Compiled by Phony Benoni

Augustus J. Dirp (1841-1907), generally considered the Father of Anti-Positional Play, holds an unique and otherwise unwanted spot in the history of chess theory.

While his unfortunate aphorisms such as <Never move a piece twice before you have moved it once> and <Keep your pieces out of the center--they could get hurt there!> still guide legions of aspiring N.N. wannabes to this day, his true colors shown most dimly as a theorist of the pawn formation which bears his name, the Doubled Isolated Rook Pawn.

click for larger view

A lifetime of study and hard drinking led to the formulation of Dirp's Credo: <Except in positions where it is neutral, the DIRP is an advantage unless it is a disadvantage.> Though the Credo has never been refuted, its practical application has generally proved disastrous.

Dirp also has two opening systems named after him, mainly by default: The Dirp Attack (White plays Na3 and Nh3) and the Dirp Defense (Black plays ...Na6 and ...Nh6). The idea, of course, is that capturing the knights will set up immediate fianchettos of the bishops and provide half-open files for the rooks. Meanwhile, the king is sheltered behind the unmoved center pawns and the queen can fend for herself. The two systems are considered so devastating that there are no known examples of them being used.

Indeed, none of Dirp's game scores have survived, probably due to the Geneva Convention. However, as this collection will show, his ideas continue to infect chess players everywhere, providing a fitting legacy for the man appropriately eulogized as "...quite possibly the weakest player never to become world champion."

Hacked!

Copied

Declined D06 - D19, D30 - 69
1 d4 d5 2 c4

Accepted D20 - 29
1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4

There are some Indian defenses too.

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

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

"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

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

"Pawns are the soul of the game." ― François-André Danican Philidor

"The king pawn and the queen pawn are the only ones to be moved in the early part of the game." ― Wilhelm Steinitz

"A gambit never becomes sheer routine as long as you fear you may lose the king and pawn ending!" ― Bent Larsen

"Modern chess is too much concerned with things like pawn structure. Forget it, checkmate ends the game." ― Nigel Short

"Touch the pawns before your king with only infinite delicacy." ― Anthony Santasiere

"The passed pawn is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient." ― Aron Nimzowitsch

"Pawn endings are to chess what putting is to golf." ― Cecil Purdy

"In the ending the king is a powerful piece for assisting his own pawns, or stopping the adverse pawns." ― Wilhelm Steinitz

"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 the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame." ― José Raúl Capablanca

"Let a man play chess, and tell him that every pawn is his friend; Let him think both bishops are holy. Let him remember happy days in the shadows of his castles. Let him love his queen. Watch him love his queen." ― Mark Lawrence (Prince of Thorn)

"Maxim 3:
An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody. -The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries" ― Howard Tayler

"God created every man to be free. The ability to choose whether to live free or enslaved, right or wrong, happy or in fear is something called freewill. Every man was born with freewill. Some people use it, and some people use any excuse not to. Nobody can turn you into a slave unless you allow them. Nobody can make you afraid of anything, unless you allow them. Nobody can tell you to do something wrong, unless you allow them. God never created you to be a slave, man did. God never created division or set up any borders between brothers, man did. God never told you hurt or kill another, man did. And in the end, when God asks you: "Who told you to kill one of my children?"

And you tell him, "My leader."

He will then ask you, "And are THEY your GOD?" ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

* A11s: Game Collection: A11 (White Wins): English Opening

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

* Briefly for White: Game Collection: Repertoire for White

* Brilliant (and mostly famous games)!! Game Collection: Brilliant Miniatures

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

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

* Cambridge Springs: Game Collection: CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS VARIATION

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

* Chess Mafia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLa...

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

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

* Dvoretsky: Game Collection: For Friends and Colleagues 1 (Dvoretsky)

* Fischer Wins: Game Collection: Bobby Fischer Wins With The King's Indian Attack

* Forney's Collection: Game Collection: Brutal Attacking Chess

* Garry gets 'em quick: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Glossary W: Wikipedia article: Glossary of chess

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

* GK Sic: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen

* How dumb is it? Game Collection: Diemer-Duhm Gambit

* King Registration: https://www.kingregistration.com/to...

* Karpov's book: Game Collection: Karpov Right Plan

* Lasker's Defense: Game Collection: Lasker's Defense to the Queen's Gambit

* Logical: Game Collection: Logical Chess: Move By Move

* Masterful: Game Collection: FRENCH DEFENSE MASTERPIECES

* Make a Stand: https://www.history.com/topics/amer...

* S-S Meran: Game Collection: SEMI-SLAV MERAN

* Malaguena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxD...

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

* The Manhattan Defense: Opening Explorer

* Minority Attacks: Game Collection: Minority attack

Game Collection: Anti-minority attack capturing with the Knight.

* Names and Places: Game Collection: Named Mates

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

* Opening Ideas: Game Collection: Greatest Opening Ideas (Scheerer)

* Pawn Structures: Game Collection: Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide

* Pawn themes: Game Collection: Aurora

* Philidor's Legacy: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/I2Xm...

