tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119524032012-01-20T23:12:12.088-05:00A chess blog is too serious to enjoy, and too frivolous to take seriously. –Source UnknownBlue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.comBlogger5621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-29133113159403768812012-01-11T09:34:00.004-05:002012-01-20T23:12:12.183-05:00

Thanks to Wahrheit for taking the reigns of the chess improvement carnival.He has a great idea for the first one: post your best post ever. We should see some great stuff: I know I will be sifting through some of the old Knights Errant blogs to find a chestnut or two. Deadline for submission is January 27.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-42240904533029152122011-12-06T01:11:00.007-05:002011-12-12T12:10:57.666-05:00

That's a wrap!Welcome to the December 5, 2011 edition of chess improvement carnival. Some great stuff, and as a Christmas gift I was very inclusive in accepting stuff that was submitted.This is the last Carnival I am going to be involved with. I appreciate everyone taking the time to participate by submitting articles, hosting carnivals, etc..You have provided a lot of great content the past

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-6550293998455092072011-12-05T12:11:00.001-05:002011-12-05T12:12:08.218-05:00

Will be up tonight...My apologies for the delays, this is a sign it is time for me to pass on the skeptre!

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-72996367978493153992011-11-30T23:04:00.003-05:002011-12-02T09:55:22.178-05:00

UpdateThe fearless Wahrheit has volunteered to continue on with the Chess Improvement Carnival next year! If you have suggestions for how we could improve it, please write it in the comments here, or let him know.One thing on my wish list is better carnival software. The site we use is awful, but the only thing I found. If anyone knows of any alternates, please tell.Last chance! See previous post

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-71482082163890965742011-11-08T09:03:00.005-05:002011-11-08T09:09:35.024-05:00

Intrepid Prodigal Pawn had to walk backwards through New England ice and snow, hand-coding the Carnival in machine language and sending it in via carrier pigeon. Also, I screwed up and didn't send him the submissions until late. So in general he has been through a lot, so go read his dang Carnival!Next month will be the final Chess Improvement Blog Carnival! Submit your stuff, anything from the

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-572835460576282552011-10-31T22:09:00.001-04:002011-10-31T22:10:05.184-04:00

See my previous post for details on this second-to-last chess improvement carnival.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-59905127648839195122011-10-04T21:00:00.002-04:002011-10-04T21:03:27.372-04:00

Mark Weeks, at Chess for all Ages, has posted a most excellent Chess Improvement Carnival.Thanks for hosting, Mark! I look forward to learning how to improve at chess!The second-to-last carnival will be hosted by Prodigal Pawn on November 4, submissions due by November 1 here.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-60748979218550764092011-09-29T08:42:00.001-04:002011-09-29T08:44:26.677-04:00

October 1 is the deadline for submitting to the October Chess Improvement Carnival. Mark Weeks is hosting, and has the announcement here.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-72194488263790347022011-09-05T11:47:00.003-04:002011-09-05T11:50:01.638-04:00

The ninth monthly carnival is up over at Hebden Bridge Chess Club. Thanks, Hebden Bridge for hosting twice this year. October edition will be hosted by blogger celebrity Mark Weeks over at Chess for All Ages. You can submit your content here.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-54800608921594796142011-09-03T09:04:00.004-04:002011-09-03T12:32:48.243-04:00

September 4: Hebden Bridge Chess Club October 4: Chess for all ages (Mark Weeks) November 4: Prodigal Pawn (Tommyg) December 4: Right here at chessconfessions. Those hosting, please email me at bluedevil [dot] knight at yahoo so I can be sure I have your most up-to-date email address. You can submit content (either your own or others that you really like) here by the first of the month for each

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-85727142649204449502011-08-19T09:21:00.005-04:002011-08-20T00:51:49.249-04:00

Hebden Bridge Chess Club will host the September Chess Improvement Carnival! Submit your posts here by September 1, and the Carnival should go up sometime on the fourth. Thanks, Hebden Bridge Chess for keeping this going! That leaves two more spaces for hosting this year, before I close up shop and pass on the baton, or just close up this experiment. If you want to host in October or November,

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-80502844259108093822011-08-04T23:48:00.005-04:002011-08-05T00:01:57.726-04:00

Thanks to Takchess, who has spared us the brown acid (see incredible footage below, go to 9:26) and given us something to smile about in the eighth chess carnival!If interested in hosting a future carnival, email me at bluedevil dot knight at yahoo.Don't take the brown acid!!!And one of the greatest performances...

