Robert Pearson's Chess Blog

ACIS 2010

2010-01-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

I'm back, I'm excited and let's get right to it--to really be one of the ACIS, by Blunderprone's definition, one must post about goals, plans and methods and then follow up with progress reports. So here I go, taking the plunge...

True Confessions

First off, some brutally honest history. I've mentioned here a number of times that I'm really into human performance and "self-help" books and materials. Back in 1995 I was in Northern California, working at a low paying job and basically just getting along when I revisited Tony Robbins' book Unlimited Power, a book I'd owned for several years and had read, but hadn't taken much action with. Rereading the book one night, I sat down and started doing some of the exercises, including thinking about what I really wanted and how to get it. I decided to move back to Juneau, Alaska, go to the university and get a degree, get married and have children and get into politics and government. It took longer than it might have, there were some bumps in the road along the way but I did all of those things, and now enjoy a great job, pretty good income and a great family. You may well think of Tony Robbins as some guy on late night infomercials but lo, he has put out some things that work, if you actually do them. And he learned a lot of them from NLP and through the pioneer Richard Bandler. I'm currently working with Bandler's latest book, Get the Life You Want, which I highly recommmend.

That's all fine, you may be saying, but where's the brutal honesty? Here: I've never faithfully, consistently applied these methods and techniques to chess improvement! Most of my improvement came from playing good players from 1982-90, and that's it! Oh, I have plenty of chess books, and I've intermittedly studied endings, done tactical exercises and looked at some master games, but I've never really applied what I know about performance psychology to my chess in a consistent way. Perhaps chess improvement is not quite as important as work, health, marriage and family, but now is the time, friend, now is the time. I think that I must either just play chess and enjoy it, which is great, or go for the gusto and do the improvement thing to the utmost of my ability:

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. (Rev. 3:15-16). I will not let that be me!

So here goes.

My Personal ACIS Program

As I noted in my last post, I have decided to base my ACIS plan on Jeremy Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess (3d. ed). A funny coincidence--this is one of the few well-known chess books I've never owned, but while I was in Anchorage, Alaska recently I dropped in at the fabulous Title Wave used book store and browsed the book for awhile, finally paying just $7.95 for a nice copy. It struck me that one of my weak points as a chess player is the lack of a consistent, cogent thinking process as I consider my move. Though I'm experienced enough to know about weak pawns, weak squares, dropping in a killer knight at d6 to paralyze Black's position, etc., I all too often go pretty much straight to "What threats can I make and how must he repsond to them?" and choose my moves almost exclusively on that basis. Also, I've been playing mostly internet blitz over the last months since I left Reno and its strong club tournaments. The "Reassess Your Chess" method does not lend itself, nor really apply, to blitz. It's about taking the time to really look at the "imbalances" in a position and considering how to nurture the ones favorable to your side, and to neutralize the opponent's. As I browsed through the book it dawned on me that perhaps this was just the approach I needed in my own unique situation--other people may best be served by another book or focus.

While there is a thorough and quite critical review of the book on the Amazon page that might give one pause, I decided that the reviewer's (apparently) legitimate criticisms of some errors in the book shouldn't really be a problem with my intended use of it. I will work my way through every line of "Reassess Your Chess" on a board, and perfect the thinking process presented, and any errors and ommissions I find on my own will just be great practice. After I have made it through the book (and can finally say that I have done so with at least one chess book) I will apply the process to games and positions from other books--games collections, opening books etc.

One other thing that struck me as I looked into the book is a Silman recommendation that I've seen in one form or another many times in many places: to take a rich position from a master game, set it up on a board and really get into it deeply, for 20, 30, 40 minutes or more, writing down all your thoughts, plans and calculated lines. Blue Devil Knight called it Rowsonalysis (see Chess for Zebras), Michael Goeller and Dan Heisman have called it the "Stoyko excercise" after Massachusetts FM Stephen Stoyko. By any other name, this is something I've never really done. I am going to do it as much as time allows and publish the results here.

Playing games is, of course, the other thing one must do to actually improve, well, results in actual games! I'm going to try to play at least two games on FICS at 15/5 or longer each week. That may be all I can fit in. I am going to avoid blitz for three months as an experiment, and see if the ACIS work will result in some significant improvement at blitz. As Heisman says, the best blitz players are the best slow players. I am intrigued by the possibility that this may or may not happen in this case.

