david vigorito's questionnaire

ooh I like question games, so what the heck...

1. How long have you been playing chess? Have you played it consistently since you started, or were there lulls in your play? How did these lulls affect your performance?

I learned to play when I was around 8, but I did not start playing tournaments until I was about 16. of course, now we know that one must become a GM by 16 to have any real hope of becoming a decent player. My biggest "lull" was around 1988, and unfortunately coincided with the '88 US Open in Boston. I was 18 years old, so I may have had other things on my mind... Since then my activity level have gone up and down. I have never seen a drastic change based on my tournament activity.

2. Aside from playing games, what is your primary mode of training?

I browse a lot of books. I am generally too lazy to set up a board, but I have a good visual memory.

3. What is the single most helpful method of improvement that you have ever used?

to play! I think the main reason I became a master in a relatively short span was that in the late 80's there were decent size tournaments in NE all of the time. Another important thing to do is analyse your games. I do not do this enough. A common bad habit is not analysing your wins critically. It is more fun to pretend that you won because you did everything right, and that is rarely the case.

4. What is your favorite opening to play as white? As black against e4? As black against d4?

Is this the question I am supposed to not answer because my opponents may prepare for me? Oh well. As White, 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3. I do not play 1.e4 much because in my opinion, playing 1.e4 takes too much work unless you want to play stupid gimmicky lines. Against 1.e4, the Najdorf Sicilian. It is so good that Kasparov played it almost exclusively, without worrying that there was no element of surprise. Against 1.d4, the King's Indian. Unfortunately, it is no Najdorf, and it is not the best opening. But when it works, it is fun.

5. Who are your favorite chess players and why?

Kramnik. His games from the late 90's are great examples of power chess. I know he draws a lot of games now, but not losing is not such a bad trait to have. Kasparov, of course. No explanation needed. Topalov - the player, not the person. Locally, there are too many good guys to name. For the BCC crowd I'll name Mac*space*Intyre, LT, and Bernardo.

6. What is your favorite chess book?

Challenging the Nimzo-Indian? haha, just kidding. Half a Century of Chess by Botvinnik was ones of my favourites as a lad.

7. What book would you recommend for a friend who knows only the rules of chess?

There was some book called something like Kasparov Teaches Chess. It was some really cool games that illustrate the potential beauty in chess very well. And then there are some other lessons of some sort.

8. Do you play in in-person tournaments? What is your favorite tournament experience?

in-person? you mean like a normal tournament? yes, I do. My favourite experience was probably the 1997 World Open. I beat 3 GM's in a row and drew Smirin with Black en route to my first IM norm. I was .5 off the GM norm. I was rated only 2359 and it all caused a buzz. Unfortunately I lost with Black (my second in a row) to Kudrin in the last round without much of a fight, so it ended on a real downer. Winning 5 must-win games for my last two IM norms and winning the MA Open for the first time were nice too.

9. Please give us a link to what you consider your best two blog posts.

um...

10. What proportion of total chess time should be spent studying openings for someone at your level?

At my level, quite a bit. I have lost too many games to GMs because I was busted out of the opening. The higher you go, the more time you need to spend. For most club players, you should only spend enough time that you can feel comfortable in your openings. It is much better to learn a few real openings than to play junk lines and have to switch them up every six months.

Greg Kaden's Questionnaire Answers

I have no idea whether readers of the blog who are not club members are finding these chess bios interesting, but I'm learning so much about people I thought I knew... but apparently, not that well. In any case, I'm heartened to see a number of different members participating, and for that, I have BDK to thank for his questionnaire. Who's next?

Here are Greg's responses (which he e-mailed to me):

1. How long have you been playing chess? Have you played it consistently since you started, or were there lulls in your play? How did these lulls affect your performance?

I have been aware of chess as long as I can remember because my father used to play regularly at the BCC (he is around 1500 strength) and we had all kinds of cool chess sets around the house. Eventually I grew tired of having mock battles with my father's Revolutionary War chess set and asked him to teach me the rules, primarily, as I recall, so that I could one day go to tournaments with him. I was seven when my father taught me the moves and some basic strategies. When I say "basic strategies", I don't mean the four-move checkmate, which he never showed me. That omission became an unfortunate problem for me at my first tournament, the Northeast District Lower Elementary (K-3) Championship at Austin Prep in Reading, MA. There, my opponents were all too eager to teach me the four-move mate, and I summarily lost my first three games in a grand total of 12 moves. I somehow managed to win my fourth game and then lost two long games to Ken Wright, who at the time was probably the best elementary school player in the state not named Patrick Wolff. All told, I finished 1-5, good enough for last place, an initial rating of 621, and a mountain of frustration for having failed to win a trophy. Despite my disappointment, I was encouraged both by my performance against Ken and by the fact that I was the only second grader in the tournament and my opponents -- all third graders -- would not be eligible to torment me again the following year.

The next year, I took advantage of the depleted talent pool to win the Northeast Districts and then the State Finals, in each case with a perfect score. This time, I got two huge trophies (which my parents are still after me to remove from my childhood bedroom) and a revised provisional rating of 1037. My mother sent a note to the local paper reporting my accomplishment and before I knew it, I was the subject of a feature story hailing me as an "8-year-old chess whiz." Grossly exaggerated and embarrassing though that article was, it attracted the attention of a college student in my hometown who was looking to make some extra money. That enterprising student -- NM Lou Mercuri -- called my parents and asked if they would be interested in hiring him to give me chess lessons. So began a series of lessons that continued on and off until I was about 15.

At some point during that 7-year span (probably around 6th grade), I realized that I really didn't enjoy chess very much. It certainly wasn't "cool" (and I thought I was all about being cool back then) and playing in tournaments didn't seem like a very fun hobby-- to me it resembled
voluntarily taking an exam, and I was already getting enough of those in school. Also, my father was starting to phase himself out of tournament chess, which had been my primary impetus for wanting to learn how to play in the first place. Yet, out of a combination of inertia and perceived parental expectations, I continued to take lessons from Lou and attend a handful of tournaments each year (typically the obligatory scholastic tournaments and a few of the larger local adult events, such as the Newton Open and Pillsbury Memorial). But that was all I did. I refused to read a chess book under any circumstances (because that seemed an awful lot like school) and also declined to do any of the homework problems Lou assigned me (again, that's too much like school). Casual games, even with my father, became few and far between.

Despite my appalling lack of interest in chess, my rating -- if not my ability -- improved rapidly. I broke 2000 for the first time at age 13, and reached a peak published rating of 2190 at age 16 (I had been rated even higher at one point unofficially, but my rating dropped between rating supplements). Shortly after reaching my peak, I obtained my driver's license and promptly quit chess "for good" except for a random event every year or two, typically a cameo appearance for my high school or college team.

Soon after graduating from college, I decided to give chess a try again. At first, I seemed to enjoy the game a lot more than I did when I was a kid. However, there were still many other things I preferred to do and, in any event, I discovered that my aversion to studying chess had followed me into adulthood. To top it all off, I had long since stopped taking lessons from Lou. The results were predictably disastrous. I lost something like 150 rating points in about two years, despite playing in only a handful of events.

After that ill-fated comeback, I again quit chess "for good" when I went to law school in 1996. Between 1996 and 2005, aside from an occasional off-hand game, I didn't play any chess at all. And I certainly didn't miss the game a bit, especially after other life events (law school, work, family, etc.) intervened. As my schedule got busier, I tried to find time for just one hobby. For me that hobby was….drums. I took lessons, watched instructional videos and practiced regularly on an electronic drum set that my wife got me for my birthday. A fact about that drum set is of special relevance to my most recent chess comeback -- it took me the better part of a weekend to set it up and get it working.