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-85311200396826335142011-07-25T10:37:00.005-04:002011-07-25T11:42:20.955-04:00

An interesting paper (citation and abstract below) recently came out in which they look at chess master versus amateur brains. It suggests that the "face area" in the brain is not really specialized for recognizing faces, but familiar spatial patterns more generally. In my analysis of the circles, I commonly drew on analogies between facial recognition and chess pattern recognition, and this

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-72943073145007528822011-07-24T13:26:00.002-04:002011-07-24T13:31:49.106-04:00

The August Chess Improvement Carnival, to be hosted by Takchess is coming up. Deadline for submission is August 1. If you want content to be seen, whether yours or someone else's, you can submit posts here. If you want to host future carnivals, please email me at blue devil [dot] knight at Yahoo.I plan on seeing this through to number 12, the December Carnival. If you are interested in taking

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-5845163901704060232011-07-04T10:08:00.003-04:002011-07-04T10:15:18.177-04:00

The July improvement Carnival is up at The Prodigal Pawn, who is definitely in the spirit of July 4th. For those that don't know, July 4 in the United States is when you blow stuff up to show how much you love the country (ok, really it is the day, in 1776, that the United States declared its independence from British imperial rule). You can learn some American history, chess blog history, and

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-71439549582662516022011-06-16T00:04:00.003-04:002011-06-20T08:53:52.929-04:00

Update: carnival announcement is up over at Prodigal Pawn: here is the link.===========Tommyg over at Prodigal Pawn is hosting the July 4 Carnival, seventh in the series. Thanks to those that are consistently publishing great content, it makes this thing keep going!If there is something you want to see, whether it is from you or from someone else's site, you can submit it here.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-41732370641659736612011-06-04T20:49:00.002-04:002011-06-04T20:56:56.447-04:00

Robert Pearson has posted a most excellent Sixth Carnival. I love the book reviews, hope that becomes a trend. Thanks Robert!You can submit stuff for the 4th of July carnival here. If you want to host then email me (bluedevil [dot] knight (yahoo)). We always need hosts: even if you are a shy, new, or infrequent blogger, or don't think you can do it, you can, and I will help you as much as you

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-54883069308986620562011-05-22T09:34:00.003-04:002011-05-22T09:39:11.872-04:00

The sixth chess improvement blog will be hosted at Robert Pearson's Chess Blog. You can submit material here, either your own or other content you like. Remember, if you want others to see it, then submit it!

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-75648688829205341682011-05-12T13:17:00.000-04:002011-05-13T16:24:30.124-04:00

We've had five great carnivals. We seem to get a steady 10-20 submissions a month. Getting people to host it is a bit tougher, though. If you are interested, please email me bluedevil dot knight at yahoo. Perhaps someone at chess.com?

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-7929020862417819482011-05-04T23:20:00.004-04:002011-05-04T23:27:14.984-04:00

The Fifth Chess Improvement Blog Carnival is up at the Hebden Bridge Chess Club. Some truly excellent work this month, both from the usual suspects, and some unusual suspects (especially see the roundup of Mark Weeks), and a very creative well-executed blog theme. Makes my first hosting gig look so very amateurish by comparison.Thanks Hebden Bridge Club. Err, I mean Hebden Bridge Chess Club.We

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-90878398969150803482011-04-27T09:54:00.005-04:002011-04-27T10:01:16.712-04:00

The fifth carnival is almost here, and is going to be hosted by the Hebden Bridge Chess Club Blog. It's not a Bridge and Chess club, but a chess club in a town with the quaint name 'Hebden Bridge.' It's all very British if you ask me, which just gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling (or cold and rainy I guess). The blog announcement and details are here. Remember, if there is something you want to

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-30784469952402202222011-04-04T11:17:00.005-04:002011-04-04T11:26:35.834-04:00

Donnnie over at Liquid Egg Product has done a great job putting together the Fourth Chess Improvement Carnival: the Omelette Edition. Sorry, Mascot.Some great material, as usual, from the chess blogosphere. Some people are just consistently posting good stuff about improvement every month. I kept up serious blogging for about three years. Some contributors have been at it much longer: their

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-11081272969691464842011-04-01T00:01:00.006-04:002011-04-01T01:11:51.512-04:00

As most of you know, I haven't been exactly on top of my game as a chess improvement blogger. Since my humiliation at the World Open a couple of years ago, I didn't have much motivation to study chess. I just don't have the talent required, the minimal, basic innate chess IQ to hit 2000 with years of serious study. Basically, after that tournament I came away thinking I was a chess retard.Or so I

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-77737632555935873612011-03-30T16:31:00.004-04:002011-03-30T16:38:02.337-04:00

Deadline is the end of the day April 2. If you want to see something in the carnival, whether you wrote it or not, then submit it here. Liquid Egg Product's carnival anouncement is here. Chess instruction, annotated games, humor...it's all good. Whatcha got, blogosphere?