* Interesting QP games:
Game Collection: Queen's Pawn

* QG exchange: Game Collection: Queen's Gambit Exchange

* QG register: Game Collection: Gerareis' repertoire for white

* Rip 'em to shreds! https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/m...

* Starting Out 1d4: Game Collection: Starting Out: 1 d4!

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

* Semi-Tarrasch: Game Collection: Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch Defence

* Smyslov's Best: Game Collection: Smyslov's Best Games of chess 1935-1957

* Spassky had a universal style: Game Collection: Spassky's Best Games (Cafferty)

* Shirov miniatures: Game Collection: Shirov miniatures

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

* Tactical Games: Game Collection: Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics

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

* Tarrasch playing his Tarrasch Defense!
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Random Zs: Game Collection: ZHVNE

* 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

Georgia: Savannah
Established in: 1733

General James Oglethorpe and 120 passengers traveling on a ship named "Anne" docked along the Savannah River in 1733, and the city of Savannah was born. It became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia. Oglethorpe named the colony "Georgia" after England's King George II. It was the 13th and final American colony.

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

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

* Three Simple Chess Tips: https://www.premierchesscoaching.co...

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

An Irish Blessing:

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

~

"Chess is an infinitely complex game, which one can play in infinitely numerous & varied ways." ― Vladimir Kramnik

"Tactics is knowing what to do when there's something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there's nothing what to do." ― Savielly Tartakower

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

"Chess is all about stored pattern recognition. You are asking your brain to spot a face in the crowd that it has not seen." ― Sally Simpson

"Chess, it's the struggle against error." ― Johannes Zukertort

The Bear and the Amateur Gardener

A certain mountain bear, unlicked and rude,
By fate confined within a lonely wood,
A new Bellerophon, whose life,
Knew neither comrade, friend, nor wife, –
Became insane; for reason, as we term it,
Dwells never long with any hermit.
It's good to mix in good society,
Obeying rules of due propriety;
And better yet to be alone;
But both are ills when overdone.
No animal had business where
All grimly dwelt our hermit bear;
Hence, bearish as he was, he grew
Heart-sick, and longed for something new.
While he to sadness was addicted,
An aged man, not far from there,
Was by the same disease afflicted.
A garden was his favourite care, –
Sweet Flora's priesthood, light and fair,
And eke Pomona's – ripe and red
The presents that her fingers shed.
These two employments, true, are sweet
When made so by some friend discreet.
The gardens, gaily as they look,
Talk not, (except in this my book;)
So, tiring of the deaf and dumb,
Our man one morning left his home
Some company to seek,
That had the power to speak. –
The bear, with thoughts the same,
Down from his mountain came;
And in a solitary place,
They met each other, face to face.
It would have made the boldest tremble;
What did our man? To play the Gascon
The safest seemed. He put the mask on,
His fear contriving to dissemble.
The bear, unused to compliment,
Growled bluntly, but with good intent,
"Come home with me." The man replied:
"Sir Bear, my lodgings, nearer by,
In yonder garden you may spy,
Where, if you'll honour me the while,
We'll break our fast in rural style.
I have fruits and milk, – unworthy fare,
It may be, for a wealthy bear;
But then I offer what I have."
The bear accepts, with visage grave,
But not unpleased; and on their way,
They grow familiar, friendly, gay.
Arrived, you see them, side by side,
As if their friendship had been tried.
To a companion so absurd,
Blank solitude were well preferred,
Yet, as the bear scarce spoke a word,
The man was left quite at his leisure
To trim his garden at his pleasure.
Sir Bruin hunted – always brought
His friend whatever game he caught;
But chiefly aimed at driving flies –
Those hold and shameless parasites,
That vex us with their ceaseless bites –
From off our gardener's face and eyes.
One day, while, stretched on the ground
The old man lay, in sleep profound,
A fly that buzz'd around his nose, –
And bit it sometimes, I suppose, –
Put Bruin sadly to his trumps.
At last, determined, up he jumps;
"I'll stop your noisy buzzing now,"
Says he; "I know precisely how."
No sooner said than done.
He seized a paving-stone;
And by his modus operandi
Did both the fly and man die.

A foolish friend may cause more woe
Than could, indeed, the wisest foe.

Blindfold chess record holder Georges Koltanowski was a warm, friendly man with anecdotes and a folksy maxim. "Pawns are like buttons," he liked to say. "Lose too many and your pants fall down."

Georges Koltanowski, chess player, Belgium champion, blindfold world record holder, U.S. Open tournament director, USCF president, author, prolific newspaper columnist, coach, guest lecturer and showman, born September 17, 1903 in Antwerp, Belgium; died February 5, 2000 in San Francisco, California, USA. Koltanowski, the "Dean of American chess" died at age 96 due to heart failure. "Kolti" as he was often called, was one of three founder members inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame, with Paul Morphy, the first great US champion, and the preeminent Bobby Fischer.

