3D8L Chess

3D8L Chess is ridiculously complicated. Read here for some idea of what it involves.

Here is a picture of the setup.

Found all this via Neatorama.

Ramblings

I'm still alive.

Tactics

The work moves forward. I haven't had much time to work on tactics since we were on vacation. I'm not sure I'll be able to dedicate a whole lot of time to this for the next month or so either. It looks like our house will sell at the end of the month and we'll be making an offer on a newer house this month too. With all that comes carpeting, painting, repairs and moving out and in. I'm hoping by Valentine's Day I'll be able to have some consistency with my tactical studies.

Rocky

I was pleasantly surprised to read Nezha compare himself to Rocky on his blog today. I hope that like Rocky, he will get up and knock his opponents out!

Amazingly, I've not had a chance to go see the movie Rocky Balboa. I might be able to sneak out of the house this weekend and go see it. I've heard nothing but positive reviews of the flick.

Resolutions

As far as chess goes ... finish the tactical quest and play lots more games (slow time controlled).

Links Added

I comb over many blogs and chess sites every day. I've seen a lot of chess sites, but I'm sure there are those who have seen more than I have. Regardless, I occasionally stumble on an unknown (to me) chess site and it turns out to be a real gem ... loads of info about chess as well as lots of instructional stuff.

Today I ran accross Tim Krabbé's site. I've added it to my links.

Chess Around the Net

Prisoners of war in WWII received smuggled mini chess sets. Each set had tools to escape the POW camp ... very interesting! One is up for auction. Read here for more.

These kids get up early every day to play chess at 7:00am. I wonder if blunders are more prevalent in the morning than the evening?

I don't watch Dancing with the Stars, but for what it's worth, a chess player was a finalist on the show ... until she was accused of taking lessons and being a professional dancer.

David Shenk, The Immortal Game, Interview & Posts

Last night before my last class, I was in the bookstore selling my books back as well as browsing the chess section. I picked up The Immortal Game by David Shenk and started reading bits of it. I think I'll read this book in a few months when I finish what I'm reading now.

Today I found an article about an interview between David Shenk and Kenneth Kidd. Now a couple of blogs have picked it up and have been discussing chess and religion.

JollyBlogger picked up the interview and had a little discussion on it. A Mormon blog ... Dave's Mormon Inquiry also discusses the topic.

All three articles are interesting reads.

I'm Done!

No ... not with chess! I'm done with school! Last night was the last MBA class I'll ever attend. It may very well be the last "school" class I will ever attend ... I doubt I'll go for a PhD.

So now I can wholly focus my spare time on chess!

Graduation is December 9.

I've started the Level 20 tactics the other night. The long tactical haul continues. I haven't had much time to play on-line. I might be playing lots tomorrow, however, because a huge winter storm will be passing though and when it snows in Dallas, everyone stays home. So if you see me on FICS, I'd be happy to play a few 2 12's or something.

ROCKY BALBOA Trailer

Round 6 Fall 2006 OCL

I'm satisfied with my effort in this game. What I'm not too happy about is my time management. After not using enough time the last few games, I decided to use as much time analyzing what I deemd were critical positions. The problem, however, is that I thought all my positions were critical and I ended up using too much time.

I used to think that 45 45 and 60 15 were too long. Now I think they are too quick. Had this game been 90 15 or something like that, I think I would have won. But towards the end of the game when I needed to use more time to analyze, I didn't have enough minutes on the clock to allow myself that comfort. Subsequently I missed a sweet tactic that Fritz pointed out. Up to that point, my game was pretty good. But as Mr. Heisman says, "you game is only as good was your worst move."

Here is the tactic I missed.


Again, because of time constraints, I didn't analyze all the checks, captures and threats. One of the candidate moves was indeed Nf5. But since I was rushing (and it was late at night so I was mentally tired) I didn't fully follow through on this line. I saw that I would hang my H rook and then failed to see that my D rook would win a queen if I moved Ne7+ (assuming he didn't move his king).

There is only one more round left in the Fall OCL. About Tal is dead last.

I've organized my studies a bit. I'm continuing to work on the tactics, but I'm not going to focus on them exclusively. I'm going to keep working on them for about 30-40 minutes a night. After tactics, I'll be reading through some games. I still need to finish Logical Chess Move by Move Every Moved Explained by Chernev. So I'm reading that book every night until I finish it. I've got all the games on pgn so I have the games in front of me as I read.

Also, I've been reading several Knight Errant posts & comments about positional play (especially Tempo's posts). You read read them here, here & here. I've also been reading Dan Heisman's Chess Cafe article entitled "A Positional Primer" from September 2002. Interesting stuff.

Lastly, after the Fall OCL, I don't think there will be any (on-line) tournaments for a while. I plan on trying to find one long game a week to keep up that end of the chess front. So if anyone wants to play some long games between November 12th and December 17th , post a comment and we can arrange a game. I play on FICS.

Chess Around the Net

Read this enjoyable article about The Wonders of Chess.

Play chess, improve in math:

students in the [chess] club improved their math scores on the Connecticut Mastery Test by 30 percent between fifth and sixth grade.

