Jaque mate

Yeah- sometimes it's like that:

Jaque mate by InpuUpUaut

Dark and morbid: yes.
Brutal yet satisfying: indeed!

Remember folks:

Castle early and castle often!

Chess players are people, too

Huh. Who knew a post about making FICS friends would give me reason to introspect and reflect.

Tom popped by to share his FICS handle and since I didn't recognize him (I now recall seeing him over at LEP) I popped over to his blog to have a look. Rather than chess, I was surprised to see a Christian blog.

I've had a tendency to skirt most personal details except as they relate to chess, directly and indirectly, on my blog, and then here I was saying to myself, "Woah...he's a Christian, and pretty devout as well (a Deacon, even!)...wonder if I should add him or not?"

I'm an Atheist.

I'm not gonna be burning any Bibles (I have two, actually, not counting my daughter's from her Christening), removing kids from devout parents (although I do agree with the sentiment that Richard Dawkins expressed that indoctrination is a form of child abuse) nor will I be waging war on xmas (well...not much- it has roots in pagan traditions pre-dating Christianity and blends with them, but don't quote me- I'm not the expert) or saying things like Satan Bless You when you sneeze (okay...maybe once in awhile :P).

I consider myself very open-minded and considerate of others views, no matter what I think of the views and beliefs themselves. I will challenge them in the appropriate venue (one forum I frequent and play games at has had several recent invigorating discussions of religion and morality with advocates of many creeds and religions and a good sense of camraderie). It shocked me that I would hesitate to add someone to a friend list based on their religon. I'm the minority at my workplace, by gender, race and religon (I'm not out at work), and here I was getting all xenophobic!

I wondered if I'd add Tom to a non-chess section of my blogroll that I've been contemplating (despite saying in the past that I wouldn't have a non-chess section), and how I'd respond if he hit me up for a game on FICS.

And really, there's nothing I should do but add Tom to my lists. Some people like me, some people don't. I can't change that and don't expect them to change my opinions of them. But at no point should I exclude people because of our differences...I'll be awfully lonely in short order if I do, and I'll be missing these opportunities to challenge my spirit of acceptance and openness.

Who plays at FICS?

Reading a week old post at liquid egg product, I saw a number of bloggers dabbling at FICS. Doubting anyone would see a comment there, I'm advertising here.

I'm gorckat on FICS (and just about everywhere else online :P), so feel free to hit me up sometime. I'm gonna add anyone whose handle was in the comments at lep to my friends/notify lists. You'll be my very first ones...it's like first grade all over again!

Using the Examine options it'd be possible to get all jiggy with study sessions and stuff, as well.

First sighting of a chess dad

I went 0-4 last night. Clearly the lack of PCT practice has hurt my danger sense. I walked right into a basic knight fork of rook and king, among other silly errors, but still had a great time. I got there early enough to play couple blitz games against a guy who beat me last time, sort of meet the former club president and champion, who once beat Fischer in a simul, and enjoyed the all male commentary and critique of top chess woman with big boobs (sorry Polly!)

My round two opponent was the son of the soon to be mentioned chess dad. By name and accent, I'm guessing they are from Eastern Europe or Russia. The son is about 12 or so (I really suck at judging ages- if i were every a carnie at one of those age guessing games, the age window would have to +/- 10 years or I'd be out of prizes in an hour) and handled me. Even though it was G/15, he got up a few times and walked around the room to glance at everyone's games.

Round three was his father. I had a tight, cramped position as white with a Bishop bound up playing super pawn on the queenside to prevent a rook intrusion. He brought his king out, since his kingside pawns had advanced, the center was open and there'd been a tit-for-tat on the queenside, and I was able to exploit a pin on his pawn to manuever my previously hopeless knight in the center to the rim with a few threats to his bishops, and was able to take a Bishop and get a rook deep in the center.

Unfortunately, I wasted a minute deciding that he did indeed have one more defender of a central pawn than I had attackers and ended up losing to a bank rank mate with less than 10 seconds left. I was hesitant to trade down to a minor piece ending, but I think I should have.

At the end of the night, the son was playing the last game, got in time trouble and flagged, although his opponent missed a skewer to win the queen and win by force. then the fireworks happened. The father jumped up his kid's ass like nothing I'd seen. The tourney I took my daughter too had a few school teams and one or two lone parents, and it was all touchy feely, give it your best kind of stuff.

I don't recall the boy walking around that game, but he may have early, and they disagreed over how much time was left at some stage. Everyone was like, "Dude- chill. Its a game", but he was hung up on how his kid was a spoiled American brat and plays the game of chess, not the sport.

I hope to crush the father if we play again. I had him, but couldn't close the deal. Not that he'd go easier on the kid. He'd probably vent any frustration on him.

Local Chess Clubs

I added another link section dedicated to local clubs. Its a little rickety since the Fells Point Chess Club doesn't have a website and a fourth club's website (Loch Raven Chess Club) seems to always be down to bandwidth issues.

Both have additional info at the Maryland Chess Association's Club Directory. Fells Point is particularly active, with one or more events every weekend. I'm heading back to the Catonsville Club tonight for some G15 action. I figured out the delay settings on my clock, so no clocking out while up a knight :P

I kept the listings to clubs in the Baltimore Metro area since I consider myself a "local blogger". There's a half dozen or more clubs in neighboring counties, and their listings are also at the MCA site.

Moody

I've strayed from the chess path the last few weeks. My desktop hasn't been able to get online since Xmas. My daughter has been generous with her new laptop so I've been able to keep up with things that way. I still haven't ported PCT over to the laptop (until I get a wireless modem, her laptop goes online in place of the desktop- too much hassle to switch back and forth), however, so I've been rusty there.

