be easier this month as Team League is starting up again)

Chess Boxing League

2010-04-01T11:48:00.000-05:00

So I've been training since January and I think I'm ready to try my hand at chess boxing. I'll be in Gaithersburg for a couple of weeks in May and while I'm out there, I'll be competing in a chess boxing event (in Richmond) on May 29. If you're in town, stop by and cheer me on!

These Virginian hicks are in for a butt-kickin'

Richmond Chess Boxing League

General Factor of Intelligence, Genius, Experts and Chess

2010-03-31T13:39:00.000-05:00

Half Sigma is at it again. In his post entitled Chess and David Shenk, he discusses how a blogger has debunked an author who argues genius is made and not born. I've saved articles on the subject of becoming a genius/expert before ... here and here. Half Sigma goes on to add that "playing chess at a high level doesn't create value; it increases the chess player's status, and because status is [a] zero sum game, he can only increase his own status by making everyone else slightly less important." He goes on to say that chess is a value transference activity rather than a value creation activity.

It was entertaining reading the pages and pages of comments. If you don't understand Half Sigma's premises, then you will be riled up with his comments and opinions.

In a subsequent post entitled Intelligence and reasoning, chess, computers, calculus, he further clarifies why he thinks learning chess does not require as much intelligence because it is mostly about memorization and "being able to compute board positions many moves out into the future."

In my opinion, the best argument against Half Sigma's is this one:

"-Chess talent requires the ability to make quick connections and recognize patterns. There are nearly an infinite number of moves possible. You cannot "memorize" your way through chess. It might be possible to have a repertoire of the three first moves memorized, but soon after that the combinatorial possibilities become overwhelming. What's needed, then, is an ability to make connections (recognizing the opponents intentions/strategy) and an ability to perceive what the most damaging move is at any moment. Have you ever looked at chess problems? They can be very difficult and people with chess talent can solve them simply.
-Chess talent depends heavily on working memory, which is a key component of g and perhaps might be what underlies analytical ability. On the LSATs, for instance, students who can solve the logic games the fastest no doubt can simply retain and manipulate a greater deal of information in their heads -- the same thing that's required for chess.
-And for the last time, just because talented chess players are intelligent does not mean all intelligent people will be chess champions. So relax."

Agree with him or not, his opinions spark debates and reading the debates and comments is entertaining and interesting.

CT-ART 4.0

2010-03-25T11:33:00.002-05:00

In reading my feeds today, I came across a post stating that CT-ART 4.0 is out.

Then I read the one review at Amazon about CT-ART 4.0.

Avoid this software like the plague.
First, it is not new - it is CT-ART 3.0 with Mate Studies added. If I had known that I wouldn't have bought it. And they lie on the box and in their web info. I only found out by going to their support site. Which is another nightmare, by the way.

Second, the new interface, Peshk is a Piece of Garbage. I own the software, I bought it, and will be returning it to the USCF. I can't get the thing I bought, CT-ART 4.0 not Peshk, to install or register it. In fact I can't even tell you where it is. I bought, I remind Convecta, a licensed copy of their software. I didn't buy the right to attempt to endlessly contact their server to get their permission to run something I own. Or endlessly write tech support for help. There is no excuse for this.

It is software from hell. You have no idea what you are supposed to do. Another example of bad programming from ChessNOTOk. Not to mention more bad English.

One star is too high. Even zero stars is too high. A waste of both time and money. Stay away from it at all costs.

Talk about a hot opinon! Needless to say, the reviewer gave it 1 star.

ChessCafe's shop has a few more reviews which are at least toned-down from the one at Amazon.

Has anyone purchased this new version? Is the Amazon reviewer correct or does (s)he have abnormally high expectations to begin with?

I also wonder if tactics-type software sales have dropped significantly since more and more tactics sites are available now.

10,000

2010-03-19T22:30:00.001-05:00

I've finally done 10,000 blitz problems on chesstempo.

My percentage correct has also been climbing and I'm now over 64%.

