Compiled by Garre

"There is no jewel in the world comparable to learning; no learning so excellent both for Prince and subject, as knowledge of laws; and no knowledge of any laws so necessary for all estates and for all causes, concerning goods, lands or life, as the common laws of England." -- Sir Edward Coke

"Without integrity and honor, having everything means nothing." – Robin Sharma

"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

""Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us." ― Winston S. Churchill

Alaska: Kodiak
Established in: 1792

Kodiak is the main city in Kodiak Island and was founded in 1792 by Aleksandr Andreyevich Baranov. It was first called Pavlovsk Gavan, which is Russian for Paul's Harbor, and was the first capital of Russian Alaska. You can still find a large Russian Orthodox church there, as well as plenty of beautiful views.

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

* FIDE Laws of Chess (2018): https://www.schachschiri.de/fide_18...

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

* Good Historical Links: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/in...

* Internet tracking: https://www.studysmarter.us/magazin...

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

<poem by B.H. Wood, entitled ‘The Drowser':

Ah, reverie! Ten thousand heads I see
Bent over chess-boards, an infinity
Of minds engaged in battle, fiendishly,
Keenly, or calmly, as the case may be:
World-wide, the neophyte, the veteran,
The studious problemist, the fairy fan ...
"What's that? – I'm nearly sending you to sleep? Sorry! – but this position's rather deep."

Source: Chess Amateur, September 1929, page 268.>

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident led to a full United States intervention in Vietnam.

On August 2, 1964, the US spy ship USS Maddox sailed in the Gulf of Tonkin only to find itself attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. They fired back, damaging all three ships and forcing the attackers to retreat. On August 4, the USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy detected more torpedo boats and opened fire. In hindsight, however, the second attack proved nothing more than panic, and that the USN may have detected and fired on simply flying fish. At the time, though, it led the US Congress to call on US President Lyndon B. Johnson to take the necessary measures to stop communist aggression. President Johnson responded by beginning a three-year bombing campaign over Vietnam, and later, across Indochina.

Identify knight forks.

Q: What do you call a cat that likes to eat beans? A: Puss 'n' Toots!

Q: What do you call a clown who's in jail?
A: A silicon!

Q: What do you call a deer with no eyes?
A: No eye deer!!

Q: What do you call a three-footed aardvark?
A: A yardvark!

Q: What do you call a dancing lamb?
A: A baaaaaa-llerina!

Q: What do you call a meditating wolf?
A: Aware wolf!

Q: What do you call a witch who lives at the beach? A: A sand-witch!

Q: What do you call an avocado that's been blessed by the pope? A: Holy Guacamole!

Jul-05-21
Which chessgames.com users have kibitzed the most? 1. HeMateMe (72,002)
2. saffuna (52,158)
3. Jim Bartle (50,025)
4. WannaBe (45,695)
5. jessicafischerqueen (44,873)
6. OhioChessFan (44,247)
7. chancho (40,065)
8. harrylime (38,059)
9. whiteshark (37,326)
10. cormier (36,146)>

‘The Unchecked Pawn': A Chess Poem by Julian Woodruff

The Unchecked Pawn
Quickly Black castled king-side and planned his attack. White then countered with confidence, primed for a sack, with the sneakiest strategy he could contrive:
nonchalantly he pushed his f-pawn to rank 5.
I'll just nab it, thought Black, but wait … what's going on? Devil take it, I'm sure that's a poisonous pawn!

Black surveyed the board carefully. Ah, yes! I see, that white bishop is poised to attack from c3.
Black was pleased with himself: he was using his head in advancing his own pawn to g5 instead.
In response White paused briefly to stifle a yawn, then dispatched the black bishop with his cheeky pawn.

Now White's move left that pawn hanging, out on e6, over-ripe for the picking; but oh, what a fix
Black was in, with a troublingly weakened back rank, and good reason, besides, to beware his left flank. Delay now, and the chance to fight back will be gone. Black played rook to a5, disregarding White's pawn.

Well, there's pawn to b4 … White considered a while. An attack on Black's rook would be showing some style. No, it's better I simply play pawn to e7:
Remember Alekhine in 1911!
What a nuisance! thought Black, frowning. Oh, how I long To be rid of that confounded d7 pawn!

But there's also White's queen, lurking there … what a fright! I'll block her with the bishop while threatening his knight. With a faint smile, White then replied, sealing Black's fate: pawn takes knight and promotes to queen—instant checkmate! Black stared down at the board, his face pallid and drawn; he'd been crushed through ignoring White's bantam-weight pawn.

