FSC 13.1.17

Well, we had at least one person show up for FSC tonight: Jabarii, who I've played a couple of times, but have yet to beat.  I was in the middle of a game when he showed up.

If ever you want to join the club, just log onto FICS Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 18:30 server time (6:30pm Pacific time).  You can find the FSC in channel 111.  Ping me if you do log on at that time.

I was able to get a 60 5 game in tonight.  There's really not much to see or analyze in this game.  My opponent dropped a few pieces early on and later resigned on move 24.  Full game here.

FSC 13.1.15

No FSC tonight for me ... we had visitors that stayed a bit late and I have a very early meeting tomorrow, so I'm going to bed early.

But I wanted to keep the FSC updates going so as to get in the habit.

I should be able to fish for a 60 5 game Thursday night.

FSC 13.1.10

No pings or messages from anyone for FSC tonight.  I did get a 60 5 in ... if you can call it that.  I resigned 16 or so moves in.  I was Black and got off to a terrible start.  I moved all my pieces to the wrong places.  There was a bit of a blitz-bug in me too.  I'm not even going to bother to annotate this one.  Here's the ugly game if you're curious.

As always, ping me if you ever want to play.  I'll usually be on FICS Tuesdays and Thursdays from 16:30 server time.  And I can always schedule a weekend game.

FICS Standard Chess Club

One of my resolutions this year, with regards to chess, is to simply play more.  A few years ago, I set up the FICS Standard Club (FSC) which is a virtual weekly chess club held on FICS from 18:30-22:00 FICS time (Pacific time) every Tuesday and Thursday evening ... check out the site here.

Some people have shown interest.  So in order to help it pick up steam, I'm trying to be more committed to showing up regularly.  We "meet" in channel 111 if ever you want to stop by.

I tried fishing for a 60 5 game tonight, but no bites.

Someone, however, did challenge me to a 15 0, so I obliged.

Here is a neat little tactic that won me the game ... can you spot it?

Black to move and win

FSC: 25 Aug 2009

I'm hoping that now school is back in session people's schedules (including mine) will be more regular. Perhaps more can join in the fun at the FSC every Tuesday and Thursday evening.

I logged into FICS just after 18:00 FICS time and checked channel 111. There were only a handful of people there. I asked if anyone was there for FSC, but no one responded. I posted a 60 0 seek and then fired up some music ... Vince Guaraldi ... to calm my nerves a bit.

I saw chessloser log on. Looked like he played three 5 o's and logged off. Someone finally accepted my seek. It went to 37 moves before I finished it off.

I'll try to be there again Thursday night. Stop on by to play or chat or just to say 'hey'

Tuesday Nights

After two weeks of crazy chaos at work with Wednesdays and Thursdays being the busiest, and with no end in sight, I decided that Tuesdays would be better for me to play at the FSC. I'll keep Thursdays open for the club, but I'll play on Tuesdays.

I'm sorry if you've stopped by on FICS and didn't find me the last couple of weeks. But I'll be there regularly on Tuesdays from now on.

At Least It Got Off the Ground

OK ... so it may not have been a resounding success and there was a brain fart on my part. After a busy day at work, I get home around 6pm Central time and suddenly realize that I may have noted the wrong hours for the FSC. So I log into FICS and check the FSC site and realized indeed that I noted the hours as 16:00-21:00 Pacific time (18:00-23:00 Central). I saw about 5 or 6 people in channel 111. I asked the channel if anyone was there for the FSC but got no response. So I updated the FSC site to note the correct hours of 18:00 - 22:00 FICS/Pacific time (which of course is 20:00 - 00:00 Central).

I then ate dinner, spent time with the fam and then put the kiddos to bed and logged back on to FICS around 20:00 Central and no one but me and some computer account is in channel 111. Amazingly I see a seek for a 60 0 game and I immediately accept. It was a really good game (see here).

After I finish the game, I check channel 111 again and see one lone comment from chezzznut: 'hello?' I feel bad because I know it was Chessaholic and he was the only one to originally respond to my idea about the FICS chess club. So I'm sorry Chessaholic! I would have said hello if I had seen you on FICS, but I was in the middle of a game at the time. Please come back again next week though!

So the FICS Standard Club has at least started. Hopefully turnout will be better next week and I can at least give a welcome to everyone.

FICS Standard Club

Go visit the site for more details!

Come join the fun on FICS starting July 9, 2009 and every Thursday thereafter.