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-63991701122007557532011-03-13T22:35:00.004-04:002011-03-14T00:04:28.720-04:00

Thanks to Blunderprone for hosting the third carnival, with some great content submitted from the blogosphere. The next Carnival will be hosted by none other than Liquid Egg Product! Submission deadline is April 2, 2011, and the carnival is scheduled for April 4 release! You can make your submissions hereOh, and NCAA brackets are up. Liquid Egg Product usually runs a pool, so stay tuned for that

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-11857987702541031532011-02-28T11:06:00.003-05:002011-02-28T11:10:33.205-05:00

Submit by the end of March 1 (tomorrow) if there is anything that you feel should be included in the Third Chess Improvement Carnival, hosted by Blunderprone (call for submissions is here). Also, we need volunteers to host future editions. If you want the carnival to continue, and want traffic at your site, give it a shot! It's just a matter of posting links to the content that people send in

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-12566054203784610742011-02-04T15:00:00.004-05:002011-02-04T15:04:01.749-05:00

Thanks to Brooklyn64 for hosting: you can find the carnival here. It looks like a great carnival I look forward to dissecting the various new permutations of tactical training in the Knights Errant Revival.Remember, if you want to see material in the carnival, you have to submit it yourself! Submissions are always at this link.Next up is the March 2011 edition, hosted by Blunderprone.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-85633898915732978322011-01-18T15:47:00.005-05:002011-01-20T11:58:11.186-05:00

The second monthly Chess Improvement Blog Carnival will be hosted at Brooklyn64. It is a great blog, incidentally, as I found out in last month's carnival. Reminds me of the chess club blogs of yore such as BCC.The official call for submissions is here.Or, go ahead and make your submissions here, and remember you can submit other people's work in addition to your own. Submit by February 1.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-17859648363726295562011-01-04T16:30:00.011-05:002011-01-04T23:42:56.456-05:00

Step right upWelcome to the first chess improvement blog carnival!We got lots of great submissions, there is a lot of excellent chess content in the blogosphere, a lot of people sharing their hard-won knowledge of the game and how to get better at it.The topics are as assorted as a carnival freak show: humor, tactics, instructional posts, openings, books, software, and some that were simply hard

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-46278043694625622062010-12-28T12:47:00.003-05:002010-12-28T12:53:21.281-05:00

Submit your most favorite blog post from the last year here. We have over ten submissions so far, but my hunch is that we have a lot of good content out there that hasn't been submitted yet. If you know of something good, even if you didn't write it, you can submit it. Four more days of submissions.See this post for more details.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-84553544940822779082010-11-30T10:46:00.008-05:002010-12-09T19:33:26.876-05:00

The first edition of the Chess Improvement Carnival will be on January 4, 2011. You can make submissions here. Deadline for submission is New Year's Day January 1, 2011. Because it is the first edition, I'm accepting any post from the past year, so it will actually be a 'Best of 2010' carnival! It can be about tactics, strategy, humor, book reviews, annotated, games: anything relevant to the

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-53619137955643894722010-11-25T15:22:00.003-05:002010-11-25T15:42:36.992-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving folks!!!I'm gonna initiate a chess improvement blog carnival. The way it will work: every month (or two months depending on demand), we will have a chess improvement blog carnival which gives an annotated list of the best entries from the last month. I hope we can have a different blogger host the carnival each month, but I will host the first one. There used to be a general

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-8767523754475946402010-11-18T10:23:00.002-05:002010-11-18T10:28:12.704-05:00

Who is posting regularly, what is going on out there? I haven't followed things, need to update my blog, sidebar, etc.. Let me know in the comments what you think (the three people still reading this anyway :).As far as maintaining a 'ring' of sites, someone in comments to previous section pointed out that they end up with a bunch of dead sites, so it is better to have someone in charge of

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-47372610553137251882010-11-16T16:25:00.002-05:002010-11-17T16:28:48.132-05:00

One of the great Knights Errant of yore, Takchess has a new post up at his blog. Hey Tak, great to have you back. The Knights are dead, but have been replaced by a new group of adult improvers, the ACIS of evil, list maintained by Blunderprone.Note: Apparently blunderprone has taken a break from blogging. Have the ACIS of Caissa discussed who will take up the gauntlet? I'm thinking we should

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-33077695683645346432010-10-11T12:23:00.002-04:002010-10-11T12:27:49.455-04:00

I have discussed a few times that Silman was going to release a new edition of How to Reassess Your Chess. Well, it is showing up on Amazon as due out this month! That should be awesome!I discussed it last in March 2008 here, so this new edition has been a long time in the making. From what he says, it will be drastically reworked, with the endgame section cut (he has a kick-ass entire book on

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-14828017255715587232010-08-10T12:26:00.005-04:002010-08-10T13:02:39.323-04:00

Three weeks ago my life changed:Her name is Ella.I do have a couple of chess related posts in the queue. One from guest blogger Hank. Another a review (finally) of Zuke 'Em. Sleep deprivation is sort of kicking my butt right now, but when I equilibrate I'll post again.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-86819892603632132712010-06-06T21:09:00.004-04:002010-06-10T18:36:10.723-04:00