‘May your Departures equal your Landfalls!'

Never judge a book by its cover.

The Ass And His Masters

A gardener's ass complained to Destiny
Of being made to rise before the dawn.
"The cocks their matins have not sung," said he, vere I am up and gone.
And all for what? To market herbs, it seems.
Fine cause, indeed, to interrupt my dreams!"
Fate, moved by such a prayer,
Sent him a currier's load to bear,
Whose hides so heavy and ill-scented were,
They almost choked the foolish beast.
"I wish me with my former lord," he said;
"For then, whenever he turned his head,
If on the watch, I caught
A cabbage-leaf, which cost me nothing.
But, in this horrid place, I find
No chance or windfall of the kind:
Or if, indeed, I do,
The cruel blows I rue."
Anon it came to pass
He was a collier's ass.
Still more complaint. "What now?" said Fate,
Quite out of patience.
"If on this jackass I must wait,
What will become of kings and nations?
Has none but he anything here to tease him?
Have I no business but to please him?"
And Fate had cause; – for all are so.
Unsatisfied while here below
Our present lot is aye the worst.
Our foolish prayers the skies infest.
Were Jove to grant all we request,
The din renewed, his head would burst.

"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 trust everything you see. Even salt looks like sugar." – Unknown

Question: On which planet is a year longer than a day? Answer: Venus has the longest day of any planet in our solar system. Venus is unusual because it spins the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets and it's extremely slow. It takes about 243 Earth days to spin around just once. Because it's so close to the sun, a year goes by fast. Therefore, a day on Venus is nearly 20 Earth days longer than its year.

Gelotophobia is the fear of laughter. Those who suffer from gelotophobia respond to all laughter as if it is at their expense. Up to 13% of the population could be afraid of laughter. Fredthebear doubts this; decide for yourself.

Question: Which girl's name is also the name given to a female donkey? Answer: Jenny

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.>

* Crafty Endgame Trainer: https://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-...

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, "Don Quixote"

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

"I'm 58 years old and I just went through 8 back surgeries. They started cutting on me in February 2009, and I was basically bed ridden for almost two years. I got a real dose of reality that if you don't have your health, you don't have anything." — Hulk Hogan

'Don't let the cat out of the bag'

'Don't shut the stable door after the horse has bolted'

'Don't throw good money after bad'

'Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater'

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)

The Lion, the Wolf, and the Fox

A lion, old, and impotent with gout,
Would have some cure for age found out.
Impossibilities, on all occasions,
With kings, are rank abominations.
This king, from every species, –
For each abounds in every sort, –
Called to his aid the leeches.
They came in throngs to court,
From doctors of the highest fee
To nostrum-quacks without degree, –
Advised, prescribed, talked learnedly;
But with the rest
Came not Sir Cunning Fox, M.D.
Sir Wolf the royal couch attended,
And his suspicions there expressed.
Forthwith his majesty, offended,
Resolved Sir Cunning Fox should come,
And sent to smoke him from his home.
He came, was duly ushered in,
And, knowing where Sir Wolf had been,
Said, "Sire, your royal ear
Has been abused, I fear,
By rumours false and insincere;
To wit, that I have been self-exempt
From coming here, through sheer contempt.
But, sire, I have been on pilgrimage,
By vow expressly made,
Your royal health to aid,
And, on my way, met doctors sage,
In skill the wonder of the age,
Whom carefully I did consult
About that great debility
Termed in the books senility,
Of which you fear, with reason, the result.
You lack, they say, the vital heat,
By age extreme become effete.
Drawn from a living wolf, the hide
Should warm and smoking be applied.
The secret's good, beyond a doubt,
For nature's weak, and wearing out.
Sir Wolf, here, won't refuse to give
His hide to cure you, as I live."
The king was pleased with this advice.
Flayed, jointed, served up in a trice,
Sir Wolf first wrapped the monarch up,
Then furnished him whereon to sup.

Beware, you courtiers, lest you gain,
By slander's arts, less power than pain;
For in the world where you are living,
A pardon no one thinks of giving.

"One more dance along the razor's edge finished. Almost dead yesterday, maybe dead tomorrow, but alive, gloriously alive, today." ― Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude." ― Denis Waitley

Psalm 31:24
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!

"The wind cannot defeat a tree with strong roots." — The Revenant

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

"A broke man is not a man without a nickel, but a man without a dream." ― Jesse Duplantis

"It's not how you start that matters, it's how you finish."

"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

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

If the game is well-played, the rook's first move is usually sideways.

The Dancing Bear
by James Russell Lowell

Far over Elf-land poets stretch their sway,
And win their dearest crowns beyond the goal
Of their own conscious purpose; they control
With gossamer threads wide-flown our fancy's play, And so our action. On my walk to-day,
A wallowing bear begged clumsily his toll,
When straight a vision rose of Atta Troll,
And scenes ideal witched mine eyes away.
'Merci, Mossieu!' the astonished bear-ward cried, Grateful for thrice his hope to me, the slave
Of partial memory, seeing at his side
A bear immortal. The glad dole I gave
Was none of mine; poor Heine o'er the wide
Atlantic welter stretched it from his grave.

