Chess rants (एंड वही इस थिस इन अरबिक)

This post contains enough whining that you should imagine it being read aloud by Andy Rooney.


Went to chess club Saturday. It was pretty good. My first in-person trotting out of the Bird's opening, and I destroyed him. He played into a horrible line for black that I had been studying that morning. I really like the Bird. I like it so much so that I almost don't want to talk about it here, as when I begin talking about openings here people become little bitches and try to ruin it for me.

What is it about openings that turns grown men into know-it-all bitches? I'm as guilty as anyone. When people mention the French Defense I become a superlative dink.

Since I'm complaining already, let me continue. Have you ever had an experience where a new chess player shows up and you and another player are both competing to give him advice, and you get annoyed because you know you kick ass at giving beginners advice while the other person is saying shit that is too confusing for a beginner?

Also, why is blogger "autocorrecting" all the words I type in my title, replacing them with arabic script? WTF.

Overall, though, I'm in a good mood. Did a lot of chess this weekend, learning about the Slav finally, which is very cool. James Vigus' introductory chapter in 'Play the Slav' is a model of how to write about an opening. It's one of those pieces of chess literature that makes you grateful to the author for thinking deeply about his subject matter, digesting it, and then describing it to the neophyte in a form that is easier to eat. Much like a mother bird will eat a dead animal, then regurgitate it for her young. Thanks, Vigus, for throwing up the Slav into my mouth!