User Profile: Jimfromprovidence

Jimfromprovidence
Member since Oct-04-07 · Last seen May-19-13

Two favorite quotes...
“Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.” - W.B. Yeats
"What good am I if I know and don’t do
If I see and don’t say, if I look right through you
If I turn a deaf ear to the thunderin’ sky
What good am I?" - Bob Dylan
I'm a 60 year-old retired public finance official. I reside in Ventura County, CA, which is about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
I’m bi-coastal, having grown up in the Providence, Rhode Island area. I consider myself a fortunate survivor of the Catholic schooling experience at both the grade and secondary school level.
I left the East Coast and ventured the 3,000 miles to California in 1983 not knowing a soul in order to attend grad school at UC-Santa Barbara. After earning my Masters' in Economics, I decided to stick around.
I made a good living explaining to politicians the consequences of various budget alternatives in mostly difficult economic times. (They would mostly respond, do what you need to do to balance the budget, but do not reduce staff, cut programs or raise taxes).
I have a wife and grown son. She's also retired; he's a high school phys ed teacher, married. We have a grandchild, a boy, born in May, 2010 and a girl is on the way, due in July of this year.
As far as chess goes, I don’t know as much about it as I should, but that's O.K.
I just like the challenge of trying to solve the puzzles, analyzing the positions and communicating with other enthusiasts.

Last updated 5/13/13

   Jimfromprovidence has kibitzed 2098 times to chessgames [more...]

   May-19-13 Yifan Hou vs Lahno, 2012

Jimfromprovidence: What makes this puzzle so tricky is that it is hard to see white both winning enough material and keeping black from …Qf4+ and a perpetual, as the black bishop on f7 prevents the white king escaping with Kh5. I got 39 Qxf6+ Kf8 (to protect the bishop and keep the perpetual

   May-15-13 N Aggelis vs A Heimann, 2012

Jimfromprovidence: Since white is already up a piece, I went defensive. I wanted to prevent 31...Nh3+, double-attacking the bishop, so I chose 31 Bg2, below. [DIAGRAM] 32 Qe7 was my follow-up. I never looked for anything better, like 31 Qd6.

   May-11-13 Anand vs Topalov, 2013

Jimfromprovidence: <Eyal> <There's a nice (and non-trivial) winning line here after 31...Qxh4> 32 Bb3 also looks good here, (but not 32 Ba2?). [DIAGRAM] The idea is to threaten 33 Qe7 as well as protect the rook on d1.That makes 32...Re5 unplayable. One continuation is 32...Rxd4

   May-05-13 V Buenermann vs K Mokry, 1998

Jimfromprovidence: Beside the aforementioned possible defense of 63 d4?!, there is is also the stronger perhaps defense of 61 Ng4!? [DIAGRAM] Now the black rook may never get to the first rank.

   May-04-13 N Vitiugov vs Ding Liren, 2012

Jimfromprovidence: Another line to consider is 21 e5 Kh7?! 22 Qg5! [DIAGRAM] The threat is 23 fxg6+ fxg6 24 Bxg6+. One continuation is 22...f6 23 fxg6+ Kg7 24 Rxf6. [DIAGRAM]

   May-03-13 Kasparov vs P Nikolic, 1992

Jimfromprovidence: I got 34 Rb7 (threatening 35 e6 double-attacking the bishop along with a nasty mate threat.) We can see the clever mate threat after the text 36 e6. [DIAGRAM] Notice that black cannot exchange bishops, with 36…Bxc3?? because of 37 Rxf7+, with forced mate. [DIAGRAM] That ...

   Apr-30-13 V Vepkhvishvili vs K Shavgulidze, 1983

Jimfromprovidence: The other winner from last year was <sevenseaman> He and LTJ are both MIA??

   Apr-29-13 Caruana vs Topalov, 2013

Jimfromprovidence: <Eyal> <I don't quite see how the (second) diagram position can be reached - but if you mean just making pawn moves instead of committing the king, it doesn't seem to work because White is running out of them very quickly; e.g. 52.c3 Kg3 53.b3 Bc7 and now 54.b4 ...