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)

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

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." ― Nora Ephr

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

"A wise man never knows all; only a fool knows everything." — African Proverb

"When you're lonely, when you feel yourself an alien in the world, play Chess. This will raise your spirits and be your counselor in war." ― Aristotle

"The habit of holding a Man in the hand, and moving it first to one square and then to another, in order to engage the assistance of the eye in deciding where it shall actually be placed, is not only annoying to the adversary but a practical infraction of the touch-and-move principle." ― Howard Staunton

"A bad plan is better than none at all." ― Frank Marshall

<<<<<Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:> "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" Bombardment of Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, New York, 1865>

The poet <Henry Wadsworth Longfellow>, in the middle of the Civil War, wrote this poem which has more recently been adapted as a modern Christmas classic. Longfellow wrote this on Christmas Day in 1863, after his son had enlisted in the Union's cause and had returned home, seriously wounded. The verses which he included and are still generally included, speak of the despair of hearing the promise of "peace on earth, goodwill to men" when the evidence of the world is clearly that war still exists.>

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.">

The original also included several verses referring specifically to the Civil War. Before that cry of despair and answering cry of hope, and after verses describing the long years of hearing of "peace on earth, goodwill to men" (a phrase from the Jesus birth narratives in the Christian scriptures), Longfellow's poem includes, describing the black cannons of the war:

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!>

The Raven and the Fox

Perched on a lofty oak,
Sir Raven held a lunch of cheese;
Sir Fox, who smelt it in the breeze,
Thus to the holder spoke:
"Ha! how do you do, Sir Raven?
Well, your coat, sir, is a brave one!
So black and glossy, on my word, sir,
With voice to match, you were a bird, sir,
Well fit to be the Phoenix of these days."
Sir Raven, overset with praise,
Must show how musical his croak.
Down fell the luncheon from the oak;
Which snatching up, Sir Fox thus spoke:
"The flatterer, my good sir,
Aye lives on his listener;
Which lesson, if you please,
Is doubtless worth the cheese."
A bit too late, Sir Raven swore
The rogue should never cheat him more.

Question: Who is the oldest man to win People Magazine's sexiest man alive? Answer: Sean Connery – 59.

Question: How do you call a group of unicorns?
Answer: A blessing

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." ― Nora Ephr

"The Seven Social Sins are:

Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.

From a sermon given by Frederick Lewis Donaldson in Westminster Abbey, London, on March 20, 1925." ― Frederick Lewis Donaldson

Chess Books by Fred Reinfeld:

