User Profile: brankat

brankat
Member since Oct-10-05 · Last seen Jun-19-13

Branko Katic. Born and raised in former Yugoslavia, I have been living in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, for the last 30 years. Used to play chess actively when I was a teenager, and was awarded a Candidate Master title in 1970.
I "retired" a year later, mostly due to University studies and never participated in tournaments again. Instead I got a degree in History and Social Anthropology, which didn't do me much good :-)
I had neither played chess, nor followed chess events for more than 30 years. Until, by chance, I discovered this great site: Chessgames.com in 2005.
-

A fellow CG.com member, and a friend, WILSON HU User: CHESSMORON, organized a double round-robin tourney: <The MASTERS vs. the MACHINES>, February - April, 2007. It was my privilege and an honour to be on the Masters team with FIDE Master ERIC SCHILLER Eric Schiller and the USCF Master BILL WALL Bill Wall!
The link to the games: CG.com Masters vs. Machines Invitational (2007)
-

<A few of my favourite Chess related quotes>:
"If Acoustics was a science that informed the world about sounds, then Music was an art that revealed the beauty of that science; if Logic was a science that revealed the laws of Thought, then Chess, in the form of artistic images, was an art that illuminated the logical side of thought."
<M.M.Botvinnik>
________________________________________________-
__________________________________
"It is too beautiful to spend your life upon. Many times have I managed to break with Chess, yet I have always fallen in love with it again. I was too captivated by the conflict between ideas and opinions, attack and defence, life and death."
<Emanuel Lasker>
________________________________________________-
__________________________________
"The chess player who has lost his game - who will describe him? I have seen him unable to move. The public was long gone, the lights were out, and still he sat rigidly in his chair staring at the emptied board, because he had overlooked Bg2. A case of complete petrification, with bystanders whispering and tiptoeing by.
I have heard him begging for punishment in blasphemous language. He had forgotten Nh5, and in his dismay he called down annihilation upon himself. Derisively, he rejected our words of solace, demanding insults and chastisements.
Standing afar and horror-stricken, I have witnessed him swearing in orgiastic fury to rip off his genitals, because he had played Qf6 instead of Qb6."
<Jan Hein Donner>
________________________________________________-
__________________________________
The one I personally subscribe to:
"Of my 57 years, I’ve applied at least 30 to forgetting most of what I've learned or read, and since I succeeded in this I have acquired a certain ease and cheer which I should never again like to be without.
If need be, I can increase my skill in chess, if need be I can do that of which I have no idea present.
I have stored little in my memory, but I can apply that little, and it is of good use in many and varied emergencies. I keep it in order, but resist every attempt to increase its dead weight."
<Dr.Emanuel Lasker>
"Aspirin can prevent pregnancy. All a woman has to do is place an aspirin between her knees and not let it go."
<ThFocus>
________________________________________________-
__________________________________
-

CHESS related links I often use:
Game Collection: 170 Major Chess Tournaments 1882-2007 compiled by User: RonB52734
http://chesstempo.com/game-database... Games DATABASE
http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/arch... Sarah's Chess JOURNAL
Nasruddin Hodja's Game Collections GAMES COLLECTIONS compiled by User: nasruddin hodja
Game Collection: Nf5 sac against the kingside castled fianchetto
http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/records... RECORDS games
http://www.chessville.com/Quotes/mi... Chessville-QUOTES
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... CHESS NOTES by Edward Winter
Petrosian-Spassky World Championship Rematch (1969) All WCC Matches
http://www.endgame.nl/match.htm HISTORY of Chess Matches from R.Lopez to V.Kramnik
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... P.Morphy's notes: De La BOURDONNAIS-A.MCDONNELL
http://www.chessbase.com/puzzle/puz... The famous PLASKETT PUZZLE - Analysis
________________________________________________-
_________________________________
PHOTO ALBUMS Links:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Caissa1... ALEKHINE FAMILY PHOTOS
http://picasaweb.google.com/Caissa1... S.RESHEVSKY - "The WUNDERKID" - PHOTOS
http://picasaweb.google.com/Caissa1... RUSSIAN MASTERS' PHOTOS, early 20th Century
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... S.GLIGORIC 85th Birthday Celebration
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/... S.GLIGORIC, Photos
http://www.chesspro.ru/_events/2011... Tribute to Dr.M.Vidmar (in Russian)
http://www.ara.org.ar/chs/ajedrez/p... Photos of all Teams from 1939 Chess Olympiad, Argentina
________________________________________________-
______________________________
MISC:
http://www.chessintranslation.com/2... S.GLIGORIC Interview: Analyzing by the riverside with Bobby Fischer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanue... Dr.Emanuel LASKER Biography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svetoz... S.GLIGORIC Biography
http://www.tri.org.au/chess/ Chess on Stamps.
http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/... B.Fischer-F.Castro, Havana, 1966 ________________________________________________-
_________________
REMINDERS:
User: wordfunph April-24 :-)
SwitchingQuylthulg chessforum: How to link to a specific post!
User: themadhair Carl Sagan on Voyager I
Complete List of BOOKS about <J.R.CAPABLANCA> and <A.A.ALEKHINE>, page 230, this Forum.
Links to <The BEATLES> videos, page 266, this Forum.
Link to <PETER, PAUL and MARY> videos, page 275, this Forum.
Link to <MAHALIA JACKSON> videos, page 276, this Forum.
Link to <PAVEL BURE> videos, page 271, this Forum.
-

