"I do not know how old I was when I learned to play chess. I could not have been older than eight, because I still have a chessboard on whose side my father inscribed, with a soldering iron, "Saša Hemon 1972." I loved the board more than chess—it was one of the first things I owned. Its materiality was enchanting to me: the smell of burnt wood that lingered long after my father had branded it; the rattle of the thickly varnished pieces inside, the smacking sound they made when I put them down, the board's hollow wooden echo. I can even recall the taste—the queen's tip was pleasantly suckable; the pawns' round heads, not unlike nipples, were sweet. The board is still at our place in Sarajevo, and, even if I haven't played a game on it in decades, it is still my most cherished possession, providing incontrovertible evidence that there once lived a boy who used to be me." ― Aleksandar Hemon, The Book of My Lives

Thank you ZenJewels, GoodKnight, capanegra, and SwitchingQuylthulg for your contributions. Fredthebear's own additions are toward the bottom of the list.

"We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." — Aristotle

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." — Lao Tzu

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." — Albert Einstein

"You have enemies? Good; that means you have stood up for something, sometime in your life." — Winston Churchill

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." — Plato

"Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it comes and sits softly on your shoulder." — Henry David Thoreau

"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for – in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it." — Ellen Goodman

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow." — Ancient Chinese Proverb

* Octavia's collection: Game Collection: Exciting, Original, Unusual And Other Draws by T

* CG Draws: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che...

* En passant: Wikipedia article: En passant

* Gligoric vs Fischer: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

* Seven Common Stalemates: https://chess24.com/en/read/news/7-...

* Free Chess Curriculum: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

* My kind of Draw! https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...

"To play for a draw, at any rate with white, is to some degree a crime against chess." ― Mikhail Tal

"A tie is like kissing your sister." ― Navy football coach Eddie Erdelatz after a scoreless tie against Duke in 1953

"If a tie is like kissing your sister, losing is like kissing you grandmother with her teeth out." ― George Brett, All-star baseball player

"Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts." ― Dan Gable, all-time winningest wrestler

"You win some, you lose some, you wreck some." — Dale Earnhardt

"In chess, as in life, a man is his own most dangerous opponent." — Vasily Smyslov

Fools look to tomorrow. Wise men use tonight. ~ Scottish Proverb

* "Armageddon" 1995: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWX...

* Arranged? Game Collection: Arranged draws

* Greatest? Game Collection: The Greatest Draws Ever Played

* "202 Checkmates: https://electricliterature.com/202-...

* 2024 Draw of the Year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knV...

* 1927 World Championship: Game Collection: 1927 Alekhine-Capablanca WC match

* Top 9 aggressive openings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN7...

* Creepy sprawly? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYH...

* Diagrammed Checkmate Patterns: Game Collection: Checkmate: Checkmate Patterns

* Desperado: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aME_...

* Epic: Game Collection: Epic Battles of the CB by R.N. Coles - keypusher

* Famous players and their chess quotes: https://www.azquotes.com/author/310...

* Free Chess Curriculum: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

* Films: https://www.smarthousecreative.com/...

* Games annotated by Capa: games annotated by Capablanca

* Greats: Game Collection: These were the greatest...

* Karpov - Kasparov: Game Collection: Karpov - Kasparov WCC Draws

* The King is not here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/al3u...

* Kramnik: Game Collection: Kramnik Draw Champion

* Kramnik: Game Collection: Draw with each Opening (Kramnik)

* Kyrgyzstan: https://www.thechessschach.com/2021...

* Morphy Miniatures:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* "Match of the Century" 1970: https://www.chess.com/blog/Makeev_K...

* MC Move-by-Move: Game Collection: Move by Move - Carlsen (Lakdawala)

* Mechanics' Institute: https://www.milibrary.org/content/s...

* Brain Neurons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoe...

* Nerd goes public: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd6...

* Never play f6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elL...

* Perpetuals: Game Collection: Defensive Combinations (Perpetual Check)

* Dr. Petar Trifunović (31 August 1910, Dubrovnik - 8 December 1980, Belgrade) was an International Grandmaster and five-times Yugoslav Champion of chess. https://gambiter.com/chess/players/...

* So True: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/gre...

* Random: Game Collection: Random Stuff

* Washington Square Park: https://greenwichvillagehistory.wor...

* Read The Planet Greenpawn - https://www.redhotpawn.com/

* Relaxation, resignation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcs...

* Sports Clichés: http://www.sportscliche.com/

* Tactics of War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAe...

* Top Chessgames by ECO Code: http://schachsinn.de/gamelist.htm

* Top Games by Year: Wikipedia article: List of chess games

* Terminology: https://www.angelfire.com/games5/ch...

* Trick or defeat: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kZNK...

* That's a lot of counting: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/st...

* Underpromotion to B or Hyena? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2JA5...

* Mr. Harvey's Puzzle Challenge: https://wtharvey.com/

WTHarvey:
There once was a website named WTHarvey,
Where chess puzzles did daily delay,
The brain-teasers so tough,
They made us all huff and puff,
But solving them brought us great satisfaction today.

