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