<Events organized and hosted in this Forum>: ________________________________________________-
__________________________________
Consultation game: "MIXED DOUBLES"
Team White: THE BATCHIMEGS <jessicafischerqueen & Eyal>
Team Black: OPENLY DEFIANT CATS <Open Defence & Brankat>
Start: June/27/2007. - End: Aug/19/2007.
ECO: B76 - <SICILIAN, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack>
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Nc6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Qd2 0-0 9. g4 Nxd4 10. Bxd4* Be6 11. h4 Qa5 12. h5 Rac8 13. a3 Bc4 14. h6 Bh8 15. 0-0-0 Bxf1 16. Rhxf1 Rc4 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Nd5 Qxd2 19. Kxd2 Re8 20. Nxf6+ exf6 21. b3 Rc5 22. c4 Re6 23. Ke3 f5 24. Rd5 Kf8 25. Kd4 fxe4 26. fxe4 Ke7 27. b4 Rc6 28. g5 Rc7 29. a4 Rd7 30. Ra5 b6 31. Rb5 Kd8 32. a5 == Draw offer accepted.
-

Consultation Game:
<CHESSGAMES.com Members vs. MFO (mrfixitonline) Chess Club Members>
<MFO> :
(Akavall, bin, buti_oxa, Ceri, ForceMid, FusterCluck, Joshua, madcat_lives, samurai goroh, Stormboy).
<CG.com>:
(TheAlchemist, chessmoron, dakgootje, hitman84, jessicafischerqueen, Marco65, Rocafella>, Swapmeet, TTLump, Zebra, EmperorAtahualpa, mckmac, Elixir of Life).
WHITE: < MFO > ---BLACK: < CG.com >
Start: Jan/21/2007 - End: May/23/2007
ECO: B90 - <SICILIAN, Najdorf>
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bc1 Nc6 8. h3 Nf6 9. Be3 e6 10. g4 Be7 11. g5 Nd7 12. h4 O-O 13. f4 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 b5 15. O-O-O Rb8 16. h5 b4 17. Na4 e5 18. Qd2 Bb7 19. g6 Bxe4 20. Bg2 Bf5 21. Bd5 Rc8 22. Bb3 Be4 23. gxf7+ Rxf7 24. fxe5 Nxe5 25. Nb6 Rc6 26. Rhf1 Qe8 27. Rxf7 Nxf7 28. Nd5 Bd8 29. h6 a5 30. Re1 a4 31. Bxa4 Bh4 32. Qd4! and Black resigns.
-

Consultation game:
CG.com American kibitzers: "ISOLATED PAWNS"
<Akavall, square dance, suenteus po 147>
vs.
CG.com Canadian kibitzers: "NORTHERN KNIGHTS"
<AgentRgent, Hesam7, THE Pawn>
WHITE: <ISOLATED PAWNS> - BLACK: <NORTHERN KNIGHTS>
Start: Sep, 05/2006 - End: Nov, 11/2006.
ECO: B17 <CARO-KANN, Steinitz Variation.>
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 e6 6. Bd3 Ngf6 7. N1f3 Bd6 8. Qe2 h6 9. Ne4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 c5 11. Bd2 Nf6 12. Qe2 a6 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. 0-0 0-0 15. c4 e5 16. Bc3 Re8 17. Rad1 Qb6 18. b4 Bxb4 19. Rb1 e4 20. Rxb4 Qc5 21. Bc2 Bg4 22. Qe3 Qxe3 23. fxe3 exf3 24. Bxf6 gxf6 25. c5 Be6 26. Bb3 Bxb3 27. axb3 Rac8 28. Rxf3 1/2-1/2.
Nov. 11/06: Draw offer accepted by "Northern Knights".

   Current net-worth: 9,889 chessbucks
[what is this?]

   brankat has kibitzed 18190 times to chessgames [more...]