   Apr-27-13 Lenderman vs S Zierk, 2012

Jimfromprovidence: Here's the way the game might may continued beginning with 21...Bd7. [DIAGRAM] This move protects the queen and back rank for black. Next, he want to play 22...Rg8. White is one step ahead and wins with 22 Rad1. So, for example if 22..Ra7, then 23 Rh3! follows. [DIAGRAM]

   Apr-26-13 Janowski vs Lasker, 1909

Jimfromprovidence: I looked at 28...g5 29 Rh1 g4 30 e5?! for quite a while. Black wins with 30..Ng5, below. [DIAGRAM] The threat is 31...Nf3# so white canot take the f rook. Assuming 31 Be2, black wins material after 31...gxf3. [DIAGRAM]

indicates a reply to the comment.

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 8 OF 8 · Later Kibitzing>
Mar-18-11		morfishine: From todays 3/18 puzzle: E L'Ami vs I Sokolov, 2008 White wins

Mar-18-11		morfishine: Here's another response: E L'Ami vs I Sokolov, 2008

Jun-18-11		Jimfromprovidence: A belated congratulations to the City of Boston for its most recent sports success, a hockey championship. In the last six years, Boston’s four sports teams each won a title. Since 2002, the Patriots have won three Super Bowls. The Red Sox have won two World Series championships. And both the Celtics and the Bruins have won their respective trophies. This has never happened before, ever. No city with a team in each of the four major sports has seen all its teams win a title in 10-year span. Even New York, who has EIGHT teams, needed an 11-year window to take home each of the major trophies. With the Bruins win, Boston has done it in a six-year span.

Jun-25-11		ketchuplover: Still have your copy of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess? I no longer have mine but I do have a rare copy of a soft pawn film titled "Bobby Fischer Reaches Chest"

Jun-25-11		technical draw: Ugh! I think you should stick to ketchup.

Jun-25-11		Jimfromprovidence: <ketchuplover> I still have that copy at my Mom's house back east. Don't you think that you've carried around that big bottle a bit too long? Just keep a few packets in your jacket pocket.

Jun-30-11		ketchuplover: Good advice. Thanks :)

Aug-04-11		Jimfromprovidence: Here is the link to a very uplifting human interest chess story in today's LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/l...

Aug-24-11		chesssantosh: thank you so much <Jimfromprovidence> for your beautiful puzzles.i enjoyed very much,though i could not solve most of them.now your kibitzs are going to appear in <gold> colour ,i guess you know the reason.you must be a strong player at least of master strength,so i request you to appear in <POTD> regularly in order to help us.once again thanks a lot and best of luck with your chess future

Oct-20-11		LIFE Master AJ: I enjoyed your many comments on Pillsbury vs Tarrasch, 1895. I also enjoyed your puzzles that you occaisionally post. You and I are a lot alike, you enjoy searching "blind alleys" and sidelines. You enjoy any position, you especially delight in something unusual ... or when it "cuts agaisnt the grain." Bravo! BTW, the best advice for guys like <"Doctor Malicious"> (and the rest of "the troop") is simply to ignore 99% of what he says ... my two cents worth.

Feb-19-12		hms123: <Jimfromprovidence> We are going to make another award in the next few weeks. I would appreciate your nominations and your occasional reminding of the POTD denizens about making nominations. I have asked <dzechiel> and others to do the same. thanks--hms <We (User: WinKing , User: kutztown46 , and User: hms123) are announcing an award for the best contribution or series of contributions to the <Puzzle of the Day> by a non-premium member in the past year. The award—a one-year premium membership from the <Rinus Award> fund in memory of User: rinus –will be used to encourage non-premium members to contribute to the <chessgames.com> community through the posting of analysis or other chess-related discussion at the <POTD>. Please post nominations at User: hms123 some time in the next few weeks. Although we will be paying particular attention to the nominations and votes from those premium members who represent some of the best of what chessgames.com has to offer, all (including non-premium members) are welcome to nominate and vote. We thank everyone at the site for sharing so much information with us.>

Apr-10-12		Jimfromprovidence: I found this game while reading John Nunn's book "Nunn's Chess Endings Volume 1". Even though this game ends in a draw, black had a tablebase win on more than one occasion. Nunn begins his anlysis at move 84 with BLACK to play and win. This position also makes for an excellent endgame puzzle. click for larger view The game link is below. Kasparov vs Badalian, 1976

May-12-12		Jimfromprovidence: Gonzalez Mata – Sisniega (Mexico, 1991) click for larger view The above position is a forced win for black, with black to move. Can you find the correct continuation? See link to solution below. (In Dutch). http://www.svpromotie.nl/Artikelen/...

