What marketing genius thought of this?

It's not there anymore, but for about a week, one of the Google ads on the site was promoting "Tournament Chess Ringtones." An interesting target market to focus on given the FIDE rule which imposes an immediate forfeit on any player whose cell phone rings during the game. Maybe the ringtone was an excerpt from John Cage's 4'33"?

24 posts about chess?

Jeepish.com sums up Season 5: 12-1am ...

With only 6 more episodes left, the chess board is set for everyone to make their final moves.

Chess Boxing?

From The Sweet Science blog:

...heavyweight contender Dominick Guinn [offers] an insight into Saturday's Wladimir Klitschko/Chris Byrd heavyweight showdown from Germany.

"It will be a chess match...."

How much would you pay to join?

We've previously covered the topic of tournament entry fees, but a couple of recent posts got me thinking about chess club membership costs.

The first by Robert Pearson talks about his preference for playing OTB "far more than any other form of chess." In this context, he discusses the value of the physical place to play, i.e., the chess club:

The atmosphere of a chess club is comfortable, like a good pair of jeans, to me; silence during the games but for the ticking clocks, animated post-mortems, the occasional 'difference of opinion.'

I've always felt the chess club was a special place for players, at its best far more than just a place to play. It embodies social, community and historical elements which enrich the overall experience. I'm thinking about full-time places like the Marshall Club in New York and the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco. While not as impressive a space as these, I contend that our own Boylston Chess Club captures much of this same spirit and I'm sure there are others. While there is nothing wrong with playing a weekly tournament game at a local coffee shop or community center, I think it is difficult for occasional, "temporary" spaces like these to engender the same experience.

If you believe as I do (and you may very well not), then you must eventually ask yourself what it is worth to join and support such a club. In the second post, Dennis Monokroussos gives his answer:

On the one hand, I'm familiar with the plight of the nomadic club - our local club has gone from one bookstore to another, was briefly located in a pub and now meets in the deli section (after it closes) of a local supermarket.... On the other hand, I have to admit that unless Kasparov was giving members-only lectures, I would not pay $200 for a year's membership. Further, I know that plenty of others would find such a fee prohibitive.

Let's put aside for the moment those players who simply don't have the economic means to pay for a club membership (most clubs offer non-member rates for individual events and I can't imagine the BCC turning away a player for purely economic reasons, although I suppose we'd probably deduct their entry fee from any prize they won). Among the rest, we've found scores of people willing to invest $125/year to be members of the club even though it might be more economically feasible for them to pay an extra $5 for the 10-12 tournaments a year they participate in. Obviously they see some inherent value in the club beyond this pure economic calculus. And, quite honestly, without them the rent could not be paid and the club would not exist. In New York, the Marshall charges up to $325 /year and many are willing to pay.

Do you think there is value in full-time, permanent chess clubs? If so, how much are you willing to pay to ensure their survival?

Why bother studying endgames?

Vichy Democrats' take on the recent shakeup and departures at the White House:

What do all these White House staff shakeups have in common? They're all window dressing. Yes, it's good to knock down as many neocon operatives as we can. It's also good to take pawns in chess, but it seldom wins the game.

The poster may or may not know much about politics, but he obviously has a lot to learn about chess.

By any other name

Thanks to J'adoube for pointing out this anagram creation tool. My first few attempts were unsuccessful -- BCC Weblog has no anagrams, Boylston Chess Club Weblog and Boylston Chess Club are too long for the tool. However, I did ultimately find the following:

• Boylston Chess - the rather techie "BENCH TOOLS SYS"


• Boylston - "SLOB TONY" (any resemblance to a real person is totally unintentional !?)


• Somerville - "REMOVE ILLS"


• ... and my favorite, Chess Club - "BELCH CUSS"
  

Never Mind

Here are a few headlines from stories at Google News:

From The Philippines - Torre backs youth chess.

It's nice to see the New York Yankees manager taking some time out to support the kids.

From Vietnam - Dung ... win[s] at chess.

Who gives a sh**?

From Africa - Zambia: Country closed Chess championship.

Maybe we should refer them to the UN for possible sanctions unless they agree to reopen it.

The best laid plans of mice and men

GilaChess stumbles upon a blinding insight:

Of course, my previous training plans bore no useful results as I didn't follow any of the steps I laid out.

Chess In Words

Link

Three from the BCC Weblog Inbox

1. Don Q, of Man de la Maza fame, reports that he has completed his second quest. Now that he has established himself as the preeminent organizer of community blog-based questing, it will be interesting to see what adventure he takes up next.


2. Chessdad64 is happy to announce that he finally figured out how to add links to his blog, The 64 Square Jungle. Since it only took him a bit over a year, folks like Quandoman shouldn't give up hope.


3. Chessdad64 also pointed me in the direction of the North American Chess Association -- apparently the next iteration of FIDE Chess in Chicago. What this means for the FIDE Chess in Chicago blog (which hasn't been updated since March 14th) remains to be seen.
   
   Update (3:15pm): Asked and partially answered ... a new post on FIDE Chess in Chicago points you to the new North American Chess Association blog.

It's about food, not chess

From "Shhhhh... children playing chess" at The Beacon Journal:

In between rounds, players gathered in the cafeteria at their teams' tables and the players who kept good notes of each move would re-create the game they had just played while coaches analyzed their decisions, corrected mistakes and suggested alternatives.

Such thinking requires brain food: 40 boxes of pizza for starters.

Parent volunteers such as Mary Gombert of Uniontown were serving hot dogs at 9 a.m. The big pot of chili was drained by 1 p.m.

"Now they want the candy," Gombert said.

Wonka Nerds -- grape and strawberry flavored -- were the preferred snack for novice player Laura Benzing, a 7-year-old North Canton student at Portage Montessori.

Beauty and the Geek - Boston casting details

We will be in Boston ... 4/19 - 4/25 casting for the third season, of the Ashton Kutcher hit show "Beauty and the Geek". If possible, we would love to come by and meet any men in your club who may be interested in participating in the show.

Beauty and the Geek IS CASTING FOR A THIRD SEASON...

We are currently seeking...

We are once again looking for very smart guys 21-30 years old with a high IQ and a savvy intellect. If you are more likely to be featured on Jeopardy rather than The Bachelor then we NEED you. This opportunity could make you RICHER IN LIFE (AND EVEN LOVE).