   Jun-19-13 brankat chessforum

brankat: Eleven of my posts got zapped. I'll never reach 20,000 :-)

   Jun-19-13 SwitchingQuylthulg chessforum

brankat: Shouldn't have wished You "Better luck..". You are now getting too close for comfort :-) No word from <moro> yet. I wonder how he did. He may have cleaned up big time and now needs time to recover from the shock :-)

   Jun-19-13 Gelfand vs Carlsen, 2013

brankat: It is :-)

   Jun-19-13 Paul Morphy

brankat: The fact that, in last couple of decades, there has been considerably more chess related activities, that chess has become more popular in the USA is mostly due to many Russian (and other) players/immigrants, not to the USCF

   Jun-18-13 Andrei Volokitin

brankat: Happy Birthday Andrei!

   Jun-18-13 Gyula Sax

brankat: Happy Birthday GM Sax!

   Jun-18-13 Tal Memorial (2013)

brankat: Although he has not been doing well in tournament for some time, I think it will be a different story in the match. If I remember correctly in his last 2 tourneys Anand did score +1. You can't win a tournament this way, but that's all that's needed in a match. It was quite ...

   Jun-18-13 moronovich chessforum

brankat: Sorry guys. I didn't mean to deceive You, but somehow I mis-calculated my total. I think the amount probably includes the money I had bet on the tournament winner.

   Jun-18-13 Timothy Taylor

brankat: <KKDEREK> Yes, that is a great collection!

   Jun-18-13 tpstar chessforum

brankat: Never a dull day on this site :-)

indicates a reply to the comment.

The Court of Caissa

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 444 OF 482 · Later Kibitzing>
Jun-29-12		shivasuri4: Oh <achieve>, you have unwittingly mangled poor Rosol's name! Greetings from the alleged land of greenery, <brankat>.

Jun-29-12		achieve: Oh yes <Shiva> - it's hard to heep it all together sometimes. These times. Lukas Rosol is the proud name.

Jun-29-12		Albertan: <brankat: Ready for the Edmonton> <International? It's good to see such> <an event taking place in Edmonton. We> <need more tournaments like this one in> <Canada.> <Enjoy!> Hi Branko. I went to the chess club tonight and watched some of the action.Sadly there were not too many people watching the games there.In case you are interested you can watch the games live at this link: http://www.albertachess.org/2012EIC...

Jun-30-12		achieve: "Even open-minded people will often find themselves unable to take seriously the likes of [Noam] Chomsky, [Edward] Herman, [Howard] Zinn and [Susan] George on first encountering their work; it just does not seem possible that we could be so mistaken in what we believe. The individual may assume that these writers must be somehow joking, wildly over-stating the case, paranoid, or have some sort of axe to grind. We may actually become angry with them for telling us these terrible things about our society and insist that this simply 'can't be true'. It takes real effort to keep reading, to resist the reassuring messages of the mass media and be prepared to consider the evidence again." David Edwards - Burning All Illusions

Jun-30-12		achieve: <brankat> Here's a photo taken from what I assume is Crown Mountain, north of Vanouver, and i hope this link works for you: http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/... In my mind this then looks down over Capilano Lake, even downtown Vancouver and to the west the shoreline... Can you confirm? Have you been there? I've been roaming around quite a few places with Google Streetview and the Panoramio pictures that are also on offer, and just jaw-dropping at times, the beauty of the sights.

Jul-02-12		achieve: Hey <Branko> - what's up? Are you Ok? Spain gave a masterclass in the final yesterday, but if you have more pressing matters to deal with it will not interest you, of course... Just checking on how you are, and all my best.

Jul-02-12		wordfunph: wish you all the luck in bookie, fight <brankat>!

Jul-03-12		wordfunph: the rise of mate <brankie>! i guess from last round's win by Krush :) L E A D E R B O A R D updated Tue Jul 3, 05:31 User Net Worth (1) 4tmac 1,702 (2) brankat 1,524 (3) Midas Touch 1,480

Jul-04-12		moronovich: Morning <brankat> ! Sorry to hear about your legs..And I do really hope you will be treated the best way possible.And return in full here at CG,where I see you are off to a fine start at the bookies :) Go Brankat & see you up the road.

Jul-11-12		brankat: Hi guys! I'll most likely be back Friday or Saturday, if I'm lucky perhaps even Thursday evening. Things are much better already. The swelling on the legs is gone. Mostly, I've been using antibiotics in the meanwhile, while waiting for my turn for the thorough hospital examination. Like everywhere else, the hospitals suffer from a chronic shortage of doctors, nurses, etc, so there are usually long waiting lists. My case didn't seem to be of an emergency nature. Despite the legs (from the upper half of feet to half way up towards the knees) being swollen beyond recognition, red, filled with fluid, and I could barely walk. Still, not serious enough. Always the same thing: Money talks. Or else... I did the blood works, the results are already there, then tomorrow (Thursday) I'll have Electrocardiogram, and X-rays, then an appointment with a specialist. And ..hope for the best. I now need to try to get some rest, hopefully sleep, too. When I come back, I'll try to catch up with the earlier kibitzing (posts) here and elsewhere. Thank You my friends.

