Pictures of a Baby Coming Soon

Sorry no posts in a long while. My daughter was born in Late October, (actually she was born the same day the Sox won the World Series!) and things have been hectic since. I don't plan to completely give up posting here though.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season.

More World Series Chess Analogies

MLB.com analyzes World Series Game 1 like a chess game, move by move!

Meanwhile Steve Henson at Yahoo! Sports thought the Rockies could have resigned last night just prior to the three consecutive bases loaded walks.

"It wouldn't have been quitting. It would have been cutting to the chase, recognizing the inevitable, graciously acknowledging a fait accompli. They do it in chess.Set up the pieces for another day."

And the Boston Dirt Dogs call Josh Beckett a "Man of the World" but I like to think of him as the king!

Checkmate!

Hat tip
BDK for the post idea.

Kasparov and Bush Meet in Maine

CBS Pictorial Report

Kasparov has been signing books at Harvard and in D.C. but he took out a bit of time to talk to the President here in Maine about the state of affairs in Russia as well.

Mexico 2007 Championship Wrap Up

Vishy Anand is... THE MASTER


Final Standings
------------------------
Vishy +4
Gelfand & Kramnik +2
Leko =
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Everyone else.

Skipping Ahead -- Or Catching Up or Something

I fell behind the Mexico Championship posts, I guess that's what happens when your a soon-to-be-dad. Ah well, my dreams of being a Chess Journalist probably weren't going to come to fruition anyway. I guess I will just boil down what has happened since.

Anand (8.0) is cruising now though with 4 wins and 0 losses he leads the pack by a full point. Boris Gelfand (7.0) is clear second with 3 wins and 1 loss. Kramnik (6.5) is pulling up third 2 wins, 1 loss. With two rounds to play it would take a suprising result for Anand not to win clear first without tie-breaks.

My pretournament predictions panned out in some respects. Anand is winning, Kramnik coming third because he draws too much so those predictions were pretty spot on. However my 2nd place finisher is in dead last, and the guy I picked for dead last is clear second. I think one of the results of this tournament for me, will be to clear some time to review some of Boris Gelfand's games. He is winning a new found respect from me at least.

Sacrifice or Kamikaze, Strategy or Tactics?

A recent Timeforchess.com game of mine began

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. g3 d6 6. Bg2 c5 7. O-O Na6 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Qd2 Bg7 11. Rd1 Be6 12. d5 Bd7 13. e4 Nc7 14. Nh4 b5 15. cxb5 Nxb5 16. Nxb5 Bxb5 17. Re1 Rb8 18. b3 a5 19. Bf1 Bxf1 20. Rxf1

Qxh7 vs. TimeforChess Opponent

Black to Move

This is a very instructional game to me. The game continues

20. .... a4

21. bxa4 Rb2

22. Qd3 Qa8

23. Rd2 c4

24. Qe2 c3

25. Rc2 Qxa4

26. Rfc1 Rfa8

27. Kg2

Black to Move

And white's game looks hopeless to me. a4 was a subtle dagger that lead to all of this. Granted my knight is misplaced on the edge there at h4, but beyond that it was a very competitive game. Suddenly a quiet little "sacrifice" of blacks isolated a-pawn and my world comes crashing down.

Color me impressed. Its something I will certainly remember. I'm not certain I understand it enough to make use of it in my own games though. Was a4 a tactical manuever, or strategic? I'm not sure. It certainly lead to a windfall strategic position for black. Who would be more impressed by a4, Silman or MDLM?

The game finished

27. Kg2 Qb4 28. Nf3 Ra8xa2 29. Ne1 Kh7 30. f3 Qb3 31. Kh3 e6 32. Qd3 exd5 33. exd5 Qb6 34. f4 Qd4 35. Qf3 Qd2 36. Qg2 Rb2xc2 37. Rc1xc2 Qd1 38. Rc2xa2 Qh5 0-1

I overlooked a simple mate in 1 at the end, mostly because I had been preoccupied with the passed pawn for over a month of real time (thats correspondence chess for you) and when I finally saw a chance to eliminate some of that pressure I just jumped and made a move immediately.