Alekhine: Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) was a Russian and French chess champion.

The Ass and the Little Dog
(two long-time CG goons)

One's native talent from its course
Cannot be turned aside by force;
But poorly apes the country clown
The polished manners of the town.
Their Maker chooses but a few
With power of pleasing to imbue;
Where wisely leave it we, the mass,
Unlike a certain fabled ass,
That thought to gain his master's blessing
By jumping on him and caressing.
"What!" said the donkey in his heart;
"Ought it to be that puppy's part
To lead his useless life
In full companionship
With master and his wife,
While I must bear the whip?
What does the cur a kiss to draw?
Forsooth, he only gives his paw!
If that is all there needs to please,
I'll do the thing myself, with ease."
Possessed with this bright notion, –
His master sitting on his chair,
At leisure in the open air, –
He ambled up, with awkward motion,
And put his talents to the proof;
Upraised his bruised and battered hoof,
And, with an amiable mien,
His master patted on the chin,
The action gracing with a word –
The fondest bray that ever was heard!
O, such caressing was there ever?
Or melody with such a quaver?
"Ho! Martin! here! a club, a club bring!"
Out cried the master, sore offended.
So Martin gave the ass a drubbing, –
And so the comedy was ended.

"He who takes the Queen's Knight's pawn will sleep in the streets!" - anonymous

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

* Freaky Fridays: https://allchessopenings.blogspot.c...

The Will Explained By Aesop

If what old story says of Aesop's true,
The oracle of Greece he was,
And more than Areopagus he knew,
With all its wisdom in the laws.
The following tale gives but a sample
Of what has made his fame so ample.
Three daughters shared a father's purse,
Of habits totally diverse.
The first, bewitched with drinks delicious;
The next, coquettish and capricious;
The third, supremely avaricious.
The sire, expectant of his fate,
Bequeathed his whole estate,
In equal shares, to them,
And to their mother just the same, –
To her then payable, and not before,
Each daughter should possess her part no more.
The father died. The females three
Were much in haste the will to see.
They read, and read, but still
Saw not the willer's will.
For could it well be understood
That each of this sweet sisterhood,
When she possessed her part no more,
Should to her mother pay it over?
It was surely not so easy saying
How lack of means would help the paying.
What meant their honoured father, then?
The affair was brought to legal men,
Who, after turning over the case
Some hundred thousand different ways,
Threw down the learned bonnet,
Unable to decide on it;
And then advised the heirs,
Without more thought, t" adjust affairs.
As to the widow's share, the counsel say,
"We hold it just the daughters each should pay
One third to her on demand,
Should she not choose to have it stand
Commuted as a life annuity,
Paid from her husband's death, with due congruity." The thing thus ordered, the estate
Is duly cut in portions three.
And in the first they all agree
To put the feasting-lodges, plate,
Luxurious cooling mugs,
Enormous liquor jugs,
Rich cupboards, – built beneath the trellised vine, – The stores of ancient, sweet Malvoisian wine,
The slaves to serve it at a sign;
In short, whatever, in a great house,
There is of feasting apparatus.
The second part is made
Of what might help the jilting trade –
The city house and furniture,
Exquisite and genteel, be sure,
The eunuchs, milliners, and laces,
The jewels, shawls, and costly dresses.
The third is made of household stuff,
More vulgar, rude, and rough –
Farms, fences, flocks, and fodder,
And men and beasts to turn the sod over.
This done, since it was thought
To give the parts by lot
Might suit, or it might not,
Each paid her share of fees dear,
And took the part that pleased her.
It was in great Athens town,
Such judgment gave the gown.
And there the public voice
Applauded both the judgment and the choice.
But Aesop well was satisfied
The learned men had set aside,
In judging thus the testament,
The very gist of its intent.
"The dead," Said he, "could he but know of it,
Would heap reproaches on such Attic wit.
What! men who proudly take their place
As sages of the human race,
Lack they the simple skill
To settle such a will?"
This said, he undertook himself
The task of portioning the pelf;
And straightway gave each maid the part
The least according to her heart –
The prim coquette, the drinking stuff,
The drinker, then, the farms and cattle;
And on the miser, rude and rough,
The robes and lace did Aesop settle;
For thus, he said, "an early date
Would see the sisters alienate
Their several shares of the estate.
No motive now in maidenhood to tarry,
They all would seek, post haste, to marry;
And, having each a splendid bait,
Each soon would find a well-bred mate;
And, leaving thus their father's goods intact,
Would to their mother pay them all, in fact," – Which of the testament
Was plainly the intent.
The people, who had thought a slave an ass,
Much wondered how it came to pass
That one alone should have more sense
Than all their men of most pretence.