Do you know a good guy (who may just be socially inept when it comes to the ladies) But, who deserves a GREAT break in life? Finally, a reality show where being smart PAYS OFF with a MAJOR cash prize!

Are you sick and tired of those reality shows featuring the attractive man with not much substance? We're turning the tables and showing America that smart guys have more to offer. If you can teach a beauty a thing or two then this could be your perfect opportunity!

FINALLY A SHOW WHERE INTELLIGENT GEEKS FINISH FIRST AND RICH!

Send us an email asap to: djfeld@gmail.com

Be sure to include your name, age, a brief bio, your phone number and a picture if you have it. Last year's winning team won $250,000!!!!!!

For more information, call 310-793-6170, ask for Tarita or DJ

Snafu, Inc., 3 Ball Productions, Inc., Katalyst Films, Inc., Flashlight 21 (collectively, "Producer'), and The WB Network ("Network") make no guarantee that applicants will be selected for participation in the audition process and/or the program presently-entitled "Beauty and the Geek" (the "Program"). Producer is under no obligation to conduct auditions and/or to produce the Program. By submitting your application, you acknowledge and agree that: (i) Producer has no obligation to produce the Program, and, if produced, neither Producer nor Network has any obligation to broadcast the Program, even if produced; (ii) all decisions by Producer and/or the Network concerning selection of the contestants for the Program are final and not subject to challenge or appeal for any reason; and (iii) Producer has no obligation to return any materials submitted by any applicant as part of the application process, whether or not such applicant is auditioned and/or selected as a contestant. Any material provided to Producer (including, without limitation, videotapes, photographs, etc.) and all material that Producer creates as part of the application and contestant selection process shall remain the sole property of and shall be freely assignable by Producer. If you submit an application and/or any materials for consideration as a contestant on the Program, whether or not you are selected for any further consideration as a contestant on the Program, Producer shall have the right to use your name, voice, likeness, appearance, biographical information, any information or material provided by you to Producer, and any motion or still pictures or recordings Producer may make of you, in any and all media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide in perpetuity, and you hereby release Producer from any and claims, actions, damages, liabilities, losses, costs and/or expenses arising out of or resulting from Producer's exercise of its rights hereunder. Your rights and remedies against Producer shall be limited to the right, if any, to recover money damages in an action at law, and you shall not be entitled to terminate or rescind any agreement between you and Producer or any of the rights you grant to Producer, or to enjoin or restrain the development, production, distribution, advertising or other exploitation of the Program or any rights therein.

Lined up like pawns

From pipSqueek - my wheel of life:

Every Friday from 8pm, there is line dancing session at my office building’s atrium. I was amazed at the huge crowd tonight and stood by the side watching them for awhile.

I dont get it. How is that dancing? They are just walking through memorised steps. I guess the word “line” included is because they dance in rows....

I can understand the purpose of participating. It is some form of exercise and yeah, it is fun. But to call it dancing? It’s just like calling chess a sport.

Don't you find it interesting that there is a place on this planet where people like to go line dancing in office buildings after work?

Play in the Boylston - MetroWest match

From Bob Oresick's e-mail to the BCC e-mail list:

Jonathan Lee has been organizing a friendly match between the Boylston and MetroWest clubs. We will play one game on Sunday, May 7 at the BCF in Davis Square. If you are interested in playing a board, please sign up at the club or email me [oresick (at) gmail (dot) com]. It should be fun. The more, the merrier. You don't need to be a current BCC member (though it would be nice.)

The best thing to happen to chess since...

The casting people for Beauty and the Geek have contacted the club again -- this time looking for Geeks for Season 3.

Hi,

I am DJ Feldman, Casting Director for season 3 of the Beauty and the Geek. In the next few weeks, we will be coming to Boston to conduct auditions. I wanted to know if you had any suggestions/recommendations from your chess club or any other places of interest to hit.

Thank you in advance for your help, it is much appreciated.

DJ Feldman
Casting Director
Beauty and the Geek (season 3)
djfeld@gmail.com

No doubt Howard Goldowsky will be trying out for his favorite show (though I suspect they aren't really looking for old guys like us). How about you?

Equal Rights Amendment

"After the game of chess is over both the King and the Pawn have to return to the same box" -- from the movie Being Cyrus.

Hat Tip: Welcome To The Devil's Lair

Intriguing Title

Sure wish I knew what this post was about, but Google Translate wasn't particularly helpful.

Another one comes up to bat

Three cheers for the newest Quester -- welcome to The Hungarian Knight.

Southpaws

From the "The Left-Hander’s 2005 Calendar" by Cary Koegle:

Left-handers are often natural chess players.

Any lefty chess players out there?

Hat Tip: Bridget Jones's (Other) Diary

Game Interrupted

From "Easter Holidays" at The Waffle:

So anyway, I was playing chess with Sam, and then she says she has to leave! Twice! Just as I was about to win, she leaves. Then I was playing chess with Craig, then I had to go home. So I haven't played a full game of chess yet, and no one else wants to play, or they can't. And that totally sucks. Well, I'm gonna go now and see if Shannen wants to play chess. Wow, I just read all that and I sound so sad.

Juxtaposition

I don't think this blog will have much interest to the chess blog reading community, nor do I think it will find a place in the listings. Nevertheless, I do like its title -- Rantings of a Chess-Playing Flutist.

Chess Joke

There aren't a lot of chess jokes, and even fewer good ones (this is not one of them).

Question: Why can't Michael Jackson play chess?

Answer: Because he can't decide whether to be Black or White!

For those of you prone to screaming fits of political correctness, I remind you -- I'm only the messenger.

The case against chess in schools?

From Vengeance:

Our esteemed leader ... has fallen into the trap of preaching the ever-popular I'm sure, cockeyed notion that video games are a preparation for success in the real world of getting and spending, and climbing corporate ladders....

The ultimate 'Game' is chess. In fact it's virtually the only game that garners near universal respect. Yet, it's been proven over and over that even becoming World Champion chess player has near absolutely zero power to assist the chess player to succeed in the real world.

All one needs to do is hang around a chess club for a few hours to know that this is true.

More chess on 24

12:00AM to 1:00AM (Season 1 Minute to Minute)
12:03 A.M. - Jack Bauer plays chess with his daughter Kimberly in their home.

Hat Tip: 24 (English)

Caption Contest VII

Post your caption in the comments.