There once was a website named WTHarvey
Where chess puzzles were quite aplenty
With knight and rook and pawn
You'll sharpen your brain with a yawn
And become a master of chess entry

There once was a site for chess fun,
Wtharvey.com was the chosen one,
With puzzles galore,
It'll keep you in store,
For hours of brain-teasing, none done.

There once was a website named WTHarvey,
Where chess puzzles were posted daily,
You'd solve them with glee,
And in victory,
You'd feel like a true chess prodigy!

"Chess is played with the mind and not with the hands." ― Renaud & Kahn

"Chess is a terrific way for kids to build self-image and self-esteem." ― Saudin Robovic

"Chess is a sport. The main object in the game of chess remains the achievement of victory." ― Max Euwe

"Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game." ― Being Caballero

"If you wish to succeed, you must brave the risk of failure." — Garry Kasparov

"You win some, you lose some, you wreck some." — Dale Earnhardt

"In life, unlike chess the game continues after checkmate." ― Isaac Asimov

Sleeper straddle "Try again. Fail again. Fail better." ― Samuel Beckett

Idaho: Franklin
Established in: 1860

Franklin was founded in the spring of 1860 by a small group of Mormon pioneers and was named for Apostle Franklin D. Richards. As early settlers began building cabins and farming, they believed they were still in Utah. It wasn't until 1872 that an official boundary survey placed a border between the two states.

* Chess History: https://www.britannica.com/topic/ch...

* Chess History: https://www.uschesstrust.org/chess-...

* World Chess Championship History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkO...

* Chess Timeline: https://wegochess.com/an-easy-to-re...

Picture History of Chess
by Fred Wilson

This classic photo-history offers up hundreds of photos of all the great players along with many outstanding adversaries who helped fashion the immortals. Excellent captions throughout. Hours of fascinating reading and a book I return to again and again. Many of these photos are quite old and hard to find, but collected here under one cover, in an oversized (10x12") format, printed on high-quality glossy paper.

Publisher‏: ‎ Dover Pubns; First Edition (January 1, 1981) Language: ‎ English
Paperback: ‎ 182 pages
ISBN-10: ‎ 0486238563
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0486238562
Item Weight: ‎ 1.23 pounds
Dimensions: ‎ 8.75 x 0.5 x 11.5 inches

Eilfan ywmodryb dda
Meaning: A good aunt is a second mother

Jonathan Moya wrote:
The King's Rumination

Befuddled with thought
the king sought the oracle.

"Count the sands,
calculate the seas,"
she said.

Of the king's future,
she spoke nothing.

Henceforth he
contented only
in his nightmares.

Can you still daydream at night?
We know you have some great ideas for your nighttime dreaming. But if you're awake and trying to give your brain some suggestions for dream time, is it daydreaming or just backseat driving?

Riddle: What word is always pronounced wrong?

The first American Chess Congress, organized by Daniel Willard Fiske and held in New York, October 6 to November 10, 1857, was won by Paul Morphy. It was a knockout tournament in which draws did not count. The top sixteen American players were invited (William Allison, Samuel Robert Calthrop, Daniel Willard Fiske, William James Fuller, Hiram Kennicott, Hubert Knott, Theodor Lichtenhein, Napoleon Marache, Hardman Philips Montgomery, Alexander Beaufort Meek, Paul Morphy, Louis Paulsen, Frederick Perrin, Benjamin Raphael, Charles Henry Stanley, and James Thompson). First prize was $300. Morphy refused any money, but accepted a silver service consisting of a pitcher, four goblets, and a tray. Morphy's prize was given to him by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. ― Wikipedia

Riddle Answer: Wrong!

<<<Below is a <Paul Morphy> acrostic by C.V. Grinfield from page 334 of the Chess Player's Chronicle, 1861:>

Mightiest of masters of the chequer'd board,
Of early genius high its boasted lord!
Rising in youth's bright morn to loftiest fame,

Princeliest of players held with one acclaim;
Host in thyself – all-conquering in fight: –

Yankees exult! – in your great champion's might.>

Question: On average, most people have fewer friends than their friends have; this is known as what? Answer: Friendship paradox – you are more likely to be friends with someone who has more friends than someone who has fewer friends than you.

The first commercial passenger flight lasted only 23 minutes In 1914, Abram Pheil paid $400 (which would be $8,500 today) for a 23-minute plane ride. The Florida flight flew between Saint Petersburg and Tampa, where only 21 miles of water separate the cities. Pheil, a former mayor of Saint Petersburg, and the pilot, Tony Jannus, were the only passengers.

Question: What is the shortest complete English sentence? Answer: Go.

Al certainly offers no proof whatsoever that ratings inflation has NOT occurred. He's just arguing for the sake of bitching, his mission in life, a common angry lib who accomplishes nothing of value to others.

FTB asks again, other than Anand, what regular opponents of Carlsen will go down in history as dominant legends of classical chess? GMs Nepomniachtchi, Andreikin, Fedoseev, Giri, Baburin, etc. are hardly in the class of Petrosian, Polugaevsky, Averbakh, Spassky, Bronstein, Korchnoi, Karpov, etc. https://chesspert.com/46-best-chess...