<Jul-20-12 phone screen to lie:

Obviously I'm involved in several on-going "controversies" here on <CG>, so take my advice with a grain of salt.>

Riddle: If you drop a yellow hat in the Red Sea, what does it become?

Answer: Wet, duh!

The suffix "Elsass" is a pseudonym. In chess circles he was known as "Hans Gebhard".

Annabel Lee
by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love— I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Proverbs 26 Berean Standard Bible

1 Like snow in summer and rain at harvest,

honor does not befit a fool.

2 Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow,

an undeserved curse does not come to rest.

3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,

and a rod for the backs of fools!

4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,

or you yourself will be like him.

5 Answer a fool according to his folly,

lest he become wise in his own eyes.

6 Like cutting off one's own feet or drinking violence

is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.

7 Like lame legs hanging limp

is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

8 Like binding a stone into a sling

is the giving of honor to a fool.

9 Like a thorn that falls into the hand of a drunkard

is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

10 Like an archer who wounds at random

is he who hires a fool or passerby.

11 As a dog returns to its vomit,a

so a fool repeats his folly.

12 Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

13 The slacker says, "A lion is in the road!

A fierce lion roams the public square!"

14 As a door turns on its hinges,

so the slacker turns on his bed.

15 The slacker buries his hand in the dish;

it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.

16 The slacker is wiser in his own eyes

than seven men who answer discreetly.

17 Like one who grabs a dog by the ears

is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own.

18 Like a madman shooting firebrands

and deadly arrows,

19 so is the man who deceives his neighbor

and says, "I was only joking!"

20 Without wood, a fire goes out;

without gossip, a conflict ceases.

21 Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire,

so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels

that go down into the inmost being.

23 Like glaze covering an earthen vessel

are burningb lips and a wicked heart.

24 A hateful man disguises himself with his speech,

but he lays up deceit in his heart.

25 When he speaks graciously, do not believe him,

for seven abominations fill his heart.

26 Though his hatred is concealed by deception,

his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

27 He who digs a pit will fall into it,

and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

28 A lying tongue hates those it crushes,

and a flattering mouth causes ruin.

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

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)

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

<Below is the acrostic poem by Mrs T.B. Rowland:

Tears now we sadly shed apart,
How keenly has death's sudden dart
E'en pierced a kingdom's loyal heart.

Dark lies the heavy gloomy pall
Upon our royal bower,
Kings, queens, and nations bow their heads,
Each mourn for England's flower.

Oh! God, to her speak peace divine,
For now no voice can soothe but thine.

Ah, why untimely snatched away,
Loved Prince – alas, we sigh –
Before thy sun its zenith reached
Athwart the noonday sky.
Noble in heart, in deed, and will,
Years hence thy name we'll cherish still.

That poem was published on pages 140-141 of Chess Fruits (Dublin, 1884)>

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

"You can only get good at chess if you love the game." ― Bobby Fischer

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

"As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight." — The Revenant

WordZeerch:
Target Neutralized. Zdanovs split a turkey leg with Zelinsky, but Yuri Zhuravliov was nowhere to be found and lost river.

"Debt is dumb. Cash is king." — Dave Ramsey

A jester, court jester, fool or joker was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during the medieval and Renaissance eras. Jesters were also itinerant performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town markets, and the discipline continues into the modern day, where jesters perform at historical-themed events.

During the Middle Ages, jesters are often thought to have worn brightly colored clothes and eccentric hats in a motley pattern. Their modern counterparts usually mimic this costume. Jesters entertained with a wide variety of skills: principal among them were song, music, and storytelling, but many also employed acrobatics, juggling, telling jokes (such as puns, stereotypes, and imitation), and performing magic tricks. Much of the entertainment was performed in a comic style. Many jesters made contemporary jokes in word or song about people or events well known to their audiences.

Don't blame the distractions, just improve the focus. ― Joker

You've to Risk going too far. To Discover, just how far you really go. ― Joker

Q: Why did the fox cross the road?
A: She was chasing the chicken.