Be good to your kids if you want them to be good chess players,

Chess is not merely a brain game. It is also a game of neurons against
neurons. Obviously neurons with superior dendritic connections and complex networks would win. For building a superior neuronal network there are three requirements - a happy childhood, the right brain stimulating stimuli and a genetic endowment of excellent genes. A happy childhood depends on loving, caring and understanding parents.

A little more backgroud for the previous link.

My wife bought some of these the other day ... I had no idea they existed. Not only do they have chess symbols on them, but they are very delicious! Pepperidge Farm has some good stuff!

Round 5 Fall 2006 OCL

What a pathetic excuse for a woodpusher I am!

First I want to thank my opponent for a good game. I'm sorry I couldn't give you a better match.

Second, Mr. Heisman would be gravely disappointed about my lack of safety for my pieces (see image below pennance). As pennance, I will write the following phrase 50 times: "I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe."

I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe. I will strive harder to keep my pieces safe.



Thirdly, the CT-ART 3.0 is going well. I've just about mastered the Level 10 problems. My progress in this area is tracked over here.

Fourthly, I think I need to play over more games to get some ideas about what to do when I don't know what to do. Here is where I went blank ... I didn't know what to move. I just didn't know how to further develop my pieces. I lacked a long-range plan. I always get stuck in this scenario. To counter this problem, I'm planning on going back and reading some of Hesiman's articles to see what he says on the subject. I think Silman might have some advice too. Does anyone else have some advice for me?

Chess Around the Net

"Deep" Kasparov runs on 23 watts,

Q: Let me try to ask the question differently, then. If our brains are
computers, how are they different from the computer that's sitting on my desk?
A: Ahh, that's a great question. So, how does my brain, as adapted
biological computer, differ from the thing that sits beside my desk? Let's think about the time Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion, played the chess-playing machine called Deep Blue. In 1996, Kasparov beat Deep Blue quite soundly, but in 1997 Deep Blue eked out a victory, 3.5 to 2.5 in a match. One big difference between Kasparov and the computer is that he remained warm to the touch. This is a guy who can play chess better than anyone, and he can also read books, write poetry and have political opinions. Deep Blue, on the other hand, was a one-ton device with an enormous amount of air conditioning blowing on it, and 256 specialized chess-playing computer chips. If you turned off the air conditioning to Deep Blue it would burst into flames. To my mind, the most amazing thing is that Kasparov could even play that computer. What it means is that Garry Kasparov's brain is freakishly efficient, it's running on about 23 watts while Deep Blue doesn't know how to use energy that efficiently. So, one of the problems that biological computers have solved is how to take in energy and turn it almost into, magically, freakishly efficient computation.

I'm still trying to find a picture of the chess piece.

George Condo has painted the monarch in nine surreal images, including one with carrots sticking out of her ears and another where she's shaped like a chess piece.

Mmm, Pumpkin Chess Bars

A homeless man who used to play chess (Randy Dolinger - 1971) is running for a spot on the city council in Ashland, Oregon.

And while I compare him to his homeless peers, I should add that Randy's
intellect is on a par with many college graduates I have known as well. It
surprised me to find out he was a child prodigy. His favorite focus was chess. It was a game he would master on a par with the great Bobby Fisher. I found his name on a list of champions in North Carolina. In 1971, Randy was great.

Round 4 Fall 2006 OCL

So I played board 4 in round 4. I was looking to earn my first on-line tournament win since 2004. It turned out well, but how I got there wasn't too satisfying.

My opponent put proper pressure on me and I probably didn't have the best position. For a long time I thought I would lose the game ... I felt that my play just wasn't solid. Then came this position (see below). I totally missed seeing the fork and consequently did not protect against it. To my suprise, my opponent forked me. From then on, I just gave the game a half-effort. I continued with my plan to double up my rooks and try for a mate in the corner. The only chance I would get would be if my opponent blundered.

He didn't blunder any pieces, but he did miss mate in one. At this position, I was expecting Kf8. Instead he moved e2. I rubbed my eyes and verified the mate and then proceed to move Rh8#.

I was expecting my oppenent to put more pressure on my king such as b4 and then getting his rooks and queen all lined up for the mate. I lucked out and that is why I'm not entirely satisfied with this performance.

Chess Around the Net (Articles About Greatness)

To learn how to achieve greatness in chess, read this.

Another similiar article related to greatness.

Here is an example of complicating the complex.

Interesting blog about chess and business.

Do you think this is a good idea to keep your kids or students from losing interest in chess?

Even then losing the game continuously (and that too by good players who don't make mistakes so often) makes some of us get bored. So, how to carry on the motivation to try forever with out quitting? My dad had the great timeless answer for it. In the middle of the game, he used to just exchange the sides. He takes my king's army which is in a very weak position and I am offered his powerful strong one. It’s Very Simple. Hey, it's also not an easy task to be in the strong side. I used to lose all my army before winning the game. But gradually it made me to learn how to play the winning game and finally the game itself.

Mmmm, chocolate chess pie.

Round 3 Fall 2006 OCL

I lost. But I'm more satifsifed with my effort this week than last week's effort.