101 Chess Problems for Beginners (Wilshire, Hollywood, 1960)(ISBN 0879800178) 1001 Brillian Chess Sacrifices and Combinations (Sterling, NY, 1955) 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate (Wilshire Books, Hollywood, 1955)(ISBN 0879801107) 1001 Chess Sacrifices and Combinations (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1959) (ISBN 0879801115) 1001 Ways to Checkmate (Sterling, NY, 1955)
A Chess Primer (Dolphin Books, Garden City, 1962) A New Approach to Chess Mastery (Hanover House, Garden City, 1959) A Treasury of British Chess Masterpieces (Chatto & Windus, London, 1950) A. Alekhine vs. E.D. Bogoljubow : World's Chess Championship 1934 (McKay, Philadelphia, 1934) An Expert's Guide to Chess Strategy (Hollywood, 1976) Art of Chess (edited by Reinfeld; written by Mason) (1958) (ISBN 0486204634) Art of Sacrifice in Chess (ISBN 0486284492)
Attack and Counterattack In Chess (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1958) Beginner's Guide to Winning Chess (ISBN: 0879802154) Book of the 1935 Margate Tournament
Book of the 1935 Warsaw International Chess Team Tournament Book of the 1936-37 Hastings Tournament
Botvinnik the Invincible
Botvinnik's Best Games, 1927-1934
British Chess Masters: Past and Present
Challenge to Chessplayers (McKay, Philadelphia, 1947) Chess At-A-Glance by Edward Young (Ottenheimer, Baltimore, 1955) Chess By Yourself (McKay, Philadelphia, 1946)
Chess Combinations and Traps
Chess for Amateurs: How To Improve Your Game (McKay, Philadelphia, 1942) Chess for Children, with Moves and Positions Pictured in Photo and Diagram (ISBN 0806949058) Chess for Young People
Chess In A Nutshell (Permabooks, NY, 1958) (ISBN 0671643916) Chess is an Easy Game
Chess Mastery by Question and Answer (McKay, Philadelphia, 1939) Chess Quiz (McKay, Philadelphia, 1945)
Chess Secrets Revealed (Wilshire, Hollywood, 1959) Chess Strategy and Tactics: Fifty Master Games (Black Knight, NY, 1933) Chess Strategy for Offense and Defense (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1955) Chess Tactics for Beginners (ISBN 0879800194)
Chess Traps, Pitfalls, and Swindles (ISBN 0671210416) Chess Victory Move By Move
Chess: Attack and Counterattack (Sterling, NY, 1955) Chess: Win in 20 Moves or Less (Crowell, NY, 1962) Complete Chess Course (ISBN 0385004648)
Complete Chess Player (ISBN 0671768956)
Colle's Chess Masterpieces (Black Knight Press, NY, 1936) Complete Book of Chess Openings (Sterling, NY, 1957) Complete Book of Chess Stratagems (Sterling, NY, 1958) Creative Chess (Sterling, NY, 1959)
Development of a Chess Genius, 100 Instructive Games of Alekhine (Dover) Dr. Lasker's Chess Career, Part I, 1889-1914 (Printingcraft, London, 1935) E. S. Lowe's Chess In 30 Minutes (E.S. Lowe Co, NY, 1955) Eighth Book of Chess: How to Play the Queen Pawn Openings and Other Close Games (Sterling, NY, 1957) Epic Battles of the Chessboard (ISBN 0486293556) Fifth Book of Chess: How to Win When You're Ahead (Sterling, NY, 1955) Fifty-one Brilliant Chess Masterpieces (Capitol Pub, NY, 1950) First Book of Chess (with Horowitz) (Harper & Row, NY 1952) Fourth Book of Chess: How to Play the Black Pieces (Sterling, NY, 1955) Games of the 1938 Washington State Chess Association Championship (1938) Great Brilliancy Prize Games of the Chess Masters (Collier, NY, 1961)(ISBN 0486286142) Great Chess Upsets (written by Reshevsky; annotated by Reinfeld) Great Games By Chess Prodigies (Macmillan, NY, 1967) Great Moments In Chess (Doubleday, NY, 1963)
Great Short Games of the Chess Masters (Collier, NY, 1961)(ISBN 0486292665) How Do You Play Chess?
How Not to Play Chess (Edited by Reinfeld; authored by Znosko-Borovsky) (ISBN 0486209202) How To Be A Winner at Chess (Hanover, Garden City, 1954)(ISBN 044991206X) How To Beat Your Opponent Quickly (Sterling, NY, 1956) How To Force Checkmate (Dover, NY, 1958) (ISBN 0486204391) How To Get More Out of Chess (Hanover, Garden City, 1957) How To Improve Your Chess (with Horowitz) (Collier, NY, 1952) How To Play Better Chess (Pitman, NY, 1948)
How To Play Chess Like A Champion (Fawcett, Greenwich, 1956) How To Play Winning Chess (Bantam Books, NY, 1962) How to Think Ahead in Chess (with Horowitz)
How To Win Chess Games Quickly (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1957) Hypermodern Chess: As Developed in the Games of its Greatest ExponentAron Nimzovich (Dover, NY, 1948)(ISBN 0486204480) Immortal Games of Capablanca (ISBN 0486263339)
Improving Your Chess (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1955)
Improving Your Chess (Faber, London, 1954)
Instructive and Practical Endings From Master Chess Kemeri Tournament, 1937
Keres' Best Games of Chess (1941)
Keres' Best Games of Chess, 1931-1948 (Printed Arts Co., 1949) Lasker's Greatest Chess Games, 1889-1914 (Dover, NY, 1963) Learn Chess Fast! (with Reshevsky) (McKay, Philadelphia, 1947) Learn Chess From the Masters (Dover, NY, 1946)
Modern Fundamentals of Chess
Morphy Chess Masterpieces (with Soltis) (Macmillan, NY, 1974) Morphy's Games of Chess (by Sergeant; edited by Reinfeld) (ISBN 0486203867) My System: A Treatise on Chess (by Nimzovich; edited by Reinfeld) (McKay, Philadelphia, 1947) Nimzovich: The Hypermodern (McKay, Philadelphia, 1948) Practical End-game Play (Pitman, London, 1940)
Reinfeld Explains Chess (Sterling, NY, 1957)
Reinfeld On The End-Game in Chess (Dover, NY, 1957) Relax With Chess and Win In 20 Moves (Pitman, NY, 1948) Second Book of Chess: The Nine Bad Moves, and How to Avoid Them (Sterling, NY, 1953) Semmering-Baden Tournament of 1937
Seventh Book of Chess: How to Play the King Pawn Openings (Sterling, NY, 1956) Sixth Book of Chess: How to Fight Back (Sterling, NY, 1955) Strategy in the Chess Endgame
Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess (Chatto & Windus, London 1947) The Book of the Cambridge Springs International Tournament 1904 (Black Knight Press, 1935) The Chess Masters On Winning Chess
The Complete Book of Chess Tactics (Doubleday, Garden City, 1961) The Complete Chess Course (Doubleday, Garden City, 1959) The Complete Chessplayer (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1953) The Complete Chessplayer by Edward Young (New English Library, London, 1960) The Great Chess Masters and Their Games (Hanover, Garden City, 1960) The Easiest Way To Learn Chess (Simon & Schuaster, NY, 1960) The Elements of Combination Play In Chess (Black Knight, NY, 1935) The Fireside Book of Chess (with Chernev) (Simon & Schuster, NY, 1949) The Games of the 1933 Match Between S. Flohr and M. Botvinnik The Human Side of Chess (Pellegrini & Cudahy, NY 1952) The Immortal Games of Capablanca
The Joys of Chess (Hanover, Garden City, 1961)
The Macmillan Handbook of Chess
The Secret of Tactical Chess (Crowell, NY, 1958) The Treasury of Chess Lore (McKay, NY, 1951)
The Unknown Alekhine 1905-1914
The USCF 7th Biennial US Championship of 1948
The Way To Better Chess (Macmillan, NY, 1959)
Third Book of Chess: How to Play the White Pieces (Sterling, NY, 1954) Thirty Five Nimzowitsch Games, 1904-1927
Two Weeks To Winning Chess
Ventnor City Tournament, 1939 (New York, 1939)
Why You Lose At Chess (Simon & Schustor, NY, 1956) Win at Chess (Dover, NY, 1958)(ISBN 0486418782)
Winning Chess: How to Perfect your Attacking Play Winning Chess for Beginners (Grosset, NY, 1959)
Winning Chess Openings (Hanover, Garden City, 1961)