In the summer of 2005, we were having some painting done in the basement where the drums are kept. I came home from work one day eager to play along to a couple of Led Zeppelin songs only to find that the painters had moved the drums and, in doing so, had inadvertently (I can only assume) disassembled the entire kit. Faced with the prospect of a two-day re-assembly project, I glanced idly around the room and noticed a book on the shelf next to my old Crim Pro textbooks -- The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games by Burgess, Nunn and Emms. I'm still not entirely sure where the book came from, though I think that it was probably a gift from a well-meaning relative who remembered that I played chess when I was younger. Instead of putting my drum set back together, I quickly thumbed through the book, put it back on the shelf and left the basement. I repeated this process for what seemed like several weeks: going to the basement eager to play drums, finding, to my disappointment, that they remained disassembled (to my continuing surprise they never seemed to assemble themselves), thumbing through the chess book, putting it back on the shelf and leaving the basement. Eventually, I stopped thinking about the drums and began going to the basement solely to look at the chess book, which I was enjoying in a way that I had never enjoyed chess before. Before long, I was back at tournaments, taking monthly lessons with Lou and even leafing through a chess book from time-to-time.

Despite the long layoff, I think I am a better player right now than ever before, even at my rating peak. I am still a very weak player, to be sure, but at least now I am finally enjoying playing and learning about the game. That alone has helped my play significantly and has more than compensated for my diminished (and now almost non-existent) ability to come up with some of the creative tactical ideas that led to my most successful results as a youth.

2. Aside from playing games, what is your primary mode of training?

Monthly chess lessons and reading books on tactics or general principles (ideally ones that I can read on the commuter train without a board, such as Emms' puzzle book and Soltis's Turning Advantage Into Victory in Chess).

3. What is the single most helpful method of improvement that you have ever used?

Without a doubt, chess lessons. As noted above, I gained over 1500 rating points in an 8- year period by doing nothing other than taking lessons and playing a few tournaments each year. Given my steadfast refusal to study chess books as a kid, I'm not sure how I would have improved without the lessons.

4. What is your favorite opening to play as white? As black against e4? As black against d4?

Everyone has been dodging this question, and I suppose that I will too. I will say this though: I have always played 1. e4 and the next time that I answer 1. d4 with 1…d5 will be the first time.

5. Who are your favorite chess players and why?

Rashid Nezhmetdinov: His famous win against Polugaevsky is one of the main reasons I kept going back to that book in my basement (where it appears as game no. 40).

Lawyer Times: A model of consistency, success, and sportsmanship.

6. What is your favorite chess book?

Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games -- The book that got me really interested in chess for the first time since my father taught me the moves. Entertaining and well-annotated games.

Play Like a Grandmaster by Kotov -- The only chess book I have ever read straight through more than once. Lucidly written and worth checking out despite the author's apparent -- and possibly unhealthy -- obsession with Botvinnik.

7. What book would you recommend for a friend who knows only the rules of chess?

I never read chess books as a novice, but I recently leafed through Susan Polgar's A World Champion's Guide to Chess and it looks like a very good book for beginners.

8. Do you play in in-person tournaments? What is your favorite tournament experience?

Yes. Work and family (wife and daughter) obligations permitting, I try to play at least once a month at BCC, Metrowest and/or Waltham.

A couple of favorite tournament experiences come to mind: First, the two 4-game matches I played as a member of the Collins' Kids against members of the Icelandic youth team, first in Reykjavik then in the U.S. and my 2-1 score against Hedinn Steingrimsson, then the Icelandic chess prodigy du jour and now a strong IM. Second, my T-2nd finish at the 1987 U.S. Cadet, where I defeated future GM Kraai, among others, and caused the only blemish on the record of the tournament winner, a 77-move draw against future GM Ilya Gurevich.

9. Please give us a link to what you consider your best two blog posts.

N/A. I am a blog neophyte.

10. What proportion of total chess time should be spent studying openings for someone at your level?

Much more than I do. It is very tough for me to follow opening books on a train, which is where I do most of my chess reading.

Not That I Intend to Go Out of Order ...

But I'm willing to play. Here goes.

1. How long have you been playing chess? Have you played it consistently since you started, or were there lulls in your play? How did these lulls affect your performance?

My chess life has lived itself through a series of endless starts and stops.

I learned the moves young, around five. I played in high school, and my first rating was around 1200. I played as much as I could until I worked my way up to about 1650. I then made a big jump (300 points in one rating supplement) by playing in the US Open in San Francisco. I rose to 1975, but then took almost a decade off.

I picked up the game a few years ago, and was able to make expert, but then again took a break. I have been playing now again since January and am just under 2100.

I don't think this pattern has had too much impact on my performance, which has been dictated more by my personal maturity.

I just don't take myself as seriously as I used to.

2. Aside from playing games, what is your primary mode of training?

I play as much as I can and have fun. I do my best to not get caught up in results.

In terms of study, I look at my own games without computer assistance, and do the hardest tactics problems I can find. Lately I have been doing some Informator problems with Lawyer, and really like those.

3. What is the single most helpful method of improvement that you have ever used?

More than anything, I have been helped by simply getting out of my own way. When I was younger, I tried to be perfect. If I didn't know every line, or have perfect concentration at the board I felt guilty. What I didn't realize is that it was those very expectations - and my attachment to some imaginary chess identity - that was preventing me from moving forward.

Now, my perspective is different. I enjoy myself and focus on finding good moves. If I am in a tough position, I try to find good moves. If I am in a objectively won position, I try to find good moves.

This approach allows my chess to be self-sustaining. I keep doing it because I enjoy it.

4. What is your favorite opening to play as white? As black against e4? As black against d4?

Openings? Hah! I probably know less about openings than anyone of equal strength in the club. A friend of mine, who happens to be a strong player, told me recently that adopting new openings is like buying new fancy clothes. They might make you feel good, but underneath the person doesn't change.

5. Who are your favorite chess players and why?

I wouldn't say I have favorite players. Or perhaps my favorite players are my friends at the club: Lawyer Times, Charles Riordan, Charlie Mays, and Chris Chase to name a few. I admire the games Chris Williams has played recently. He is becoming tremendously strong.

6. What is your favorite chess book?

"Positional Play" by Dvoretsky. (Not the Reshevsky book by the same name.) Also, the "Inner Game of Tennis." I also have to mention Rowson's books, even though I have a bunch of truly awful games in Chess for Zebras.

7. What book would you recommend for a friend who knows only the rules of chess?

"Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess"

8. Do you play in in-person tournaments? What is your favorite tournament experience?

I play OTB tournaments as much as I can. Nothing beats the US Open experience.

9. Please give us a link to what you consider your best two blog posts.

I'm sorry, I don't have a good answer for this one. I'm a blognovice.

10. What proportion of total chess time should be spent studying openings for someone at your level?

I realize that this view might be contrary to most of the strong players in our club, but I believe that openings are relatively irrelevant until about GM level.

Obviously, you have to be able to survive the opening stage of the game. I do work on my openings for this purpose. Other than that, I believe that openings for many players hurt their game as much as help. Players will reach a position they are familiar with and stop looking for good moves. I am more interested in improving my skill.

Before I end, I want to thank DG for his work on this blog. It is great to have a local community of friends to share my enjoyment of this strange game.

Yours,
Carey

Jason Rihel responds, too.

Greg K. asked for other members to answer these questions, and since I sometimes post here, I will.

1. How long have you been playing chess? Have you played it consistently since you started, or were there lulls in your play? How did these lulls affect your performance?

I learned the moves from my parents when I was 5 years old, but I wasn't beating my parents regularly until I was probably 10. I remember once when I had started to get very good (I had borrowed a tactics book from the library, and I won at home with my arsenal of pins and forks), my brother and I played a game that he won. He then declared himself champion of the house and retired! (That old trick...) This was unfortunate, because I grew up in West Virginia, where chess events were sparse. Too young to drive, I had to rely on my parents to drive, which they were not inclined to do much.

I got the tournament bug when I was 13 years old, and a Chess Life magazine promotional appeared in my mailbox (I'm not sure how I got it.) Lev Alburt had just won the US championship, and he was on the cover. I went over all the games in that issue over and over, and I soon subscribed. I dreamed of beautiful intermezzos and stunning smothered mates, but didn't have anyone to play.