Measuring Progress

Only ratings can really say whether one's strength has increased over time. My current ratings:

USCF - 1629 (all-time best 1825)
FICS Standard - 1606 (all-time best 1800+)
FICS Blitz - 1328 (all-time best 1442)

I plan to post something once a week about the ACIS plan and what I actually accomplished. If I miss a week I'm not going to freak out, however. From mid-January to April I am extremely busy in my professional capacity. Any time studying or playing chess will, however, be quality time.

Isn't that really what this is all about?

Christmas Vacation

2009-12-24T15:47:00.000-08:00

Lots of good stuff to report, but it's Christmas Eve and I am thousands of miles from home with limited internet access--so for now, Merry Christmas and happy holidays and New Year's and all that. I just picked up Jeremy Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess (3d. ed) and I will be making this book the base for my ACIS plan.

Much more in a week or so!

Priceless Chess Training Video

2009-12-08T22:11:00.000-08:00

Via Liz Vicary, who credits Jason Luchan, who I don't know...anyhow, only the creators of this priceless chess training video deserve the credit. And we get to see it for free. How cool is that Internet thingy?

Copenhagen's Hypocritical Carbon Climate Crisis Cabal

2009-12-06T22:48:00.000-08:00

I really appreciate the great comments and links to my previous ACIS of Caissa post. The follow-up is in preparation. Meanwhile, I indulge in one of my occasional ventures away from chess.

The subject of "climate change" is certainly emotionally and politically charged; the funny thing is, I'm pretty much a bedrock libertarian, free markets kinda guy, but I think that logic, reason and science point to the probability that there is some effect on global temperature from human activity and that burning less fossil fuels is a good idea. Whether that is sufficient reason to collectivize the world economy and transfer trillions (a multiple of $1,000,000,000,000 for our friends outside of the USA) of dollars from some nation-states to others, well, color me unconvinced. China and India aren't talking about cuts in their carbon dioxide output, oh no; they're talking about reductions in the rate of growth, from "mushrooming" to merely "rapid." Apparently the so-called world elite who will gather tomorrow in Copenhagen, Denmark (land of my ancestors) aren't feeling much of a sense of crisis, says the Telegraph (h/t Deceiver.com):

...140 private jets...1,200 limousines...Leonardo DiCaprio, Daryl Hannah, Helena Christensen (who the hell is Helena Christensen?), Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Prince Charles...and much more down-to-Earth than those, the Copenhagen prostitutes:

Outraged by a council postcard urging delegates to "be sustainable, don't buy sex," the local sex workers' union – they have unions here – has announced that all its 1,400 members will give free intercourse to anyone with a climate conference delegate's pass.

Beautiful; at least someone is going to be doing something useful! Also, it explains why this whole circus isn't being done by video conference.

Here's today's piece of Golden Wisdom You Should Never Forget: If you don't have a sense of irony, you might as well dig a six-foot by three-foot hole and lie down in it and wait awhile.

Until then, Let Us ROCK:

ACIS of Caissa: Maybe It's Not What to Study, It's Whether We Need to Study at All?

2009-11-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

The ACIS (Adult Chess Improvement Seekers) seems to have really taken off, from its modest beginning in some comments at Chess Confessions, through its modest viral development by Blunder Prone (part II, part III), and a cascade of Seekers.

(Mr. Duval aka Blunder Prone has a list on the top of his sidebar. More are to follow, I'm sure)

A.C.I.S of Caissa (so far)

Now that we have a title, a mission, a movement, so to speak, I would like to present the theoretical underpinnings of ACIS as I understand them, to make it more than just another acronym. I don't speak for anyone else, but look forward to hearing from you, Dear Reader, regarding whether I've captured some thing of value here.

Much of the chess blogging by non-professionals is about improvement. Certainly, there are history blogs, Grandmaster blogs, club blogs, etc., but even these sometimes touch on improvement. Scrolling down the list of blogs I've chosen to link to on the sidebar, the majority of posts on a majority of the sites are about general or personal chess improvement. The original Knights de la Maza were, of course chiefly about improvement using a certain, defined method as defined in de la Maza's articles (Part I, Part II) and book.