Source

Coffee and Chess

So now I know why so many chess clubs meet in coffeehouses:

Coffee stimulates conscious mental associations, whereas alcohol, for instance, provokes instinctual responses. In other words, alcohol typically makes us want to eat, fight, make love, dance, and sleep, whereas coffee encourages us to think, talk, read, write, or work.... For the Moslems, the world's first coffee drinkers, coffee was the "wine of Apollo," the beverage of thought, dream, and dialectic, "the milk of thinkers and chess players."

....From the inception of the coffeehouse in Mecca to the present, customers in cafes tend to talk and read rather than dance, play chess rather than gamble, and listen contemplatively to music rather than sing.

Kissing Chess

Some people just love to play the game...

We headed out to Kelsey's & had some drinks at their little bar area & we ran into Chess, this guy I used to work with back in the day. Yeah, that's really his name. Chess. His parents must have liked the game or something. Anyways, Emily headed out early because she has to start work at 8am, like a SUCKER, so Chess & I decided to head back to my place to try & catch The Office since he also enjoys the show, then we could catch up on what we've been up to since we last talked. Half an hour before the show starts & Chess tells me he had had a crush on me when we worked together, & I quickly see where this is going & I know I have a limited amount of time before he tells me he still does, then I have to react & I don't know what I think of it all. I've never thought of him romantically. But in lieu of telling me he decides to show me. Yep, just leaned in for a kiss, & there I am still trying to figure out whether I like him or not. He's attractive & we got along quite well back in the day, but I don't know him now, but surprisingly I kiss him right back. He's a good kisser, what can I say?

World Champion Fashion

In Wijk Ann Zee, FIDE World Chess Champion Veselin Topalov showed off the latest in chess biker wear.

Hat Tip: Olena's Live Journal

Measuring the Chess Blogosphere II

It has been awhile since my first post on this topic. Since then, I've thought of several other ways to try to rank chess blogs, though many would require time consuming research I haven't been inclined to embark upon.

One relatively easy way (though, as usual, fraught with issues and limitations) is by Google Page Rank (click the link for the wikpedia entry on Page Rank). For purposes of this post, all I'll say is that Page Rank is another derivative measure of the number of links your site has from other websites. Scaled from 0-10, the higher the number the greater probability that your site will place higher in Google searches (which in turn, might lead to a larger number of visitors finding your site through searches). However, Page Rank is not a measure of visitors, page views or quality.

A Page Rank of zero can have several meanings. If your blog is relatively new it is possible that Google has not yet indexed it. Even if it has been indexed, it is possible that Google has yet to update its Page Ranks, which it seems to do only several times a year. If your blog has been around for 4-6 months or so and still has a zero, then I'm sorry to say that score is probably "earned."

Let's take a look at the numbers, beginning with the currently active Knights Errant:

4 - Blue Devil, Generalkaia, Montse, Phorku, Temposchlucker

3 - CelticDeath, Druss, Funkyfantom, Fussy Lizard, Guru, J'adoube, King of the Spill, Pale Morning Dun, Pawn Sensei, Pomaranch Captain, Salcido, Sancho Pawnza, Smith-Morra, St. Patzer, Takchess

0 - Blunder Prone, Mate in Three, Pendrax

A few of the foreign language chess blogs stand out from the rest:

6 - Tour a tour

5 - Schachblatter

4 - Vaatleja

3 or less - all other foreign language blogs

The ranking of Estonian blog Vaatleja seems a bit incongruent, though perhaps all 20 other Estonian blogs in the sphere link to it :).

Among all other active chess blogs, the highest rankings ones are oftentimes expected though occasionally surprising:

6 - About Chess, ChessBase News, The Chessmill

5 - Boylston Chess Club Weblog, Daily Dirt Chess Blog, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's Podcasts, Magnifichess, Open Chess Diary, Susan Polgar Chess Blog

4 - Chess Game in Colour, Chess News and Events, FIDE Chess in Chicago, Jim Eade's Chess Journal, King's Gambit, Online Chess Blog, OnlineChess.ca, Shakmaty Bereolos, Slugfest, the Ruy Lopez show, The 64 Square Jungle, The Chess Mind, The Kenilworthian

3 or less - everyone else

I don't know how to explain the ranking of The Chessmill, though its archives go back to July 2002 so perhaps longevity is a factor. Magnifichess is one of many blogs that the author interlinks (demonstrating one of the methods by which these rankings can be manipulated). The rest seem consistent with my expectations.

Chess on TV - for real!

Game Show Network (GSN) has been airing a documentary series entitled "Anything to Win." On April 9th at 8pm EDT look for the premiere of the next installment, "The Mad Genius of Bobby Fischer."

In addition to excellent Chess tactics, Fischer was known to utilize the element of intimidation and control in challenging opponents, organizations and governments. From using extreme psychological warfare to defeat Boris Spassky for the title of World Chess Champion, to defying the United States government in order to play a match on his terms, Fischer has proven he will do anything - rational or not - to win.

Hat Tip: Delaware Chess Weblog

Crossing the line

Link

Shahade Storms Western Mass

Two chances to see "Chess Bitch" author WIM Jennifer Shahade in Amherst, Massachusetts this Saturday, April 8th.

1:00pm - Talk, 2:00pm - Simul
AMHERST COLLEGE
Seeley G. Mudd Building
Amherst College Campus map
Free

8:00pm - Book Reading and Signing
AMHERST BOOKS
Information
Free

Where it all happens first

Howard Goldowsky has an amusing April Fool's Day piece up at ChessCafe in which he pokes good natured fun at many topics in Caissa's domain. While Howard doesn't mention the chess blogosphere specifically, it is quite clear that our bastion of the chess world serves as inspiration and source material for his article.

First, consider these lines in his comments about Susan Bipolar:

This needs to be said for her benefit -- Susan never steals content from other websites, and she never uses ghostwritten material from Paulways Wrong, her lover (I mean, friend) and PR man -- this just needs to be said for the record.

Next, he has some friendly jibes for all the MDLMers out there:

I've been following a training program invented by this fellow, Cant Make de la Masta....

He has this training program called the Satan Circles, where, on the last day of the program, you need to practice making both live animal sacrifices as well as sacrifices with chess pieces on a board. You need to sit for, like, ten straight hours, solving chess problems and slicing, at an average of one neck every 30 seconds, the heads off various rodents and squirrels. It's quite a tedious and emotionally painful process...

