Short, short games; some more reasonable than others. It's not all amateur blunders. There are some famous chess players in this collection.

Thank you Big Black Bug, p2c, S A G A R, MorphyMatt, Kasputin, and Bill Wall. Fredthebear removed the king pawn games to another collection to make more room.

Caissa, The Chess Lord.

Lord, I play three hundred hours of chess,
indeed, Lord, in thirty days more or less.
I have done my best under gruelling stress,
Yet I'm not happy with my snailing progress.
Yes, Lord. Caissa, to you I sadly do confess:
my constant losing has put me in distress.
I beg of you, Lord, Caissa, help me to re-assess so I can beat those who keep me in this mess.
Lord, with your blessing and your skills I guess I would always win and so powerfully aggress,
that all my opponents would humbly express:
hark here cometh the unbeatable king of chess.

Never judge a book by it's cover.

"The game might be divided into three parts: the opening, the middle-game and the end-game. There is one thing you must strive for, to be equally efficient in the three parts." ― Jose Raul Capablanca

"Unfortunately, many regard the critic as an enemy, instead of seeing him as a guide to the truth." ― Wilhelm Steinitz

"My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose." ― Bette Davis

"Chess is a matter of vanity." ― Alexander Alekhine

"As a chess player one has to be able to control one's feelings, one has to be as cold as a machine." ― Levon Aronian

"Sometimes it happens that the computer's assessment is very abstract. It's correct, but it's not useful for a practical game. You have to prove the assessment with very strong moves and if you don't find all of these strong moves you may lose very quickly. For a computer this is not a problem, but for humans it is not so easy." ― Vassily Ivanchuk

"A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit." ― John Milton

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

"A sport, a struggle for results and a fight for prizes. I think that the discussion about "chess is science or chess is art" is already inappropriate. The purpose of modern chess is to reach a result." ― Alexander Morozevich

"No one man is superior to the game." ― A. Bartlett Giamatti, in reference to Pete Rose, the all-time MLB hits leader banned for gambling on baseball.

"To err is human; to forgive, divine." ― Alexander Pope

"I consider Mr. Morphy the finest chess player who ever existed. He is far superior to any now living, and would doubtless have beaten Labourdonnais himself. In all his games with me, he has not only played, in every instance, the exact move, but the most exact. He never makes a mistake; but, if his adversary commits the slightest error, he is lost." ― Adolf Anderssen

"After white's reply to 1.e4 e5 with 2.f4 the game is in its last throes" ― Howard Staunton

"I have added these principles to the law: get the Knights into action before both Bishops are developed." ― Emanuel Lasker

"With opposite coloured bishops the attacking side has in effect an extra piece in the shape of his bishop." ― Mikhail Botvinnik

"A pawn, when separated from his fellows, will seldom or never make a fortune." ― Francois-Andre Danican Philidor

"Be warned! From Satan's viewpoint you are a pawn in his game of cosmic chess." ― Adrian Rogers

"Pawns not only create the sketch for the whole painting, they are also the soil, the foundation, of any position." ― Anatoly Karpov

"The object of the state is always the same: to limit the individual, to tame him, to subordinate him, to subjugate him." ― Max Stirner

"It is a profound mistake to imagine that the art of combination depends only on natural talent, and that it cannot be learned." ― Richard Reti

"A Queen's sacrifice, even when fairly obvious, always rejoices the heart of the chess-lover." ― Savielly Tartakower

"Everyone makes mistakes. The wise are not people who never make mistakes, but those who forgive themselves and learn from their mistakes." ― Ajahn Brahm

"As a rule, so-called "positional" sacrifices are considered more difficult, and therefore more praise-worthy, than those which are based exclusively on an exact calculation of tactical possibilities." ― Alexander Alekhine

"It would be idle, and presumptuous, to wish to imitate the achievements of a Morphy or an Alekhine; but their methods and their manner of expressing themselves are within the reach of all." ― Eugene Znosko-Borovsky

"The most powerful weapon in chess is to have the next move." ― David Bronstein

"If the defender is forced to give up the center, then every possible attack follows almost of itself." ― Siegbert Tarrasch

"Erudition, like a bloodhound, is a charming thing when held firmly in leash, but it is not so attractive when turned loose upon a defenseless and unerudite public." ― Agnes Repplier

"Aussitôt dit, aussitôt fait." ― (No sooner said than done.)