Very few of these thousands of chess improvement posts seem to ask the questions:

Why do you need to improve? Why do you want to improve? And how, exactly, is this improvement to be defined?

Let's go back even farther. Let's go back to First Principles. Why the hell do we play chess at all? That's worth an essay in itself, and people have already written it: Concentration, competition, achievement, healthy struggle; given that we do play, why try so hard to improve? I've referred back to my posts about Dr. Kenneth Mark Colby many times and I'll do so again:

Why should a patzer seek to become a grandpatzer? Because of the aristos (Greek: Aristos = best). Life is more than ham sandwiches and beer. Humans strive, not just to survive, but to enhance the quality, the excellence, of survival. Striving for excellence in any endeavor, developing yourself to become your best at what you do, is rewarding and fulfilling to aspirations higher than happiness. Merely happy people, without artistic goals, vegetate in incomplete, hobbled and impoverished lives...A grandpatzer is a strong chessplayer, a threat to anyone (including himself) in a given game.

Very philosophical, no? There is however, another take, another approach that one could find just as legitimate, indeed, more practical:

"Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly."

---G. K. Chesterton

"Right now, I’m 1600-ish, the same as 10 years ago without putting effort into improvement. What would happen if I tried? Does the thought of “maybe there’s an Expert somewhere in here” motivate me enough to work?

More likely, the “I’m sufficiently skilled so most people can’t dismiss me; that’s good enough” win out (again)."

---Donnie, Liquid Egg Product

Let me state it this way: One could just play chess. In the days of yore, the olden days when there was smoking in chess clubs and all kind of dangerous stuff like that, quite a few people became experts or masters just by playing a lot of chess at a club with strong players. Reuben Fine, for example, had the best Americans of the 1920s and '30s New York chess clubs to school him, and played a great deal of blitz as a youngster. I believe he once wrote that he did very little formal study before reaching master level. So just as a base, using your chess time to play chess will bring you to certain level, your natural level of chess skill, so to speak.

After that, it gets murky.

"Improvement" is almost universally defined by us in the ACIS/chess blogging community as an improved rating, whether USCF, FIDE, ICC or other. Whether a higher rating is all we really should be striving for in our chess career is something well worth exploring, but I want to save that for another post. Let's accept that as given, for now. The big question (drum roll, please...)

Is studying chess really the best way to raise your rating???

I'm going to give you a few questions to ponder. Have you ever been kibbitzing a game and seen good moves that the players (sometimes much higher-rated than you) missed? Have you ever played a move in a (non-blitz) game and instantly seen, as soon as you took your hand off the piece, that it was a blunder? Have you ever seen a Grandmaster blunder? (if not, see my "Homer Nods" series). I'll wager a bundle you answered "Yes, yes and yes."

Have you ever asked yourself how these things are possible?

If you are a person who has played a reasonable amount of serious chess, "lost at least 500 games" as Capablanca is said to have formulated it, you already know enough about tactics to avoid major blunders, and to take tactical advantage of your opponents' mistakes. You already know that "Loose pieces drop off" and the pattern of a knight fork and a back-rank mate.

So, why do you, (and me too!) still make these kinds of mistakes, mistakes that are usually the main reason that our rating is static? Why can't we call up this knowledge on (almost) every move and avoid blunders and climb the ladder to the rating we so richly deserve? Why do tactical exercises, even thousands of them, sometimes help, but often in a very limited way--that is, why have some people done 10,000 or more of them and not become masters?

Questions, questions...these are questions for human performance psychology, rather than arguments about whether MDLM is the best study method. And like a good old-fashioned movie serial, for now I'll leave you hanging. In the next installment, we'll survey the field and see what we can glean that will help us ACISers out.

Until then, let us ROCK

Diving Into ACIS: "I Would Like, If I May, To Take You On a Strange Journey"

2009-11-12T21:46:00.000-08:00

Okay boys and girls, this is going to take a lot of preparation...do not proceed any farther in this post unless you have an hour or two. Or take it in small bites, whatever, but I'm not going to put up the run-of-the mill fluff, this time.

First, in order to understand the title of this post, go watch the fabulous Blunderprone production Rocky Errant Picture Show.