Finally, to demonstrate conclusively that the blogosphere served as his source, consider this comment which Howard left on a BCC Weblog post about competitive fashion...

The babes are the distraction, man. It's the babes.

I remember once, when I was 16 or 17, I was playing in the National HS Championships down in Knoxville, TN. There was a girl there -- her name was Mimi -- and she was from Sweden. She had the long, straight, deep blond hair and blue eyes that you think about when you think about 16 year old Swedish girls. And she came with her Mom, who was also blonde and beautiful. (I am not kidding.) I don't know why they were there. I think they were visiting family or friends, and their visit just happened to coincide with the tournament.

This girl was a serious player, too. She was rated over 1900. She destroyed all of us HS hacks, and it was embarrassing. She spoke English with an accent like a perfect melody. In the Skittles room, teenage boys were lined up four rows deep watching her play. Everybody wanted to be near her, to talk to her, to look at her. Every day I think she just wore jeans, sneaker, and a T. It didn't matter.

...and compare it to this passage from his piece:

The babes are the distraction. I remember once, when I was 16 or 17, I was playing in the National HS Championships down in Dallas, Texas. There was a girl there -- her name was Mia, Mia Crumbling, or something like that -- and she was from Sweden. She had the long, straight, blond hair and blue eyes that you think about when you think about 16-year-old Swedish girls. I don't know why she was there. I think she was visiting her family or something, and her visit just happened to coincide with the tournament.

This girl was a serious player. She was rated over 2200 while, you know, my friends and I were class-E hacks. She destroyed all of us, and it was embarrassing. Every day she just wore jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt, but it didn't matter.

Chess Blogs, the cutting edge of chess culture -- be a reader!

Chess Poetry VII

Lovechess by Ivory Sand

When the game starts in the dawn
I suddenly see move a pawn.
The sun is rising and gives us light,
and you see move my knight.

The game goes on, you take my men,
and I take yours where I can.
The end is nearing and we 're tired
But we all are inspired..

Please say yes,
let's play chess,
let's play chess of love.

Read more...

Why can't we get tournament sites like this?

From "Chess league gets a practice jump on state tourney" at the Chico (CA) Enterprise Record:

With the idea of giving students practice at longer game times, some 100 school-age chess players from all over the county and beyond attended a tournament Saturday.

Space was provided at Sierra Nevada Brewery for the 96 players in the Sacramento Valley Scholastic Chess League.

I wonder if they provided post-tournament samples to the kids?

Blogosphere Potpourri

Here are a few happenings from around the chess sphere:

• chess_underground has announced the inaugural issue of underground_review -- a free newsletter covering "the other side of chess." Sounds spooky.




• Chess Improvement, the blog formerly known as GilaChess, is now the blog formerly known as Chess Improvement. This week's name is Chess Training (not to be confused with Jeff Ashton's Chess Training Blog). I hope he makes his mind up soon.




• Need a fix of inane conversation, music and bad chess? After a long hiatus, the Ruy Lopez show is back with a new podcast.




• en passant Schachblog shows off the newest in chess clock fashion.




• As always there are plenty of new listings, especially if you speak Spanish or Portuguese.

Boylston team wins US Amateur Championship

Congratulations to Boylston Chess Club Members Charles Riordan, Alex Cherniack, Lawyer Times and Charlie Mays who won yesterday's playoff for the 2006 US Amateur Team Championship. In the semi-final round they defeated Team South 3-1 and got by Team West in the finals by a 2.5-1.5 score. Hopefully when Charles has a chance, he'll provide some direct participant commentary on the day's matches.

While the USCF doesn't provide cash prizes for the tournament (presumably to preserve the players' Olympic eligibility :)), I suspect we'll see the new Champions sporting their engraved commemorative watches around the club.

Related Posts: US Amateur Team Championship - Boylston invades New Jersey...

At the speed of light

They have some crazy scholastic tournament chess rules in England too:

The only real trick with this tournament is the "silent check" rule. So that games may be swift (you are expected to play up to 32 games in 2 hours in the first round), the "check" and "en garde" rules are muffled - if you uncover your king, the king gets taken; if I place you in check and you don't notice and don't block, again, the king gets taken. I've told others about this and they shriek that "that isn't how chess is played!", but that is how it goes at this tournament!

Let's see ... 32 games in 120 minutes is less than 4 minutes per game. So if you figure it takes a few seconds to find your next opponent and set-up between games, then they must be playing bullet chess. In that case, I suppose the king capture rules aren't all that unreasonable. On the other hand, why would they be running a bullet chess tournament for kids?

The pulse of chess nation

You can read BCC Weblog or get the word rehashed a day later.

Update (11:15am): Again!

Simple Minds

This morning's Sunday New York Times includes two articles which tangentially touch upon the topic of Chess on TV.

The first piece, located on the front page, is entitled "After Luck With Poker, ESPN Bets on New York Dominoes." That's right folks, televised Dominoes. As the article explains...

To the occasional domino player, it is a stretch to even call this quiet game of straight-faced strategy a sport. But anyone who has spent time in a Latino neighborhood in New York City could testify that dominoes played there - with the slammed-down tiles, the verbal sparring, the bragging and bluffing -— is no parlor game.

From the opening bid, a simple sidewalk match will quickly escalate into a raucous, freewheeling spectacle: a mini-fiesta where salsa and cigars, Bacardi and brown-bagged beers have as much a role as the little colored tiles with dots.

The games almost always draw spectators, so perhaps it is no surprise that the ESPN sports network has declared dominoes the next big spectator sport and is promoting it as both a colorful cultural touchstone and a highly competitive game, complete with rankings, formal tournaments, celebrity events and sponsors.

Obviously, the sports network big-wigs have taken from the poker experience, the lesson that simpler games work better on television. Yes, I know poker isn't actually a simple game at all, but as former chess player and WSOP champion Dan Harrington has stated, "...it is rather thin, compared to chess." What do you suppose is next on the agenda - Marbles, Gin Rummy, Three Card Monty, Candyland?