"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

"Do whatever comes your way to do as well as you can. Think as little as possible about yourself. Think as much as possible about other people. Dwell on things that are interesting. Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give." ― Eleanor Roosevelt

"In every generation, there are those who refuse to lower themselves, who refuse to compromise their character when tempted, who do the right thing no matter what. There are also those who do not care enough to stand against temptation. It is not because they can't, but they don't. And then there are the one who actively choose to be malicious, to hurt people for their own gain or just out of spite; these are the evil ones." ― Bohdi Sanders

"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

Easier said than done. ~ Canadian proverb

"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

* Basic Rules: https://thechessworld.com/basic-che...

* Attack and Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc-...

* 10 Tips: https://www.uschess.org/index.php/L...

* 10 Crazy Gambits: https://www.chess.com/blog/yola6655...

* 25 Opening Traps: https://www.chess.com/blog/ChessLor...

* B23-B25: Game Collection: Sicilian Closed / Grand Prix Attack

* 150 Attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH4...

* 700+ games of QGD D06: Queen's Gambit Declined (D06)

* Best Games of 2018: Game Collection: Best Games of 2018

* Be aggressive! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFl...

* Checkmate patterns: Game Collection: Checkmate: Checkmate Patterns

* Basics of the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8a...

* Brief Caro-Kann Defense Variations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-...

* Black stops losing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgX...

* Use the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtP...

* Three Caro-Kann Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNp...

* The Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3H...

* Beat the Caro-Kann Quickly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhj...

* Crush the Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXv...

* The Caro-Kann, Advance Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npq...

* Gokerkan vs Niemann 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gw...

* Classical Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA1...

* Main Ideas of the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pN...

* Magnus plays the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDa...

* Karpov's Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa4...

* ...c6 against all by Hansen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCZ...

* ...c6 speedrun by Hansen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDU...

* Dangerous Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI_...

* C-K Advance, Botvinnik-Carls Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWb...

* Caro-Kann, Fantasy Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4e...

* Caro-Kann, Korchnoi Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF3...

* Complete Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZ...

* Instructive Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLp...

* Intro to FRC: https://www.chessable.com/blog/an-i...

* Glossary: Wikipedia article: Glossary of chess

* Funny moments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mx...

* Tactical Motifs: https://chesstempo.com/tactical-mot...

* Bill Wall miniatures: Bill Wall

* Puzzles: Tactics Archive

* Play for free: https://www.freechess.org/

* Short and Quick:
Game Collection: SHORT AND QUICK

* How to Play Chess! http://www.serverchess.com/play.htm...

* Capablanca's Double Attack — having the initiative is important: https://lichess.org/study/tzrisL1R

* Chess in old newspapers: https://www.schach-chess.com/chess-...

* Caviar: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

* C21-C22 miniatures: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Center Fork Trick is very common: https://lichess.org/study/tzrisL1R

* Checkmate patterns: Game Collection: Checkmate: Checkmate Patterns

* Chessmaster 2000 Classic Games:
Game Collection: Chessmaster '86

* ChessCafe.com column, The Openings Explained: Abby Marshall

* Chess Links: http://www.chessdryad.com/links/ind...

* Common Checkmate Patterns:
http://gambiter.com/chess/Checkmate...

* Chess Hotel: https://www.chesshotel.com/

* Cats: Game Collection: Catalan Opening I

* Lekhika Dhariyal Chess Ops: https://www.zupee.com/blog/category...

* Danish treats: Game Collection: 200 Miniature Games of Chess - Du Mont (I)

* Double attack: Game Collection: DOUBLE ATTACK

* 4 Miniz: zPonziani, zKieseritzky, zPhilidor, zFrankenstein-Dracula: z https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76c...

* Free play: https://poki.com/en/chess?campaign=...

* Fischer's Brilliance: https://www.chesspuzzler.com/Histor...

* Gain space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ7...

