J'adoube. . .the off-center Knight™

Just recently I looked at all the sites I play at and realized the list is, well, pretty long. Suffice it to say that I probably play at too many sites, but my reasoning is simple: Expose myself to the largest pool of players I can in order to get as much experience as possible against players from around the world. IMHO, it's no different that my experiences in karate or triathlons: You can't keep completing against the same pool of players and expect to get better. You have to play against a wide variety of players and get as much exposure to worldwide competition. Global competition is the way to go, I believe. It certainly worked in the business world. . .

This strategy doesn't come without it's own set of problems, the primary being that I sometimes become sleep deprived playing so much. Playing chess online has become the video game analog of my middle years. When I was younger in my 20's, video games were in their infancy with simple line drawn figures a la Asteroids, etc. As time passed I became a wicked Space Invaders and Galaga player. Of course nowadays, you have to own a desktop gaming machine that exceeds the capability of the mainframes I worked on in the 1980's in order to play anything now. Even this monster laptop I own has problems with massive screenpaints done for some of the Star Wars games I own. I used to play video games for hours. . .this has passed onto my chess playing. . .

Right now, I play on the following sites:

• Net-Chess as JBedenbaugh
  
• Chesshere as Megaskins
  
• RedHotPawn as Megaskins
• GameKnot as Megaskins
• ICC as Megaskins
• FICS as Megaskins
• Playchess as Megaskins
  

Except for the last 3, all of them are correspondance type sites. You may notice that I don't use J'adoube as my ID on these sites - it goes back to the early 1990's when I first got on the Internet - I use Megaskins for everything including my emails.

Elizabeth Smith: She may have given up the ghost.
It appears that Elizabeth Smith, renown principal of Oak Mountain Intermediate School may have assumed room temperature. I simply can't find her, so I guess we will never know if that school outlawed chess. My guess is no and that GM Larry Evans printed internet myth, but I can't prove it.

Slow games this year
I added up the number of slow games I have played this year: 109. That's just about 2 per day, which sounds about right. I spend anywhere from 1-3 hours a night making moves in my correspondance games. I have all but given up blitz games, but when I do make the occasional foray onto ICC or Playchess, I play far, far better. I mean, a lot better. I still miss combinations, but my play is far superior to what it was even a month ago. Dan Heisman was right: The best fast players got to be the best by becoming the best slow players. . .

Endgames: Real chess
As noted in previous postings, Predrag, my chess coach on ICC has been successful in convincing me to study endgames and I am convinced that endgames are the most difficult part of the game. It also appears to hold the key to strong play - not only because of the chance to win games but because the chance to develop awesome calculative skills acquired are just too great to be ignored. I tried using some software packages, Bruce Pandolfini's endgame book and Larry Evans book, but they just don't seem to be the problem set I need to use - either too hard or they simply don't have illustrative sets I can practice. I ordered Basic Chess Endings by Rueben Fine and edited by Benko. It was recommended by Predrag. So far it seems like I can use it. I also work the problems OTB. Last night I spent 1 hour working on just 1 problem to make sure I understand all aspects of it. People in the coffee shop walked by staring at me strangely but I don't care. . .I'll perform a migi keisa giri on them if they make any wise cracks. . .[grin]

Next post I'll talk about some conventional chess wisdom and how I have been reeducated by Predrag about some of these rules. . .

. . .notify the Office of Homeland Security, CIA, FBI and anyone else you can think of.

The Muslims are mad at me. Ok not all Muslims, but some of them.

Before I recount my story, let me just say that I know there are a number of international readers and those of various faiths.

If you so deeply suscribe to your belief system that you find any rescitations of facts that are not complementary of, or are in fact critical of this belief system, then don't read on. You have been warned.

Ok, with the disclaimer out of the way, the issue surrounds some postings on a chess forum recently. In essence, someone went out of their way to post a thread inviting Christians to a discuss whatever it is that Christians come together to discuss on a chess website.

Well, immediately a Muslim posted a demand that we respect Mohammed and Islam.

WTF?