In the Business section, you'll find "Low-Cost Workouts for Young Minds." It's pretty much a standard piece on scholastic chess (including the obligatory quote from Susan Polgar), the business angle being that for most kids (i.e., those that don't get on the National Scholastic tournament circuit) the cost of playing chess is much less than many other activities "...like ice skating, ballet, squash, golf or the piano..." Near the end of article, they mention this interesting tidbit:

This spring, the game may make a bigger splash with the public. Following on the heels of television's "Celebrity Poker" and "Dancing With the Stars," ESPN has signed a deal to produce a televised celebrity chess tournament featuring Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes and others. "This is a charity tournament, but we hope to grow televised chess with sponsors and prize money," said Giovanni James, who is producing the show with Penny Marshall.

I've watched "Celebrity Poker" and have even enjoyed it, but I realize that much of it is poorly played poker. It will be interesting to see if there is a similar market for mediocre chess.

Revolutionary Chess Quote of the Day

"Until we all start raging against the machine, the machine will continue to beat us at chess." - Ethan Allen Hawley

Wilderness Chess

Link

US Amateur Team Championship

There will be a playoff among the four regional winners this Sunday, April 2nd at 1pm EDT on the ICC. The East will be represented by Boylston Chess Club members NM Charles Riordan, NM Alex Cherniack, Lawyer Times and Charlie Mays. Log on and cheer them on!

Related post: Boylston invades New Jersey...

Encounters in Kalmykia

Howard Goldowsky gave me a heads-up to a new book which is coming out soon. Lost Cosmonaut by Daniel Kalder was published recently in the UK and is coming to the States in August. Here is Amazon.com's synopsis:

Lost Cosmonaut documents Daniel Kalder's travels in the bizarre and mysterious worlds of Russia's ethnic republics. Obsessed with a quest he never fully understands, Kalder boldly goes where no man has gone before: in the deserts of Kalmykia, he stumbles upon a city dedicated to chess and a forgotten tribe of Mongols; in Mari El, home to Europe's last pagan nation, he meets the Chief Druid and participates in an ancient rite; while in the bleak industrial badlands of Udmurtia, Kalder looks for Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47, and accidentally becomes a TV star. Profane yet wise, utterly honest and yet full of lies, "Lost Cosmonaut" is an eye-opening, blackly comic tour of the most alien planet in our cosmos: Earth.

Howard expressed the hope that "by the time Lost Cosmonaut comes out, Kirsan and Chess City will be history."

Resistance is still futile

From toparelthon's Live Journal:

Chess, my on-again off-again obsession, is off again after a couple of months of constant playing and studying the game. The last two weeks I have no desire to even look at a chess board, let alone play a competitive game. A part of me hopes that I have gotten chess out of my system for good, it is a game that requires far too much work and eats up way too much of my time when it occupies my attention. I fear this is just wishful thinking though; I have gotten rid of the chess monster before, and sooner or later it always returns.

That's because you've already been assimilated.

1K

According to Blogger, this is the 1000th post on Boylston Chess Club Weblog. Not much of a post I admit, but certainly a worthy milestone* to celebrate.

* Do Canadians use the term 'kilometerstone' instead?

What's in a name?

From "Bored? Try this chess group at Coastal Carolina" at The Charleston (SC) Post and Courier:

Andrew Incognito, assistant professor of math and statistics, placed seventh in a national chess competition when he was in the ninth grade.

Since then he has played things very low key and now goes totally unnoticed in the chess community.

Dawn of the Dead Down Under

The Amazing Human Body Exhibition is currently on display at Sydney Olympic Park until April 2nd. The Exhibition features "more than 20 aesthetically posed whole body specimens, transparent vertical and horizontal body slices together with more than 400 anatomical specimens."

Oz-Blog visited last weekend and provided the following report:

For $20, we got to see plasticized humans in poses like skiing, tennis and archery. Oh, there was also a cadaver playing chess, but he was taking forever to move!

For 24 fans only

From a list of Jack Bauer-isms:

• In chess, Jack Bauer can checkmate you in 1 move.

Wandering Minds

Kansas 4th grader Griffin Jacobson relies on distracted opponents to score points in scholastic tournaments.

"Sometimes people don't notice their moves, and they will just do something when they aren't paying attention," he said. "That's how I won one of my games."

Read "Chess players converge on KU" from the Lawrence Journal-World.

The Burdens of Knighthood

Many of the Knights have rightly pointed out that Michael De La Maza was unemployed during the period when he was pursuing his 7 circles training. I suppose it is also worth pointing out that he didn't have blogging as a time sink either. Most of today's Knights Errant don't find themselves under such favorable chess training circumstances, though I'm sure having an income is considered by most to be adequate compensation. Instead, now and again a Knight concludes that Caissa's (or MDLM's) call must be forsaken for other priorities. In the past few days, two such declarations have been made.

Mousetrapper has indicated that life and work preclude him from actively blogging for an indeterminate amount of time. Since he is already an MDLM graduate, I have listed his blog as such on the Other Knights Errant list.

DutchDefence plans to keep blogging but has concluded that it no longer makes sense to call himself a Knight.

Since i am doing nothing really de la Maza like, as in circlish, concentric squarish things and all that, i really do not see much of a reason for me to stay on.

Back in the day, when a Knight threatened to quit others would rally around and encourage him to continue (J'adoube comes to mind). But times apparently have changed; no one has yet appealed to Edwin to remain a Knight. For now, I have removed him from the list of active Knights and added his blog to the general sidebar.

Damaged Goods

Imagine you are 18 years old and ever since you were in third grade you've won every year's State Championship for your grade. Not only have you never lost a game during this streak, you've never even drawn one! Now imagine in your last Scholastic Championship Tournament it all comes crashing down.

Read the story of Michael Lostritto and watch him crack under the pressure before your very eyes.

Memphis-style dry rub chess

The BBQ Blog argues that tournament chess and competitive barbecue have much in common:

As anyone who has ever played the game of chess more than a few times can attest, it may take 10 or 15 minutes to learn the basics of the game, but....it's something that might never be mastered after a lifetime of dedication.

The concentration and dedication required are enormous. It's a game that you might be able to win against mediocre players, who haven't played much, but when you're up against more experienced players, it can be very, very humbling and very frustrating....

Competitive barbecue is very similar. It's a grassroots sport that is rewarding and fun, but long term success in the sport is not easy. I know more than a few teams that have been competing for years that have never won a grand championship or a reserve grand championship award. I know other teams that have won a few awards, but when the winning didn't continue, the teams chose to stop competing altogether. I know other teams that have had some success in specific categories here and there, but for whatever reason haven't been able to put together consistent results in all four categories enough to win consistently.