Three years ago I published a little piece called The Crowley-Parsons-Heinlein-Hubbard-Cruise Connection. Please read Part I, Part II. At the time I wrote it, I had not yet seen this article--Whence Came the Stranger: Tracking the Megapattern of Stranger in a Strange Land. And this, about the author of that--"Adam Rostoker: Walking Between Worlds, Not of this World (any longer)."

Ain't the Internet a blast?

And by now, you may ask yourself, what's the point of these seemingly unconnected peregrinations? Quo vadis?

Well...Crowley was a chess player, apparently of master strength, but see at the link how a "mystical experience" put him off pursuit of serious chess. Heinlein certainly appreciated chess, as it appears in a number of his works, including the first move of a "blindfold" game between Captain King and Lazarus Long in Methuselah's Children (Lazarus plays 1. Nf3) and in Time Enough for Love where Lazarus plays his Grandfather and allows Grandpa to recapitulate an entire Steinitz brilliancy (Lazarus foregoes using a computer-generated improvement).

UPDATE 11/14/09: Francis W. Porretto, Proprietor of the great Eternity Road, points out:

"...including the first move of a "blindfold" game between Captain King and Lazarus Long in Methuselah's Children (Lazarus plays 1. Nf3)..."

Uh, no. The game was between Captain Rufus "Ruthless" King and Andrew Jackson Libby, Heinlein's mathematical genius. King, who had White, opened 1. e4; Libby answered 1...Nf6.

Unfortunately, we never learn how the game ended. However, an earlier paragraph notes that Libby had "long ago given up the game for lack of adequate competition," so we can guess.

(Thanks for the correction, Fran. My ed. had the day off...)

I am intensely interested in chess, also in "human potential," self-actualization, self-improvement and all of that jazz. As the ACIS begins to rise, Bold as Love and Wangalicious, I think my love is to concentrate on the mental aspects of chess and improvement, the qualities of mind and spirit that might make for chess success and life success, the joy that can be from more than just winning games.

More, soon. And now, let us ROCK:

Memorable Game 7: King Hunt! (Unfortunately Mine), RLP - R. Campbell 10.14.2000 0-1

2009-11-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

My previous "Memorable Games" posted here were memorable for me in that they were some of my best games. This game is memorable because I forget a little thing called "development" and my whole king side stays at home for an entire game, just like in some of those 1850's clashes "Anderssen-NN" or "Morphy-Allies." Also, one of the few times in my career that my king made it out to the fifth rank with a bunch of pieces still on the board; hardly ever a good sign. Yes, I willl officially call it a King Hunt.

Ron Campbell, my opponent in this game, was a regular around the Anchorage chess scene in the early 2000s, and improved his rating into the high 1600s within a couple years of this game. At the 2002 Alaska State Championship I won a good game from him in the last round to tie for third, win the state Class B Championship and even, I recall, some fraction of a Grand Prix point. Unfortunately, I haven't located that game. This time, the fun is all Ron's as he reminds us (me) to DEVELOP the pieces, fool.

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

I Invent a Totally NEW Word - Please Make It Go Viral!!!

2009-11-04T22:05:00.000-08:00

Over at Liquid Egg Product the Mascot has produced, directed and starred in a Halloween Holiday Classic. In the comments, I write:

Seriously dude, I know you’re loyal to Donnie and all but someone with your combination of churtful yet charming snark, slender physique, immunity to criticism, babe magnetism and tolerance for tasteless violence and gore would fit RIGHT IN with most of the Hollywood crowd.

Churtful? CHURTFUL??? I think I meant to say cheerful, then thought to change it to hurtful, and LOOK WHAT HAPPENED! Ma, I done a good thing!

Cheerful and hurtful. And snarky. Yes, that's Hollywood these days. And Washington. And Brussels, for our European readers. You pay for the privilege of going to the movies and finding out THEY are using YOUR money to insult your values and your beliefs, you pay 20-30-40-50+ percent of your income (how high does it go in Europe? About 25 in America right now, but just wait, my American friends, do you think with a $1 trillion ++ deficits year after year that will hold?) to politicians to tell you you're too stupid, you poor sap, to know what's good for you.

You pay, they play and churtfully enjoy the privileges (root-private laws) of being the elite.