The next generation of stars that Carlsen ducked at the 86th edition of Tata Steel 2024 just might reach legendary status someday: https://www.chess.com/news/view/11-...

The "Wimbledon of Chess" will be without Magnus Carlsen again in 2025: https://kingdomofchess.com/tata-ste... Maintaining sobriety for 13 rounds might be too much to ask these nights. Of course, that didn't stop some of the Russian greats, did it? https://news-pravda.com/usa/2024/12...

It seems clear enough that Fischer and Kasparov faced many legends. Ratings aside, their competition at the top of the leaderboards was stiffer.

Lambda makes good points:

RE: Kasparov Magnus Carlsen (kibitz #87753)

RE: Karpov Magnus Carlsen (kibitz #87755)

The Frog That Wished to Be As Big As the Ox

The tenant of a bog,
An envious little frog,
Not bigger than an egg,
A stately bullock spies,
And, smitten with his size,
Attempts to be as big.
With earnestness and pains,
She stretches, swells, and strains,
And says, "Sister Frog, look here! see me!
Is this enough?" "No, no."
"Well, then, is this?" "Poh! poh!
Enough! you don't begin to be."
And thus the reptile sits,
Enlarging till she splits.
The world is full of folks
Of just such wisdom; –
The lordly dome provokes
The cit to build his dome;
And, really, there is no telling
How much great men set little ones a-swelling.

"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." ― Satchel Paige

4 in 5 older adults will battle at least one chronic condition or illness.

Certain parts of the body age faster than others.

Age is just a number, and your brain can get sharper as you age.

You become more financially stable.

Your taste buds change.

"If" by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

"So if you think that when you are better, it means that you can smash ahead and mate the guy, you are wrong, that is not what better means. What better means is that your position has the potential, if played correctly, to turn out well. So do not think that when you are better and when you are attacking that you can just force mate. That is not what it is about. Often the way to play best, the way to play within the position, is to maintain it." ― Josh Waitzkin

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Zippa's bad at chess

And horrible at checkers too

В ти́хом о́муте че́рти во́дятся Pronunciation: v TEEham Omutye CHYERtee VOdyatsya Translation: The devil lives in the still waters Meaning: Still waters run deep; beware of a silent dog and still water

"You must play boldly to win." ― Arnold Palmer

"Champions keep playing until they get it right." ― Billie Jean King

Fred Wellmuth was a strong amateur from California

<A lone lion wanders afar in the wilderness, no longer part of the pride
Once gleaming, accepted, a beautiful beast,
now having been cast aside
No chance for part in coordinated hunt,
this one can't run very fast
Nature holds no place, and faltering,
it seems this beast just won't last> — Emory Andrew Tate, Jr.

The former European country of <Yugoslavia> existed after World War I from 1918 to 1992, yet for decades it was one of world's major chess nations. Yugoslavia won the 1950 Olympiad, took 2nd-4th in twelve consecutive Olympiads 1952-1974. Svetoza Gligorić https://en.chessbase.com/post/remem... qualified for the Candidates in 1953 and 1959 as well as Borislav Ivkov in 1965.

"The Yugoslav Chess Championship Wikipedia article: Yugoslav Chess Championship was an annual chess tournament held to determine the Yugoslav national champion and Yugoslavia's candidates for the World Chess Championship. It was first played won by Vasja ♙irc and ♗orislav ♔ostić in 1935 in Belgrade, the capital of Kingdom of Yugoslavia and ended with its 46th iteration after the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia."

Petar Trifunović (31 August 1910 – 8 December 1980) was a Yugoslav and Serbian chess player: Wikipedia article: Petar Trifunovi%C4%87 His writings: https://thechesspedia.net/trifunovi...

"In 1963, the country was renamed for the final time, as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The six constituent republics that made up the SFRY were the socialist republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Within Serbia were the two socialist autonomous provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina..."

"After an economic and political crisis in the 1980s and the rise of nationalism and ethnic conflicts, Yugoslavia broke up along its republics' borders, at first into five countries, leading to the Yugoslav Wars. From 1993 to 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia tried political and military leaders from the former Yugoslavia for war crimes, genocide, and other crimes committed during those wars." Source: Wikipedia

Attitude, aggression, healthy lifestyle habits, and exceptional fitness obtaining force and stamina make a fighter. Properly drilled fundamental techniques and basic strategies/counters are critical as well. Perfect repetition, perfect repetition, perfect repetition, perfect repetition, perfect repetition, etc. etc. Be prepared, be confident, be focused on the task at hand, be all business. Know the ever-changing situational circumstances, let your training take over. Don't over think it. Just do it. "Saying is one thing and doing is another." — French writer Michel de Montaigne

<There are distinct situations where a bishop is preferred (over a knight). For example, two bishops are better than two knights or one of each. Steven Mayer, the author of Bishop Versus Knight, contends, "A pair of bishops is usually considered to be worth six points, but common sense suggests that a pair of active bishops (that are very involved in the formation) must be accorded a value of almost nine under some circumstances." This is especially true if the player can plant the bishops in the center of the board, as two bishops working in tandem can span up to 26 squares and have the capacity to touch every square.