I'm thinking about a combined competition -- rounds of chess interspersed with pork ribs, chicken and brisket. Win or lose, you'll never go home hungry.

Chess Nuts

Link

A paramount Paramount

I'm sure it wasn't the BCC Weblog post, but it may have been Bob Oresick's e-mail ... in any case, we've had a nice turnout for this year's Paramount Double Round Robin tournament. Three 6-player sections are currently running. The first is topped by FM Chris Chase and includes 5 Experts/A-players. The second section is comprised of players rated from 1589 to 1782.

You can follow the results on the BCC News page.

Multi-Purpose Facilities

There is a legal battle shaping up over whether nine Los Angeles bathhouses and sex clubs are subject to new regulations on "commercial sex venues."

We “are not commercial sex venues at all,” nine gay bathhouses and sex clubs said in a lawsuit filed March 3 against Los Angeles County.

“That’s a lie,” said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who has been pushing county health officials to step up oversight over such businesses. “What are people going [there] to do? Play chess?”

Towards improved Championship blogging

The Patzer's Tale has some recommendations for improving the US Championship, including blogging-related ones:

• The champblog was a good idea, but needs to be expanded. A couple of interested players could be drafted as featured star bloggers, updating several times a day.

• Add multimedia content. Have a couple of people taking photos all day, everyday. Post the photos online. Record some audio or video in the skittles after each round and post it to the website (maybe as a podcast). You could even have a video confessional booth like on reality TV shows.

War of the Roses Quote of the Day

When asked if chess is a male-dominated game, 11-year-old Kao Smith scoffs, "No, it's just overpopulated by boys."

Read "Young female chess champions vanquish foes, take no prisoners" from the East Valley (AZ) Tribune.

Chess Poetry VI

Bangkok!
Oriental setting
And the city don't know what the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world in a
Show with everything but Yul Brynner

Time flies doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tyrolean spa has the chess boys in it
All change don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue

It's Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or this place

Read more...

Defending Chess in Bikinis

Clint Ballard has responded again to complaints about his use of bikini-clad models to promote chess:

Of course, I keep getting flamed for what a horrible person I am for using girls in bikinis to promote chess. The horrors. People who have not even seen the current pictures are saying that I am like a drug deal[er] in adultery. Or that I am just like all the other big TV advertisers (which doesn't seem so bad, until they say it is soft porn) using pretty girls to sell stuff.

Sigh. Flipping through late night TV, I go from a gun shootout on a street, fist fight that ends when crowbar cuts through skull and lodges in brain, some sort of "comedy" that portrays women as mindless inflated barbie dolls, slasher movie where slasher suddenly slashes slashees, etc. Sound familiar? That's what seems to be on 24/7. Would girls in bikinis teaching chess really be such a bad thing compared to all that? I think not.

I don't know if I really buy this argument or not. It sounds like one my kids justifying their actions by pointing out that their friends behave even worse. Besides, how can you tell what's "on 24/7" based on "late night TV"? Many of the more recent pictures are too risque for me to even consider reposting here -- chess rarely comes to mind when I'm looking at them (which is not to say that I don't enjoy them).

Exchanged

Boston Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo reacting to the news that he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds:

"[Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein and I] were pretty close. Probably as close as you can get to a GM as a player, but you know, the game is business, man, that's what it's about. It doesn't matter how you feel personally about somebody. You just make the best move. It's like playing a chess match, man. Just pieces on the freaking board."

Parallelism

Surfing and golfing go together like sky-diving and chess.

From "Costa Rica ready for another April of golfing and surfing" at Budget Golf.

Artiste d'échecs

Some interesting chess art from Bananoriz: Mars - Pièce - Dessinomancienne - Game

So much anger about lunch meat

Alan is ranting about spam:

What is it about spam? We can put a man on the moon, split the atom, clone a sheep, build a computer that can beat the world's greatest chess player, but we can't track down and arrest the handful of idiots who continually deluge the world's email systems with spam.

This sounds fun

From Renovak's Live Journal:

After a sit-in at McDonalds (eating fries with a McFlurry is not weird, goddamn it), went off with Angers and Qian to buy slinkies and then play around in the Science Centre playground like the mature 5 year olds we are. Suicide chess with half-life sized chess figures. My soul is so owned by the concept. XD. Ang took black and I took white and we dashed around screaming "eat my pawn!!" while Qian took photos. We, most obviously, have no brains.

Pluming their feathers

If it were any other team, I'd probably say they should focus more energy on their game than their logo. But since we are talking about last year's US Chess League Champion Baltimore Kingfishers, it's hard to complain. The Kingfishers recently unveiled their new logo (right) for the upcoming 2006 season.

For the groupies

Sophomore Jeremy Penna, president of the University of Delaware's Blue Hen Chess Club explains the benefits of playing chess:

"I play it to impress girls."

Read "Short-handed UD chess team takes top spot" from the UD Daily.

Shut Up!

Not only do you need put up with distractions from opponents and members of the gallery, but now there are chess sets that talk back to you (using profanity, no less):

...for the first time ever, [Barbara Kruger] has produced a chess set that talks. Every time a move is made, tiny concealed speakers in each piece utter forth a phrase, sentence, or statement, ranging from "Give me a break!" or, "This is SO over!" to a series of expletives.

Boylston player wins Nigerian Championship

About a year ago or so, former BCC member Chikwere Onyekwere played in several of our tournaments -- defeating some of the club's best players and taking several first place prizes. Now, Nigeria Chess Players Forum reports that Chikwere has won the Nigerian Chess Championship. In addition, he will be representing Nigeria in the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy.

In a separate post, they list his chess accomplishments from 1999-2006 (including his successes at the Boylston Chess Club).

Congratulations, Chikwere!

New secret to chess improvement revealed

Forget about studying tactics, openings or endgames; instead, have someone hit you in the head with a hammer right before the game starts. Don't believe me? Just read what Dr. Richard Petty has to say about playing chess while unconscious:

There is evidence that while most chess players spend virtually all of their time trying to calculate, strong players rely on unconscious process for most of the game, and only calculate for short periods when their unconscious tells them too. There is even evidence from brain imaging studies that average players activate all the cognitive areas of the frontal lobes while playing, with some temporal lobe activity as they try to remember their lessons. By contrast, a chess master uses many regions of his brain at once, and only occasionally activates parts of his frontal lobes when calculation is required.