C'est la vie!

Round 8 Pairings - Predictions

At the midway point, Vishy Anand takes a full point from Grischuk to move into clear first. The surprise in the standings has to be Gelfand (who I had pre-tournament picked for last) in second spot. Kramnik coasting where I predicted in 3rd taking draws in what at least to this patzer seem like winnings chances games.

Viswanathan prepares to take Mr. Grischuk to task

Both of my pretournament "darkhorses", players whom I hoped would make a run at this thing are playing fairly poorly in my mind. Svidler and Aronian need to make serious strides to get back into this thing. Despite Moro's early round win, he and Grischuk still look like the place to try and take full points. Leko looks like he could potentially make a run to the near top of the standings with a few good games down the stretch.

Round 8 Pairings
Peter Svidler vs. Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian vs. Alexander Morozevich
Boris Gelfand vs. Viswanathan Anand
Peter Leko vs. Alexander Grischuk

Qxh7# Predicted Round 8 Winners
Kramnik

Actual Round 8 Winners
?

Watch Live 8th Round Action, Friday at 3PM ET

US Chess League

What in tarnation is going on with the USCL. What has the makings of a decent way to promote chess here in the U.S. is becoming more a soap opera than a sporting event. Like the NY Post back pages, articles and comments are popping up all over the place filled with scandal and childish behavoir.

What happened to Chess being a gentleman's game? Why the poor sportsmanship and the nastiness surrounding this league? Can't you guys just play the games and promote chess without the bickering?

GROW UP

Round 7 Pairings - Predictions

Who would have predicted Gelfand tied first after 6 games?

Boris Gelfand is the man. He is having an amazing tournament. I had totally undersold this gentleman. Meanwhile I'm predicting Leko will win today because Moro is getting torched. Svidler and Aronian my two "darkhorses" play each other today, lets see if at least one of them picks up the pace by winning!

After todays round we are half done so it will be a good opportunity to review the crosstable and see how things are stacking up.

Also thanks to Mig for pointing out that the pairings on the www.Chessmexico.com were reversed for round 6 and 7. He also notes they look messed up for the second half of the tournament. I will be sure to check closely when I make a post next time. For now I have corrected yesterdays post.

Round 7 Pairings
Peter Svidler vs. Levon Aronian
Vladimir Kramnik vs. Boris Gelfand
Alexander Morozevich vs. Peter Leko
Viswanathan Anand vs. Alexander Grischuk

Qxh7# Predicted Round 7 Winners
Leko

Actual Round 7 Winners
Anand

Watch Live Round 7 Action at 3 PM ET Thursday

Round 6 Pairings - Predictions

Round 5 is in the books as the bloodiest clash yet. Anand, Gelfand and Grischuk all winning with the white peices. Gelfand and Grischuk are really acquitting themselves well in this tournament. I thought they would be "targets" and then today they step up and take full points for themselves. The only players with 2 losses so far are the players I picked as dark horses for the actual title, Aronian and Svidler.

Still one part of my early predictions is coming to fruition. Kramnik is making too many draws to win, in my opinion. Yesterday he allowed a draw as black that I gaurantee is played much further in your average weekend swiss.


Would you offer a draw after 24. ... Bxe3?

Doing a simple "Silman Imbalance Check" on this position I thought.
Black has more space, better pawns (white has two sets of double pawns to blacks 0), black controls the open D-file and after 25. Qxe3 Rd3; OR 25. Rxe3 Rd7, is ready to begin doubling on the file and penetrating the 7th rank and attacking those "weak" white pawns.

I guess that's why he is world champ and I'm not though.