Soltis' book The wisest things ever said about chess consists of 288 bits of chess wisdom. It is a great book for the waiting room or the bathroom. The following is my list of the top ten quotes from the book...the number in parenthesis after the quote is its number in the book.Note I didn't include those bumper stickers that are included in every book about chess ever written such as 'When you

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-50153100847498778052010-05-24T02:03:00.004-04:002010-05-27T09:35:54.740-04:00

[Edit: as time goes on, I'm starting to warm up to the ending some.]If I want supernatural mumbo jumbo I'll go to church. Egads. It went from good science fiction to CS Lewis at the speed of suction. But at least they had what is likely a progenitor to chess in the third-to-last episode. That was cool.Haiku summary of the entire series:Plane crashed, all are dead.Some go to heaven, some

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-65844366739868222652010-05-17T14:46:00.003-04:002010-05-17T14:51:29.421-04:00

Jerry O'Connell in the parody video Tom Cruise WANTS you to see! from Jerry Minor

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-22328654195196246932010-05-05T23:04:00.003-04:002010-05-05T23:06:58.912-04:00

He is in top form at his most recent post, which not only provides a really useful overview of the online chess scene with statistics, and not only feeds my narcissism, but also even the comments are very helpful (see, e.g., Wormwood's comment). Thanks DK! It will take me a few reads to really process that fractal David-Foster-Wallacian post and give a proper comment.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-60766449937012645442010-04-20T01:20:00.004-04:002010-04-20T01:27:05.162-04:00

I'm letting my account expire there. 70 bucks a year is just too much. I feel sad about it, perhaps I'll register again when my credit card bill is payed down to a reasonable amount in ten years.I tried playing at Yahoo, what a freaking joke. Bunch of people sitting not playing chess, and the few that are there to play disconnect right when they start to lose. Incredibly annoying. It seems FICS

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-80466098409185814092010-04-06T01:33:00.002-04:002010-04-06T01:34:59.455-04:00

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-6242381765291304622010-03-17T14:03:00.014-04:002010-03-17T14:35:04.647-04:00

Recent Starbucks game, time controls were 10/5. I'm curious what people think of white's play at moves 15 and 16. We had a nice debate about it after, and we both thought we were right. :)I haven't Fritzed this yet, I'm sure there are mistakes we didn't notice. Obviously there was one I noticed so I got lucky, as before that my position was worse. He probably should have played e5 instead of Bg5.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-84470106032900603972010-03-13T09:27:00.004-05:002010-03-13T09:29:53.128-05:00

Question about USCF tournament rules...If players disagree on whether they want straight time, or five second delay, does the player playing as black get to decide? Also, is the choice to play with 5 second increment or five second delay? Or is that also a free variable?

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-77458374799004718132010-03-12T15:48:00.003-05:002010-03-12T15:55:27.899-05:00

https://twitter.com/danheismanSome great Heis-Cubes such as:Make the developing moves you know you are going to make before the ones that you think you want to make

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-30192525394928417162010-03-04T17:40:00.002-05:002010-03-04T17:41:01.412-05:00

Geert asks:Did anyone try the new CT Art 4.0 yet? What exactly is the improvement over the previous version?I'm curious, anyone know the answers?

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-65556854971310249542010-02-27T13:35:00.002-05:002010-02-27T13:37:57.266-05:00

FICS has all their games on a web site ficsgames.com. Over one-hundred million games. Thanks to signalman for the great find!I'm now looking into switching over to FICS.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-71524159012083195112010-02-22T00:34:00.007-05:002010-02-22T07:52:15.508-05:00

I was excited to learn we can track down statistics about the opening at ICC, but then bummed to learn that they only save statistics for matches between the titled players.It would be cool, helpful, and generally awesome if ICC let us navigate opening statistics for different rating blocks, or for people within X rating points of your present rating.Such a feature would be a great check for

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-5527404274277002702010-02-16T14:19:00.001-05:002010-02-16T14:23:05.797-05:00

I've started playing around with the Sicilian. I know nothing about it, but I decided to give it a go. Why? Well, it is apparently really good. My personal reason is that it seems I always want to play ...c5 anyway, why not put it in right away and make white decide how to handle it and reveal his intentions early?So, given that I know nothing about this opening, I'm looking for a beginner-level

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-659487091940065462010-01-28T12:55:00.036-05:002010-01-28T14:06:51.250-05:00

In response to my previous post, which has lots of good comments, the following from Katar triggered a bunch of thoughts:Environment is a big factor. If one has chess-playing friends it will speed up one's progress...Somehow internet friends do not seem to have this effect, as far as i can tell. But i'll tell you this: I met a few cool guys at the club, they happened to be mostly around 1600 or

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-42420938211210499572010-01-25T16:24:00.007-05:002010-01-25T18:47:07.183-05:00

The comments at my previous post were again excellent. Pretty much you guys are now writing my blog for me.Anonymous said the following, which struck a nerve with me:Some of us need to face the fact that we have no natural chess ability. From his rapid rating increase from the beginning it is obvious to me that MDLM had natural ability. Book smarts does not equate to natural ability in chess or