Speaking of the elite, Liz Vicary has been on a tear lately, see people who hold views that contradict mine are stupid (part 2) which purports to show through some truly pseudo-scientific gobbledygook that atheists are (of course) more intelligent than all those God-believing idiots:

It just seems so bizarre to me that otherwise intelligent people can believe there is a man in the sky who controls things. And this leads them to kill each other, wake up early on Sunday mornings, wear funny necklaces, talk to themselves, and not do fun things like have sex and eat certain delicious foods.

There's a sophisticated argument. Since atheists like Hitler, Stalin and Mao never kill anyone, and since it's obvious, for example, that those religious types don't have sex, all that sort of thing would presumably end if people would just go atheist and bring about the peaceful, sleep-late-on-Sunday sex-filled paradise they so richly deserve.

Idiots.

But seeing as that was "part 2," let's go back a bit to part 1--have you ever thought that conservatives are all stupid? wherein Ms. Vicary consults some completely different pseudo-scientific gobbedygook purporting that "Conservatism and cognitive ability are negatively correlated." I'd like to quote more but do go read her post, which consists almost completely of the article's introduction. The commenters do a good job of questioning the premises, so I don't have to. Remember, if it doesn't pass the "smell test," check your premises.

The funny thing is that with E. Vicary you never know whether she really believes this stuff or she's just playing with the audience. Look at the blog URL...that's the secret of her success. She writes for Chess Life and gets in movies and stuff, and I toil away here, unpaid except for the warmth of my Dear Readers' comments. So, I must say, kudos to her. She's actually a Raven in disguise.

I do hope she was kidding about this one.

One of the commenters there is, coincidentally (really? - ed.), ChargingKing, who recently asked for some link love in regard to my previous post. Here it is, because Chris Harrington is an intersting person and writer, and we played some good games in the old days in Reno.

It's intrguing to me that he seems to be passionately appealing for moderation and middle ground in his comment: Doesn't it ever wear thin fighting and creating conflict? As a philosophical kind of guy I would think Chris would appreciate the Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis process as described (if not in exactly those terms) by Hegel. It is great conflicts that create great discoveries--just like in chess. Fighting and creating conflict are the chessplayer's bread and meat. Just, after it's over, let's all go have a beer, like those conflicting liberals and conservatives do (when we're not looking).

To bring this whole thing back around to the important point, I'm being CHURTFUL here, okay. Cheerfully hurtful. If you would be so kind as to go forth now and use it over and over and over, with full attribution and links to Robert Pearson's Chess Blog, I would be much obliged. I am hoping to see it show up in text messages all over the world by next week.

UPDATE: Churtful is in the Urban Dictionary as a variation of the verb churting "The act of being dull, boring, kind of grey, and specifically draining to the person that is having to listen to you." As you can see, this has nothing to do with my own brilliantly original coinage and we will speak of it no more.

'Round the Chess Blogosphere Highlights + Hot Chess Babes!

2009-10-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

Reassembler goes democratic, and my vote for "link love" is the only vote for link love. I threaten to take it on myself. Thus, this post.

The Other McCain has gotten over 2.7 million visitors so far by using 5 simple rules, Rule 2 being (in part) "Reciprocal linkage is the essential lubricant that makes the blogosphere purr with contentment." I don't think we in the chess area of the blogosphere are doing enough of it. Blue Devil Knight is pretty good about linking, see here and here. Rocky Rook points out an interesting chess variant, or at least an interesting game using chess pieces, Arimaa. I looked at the rules--intriguing, but the number of possible moves at each turn is so great that I'm wondering if random luck won't be a big part of the result, for beginners. Wait, that's what my chess was like for several years...

Katar Blog had a great post, back in July, on a Tarrash-Approved Repetoire for Black. A big fan of Tarrasch myself, I already own most of the books he mentions, so why not? I've been trying it out and you know, Black can have just as much fun as White after 1. e4 e5! Seriously. Elizabeth Vicary is now speed dating. Polly remembers the late Jerry Hanken. While I occasionally made fun of Jerry's tournament reports in Chess Life I am always sorry to see another friend of chess pass on.

If you haven't checked lately, The Kenilworthian and The Chess Mind are, simply, two of the best chess blogs ever. If I were you I'd peruse the archives in both, especially the openings articles and compilations by Michael Goeller in the first and the GM game comments and annotations by Dennis Monokroussos and the second. See, these guys also have found another way to bring in the hits: High quality, original content. What a concept...