Round 6 Pairings
Alexander Grischuk vs. Peter Svidler
Peter Leko vs. Viswanathan Anand
Boris Gelfand vs. Alexander Morozevich
Levon Aronian vs. Vladimir Kramnik

Qxh7# Predicted Round 6 Winners
Anand

Actual Round 6 Winners
Gelfand

Watch Round 6 Live Tuesday at 3PM ET

Round 5 Pairings - Predictions

Not much time available for me atm to comment on Sunday's games. But Aronian was the only winner and has pulled in closer to the lead!!

Round 5 Pairings
Viswanathan Anand vs. Peter Svidler
Alexander Grischuk vs. Alexander Morozevich
Peter Leko vs. Vladimir Kramnik
Boris Gelfand vs. Levon Aronian


Qxh7 Predicted Round 5 Winners
Moro

Actual Winners
Anand
Gelfand
Grischuk

Watch Live at 3pm ET

Round 4 Pairings - Predictions

More fighting chess today despite the 3 draws. The shortest game actually ended on a repitition which is a valid part of chess in my opinion because both sides believe their best possible move is the repeating pattern. Moro beat Svidler, but in my amateur opinion he could have fought on a bit more. He did have substantial pressure against the white monarch. I gather that Svidler thought Rg1 solidified enough that the passer would overwhelm him.

Anand vs. Kramnik was fought to a truly drawn position, but I thought Kramnik was going to win until 59. ... Rc1. Can't he simply keep moving the King over till he gaurds the a-pawn and win?


Call me a dumbass, but doesn't 59. ... Kc2 Win here?

Leko vs. Gelfand was a mammoth 100 mover. Much more spirited chess than the opening round. Good show.

Neither of my predicted winners came through. So far my prediction of Aronian and Svidler being top half of the final standings doesn't seem to be lining up. Still I think it will finish

Anand
Aronian
Kramnik
Svidler

But I'm impressed with the performance of all the players so far, especially Moro with his win today.
Round 4 Pairings
Peter Svidler vs. Boris Gelfand
Levon Aronian vs. Peter Leko
Vladimir Kramnik vs. Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Morozevich vs. Viswanathan Anand

Qxh7 Predicted Round 4 Winners
Anand
Kramnik

Actual Winners
Aronian


http://partidas.chessmexico.com/

Round 3 Pairings - Predictions

Well, round two had much harder fought battles with the exception of Gelfand vs. Grischuk. At move 23 I thought Aronian had a win against Anand, but not only did Vishy ward off the white attack he capitalized on it and pulled out the full point. Kramnik did in fact win with white over Moro as I had predicted. The final game worthy of comment Svidler vs. Leko ended in a hard fought draw, even still with queens on the board and a Pawn advantage (2 if you could Leko's doubles as 1) I would have though Svidler would push for the full point.



I thought Levon was a winner after 23. f4

Round 3 Pairings
Alexander Morozevich vs. Peter Svidler
Viswanathan Anand vs. Vladimir Kramnik
Alexander Grischuk vs. Levon Aronian
Peter Leko vs. Boris Gelfand

Qxh7# Predicted Winners
Aronian
Leko

Actual Round 3 winners
Moro

http://partidas.chessmexico.com/

Round Two Pairings - Predictions

Wow -- I wanted to make a table and everything like I did yesterday but its far too cumbersome with this blasted Blogger editor crap. So I will just make predictions each day on games I see a winner in.

Yesterdays games all ended in draws, many with still much play on the board. I hope that some of the players push the action for actual results soon. It is the highest level of play for the title of World Champ, so I guess you can't fault people for not wanting to take a risk on positions they may evaluate as +0.13 pawns or ==+ or what have you. Still 23 move draws with both Queens and several minors still on the board isn't exactly "fighting" chess.