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-52414282798151283622010-01-21T13:11:00.003-05:002010-01-21T13:15:15.789-05:00

Useful analysis of MDLM from previous post comment section:I think one thing that is often overlooked in Michael de la Maza's success is the high number of rated games he played over a relatively short period of time. I've read many, many of the past Knights Errant posts and I don't find a lot of comments about the number of rated, slow games being played as part of their improvement programs. (

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-84114691152365002642010-01-11T13:29:00.004-05:002010-01-11T13:36:16.648-05:00

Remember when everyone was doing the Circles? Remember the sometimes crazy heated discussions of them? How many problems per circle? How many circles? What software to use? That was fun.Loomis provides a good reminder.I need to think more about the circles, where I stand on the de la Maza methods. I started the juices flowing in a comment at Loomis' blog. Chesstiger brought up one of the

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-13562847514709634962009-12-15T00:10:00.005-05:002009-12-15T00:16:27.854-05:00

From a commenter on my previous post:I liked your blog when you were a crazy obsessed mad man.Yes, I admit my best chess writing accompanied an almost neurotic obsession with the game. Sorry folks that person is taking a back seat for a little while. Luckily Blunderprone and Temposchlucker are blogging a lot right now, and a lot of other great stuff is out there. But I have to admit it breaks my

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-63190738749190799792009-12-09T10:34:00.007-05:002009-12-09T12:00:08.362-05:00

Mega-GMs playing for glory including Nakamura and Carlsen. I usually don't do tournament news here, but this tournament is special. They have enacted a different point system to promote fighting chess. Three points for a win, one point for a draw, zero points for a loss.Great point system, in my opinion. There is little incentive to go for a gentleman's (i.e. lazy man's) draw. It will force the

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-20324225315584793132009-11-18T10:47:00.004-05:002009-11-18T11:12:33.252-05:00

Hank, a frequent commenter at this blog, and someone I've played in real life (and usually lost) , gave me permission to publish the following excellent piece he wrote. Beautiful, deep, yet simple ideas. Thanks, Hank!========================I've seen a number of different articulations about piece coordination and the complementarity of certain pieces, that explain why the relative value of

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-22771641107591462222009-11-09T15:28:00.010-05:002009-11-09T16:28:25.588-05:00

Or ACIS of evil. Or ACIS in the hole.Any way you pun it, Adult Chess Improvement Seekers (ACIS) are a staple of the blogoshere, and aren't going away. Also, it is quite clear that the Knights Errant aren't big enough to contain the blogosphere's burgeoning mass of people scrambling to improve. The Circles are cool and all, but the Knights Errant have pretty much died.There are googles more paths

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-38644945882437221352009-11-08T10:07:00.002-05:002009-11-08T10:08:41.807-05:00

Don't believe his lies.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-24004736264941212952009-11-04T14:51:00.003-05:002009-11-04T14:53:36.604-05:00

Question from a reader:============Hi BlueDevil,I would like to join the Kights Errant. It appears as though the secretary is inactive? Can you help me? Your post reminds me of some some comments that I read about Lasker on chessgames.com having a great "Geometer", looking around for features and only then calculating.smiteknight.blogspot.com=============What's going on, Knights?Sorry smiteknight

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-54745415230263380552009-10-09T19:17:00.017-04:002009-10-11T14:05:08.715-04:00

It is amazing that nearly every game in the lower levels of chess are decided by people literally not seeing obvious interactions between pieces on the board. Leaving a piece open to be taken, or forgetting a piece is pinned, or even not seeing mate in one.Yet many of us in these lower levels still insist on looking many moves ahead in silly lines. We aren't losing because we fail to look ahead

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-92017439150773766002009-09-22T01:13:00.004-04:002009-09-22T18:24:59.094-04:00

Click here to for a journalist revisiting revelations about Bobby Fischer's ancestry, among other things (LA Times). Not much chess in there.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-23804583130441829082009-09-17T22:37:00.002-04:002009-09-17T22:48:13.915-04:00

The following is an email I sent to a chess bud. I think it is enough to get you to a decent middlegame. It applies whether you are playing as black or as white. Of course I don't claim it is unique: it is the standard opening boilerplate prep talk.There are two goals you want to aim for in the opening of a chess game:1. Develop all of your minor pieces (Knights and Bishops), preferably so they

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-40351717905099627942009-09-03T12:46:00.014-04:002009-09-03T15:49:06.783-04:00

Tommyg has similar themes in his recent great post.Speaking of fresh perspectives, Dk Transform has some great new videos up. The first could be a Saturday Night Live audition tape. Great to associate a face/voice with his David Foster Wallace style blog.OK, now on to the main topic of my post....-----------------------------------I made a visit to the library where the Carolina Cobras played

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-76495014943751346812009-08-27T14:44:00.000-04:002009-08-27T14:45:03.148-04:00

Chess blogger extraordinaire Nezha is back at it!