* Glossary of Chess Terms: http://www.arkangles.com/kchess/glo...

* Aggressive Gambits: https://thechessworld.com/articles/...

* Artful Mates: Game Collection: Art of Checkmate

* Arjun Awakens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toK...

* Unleash the Knight: https://cardclashgames.com/blog/che...

* KP Beauties: Game Collection: Beautiful mates

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

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

* Neon Moon, smooth and easy: https://www.bing.com/search?q=Neon+...

* Puzzling: https://www.365chess.com/puzzles.php

* Roger that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9S...

"The only way to change anything in Russia is a revolution" ― Daniil Dubov https://en.chessbase.com/post/dubov...

* Steinitz Attack: Game Collection: STEINITZ ATTACK

* Tactical Mix: Game Collection: mastering Tactical ideas by minev

* The Best of... Game Collection: World Champions' Best Games

* Fischer Random: https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...

* FM Schiller disagrees: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

* GPA: https://chesstier.com/grand-prix-at...

* Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz)

* Greatest Hits: Game Collection: Mammoth Book-Greatest Games (Nunn/Burgess/Emms)

* 62 Masterpieces: Game Collection: Instructive Games (Chernev)

* Murder by Email: Brendan Searson

* Play whatever you like: Opening Explorer

* J Gambit for Black: Opening Explorer

* Suba's book: Game Collection: The Hedgehog by Mihai Suba

* Almost like giving odds: Opening Explorer

* Jaenisch Gambit: Opening Explorer

* Jambalaya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzj...

* James' Jedi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ta...

* GM Perelshteyn teaches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq3...

* Prizes: Game Collection: Brilliancy Prizes (Reinfeld)

* Reasonable book choices: https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell...

* Rubinstein: Game Collection: Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces

* Random Zs: Game Collection: ZHVNE

* Secrets of Combination: Game Collection: Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters Volume II

* tacticmania - Game Collection: tacticmania

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

* The Unthinkable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9z...

* Will Power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9S...

* Wonders and Curiosities: Game Collection: Wonders and Curiosities of Chess (Chernev)

* 960Chess: https://lichess.org/variant/chess960

* 1967: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PiFW...

* Z Vol 105: Game Collection: 0ZeR0's collected games volume 105

* Online safety: https://www.entrepreneur.com/scienc...

* Bearly Thinking: https://www.etsy.com/listing/972054...

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

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

* Alpha Glossary: https://www.chess-poster.com/englis...

"Quand le vin est tiré, il faut le boire." ― (Once the first step is taken, there's no going back.)

* 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

"Stick a fork in him. He's done." ― Leo Durocher

"The pin is mightier than the sword." ― Fred Reinfield

"A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it." ― Wilhelm Steinitz

"As day is to a sword, night is to a shield." ― Anthony Liccione

New Hampshire: Dover
Established in: 1623

Dover was originally settled in 1623 by fishermen and traders. Dover is the seventh oldest settlement in the United States. It was once known as Northam, and in 1692, Northam became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Cocheco River in Dover was the first place water power was used, when a sawmill was built in 1642.

* 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...

* Magnus Carlsen's 5 tips for beginners: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...

The Kings of Chess: A History of Chess, Traced Through the Lives of Its Greatest Players by William Hartston William Hartson traces the development of the game from its Oriental origins to the present day through the lives of its greatest exponents - men like Howard Staunton, who transformed what had been a genteel pastime into a competitive science; the brilliant American Paul Morphy, who once played a dozen simultaneous games blindfold; the arrogant and certified insane Wilhelm Steinitz; the philosopher and mathematician Emanual Lasker; Bobby Fischer, perhaps the most brilliant and eccentric of them all; and many other highly gifted individuals. Hartson depicts all their colorful variety with a wealth of rare illustrations.

Format: Hardcover
Language: English
ISBN: 006015358X
ISBN13: 9780060153588
Release Date: January 1985
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Length: 192 Pages
Weight: 1.80 lbs.

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

<poem by B.H. Wood which appeared in the following issues of the Chess Amateur: March 1930 (page 127).