Not Exactly Fighting Chess


Round 2 Pairings
Peter Svidler vs. Peter Leko
Boris Gelfand vs. Alexander Grischuk
Levon Aronian vs. Viswanathan Anand
Vladimir Kramnik vs. Alexander Morozevich

Qxh7# Predicted Winners
Kramnik

Actual Winners
Anand
Kramnik


Watch Live Beginning 3pm ET

Round One Pairings - Predictions

Round 1 on Sept 13th 2007 at 14:00

White	Black	Pred Result	Actual Result
GM Kramnik Vladimir	GM Svidler Peter	1/2	1/2
GM Morozevich Alexander	GM Aronian Levon	0-1	1/2
GM Anand Viswanathan	GM Gelfand Boris	1-0	1/2
GM Grischuk Alexander	GM Leko Peter	1/2	1/2

WATCH LIVE NOW 3:37 PM ET

To beat a machine

White to move

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.
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This is a position from a game I played on my lunch hour against a Java applet on the igoogle.com site. I will post the game score to the best of my memory.













This browser is not Java-enabled.


I won the endgame and scored a very infrequent for me at least, win versus the machine.

I wanted to check my accuracy -- Crafty says the following line is +2.19 pawns for white, and the best variation at depth 15.
17. Bxf6 Nxb3 18. Rxg7+ Kf8 19. Rxh7 Ke8 20. Rxd6 Qxd6 21. Rh8+ Qf8 22. Rxf8+ Kxf8 23. Bxd8

23. Bxd8 I had missed when I played axb3 and still won.

If this is what it takes

To get my daughter to play chess, I can deal with it.

Countdown to a World Championship

Click to Visit Official Site

Ipod Sharing introduces me to "CHESS"

Link to the history of the label.

Where to buy the exact music I am listening to right now! Sweet.

Hip Hop Chess Strikes Back Pt II

Mig's Blog Post brings up the subject again. I still dislike hiphop -- but I'm down with Hip Hop Chess. I hope the OG's become OGM's instead anyway!

My Previous Post

Mexico Preview

Vishy Anand (2792)
Age: 37
From: Madras, India
Career Highlight: 1987 World Junior Champion, #1 Rating List April 2007
Prediction: If there ever was going to be a time for him to win it all, its now. He has had strong performances for the last year. Winning would cement him in Chess history, he has been one of the three best players of the last 2 decades.



Vladimir Kramnik (2769)
Age: 32
From: Tuapse, Russia
Career Highlight: Winning 2000 match against Garry Kasparov, Winning 2007 FIDE Championship match vs. Topolov
Prediction: Match play is more Kramnik's style in my opinion. Where he can study one players strengths and weaknesses and capitolize on them. He should be near the top, but I don't think he wins.

Alexander Morozevich (2758)
Age: 30
From: Moscow, Russia
Career Highlight: 4th Place 2005 World Championship
Prediction: Middle of the pack, his natural talent makes him better than Gelfand, and Grischuk, but he seems to lose energy in big events and can't compete with the top candidates.







Peter Leko (2751)
Age: 27
From: Subotica, Yugoslavia
Career Highlight: 2002 Dortmund win, to challenge Vlad for World Classic Chess title
Prediction: I see Leko making too many draws to win. He will be middle of the pack.







Levon Aronian (2750)
Age: 24
From: Yerevan, Armenia
Career Highlight: 2002 World Junior Champ, 2006 Linares win, 2007 Corus win
Prediction: I expect the match to come down to Anand, Kramnik and Aronian. This guy is a rising star! His youth and energy may pay off in the taxing event.





Peter Svidler (2735)
Age: 31
From: Leningrad, Russia
Career Highlight: 4 Time Russian Champion
Prediction: My darkhorse candidate, if he plays his best game will be in the running.





Boris Gelfand (2733)
Age: 39
From: Minsk, Belarus - now Isreal
Career Highlight: 1988 T- 1st World Junior Championship
Prediction: A strong GM, I just don't see Gelfand as being competitive with the rest of this crowd. I expect him to finish at the bottom of the list.







Alexander Grischuk (2726)
Age: 23
From: Moscow, Russia
Career Highlight: 2006 World Blitz Champion
Prediction: Bottom Middle of the Pack, losing points to Vishy, Vlad, Aronian, possible wins against Gelfand and Moro.