Chris Chaffin wrote:

master/piece
She moves him ‘round the chess board,
dodging bishops, pawns and rooks.
She coaxes him from square to square
without a second look.

The white knight cannot catch him.
Piece by piece, the foe now yields.
Her king is safe; the game is done.
The queen controls the field.

Rebuy

American flags left on the moon will eventually get bleached white by the sun.

While they are hibernating, bears do not urinate. Their bodies convert waste into protein.

The first person convicted of speeding was going eight mph. According to Guinness World Records, the first person to be charged with speeding was Walter Arnold of the English village of Paddock Wood, Kent. On Jan. 28, 1896, Arnold was spotted going four times the speed limit in his 19th-century Benz—but since the speed limit at the time was just two miles per hour, that meant he was not going too fast by today's standards. The constable had to chase him down on his bicycle, issuing a ticket for £4 7s and earning Arnold the speedy distinction.

Quads

<Steinitz's Theory

1. At the beginning of the game, Black and White are equal.

2. The game will stay equal with correct play on both sides.

3. You can only win by your opponent's mistake.

4. Any attack launched in an equal position will not succeed, and the attacker will suffer.

5. You should not attack until an advantage is obtained.

6. When equal, do not seek to attack, but instead, try to secure an advantage.

7. Once you have an advantage, attack or you will lose it.>

"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"

Switch your car insurance to Promotion and you could save hundreds.

"The tactician knows what to do when there is something to do; whereas the strategian knows what to do when there is nothing to do." — Gerald Abrahams

"Examine moves that smite! A good eye for smites is far more important than a knowledge of strategical principles." — C.J.S. Purdy

Fredthebear says exercise, prayer, and poetry are good for you.

Raise

* Blowing Away the Castled King: Game Collection: Attack The King's Pocket

* Brutal Attacking Chess: Game Collection: Brutal Attacking Chess

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

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

* Cool Math/Board Games: https://www.coolmathgames.com/1-boa...

* Deadly Battery: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

* Evans / Boris Gambit Guide: Game Collection: Evans Gambit

* Famous Chess Photos: https://tr.pinterest.com/pin/585256...

* Fried Fox is awful: https://allchessopenings.blogspot.c...

* Starting Out: French Defense: Game Collection: Starting out : The French

* Gambits against the French Defense:
Game Collection: alapin gambit -alapin diemer gambit + reti gam

* ICA Youth Resources: https://www.il-chess.org/index.php?...

* katar's hack attack: Game Collection: An Opium Repertoire for White

* Kingpin magazine: https://www.kingpinchess.net/

* LG - White wins: Game Collection: Latvian Gambit-White wins

* Overloaded! Game Collection: OVERLOADED!

* Plenty to see: http://www.schackportalen.nu/Englis...

* POTD Scotch: Game Collection: POTD Scotch Game Scotch Gambit

* RL Minis: Game Collection: Ruy Lopez Miniatures

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

* Spassky could bring the heat: Game Collection: 0

* Ten books for aspiring masters: http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2023...

* Bobby Fischer playing White against the Sicilian: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Wild: Game Collection: Wild Games!

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

* Stunners: Game Collection: Stunners

* A great decade of chess: Game Collection: Mil y Una Partidas 1950-1959

* Great Attacks: Game Collection: great attack games

PRF

Lord Dunsany wrote what is perhaps the finest chess poem ever written. It marked the death of R.H.S. Stevenson and was published on page 74 of the April 1943 BCM:

One art they say is of no use;
The mellow evenings spent at chess,
The thrill, the triumph, and the truce
To every care, are valueless.