Bishops are also preferable to knights when queens have been exchanged because, Grandmaster Sergey Erenburg, who is ranked 11th in the U.S., explains, "Bishops and rooks complement each other, and when well-coordinated, act as a queen." Conversely, a knight is the preferred minor piece when the queen survives until the late-middlegame or the endgame. Mayer explains, "The queen and knight are able to work together smoothly and create a greater number of threats than the queen and bishop."

When forced to say one is better than the other, most anoint the bishop. Mayer concludes, "I think it's true that the bishops are better than the knights in a wider variety of positions than the knights are better than the bishops."

He continues, "Of course, I'm not sure this does us much good, as we only get to play one position at a time.">

"Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles." — Garry Kasparov

"Sometimes in life, and in chess, you must take one step back to take two steps forward." — IM Levy Rozman, GothamChess

So much, much, much better to be an incurable optimist than deceitful and untrustworthy.

"Don't blow your own trumpet." — Australian Proverb

Old Russian Proverb: "Scythe over a stone." (Нашла коса на камень.) The force came over a stronger force.

"Continuing to play the victim is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Blaming others for your station in life will indeed make you a victim but the perpetrator will be your own self, not life or those around you." — Bobby Darnell

Q: What do you call something that goes up when the rain comes down? A: An umbrella.

Q: What do you call a doctor who fixes websites? A: A URL-ologist.

Q: What do you call a sleeping dinosaur?
A: A dinosnore.

Q: What do you call a Christmas tree that knows karate A: Spruce Lee.

Q: What does a triangle call a circle?
A: Pointless.

Q: What do you call a piece of sad cheese?
A: Blue cheese.

Q: What do you call a cow in an earthquake?
A: A milkshake.

Q: What do you call an M&M that went to college? A: A smarty.

The Man And His Image
To M. The Duke De La Rochefoucauld.

A man, who had no rivals in the love
Which to himself he bore,
Esteemed his own dear beauty far above
What earth had seen before.
More than contented in his error,
He lived the foe of every mirror.
Officious fate, resolved our loverFrom such an illness should recover, Presented always to his eyes
The mute advisers which the ladies prize; –
Mirrors in parlours, inns, and shops, –
Mirrors the pocket furniture of fops, –
Mirrors on every lady's zone,13
From which his face reflected shone.
What could our dear Narcissus do?
From haunts of men he now withdrew,
On purpose that his precious shape
From every mirror might escape.
But in his forest glen alone,
Apart from human trace,
A watercourse,
Of purest source,
While with unconscious gaze
He pierced its waveless face,
Reflected back his own.
Incensed with mingled rage and fright,
He seeks to shun the odious sight;
But yet that mirror sheet, so clear and still,
He cannot leave, do what he will.

Before this, my story's drift you plainly see.
From such mistake there is no mortal free.
That obstinate self-lover
The human soul does cover;
The mirrors follies are of others,
In which, as all are genuine brothers,
Each soul may see to life depicted
Itself with just such faults afflicted;
And by that charming placid brook,
Needless to say, I mean your Maxim Book.

This is one of La Fontaine's most admired fables, and is one of the few for which he did not go for the groundwork to some older fabulist. The Duke de la Rochefoucauld, to whom it was dedicated, was the author of the famous "Reflexions et Maximes Morales," which La Fontaine praises in the last lines of his fable. La Rochefoucauld was La Fontaine's friend and patron. The "Maximes" had achieved a second edition just prior to La Fontaine's publication of this first series of his Fables, in 1668. "The Rabbits" (Book 10, Fable 15.), published in the second collection, in 1678-9, is also dedicated to the Duke, who died the following year, 1680.

Engineer Ralph Baer is often held to be the "father of video games." His "Brown Box" video game system, designed in 1967, paved the way for all future consoles.

"mãos frias, coração quente". In English, it means "a cold hand, a warm heart"

Drive sober or get pulled over.

"For surely of all the drugs in the world, chess must be the most permanently pleasurable." — Assiac

"mais vale um passarinho na mão do que dois a voar"

Contrary to popular belief, the first video game was not Pong. It was preceded by Tennis for Two in 1958 and Spacewar! in 1962.

An Irish Blessing:

May we all feel…
happy and contented,
healthy and strong,
safe and protected
and living with ease…

~

"Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got." — Norman Vincent Peale

"What you do today can improve all your tomorrows." — Ralph Marston

* Riddle-xp-free: https://www.briddles.com/riddles/ch...

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

Your feet contain a quarter of your bones.
Human feet contain 52 bones (26 for each foot). That's nearly a quarter of all the bones in your whole body! Each also contains 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Are your dogs barking?

Je ne suis pas d'accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je d‚fendrai jusqu'... la mort le droit que vous avez de le dire/ I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire

The smallest bone in your body is in your ear.
No named bone in your body is smaller (or lighter) than the stapes, a bone in the middle ear that's actually shaped like a stirrup. It's complete with a base and an oval window, which is covered with a membrane that measures sound vibrations.

"Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities. Without humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy." ― Norman Vincent Peale

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

"Most promises featuring the word 'always' are unkeepable." ― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed

"You should never say never. Just like you should never say always; because, always and never are always never true." ― J. R. Krol

"<Never and Always>

Never take advantage of someone whom loves you
Never avoid someone whom needs you
Never betray anyone whom has trust in you

Never forget the people that always remember you

Never speak ill of a person who is not present

Never support something you know is wrong or unethical

Always speak to your parents on their birthday and anniversary

Always defend those who cannot defend themselves

Always forgive those you love whom have made mistakes

Always give something to those less fortunate than you

Always remember to look back at those who helped you succeed

Always call your parents and siblings on New Year's Eve." ― R.J. Intindola

"Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

"We made too many wrong mistakes."
― Yogi Berra, 18-time American League All-Star

"Never reply to an anonymous letter."
― Yogi Berra, MLB Hall of Fame catcher

"Even Napoleon had his Watergate."
― Yogi Berra, 10-time World Series champion

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours." ― Yogi Berra, one of the greatest Yankees of all time

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." ― Yogi Berra, 10-time World Series champion

<<A Parent Talks to a Child Before the First Game>

"This is your first game, my child. I hope you win.

I hope you win for your sake, not mine. Because winning's nice.

It's a good feeling.

Like the whole world is yours.

But, it passes, this feeling.

And what lasts is what you've learned.

And what you learn about is life.

That's what sports is all about. Life.

The whole thing is played out in an afternoon.

The happiness of life.

The miseries.

The joys.

The heartbreaks.

There's no telling what'll turn up.

There's no telling whether they'll toss you out in the first five minutes or whether you'll stay for the long haul.

There's no telling how you'll do.

You might be a hero or you might be absolutely nothing.

There's just no telling.

Too much depends on chance.

On how the ball bounces.

I'm not talking about the game, my child.

I'm talking about life.

But, it's life that the game is all about.

Just as I said.

Because every game is life.

And life is a game.

A serious game

Dead serious.

But, that's what you do with serious things. You do your best.

You take what comes.

You take what comes

And you run with it.

Winning is fun.

Sure.

But winning is not the point.

Wanting to win is the point.

Not giving up is the point.

Never being satisfied with what you've done is the point.

Never letting up is the point.

Never letting anyone down is the point.

Play to win.

Sure.

But lose like a champion.

Because it's not winning that counts.

What counts is trying."

—Unknown>

"The open file, being cleared of pawns, offers no permanent targets. The advantage of controlling an open file consists mainly in the chance of penetrating the enemy position and switching to horizontal activity." ― Hans Kmoch

'Don't count your chickens before they are hatched'

It's no time to play chess when the house is on fire. ~ Italian Proverbs

If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. ~ Chinese Proverb

The one who wins plays best. ~ German Proverbs

Acts 20:35 "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

<Sarah wrote:

checkmate
It's like we're playing chess.
Moving strategically, testing boundaries,
all while watching each other's expression.

We all know how this games ends…
The queen destroys you and steals your heart.>

"Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles." — Garry Kasparov

"Sometimes in life, and in chess, you must take one step back to take two steps forward." — IM Levy Rozman, GothamChess

So much, much, much better to be an incurable optimist than deceitful and untrustworthy.

Old Russian Proverb: "Scythe over a stone." (Нашла коса на камень.) The force came over a stronger force.

In God we trust; all others pay cash. ~ American Proverb

"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd!"
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Confessed faults are half mended. ~ Scottish Proverb

Riddle Answer Begins With Letter "M"
Riddle: I make two people out of one. What am I?

* Mihail Marin: Wikipedia article: Mihail Marin

Riddle Answer: A mirror.

"There are more adventures on a chessboard than on all the seas of the world." ― Pierre Mac Orlan

"....his countrymen, Kolisch and Steinitz, are greatly indebted for their later success to their having enjoyed early opportunities of practicing with the departed amateur whose death is also greatly deplored amongst all who knew him personally." — Wilhelm Steinitz, regarding Karl Hamppe

The first appearance of the (John) Cochrane gambit against Petrov's defense C42 was in the year 1848 against an Indian master Mohishunder Bannerjee.

"Sorry don't get it done, Dude!" — John Wayne, Rio Bravo

"Gossip is the devil's telephone. Best to just hang up." — Moira Rose

Old Russian Proverb: "Measure seven times, cut once. (Семь раз отмерь — один отрежь.)" Be careful before you do something that cannot be changed.

The Words Of Socrates

A house was built by Socrates
That failed the public taste to please.
Some blamed the inside; some, the out; and all
Agreed that the apartments were too small.
Such rooms for him, the greatest sage of Greece!

"I ask," said he, "no greater bliss
Than real friends to fill even this."
And reason had good Socrates
To think his house too large for these.
A crowd to be your friends will claim,
Till some unhandsome test you bring.
There's nothing plentier than the name;
There's nothing rarer than the thing.

