Who says there's no chess on television?

Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Sunday January 9th at 9 pm EST:

CAN GOREN CHECKMATE MURDEROUS CHESS GRANDMASTER? -- Detective Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) matches wits and moves with a paranoid but murderous chess grandmaster (as David Blum, guest star Robert Carradine) after a newly engaged woman is found slain and tossed in a garbage bin -- but Goren believes the killing might be a case of mistaken identity and finds links to a wealthy family and a pimp. Edging closer, Goren and Detective Eames (Kathryn Erbe) study the passenger manifest on the victim's recent flight and they discover the curious zig-zag path of one disturbed man who is later discovered to be a famous chess prodigy-turned-fugitive now intent on blackmailing his family for money. Jamey Sheridan and Courtney B. Vance also star. TV-14

Get those TiVo's programmed.

Playing for your meal

An excerpt from the Humor Columns' "What's for Dinner? or the Texas-Death Chess Match":

The decision of what to have for dinner combines the strategy of chess with the brute force of burnt eggs.

Melissa: What do you want? I don't care at all; I'll fix whatever you'd like.
This is her opening gambit. It never varies.

Me: Pork chops? Steak? Chicken? Fish? I don't care; whatever you want.
The Russian-Supper counter-gambit.

Melissa: Nope! No! Ugh uh! Ain't happenin' today?
In to the fray, let the battle begin.
Move, counter move, the discussion method leads nowhere, so we carry the skirmish to the grocery and tire store.

Melissa: What about fried shrimp?
The offer of a prawn....

Chess City of the Year

Perhaps Lindsborg, Kansas is destined to become the Beersheba of the Midwest...

Like countless other small towns across the Midwest, Lindsborg, which has a population of 3,500, is struggling to survive as rural life becomes more difficult and people move to cities or suburbs. Until a few years ago, it relied on its niche as Little Sweden, a place where tourists could buy Swedish crafts and eat pancakes with lingonberry sauce.

Swedish flags are still visible around town, but now the banners along Main Street say, "Welcome Anatoly Karpov School of Chess."

Read "In One Kansas Town, the End of the Year Game Is Chess" from the New York Times.

An ode to the Pawn

Most people call this chess piece a 'pawn', although the word 'peon' can be used interchangeably.

It's interesting that the peon is the only piece on the board that is capable of being promoted into something more powerful.

From Chain of Command - The benefits of being a Peon!

Tipping Point

The Knights Errant de la Maza have grown to the point where I have now given them their own section in the sidebar. Chess aside, Don and Sancho's gang already make an interesting case study in the growth and development of blog-based communities. I'm happy they've invited me in as a "house" reporter (and I don't even have to spend two hours a day doing tactical exercises, though I suppose it wouldn't hurt my game if I did).

Check out the group's newest member - General Kaia. As for the Orange Knight, the sniffle watch continues.

See also "The Four Musketeers".

Chess and Music

From Blather Review's analysis of the lyrics of the Beach Boys' "Surf's Up":

A diamond necklace played the pawn

Firstly, I think of a chess pawn: the player of least value; the one that's most easily sacrificed for the good of the whole. Then, there's the diamond necklace; presumably a thing of great value. The most becomes the least in this 'play'.

This reminds me a bit of literary analysis from college, e.g., what was the author trying to get across with his multiple uses of the color red? Does anyone know of other songs with chess-related references?

Goethe on innovation

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Hat Tip: Jereve

A clever man commits no minor blunders. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Hat Tip: Quotes from Kan

Come play in the January Monday Night Swiss

In last month's MNS, Chikwere Onyekwere [2075] and Kevin Croxen [1846] tied for 1st place.

We need more players for the January Monday Night Swiss. Come try your luck against the 7 player field - it's not too late to enter with a bye and be competitive. Charles and Osamu drew in the first round and Osamu has taken byes for rounds 3 and 4, so anything can happen.

Riordan, Charles 2284
Katsuhara, Osamu 2070
De Koekkoek, Trevor 1991
Croxen, Kevin 1846
Lee, Jonathan 1607
Oresick, Robert 1513
Hager, Greg 1211

Winter Chess

Link

Brrrrr...

Stalemate!

Lee LeFever uses a chess analogy to try to make sense of the Washington State governor's race that will not end:

Sachiko and I were talking the other day about this and comparing it to a chess match that ends in a draw. More often than not, I think a draw indicates that neither player had a strong strategy (of course it could be the opposite too).