OTB in Houston

2010-03-09T13:44:00.000-06:00

I'll actually be able to attend this month's meetup in my feeble attempt to include OTB in my chess diet. If you're in town on March 15th, stop on by. Looks like Glenn is on the list but not attending. And I'm not sure if Donnie knows about this meetup or not.

On a related note, I just saw on the TCA blog that the 2010 US Class Championships will be in Houston October 1-3. I'm seriously considering signing up.

Perhaps those of you who have gone to one of these tournaments can answer me a few questions about this tournament. On the site it says "3-Day Schedule: Registration Fri (10/1) 5-7pm. Rds. Fri 8pm, Sat 1pm & 6:30pm, Sun 9:30am & 2:30pm. 2-Day Schedule: Registration Sat (10/2) 8-9am. Rds. Sat 10am, 1pm (merges with 3-Day Schedule) & 6:30pm, Sun 9:30am & 2:30pm. Byes for all rounds, must commit before end of Rd 2." So if I were to sign up for the 3-day schedule, I would play 5 rounds? And when it says "byes for all rounds", what does that mean? I wouldn't be able to play Sunday, but I'd be able to play Friday and Saturday. So could I use byes for the two rounds on Sunday? And one last question ... could I replace a Sunday round with a Saturday morning round? Maybe I'll just email the organizer.

February Stats / March Goals

2010-03-01T14:14:00.000-06:00

My main goal for February was to do 30 tactics a day on ChessTempo. I fell short by 35 problems. Even still, I managed to do the most tactics in a month than I ever have before. The most before that was 785 problems in a month ... that was last February .. February seems to be the month to do tactics.

ChessTempo: Blitz - 562/805 (69.81%) Rating: 1673

Slow Games: 2 (2-0) FICS Rating: 1687
RedHotPawn: 2 wins (claimed time outs), 0 losses, 6 current games Rating: 1670
Reading/Study: 1 game from Logical Chess

March Goals:
1) 30 tactics a day (930 total for the month)
2) 3 long games - contact me if you want to play!!
3) Study and input into .pgn at least two games from Logical Chess
4) Consolidate previously captured tactical misses into one .pgn file (missedtactics.pgn)
5) Review missedtactics.pgn every week - add problems to file as needed.

Chess Playing Ghost?

2010-02-24T10:03:00.000-06:00

Patrons, baristas and even the owner of Lazy Daze coffee house in Indianapolis claims there is a ghost who haunts the place and even plays chess. The claim about the ghost playing chess comes from the owner who said, "One morning I was opening up the coffee house, getting the place ready and straightened up for business," [Jeff] Coppinger tells Asylum. "I put the chess pieces on to the playing table and then went to the back room for a little bit. I came back to the front office and noticed that all the chess pieces had moved."

OK ... I'd bite. If I lived there, I would visit the place after reading this story. I'd even get the pieces out and wait for the "ghost" to move them while I sipped on some cocoa.

via Our Lady of Lourdes Chess Club
image credit Earl McCall at redbubble.com

Rook Shop

2010-02-23T14:57:00.000-06:00

Rook Shop ... my kind of store. Very neat idea.

FICS DB Annotate Feature

2010-02-18T14:15:00.000-06:00

So I was messing around at ficsgames.com and found that you can request for games to be annotated. What I did was search on my handle, clicked on a specific game and then clicked the 'annotate' button. A message pops up saying a request has been made and that in a few minutes the annotated game would be available. Sure enough, I hit refresh on the browser and the game was annotated. Pretty neat for a quick and dirty analysis of a game.

Here is the game I had annotated.

And since I'm a glutton for punishment, I've linked to all my FICS games (for all my potential competitors to see). You can find the link under "ROCKY ROOK GAMES" to the right.

A Chess Set for all the Knights Errant

2010-02-16T13:57:00.001-06:00

Hurry and place your bids today! There is a unique Don Quixote chess set on eBay right now. At the time of this posting, the bidding ends in about 5 hours.

