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

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

Killer Chess Tips

Here is a link I found interesting.

http://www.chesskillertips.com/

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.

Typical Error

White to move in the above position. I just wanted to share my erroneous thought pattern.

I can see that b4 is attacked by the b1 Rook if I clear the b3 Bishop. I also see that the b3 Bishop is able to give check. A move earlier I realize then that black cannot capture the b4 pawn with the Queen.

Somehow in my convoluted mind this gets twisted into thinking I can capture b4 with my Queen and when recapture Qxb4 I will win the Queen with Bxf7+ .... Rxb4. Failing to realize that I'm in fact giving up a Queen and a Bishop in order to capture only my opponent's Queen. This type of error is one that often finds me on the down side of the tactical equation and I've given up several points from solid "positions" due to tactical blunders like this.

Elimination of them is not so easy as recognizing a pattern of behavior though.
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As diagrammed with Steve Eddin's Chess Diagram from FEN script.

"Of the Year" Awards

I recently found this list on the British / English Chess Federation website. It makes for a nice recommended reading list for those interested in improving at chess. Year end awards are often over done, but its also a nice way to look back and remember just what was going on during each year. Like a little refresher course on modern history, this time with a Chess slant.

Hat-tip to Mig for highlighting the 2006 Book of the year.

Distracted

Sorry I've been distracted.

Hat tip: Blue Devil Knight

Falling Behind

Well, with work and play taking time away from chess I'm falling way behind in my training and blogging. The good news is I'm playing some thrilling games on Time For Chess.

Here's a Free Trial of Chessmaster if your interested. Ubi decided to send me the link in email and I'm gracious enough to pass it on to you LOL.

Anyway I will be posting some game results soon. At least the next episode in St. Patzer vs. Qxh7# will be ready for publication within a few days I'm sure.

The Secret to Grand Mastery

Wear a jacket and tie.

Walter Browne Tactics

Everyone has their favorite Grandmasters, as a youngster mine was Walter Browne. So after seeing Susan Polgar's post about strong American players today, he was the first one that came to mind. Here's some Walter Browne tactics on the web for you to solve.

I also was a big fan of Ilya Gurevich because I played in a tournament in Boston he was also in when I was 12. He has some noteworthy games on the web as well. I remember scouring Chess Life and Chess Horizons looking for his games every month.

New Version of BabasChess client for FICS available

Go download this now if you play chess on FICS. It is simply the best chess client out there plus its free. How great is that. Here's a screeny of my play environment on FICS...

Day 1 complete

So yesterday I did my first official day of MDLM by doing the concentric circles excercise on a real board, with real peices. I went through the whole excercise with all four peices. I think the first thing I realized after doing this is just how much stronger the queen is than the other peices, and how the bishop and rook seem to be more on par with each other than the bishop and knight do. The bishop and rook patterns are really similar.

I played a few more FICS games and continued to win. This time without blunders. Provisional rating after 12 standard time control games is now 1806.

Tonight is Club Night, and I will do the concentric circles excercises again when I get home.

This is interesting: http://enchantedmind.com/puzzles/knights/knight.html

CT Art 3.0 Demo

So tonight I found the CT Art 3.0 Demo and I got 1 step closer to purchasing the Personal Chess Trainer. I found the CT Art program clunky and almost physically painful to use. Waiting for the peice to slide around wasn't much fun, the board was pretty ugly and the interface wasn't really intuitive. Bravo to those of you that managed to do 7 cycles with it. I know your very patient men and women now for sure.

Anyway I will be experimenting more over the next week or so before I buy the software I decide on and start making a serious stab at the Cycles.

PGN Viewer - www.mychess.com

Click to Replay

This PGN viewer requires java, and I think I will have to link to it outside the blog but it will work for now. Click the pic of this position (from a previous post) to go to the game.

Just a note.. the inquisitive reader might discover the websight I was building to commemorate my Scholastic Chess Team when you follow the link to the PGN viewer. Please disregard the site there as its horribly unfinished. It was a grandoise idea but contacting people and finding materials from 10-15 years ago is a difficult task.