tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21979316343724608262009-10-16T20:09:01.949-07:00<center>A father and son's journey through chess mastery</center>hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-57053818673556779272007-09-04T10:08:00.001-07:002007-09-04T14:13:15.797-07:00

Earlier this summer checkers had been solved. This was solved using what is known as a "weak" solve. It was not a complete tablebase of all the positions, which would be a strong solve. But rather, using a combination of an opening database, deep enough searching to get to the tablebases and significant enough tablebases, they could essentially guarantee a draw in every game.The process of how

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-42746068879069738862007-09-02T09:43:00.000-07:002007-09-02T09:51:08.662-07:00

Andy Soltis published an article today, titled: "Many Teachers, Masters of Deceit"It is very short, but it reads like a crazed page from time to time here in the Errant's Arena.It actually gives me hope about tactics training, it puts openings back on the table, (which I suspect, is probably correct), and still doesn't provide any path towards "understanding". The salient points...September 2,

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-17727548915284419812007-08-31T07:39:00.000-07:002007-08-31T08:02:20.006-07:00

I just love Searching for Bobby Fischer.  While ostensibly it is the Josh Waitzkin story, it does a remarkable job of capturing many many of the arguments and sentimentalities of scholastic chess and even chess in general.   More so than any other chess movie that I have seen.   Unfortunately, I have not read the book, but I think that I must at this point.I have read, mostly,  Josh Waitzkin's

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-9068502131571632452007-08-29T16:15:00.000-07:002007-08-29T21:32:11.706-07:00

Pawn Shaman has tagged me...1. How long have you been playing chess? Have you played it consistently since you started, or were there lulls in your play? How did these lulls affect your performance?I have been playing for about 35 years.   As a kid I knew nothing, and pretty much nothing stuck.  Somewhere in about 10th grade I learned scholars mate, and was starting to get good enough to beat my

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-78183267677422788712007-08-23T09:05:00.000-07:002007-08-23T13:05:32.516-07:00

All of this stuff about openings, and specifically chessloser's game that he won recently against an 1. f3 opener reminded me of a story that had happened about 6 years ago on ICC.It was prior to 9/11 and the world that we now know.  In that innocent time, when we didn't know just how big a prick Bobby Fischer was.  Just how good a computer program could be.  Many of us were still in the midst of

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-79654073209100757962007-08-21T08:50:00.000-07:002007-08-21T09:23:25.419-07:00

I don't think I am giving too much away here that hasn't already been said in the past, but I am old.Back when I first started playing really competitive chess, we had just gotten Commodore Pets in the computer lab.  hmmm... chiclet keyboards in that fancy ABCDE layout!It would be years before we had Battle Chess, and we could enjoy kicking the crap out of our computers.   I was no David Levy,

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-81528524355454189422007-08-18T07:03:00.000-07:002007-08-18T07:25:26.755-07:00

There was a very interesting story that was posted on the Rybka forum yesterday and it was a bit relevant to some of the current memes being tossed around on the Knight's blogs lately.Namely there is a wide held belief that openings simply don't matter much for class play.  This belief was core to de La Maza's central plans. But, it conflicts with both the reality of more opening books are

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-35335426117930259932007-08-11T13:00:00.006-07:002007-08-11T13:05:49.918-07:00

The newly elected Chairman of the USCF, was the subject of an English TV show that discussed why she was such a good chess player.Many people here know the story of the Polgar Sisters, and some of her father's theories.   But this is an interesting take and takes you right into the actual brain programming of templating and such.It has not been shown in the US yet, but may make it to BBC America,

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-52376628735829286862007-08-10T11:30:00.001-07:002007-08-10T12:10:06.620-07:00

One of the best parts of my vacation was playing chess from time to time with my son.   There was nothing better than sitting outside prior to the blistering heat, enjoying a cup of stove-top coffee and enjoying a game of chess.And I learned some stuff that I think is relevant to the folks here on the list.I am going to talk about openings last...He was quite tenacious in all of the games.  There

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-74615357966193047682007-08-07T19:03:00.000-07:002007-08-08T15:54:40.771-07:00

From the woods, canyons and mountains of north-eastern Washington, family and I have returned.  Triumphant.  Or at least our son has.   He nailed a 17" wild rainbow trout with flesh as orange as an Alaskan salmon from that metallic stream up there.So, fishing worked for Josh from time-to-time, and while we don't have a sea worthy boat, nor a mom that can fight off sharks, we do have a Kia Amanti,

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-90024671509939576922007-07-19T15:34:00.000-07:002007-07-19T15:44:33.506-07:00

From Tic Tac Toe, to Connect 4, onto Checkers, Chess then Go. Checkers has fallen. 24 Piece Tablebases have been created, and wired into an unbeatable game.And currently we are of the belief that chess, while not solved, on standard laptop computers are of a strength that may be beyond any human play over the board. It may well never be solved because of storage problems. But it sure doesn't

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-42830987449781309282007-07-17T09:44:00.000-07:002007-07-17T09:52:02.592-07:00