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-48942007143399600142009-08-21T13:24:00.005-04:002009-08-21T13:35:55.534-04:00

A recent commenter asked if I'm coming back. Yes, but not yet. Probably a few more months.I am still not recovered from the World Open. It wrecked me, frankly. I was confident going in (I had recently got a clear win in an U1300 tournament, drawn against a 1900 player in a slow tourny game, I was no longer dropping pieces). I was really starting to improve in my chess. Then I just got smacked

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-27941051631796381142009-07-22T14:54:00.003-04:002009-07-22T15:07:02.959-04:00

I'm in the offseason of chess. Perhaps you'd like to visit Wang's Chess House which is full of great new stuff including book reviews, DK Transform has started a very active twitter account by the name 'heuristical', Katar has an entertaining post with repertoire suggestions for black, and Polly has yet more great tournament reports from around the great US of A.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-2185146701910138972009-07-15T16:06:00.003-04:002009-07-15T16:14:16.444-04:00

The World Open was my World Series. Rather than jump right in, I have taken a much needed break. Hey, even professional athletes have a season, and after the end of the season take a deserved break. Unlike professional sports, chess has no built-in season. There are great tournaments almost every month. It is up to each player to decide the tournament for which he is training, the big tournament,

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-47582287654378183212009-07-14T12:41:00.003-04:002009-07-14T12:47:25.070-04:00

Tommyg has a nice ranking of the 11 annotated game collections he has finished. While I might quibble here and there (e.g., I still like First Book of Morphy!), overall I find his assessments helpful and sound. It will be interesting to see how he thinks the infamous Zurich 1953 book compares if he reads it.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-67416023760977698412009-07-13T11:17:00.008-04:002009-07-13T11:26:20.372-04:00

I appreciate all the kind comments on the previous post. I just responded there (indeed for the first time Blogger said my comment was too long so I had to break it in two).I haven't touched much chess since the tournament, and I don't want to yet. I'm going to wait until my batteries recharge. I'll still blog lightly, especially the notes I took during the Open.As for the helpful comments on the

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-38091445509883616072009-07-08T12:53:00.007-04:002009-07-08T14:58:55.569-04:00

I played in the U1200 section of the World Open last week. I did horribly. I scored 3/9 points. Two wins, two draws, five losses. I will post more, a lot more, when I have the heart to think about it. Right now, frankly, I am in the mode where I don't know why I bother with this fucking game. I can't believe I lost some of the games. I'm not one of those poseurs who says "I should have won." No.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-46023617841043418232009-07-06T18:17:00.007-04:002009-07-13T14:21:11.946-04:00

Footage kindly contributed by an anonymous source. Includes bits from Kamsky v Benjamin, Nakamura eating dinner, and Ed Trice selling the controversial book 'My 61 Memorable Games' purportedly by Bobby Fischer. There was some controversy about the existence of such a printed manuscript. This proves the manuscript exists, but whether it is authentic is a different question. Also includes some

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-39485977172633649872009-06-30T14:02:00.014-04:002009-06-30T16:36:21.275-04:00

IntroductionFor those of you going to the World Open this week, let me try to ease your anxiety so you can relax and have some fun.Objectively speaking, there is a range of possible tournament results from zero to nine (there are nine total games at the World Open), and a distribution of probabilities that you will get one of those results.People tend to get anxious when they start to focus on

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-79434050671705172792009-06-29T11:10:00.008-04:002009-06-29T11:35:11.322-04:00

Chess content brought to my attention by two anonymous commenters:Quiz yourself on square colors. Refresh your browser and it lists the squares in a new order. Very nice! Now that I've become a fan of board visualization (the ankle weights of chess training), I will probably use it.Chess puzzles blog. There is no shortage of such things online, but it can't hurt to do more.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-33658518506371145452009-06-26T00:35:00.008-04:002009-06-26T01:01:56.990-04:00

ICC tonight, one of my two slow games a week, I got to a dominant position (a rook and two pawns up with a passed pawn). In other words, I had a clear win, not a subtly better position. I was feelin' good.Then my connection dies for one second. Automatic forfeit. Loss. I wanted to throw my computer out the window. It was especially painful because the dude was constantly badgering me to 'Hurry up

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-77243376989606548382009-06-22T12:40:00.006-04:002009-06-22T17:24:32.217-04:00

Often when I win or draw against players much higher rated than me, in the postmortems it is striking how much more deeply they thought things through, the moves and lines they saw that I didn't even consider. This is a little depressing, makes me feel like a sham. For instance, in the game against Loomis it was clear he had a much better command of the game, and in particular, of some of the

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-46007297472108611472009-06-19T11:55:00.004-04:002009-06-21T08:30:28.635-04:00