The world of creative chess sets and the old Knights Errant collide in spectacular fashion in this antique chess set.

A snippet from the auction details reads,

"What we do know:
The oral history of the set: This set was purchased 1988/1989 from a woman who told me her Grandfather brought it back from Spain. He was stationed in Spain both during and immediately after World War 2. She said the pieces were displayed in a curio cabinet for many years until the Grandfather died in the late 1960's. After his death, the set was put back into it's case and stored. We used it several times a year (total probably around 100 times), returning it to it's case after use. We have not used it since about 2002.

What we do not know:
The actual age of the set, the manufacturer or the type of wood used. The back of the board is stamped GENUINE LEATHER MADE IN SPAIN JEYPE. Since the stamp is in English, we feel that it was probably made for export, so there may be some doubt as to it being purchased in Spain. Our research indicates Jeype is a leather maker, which sheds no light on who made the set or who carved the pieces."

Happy bidding!

*UPDATE* The set sold for $104.50

Old Picture Site - Playing Chess in Algeria & Capablanca

2010-02-16T10:05:00.000-06:00

I found a neat site (called old-picture.com) a few years ago and saved the link to it. I went back to the site today and did a search on chess and a couple of images were returned. Here is a direct link to the first picture. From the site, it says this picture was taken in 1899.

The second picture is of Capablanca.

T41: Game 3

2010-02-06T22:45:00.000-06:00

We're into the 4th round. This was my third game. Here is a link to all the whispers made. I need to start whispering in my game so as to record my thoughts and such.

It's not an exciting win, but it is a win nevertheless. Fritz is working it right now ... we'll see how many tactics I missed this time.

January Stats

2010-02-04T06:22:00.002-06:00

Inspired by Farbror who posted his January chess stats, I thought I'd start doing the same.

ChessTempo: Blitz - 337/468 (72%) Rating: 1701
Slow Games: 3 (1-2) Rating: 1640
RedHotPawn: 0 wins, 0 losses, 6 current games Rating: 1642
Reading/Study: None

4-Way Chess

2010-02-02T12:24:00.000-06:00

I've posted a picture of a 3-way chess board. Now behold the 4-way chess board and set.

I found the picture while browsing Flickr (here).

This set sports the fancy "star" design of the board. It looks like you can get a more "normal" looking 4-way chess board here.

When to Play Your Best Chess

2010-01-25T16:33:00.000-06:00

I just read Scott Adams' post "Like a Night Watchman" in which he talks about how he feels words and how he needs to be in the right frame of mind before he can write.

He wrote, "People often ask how I get into the writing frame of mind. To me, it feels like being the night watchman in a museum. My job is to make sure all the doors are locked, and the blinds are pulled, and the lights are out. As a writer, you need to shut out all of the distractions from your other senses. I make sure I'm not hungry, tired, uncomfortable, or listening to anything. Then, like the night watchman, I go room by room with my flashlight until something scares me, surprises me, or makes me laugh. I have to feel something. And when I do, that's the part I keep. Then I wrap up the inspiring words in ordinary words, to form sentences. That part is more craft than art.

"Writers tend to work early in the morning, or late at night, when brains are naturally able to focus deeply on one thought. In the middle of the day, distractions are unavoidable. I wonder if anything worthwhile has ever been written in the afternoon."

Although I don't want it to be that way, I admit that I am this way when it comes to chess ... I have to be in the right frame of mind before I can play really good chess. If I'm too distracted or have something else on my mind (work, family, other pressing needs) then good chess play takes a back seat. I'd rather be able to play good chess anytime, anywhere ... that's where I'd like to be. But as it stands, my best chess is played at night with the kids in bed and my wife watching American Idol or whatever it is she likes to watch on TV and me sitting at the computer in a quiet room.

Chess Player Look-a-Likes: Lilienthal-Bush

2010-01-25T09:32:00.000-06:00

Susan Polgar had a Chess Trivia on her blog today. I thought I was looking at a young George W. Bush when in fact it was Andor Lilienthal.