First, do no harm.Tactics training has been taking a time off. While the tactics training and thinking had been working, it was clear that there was a blockage happening for him and me, and sometimes it seems the only way to let the blockage clear is to let your brain rest for a bit.He has just taken his first chess camp of the summer. His instructor was GM Emil Anka. It is actually very rare

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-76854914269543265392007-07-07T13:56:00.000-07:002007-07-07T14:05:43.448-07:00

In what I think was a relatively little noticed match, where the fans put up the money if a GM could beat their favorite engine, Rybka, even with it's arms tied behind its back (the program could only have an opening book 3 moves deep, was always black, had no table bases and only had 1/2 as much time to play as the GM).Granted the GM was sub-2700, and in the bottom half of the top 10 in the US.

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-28551928158355760772007-07-04T08:57:00.001-07:002007-07-04T09:16:01.989-07:00

One of the common tactics happens when the C pawn is put in play. This obviously happens in the Sicilian Defense, but also happens in the Queen's Gambit, The English, Reti Systems, The Caro-Kann, and The Slav. And I am sure a bunch more.The Key to the tactic is to remember that your Queen starts on the same color as your opponents King. And that when the Queen moves diagonally to either the

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-82190041624964847992007-07-03T10:32:00.001-07:002007-07-04T09:14:48.482-07:00

This was a position from what has been reported to be what I think is the first round of the world open. Black to move.This is a high class tactical shot, that led to a direct checkmate of his unwitting opponent! A beautiful, beautiful play.From the Chess Drum Blog...After Bonin’s 1.Rc1-c4, Paragua took a few moments and then started a seven move mating sequence starting with 1…Bh2+!! On 2.Qxh2

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-53807922211317741622007-07-03T09:47:00.001-07:002007-07-03T09:50:59.860-07:00

Well, the folks at blogger have given us this great new feature... Polls. As you can see over there on the sidebar, is the question, how do you do your tactics training? Vote early, vote often. And if you maintain absolute loyalty, maybe we will find a way to commute your sentence.

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-33006331977741199382007-07-02T14:09:00.000-07:002007-07-02T14:13:49.385-07:00

In honor of this very important day... This tom-foolery...

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-84168163667361494532007-07-01T10:02:00.000-07:002007-07-01T10:21:41.475-07:00

At this point we are moving to 1.d4 openings and the positions that are generally available. If I have missed any positions that should have been included earlier, please comment so that I know and correct it.One of the truths about Queen's pawn openings is that they are quieter, more positional, less tactical. As you can see from the diagram, and that should be obvious, is that there is only a

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-49480573292447988882007-06-30T11:11:00.000-07:002007-06-30T11:14:17.647-07:00

Proof that algebraic notation is just too hard for the average guy to understand.

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-80801232128678273112007-06-29T12:15:00.000-07:002007-06-29T12:18:24.354-07:00

A leisure suit on the beach and the truth of youth, intertwined with the future of blogging...  Enjoy.

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-54504795325692513392007-06-28T18:40:00.000-07:002007-06-28T18:56:49.851-07:00

This is in response to an interesting article by Hard Days Knight.I had planned to write a comment on his blog about this, but it became bigger than just a comment, a topic was required.Beware that I am not a trained Game Theorist. Though I play one on the Internet. All conclusions and basis and actual game theory is purely a coincidence. Though I would appreciate any thoughts you might have.

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-59772320832410331932007-06-27T21:48:00.000-07:002007-06-27T23:01:14.527-07:00

I received a letter from the Author of Engaging Pieces. He had an expectation of it being posted, so I am going to make it a full post, and I will answer his questions after the letter. Here goes...June 27, 2007HisBestFriend,I appreciate your purchase of my book, and I appreciate your comments. A number of newspaper columnists (Worcester Telegram, Washington Post) have reviewed Engaging

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-52084378956728372492007-06-27T06:25:00.001-07:002007-06-27T13:30:02.642-07:00

According to this site, you should not be likely able to solve the second of these problems unless you have had a frontal lobotomy.   Of course, I gave it a try.  The first problem took me a little bit of time, probably about 50 seconds or so.  The second one, took about 3 seconds.   Crap, I had been wondering what my wife has been up to at night. I have turned off commenting for a little bit,

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-10595475008638555872007-06-26T08:53:00.000-07:002007-06-27T07:20:35.087-07:00

For the person that has been grabbed by an opening trap, central in the Fried Liver, the Traxler, or the Poisoned Pawn version of the Najdorf, it doesn't matter how good you are, or what your principles are, Some things you know, and some you don't. That is one of the reasons to study openings.In the last World Chess Championship, held in Amsterdam earlier this month, the ultimate game came down

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197931634372460826.post-89392137452999008552007-06-25T19:17:00.000-07:002007-06-25T19:20:02.072-07:00

Bonus...This is what I really worry about when I try to explain stuff to my son.   That I will sound like this.

hisbestfriendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713960560378854865noreply@blogger.com1