And yet, if all whose hopes were set
On harming man played chess instead,
We should have cities standing yet
Which now are dust upon the dead.

"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 2016, a Michigan-based priest named Gerald Johnson suffered a heart attack. He says he had a near-death experience that sent him somewhere he never thought he'd visit: Hell.

Johnson says that immediately after his heart attack in February 2016, his spirit left his physical body and went down to hell, entering through "the very center of the Earth." Though he says "the things I saw there are indescribable," he did his best.

Johnson claims he saw a man walking on all fours like a dog and getting burned from head to toe:

"His eyes were bulging and worse than that: He was wearing chains on his neck. He was like a hellhound. There was a demon holding the chains."

Psalm 8 King James Version

8 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Overbet

<Hush-a-bye, Baby

Hush-a-bye, Baby, upon the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock;
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
Down tumbles cradle and Baby and all.>

Feb-22-23 stone free or die: Thanks Fred for that note. At some point this topic should get brought up on the Bistro, and a proper survey of de facto usage of the various other db's made.

Feb-23-23 petemcd85: FSR: btw, has the site stopped uploading games submitted by users? The link below explains how to upload or request, to upload games: PGN Upload Utility

Usually, if its a lot of games or a tournament, You can let me know on the support forum and i will get to it as soon as possible: support forum:
chessgames.com chessforum

Please include the link to where I can find the games in PGN format. It will help get the games up quicker

Some of the sites I recommend to find reliable PGNs would be: TheWeek In Chess:
https://theweekinchess.com/a-year-o...

chess24.com:
https://chess24.com/en/dashboard'

****

P.S. The FIDE rating of the player must be over 2200 for us to upload games .

Feb-23-23 FSR: <petemcd85> I know how to upload games to the site. Hundreds of games on this site were submitted by me. However, for the past week or so, some of the games that I have submitted have not been added to the database for some reason. Is this because the games were played by me or another player whose FIDE rating is below 2200? If so, that is a departure from prior practice of many years standing. Who authorized this?

<<<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.>

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

According to Chessmetrics, Emanuel Lasker was #1 for longer than anyone else in history: 292 different months between June 1890 and December 1926. That's a timespan of 36 1/2 years, in which Lasker was #1 for a total of 24 years and 4 months. Lasker was 55 years old when he won New York 1924.

"Just because you know stuff doesn't mean you are smart... You have to know how to use that information." ― Josh Keller

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

* Know the five fundamental rules of firearm safety:

- Treat every gun as if it is loaded.

- Never point a weapon at anything you don't intend to destroy.

- Never put your finger on a gun's trigger until you make a conscious decision to shoot.

- Always be sure of your target, what's beyond it, and what's between you and your target.

- When not in use, a firearm needs to be locked in some kind of secure container—a gun vault is best. If it cannot be secured in a locked location, then a trigger lock should be applied. A loaded firearm should never be unattended.

A tiny chameleon discovered in northern Madagascar and measuring just 28.9 millimeters is believed to be the smallest reptile on Earth. The itty bitty chameleon was recently discovered and reported in the January 2021 issue of Scientific Reports.

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

With an equatorial diameter of 7926 miles (12,760 kilometers), Earth is the biggest of the terrestrial planets and the fifth largest planet in our solar system.

<God our Father, Lord, and Savior

Thank you for your love and favor

Bless this food and drink we pray

And all who share with us today.

In our Savior Jesus name,
Amen.>

"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

* Riddle-zapapa-dee: https://www.briddles.com/riddles/ch...

"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.

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

Dick Cavitt: "And you like that moment of just crushing the guy?"

RJ Fischer: "Right *nodding and smiling*, yeah."

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

woordfuun:
08her Abou TZojer permafrost Z Fresca Bloody chanted good nurserey rhyemes abuve Zazoni Narkundzhiya fore zborris67 rode thru countrside attk.

Chessgames.com will be unavailable January 16, 2024 from 12:15PM through 12:45PM(UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience.

This poem is dedicated to PhillA, who sparked off the seed for this poem.

The Stark Naked King

When the challenge arrived from the ax wielding Philla "I must hurry and offer a bribe to his queen, thought nova, to avoid a merciless onslaught ending in bloody gore". Alas, the challenge had been secretly sent the day before. There he stood with ax and all at the castle's gate, While teasingly sending in a not-so-holy bishop as bait. High on the castle's wall nova bellowed: dump the boiling oil, To force the ax-man with his troops to screamingly recoil. To no avail, Philla hurled his castle straight upon the king, Who standing stark naked, tried to hide his private thing. So nova quickly conceded out of shameful desperation and Philla gently lowering the ax accepted nova's resignation.

* Common Sense: Game Collection: Common Sense in Chess (Lasker) - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2Cne...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t9qi...

* Crafty Endgame Trainer: https://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-...

* Not So Good: Game Collection: The St. George Defense - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Plmf...