I mean, what is it with these guys? Somebody prints some cartoons showing Mohammed being a raging warmonger in a newspaper editorial in Denmark and the Muslims go nuts and riot? Big deal. Lots of religious figures get mocked. Get over it.

Anyway, the thread went on for awhile and this guy writes in and says he thinks that if Jesus, Mohammed, Dali Lama and the Bhudda got together for dinner it would be a lively dinner with great conversation.

Sigh.

Okay. . .I can only stand so much of this nonsense and I jump in to set a few things straight. Maybe Bhudda and Jesus and the Dali Lama can all have a conversation and lively discussion, but folks, as for Mohammed, forget it.

This guy has almost nothing in common with the folks listed above. To wit:

• He assasinated his rivals.
• He planned 26 military campaigns and led 18 of them.
• He never went to Jerusalem but Muslims claim he ascended to heaven from the Dome of the Rock.

And last but not least:

• He married a 6 year old girl and had sex with her when she was 9!

Now, I know lots of Muslims have difficulty with these facts and that they have to rationalize in an unusual way to justify their faith is not so. . .unusual. I see it happen all the time with with Christians. These certainly have the right to do so, but the facts are the facts.

As you can imagine, the reaction that followed was hardly tepid. Besides the ridiculous assertions of hate speech and offensive postings, many Muslims demanded my posts be deleted, along with various attributions to my motives.

Respect Mohammed they shout! Respect Islam they shout!

Balderdash. I respect your right to hold an opinion or subscribe to a faith or iconize a historical figure. But for them to demand - DEMAND - that I respect their prophet or faith?

Bite me.

I have no obligation to respect someone who would be characterized as a pedophile no matter what culture or time period they lived in. I simply don't and you can't make me.

And further. . .Censorship of the facts? Can I not simply recite the facts without having a torrid call for censorship? Have we really come back around to that again? Did the world learn nothing from it's ridiculous flirtation with the tyranny of the Soviet Bloc? Is it possible to not see the injustice of these demands?

So, Islam, just get over it. You're not going to bully me into respecting your religion or your prophet or your opinion.

I respect your right to hold an opinion, subscribe to and practice your faith and to worship whatever prophet or icon you choose.

But I still reserve the right to think your beliefs are suspect or just plain nutty. And besides, everyone knows that Cthula could kick Mohammed's arse any day of the week.

So if you few extremist Muslims out there wanna come and get me, bring it. You know where to find me. . .

Whence thou goest, Elizabeth Smith?

For at least the period immediately preceding the tenure of Dr. Linda Maxwell, current Principal of Oak Mountain Intermediate School in the the Year of Our Lord Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-seven, Elizabeth Smith was the principal of the school alleged by Andrew@see.sig, and reported by GM Larry Evans, to have banned chess.

Alas, where is the dear lady to be found?

It is my understanding Elizabeth Smith is now retired and living in the Birmingham, AL area. Unfortunately, there are some 70 Elizabeth Smith's living in the area, with no guarantee our alleged chess-banning principal hasn't assumed room temperature.

But still, the sleuthing continues. I shall not rest until I have found either of her demise or been granted a phone interview. In the meantime, if anyone reading this has any idea of the whereabouts of Elizabeth Smith, former Principal of Oak Mountain Intermediate School and believed to be alive and living in the Birmingham AL environs, please leave a comment.

And now. . .I ride!

The saga continues. Click on the title for the BCC prequel to this blog entry.

What Larry Evans said in Chess Life:

A. Alas, this idiocy also happens elsewhere. In 1998, for example, Oak Mountain Intermediate School in Shelby County, Alabama (a suburb of Birmingham) banned chess (because it's too competitive!) but had two baseball stadiums with night-lights for evening play.

What his source [Andrew@see.sig]said:
"Last year [1997] my kid's intermediate school principal forbade holding chess tournaments on the school's premises on the grounds that it was 'too competitive and does not foster the appropriate spirit commensurate with school principles.'"

So an uncorroborated source alleges in an internet posting that in 1997 his son's school forbade chess playing.

Grandmaster Larry Evans writes in September 2005 issue of Chess Life that chess was banned at Oak Mountain Intermediate School in 1998. No source was posted.