In a situation like ours in Washington, I wonder if the practical "draw" in the election is similar - that neither candidate connected with enough people to really create a majority?

While many draws in chess reflect the fact that neither player sees a strong strategy going forward from the current position, it usually doesn't mean that they didn't have a strong strategy leading up to the current state. Quite commonly, one player is pursuing a reasonable, or even strong, plan but his opponent simply defends well and reaches a position which is prospectless for both. Of course a draw is an acceptable outcome in a chess game, but proves wholly unsatisfactory in a political contest.

As to the specific political situation in Washington, I have no great insight to contribute.

The Next American GM?

Angus Dwyer writes about his experiences playing chess against his 5-year old nephew. Based on his comments, it would seem that he agrees with my "beat them while their young" theory (that's beat them at chess ... we don't condone corporal punishment at the BCF):

I found in the endgame my biggest challenge was trying to be more entertaining than the Blue Power Ranger. No easy task.

I estimate that at this rate he'll be able to beat me consistently by the time he's eleven or so.

Well, it'll be a fun six years.

Angus is a Yankees fan, but since he is also a chess player we'll forgive him.

Is chess this depressing?

If you've ever played chess, you'll notice that every piece on the board struggles to a shallow grave or just struggles ... even the "winning" side dies in little pieces along the way. And once the battle's over? No more reason even to exist, except hope for another battle.

War is hell, and existence is a war. Everyone loses.

Read "Life is a game with no winners" from Shattered Vortex.

A chess makeover?

Several years ago, the look-out was grim. Falling attendance at tournaments, dropping sales of chess-sets and reports of school chess clubs closing across the world pointed to an eventual decline and, perhaps, an end to chess as we know it....

A series of strategic focus groups identified an image problem. “Kids felt that we were too hidebound, unable to appeal to their more radical side” ...

The answer was a total overhaul of the game’s image, beginning with the name. “We conducted a survey and established that ‘Xtreme Chequerboarding’ was a more accepted name amongst key demographics."

Read "Chess Seeks Youth Market: 'Xtreme Chequerboarding' launched" from The Chaser News.

New Year's Chess Resolutions

"Learn to play chess.... I don't plan to be a grandmaster by the end of the year, but would at least like to be a non-dull competitor should there be a board sitting around at a cafe, and a companion who wishes to play" - Sarah

"National Women's Chess Champion (even without a coach :))" - May Li

"Study much harder in chess, and more often" - LosingForever

"Obtain a chess rating of 1400 USCF" - Memo Book

"Play in four rated chess tournaments, including one to which I take my chess playing nephew" - Robert

Chess and Baseball

Ed Lynch compares our game with the national pastime:

...baseball, like chess, is a thinking person's game...the best baseball game would be 1-0 in ten innings, like the best chess games are quietly incremental struggles of position and strategy...

Maintaining the tension: the beauty of both baseball and chess.

Rage against the machine

From Kyle's files:

A computer once beat me at chess, but he was no match against me at kick boxing.

Warning: Don't provoke the youngsters!

I played another old guy then, and completely slaughtered him twice! It was the best feeling in the world, and very satisfying, since [h]e was one of those smack-talking old geezers who told me I could pick whatever color I wished, since he would beat me regardless. Hahaha it felt good to lay the smack down on the old coot.

Read "Chess Nights" from The Memo Book.

Pale Dun faces a crisis on the road to La Maza

De La Maza mentions that if you are having trouble initially then you should probably focus on those problems before moving on. Before I started this, I thought, "That won't be me." Yet here I am wondering if my tactical skills are really this bad. If chess was an elementary school, I'd be riding the short bus to class.

Read "Ringing in the New Year with Mediocrity".

I out-scored GM Larry Christiansen at the Herb

Well, I suppose it is true that Larry was just making an appearance at our New Year's event and only planned to play in the first round of the tournament. But hey, why get hung up on minutiae and trivial details?

I out-scored GM Larry Christiansen 2.5 to 1.0 at the 2005 BCC Herb Healy Open! That's my story, and I'm sticking with it!

Wishful Thinking

From Mahesh Shetty's Dallas Morning News Column December 24, 2004:

More brain and less brawn: I wish we celebrated the University of Texas at Dallas chess championship as much, if not more, than UT's appearance in a BCS bowl; intellectual athleticism is no less valuable than the physical kind.

Don't hold your breath waiting.