Chess Teacher

Take some Lessons from the new addition to my sidebar. I'm glad I found the Chess Teacher, he has a nice blog.

10 years later, what did Kasparov vs. Deep Blue mean?

I found this Article interesting. Exploring the similarities and differences between the "silicon" machine and the "protien" machine and how it makes complex decisions based on precalculated odds, and its own search patterns.

The fact is that the search space for chess is too big for even Deep Blue to explore exhaustively in real time, so like Kasparov, it prunes its search trees by taking calculated risks, and like Kasparov, it often gets these risks precalculated. Both the man and the computer presumably do massive amounts of "brute force" computation on their very different architectures.

Hat tip to Slashdot Games

History of Qxh7#

BDK -- I really don't like to call him that, it reminds me of serial killers or presidential assassins for some reason -- has an interesting post up about getting/deserving/cultivating readership for your blog. It got me to thinking about this blog. Do I have a readership? Do I deserve one? What is the purpose of this blog? In an attempt to answer all this and more I thought about what I've done here in a little over 2 years time.

• Chess Web Site - Round 1

My first attempt at a blog, before I found blogger, was a self maintained CSS website dedicated to my high school chess team. This was to try and create a history of something I found important in my life, and I am sure the other members of the Monmouth Academy Chess team did too. I also wanted to recognize the positive role-model Walter Law, my chess coach was for me. However, I quickly found that the material just wasn't readily available to make an interesting site, and those static 1 page web sites with no evolving content are extremely boring.

• Chess Blog - Round 2

Later I found blogger. I was playing regularly and trying to improve my play, and thought, if I post analysis of my own games, maybe I can get some feedback here and it will help me improve. This was a great thought, its the follow through that lacks. Unfortunately playing, analysing and posting games is alot of work. Even when its fun it grinds up alot of time.

• Chess Blog - Round 3

Beyond just chess, I am also an IT professional. When I got bored with blogging my games, I found an interest in modifying my Blog layout. Adding widgets, changing the template. Minor stuff really but I enjoyed making a unique look and feel for this blog.

• Chess Blog - Round 4

Recently this blog has been about me keeping an interest in chess. Making chess a part of my life. I like to post bits of information I find, interesting links, a game here and there.

I don't really put effort in to cultivate a readership. I doubt many people find my posts awefully useful. People do hit the site. I occassionally visit sitemeter and check the referals, and the active pages. I find it interesting that people from all over the world come here. I would like to offer content that people found funny, provocative or interesting, but in the long run I think the blog is more about keeping me interested in Chess, than getting people interest in my blog. I would certainly rate most of the blogs on my sidebar as much higher quality than this one. But I appreciate when people pop in and comment on my posts and say hi. Hopefully you find something here at least occassionally to keep you coming back.

Long Overdue Sidebar Cleanup

Some of the old standby's had to be removed from the active list, sorry Celtic Death, and so long Chess For Blood. In good news though, Druss, Dutch Defense and Montse moved back up to active.

Also new addition Chess IQ.

Killer Chess Tips

Here is a link I found interesting.

http://www.chesskillertips.com/

Thought Process Needs Work

In this position I made the obvious 2 Exclam !! winning move...



1. Nd5!! ... and white wins right?

WRONG

I overlooked the only refutation.. 1. ... Qxd4+ !!

Which makes 1. Nd5?

The thing that really burns me though is how obvious the refutation move is. I SHOULD have seen it because it involves giving check. In 4th grade my chess coach always taught us, before you make ANY move ensure your opponent cannot give check, mate or have any other threats, but specifically check.