One of our dogs, an 18-year old Shih-Tzu, had been deteriorating since Xmas and passed over the weekend, so I'm even more apathetic towards chess. I'm trying to be the strong one for my wife and I know in a month I'll breakdown, but I need to get her through the next week or so.

I've played a few games out of Logical Chess when I had time over the last few weeks, but I haven't played so I'm not sure what I got out of them.

I was looking at the Polgar brick last night...it was a mate in two with two rooks and two knights versus a pawn. I was like, "Who gives a shit if its mate in two? With delay I can mate with the rooks no problem!"

I'm also struggling at my job, low income energy assistance...I'm sick of everyone else's problems, that every person coming in is a crisis and needs dealing with right away and gets bumped in front of the 1000 people who mailed their stuff in months ago to avoid crisis, that I haven't gotten a raise in 2.5 years and my income is the same as it was seven years ago even the moves I've made were supposed to be the next step up, that (as the Operations guy) I have to fucking do and fix everything, that the intake and data entry people stop for lunch at 12 on the dot leaving me to finish intake for people allowed to sign in until 12! Blah.

The only thing I've kept up on is my IECG games. I'm about to come out or just came out of book in most of them, so things should get spicey.

I haven't surfed chess blogs in awhile, and looking at the list of blogs here, I'm thinking I might feel better doing so.

And screw this damn post preview crap! There is no more- its all right there!

Tournament Etiquette

I did a quick google to answere a few lingering questions I had and learned a few things in the process:

-I had no idea its not required to say 'Check'. Seems to me the proper thing to do is say it, but I guess not. That'll be news to my best friend who about bit my head of a few years back in a casual game!
-It is the opponent's responsibility to point out a flag fall- I resigned the game my time ran out (I had thought this the case, but it seems to be in my interest ot not point it out in the future)

The one thing I didn't find a clear answer to is what to do when my opponent doesn't push the clock?

In the game I resigned on time, there were several times my opponent didn't push the clock. He was not a beginner, which I have seen it advised to remind the opponent to push their clock. In a couple cases, I hadn't realized he didn't push it until I went to hit the button and discovered a free move. (Too bad I didn't make better use of the time!)

But in two instances, iirc, I noticed, pondered a bit and made my move anyway. I didn't wan to sit there and stew over propriety.

What's the correct response?

Finally played real chess!

With real people! I played in the Catonsville Chess Club Friday Knight, a 5 round Swiss G/15 and went +1 -4.

One game, agaisnt the Danish Gambit Accepted I scrapped out to what could have been a win, but I haven't yet figured out how to program the delay on my clock, so instead of 12 minutes with a 3 second delay, I clocked out after 15 minutes.

My win cames against the Caro-Kan. c6 was abandoned by the black pawns, the center was blocked and I sent my c3 knight on a journey to get to the outpost, which would be created after a series of exchanges locked a pawn on d5 with c4 backup. I wish we'd recorded moves, because I think it was a really good idea. It was either really deep or really flaky.

I ended up dropping a knight on the kingside as my opponent mounted an offensive, and I ended up with a pinned Bishop and shaky foundations on the kingside. We traded rooks and each had about 3 minutes left. We both slowed down because I could feel things were on a tightrope for both of us. I got my chance and offered to take the Queens of the board, which would have left it possible to ecxhange down to a Bishop ending that I though I might be able to draw.

When he declined the Queen offer, I snatched his forgotten a8 rook with check and things spun rapidly. I think he lost his cool because pieces and pawns flew off the board until I was down to ~10 seconds (with delay, thankfully!), a Bishop and Rook and his king streaking (the naked kind) across the board.

I snatched a few pawns before month old stale tactics lessons took over and I made a half dozen moves on automatic and lined up my king, a pawn and the bishop and the rook slid over- checkmate on the h-file and adrenaline surging!

All in all, a great time. I have to go back with my camera because one guy has some awesome chess tatoots which would make a great post.

If thou must love chess

If thou must love me

IF thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
"I love her for her smile- her look- her way
Of speaking gently,- for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day"-
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,- and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,-
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(From Sonnets from the Portuguese)

That's number 14, iirc. My wife and I chose it for our wedding invitation; I'd written her an awesome letter with this sonnet in it during our courtship. My comment on Chessaholic's latest post and his mention of recent chess burnouts made me think of it, just now.

Look at how our chess knowledge grows and changes over time...if at any point we become convicted that we know chess and that chess only exists as we see it right now...poof! Her smile changes, she makes us think something we didn't before and if you can't go with her, forget it- you get burned in the fiery hell that is Qxf7#. Which really sucks.

For those who are burned out, sometimes you have to let it go to get it back. Remember what drew you in, accept her changes and love her as she is now.

And as she will be.



(Goodness, I think I have a new mistress...my wife is gonna be pissed!)

Pig on fire

Here's a postition that blows me away. It has a sort of purity to it...the idea is right there, perfectly demonstrated. Its pretty.



At the risk of parroting Chernev 1. Rxe7 crushes black. The game went: 1. ... Qxe7 2. Qf3 Kg7 3. Nce4 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Qe6 5. Bxf6+ Kg8 6. Qf4 1-0

After playing it through, I also spent a lot of time looking at the board before 3. Nce4...I smiled at how, despite being covered by a pawn, queen and knight, it was so vulnerable an invasion point for black. The pinned knight, the king pulled like a moth to flame on g7...awesome.

And horrific as it sounds, given Yasser Seirawan's affection for calling rooks pigs (at least when paired on the seventh rank!), I have to equate the rook blowing up the bishop on e7 to the ancient practice of covering a pig in tar or pitch or whatever, lighting it up and sending it squealing and flaming into the enemy ranks, causing confusion and horror!

(My original title got lost in a browser reload, but I now have to tag any rook sacrifice with Pig on fire :P)