The Chess Cafe III – The Spectator

Quiet in the corner sitting, not a word
He utters, but, his eyes glued on their board,
Where in oblivion the players brood,
He spends his lifetime's dearest hours.
His food
Is cold, his lighted pipe goes slowly out ….
Yet when the game ends, when they talk about
Its ins and outs, its characteristic twist,
He's seen that winning line a master missed!
You ask him for a game – ‘I never play
Myself – hardly a game a year', he'll say.>

Cash or Credit?
John-Shepherd Barron is credited with inventing the first fully-functional ATM (Automated Teller Machine). The first ATM was installed on June 27, 1967, for Barclays Bank in Enfield Town, London. The maximum withdrawal allowed was £10. Today, ATMs are just around the corner in most modern towns.

The Fly and the Ant

A fly and ant, on a sunny bank,
Discussed the question of their rank.
"O Jupiter!" the former said,
"Can love of self so turn the head,
That one so mean and crawling,
And of so low a calling,
To boast equality shall dare
With me, the daughter of the air?
In palaces I am a guest,
And even at your glorious feast.
Whenever the people that adore you
May immolate for you a bullock,
I'm sure to taste the meat before you.
Meanwhile this starveling, in her hillock,
Is living on some bit of straw
Which she has laboured home to draw.
But tell me now, my little thing,
Do you camp ever on a king,
An emperor, or lady?
I do, and have full many a play-day
On fairest bosom of the fair,
And sport myself on her hair.
Come now, my hearty, rack your brain
To make a case about your grain."
"Well, have you done?" replied the ant.
"You enter palaces, I grant,
And for it get right soundly cursed.
Of sacrifices, rich and fat,
Your taste, quite likely, is the first; –
Are they the better off for that?
You enter with the holy train;
So enters many a wretch profane.
On heads of kings and asses you may squat;
Deny your vaunting I will not;
But well such impudence, I know,
Provokes a sometimes fatal blow.
The name in which your vanity delights
Is owned as well by parasites,
And spies that die by ropes – as you soon will By famine or by ague-chill,
When Phoebus goes to cheer
The other hemisphere, –
The very time to me most dear.
Not forced abroad to go
Through wind, and rain, and snow,
My summer's work I then enjoy,
And happily my mind employ,
From care by care exempted.
By which this truth I leave to you,
That by two sorts of glory we are tempted,
The false one and the true.
Work waits, time flies; adieu:
This gabble does not fill
My granary or till."

There is an uninhabited island in the Bahamas known as Pig Beach, which is populated entirely by swimming pigs.

Chessgames.com will be unavailable August 27, 2024 from 2:45PM through 3:00PM(UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience.
St. Luke

The national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn.

This poem is dedicated to all Caissa's members who understand that chess is but a game.

Chess is but a Game

As he secretly rode his knight out of the castle's gate, still believing that he could escape this inevitable fate, the sky broke open with an array of incredible light. and there smitten to the earth lay nova under his knight. I am who I am and always am, spoke this thundering voice and you, my friend nova, do not at all have another choice but to go forth south and north, west and east
loudly proclaiming the good Word to man and beast. Thus beset by the compelling voice from the broken sky nova set about explaining through the word the how and why. He travelled north and south, west and east never losing aim to let all Caissa's members know: chess is but a game.

Australia has over 10,000 beaches. You could visit a new beach every day for over 27 years!

On one of the islands off the West Coast of Australia lies Lake Hillier. A bright, bubble-gum pink lake! Despite not being the only colored lake in the world, it is unique because it is the only colored lake where scientists have not yet determined what causes it to be such a bright pink.

The Cloud
By Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

I sift the snow on the mountains below,
And their great pines groan aghast;
And all the night 'tis my pillow white,
While I sleep in the arms of the blast.
Sublime on the towers of my skiey bowers,
Lightning my pilot sits;
In a cavern under is fettered the thunder,
It struggles and howls at fits;
Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion,
This pilot is guiding me,
Lured by the love of the genii that move
In the depths of the purple sea;
Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills,
Over the lakes and the plains,
Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream,
The Spirit he loves remains;
And I all the while bask in Heaven's blue smile, Whilst he is dissolving in rains.