One day, in the tournament life section, I saw an event listed-- in WV! I convinced my mom to drive me to Fairmont, WV, and we stayed the weekend. I was a small 13 year old, and I made quite the sensation. I won the unrated prize, lost only one game of five. My first rating was over 1700, and I thought I was the be-all end-all of chess prodigies. That soon dipped to settle around 1600 for my first year of tournament chess, as the reality of tournament inexperience sank in.

Gee, there are so many stories about playing in WV, but I guess I will hold off. I won the top under 21 prize at the state championships 3 times in a row, and I was in contention for the overall championship once, when I was paired with an older expert who whomped me in about 18 moves on the last, prizemaking day.

I started a chess club in high school, and when I graduated, I permanently "borrowed" one of the club's chess clocks.... oops. I went to college at WVU, and I became a tournament director, a chess coach that met with over 100 kids in after school programs a week (in classroom settings), and the president of the WVU chess club. We had a vibrant little group, and I played a lot. We even found sponsorship to support our travels to the Pan-Am Collegiate championships, even though we always could only get 3 players to come, forfeiting board 4 every time. My first draw against a master, IM Michael Mulyar, of Yale, came from one of those Pan Ams, when I was almost 1900. Little did I know that it would be many many years before I could claim points off a master again, and that I was stuck in the 1800-1900 range for nearly a decade.

I went to grad school at Harvard, and my chess dropped off considerably, although I still played. My rating hovered around 1900 the whole time, so I guess this "lull" didn't hurt my performance exactly. It just kept me from improving any. Now that I am a post-doc at Harvard, I have made more time for chess, and maybe I'm even improving....

Anyway, once I started playing, I have been playing pretty steadily. I love the game, the stories, and the characters (oh the characters!) Ask me about some of them at the BCC sometime.

2. Aside from playing games, what is your primary mode of training?

I do tactical problems. I try to look at some problems every day. I hate studying openings (so boring!), but I go over the ones that I play when I annotate my tournament games. I have also been taking chess lessons from FM Chris Chase, who is guiding me through tactical and positional problems, and we go over master games.

3. What is the single most helpful method of improvement that you have ever used?

I balked for years from taking lessons, but my formal lessons have helped me the most. Since starting lessons last Fall, my rating quickly improved over 100 points to the expert level. If you look at my history, you will see that I have been at 1800-1900 most of my life, so at 30, this improvement is pretty substantial.

I should point out that I tried the Knights La Mazza 7-circles program, too. I used Emm's Ultimate Puzzle Book for my problem source. I did the first 4 circles, and then quit. I found the problems were so familiar after a time that I would just rattle off the right idea from memory, and less from true understanding. To get done with hundreds of problems a day, I would also start to ignore any important side variations, and this just didn't seem worth the time anymore.

So, I still do tactical problems, but now, I try much harder ones that require a lot of visualization of variations, and picking the right move orders, etc. So, I spent the same time as the 7-circles program, only on one or two problems.

4. What is your favorite opening to play as white? As black against e4? As black against d4?

I hate the study of openings, so I tailor this to my mood. Since Greg K. is my opponent next week at the Reubens-Landey, I will leave it this vague, even though he must know what I play by now..... If I still play the same thing...... If I am not lying right now.....

5. Who are your favorite chess players and why?

Kasparov, because he was a badass. Morozevich because he is super-nuts creative over the board. Topalov, too, because he can lose 3 games in a row and still win the tournament.

6. What is your favorite chess book?

I have a first edition of Fisher's 60 Memorable Games that my fiancee got me the day I defended my PhD thesis. That wins, hands down.

7. What book would you recommend for a friend who knows only the rules of chess?

I think the series Play Winning Chess by Yassar Seriwan is very good. He had 3 or 4 books in that series, and all are great for beginners. In one book, he takes 10 master games and goes over the motivation/ideas for each move. Everything I know about the Dragon comes from that book, actually!

8. Do you play in in-person tournaments? What is your favorite tournament experience?

I have played at the BCC for a long time now. My favorite tournament experience was playing in the Final Four of Chess with the Harvard team when I was in graduate school. We were totally destroyed by the experienced UTD and UMBC teams, but it was cool to be playing behind velvet ropes in the Chess Hall of Fame Museum, in Miami, FL. It was kind of flukey that we qualified at all, so we enjoyed it. And because of it, my picture and autograph are forever enshrined at the Hall of Fame... the only way I could ever make it there--through a fluke. Hah! The tournament made the local Miami sports news. At the end of the story, the sports anchors relaxed, but the camera didn't cut to commerical yet. One rolls his eyes and turns to the other and says, "You've got to be kidding me!" Oh well.

I also believe it marked the first and only time that I made the pages of Chess Life for anything (even though I lost all my games).

9. Please give us a link to what you consider your best two blog posts.

DG will need to help with with this, since I haven't mastered the posting tools here. My recent story about the terrible time trouble troubles netted 40+ reader comments, so I guess that hit a nerve. I once wrote an article in the WV newsletter about a tournament in which I beat a 2100 player in round 1 and then lost to a 1000 rated player in round 2. If I could link to that, I would...

10. What proportion of total chess time should be spent studying openings for someone at your level?

Way more than I do! To make master by beating masters, you need to know your openings fairly well. How often do I drift into passive positions against masters because of bad opening play? Answer: plenty.

Playing kid's games

BDK asked the questions; The Kenilworthian tagged me and now, assuming he still stops by here on occasion, I tag Java Joe of the Chess Castle of Minnesota.

1. How long have you been playing chess? Have you played it consistently since you started, or were there lulls in your play? How did these lulls affect your performance?

When I was about 10 years old, I fell rather ill with asthma and was laid up in bed for about three weeks. During this time, a friend of my mother's gave me a book on how to play chess. Having nothing else to do, I read it cover to cover several times. After that, I played chess casually with friends now and again, but never took it too seriously.

Several years later I picked up a book on the Fischer-Spassky world championship match and played over each of the games. I'm not sure I really understood what was going on, and while I continued to play friendly games, I still didn't get serious about it.

When I was a freshman in high school, I decided to join the chess club since you were "supposed" to be involved in activities and I was hardly a candidate to join the football team. Chess was fairly serious at my high school. The team had won several State Championships over the years and always competed in the Nationals. The previous July, recent graduate and Expert Alan Trefler had shared first in the 1975 World Open with GM Pal Benko. Alan's brother Leon was in my class and was the best player on the team. Alan took me to my first tournament a couple months later, The Greater Boston Open. I think I achieved an even score in the lowest section and a month later I was proudly sporting my first official rating, 1098.

From that point on, I played constantly -- at school, in scholastic tournaments, and at weekend events. By my junior year, I was a B-player and played 2nd Board on the team behind Leon. During our senior year, we won the Massachusetts State Championship, the New England Championship, and finished in the top 10 at the High School Nationals.

Once I started college, I drastically curtailed my chess playing. Over the next 5 years or so, I probably played less than five tournaments. Nevertheless, during this period I achieved a rating of about 1900. Some of this was due to playing relatively well, but frankly, I think the main driver was that USCF was intentionally inflating ratings during this period of time.

For the next six or seven years, I didn't play at all. Instead, I was preoccupied with my first job, getting married and going to graduate school. Later, out of school and not particularly happy with my job, I came home one day and told my wife I was going to go nuts if I didn't get involved in some diversion that I enjoyed. At that moment, the grand "one night of chess per week" bargain was struck.

I returned to the friendly haunts of the Boylston Chess Club on Clarendon St., where I'd played frequently during high school, and entered the Thursday Night Swiss. For the first few months I played terribly and lost about 100 rating points, but then regained my form and my points. In the ten or so years since, I've played consistently one night a week at the club and only on very rare occassion have I played larger tournaments (for example, I played the US Open several years ago when it was in Framingham, but only after reminding my wife about it every week for the entire year prior).