/sigh

Va Tech Chess

Boylston Chess Club just posted this letter

Dear BCC members and chess enthusiasts,

The Chess Club of Virginia Tech kindly requests your support and participation in its October 13 and 14 tournament commemorating the 32 lives lost and 25 injured persons in the April 16 massacre. To our knowledge, this will be the first sporting-type event to be held with all proceeds going to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund. Your contributions are welcome in any form:

- chess sets and clocks to accommodate new players
- lectures and exhibitions from talented players
- corporate sponsorship
- donated items for a possible silent auction

The entire student center is reserved for the occasion, including an 88 seat lecture hall. Local hotels and restaurants are discounting rates for participants. Media attention will be strong so this is a great chance to promote your organization.

Most of all, we want you there as a chess player. Details for players will be forthcoming from the USCF and the Virginia Chess Federation.

To become involved, please contact Chuck Ronco, hokiechem -at- yahoo.com, or respond here and I'll answer what I can.

Respectfully yours,
Brian Salomon

I don't get nearly the traffic but I wanted to pass it along as well.

See Also:
VA Tech Chess Hero
BCC Article

Pin Power

One of the tactical motifs you see all the time while doing Chess problems is the pin. In this position from one of my recent timeforchess.com games I found pins very effective. I haven't analyzed the game with a computer but the game played out demonstrating the power of pins even if its not 100% tactically accurate.



31. Ne4
Exploits the pin of black's knight to his king, and the pin of the f5 pawn to the knight, and even more obscurely threatens to pin the knight to black's Queen on f1 . This puts whites knight en prise but it cannot be captured.
31. ... Bd8
Protecting the Knight.
32. g4
Leaving the Knight en prise but still pressuring the pin of black's knight.
32. ... Qf7
33. Ng5 Qb7
34. Rc6 h6
35. Ne6 Kf7
36. Nxd8 Rxd8
37. Qxf6 1-0

Its important to note that black's king position and the open center of the board contribute to the power of the pins.

I'm not at all sure I even see 31. Ne4 a year and a half ago as a "candidate" move. I believe I would have instantly ruled it out as a losing move and looked for a more quiet move to solidify my position. I think this is where doing circles and studying tactical problems can help you. I recognized the pattern of the knight pinned on the diagnol to the king and pawn also pinned to the same knight on the file by the rook. It reminded me of a position I spent time on from 1001 Combinations. It wasn't the same position but it was close enough that it caused me to not abandon the 31. Ne4 candidate almost out of hand like I would have previously.

Not Everyday

Do I beat a computer. Even bad computers usually beat me. So I proudly present this screenshot, I dubbed "I_win_no_takebacks" .. sorry I dont have the full score, but notice I pushed the computer all the way to the ropes once I had the advantage.

in case your Tivo was on the Fritz

Here is the Assignment America Story

Turns out they were younger than teens. Still was a nice story.

Set your Tivo

Tonight on CBS Evening News, Katie Couric is supposed to do an expose on teens playing championship chess.

Still Searching

For Bobby Fischer?

Candidates Moving On!

The first round at the candidates is over and boy wonder Magnus Carlsen has been ousted by Levon Aronian who isn't exactly an old man himself! Their match was certainly the center of attention in the first go, and rightly so. Exciting chess from exciting players. It went the full distance even in the rapid tie-break games.

Meanwhile, I almost fell over backward when Shirov came back on Mickey Adams. I figured Alexei would roll over and play dead for sure. Seems I was wrong.

As for the only American entry, I am pulling for Gata, since he seems to be fully out of his dad's shadow these days. He looked strong in his quick dispatching of Ettiene Bacrot who looked like he would much rather be playing poker.

Finally, I think the toll of having children and being a Mom is catching up with Judit Polgar. She hasn't looked quite as strong as other top caliber players since the championship tournament in San Luis.

Candidates Finals Pairings
Levon Aronian 2759
Alexei Shirov 2699

Peter Leko 2738
Evgeny Bareev 2635

Sergei Rublevsky 2680
Alexander Grischuk 2717

Boris Gelfand 2733
Gata Kamsky 2705

CTS Problem of the Day from Google

I've had the CTS applet on my iGoogle homepage for a while now. Just sign into Google, click iGoogle, and Create a Tab called "Chess". Let it autopopulate with cool chess tidbits.