The sanguine Sunrise, with his meteor eyes,
And his burning plumes outspread,
Leaps on the back of my sailing rack,
When the morning star shines dead;
As on the jag of a mountain crag,
Which an earthquake rocks and swings,
An eagle alit one moment may sit
In the light of its golden wings.
And when Sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath, Its ardours of rest and of love,
And the crimson pall of eve may fall
From the depth of Heaven above,
With wings folded I rest, on mine aëry nest,
As still as a brooding dove.

That orbèd maiden with white fire laden,
Whom mortals call the Moon,
Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor,
By the midnight breezes strewn;
And wherever the beat of her unseen feet,
Which only the angels hear,
May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof, The stars peep behind her and peer;
And I laugh to see them whirl and flee,
Like a swarm of golden bees,
When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent,
Till calm the rivers, lakes, and seas,
Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high, Are each paved with the moon and these.

I bind the Sun's throne with a burning zone,
And the Moon's with a girdle of pearl;
The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim, When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl.
From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape,
Over a torrent sea,
Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof,
The mountains its columns be.
The triumphal arch through which I march
With hurricane, fire, and snow,
When the Powers of the air are chained to my chair, Is the million-coloured bow;
The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove,
While the moist Earth was laughing below.

I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stain
The pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.

The longest wedding veil was the same length as 63.5 football fields. When Maria Paraskeva, a woman from Cyprus, got married in August 2018, her goal wasn't just to say "I do." She was also determined to set a record.

"My dream as a child has always been to break the Guinness World Record title for the longest wedding veil," she explained. She fulfilled her dream by wearing a lace veil that stretched 22,843 feet and 2.11 inches, or as long as 63.5 football fields.

InkHarted wrote:

Checkmate.
I started off as an equal
I have everything that they do
my life was one and the same as my foe
childish battles of lesser
I won baring cost of a little
but as time outgrew my conscience
I found that the pieces were moving against me
with time my company reduced
they left one by one
all in time forgetting me
my castles collapsed
my religion dissuaded
my protectors in hiding
I could not run anymore
I have been cornered to a wall
as the queen left silently
without saying goodbye
I could not live any longer
she was most precious to me
I could not win without her by my side
so the king knelt down and died.

"Everyone should know how to play chess." — José Raúl Capablanca

Mark 3:25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

'Finders keepers, losers weepers'
No, turn it over to Lost and Found.

Drive sober or get pulled over.

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

Once I asked Pillsbury whether he used any formula for castling. He said his rule was absolute and vital: castle because you will or because you must; but not because you can.' — W.E. Napier (1881-1952)

This poem is dedicated to all members who strive to become Masters of chess.

yakisoba's combination

in the middle of a cold Canadian winter night
a phantom creature was riding a stallion knight
but lo and behold it is the man called yakisoba
together with a bishop and queen chasing nova.
though the old bishop was getting pooped out
the merry queen in her glory was bouncing about
while riding hard yakisoba grinningly thought
"I know what to do with that nova when caught."
there on top of the castle was nova in hiding
strapped to a kite for a quick get-away gliding,

then trembling he realized to his consternation: he was being killed by the bishop-queen combination.

Every year in June, a bizarre festival takes place in the village of Castrillo de Murcia near Burgos in Spain, during which men dress up as the devil and then jump over babies born in the previous twelve months of the year! Known as El Colacho, this strange custom is part of the country-wide Corpus Christi celebrations yet only happens in this small village.

* Weird is what you're not used to: https://chessentials.com/weird-ches...

<limerick, entitled ‘The Solver's Plight' was by ‘A.J.F.' A.J. Fink and was published on page 22 of Chess Potpourri by Alfred C. Klahre (Middletown, 1931):

There was a man from Vancouver
Who tried to solve a two-mover;
But the boob, he said, ‘"Gee",
I can't find the "Kee",
No matter HOW I manouvre.'>

"Chess is the gymnasium of the mind." — Blasie Pascal

"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.