Only in the last couple of years have I seen an improvement in my rating to the point where I'm peaking my nose over the 2000 barrier more often than not. I'd like to think that I'm improving as player, but since my primary training activity is blogging it's hard to explain why. Then again, maybe USCF is inflating ratings again?

2. Aside from playing games, what is your primary mode of training?

Outside of blogging and reading chess blogs, I typically do three things:

1. Re-read the opening books I have on the openings I most frequently play, over and over again
   
   
2. Use the ChessBase on-line database to review Master games in lines that I am studying or preparing
   
   
3. Analyze and annotate all my tournament games with the help of Fritz

I've also been playing quite a bit of on-line poker (with play chips only), but I'm not sure how much that helps my chess game.

3. What is the single most helpful method of improvement that you have ever used?

I'm really not sure, but if I had to guess I would think it might be all the time I spent in High School learning K+P endings inside out. I've never made a concerted effort to study tactics, so I would imagine that my game would benefit if I did.

4. What is your favorite opening to play as white? As black against e4? As black against d4?

Since plenty of club members read this blog, I'm not inclined to make their opening preparation easier. Therefore, I'll limit my comments to what everyone already knows.

I play 1.e4. If you want to play against the c3-Sicilian, then play 1...c5. Otherwise, play something else.

Against 1.e4, I play the French. However, I've learned lots of different sub-variations in order to avoid being predictable. If I think you've prepared for my French, then on occasion I'll trot out something else, just to keep you honest.

The rest you have to learn about over the board.

5. Who are your favorite chess players and why?

Korchnoi - Because he's been one of greatest defenders of the French Defense and because he bears a significant resemblance to my grandfather.

Sveshnikov - Not just "because he plays some of my favorite lines" (as Michael Goeller wrote), but because he effectively reinvented them, many times over. The c3-Sicilian would have been played out years ago without his on-going efforts and creativity.

6. What is your favorite chess book?

Probably Hans Kmoch's Pawn Power in Chess -- though it's not too useful for beginners.

7. What book would you recommend for a friend who knows only the rules of chess?

I don't know, but I suppose you could do a lot worse than pointing him in the direction of De La Maza's two articles [1 & 2], not his bloated book, or Dan Heisman's archive at Chess Cafe.

8. Do you play in in-person tournaments? What is your favorite tournament experience?

I am a regular at the BCC Thursday Night Swiss except during Championship Season when I typically play in the Reubens/Landey and Hauptturnier. I've played in very few weekend tournaments over the past ten years for the usual reasons - family, job, etc.

Not much great insight here, but beating masters is usually a kick.

9. Please give us a link to what you consider your best two blog posts.

I'm particularly fond of my post on the Pete Tamburro chess journalism awards, though I understand he didn't care for it that much. There are also several pieces in my USCL coverage which are worthy contenders (2005 coverage, 2006 coverage).

10. What proportion of total chess time should be spent studying openings for someone at your level?

I suspect I commit too high a percentage of my time to openings, but since I typically play the same people several times a year, I feel like I need to change things up so it is more difficult for my opponents to prepare lines against me. At the same time, when I know my opponent advance, I will often try to prepare a line against what he typically plays.

Transforming the Chess Blogosphere

DK's essay project on chess bloggers is well underway with nine completed to date (seven bloggers and two wildcard topics). Those hoping for inside dirt and scandal are sure to be disappointed. Instead, what we have is... well, to be perfectly honest, I'm still not sure exactly what we have. Words like interesting, baffling, enlightening, off-beat, thought-provoking, twisted, or captivating simply don't capture the essence of the essays.

They remind me of watching an art film and leaving the theatre thinking, "What the heck was that about?", and then continuing to ponder the ideas presented for days on end. Somehow, DK has this amazing ability to capture deep insights into people he knows only through this virtual realm. He wraps these perceptions in literary allusion and mystery and reveals them to the reader only with time and contemplation.

The essays themselves are not the complete story. Many of DK's comments on the essays are worthy pieces of writing in themselves. Without revealing any specifics, let me just say that his discussion on seeking truth over playing the game and paying a price for it, struck a deep and powerful chord with me.

Get yourself a large cup of tea, sit back in a comfortable chair and start the excursion. Then, give it a few days to sink in...

• Prolegema to Any Future Chess Blogger Community, or Kant Help it (featuring Temposchlucker, Blue Devil Knight and Wormwood)


• Prolegema, or Kant Help it: Wahrheit, Grand Patzer, Part II


• Prolegema, or Kant Help it: Chessdog Part III


• Prolegema, or Kant Help it: WFMU, Part IV


• Prolegema: The Blue Devil Dialogues. Chess Relearner, or How I did Strunk and White: Essay Nine

Headlines, Headlines, Headlines

Too many items, not enough time for individual posts. Vacations take such an incredible toll on bloggers...

Monokroussos retires again? - In a recent post, Dennis says that "blogging has become stale and a chore." I feel that way myself sometimes, though not at the moment. It never seems to take that long before the itch returns. It will be interesting to see how long he stays away this time. A new campaign, J'adoube?

Yes I know, I've been tagged - I'm trying to decide whether I should be happy with BDK for giving me an easy topic to post about or whether I should be pissed at him for telling me what I have to write about. I'll decide after I write the post -- which will take a few days, so bear with me. The Kenilworthian tagged me; I wonder who will be next.

First mover advantage is a powerful thing - In response to BDK's cautionary note, let me say that 1) the more the merrier and 2) I'm feeling more than secure in my role.

Africa, a hotbed of chess controversy - The Kenyan Chess Blog has been reporting on the inside dealings involved in the selection of the Kenyan team (here also), as well as the Ugandan teams' inability to attend the All-Africa games due to lack of government funding. It seems like chess federations in Africa are using FIDE as their model for openness, good governance, financial accountability and operational effectiveness.

Haunstrup returns - Joshua Haunstrup has resurrected his blog after a long hiatus with two games he played at the Boylston Chess Club -- a loss against Dan Schmidt in the October 2006 Thursday Night Swiss and a win against Alexander Paphitis in the 2006 Spring Open.

Chess Bloggers leveraging public relations professionals - Who knew that breaking into the chess blogosphere required the use of professional PR? I received this e-mail from Sara Walsh, who identifies herself as the Press Liason for Dr. Mark Ginsburg:

Seventh Rank Associates
Dr. Mark Ginsburg
Editor of http://nezhmet.wordpress.com
mark@seventhrank.com

Sara Walsh
Press Liaison http://nezhmet.wordpress.com
princesschess@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE

Born to the Fischer era, Dr. Mark Ginsburg was one of many talented teens making the junior rounds in the 1970s. Dr. Mark Ginsburg received his International Master title in 1982 from FIDE, the World Chess Organization headed at that time by GM Fridrik Olafsson. He won the Manhattan Chess Club Championship twice, in 1988 and 1990, before that venerable Carnegie Hall institution sadly went the way of the dodo. His peak rating was 2578 in 1992, putting him 28th in the USA. His specialty is opening innovation.

Mark's undergraduate degree was from Princeton (Biology) and did graduate work at NYU, culminating in a Ph.D. in Information Systems. He is the author or co-author of two programming textbooks and numerous peer-reviewed articles on groupware, digital libraries, and e-business strategy. As for chess, his writings have appeared in "Chess Life" and he was the technical editor for GM Joel Benjamin's magazine "Chess Chow" in the early 1990s.

Using his skills as a writer and storyteller, he is now bringing to life his chess career of over three decades with enlivening anecdotes and wild games. IM Mark Ginsburg's new website is http://nezhmet.wordpress.com. From his 1974 game as a 15 year old against the great GM Bent Larsen to his more recent adventures in the 2007 National Open, these games come alive with his wit and banter rather then lengthy computer annotations. Print them out or bring a board to the computer, playing along with the games, you'll share the joys and heartaches of the moves he makes.

Macauley Peterson's favorite chess musician is Macauley Peterson - It didn't do that much for me, but as you'll see from the e-mail below, he went to great lengths to make sure you didn't miss it. You have to admire his tenacity.