Jul-12-12		SwitchingQuylthulg: <brankat> Good to see you here and good to hear you're recovering! I thought Canadian hospitals handled everybody very slowly, whether they had money or not, but I guess you know better :-) Let's hope nothing really bad turns up in the remaining tests.

Jul-12-12		moronovich: Good to hear from you again <brankat> ! And I send all my best wishes to you at the hospital and looking forward to exchange all kind of stuff. It is comforting to realize you are in good hands despite the long wait and the moneytalks system/anarchy. So take care and get well rested. See you up and down the road :)

Jul-12-12		playground player: <brankat> I didn't know you were in the hospital! But I'm glad to hear you're doing better, and I pray you'll soon be back, good as new. I hope someone is taking good care of your pigeon!

Jul-14-12		brankat: Thanks guys. Things went quite well in the hospital, perhaps surprisingly so. All the tests came back clean: the blood, the heart. Also the lungs, there is no accumulation of fluids. Now I need to do an additional test, for blood clogs. In the meanwhile the doctor thought it was some sort of an infection. I'll know more in about a week. Overall, so far so good.

Jul-14-12		brankat: <playground player> Not to worry. The pigeon has been in good hands. Otherwise I would have stayed home :-) <moronovich> Also, Sheila (my girlfriend) has been recovering remarkably well! Almost as good as new :-) Saturday we'll start going to the beach again. The weather has been beautiful in Vancouver these last 7-8 days, and it looks like it is going to stay that way for a while.

Jul-14-12		brankat: Now it is time to check the Bookie action. Haven't bet in a while, which is really too bad, because I did believe that both Karjakin and Grischuk had an excellent chance to win the Rapid/Blitz events, spiced up with very appetizing odds. Alas, I was too late :-)

Jul-14-12		SwitchingQuylthulg: <brankat> Very good news indeed! About all three of you :) I was betting on Grischuk... in the rapid ;-) Have a nice beach and Bookie time, and watch out for loansharks!

Jul-14-12		moronovich: Morning <brankat> ! Wow that was very very good news and I fell happy and reliefed !! And you certainly can not get a better wind for the trip to the beach.So may you enjoy each others company and may the sun warm your tested and tried bodies. The beach is a place where no loanshark lives,but after a lifetime addiction <Switch> possibly see him all over places,which may be correct in his case as I am shure the loanshark see <Switch> everywhere;) Happy weekend all of you,<Switch> included ! p.s. Had a short visit to the hospital were my hipoperation will take place the 24th of July and again they showed themself as fine people and professionels. p.p.s : looking forward to the heroinlike stuff they give before they draw the knifes :)

Jul-14-12		moronovich: can not spell relived..or re.. heck,you get the point - as always.

Jul-14-12		SwitchingQuylthulg: "Relieved", as in, <dakkie> was relieved of his knees. <moronovich> Nice weekend to you too! :-)

Jul-14-12		moronovich: Thanks <Switch> and good luck at the bookies !

Jul-14-12		brankat: <Moronovich> <Switch> We'll be safe in the beach area. There may be an odd loanshark even there, but it'll be easy to avoid them. In Vancouver's DT eastside they usually charge 50% :-) Regarding other sharks, this region is too far north for their taste. There are quite a few coyotes roaming about though. But they can find plenty of food during summer months :-)

Jul-14-12		brankat: <..looking forward to the heroinlike stuff they give before they draw the knifes :)..> I envy You :-) Good quality stuff is so expensive, and You'll get it for free! Just try to avoid the goodies during the days leading to the 24th :-)

Jul-14-12		brankat: Have a nice weekend guys, and good luck in round #3!

Jul-14-12		brankat: 2:20 P.M. Off to the Beach!

Jump to page # (enter # from 1 to 482)
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 444 OF 482 · Later Kibitzing>

Times Chess Twitter Feed

NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community!

If you already have an account, you should login now.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts.
No personal attacks against other users.
Nothing in violation of United States law.

See something which violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform an administrator.

NOTE: Keep all discussion on the topic of this page. This forum is for this specific user and nothing else. If you want to discuss chess in general, or this site, you might try the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.

You are not logged in to chessgames.com.
If you need an account, register now;
it's quick, anonymous, and free!
If you already have an account, click here to sign-in.