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

Trusting in wealth is like looking for feathers on turtles. ~ Senegalese Proverb

<A Burnt Ship
By John Donne (1572-1631)

Out of a fired ship, which by no way
But drowning could be rescued from the flame,
Some men leap'd forth, and ever as they came
Near the foes' ships, did by their shot decay;
So all were lost, which in the ship were found,
They in the sea being burnt, they in the burnt ship drown'd.>

Ever wanted to be able to clean your ears with your tongue? Then you'd probably fancy being a giraffe. They're able to do this thanks to having tongues which are around 21 inches long!

Question: What is the only number spelled out in English that has the same number of letters as its value? Answer: Four

Concrete-like structures began to appear for the first time in northern Jordan and southern Syria regions around 6500 B.C.E. Comprised of rough composite mixed with fluid cement, concrete is the most widely used man-made material. The mix hardens over time, making a sturdy, strong structural foundation. However, when it's still wet, the material is very easy to manipulate into different shapes.

Question: The U.S.A. $10,000 bill was last printed in 1945 and is the largest denomination ever in public circulation; whose portrait appeared on it? Answer: Salmon P. Chase – Secretary of the Treasury

Giraffes have unique markings. They are like our own fingerprints in that no two giraffes will ever have the same markings.

The Camel and the Floating Sticks

The first who saw the humpbacked camel
Fled off for life; the next approached with care; The third with tyrant rope did boldly dare
The desert wanderer to trammel.
Such is the power of use to change
The face of objects new and strange;
Which grow, by looking at, so tame,
They do not even seem the same.
And since this theme is up for our attention,
A certain watchman I will mention,
Who, seeing something far
Away on the ocean,
Could not but speak his notion
That It was a ship of war.
Some minutes more had past, –
A bomb-ketch It was without a sail,
And then a boat, and then a bale,
And floating sticks of wood at last!

Full many things on earth, I wot,
Will claim this tale, – and well they may;
They're something dreadful far away,
But near at hand – they're not.

American College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, deems certain students who take courses in Pistol Marksmanship, Archery, Sailing, and Fencing as certified "Pirates."

Chessgames.com will be unavailable August 28, 2023 from 1:00AM through 1:30AM(UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience.

In the early 1900s, Lobster was considered the "cockroach of the ocean" and was synonymous with the poor – often eaten regularly by the homeless, slaves, and prisoners. It wasn't until after World War II that lobster became considered a delicacy and food associated with the aristocratic classes.

An Irish Blessing:

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

~

<"Every time I coach people, I <emphasize> the following key concepts:

^Develop your pieces at the beginning of the game (Extremely underrated by beginners)

^Control the center (Chess pieces control a lot more squares from the center of the board)

^Make sure your king is safer than the opponent's

Every opening in chess is based on these fundamental principles. Thus, if you can understand such concepts and put them into practice, your chess strength will skyrocket!" ― IM Luis Torres>

> Protect your pieces. Loose Pieces Drop Off. Your middlegame position generally tends to be in good standing as long as you have a grip on the center, the king is castled and rooks connected, your pieces are active, and you don't drop material. Know all the possible ways of responding to a threat of capture.<

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER

chess writer and poet Henry Thomas Bland.

Another example of his way with words is the start of ‘Internal Fires', a poem published on page 57 of the March 1930 American Chess Bulletin:

I used to play chess with the dearest old chap,
Whom naught could upset whatever might hap.
He'd oft lose a game he might well have won
But made no excuse for what he had done.
If a piece he o'erlooked and got it snapped up

He took it quite calmly and ne'er ‘cut up rough'.

"You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore." ― William Faulkner

"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.

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." ― Leonardo da Vinci

<Here's a poem a dad wrote:

ODE TO CHESS

Ten times I charged the grim, foreboding walls

and was pitched into the pit of defeat.

But, heedless of humiliating falls,

I clambered bravely back onto my feet

and charged again, again to be down thrust

onto the scrap heap of people who lose

onto the mound of mortifying dust

whilst my opponent sat without a bruise

upon his pedestal. We changed sides

and fought again, but I was defeated

whilst he with arrogant and haughty strides

took the throne upon which I had been seated.

Ha! Win or lose, it's how you play the game.