From: "Macauley Peterson"
To: "Mark Crother", "SusanPolgar", "Peter Doggers", "Jennifer Shahade", "bccadmin"
Subject: Macauley's "Today In Dortmund" -- Chess FM intro
Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 12:11:34 -0400

The first day of ICC's Chess.FM webcast coverage of the Dortmund super-tournament started a little differently from the rest. But you wouldn't know it from the ICC Chess.FM OnDemand replay. Ostensibly due to "sound quality issues" my intro was cut from the archived show. Yes, I know it was unorthodox, and clearly a little silly, but I hope some people were amused at least, and to that end I'm pleased to present the way the June 23rd show REALLY started…

http://www.macauleypeterson.com/WP/?p=46

Cheers,
Macauley

BCC Weblog crosses 100,000 visitors mark - Now, that was a nice number to come home to.

Chessdom Interview Part 3: Motivations

Chessdom: What are the motives behind one's decision to start a chess blog?

DG: One things for sure, it’s not for the money or the girls. And nobody cuts me any slack over the board because they’re playing the chess blogger. I haven’t been to one of the big open tournaments like Foxwoods in years, so I don’t know whether I’d be swarmed by chess blog groupies, but I doubt it.

I suspect there are a number of different motivations. Some people just want to share their games with others. Some want to collect their thoughts and ideas somewhere and don’t really care if anyone actually reads them. Others are looking to benefit from being part of the community (this is particularly true for the chess improvement crowd). Some have a niche interest they want to bring greater exposure to. Others probably just enjoy writing about chess.

There are other motivations as well. Certain club blogs seek to promote their clubs, while others simply share event announcements and tournament results. Susan Polgar uses her blogs to promote her chess-related activities and run her USCF Executive Board campaign. IM Ben Feingold has used his blog to solicit donations to fund his chess travels. There are purely commercial blogs seeking to drive traffic to sites which sell chess-related products (sometimes openly, other times surreptitiously).

As for BCC Weblog, I had several sources of motivation when I started. I wanted to:

• Learn more about blogging, blog-related technology, and the development of on-line communities
• Have a creative outlet to work on my writing and composition skills
• Bring additional exposure to the club and potentially even some economic benefit in the form of new members, new tournament participants, donations, etc.
• Create an interactive space for members of the club to share any/all chess-related information (this has turned out to be the most difficult one to achieve)

*****
You can read the entire interview here.

Wamala accusations contained in 4-year old "time capsule"

The Severine Wamala saga has taken another fascinating twist. According to the Lowell Sun, one of Wamala's accusers backed up her story to police by producing a letter detailing the accusations which she included four years previously in a sixth grade "time capsule" project:

As her sixth-grade "time capsule" project, the then-11-year-old girl wrote her most painful secret in a letter, folded it and placed it in a sealed envelope that she kept hidden in her room.

"There is something surprising about me that people wouldn't know," the young girl wrote in the letter described by Nashua police Officer Scott Ciszek.

She was having sex, she wrote, with a man no one would have suspected.

The letter was written four years before the police would knock on Severine Wamala's door in Nashua after the girl, now 15, confided her secret....

The girl showed police the letter that she had written in the sixth grade, because "she didn't want us to think this was a false accusation she brought up in the heat of the moment,'' [Nashua Detective Jonathan] Lehto testified....

Read "Police: Girl's letter discloses sexual abuse" from the Lowell (MA) Sun.

Dzindzichashvili at the BCC on July 18th

The Boylston Chess Club Master Lecture Series presents:

International Grandmaster
Roman Dzindzichashvili

When: Wednesday, July 18th, 7:00 p.m.
Where: The Boylston Chess Club
Admission: Free to Boylston Chess Foundation members. $10 for non-members.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from the experience and insights of GM Roman Dzindzichashvili. He has won the Russian Championship, the World Open, and he has won the US Championship twice. Roman has trained Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. Roman has attained an ICC blitz rating of 3450.

Roman has developed an extraordinary chess DVD program. We plan to have the recently released latest versions available at a discount at the lecture.

For more information contact Paul MacIntyre: (781) 322-7936 boylstonchess@aol.com

Adapted from the event flyer

2nd stage of Championship begins July 9th

Congratulations to the 2007 BCC Weaver Adams U1800 Champion Alexander Paphitis. The final crosstable is now available. As the winner of the event, Alex has qualified to play in the Reubens/Landey U2200 Championship.

Speaking of which ... the Reubens/Landey begins on Monday, July 9th and is open to all BCF members with ratings between 1800-2199. Top scorers have the opportunity to secure a place in this fall's BCC Championship.

Monday, July 9, 16, 23, 30 August 6: Reubens/Landey BCC Qualifier U2200 Championship, 5SS; 40/90, G/20; Open to BCC members rated 2199-1800; EF: $25; Winner receives free entry into the BCC Championship beginning on 9/10. Registration: 6:15 to 6:50; Rounds: 7:00.

Goldowsky Replies

Howard has asked that I post his response to Hisbestfriend's review of "Engaging Pieces." In it, he addresses some poignant issues which were raised, as well as some other topics which he believes prospective readers might be interested in.

**********

June 27, 2007

HisBestFriend,

I appreciate your purchase of my book, and I appreciate your comments. A number of newspaper columnists (Worcester Telegram, Washington Post) have reviewed Engaging Pieces, but you own the first blog to do so. You raise some poignant issues that I'd like to address. Other readers will certainly have similar issues, so I hope you don't mind if this is an open letter.

My main concern about Engaging Pieces was (and is) that all of the interviews, stories, and opinion pieces, save two, were previously published. Why, as you point out, would anyone want to spend their hard earned cash on writing that could be downloaded from the Internet, in a matter of seconds, for free? Good question. There are many answers.

Some middle-tier fiction writers give their writing away for free on the Internet, before it's even published, just to garner some publicity. Cory Doctorow is one of them. He has a Web site where he gives away his stories for free. He claims that some people who like his stuff on his Web site will want to own the actual book. For every person who is Internet savvy, who reads his work online, there is another person who is introduced to his writing online who would like to own the hard-copy. Others just don't like reading on a monitor. Others hate printouts. Others want an addition to their library. Lastly, not everyone has the time or fortitude to go back and find all of my articles, including those published in Chess Life. Even if they did, how would they know when they found them all?

The last reason may sound a little pretentious; however, in my case, I like to think of this pretentiousness as confidence in my writing ability. I understand that there is a fine line between confidence and delusion. Just look at the auditions for American Idol. But I've been writing long enough, have gotten enough feedback, have published in mainstream chess magazines enough and have gotten paid enough for my work, to be certain that I'm not deceiving my readers.

Obviously, most articles in Engaging Pieces are less than timely, so the book must stand on the strength of its writing and on the ideas that this writing conveys. In the literary world, it's not uncommon to see the collected stories, or even movie and book reviews by good writers, published. Martin Amis' War Against Cliche: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000, is cited as an example. Many, many other writers collect their work, too. It's also common for authors to throw in some new material along with their old stuff, and I've done this with Engaging Pieces. My book includes two previously unpublished short stories, edits to almost every article, postscripts updating the reader with new highlights about relevant articles, and, of course, the appendix that lists every major chess novel or anthology published since 1933. You can't find this type of chess fiction bibliography on the Web. You'll find smaller, more confusing lists, but nothing this authoritative. (I've actually purchased or seen every book in the bibliography.) By the way, if you're still trying to get rid of my book, but want to keep the list of chess fiction in the appendix, then I have a two word solution: copy machine. But maybe I'm being presumptuous with this solution. Maybe you're the type of person who prefers to have such a list in bound form, like others might prefer to have the book's articles in bound form. If so, then I've sold you a copy of my book. :)

A few comments about your post:

1. Where do I apologize for my writing style? I tend sometimes to be reflective or philosophical about my writing, but where have I been apologetic?