Here is the position that I faced that could have made me a hero. Instead, I dropped the ball. But even if I made the move, my opponent was a very solid player and probably would have made it tough to finish him off.


I was pretty concerned about the knight posted on a5. I could see myself tripping up and getting forked someplace. Plus I saw him possibly checking my king while releasing an attack with his rook on my queen. Seeing all that, I focused a lot on the lower-left rather than the upper-right.

I was also using a lot of time. I had about 30 minute on my clock at this point.

Anyway, the correct move should have been Ng6. My opponent said so after the game and Fritz confirmed it.

More tactical studies this week. I should be finished with my first circle and then I'm going back to concentrate on the first level to get those down pat.

Chess Around the Net

Fischer v. Karpov for $15 million? I do not know all the details on this, but here is the link.

Another link from the same blog ... this post was back in July of this year.

Here's a short video of Karpov speaking of Fischer:

HAPPY NATIONAL CHESS DAY!

Today is the 30th anniversary of National Chess Day in the United States.

On October 9, 1976 President Gerald Ford declared National Chess Day.

The USCF has a bit on it too.



I'm celebrating today by working on my tactics and playing chess with my kids. Then after they go to bed, I'll log on to FICS and play some more.

Hope Chess at its Finest

Here's the definition:

Hope chess is when you make a move and don't look at what your opponent might threaten on his next move, and whether you can meet that threat on your next move. Instead, you just wait until next move and see what he does, and then hope you can meet any threats.

Yes, I may have been half asleep during this game and yes I do have a final in school that is coming up, but the truth of the matter is that I was unprepared and it was quite an embarassing loss. Kudos to my opponent for playing so well.

Here is where I lost the game:

For the life of me, I didn't know what to do. So I just moved Nc6. From then on it was over.

I took advantage of this loss and actually looked up the correct book moves for this opening. I can't remember what it's called, but the proper move would have been d5. So this defeat wasn't a total loss.

You can replay the whole game. Just click on my "Some Standard Games" link. The match was against RobertRoy. I have two games in the DB. One is annotated by Chessmaster 10th ed. while the other is by Fritz 8.

I've been so busy with other things lately, that I've not been practicing my tactics for two days now. I think I need to correct that.

Quote Applicable to Chess?

I'm a BYU Cougar fan ... especially when it comes to football.

Anyway, I read an article today linked from cougarfan.com and it was referred to some close games that BYU should have won (vs. Arizona and vs. Boston College). Otherwise, they'd be undefeated and possibly ranked in the top 20. But the article goes on to say,

close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

I got a laugh out of the quote.

And so to link to back to chess ... I imagine the same is true with chess. You can always say, "look at this game ... I had mate in 3!" but you didn't actually move the pieces to capture the win. It's our actual moves that define us as a chess player. Everything else is just analysis.

Chess Around the Net

Funny story about Bob Baladan

Balaban says he was browsing through chess books at the tournament hotel
when he posed a question to a woman he didn’t recognize.“I said, ‘Do you read any of Susan Polgar’s books?’ ‘No,’ she said. ‘I write them.’ ”

"The ICL says it will increase fines and penalties against chess 'goons'" ... click to read entire article ... very funny!

It looks like this blogger is intent on explaining all the openings. It has potential.

You may have seen this before, but here is a cool site where you can play chess and watch the computer think ... you'll be amused.

Interesting read about chess. Has anyone seen this chess set before?

There once was a Soviet chess set manufactured in porcelain during the first half of the twentieth century. The theme was, of course, capitalists versus socialists. Socialists were red, capitalists were white (probably echoing the Russian Revolution). The communist side spoke in the language of Soviet propaganda and mythology, and featured a wholesome, corn-fed farmer king and his chaste queen. On the other side of the board/world, the capitalists took up arms with a whorish queen, pawns bound in chains, and a king with a skull for a head.

I Googled it (the above described chess set) and found this link.

Chess Around the Net

The Politics of Chess is an article that offers similarities between real life and life on the 64. For obvious reasons, I was curious about what the author would say about rooks. He says,

"Ahhh… the safety and security of bricks and mortar are the lesson to be learned here. How solid and dependable are the rooks? They occupy and guard the outer edges of the world, keeping the other players safe from invading paws of curious kittens and insurgencies of spilt beverages. But how high is the price of such security? I’ll tell you – it’s a terrible toll. Severely restricted movement, and a mindset programmed to think in unbending lines. Compare this to the United States, where the price of freedom is restrictions beyond their wildest nightmares – a government hellbent on tying down its own people to protect them from themselves, and others.Thus, the Rooks are the US Government of the chess world. Bulky, cumbersome and programmed to defend and destroy, or die trying.

Go take a read ... you'll be amused.

Aladdin (as in the Disney character) now teaches chess. I guess since he's off the streets now, he has lots of time on his hands. It looks like this software is geared towards teaching children chess.

Interesting blog (and wiki).

A sketch of a couple playing chess.

Does anyone use bit torrents? I'll have to read up on this. If you use them, here is an interesting link. It looks like they have something to do with file sharing.