Blogging like a chess player

At Music an Stuff, a moment of uncertainty:

Why do i even have a blog?!? They are as boring as BEING STUCK UP AT YOUR GRANDPARENTS HOUSE PLAYIN CHESS ALL WEEK!!!!!

I don't know ... as long as Grandma can give you a good game, I don't see the problem.

Run-On Chess Quote of the Day

"Chess to me is like an ex-girlfriend I haven't seen for years and suddenly when I got to see her, I couldn't help asking about all of what she had been through since the last time we stayed together, and couldn't leave as soon as I got stuck on her again." - ZZzone

Pocket Chess

Vicott has created a set of 11 chess themes for the Pocket PC.

Topalov Envy

Seoul Hero takes Chessbase to task for their Topalov-heavy coverage of Linares. He makes the case that Radjabov's performance was the real story.

New Knight, Old Knight?

Happened upon a new Knight this week ... well, sort of. Dragonslayer is authored by the same blogger who previously abandoned A Dragon's Quest. Now he's back for more CT-Art punishment. Why a new blog instead of continuing the old one? He hasn't said. Perhaps he forgot his Blogger password.

In more listing news:

• Ilanchess and the French blog ChessLand went 404.
  
• Twelve other blogs have been relisted as Inactive. The most notable is probably Rocky Kasparov, which I thought had great potential as the only blog covering Chessboxing training.
  
• I finally got around to translating Chess Collector again and discovered that the most recent post announced its end. A real disappointment, but I decided to make it an instant Classic. I did the same with the 2006 Champblog, now that the US Championship is over.
  
• Plenty of new listings including Chesswitch (another female chess blogger), NM Jeff Ashton's Chess Training Blog, and Kirk's Chess Odyssey (the "K" in all the C vs. K games posted at C's Chess).
  
• And, as has been mentioned elsewhere (here and here), two GMs have recently joined the blogosphere and earned a spot on the sidebar. Pascal Charbonneau's blog shows great potential; on the other hand, Gata Kamsky has posted only once and I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a quick exit for the Inactive list.

Why chessplayers rarely date

At MuNdAnE-mUsInGs, a list of thirteen ways in which sex and chess are similar -- here are my favorites:

9. The King has limited powers.

10. The Queen has phenomenal powers.

Take your chess to new heights

From Sinha's Live Journal:

I don't know why, but I suddenly have the urge to play chess on my rooftop... Best part is...it's not like it's FLAT or anything.

More amusing than fiction

Of course when I mentioned that the USCL expansion team from Seattle (managed by Clint Ballard) would have the best looking cheerleaders, I was making a joke. However, when Clint is involved nothing should be taken for granted. This is from his post on the new team:

It is a great honor to head up the Seattle Sluggers. I will try to get the Slugfest7 girls there to cheer the team on in a publicly visible location to build awareness of the team.

You can try to make this stuff up (like I did), but apparently there is no need to.

In other US Chess League news, the logos have been introduced for the Sluggers and the now named Tennessee Tempo.

The breaking point

It might be time for Cameron Porter to seek some counseling:

i had the worst dream the other night it was about a rabbit... it was a cute rabbit nice and playful and i liked it a lot then all of a sudden it attacked me biting me numerous times before choking to death on a chess piece.

Buy stock in Amazon.com

Keep reading chess blogs and you just might find that you've spent all your money on chess books:

• Der Alter Goniff and Patzer's Mind on Jonathan Rowson's Chess for Zebras
  
  
• Steve Learns Chess on Igor Khmelnitsky's Chess Exam and Training Guide
  
  
• Mate in Three on Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess (well, not exactly a review)
  

Chess geek loses

Howard Goldowsky reports on the end of the road for Joe Block on "Beauty and The Geek:"

Joe Block didn't win [Thursday] night, but they did have a 4-5 minute segment devoted to chess. Joe taught his partner, Brittany, how to play chess on a life-sized board (somewhere near a beach), and then they showed Joe playing blitz with a local. Joe won the game, but it looked staged.

Unrelated Note to the Blue Devil Knight: I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to predict a winner (we all know how that turns out sometimes), but I suspect the team from The Heights -- the new kids on the ACC block -- are giving the old boys on Tobacco Road a case of indigestion.

Chess Poetry V

From bittrsweetmstry's poem "im still not sorry":

...know,that i am freed of you
and this chess game for
once all have been tossed away, you
will need those pawns
like myself, that you, so carelessly wasted.
to protect the shadow of
a worthless queen, better identified
as yourself....

Multi-sport stars

Imagine how embarrassing it would be if the Boylston Chess Club challenged an Army team to a game of soccer (or baseball, football, basketball or any other physical sport -- except maybe curling). Apparently in Nepal either their chessplayers are accomplished sportsmen or their soldiers are wimps:

Knight Chess Club of Jhapa surprised top-flight Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) with a 3-2 victory in the Fourth Aaha Gold Cup football tournament Thursday at the Pokhara Stadium.

Winning is its own reward

In 1979, my high school chess team won the Massachusetts and New England High School Team Championships and tied for 4th at the Nationals. Of course the rest of the school couldn't have cared less. So, it's not surprising that this story resonates with me:

For the first time in its 10-year history, [Stanwood High School]'s chess team placed No. 1 in the Wesco league, beating 10 other schools in the county. The team is undefeated for the season, with players recording 38 wins, six losses and one draw.

What does that mean?

"To the rest of the school? Not much," said Tristan Hiegler, 17, a junior. "To us, it's pretty cool.

USCL announces expansion plans

The US Chess League has announced plans to add two new teams for their second season of competition.

The first will be in Seattle and will be managed by Slugfest's Clint Ballard. Players committed to the team include GM Gregory Serper, IM Giorgi Orlov and IM Eric Tangborn. I don't know how strong they will be, but there is no doubt that they will have the best looking cheerleaders!
The second team will hail from Tennessee, and like the Carolina Cobras will represent an entire state rather than a single city (I guess to be technical, Carolina actually covers two states -- not that there's anything wrong with that ... we have the New England Patriots after all). Tennessee will feature IM Ron Burnett, blogger FM Peter Bereolos, and FM Todd Andrews (who is also team manager).

As for team names, say hello to the Seattle Sluggers. Slugfest...Sluggers, get it? Given my previous post on USCL expansion plans (which you will need to read now in order to get the attempted humor which immediately follows), I was hoping they might have gone with the Seattle Sablefish. The other expansion team has yet to choose a name; I'll be pulling for the Tennessee Tzimmes.