2. The quote is "About an hour into the student activity-fair," not "About an hour into the student activity."

3. No, I wasn't trying to be funny in the first sentence. But thanks for the compliment, anyway. This story is based on a true situation that happened when I was an undergrad at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It was written a number of years ago when I was still a bachelor, lamenting the 'girl that got away.' When those two girls walked in and stayed a while, I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't figure out why they were there. Some day I knew I would have to write a story to explain the mystery, and I did.

Part of my motivation for writing Engaging Pieces was to bring a form of closure to my interviewing and writing about chess. My son Tyler was born, coincidently, on the release date of the book, and with a bigger family, less time for hobbies, and an itching desire to improve my chess game, I need to spend less time on my writing. Publishing everything I've written about chess was a good way to close the door on one era of my writing life. When the book is behind me, I hope to spend more of my (limited) free time studying chess. At almost 36, I'd like to make an attempt at Expert or even Master before it's too late. I might start a chess blog. I might not. I might start a different writing project. I might not. I might become a Knight Errant. I might not. Lots of stuff is in the air. I don't know where it will fall. One thing is certain, though: I'm going to spend more time improving my chess game. How it is done and how public I'm going to be doing it, is really all that's really in question.

Again, I appreciate your post, and I appreciate my opportunity to get the author's 'backstory' in. If you would like to discuss the book, or have any more questions, I'm happy to discuss things.

Best,

Howard Goldowsky

**********
Update: It turns out that Hisbestfriend also posted the letter at his blog, and then he and Howard continued the discussion in the comments.

Chessdom Interview Part 2: Trends

Chessdom: You are maintaining an impressive list on your blogroll and bloglines. What are the trends in chess blogosphere?

DG: Well, the first trend is the explosive growth of the chess blogosphere which makes it almost impossible to keep up. As of today (6/11/07), my listings include 259 Active blogs (which have posted at least one item in the last 45 days), 209 Inactive blogs, and another 132 blogs which were Inactive for more than one year, went 404, or were highjacked. In Bloglines, I am subscribed to over 520 chess blog feeds and receive between 100-200 posts per day (of course, Susan Polgar’s blogs account for 10-20% of the daily volume). It’s a lot of skimming to find the small handful posts worth a read, a comment, or that might make good fodder for a post of my own.

And the onslaught continues… I add new blogs every week and could probably do so daily if I wanted to. To make this point, I accepted a bet from About Chess’ Mark Weeks where he challenged me to find 5 chess blogs he had never seen before in two hours. I found about 5 times that many in only one. The good news is that there are many more interesting, unique, high quality chess blogs available to find; the downside, however, is that you have to weed through many mediocre ones, often covering the same old ground, to find them.

Another trend is the increasing use of video in chess blogs – both posting of content found on sites like YouTube and self-produced chess videos. I remember how unique it was when Chris Kilgore posted a homemade video on his blog a couple years back. Now dozens of chess bloggers do it. Chess Vibes has produced a very high quality, “semi-professional” blog largely based around their unique chess video content. There’s even a community site specifically focused on developing and sharing chess videos.

One other trend I might note is the use of advertising on chess blogs. In the early days (you know, 2004-2005!), we used to have long debates about the appropriateness of putting Google ads on chess blogs. Today, that debate is over; almost everyone has them. However, if my experience is a guide (and I think it is) then no one is getting wealthy from them (no one except Google, that is).

*****
You can read the entire interview here.

Engaging Reviews

The first review of Howard Goldowsky's new book "Engaging Pieces" that I found comes from the blogosphere (since then, I also happened upon this Worcester Telegram article which is part preview, part review). Hisbestfriend's point of view on the book is... well... decidedly mixed:

Do I recommend it? Hell no! But I read it cover to cover, learned something, and I am having a tough time getting rid of it. Take that however you want.

From another of Hisbestfriend's posts, I learned that the book includes a reference to the Knights Errant and Boylston Chess Club Weblog:

The first chapter is an interview with de la Maza, and in the Postscript on Page 17...

Since the publication of Michael de la Maza's book, Rapid Chess Improvement (Everyman Chess, 2003) there has been a growing cohort of de la Maza disciples populating the Internet (many of them listed at the Boylston Chess Club Weblog: http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com/).

Unread, that's enough for me to heartily endorse it. :)

More CJA fun, politics, dissent

It couldn't be happening to a nicer group of guys...

Here is a website advocating a Paris Hilton write-in campaign against Jerry Hanken for the presidency of the Chess Journalists of America.

By the way, it just occurred to me that this post will probably drive a lot of traffic to the blog from those searching Google for "Paris Hilton playing chess" or "Learn to play chess with Paris Hilton." I can't wait to watch the visitor counts roll in!

Move over Staunton

It's the Transformers chess set...

Do it for the kids

Sunday's Boston Globe Magazine has a lengthy article on several top scholastic players in Massachusetts, all of whom we've seen from time to time at the Boylston Chess Club. The profiled players include Andrew Wang, James Lung, Zaroug Jaleel and Winston Huang. The article also includes quotes from GM Larry Christiansen and, local MetroWest Chess Club player, Derek Slater.

At one point the author discusses the many reasons why these scholastic players often give up chess before reaching their full potential:

...there is peril in predicting whether a great young chess player will become a great adult chess player, especially in America. Chess is not a money sport here, even though there is a professional league.... There’s also the threat of puberty, which can change a young chess player’s dreams from grandmaster to girls practically overnight.

Read "Young Knights" soon, before the Boston Globe website archives it (registration may be required).

Wamala seeks support for speedy trial

Disclaimer: Here at BCC Weblog, we have covered the news regarding the Wamala case since the story originally broke. For the record, it is important to note that neither the Boylston Chess Foundation, Boylston Chess Club nor Boylston Chess Club Weblog has taken any position on the guilt or innocence of Mr. Wamala in this matter.

Severine Wamala sent a letter to the Boylston Chess Foundation expressing his desire for a speedy trial, and his wish that people go to his hearing tomorrow to support his cause of stopping further postponements and getting on with the trial. Out of respect for his plea, we present below his letter to the BCF dated June 11, 2007:

Dear Boylston Chess Foundation Friends:

Today marks exactly nine months since my arrest on 9/11/2006. I have been held in jail at $1,000,000 cash bail for a crime or crimes I did not commit.

All along I have claimed my innocence and I am innocent. I have asked the court to bring me to trial so that I can be vindicated. My trial has been continued twice, first from March 2007 to June 2007 and now the June 2007 trial has also been continued.

In every instance I have asserted my right to a speedy trial, but the court has continued the case against my own objection and my lawyer's objections. I will be again in court on 6/25/07 for motions.

I should not be held in jail indefinitely without a trial. This is United States that is "supposed" to have a fair justice system NOT some third world country where people are kept in jail indefinitely without a trial.

Clearly the Hillsborough County and State of New Hampshire are violating those fundamental conceptions of justice which lie at the base of the American civil and political institutions, and which define the community's sense of fair play and decency on which the great American Constitution was founded.

My Constitutional rights are being violated. The sixth and fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States and Article 14 Part 1 of the New Hampshire Constitution guarantee the right to speedy trial. Nine months have passed by. No trial yet.

As a concerned citizen, I am kindly asking you and anyone you know (pass along the information at chess) who stands for justice to come to Nashua N.H. Superior Court on 6/25/2007 at 1:00 p.m. in support of justice.

I am hopeful that if a lot of people show up, the Court will feel the pressure to get my case to trial. If you recall, I organized chess in New England for six years, spent over half a million dollars, subsidized hotel rooms for players to stay overnight and when water ran out I physically went to hotel kitchens, lifted containers and filled the ones in the tournament room. I always try to meet people's needs. The need at hand is justice. Imagine if this was you detained for nine months for something you did not do or it was a member of your family or a loved one.

In case law, United States V. Marion 404 U.S. 307(1971) the Supreme Court articulated the concerns underlying the right to a speedy trial. It stated, "...arrest is a public act that may seriously interfere with the defendant's liberty, ... and that may disrupt his employment, drain his financial resources, curtail his associations, subject him to public obloquy and create anxiety in him, his family and friends." This is what I have been experiencing the last nine months. Please do something for justice's sake.