* Shirov's Best: Game Collection: Fire on Board 1 (Shirov)

* Handy Tricks: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/i7pe...

- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vJaP...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zZh2...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-A4T...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Rp6-...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/T6_W...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eB1o...
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WVT6...

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, "Don Quixote"

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." ― Thomas Jefferson, chess player

Old Russian Proverb: "Every sandpiper praises its own swamp. (Всяк кулик свое болото хвалит.)" People tend to have high opinion about the place where they live.

I have many jokes about rich kids — sadly none of them work.

"The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them" ― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

"<Love all, trust a few, Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend
Under thy own life's key: be check'd for silence, But never tax'd for speech.>"
― William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

"I am no longer cursed by poverty because I took possession of my own mind, and that mind has yielded me every material thing I want, and much more than I need. But this power of mind is a universal one, available to the humblest person as it is to the greatest." ― Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie

"Luckily, there is a way to be happy. It involves changing the emphasis of our thinking from what we want to what we have." ― Richard Carlson

A game of chess, even played by dilettantes, is an austere metaphor of life and a struggle for life, and the chess player's virtues—reason, memory, and invention—are the virtues of every thinking man. The stern rule of chess, according to which a piece that was touched must be moved and it is not permissible to redo a move of which one repents, reproduces the inexorability of the choices of the living. When your king, as a result of your inexperience, lack of attention, imprudence, or the opponent's superiority, is ever more closely threatened … cornered and finally transfixed, you cannot fail to perceive a symbolic shadow beyond the chess board. You are living a death; it is your death, and at the same time it is a death for which you are guilty. —Primo Levi, "The Irritable Chess Players"

Proverbs 14:29-35

29 He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered * exalts folly.

30 A tranquil heart is life to the body, But passion is rottenness to the bones.

31 He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.

32 The wicked is thrust down by his wrongdoing, But the righteous has a refuge when he dies.

33 Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, But in the hearts of fools it is made known.

34 Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.

35 The king's favor is toward a servant who acts wisely, But his anger is toward him who acts shamefully.

<<<Friendly Tree, This Is Your Day> By Annette Wynne>

Friendly tree, this is your day,

So we'll stop our work and play

And talk of you,

And all the things that you do.

Standing still and quiet there,

Sending branches into air,

Making pleasant shade around,

Delving far beneath the ground,

Holding all year safe from harm

Little nest within your arm,

Keeping firmly where you are,

Reaching up to touch a star,

Growing, working, just as I,

Seeking God within the sky. >

Prayer for Your Children
Lord, I release my children to Your care and protection, and I relinquish my will for them in favor of Your will. I know I can't go everywhere my child goes, but I know you do. Please protect them.Give us wisdom for how to parent well. Give us peace in Your goodness toward our children and your love for us. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

"It's a great huge game of chess that's being played—all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know. Oh, what fun it is! How I wish I was one of them! I wouldn't mind being a Pawn, if only I might join—though of course I should like to be a Queen, best." — Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898)

Aristotle once asked "What is it about a thing that makes a thing what it is?"

"To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born, is to remain always a child." ― Cicero

Lord Dunsany wrote what is perhaps the finest chess poem ever written. It marked the death of R.H.S. Stevenson and was published on page 74 of the April 1943 BCM:

One art they say is of no use;
The mellow evenings spent at chess,
The thrill, the triumph, and the truce
To every care, are valueless.

And yet, if all whose hopes were set
On harming man played chess instead,
We should have cities standing yet
Which now are dust upon the dead.

Actions speak louder than words.

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

"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind." — Mahatma Gandhi

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

"Where there's a will, there's a way."

<<Us Two> So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said: "True, It isn't much fun for One, but Two,
Can stick together, says Pooh, says he. "That's how it is," says Pooh.> — A. A. Milne

I have a fear of speed bumps. But I am slowly getting over it.

* Riddle-e-dee: https://chessimprover.com/chess-rid... - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-A4T...

I was wondering why the frisbee was getting bigger, then it hit me.

<Harry Golombek> (1 March 1911 – 7 January 1995) was a British chess player, chess author, and wartime codebreaker. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948.

* https://en.chessbase.com/post/harry...

* https://www.chesshistory.com/winter...

* https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CnLH...

* https://www.goodreads.com/author/li...

* https://www.365chess.com/players/Ha...

This poem is dedicated to Harris my chessplayer friend and literary commentator.

Chess The Final Metaphor

It was in a cesspool behind the place of his cousin Nick

That in this pool of sewage, was born the freak called frick.

On dark nights he hysterically wailed in his pool of slimy mess:

"Oh why oh why, can't I play the game that humans call chess"?

As the morning sun rose, begged the queen of the mighty king:

Sire, can you not order the death of this awful filthy thing"?

Wisely he replied: "no, I'll let frick live forever in distress

While he must watch others enjoy themselves playing chess."

"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

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/!

Deuce

"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

* Riddle-pe-vermi: https://www.briddles.com/riddles/ch...

"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.

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

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