Want more? Liquid Egg Product. Just start at the top and scroll. Chess is only like 13.2 percent of the posts, but it's got 86.8 percent Nerd Humor. It's not easy to be funny. Plus, Donnie's FICS rating is now higher than mine, so props to him.

Finally, for now, the title of this post promised "Hot Chess Babes." Will this get me those million hits from Google searches? Doubt it, but what happened here is that the USCF seems to have chosen to market the recent US Women's Championship with lovely photos of the participants:

The winner, Anna Zatonskih:

As I noted previously, scientific surveys and personal experience show that pictures like these and post titles that include phrases like "Hot Chess Babes" bring in the visitors. Of course, whether they come back depends on High quality, original content which, admittedly, this post does not have. Baby steps, baby steps...

Okay, let the first million hits begin! Link this! Link other chess blogs! There's a virtual world out there people. Go and conquer it.

Chess and Baseball: The Thinking Man's Games (?)

2009-10-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

"Interchangeable Skills?"

You decide as Yankee's manager Joe Girardi talks about the two games.

Sorry no embed, permalink here.

Amazing and Amusing Juxtaposition

2009-10-07T22:06:00.000-07:00

Here's one for ya--BJ14269's Blog over at Chess.com. I don't feel the need to add any commentary except, "Remember, God loves all His children, including snipers!" (Hat tip: Chess Skills feed)

God in life

Submitted by BJ14269 on Thu Oct 8, 2009 9:18am.

I was wondering... What is God doing in peoples lives now-a-days Read more »

» posted in BJ14269's Blog

9 reads | 0 comments

favorite sniper?

Submitted by BJ14269 on Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:55am.

I was wondering if anyone had a favorite sniper? It can be from any time or place or skill. my personal favorite is Carlos Hathcock! any others? Read more »

Songs in Your Head

2009-09-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

Ever have a song playing over and over in your head? Of course you have. I had this one playing in my head when I woke up this morning, but rather than bothering me, it uplifted me because it is such a totally awesome, rockin' tune!

Hit the button and listen. Who could not feel a burst of positive energy just listening to this unstoppable driving music machine?

Hmmm, the only problem is if you actually concentrate on and decipher the lyrics--a rather sobering description of life in the urban jungle.

I think the genius of the piece is in the contrast. If you think I'm crazy, let me know in the comments. At least, having put up a post, the song is no longer running through my head...

The Offspring - Come Out And Play
Uploaded by lefurhien. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Blogs That Could Save the World, Part I: The Bikini Blog

2009-09-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

(Part I of a continuing series)

I am sad to have to say that chess blogs will not be able to save the world; but in my view, are at least not contributing to the End of the World.

As to what "Saving the World" means, I'm from the school of "grow or die." If it isn't getting better, then it's falling apart. There is no standing still...as the Buddha said, "The World is a burning house."

So, our first blog that makes the world better is... ... ...

Everything Bikini: The Bikini Blog

Why: Men, women, young or old, everyone feels better after visiting this blog! Don't underestimate that as a world-saver.

If young men all over the world spent more time contemplating this blog and less time learning to hate people who are different from them, would it end war and terrorism? Perhaps. I think we should try it and see.

Sample Post: Bollywood's Hot Bikini Babe Deepal Shaw (Baby Doll)

Finally, presenting the Esteemed Proprietor of Everything Bikini, Tricia, who also writes the inspiring and courageous blog Fibromyalgia Is Not My Life.

Esteemed Proprietor, Tricia

(More Blogs That Could Save the World coming soon!)

Quotes of the Day: Gore Vidal

2009-09-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

“My usual answer to ‘What am I proudest of?’ is my novels, but really I am most proud that, despite enormous temptation, I have never killed anybody and you don’t know how tempted I have been.”

Full Times of London interview here.

Okay, one more:

"Here’s a story I’ve never told. In 1960, after he had spent so much on the presidential campaign, Joe took all nine children to Palm Beach to lecture them. He was really angry. He said, ‘All you read about the Kennedy fortune is untrue. It’s non-existent. We’ve spent so much getting Jack elected and not one of you is living within your income’. They all sat there, shame-faced. Jack was whistling. He used to tap his teeth: they were big teeth, like a xylophone. Joe turned to Jack and he says, ‘Mr President, what’s the solution?’ Jack said, ‘The solution is simple. You all gotta work harder’.” (Vidal guffaws heartily.)