If I didn't mention your blog, feel free to put it in the comments. These are threads where I welcome shameless plugs from fellow bloggers.J'adoube gives us his annual San Francisco chess update.Where is Loomis?Congrats to Polly who won the Westchester Club Championship.Wang is still plugging away at his chess study. The Knights Errant are dead, so it is good to have someone to follow in their

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-4870332191105967262009-06-17T22:50:00.012-04:002009-06-18T00:11:14.437-04:00

If you will get annoyed by non-chess content, don't read this post. This may be the first political post on this site, and I hope it is the last.People in Iran are protesting by getting on their rooftops three times a night to shout 'Allaho Akbar' ('God is Great'). In this poignant video record, the woman speaking says, "They can take our phones, our internet, all our communications away, but we

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-76534592681575049472009-06-16T13:40:00.011-04:002009-06-16T14:01:18.180-04:00

Overtraining frequently occurs in chess players who are training for tournaments, and train beyond the brain's ability to adapt. They often train longer and harder so they can improve. But without adequate rest and recovery, these training regimens can backfire, and actually decrease performance.Do you overtrain?Chess improvement requires a balance between chess time and recovery time. Too much

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-47676796492134381482009-06-11T16:06:00.000-04:002009-06-12T12:01:35.037-04:00

The computer is both useless and indispensable for postmortems.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-60998026308397128642009-06-08T23:19:00.007-04:002009-06-09T00:07:33.841-04:00

With superficial annotations, and some Fritz discoveries. I am frankly happy with my play overall, though obviously I made some big mistakes, and missed some of Loomis' mistakes (his mistakes were harder to spot, especially OTB). .boardhidden {display:none}; .boardshown {display:inline}(show chess board)(hide chess board)

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-68324171662874398542009-06-08T10:27:00.007-04:002009-06-08T11:04:10.611-04:00

Last night was the first round of the Blue Devil Open 1 tournament at Duke. It was a fun game despite the loss, partly because I got to play fellow blogger Loomis! The game actually reached an endgame, which was in Loomis' favor. He dominated my Knight with his Bishop, got the opposition, and proceeded to pass a pawn. We played for almost four hours, so my brain was spinning. The 120 minute time

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-80329784944419208062009-06-05T18:00:00.013-04:002009-06-06T07:47:45.112-04:00

An enterprising graduate student at Duke has started a chess tournament and baptized it the Blue Devil Open. One game a week on Sunday evenings, and the first round is this coming Sunday. I have to hand it to him for finding the greatest possible name for a tournament. I think I should get two-point byes just because of my alias here at the blog.The tournament consists of 3 rounds (one round

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-5282776336372178252009-06-02T12:34:00.004-04:002009-06-02T12:37:57.873-04:00

Your pin can easily turn into his discovered attack.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-16789946998055265062009-05-31T10:38:00.001-04:002009-05-31T12:46:17.882-04:00

Typically I've thought of pawns as either passed or not passed. However, that isn't a useful way to think of them during games. Since there are three files with potential enemy pawns that stand between a (nonflank) pawn and its freedom, each file that is emptied increases the probability that your pawn can become a passed pawn. The following diagram shows what I mean, the four cases from zero

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-48606568550315850022009-05-29T09:18:00.005-04:002009-05-29T09:33:21.883-04:00

Over at Wang's Chess House we have some excellent book reviews, some of the best I've seen in the blogosphere. It reinforces my view that Kaufman's repertoire book should be called 'A Soporific Repertoire for Black and White.' Liquid Egg Product, whose blog was down for a bit, is back!Drunknknight is playing in the finals of a tournament where he kicked serious butt.I wish DG would come back to

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-41303619474705784722009-05-28T23:18:00.004-04:002009-05-28T23:31:48.308-04:00

I Googled the book title 'The Sharpest Sicilian.' In Google, the fifth site to come up was called Torrentreactor. Torrentreactor is a scam. It showed five different sites that you can download the book from. It turns out this is an entire network of sites that refer to each other that are one big phishing expedition. Even if you search there for 'torrentreactorisascam' it comes up with five

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-92127494399200523492009-05-25T10:22:00.013-04:002009-05-25T14:43:54.627-04:00

A couple of months ago I expressed heavy skepticism toward the common improvement advice to memorize square colors, visualize lines, and practice blindfold chess.One of my main complaints was that when playing a real game, the board is there. I can look at it. Why waste precious time learning something unnecessary? My slogan was 'Practice how you play.' If you play with a board, practice with a

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-28357062192475457992009-05-22T09:18:00.005-04:002009-05-25T10:51:51.648-04:00

Below is the last-round game in the tournament I entered a couple of weeks ago. I post this game not because I am particularly proud of my play (we both made a lot of mistakes), but to remind the commentariat what games between patzers are typically like, even in "slow" openings.I play black, time control is 70/5. .boardhidden {display:none}; .boardshown {display:inline}(show chess board)(hide