"As they prepared themselves to go ashore no one doubted in theory that at least a certain percentage of them would remain on the island dead, once they set foot on it. But no one expected to be one of these. Still it was an awesome thought and as the first contingents came struggling up on deck in full gear to form up, all eyes instinctively sought out immediately this island where they were to be put, and left, and which might possibly turn out to be a friend's grave." ― James Jones, The Thin Red Line

"The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience." ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

"Patience is a form of wisdom. It demonstrates that we understand and accept the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time." ― Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living

"How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?" ― Dr. Seuss

"Time is what we want most, but what we use worst." ― William Penn

"Never waste a minute thinking about people you don't like." ― Dwight D. Eisenhower

"The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run." ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

"Life is a funny thing. We only get so many years to live it, so we have to do everything we can to make sure those years are as full as they can be. We shouldn't waste time on things that might happen someday, or maybe even never." ― Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us

"It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;—it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others." ― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

"Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone." ― Alan Watts

"There is more to life than simply increasing its speed." ― Mahatma Gandhi

"Lost Time is never found again."
― Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

"Time spent with a cat is never wasted." ― Colette

"A wise man's goal shouldn't be to say something profound, but to say something useful." ― Criss Jami, Healology

"The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds." ― Teck Foo Check, The Autobiography of Sun Tzu

"Behind every move I make on the chess board lies a story of calculation, intuition, and passion. With every game, I discover more about myself and the endless possibilities of the game." ― medicosaurabh

"Ecco, sai giocare a scacchi. Adesso devi diventare un giocatore. Ci vorrà un po' di più." ― Guenassia Jean-Michel, Le Club des incorrigibles optimists

"People are like chess pieces!" ― Deyth Banger

"The only easy day was yesterday." ― US Navy SEALs

"Gameplay is all our life. Either we guard, attack or develop pieces." ― Vineet Raj Kapoor, UNCHESS: Untie Your Shoes and Walk on the Chessboard of Life

"The is a secret for greater self-control, the science points to one thing: the power of paying attention." ― Kelly McGonigal, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It

"As we encounter new experiences with a mindful and wise attention, we discover that one of three things will happen to our new experience: it will go away, it will stay the same, or it will get more intense. whatever happens does not really matter." ― Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life

"Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories." ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"I'll play baseball for the Army or fight for it, whatever they want me to do." ― Mickey Mantle

"Chess is a miniature version of life. To be successful, you need to be disciplined, assess resources, consider responsible choices and adjust when circumstances change." ― Susan Polgar

"We are like chess players who are trying to predict the opponent's future moves, but in this case, we are dealing with life itself. True masters do not play the game on a single chessboard, but on multiple chessboards at the same time. And what's the difference between grandmasters and masters? Surprises. The moves that cannot be predicted by the opponent. Life can play a simultaneous game with seven billion people at the same time and it can take each and every one of us by surprise. And we still believe we are capable of winning, because we can predict three of four moves ahead. We are insignificant." ― Jaka Tomc, 720 Heartbeats

"The cherished dream of every chessplayer is to play a match with the World Champion. But here is the paradox: the closer you come to the realization of this goal, the less you think about it." ― Mikhail Tal

"I mean a man whose hopes and aims may sometimes lie (as most men's sometimes do, I dare say) above the ordinary level, but to whom the ordinary level will be high enough after all if it should prove to be a way of usefulness and good service leading to no other. All generous spirits are ambitious, I suppose, but the ambition that calmly trusts itself to such a road, instead of spasmodically trying to fly over it, is of the kind I care for." ― Charles Dickens, Bleak House

"Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley." ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"But I find something compelling in the game's choreography, the way one move implies the next. The kings are an apt metaphor for human beings: utterly constrained by the rules of the game, defenseless against bombardment from all sides, able only to temporarily dodge disaster by moving one step in any direction." ― Jennifer duBois, A Partial History of Lost Causes

"The move is there, but you must see it." ― Savielly Tartakower

"You may delay, but time will not." ― Benjamin Franklin

"Chess is all about maintaining coherent strategies. It's about not giving up when the enemy destroys one plan but to immediately come up with the next. A game isn't won and lost at the point when the king is finally cornered. The game's sealed when a player gives up having any strategy at all. When his soldiers are all scattered, they have no common cause, and they move one piece at a time, that's when you've lost." ― Kazuo Ishiguro, A Pale View of Hills

"The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds." ― Teck Foo Check, The Autobiography of Sun Tzu

"War is not just the shower of bullets and bombs from both sides, it is also the shower of blood and bones on both sides." ― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

"The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field." ― Sun Tzu, The Art Of War

"Technique has taken over the whole of civilization. Death, procreation, birth all submit to technical efficiency and systemization." ― Jacques Ellul

"Time is an illusion." ― Albert Einstein

"Time isn't precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is." ― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

"It's being here now that's important. There's no past and there's no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can't relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don't know if there is one." ― George Harrison

"You are the biggest enemy of your own sleep." ― Pawan Mishra

<<Vukovic's Guidelines for Attack:>

01) If you attack the king, make sure that either your opponent cannot counterattack, or at least that your attack is more quick or more dangerous.

02) So, you must look at the whole board, and the chances for both sides, when deciding whether to attack or not.