Beer, Humor and the Nanny State

2009-09-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

It is nice to see that not everyone in the UK is afraid to engage in some irony:

"A brewery has launched a low alcohol beer called Nanny State after being branded irresponsible for creating the UK's "strongest beer".

Scottish brewer BrewDog, of Fraserburgh, was criticised for Tokyo* which has an alcohol content of 18.2%.

Campaigners welcomed the 1.1% alcohol Nanny State but said the name showed a lack of appreciation of the problem."

The problem apparently being that Brits (remember, that includes your English, Scottish, Welsh and I dunno, Channel Islanders [?]) are, more and more, drinking really fast and really hard and then falling down and then passing out in a puddle of puke, or worse.

I am no fan of binge drinking or disgusting drunks littering the streets; however, it is a basic principle of a free society that adults get to make decisions about what to eat and drink for themselves. Not societies, watchdogs, boards or government agencies--that's the Nanny State.

A lot of folks in the US, the UK, the rest of Europe and indeed, all over the world would like to "help" you make your "health" decisions by determining how much alcohol, sugar, salt, fat, MSG, BHA, BHT etc. will be "allowed" in your food and drink. Or they'll try to price it out of reach.

It is refreshing to see someone with their own brewery playfully poke 'em in the eye.

Memorable Game 6: My First Ever Half Point, W. Barr - RLP 01.06.82 1/2 - 1/2

2009-09-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

Having played at the Reno Chess Club for a few months in the fall of 1981, I was persuaded to give the City Championship a try. It was quite an experience...I lost the first six games, then managed this exciting draw, lost three more to finish out the Championship qualifier, then went to a weekend tournament at Lake Tahoe and lost four more. One draw in 14 tournament games. To show how strong the competition was, my first published rating came in at 1198, which I've used in the header of the game below, though I wasn't rated at the time.

I will freely admit that I took about three months away from tournament play, and most chess of any kind, after this string of shellackings. A few of the guys at the club talked me back into coming, telling me I was actually pretty good, I was getting better and would start winning some. They were right! I did finally start to win a few games in the summer and the rest, as they say, was history.

Probably every player fondly remembers his or her first tournament point or half-point. Considering the amount of losses that were sandwiched around it, a very memorable game indeed!

William Barr was quite an old guy at the time of this game--I suppose well into his 70s. I think he got in a revenge victory on me sometime later. Good for him, hopefully I'll still be slugging it out in tournaments when I'm 75 or so.

Not a great game of chess, but considering I only make one real blunder, not too bad for a beginner.

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Mediatation

2009-09-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

While we wait for more chess posts, let us assume the Lotus position and meditate for a few moments:

I'm feeling better, how about you?

A Message of Hope

2009-09-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

(NOTE: For the record, I did not write the copy below. It is one of those things passed along through the Tubes until the origin is hidden in the mists. All hele to whoever did put it together!)

I seldom pass along inspirational stuff, but this one got to me.

I believe, in these difficult and mean-spirited times in which we
live, there needs to be a message of Hope.

We can all use a single image that speaks to us of love, harmony,
peace and joy.

An image that suggests the universality of us all.

I have been sent that image, and I want to share it with you all.
All I ask that all of you take a moment to reflect on it.

(CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE!)

Memorable Game 5: My Biggest Upset and First Victory over a Class A

2009-09-02T23:18:00.000-07:00

My previous "Memorable Games" have been from the period 1986-87 when I was already around Class B strength. The following game, played after about 18 months of serious tournament chess experience, was more of an upset in that my opponent was rated 601 points higher, and I don't think I had won against anyone over about 1600 before this.

LaRoy O'Doan was around the Expert level at his peak, and I played him just a couple of years ago in Reno, though of course 25 years later and after some health problems he wasn't as strong and I managed to win two more games with him.

In this game, I play quite well for someone so inexperienced; in fact, I don't think I could play it much better today!

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Quote(s) of the Day

2009-08-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

"Seemingly, whoever hid it died and never came back."
(NYT, Finding a Scapegoat When Epidemics Strike) -

I would have thought the first clause implied the second.