But I would like to beat him just the same.>

The Swashbuckler
by Madison Cawein

Squat-nosed and broad, of big and pompous port;
A tavern visage, apoplexy haunts,
All pimple-puffed: the Falstaff-like resort
Of fat debauchery, whose veined cheek flaunts
A flabby purple: rusty-spurred he stands
In rakehell boots and belt, and hanger that
Claps when, with greasy gauntlets on his hands,
He swaggers past in cloak and slouch-plumed hat. Aggression marches armies in his words;
And in his oaths great deeds ride cap-à-pie;
His looks, his gestures breathe the breath of swords; And in his carriage camp all wars to be:—
With him of battles there shall be no lack
While buxom wenches are and stoops of sack.

Avast ye, hearties: Tuesday, September 19, is National Talk Like a Pirate Day and you don't want to look like a scallywag. Captain Syntax shares a few useful phrases in this video so your pirate lingo will sound like that of an old salt, matey. And don't forget the rum… er, grog.

Pirate Phrases:
Abandon Ship: An order to leave the vessel immediately, usually in the face of some imminent danger

Ahoy: Hello

Avast Ye: A command meaning pay attention or listen

Aye, Aye: Yes, I understand

Batten Down the Hatches: When everything on a ship is tied down to prepare for an approaching storm

Booty: Refers to any ill-gotten goods swiped from another party

Bounty: The reward for capturing a criminal

Briny Deep: The ocean

Carouser: A reckless person who drinks too much

Chantey: A song that sailors sing in unison while working

Clap of Thunder: A strong alcoholic beverage, usually referring to a shot

Davy Jones' Locker: Graveyard at the bottom of the sea for those killed or drowned

Dead Men Tell No Tales: An expression that means dead people will not betray any secrets. Used as a threat to kill someone, or a way of saying there were no survivors.

Doubloons: Types of gold coins

Fire in the Hole: A cannon is about to be fired

Grog: Diluted rum, but can be used to refer to any alcoholic concoction

Hang the Jib: To pout or frown

Hearties: Friends, comrades

Hornswaggle: To swindle something, usually money, out of someone else

Jolly Roger: The name for the iconic black pirate flag featuring a white skull and crossbones

Lad, lass, lassie: A child or young person

Landlubber: Someone without sailing ability

Loot: Stolen money or possessions

Marooned: To be abandoned with no food, drink or possessions

Me: My

Old Salt: Experienced pirate or sailor

Plunder: To steal

Run a Rig: Play a joke on someone

Scallywag: What an experienced pirate would call a newbie

Scurvy: A derogatory adjective meaning lowly or disgusting

Seadog: A veteran sailor

Shiver Me Timbers: An exclamation of surprise

Sink Me: An exclamation of surprise

Son of a Biscuit Eater: An insult

Thar She Blows: A whale sighting

Three Sheets to the Wind: Someone who is very drunk. One sheet is mildly drunk, and four sheets is passed out.

Walk the Plank: When someone is forcibly ordered to walk off a wooden board into the sea, resulting in drowning

Wench: A woman

Ye: You

Yo Ho Ho: A jolly expression

* The Jolly Rogers: https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...

* Treasure Hunt: https://www.the-sun.com/news/398017...

Pirate Story
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 –1894

Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing, Three of us aboard in the basket on the lea. Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring, And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea.

Where shall we adventure, to-day that we're afloat, Wary of the weather and steering by a star? Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat, To Providence, or Babylon, or off to Malabar?

Hi! but here's a squadron a-rowing on the sea— Cattle on the meadow a-charging with a roar!
Quick, and we'll escape them, they're as mad as they can be, The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore.

Ah, St. Marher, 1225:
"And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet."

z Zwischenschach is German for in-between-check which is an important technique in the rook endgame.

"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." — Albert Einstein

If eaten in one meal, 30 to 90 grams of polar bear liver is enough to kill a human being.

Z is for Zipper (to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb")

Zipper starts with letter Z,
Letter Z, letter Z,
Zipper starts with Letter Z,
/z/, /z/, /z/, /z/!

upk

In 2002 alone, more people in the U.S. were killed by dogs than in shark attacks in the past 100 years.