03) Security in the centre lends support to a wing attack. A central pawn blockade prevents or limits counter-attacks, and makes a pawn attack easier.

04) This is particularly true of attacks with pawns, which must creep forward more slowly than other pieces. If you can make an attack with pieces alone, leave your pawns at home.

05) If you already have a pawn advanced, e.g. to f5, which may block your bishop on the diagonal b1-h7, then you might be better off going for a pawn storm by advancing the g-pawn.

06) As a rule, it is difficult to break through with pawns against the unweakened castled king's position. This is because the pawn wave can be blockaded.

07) So, it is usually important to weaken the castled position first (e.g. by ganging up on h7 you might force ...g6 or ...h6).

08) Pawns don't half get in the way of rooks. If you cannot open a file, you can often get your rooks into action in front of your pawns, for example, by playing them to the third rank.

09) Pawn advances loosen your position, and may be a disadvantage in the ending.

10) Although you must be careful before starting an attack, once you have started you must go in as hard and fast as you can. This is even more important if you realize you shouldn't have started the attack quite yet - if you try to back out you will only make things worse.>

Chessgames.com will be unavailable Friday, February 17, 2023 from 11AM through 11:30AM(UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience.

1737 – Philipp Stamma (Syria) publishes Essai sur le jeu des échecs. The book features an early form of algebraic notation (for example, '1. e4 e5' in modern notation would be written as 'p e 4 | p e 5' in Stamma's). The first half primarily concerns opening theory, with particular emphasis on various opening gambits, and the second half gives the first detailed exploration of endgame theory.

1744 – François-André Danican Philidor (France) plays two opponents blindfolded in Paris.

1745 – Philipp Stamma's work is translated from French to English, and published as 'The Noble Game of Chess'.

1747 – Philidor decisively defeats Stamma in 8/9 games while visiting London, instantly gaining international fame.

1763 – Sir William Jones invents Caïssa, the chess muse.

1769 – Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen builds the Mechanical Turk, a fake chess-playing humanoid "machine" in fact operated secretly by a human.

1783 – Philidor plays as many as three games simultaneously without seeing the board.

<Pastime with good company I love and shall, until I die.
Grudge who list, but none deny!
So God be pleased, thus live will I.>
― Henry VIII of England

1.Nf3 is the third most popular of the twenty legal opening moves White has, behind only 1.e4 and 1.d4.

"In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted; if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end." ― Tom Seaver

"Rooks need each other in the middlegame. This is why one should keep their rooks connected until the opposing queen is off the board. She'll snare 'em (usually from a centralized square on an open diagonal or perhaps a poisoned pawn approach of the unprotected b2/b7 and g2/g7 square next to the occupied corner) if the two rooks are not protecting each other." ― Fredthebear

"If you want happiness for an hour—take a nap. If you want happiness for a day—go fishing. If you want happiness for a year—inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime—help someone else." ~ Chinese Proverb

Slow Down
Kimberley Hamilton

Slow down life is not a race,
Slow down and give God space,
Slow down and take things at His pace,
Just slow down.

Slow down embrace the morning sunrise,
Slow down and look into a child's eyes,
Slow down life is full of surprise,
Just slow down.

Slow down and listen to a robin sing,
Slow down see the chicks gather in their mother's wing, Slow down acknowledge Christ as King,
Just Slow down.

Slow down and watch the stars at night,
Slow down as they twinkle oh so bright,
Slow down everything will turn out right,
If you just Slow down.

'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth'

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

"Win any way as long as you can get away with it. Nice guys finish last." ― Leo Durocher

"Never chase love, affection, or attention. If it isn't given freely by another person, it isn't worth having." ― Unknown

"In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else. For whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and opening must be studied in relation to the end game." ― Jose Raul Capablanca

'A problem shared is a problem halved'

"To bear trials with a calm mind robs misfortune of its strength and burden." ― Seneca

The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1807-1882

The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveller to the shore,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

"There are good ships, and there are wood ships, ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships, and may they always be." — Anonymous

"Life is what you make it: If you snooze, you lose; and if you snore, you lose more." — Phyllis George

Galatians 6:7 in the Bible "Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

"those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" is often cited as originating in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde written in 1385.

"Friend, you don't have to earn God's love or try harder. You're precious in His sight, covered by the priceless blood of Jesus, and indwelt by His Holy Spirit. Don't hide your heart or fear you're not good enough for Him to care for you. Accept His love, obey Him, and allow Him to keep you in His wonderful freedom." — Charles F. Stanley

Без труда́ не вы́тащишь и ры́бку из пруда́ Pronunciation: bez truDAH ni VYtashish i RYBku iz pruDAH Translation: Without hard work, one wouldn't even get a fish out of a pond Meaning: No pain, no gain

Any Russian child knows that fishing involves hard work, all thanks to this popular proverb which was even included in the official school curriculum during the Soviet years.

The Woodman and Mercury
To M. The Chevalier De Bouillon.