I contact Dr. Linda Evans at Oak Mountain Intermediate School, principal the school since basically the beginning of the 1998 school year who disputes this claim.

Result: GM Larry Evans claim that chess was banned in 1998 was debunked.

Now in the February 2006 issue he prints a rebuttal that says the chess ban wasn't really in 1998. It was 1997.

Sheesh. Really Larry, get your act together and get your facts straight.

By the way, I emailed Andrew@see.sig. It was undeliverable. So, I'm going to find out who the principal was in 1997 at Oak Mountain Intermediate School.

I'm going to contact this former principal. Then we'll find out the facts. We have no evidence chess was ever banned. Just some guy who posted something on the internet. Gosh, and we all know that everything posted on the internet is always true. . .

Oh, and Andrew@see.sig, if you really exist and you're reading this, please leave a comment and let me know where I can contact you. . .that is, if the Evil Overlord Malnek hasn't kidnapped you and ferried you off to the Homeworld. . .

Endgames
For some time I have been taking lessons with Predrag Trajkovic on ICC and he emphacizes endgame studies. It has been frustrating because unlike openings or middlegames, there are no set rules to follow for solving the endgame and that has me very frustrated. Imagine my amusement and surprise when I strolled over to Tempo's latest posting on endgames.

Tempo, you are not alone.

Endgames are more art than science, but frustrating no matter how you look at them. There are, of course, some general rules to follow (opposition, triangulation, preventing the opposing King from getting on the 6th rank in front of a pawn, etc.), but in reality, it all comes down to this simple truth:

Calculation and lots of it.

It's no wonder the Soviets placed so much emphasis on endgames. The visualization skills necessary to place pieces across the board 7, 8 or 9 moves later requires much skill and practice, even when you are dealing with only a few pieces. When I was listening to the commentary on the tournament in San Luis, I was amazed at GM Akobian's calculating skill, ripping off combination after combination like he was reading the from a book. Even IM Bill Paschal was having a hard time following him.

On the recommendation of Dan Heisman, I picked up a copy of Larry Evan's treatment of endgames, Chess Endgame Quiz and was dismayed. These were hard for me. Even the puzzles at the begining of the book required 6-7 moves. I have a lot of work to do in this area.

I sometimes wonder if studying endgames first and then tactics might have been the proper sequence. Doesn't matter now I guess. Between all the "most important positions" I have been studying and the Herculean number of correspondence games I am playing, I'll get better and better. . .eventually.

Correspondence games
So far this year I have played 87 slow time control correspondence games (the time controls are usually 5-7 days per move), and I am currently playing 165 games. I calculated that I have played around 3 hours per day and studying for maybe 45-90 minutes depending on how I feel. I think this is about the right mix of play/study ratio.

Goodbye Pirc
I have pretty much exhausted my patience with the Pirc. I know there are a lot of successful Pirc players but I just can't seem to perform well with it unless White obliges in playing certain lines. Against the Austrian Attack it is almost impotent. I'm thinking of moving to the French for black. . .

The Matrix Attack?
I have to agree with Devil Knight (see GeneralKaia's latest post). Bernard Parham and his supposed "secret" understanding of vectors and geometry in chess play sound just plain bogus. Sticking Quod erat demonstrandum (QED) at the end of a statement is nothing more than an easy out for Parham. . ."I know the secret and I will demonstrate it later". Bull. He's had this system around for some time and should have presented a paper for peer review years ago. My God, if I had discovered something this revolutionary, I'd be out there leading the charge for my nomination for the Fields medal.

The bottom line is that if simple algebraic vectors, geometry and probablilites were the answer to good chess play, it would have been discovered many moons ago. That kind of math has been around for some time. And if you want evidence that 2. Qh5 is an unsound move, just check out Nakamura's silly tournament losses last year when he played this. Parham's claim that he would reveal the secret of his theory at a later date sounds just a little too Farrakhanian to me. . .

If you want to read a real book on chess mathematics and the 8x8 squared circle, then pick up a copy of Across the Board by John Watkins. It's a relaxing diversion from chess play. I enjoyed it very much. Don't waste your time on Parham. . .