I will state it again, all I am asking for is to be brought to trial. Come to Nashua N.H. Superior Court on 6/25/07 at 1:00 p.m. (30 Spring Street). Your presence should make a difference.

Yours in search of justice,
Severine Wamala

Playing by the Rules - UPDATE

After an impressive 42 comments on my clock episode at the BCC, I thought I should follow up with news.

My opponent in that game decided not to withdraw from the tournament after all. Instead he chose to return the following Thursday to protest some more. Inexplicably, he was trying to insist that the night's pairings were all wrong because it lists our game as a win for me (Jason), and now his tournament is all messed up. (Note: It turns out that he was paired with a 2200 player who had an upset loss last week. No wonder he was so adamant about the "bad" pairings!)

I also understand the BCC has to form some kind of protest committee to hear the merits of the situation and make a ruling.

Jason

Chessdom Interview Part 1: BCC Weblog

Chessdom: At the beginning, can you tell us what topics are of interest for Boylston Chess Club Weblog?

DG: BCC Weblog is ultimately the synthesis of two perspectives – 1) what am I (and the other occasional posters) interested in writing about and 2) what do the readers respond to. I’ve experimented with a variety of different types of content and have had varied results. For example, coverage of the Knights Errant and the US Chess League has been very well received. So has the series of Caption Contests. On the other hand, when I tried to invite the blog readership to participate in a correspondence game the club was playing there was very little interest at all. Posts touching on the lighter side of chess in the news sometimes work and sometimes don’t.

Content specifically about the club, its events, its players, etc. has been a bit of an enigma. Going in to this effort, I certainly thought that this would be a major component of the blog. But frankly, people only seem interested if there is some controversy attached. It became clear to me early on, that the vast majority of the readership were not going to be club members and that therefore cross tables listing the names of people they’ve never heard of wasn’t likely to be of much interest. I still get complaints from time to time from members who feel that more club-specific content should be posted. My response is always the same, “Sign up as a poster and do it yourself.” Unfortunately, far too few take me up on the offer.

From an overall thematic perspective, I decided after a few months of blogging that BCC Weblog’s unique positioning would revolve around coverage of the chess blogosphere itself. There was no point in competing with Mig on International Chess coverage (I don’t have the contacts he has) or Dennis on Chess Analysis (I don’t have his skills or aptitude for the game). Maintaining a comprehensive listing of chess blogs is part of this, as is bringing interesting posts of others to the attention of readers. Where I can, I enjoy trying to find (sometimes esoteric) connections among the writings of different bloggers. There has also been pretty good response to my series of articles on Measuring the Chess Blogosphere.

It was certainly flattering when Michael Goeller wrote that BCC Weblog was "...the center of the chess blogging universe...", but in fact, from a marketing perspective, that was exactly the unique positioning I was trying to claim.

*****
You can read the entire interview here.

Here's a pleasant surprise...

Don Q. has posted a rare update at Mandelamaza.

Financial Mismanagement at the CJA?

The following "Policy Statements" (accusations?) are posted on Daren Dillinger's campaign website for Secretary/Treasurer of the Chess Journalists of America (CJA):

Our Treasurer should be the custodian of our financial records. His duty is to preserve them, so other officers (and regular members too, should be okay) can look at them and verify what has made money and what has not.

The entire CJA Executive Board should have year round access to the records as they plan throughout the year.

The Treasurer should NOT seek to hide the records from all officers and all members. . . as is being done now. . . with the support of the CJA President.

Having this hidden records policy, just after the current Treasurer going EIGHT YEARS without any financial statements, is an additional black mark. Proof of this violation of our Constitution and By-laws is contained in the PDF files of the Chess Journalist magazine posted at the CJA website. www.chessjournalism.org

You will note only an annual balance, no financial statement of any kind. Thankfully after eight years, statements were started up in 2006. . . although with a lot of errors!

Let us improve and move forward!

Daren Dillinger

Not being a member of the CJA, I have no idea about the veracity of any of Daren's statements. Perhaps some of our readers, who are also CJA members, can shed some light on these matters.

Of course, what I'm really wondering about, is what role the lady in the red dress played in all of this?

Hat Tip: Paid Advertisement in The Chessville Weekly Newsletter, Volume 6, Issue 22

This and $1.50 will buy me a cup of coffee

Chessdom has just published an interview with my favorite chess blogger. Me!

We discussed BCC Weblog, the Chess Blogosphere, the Knights Errant, Chess Clubs in the States, the US Chess League, and much more.

Chessdom: What are the motives behind one's decision to start a chess blog?

DG: One things for sure, it’s not for the money or the girls....

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be reposting some of the questions and answers here.

Chess Bloggers Exposed

dk has already fired a couple of warning shots (see the last part of this post and the first part of this one). He's planning a tell-all series on the lives of 15 chess bloggers. What dirt has he dug up? Whose reputations will be damaged and destroyed? How will readers respond once they learn about the dark underbelly of the chess blogosphere? It's all supposed to begin as soon as Tuesday.

Watch out fellow bloggers!

Playing by the Rules

During this week's Thursday Night BCC tournament, I was involved in a dispute over rules vs. "fair play". I would love to hear comments about this situation, especially how other people would have handled it.

Here is what happened:

At the start of the game, my opponent was about 10 minutes late. I was White, and I started my opponent's clock. He finally arrives, and he stops the clock and gets the TD. I was following an old rulebook, and I didn't make White's first move. After looking up the rule, we learn that I was in error, and that this rule now states that White should make the the first move. We reset the clocks and started play. Please remember who set the rulebook tone for this match.

Fast forward to a cliffhanger position. I had sacked two pawns for the initiative, but now, with 15 seconds vs. 40 seconds, my attack was slowed, and I was still down a pawn. With two moves to play for the first time control, my opponent inexplicbly stops the clock for a rule clarification. With the seconds ticking, I found this break to be most annoying and distracting. A little rude.

He wants to know what happens if time runs out, but neither of us have a complete scoresheet. He is told that, in order to claim a win on time, the player must have a complete score, missing up to three moves. So, if both sides have stopped taking score, then the clock will advance to the next time control, with neither side able to claim a flag. During this discussion, I looked down at my scoresheet, and I realized that I was missing 5 or 6 moves. I WAITED UNTIL HIS CLOCK WAS RESTARTED, and then I quickly filled in the missing moves, and watched as my opponent inexplicibly let his time run out, perhaps thinking that we both still had incomplete scores.... So I claimed a win on time.

He was very angry about this and claimed that the TD had misled him, that he was told the time didn't matter, even though another witness supported the account of the TD. He complained about this for about 30 minutes, when the TD finally said that this is his ruling. He also said that we could keep playing, but it was my choice. I was tired, this argument ran the game very late now, and so I claimed my win. I pointed out that he may have misunderstood the rule somehow, but he wasn't very shy about implementing the letter of the law at the start of the game. I thought it only fair to the TD, who would have to stay past midnight, and to the rule-laden spirit of this encounter, to take the gift win and go home.

He tried to shame me for this cheapo, and I do feel a little bad about the win. But didn't he, in a way, start it? What do other people think?

Jason

The Art of Chess War

Brian Roche sent me a copy of the following article he wrote for Chess Life Magazine back in the 80's. According to Brian, "It's basically a translation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu (500 B.C.), geared for chess players." Do any of the ideas resonate with you?

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Strategies for Chessplayers and Other Warriors
by Brian Roche
(From “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, 500 B.C.)

Assessment

Each new position should be assessed quickly in terms of: 1. Development, 2. Mobility, 3. Material superiority, 4. Tempo and 5. Space.
Strategy consists of shaping some advantage in terms of these five points. Whichever side wins more “points” in these areas will probably win the game.