Its an easy way to add 3 chess problems to your daily activities. So I thought I would tell everyone else about it, in case they didn't know and show you a sample problem. And iGoogle is also an easy way to keep up with your favorite blogs.

Still Too Early for Lessons You Think?

VA Tech Chess Player is Hero

I don't want to comment to heavily on the VA Tech Shootings. I am disgusted by just about everything to do with it, from the acts of violence themselves, to the political and media reactions.

I do want to recognize the USCF's handling of Derek O'Dell's heroism; it was an admirable move on their part. Way to go!

Washington Times Article

Little Chess Lately

Very little chess for me lately to post about. I did play a 3 game set with a challenger from the "Play the Blogger" thread. He won 2 games to 1. I was going to post the games and some analysis but unfortunately I never got around to it. News on the homefront is I am very busy with work, and I recently found out that my wife and I will have a slightly larger family by the end of the year.

Busy busy.

Patriots sign Pro-bowler, Chess Philanthropist

He's a Renaissance man who puts his money and his off-day activities into making the world better. He started a chess competition for inner-city kids in Baltimore. He's worked for Habitat for Humanity.

SI.com Article by Peter King

Maine Chessplayer of the Year

Congrats to Leroy Doucette. Chessmaine.net details the accomplishment.

I will update the Maine Chess Champions list to include this accomplishment!

Maine Chessplayer of the Year is driven primarily by participation and it shows alot of dedication to win the award. Most of the tournaments you need to attend to qualify are in the winter when driving conditions in this state are terrible. You have to really love the game to come out and play in these events. Kudo's to you Leroy.

More Wedding Pictures

Just in case Edukator's wife missed the Chessbase article, I thought she might like to see more of the previously mentioned wedding pictures.

Chessbase Link

Fire on Board? More like "Fired, I'm Bored"

The most amazing news to me out of Corus Wijk an Zee was the performance *cough* of Alexei Shirov. He managed just 1 win and 7 draws to go along with 5 losses, after entering as the 4th seed. Formerly one of the biggest attractions in the game he is probably the most rapidly decending star of the moment, followed closely by Judit Polgar who at least has the excuse of child bearing to stand on.

Alexei was as recently as 2 years ago the most exciting chess player in the world to watch. Every game was a tirade. What's going on with him now?




---- ok last post today, sorry I had alot of topics I wanted to catch up on.

Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?

Or Garry Kasparov for that matter.

So the undisputed in all but title World #1 Chess Man of the Millenia "retires" ... the chess world is primed to actually be able to re-unite the World Champion title. Everything is going to go so much more swimmingly from now on. We have the PCA and everything now, the internet so world wide fans can follow the world wide game etc etc... and what to we get.

Toilet Gate.
Computer Assisted Cheating.
Accusations of "Non-Verbal Communication" between Player and manager.
Nigel Short... dude seriously, your ugly and the chicks don't dig you.

Please come back Garry. Make this a gentleman's game again. I mean it was so much better when we were only worried about whether the KGB was fixing the championship. This stuff is just too retarded to care about.

link to news: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3635

Welcome to "EduKator" or is it "Recess-Bully"

http://recess-bully.blogspot.com/

I will put you on my sidebar. You have an interesting twist on the Chess Blog thing. There's quite a bit of talk about putting Chess in Schools, I will be interested to hear what you think about the idea from the slant of a chess playing Educator versus the Chess Player who thinks education is key.

Wonder if She Knows

What he was doing all that time in the bathroom in Elista?

Link to article on Chessbase.. http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3628

Think Tactics Training Might Help Me?

Its black (me) to move....


So naturally I play 15 .. Nb4
And we end up with... TADA.. Mate in 1.



Carry on!

Happy New Years

I'm sure that my rating will be flatlined for another 365 days. However, hopefully this year I will be able to provide everyone with at least a few witty comments or interesting posts. Best to everyone.