* First of each ECO: Game Collection: First of Each ECO

"Life has, indeed, many ills, but the mind that views every object in its most cheering aspect, and every doubtful dispensation as replete with latent good, bears within itself a powerful and perpetual antidote. The gloomy soul aggravates misfortune, while a cheerful smile often dispels those mists that portend a storm." ― Lydia Sigourney

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." ― Harry S Truman, 33rd President of the United States, and former Colonel in the U.S. Army

"All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters either. Every single man in this Army play a vital role. Don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain." ― General George S. Patton, U.S. Army

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils

* The word "checkmate" comes from the Arabic word "shah mat" which translates to "The king is dead" in English.

* C45s: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che...

General chess advice from Joe Brooks: https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comm...

"On the chessboard lies and hypocrisy do not survive long. The creative combination lays bare the presumption of a lie; the merciless fact, culmination in checkmate, contradicts the hypocrite." ― Emanuel Lasker

"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 sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe." ― Indian Proverb

"For beginning chess players, studying a Carlsen game is like wanting to be an electrical engineer and beginning with studying an iPhone." ― Garry Kasparov

* The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves for both sides in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.

"Playing chess has many aspects that can be useful in everyday situations like planning, concentration and combinations. You learn to win but also to lose and to be creative." ― Judit Polgar

"In chess the most unbelievable thing for me is that it's a game for everybody: rich, poor, girl, boy, old, young. It's a fantastic game which can unite people and generations! It's a language which you'll find people "speak" in every country. If you reach a certain level you find a very rich world! Art, sport, logic, psychology, a battlefield, imagination, creativity not only in practical games but don't forget either how amazing a feeling it is to compose a study, for example (unfortunately that's not appreciated these days but it's a fantastic part of chess!)." ― Judit Polgar

"Chess is thirty to forty percent psychology. You don't have this when you play a computer. I can't confuse it (the computer)." ― Judit Polgar

"I was labeled as a tricky player early on and have been regarded as tricky throughout my whole career. It was said that I was able to pull out tricks from nowhere." ― Judit Polgar

"One can say that in the last decades chess has become more of a sport than of a science. I see it from an artistic point of view." ― Judit Polgar

"It's very important not to put pressure on a child. Make sure that she/he feels that whatever happens it's not the end of the world. If they cry after a loss that's normal, as adults also hate to lose. If they win a game you should make them feel very proud but make sure they know the next game will be another challenge." ― Judit Polgar

"If you do your "homework" well you can be sure you'll feel more relaxed. Make sure you have a walk or rest before the game because the most important thing is to be focused during the game itself! If you get tired by preparation you won't have enough energy left for the whole game, and we all know that a single blunder can ruin all the work done beforehand!" ― Judit Polgar

"I think it's very natural to get nervous. I've usually got concerns about a specific thing in the opening which might worry me. I have to be relaxed and balanced emotionally and then I can concentrate on the moves during the game. Then things will be ok." ― Judit Polgar

"India and China are improving by leaps and bounds and it will be their chess players who will lead the revolution of the XXI century." ― Judit Polgar

* Chess Tactics For Champions by Susan Polgar and Paul Truong: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...

* Strike Like Judit! https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...

* The longest game of chess that is possible is of 5,949 moves.

<FIDE-rated Swiss tournament observations of Jub1:

* Ratings are perceived as gospel. No one ever beat a higher rated opponent because they played well, it's always because the higher rated player "mixed up opening variations" or "I was meant to play this line" when they didn't.

* Bishop pair is an automatic win in the minds of <2000 players. No if's or but's.

* In post game analysis, EVERY!! player announces "I'm winning" just moments before their position crumbles and insist on analyzing from that point on why their position crumbled. Suggestions that their position wasn't sound before it fell apart are dismissed with "bishop pair", "open file" and other such cliché's.

* 1800 - 2000 rating range is particularly toxic. These are players that are on the cusp of having a respectable rating and in the absence of sufficient talent to improve into the 2000+ range, they resort to unsportsmanlike behavior. I've seen an IM accused of violating touch-move because he knocked a queen in the process of moving his hand to pick up a bishop. Have seen a middle-aged man trying to bully a 10-year-old boy into accepting a draw by repetition in a completely lost position, after just 1 repetition. Had an opponent demand I analyze our game, only to ridicule my thought processes and input.

* Post game analysis usually starts off with someone reciting memorized opening lines and a declaration of "and white/black is better". When asked why, the answer rarely has any substance. I.e. I read it in a book, so it must be true. They fail to realize that what a GM perceives as a slight advantage is nonsense to a <2000 player, if only because the following moves are unlikely to be of GM quality so as to exploit the slight advantage.