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-8990767446290407432009-05-20T14:19:00.011-04:002009-05-20T21:22:21.375-04:00

Craig Evans left an interesting post over at Chesspub. This bit struck my eye:I would never recommend 1.d4 for beginners or aspiring players. A lot of club players around 1500-1800 have played 1.d4 or 1.Nf3 religiously and are very solid players... with absolutely no tactical awareness or imagination. Closed openings will stifle players who are learning the game, and I am a huge advocate of

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-31672104773562352962009-05-14T09:29:00.000-04:002009-05-14T13:17:32.749-04:00

Black to move:It is from Level 2 of the software Chess Tactics for Beginners. I think I also saw it in Chessimo.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-92137965092464907952009-05-12T19:49:00.019-04:002009-05-12T23:43:45.732-04:00

Or perhaps I should say Bird Fight. There are two Bird systems that have been rolling around in my head since talking with Coach B last night. There is the queenside fianchetto variation (the Bird-Larsen Attack) and the Classical variation (corresponding to the classical Dutch).Timothy Taylor pushes fairly strongly toward the classical, while Coach B has some experience playing the Bird-Larsen.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-1058111152823862192009-05-11T12:47:00.008-04:002009-05-12T13:10:21.115-04:00

Some recent blog posts that I've enjoyed:*An opium repertoire for white, explained: from Katar. If you want fun and swashbuckling, this is for you. A great blog entry that reminds me of bloggers of yore. Until just recently, I followed an opium repertoire and it was a lot of fun.*Yes, I Do: or some such hard to penetrate title from chesstiger. He's talking about our new love, the International

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-66986811183595709162009-05-09T20:44:00.006-04:002009-05-10T12:09:38.551-04:00

I finally went an entire tournament without giving away a piece for free. The result? I went 3-0 and was clear first in the U1300 division, and took home $150. Thanks, Asheboro Open! The best player I beat was rated 1233, the lowest was 983. So, nothing to get cocky about, but it sure feels good for once to leave a tournament and not be thinking, "Why the hell do I bother with this crap if I'm

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-21799006937073928062009-04-28T09:41:00.007-04:002009-04-28T16:40:55.645-04:00

Graciously forwarded by Coach B, and approved by Ben Finegold himself (Coach B is from Michigan and plays Finegold periodically, I believe). Thanks guys for letting me post this.If you follow these rules you will never lose. Kasparov lost to Kramnik only because he broke three of these Rules. Recall that principles in chess are exceptionless universal laws and you should never consider violating

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-69176210661773626372009-04-24T12:51:00.012-04:002009-04-27T11:50:44.696-04:00

A little over six months ago, Liquid Egg Product wrote a provocative post The demise of chess blogging I've been thinking about this topic lately...The following is a revised version of the comment I left there at the time, with a new bit on the state of the chess improvement blogosphere and the Knights Errant in particular. Note this is focusing mostly on chess improvement blogs, not chess news

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-40042408485222352322009-04-23T11:10:00.007-04:002009-04-23T11:43:19.568-04:00

Glenn Wilson has outdone himself by making it all cut and paste. No need for an account. Take a pgn, cut, paste, and you've got a gorgeous flash app to play through your game. Now there are no excuses.Also, if you just want to display a single position, here is a great app.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-58952187032573945632009-04-20T11:38:00.001-04:002009-04-20T11:38:02.800-04:00

White to move....5. Offer a draw.4. If you need us to tell you the answer, you should probably not be playing chess.3. It's all good. Pretty much any move in this position works.2. Resign. White has no winning chances.1. Does it really matter? Why don't you put down this book and get some exercise?

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-68671568887058145822009-04-19T12:29:00.005-04:002009-04-19T12:35:28.981-04:00

1. The enemy King's movement is blocked by material (i.e., few empty squares around the King).2. At least two major pieces in the vicinity of the enemy King.3. It isn't the opening.Take the opposite of each of the above, and we have ingredients that make it more likely for me to miss mate.

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-6172833581852175752009-04-12T23:37:00.026-04:002009-04-22T11:08:15.232-04:00

I payed for my first month over at International Chess School. They have a 13-month course which looks interesting. Each month you get new study material which includes theory, annotated games, and various tests with annotated solutions. Picture to the left is not me, but GM Andrei Istratescu who is on their staff.If you are interested in doing this course with me, then come on over and join the

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11952403.post-22188764529540132912009-04-11T18:43:00.009-04:002009-04-11T18:58:31.608-04:00

After nearly four months, DK Transform has updated his blog. Unfortunately, he brings sad news with the post, and my condolences go out to DK and his family for their loss. In other blog news, the question blog, Chess?, is off to a good start. I am very curious about the International Chess School (ICS) that he is undertaking. Does anyone have any reviews? Does it include endgame study? It was

Blue Devil Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045468316613818510noreply@blogger.com7