Chess Hardware

Photos of a chess set made entirely from nuts, bolts, washers and other common hardware items.

Hat Tip: diy:Happy

Thank You

The Boylston Chess Foundation would like to thank The Chess House for making a generous contribution of chess equipment (sets, boards and clocks) to support our programs.

The Chess House has been serving the chess community since 1972. Check out their great prices on Club Chess Sets.

By the way, The Chess House also has their own blog. Here's a recent post on choosing the right plastic chess set.

Why strain yourself?

This guy actually found the need to dumb-down drinking chess:

...tonight after work we are having a checkers tournament with my shot glass chess set...

Never mind "chess on ice"

With the Olympics over, we can forget about curling and instead learn the sport they're calling "chess with muscles."

Champblog II

Mig's Champblog has returned for the 2006 edition of the U.S. Championship -- "direct and unfiltered" commentary from the players.

Here's what The Kenilworthian had to say about the inaugural 2005 Champblog:

They set up a computer at the championship and lured everyone to make an entry and post their picture. Not a bad "stunt" to help promote the championship, but it could have been so much more.

This year's innovation -- players can post via e-mail.

Competitive Fashion II

Here's a follow-up to my post on competitive fashion -- at the U.S. Championship, no less.

After the players greeted each other at the start, they tended to avoid eye contact. It was hard to say where the eyes of Dmitry Schneider, 18, were, however. His opponent, 27-year-old Kelly Cottrell, wore an eye-popping top that caused a small stir among players and tournament officials.

Was it a strategy to distract her opponent? There was no way to tell for sure, Tanner said, but some female players have used alluring attire as a means of distraction before.

Ben Finegold might want to take a break from his preparation to keep an eye on his wife between rounds. :)

Have you ever played in the Paramount?

It is an increasingly rare kind of opportunity to play opponents who you know in advance with both the black and white pieces in a slow time control. In addition to the pleasure of the game, at $2.20 / $1.70 per rated game, it is a great chess bargain -- and this year there will even be prizes.

Monday, March 6 - May 8: 7th Annual Paramount, 10 Rounds, 2RR, Players divided into six player sections by rating; 40/2, G/60; Entry fee: $22, $17 to BCC members; Prizes: This year there will be prizes determined by the Tournament Committee. Registration: 6:00 to 6:45 PM, Rounds at 7PM.

TDs will be Bernardo Iglesias and Robert Oresick.

Previous Paramount Crosstables: 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000

Women's Chess (Blogging)

Just like in the world of chess playing, there appear to be very few female chess bloggers -- at least only a couple who overtly claim to be so (for all I know, you might all be girls posing online as male chessplayers!). There was Margriet - The Princess Errant and the long inactive blog Sonja's Chess Journey. I suppose you could consider Susan Polgar's blogs to be in this category, although there is much speculation about whether they are ghost written -- possibly by a man (gasp!). GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's podcasts might also qualify. That's about it ... until now!

I recently discovered Perceptual Pawn, a chess blog written by Cecilia from Sweden. If her picture is any indication, I suspect she'd be one of those incredibly distracting OTB opponents that Howard Goldowsky was talking about.

Not that there's anything wrong with that

Link

Competitive Fashion

From Poker Player Blog:

In chess, some top grandmasters wear eye-blinding pendants or neon shirts to distract [their] opponent, can you imagine prohibiting them from wearing these things because "psyching" out the competition is not courageous?

Have you ever been distracted by your opponent's attire? Have you ever chosen to wear distracting fashion to gain a competitive advantage?

Boylston invades New Jersey...

... and emerges victorious.

This year's Amateur Team East tournament was won by the team of Boylston players Charles Riordan, Alex Cherniack, Lawyer Times, and Charlie Mays. Moreover, Boylston's fearless leader Paul MacIntyre held U.S. Champ Hikaru Nakamura to a draw with black in an impressive game. Other notable results included Cherniack's prize for the best overall score on board 2 (5.5 from 6) and Ilya Krasik's perfect 6-0 score playing as his team's third board.

The victorious Boylston Chess Club Team (on right)

Photo: Globular

(The Amateur Team East is an annual event held in Parsippany, New Jersey. Teams of four players are formed with a mean rating cutoff of 2200. This year's event featured 276 teams.)

How they did MDLM before laptops

It's snowing like mad outside right now, the shop here in sugarhouse is just about empty, save me and two old guys....

[One of the] old guy[s] has brought a rollout chess game and is teaching himself to play from a book. Nobody to play with, no matter. He sets up a theoretical chess situation and proceeds to ponder it for a few minutes. He stands up and stares out the window at the passing traffic, still thinking about the puzzle on his table, then it comes to him and [he] sort of jumps to make his next move. After a few minutes of that, he gathers up his things and moves to a comfy armchair to nestle down for a little nap.

Read "another coffee shop anecdote..." from Kim's Live Journal.

That moment of terror

From burnforme's Live Journal:

i have that feeling, like the one you get when youre playing chess and you realize just a second too late that youve made a fatal move. i couldnt pinpoint the move, or the error, or hell even what game i envision myself to be playing. but apparently i suck at it.

Which Chess World Champion Are You?

Here's my result (though I doubt my play has ever been confused with Tal's):

You're Mikhail Tal! 8th World Champion at the age of 23, your extraordinary, pyrotechnic play was often intuitive and got you into trouble as often as not. Yet your genius for unexpected sacrifices and complicated attacks made you a tactical master to be feared and respected. Sadly your lifelong ill-health eventually robbed the chess world of a great hero.

Take the Quiz: Which Chess World Champion Are You? -- brought to you by Quizilla

Hat Tip: Dave Hinton's Live Journal

One step forward, one step back

I am continually fascinated by the fact that new Knights always appear in waves, rather than equally spaced out over time. What does it mean? Beats me. In any case, we have the second introduction of the week -- stop by and say hello to Mate in Three.

The step back? After much contemplation, I have decided to defrock Satish Talim. As I indicated previously, he has not posted in almost two months and hasn't discussed chess improvement, MDLM, etc. for much longer than that. I thought I might get more feedback from the Knights on what to do with his listing, but none that I received argued against removing him. Therefore, his On Line Chess Blog can now be found in the inactive listings.