Q: How will U.S. Sen. (Edward) Kennedy's death affect things? A: "I think it's going to help us. He hasn't been around for some time." (Harry Reid, Senator)

Reid is a veteran politician who became U.S. Senate Majority Leader, and really ought to be a brilliant communicator; but somehow, I don't think that came out quite right...

"[C]onsidering how awkwardly the Lwaxana Troi story fits in and the abrupt way she uncovers the secret assassins, I would say Gene Roddenberry told his drinking buddy Hurley to put his aging former trophy wife in at least one episode a season." (Jeffords, in the process of reviewing every Star Trek TNG episode.)

Here she is in the original pilot of TOS, playing "Number One" (Executive Officer). Can I get an "Uh-huh?!":

My Chess Geek Garret-Cave-Attic

2009-08-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

Back in May Wang posted a couple of pictures of his Geek Cave; here I present my Geek Attic, or perhaps it's an old fashioned garret. Anyway, to get some of the solitude needed for serious chess study with a board, rather than a monitor, I cleared out a little space in the storage area of the condo loft. I then hauled a big-ass table up five flights of stairs and by a miracle of engineering genius, through the pint-sized door.

I share the space with my son's art studio.

A portion of the chess library.

On the board, a game I was playing over--the final position of a fifteen-move crushing of the late Darcy Robinson. To give Darcy credit, this was when he was still an "improving adult player." A few years later he defeated me 2.5-1.5 in another match, and made it to 1800 before he suddenly passed a few months ago.

In memoriam, I'll publish a win of his soon...for now, here's an Open Game where Black gets all the fun!

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Refresh

2009-08-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

Cat at My Life's Work recently changed the look of her blog, and it reminded that this one has looked pretty much the same for a long time. I think we need some refreshing of the concept around here. While I work that, check out the very interesting writing at the link. I found that refreshing, too.

Views

2009-07-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a chess post, I really have, but it's not ready, and so today I simply present two images. Above, a photo of Juneau, Alaska I shot the other day.

Below, a photo of Elizabeth Vicary that she shot the other day. She, like me, feels the urge to write about things other than chess from time to time. Thus this post.

Memorable Game 4: I Defeat My First Expert, B. Brandt - RLP 05.13.87 0-1

2009-07-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

I had defeated several USCF Class A players by the spring of 1987 and raised my rating to the low 1700s, but no Experts had fallen to my bad kung fu until this game. This was the same year my opponent won the Nevada State Championship, and even now Barry is still competing at the Reno Chess Club!

Admittedly, he plays the opening in "coffee house" style and I just take advantage, but I'm proud of my play. After I obtained a winning position I did make a couple of (?!) moves but fortunately they merely prolonged the game slightly.

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Memorable Game 3: Update with Corrections

2009-07-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Bill Davis comments on my "Memorable Game 3" post:

Hi Robert, Good game as you deserved the win with your preparation. I'd have played out the game if I knew this would become your blog. I'd like to make a few corrections. No, I hadn't been drinking or something else. Also I had been a Master for two years at the time of the game. I do remember the disgust and frustration when I realized I had blundered away a pawn. I don't see the mate coming within ten moves as you stated. I saw a very difficult position and would probably drop the c-pawn too with your pressure. So leaving a mate on the board was my frustrated way of resigning. In hindsight I should have played on as now I have the experience of saving such games. Well done, hope you get the chance to beat another Master.

First, my sincere apologies to Bill for saying "[he] looked kind of distraught, or perhaps had been drinking or something...anyway, he didn't look happy to be there." I take his word that nothing unusual was going on except just one of those "moments" we've all experienced in chess.

Second, apologies for the inaccuracy on his achieving the USCF Master rating--I was going from memory there, as the USCF online records only go back to 1991.

When I said "I guess I was subconsciously giving him a chance to resign instead of getting mated inside of 10 moves, and he did" I was talking the position on the board after Bill's "resigning" by allowing mate. I think he's right, he should have played on; as I noted in the original post (you have to look at the ChessFlash game annotations there) White scored 46.5-4.5 from the position in the database, but Bill was and is a stronger player overall, and Black did manage two wins and a few draws after going down the pawn.

Thanks for commenting Bill, and again, apologies for the inaccuracies in my original account.