Your taste has served my work to guide;
To gain its suffrage I have tried.
You'd have me shun a care too nice,
Or beauty at too dear a price,
Or too much effort, as a vice.
My taste with yours agrees:
Such effort cannot please;
And too much pains about the polish
Is apt the substance to abolish;
Not that it would be right or wise
The graces all to ostracize.
You love them much when delicate;
Nor is it left for me to hate.
As to the scope of Aesop's plan,
I fail as little as I can.
If this my rhymed and measured speech
Avails not to please or teach,
I own it not a fault of mine;
Some unknown reason I assign.
With little strength endued
For battles rough and rude,
Or with Herculean arm to smite,
I show to vice its foolish plight.
In this my talent wholly lies;
Not that it does at all suffice.
My fable sometimes brings to view
The face of vanity purblind
With that of restless envy joined;
And life now turns on these pivots two.
Such is the silly little frog
That aped the ox on her bog.
A double image sometimes shows
How vice and folly do oppose
The ways of virtue and good sense;
As lambs with wolves so grim and gaunt,
The silly fly and frugal ant.
Thus swells my work – a comedy immense –
Its acts unnumbered and diverse,
Its scene the boundless universe.
Gods, men, and brutes, all play their part
In fields of nature or of art,
And Jupiter among the rest.
Here comes the god who's wont to bear
Jove's frequent errands to the fair,
With winged heels and haste;
But other work's in hand today.

A man that laboured in the wood
Had lost his honest livelihood;
That is to say,
His axe was gone astray.
He had no tools to spare;
This wholly earned his fare.
Without a hope beside,
He sat him down and cried,
"Alas, my axe! where can it be?
O Jove! but send it back to me,
And it shall strike good blows for you."
His prayer in high Olympus heard,
Swift Mercury started at the word.
"Your axe must not be lost," said he:
"Now, will you know it when you see?
An axe I found on the road."
With that an axe of gold he showed.
"Is it this?" The woodman answered, "Nay."
An axe of silver, bright and gay,
Refused the honest woodman too.
At last the finder brought to view
An axe of iron, steel, and wood.
"That's mine," he said, in joyful mood;
"With that I'll quite contented be."
The god replied, "I give the three,
As due reward of honesty."
This luck when neighbouring choppers knew,
They lost their axes, not a few,
And sent their prayers to Jupiter
So fast, he knew not which to hear.
His winged son, however, sent
With gold and silver axes, went.
Each would have thought himself a fool
Not to have owned the richest tool.
But Mercury promptly gave, instead
Of it, a blow on the head.
With simple truth to be contented,
Is surest not to be repented;
But still there are who would
With evil trap the good, –
Whose cunning is but stupid,
For Jove is never duped.

"God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with." — Billy Graham

"I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right." — Billy Graham

"A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip." — Billy Graham

"Only those who want everything done for them are bored." — Billy Graham

"My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world." — Billy Graham

"Nothing can bring a real sense of security into the home except true love." — Billy Graham

"The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course." — Billy Graham

"God's mercy and grace give me hope - for myself, and for our world." — Billy Graham

"Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness." — Billy Graham

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER

The Blossom
by William Blake

Merry, merry sparrow!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Sees you, swift as arrow,
Seek your cradle narrow,
Near my bosom.
Pretty, pretty robin!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Hears you sobbing, sobbing,
Pretty, pretty robin,
Near my bosom.

"There just isn't enough televised chess." — David Letterman

"Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don't be concerned about whether people are watching you or criticizing you. The chances are that they aren't paying any attention to you. It's your attention to yourself that is so stultifying. But you have to disregard yourself as completely as possible. If you fail the first time then you'll just have to try harder the second time. After all, there's no real reason why you should fail. Just stop thinking about yourself." — Eleanor Roosevelt

"Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess." — Siegbert Tarrasch

"True power is expressed in quiet confidence; it was the sea's very calmness that epitomized its mighty force." ― Emile Habiby

"Remember that there are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body. That of the soul displays its radiance in intelligence, in chastity, in good conduct, in generosity, and in good breeding, and all these qualities may exist in an ugly man. And when we focus our attention upon that beauty, not upon the physical, love generally arises with great violence and intensity. I am well aware that I am not handsome, but I also know that I am not deformed, and it is enough for a man of worth not to be a monster for him to be dearly loved, provided he has those spiritual endowments I have spoken of." ― Miguel Cervantes

4$zzzeeee

Q: What do you call something that goes up when the rain comes down? A: An umbrella.

Q: What do you call a doctor who fixes websites? A: A URL-ologist.

Q: What do you call a sleeping dinosaur?
A: A dinosnore.

Q: What do you call a Christmas tree that knows karate A: Spruce Lee.

Q: What does a triangle call a circle?
A: Pointless.

Q: What do you call a piece of sad cheese?
A: Blue cheese.

Q: What do you call a cow in an earthquake?
A: A milkshake.

Q: What do you call an M&M that went to college? A: A smarty.

Dinner Prayer Hymn
Traditional Hymn

Lord, bless this food and grant that we

May thankful for thy mercies be;

Teach us to know by whom we're fed;

Bless us with Christ, the living bread.

Lord, make us thankful for our food,

Bless us with faith in Jesus' blood;

With bread of life our souls supply,

That we may live with Christ on high.
Amen