May-19-12		sevenseaman: I left the following post in the game forum. Just in case you miss. (Was pleased to read your bio). <Thanks <jim>. These kind of endings are really scary for me. Too much scope for a slip. How do I access the tablebases and what do they tell us? Can these be used in a real game or one has to build up the proficiency.>

May-19-12		sevenseaman: Thanks <jim>, for the tablebases. I could soon be using them.

Aug-04-12		LoveThatJoker: <Jimfromprovidence> I posted the following note for <RV> there on the game page: "I'm still thinking that the line that goes 42...Qxe3 43. Bxe3 Ng4+ 44. Kg1 h2+ 45. Kh1 Nxe3 is best. Fire up Rybka 4.1 for that, and I'm sure you'll see that it will produce a higher winning evaluation for Black there." Once he checks out the 44...h2+ intermezzo, he'll find stronger lines for Black for sure with Rybka. LTJ

Aug-04-12		sevenseaman: Thanks Jim for posting the <RV> analysis. The line he has taken is different from ours. He may have had good reason. Hopefully the best line is arrived at but I am not into engine analysis at all. I do not know what final opinion you may have formed about this game but I think it was very winnable for Black. I can however see your scruples were justifiable. Enjoyed the privileged discussion. Thanks.

Aug-07-12		morfishine: Thanks for dropping by! Yes, thats THE Jack Peters, no? I think you had mentioned that before. Well, in any case, its always a pleasure reading your posts. Morf

Aug-12-12		morfishine: Hello <Jimfromprovidence>! Very nice postings on today's Sunday POTD. I'm very reluctant to criticize any of the POTD's but I feel today's should be a Saturday and not a Sunday since I don't really see an 'insane' move anywhere. Sometimes I psyche myself out looking for an 'insane' move when I should just analyze the position for what its worth.

Aug-17-12		morfishine: <Jimfromprovidence> Another ingenious line! I always look forward to your posts with much interest! However, having analyzed the same first move [25.Bxc4], I found the problem with <25.Bxc4> is <25...Bf5> and White has two pieces hanging and no fire on the e-file (to protect <e5>). click for larger view This is why I missed it today and feel silly to not identify <25.Nd5>

Aug-18-12		morfishine: Good morning <Jimfromprovidence>! I'd love to see <25.Bxc4> work. The problem I was having with 25.Bxc4 Bf5 <26.Nd5> is Black interpolates <26...Bxc2+> click for larger view Here, if 27.Kxc2 then 27...Qxc4+ and Black is wiggling free: (28.Kb1 Qxd5 or 28.Nc3 dxc3 29.Qf6 cxb2+ 30.Kxb2 [If 30.Kb1 Qe4+ followed by 31...Qxe5]...Qe2+ 31.K-any Qxe5) At this point, I figured or knew I was on the wrong track for White to win. However, and much thanks for your initiative (which pushed me to see this line through), after 26...Bxc2+ White has the much better <27.Ka1> and Black's tricks are thwarted plus he faces material loss. So yes, I agree <25.Bxc4> wins too, just less elegantly. Its good to see <25.Bxc4> is very strong and winning On the other hand, the immediate <25.Nd5> is cleaner and more 'GM-like'

Aug-19-12		sevenseaman: <Jimfromprovidence> <Then I looked over the whole game and saw that it was "cooked', so I said what the @##@ is going on? We need a forensic chess detective to figure this one out!> Intriguing. How so? Not that I could see any tell tale signs!

Sep-10-12		LoveThatJoker: <Jimfromprovidence> Thank you for the kind shout-out on the latest Sunday puzzle. I just read it today, as I did not have computer access all day after I posted my solution. That puzzle was surely a doozie! LTJ

Mar-03-13		agb2002: <Jimfromprovidence: Thanks for the constructive feedback concerning Saturday's puzzle.> Thanks to you for your thought provoking comments! Antonio

Mar-09-13		Jimfromprovidence: Can’t allow Fischer week to pass without showcasing this brilliant endgame of his. It’s move 82, white to play and win. Only one move wins. click for larger view Here is the game link. Fischer vs Taimanov, 1971

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