The Art of Deceit

When able, seem to be unable.
When close, seem to be far off.
If opponent is seeking an advantage, entice them toward it.
If opponent is in disorder, attack.
If opponent is strong, prepare your defense.
Attack undefended, unprepared areas.
Never attack fortresses.
Develop in unexpected ways (i.e. change move order).

Time

Make moves as quickly as possible. “I have heard of foolish haste, but I have yet to see a case of cleverly dragging on hostilities.”
Learn to assess positions quickly and use clock time only when you need it.

Planning

“It is best to keep one’s own side intact; to crush the opponent’s position is only second best. The highest excellence is to subdue the attacker without fighting at all.”

Types of Attack

1. Attacking opponent’s strategy
2. Attacking a menacing combination
3. Attacking individual pieces
4. Attacking a strong point

Of these four, the first is the most effective, the fourth is the least. Resort to attacking a strong point only when there is no other choice. Do not attack until pieces are aligned (supporting each other) and ready (developed). Similarly, do not retreat from a good position. Always ask what each piece (on both sides) is “doing.”

Strategic Positions

Make your own position invincible, then look for opponent’s vulnerable spots. You can always fortify your position; you cannot guarantee an opponent’s vulnerability. “The battle of the expert is seldom an exceptional victory. The expert only enters battles that are already won!.”
Practice playing with and without an advantage. Understand both perspectives. Practice offensive and defensive play, according to circumstances.
Use surprise and straightforward operations. “When used in combination, they provide inexhaustible possibilities.”
One must always adapt to changing circumstances, “There are no fixed strategic advantages or invariable positions.”

Strong and Weak Points

Attack areas where the opponent must hasten to defend.
“Against the expert of attack, the opponent does not know where to defend. Against the expert of defense, the opponent doesn’t know where to attack.”
“To be prepared everywhere is to be weak everywhere. One is weak while making preparations; strong while forcing the opponent to prepare.”

General Strategies

Strive for a “formless” position. A winning position more often arises from “no-form” than from an obvious strategy.
Out and out attack is always difficult and dangerous. Try luring your opponent into easy gains (gambits), thereby anticipating the position.
It is a great advantage to secure and fortify squares that are precisely important points in your opponent’s strategy.
“Do not depend on your opponent not attacking; depend rather on having a position that can’t be attacked.”
It is when your opponent is not attacking or changing position that you must be cautious.
Material inferiority is not necessarily a disadvantage. Advance carefully, consolidate pieces and anticipate attacks.
Always look at the advantage and disadvantages of every move (on both sides).
Try to use opponent’s pieces and position to your advantage.
“Command of a position involves wisdom, integrity, humanity, courage and discipline.”

A Blast from the Past

With the Weaver Adams U1800 Championship underway at the club, it's worth pointing out that the Boylston Chess Club website contains a selection of Adams' games played in the 1940's against BCC legend Harry Lyman.

The Kings of NY, The Crazy Bishop of MA

I got a chance to read Michael Weinreb's "The Kings of New York" about a month ago. The book is about the Murrow School scholastic chess dynasty and their quest for yet another US High School Chess Championship. I'm not inclined to write a full review since there already are many available in print, traditional chess websites and chess blogs. Instead, here are a few impressions and a Boylston Chess Club connection.

First, while all the reviews I've read have been glowingly positive, I must admit that the book got off to a slow start for me. Through the first seven or so chapters, I kept reading because I wanted to like this book about chess culture, but frankly I found all the pages dedicated to background stories to be a bit tedious. However, things really turned around once the boys from Murrow started participating in tournaments. Suddenly the story started to sparkle, the tension grew, and I felt like I was back in the middle of my scholastic tournament days. From that point on I was hooked and thoroughly enjoyed the read until the end.

Second, there isn't actually that much chess in the book (e.g., positions, game scores or analysis) which shouldn't come as much of a surprise since it really is a story written for a broad audience (not specifically for chess players). I found that when Michael was describing key chess concepts he almost always got them right, but sometimes stated things a bit imprecisely. Several times I felt like saying, "Well, that's technically correct, but I wouldn't exactly say it that way." My guess is that this is to be expected when a non-chess playing author is writing for a non-chess playing readership. That said, he deserves kudos for not getting it completely and utterly wrong, which can often be the case in these situations.

Next, do any of you know Sal Bercys? This poor kid comes across as a complete jerk in the book and I was wondering how much of the portrait is actually true. I bet he wasn't happy to see what was written about him, assuming he even bothered to read the book.

Finally, the BCC gets an implicit mention in Chapter 14 when one of the Murrow boys plays our very own Chris Williams. Michael's description of Chris is less than flattering, but that will come as no surprise to those of us who know him:

...Willy's playing Christopher Williams, a 2049 from Massachusetts, in Round Two. What could Willy possibly do against a 2000?

For once, Willy gets lucky. Willy happens to be playing a 2000 who allegedly lost his first-round game to a boy he hates, and because of that, this particular 2000 has allegedly ceased caring, and has figured he might as well take a dive in this game as well. So he plays fast, and shifts all his pieces to the queen's side of the board, and Willy, playing an opening called the closed Sicilian (a 2000 should know how to counter this), attacks from the king's side, and before you know it, in under an hour, the game's over. Two games, and Willy has two points. "To me," Willy says, "I think he wanted to lose."

Dam!

Not one, but two items involving beavers and chess:

• "CBS Cancels Plans for Series on Chess Playing Beaver"
  
  
• Our friends from Rozerem, makers of a highly publicized prescription sleep medication, have put together a website where you can play chess against their spokesbeaver. During the game, the beaver will harangue you for moving too slowly and offer you congratulations when you make good moves. I particularly like it when you win material and the beaver says, "oh, didn't see that coming." Unfortunately, even in advanced mode, the beaver is a fish; so while it might be fun to crush him a few times while practicing your new tactical skills, the experience is ultimately rather boring. Then again, maybe that's the idea -- to help put you to sleep. (Hat Tip: Chess Corner)
  

Who says you can't play chess at work?

Here is a primer on how to play Desk Chess.

Holiday Chess

I have no doubt that most chess bloggers took a moment or two over the Memorial Day holiday to think about the many heroes who have given their lives in the defense of freedom. That being said, there was still plenty of time to play chess during the long weekend.

The best Memorial Day weekend chess report comes from chessloser at Hardcore Pawnography. He attended his first OTB tournament -- the US Amateur West Championship in Tucson, Arizona. Now, before you click on the link, I must warn you that chessloser's posts often contain not-ready-for-primetime language. He did title his blog "Hardcore", after all. If you think you're going to be offended by reading the f-word several times, then don't read his post. Consider yourself warned!

For those who opt not to read the entire post, here are some high points:

somehow, the kid goofs, i end up pushing a pawn and i mate him. holy crap. i think i won. yep, i won.... outside, i thank him. i tell his mom and coach he played really well, i got lucky. his mom is angry at him, his coach is angry at him. his mom says “you didn’t get lucky, he played bad and let you get lucky.” i thank her and quickly back away. poor kid....

i walk around handing out HARDCORE PAWNOGRAPHY stickers, pimping out my chess blog. turns out lots of chess players don’t know about chess blogs. also turns out lots of parents think i am trying to sell porn or something. only a few people laugh at the title and realize it’s about chess without explanation. some, with explanation, still think it’s about porn....

i learn that there is a rule that says black gets to choose what side the clock goes on. YOU GOTTA BE ... KIDDING ME! you mean that there has to be a rule for that?!?!?! are chess players that socially retarded that two adults can’t come to an agreement on what side a clock is on without it being in the rules? wow....

my opponent is another 10 year old asian kid. rated 1204. i’m black and i’m aggressive, he is up on material shortly, and he is mated shortly. my nickname for this tournament should be SARS, as i am deadly against the asian kids....

Here are some other bloggers who spent their holiday over the sixty-four:

• Vinny at the Chicago Open - Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
  
  
• Atomic Patzer at the US Amateur East - Day 1, Day 2 and 3
  
  
• Harish at the Chicago Open
  
  
• Simone at MDC '07