* Children have so much fun playing chess! When they're winning, they can't hide the excitement. When they lose, they just go and play another game with their friends and laugh. If only us adults could take this much joy out of chess.>

* Alan Turing developed the first computer program for playing chess in 1951. However, no computer was powerful enough to process it, so Turing tested it by doing the calculations himself and playing according to the results, taking several minutes per move.

* Attack: Game Collection: 2012-2015 Attacking Games (Naiditsch/Balogh)

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

It's not the quantity that counts; it's the quality.

* Lasker's 200 Hours: https://chessimprover.com/emanuel-l...

* Draws: Game Collection: 2012-2015 Interesting Draws (Naiditsch/Balogh)

* Endgames: Game Collection: 2012-2015 Endgames (Naiditsch/Balogh)

* Fight! Game Collection: 2012-2015 Fighting Games (Naiditsch/Balogh)

* Positional: Game Collection: 2012-2015 Positional Games (Naiditsch/Balogh)

* Miscellaneous: Game Collection: ! Miscellaneous games

Anatolia Dawson wrote:
The Sword Unsealed

The sword, it has been sealed,
The sword, it has been pulled,
The King, he is revealed,
To sleep, the fae are lulled.

He shall now sing the song,
Of the Once and Future King,
Until, not afore long,
The End of Times, Christ brings.

Gone are his enemies,
Yet not defeated,
Until the raging seas,
Should be depleted.

Yet, in fair Avalon,
He drinks tea with Merlin,
On good Charles he looks upon,
From times bygone, his kin.

The sun shines briefly,
Upon our great land,
To be swept away,
By our - yes, our - hand.

Yet Christ, man-herder,
Waits upon England,
And His servant, King Arthur,
In the highland of highlands.

Someday the highlands,
Shall be brought quite low,
And all on our island,
Shall come to know,
That the unsealed sword,
Was never truly sealed,
But that it was forged,
To divide royal meals.

* The new move where the pawn could move two steps instead of one was introduced in Spain in 1280.

Thinking
Walter D Wintle

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but you think you can't, It is almost a certain – you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost;
For out in this world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win the prize.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can!

* The first mechanical clock to be used instead of sand glass was invented by Thomas Wilson in 1883. The modern push button clock was introduced by Veenhoff in 1900.

Andreas68 wrote:
The Game

my father was not a King
my mother was not a Queen
I do not come from royalty

my uncle was not a bishop
my aunt was not a nun
hence religion is absent

dreams of being a knight
in shining armor
shroud my thinking but alas

am I a pawn of life
told what to do
and where to go

bouncing from side to side
encased in a pin ball machine
careening towards what

unable to control my destiny
others wants greater than
my needs

each day I awake
challenging the status quo
ready to take on obstacles

Nay I am a Rook
starting out in a corner
but winning at the end of the game

* The folding Chess board was invented in 1125 by a Chess-playing priest. Since the Church forbids priests to play Chess, he hid his Chessboard by making it look like two books lying together.

Desiderata
Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

* The first chess game between space and earth was in June, 1970 by the Soyez-9 crew. Though the game ended in draw, it sure did make headlines.

secretlyblushing.inked
He who is King

Hidden last child under his mother's teat
Final warrior unwilling to accept defeat
Weapons forged from a hundred hands
Lightning bolted across all the lands
He who drew the biggest claim
Is now crowned king in cronos' name
weakened the titans in his normal state
Sits atop Mount Olympus' destined fate

* A computer called Deep Thought became the first of its kind to beat an international maestro in November 1988, Long Beach, California.

Auld Lang Syne
Robert Burns - 1759-1796
* Meaning: https://www.dictionary.com/e/auld-l... * Mark the New Year: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ne...

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

Chorus

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,
Sin' auld lang syne.

Chorus

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.

Chorus

And there's a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

Chorus

* Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMF...

The second book to be ever printed in English language was about Chess: * https://www.chess.com/blog/cldng/th...

* 40: https://thechessworld.com/articles/...

* YS Tactics: Game Collection: Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics

* What are the odds? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GXlM...

May-07-12
Domdaniel: I'll believe that computers are intelligent -- well, vaguely sentient anyway -- the day they start to have slanging matches and call one another 'idiot' and 'moron'. - Your motherboard was an egg timer! A *failed* egg timer!

- Were you built by *humans*?

May-07-12 Shams: <Domdaniel> There's always Alex P. Keaton's "I'd get a better game from the microwave!" He was playing against whatever you could buy at Radio Shack in 1986 though, so he may not have been far off.

-08l zab2cr: move 19. zootr Frit z dope on a roge Kh4? trolly pickld p'z computr

May-07-12
Domdaniel: I'll believe that computers are intelligent -- well, vaguely sentient anyway -- the day they start to have slanging matches and call one another 'idiot' and 'moron'. - Your motherboard was an egg timer! A *failed* egg timer!

- Were you built by *humans*?

May-07-12 Shams: <Domdaniel> There's always Alex P. Keaton's "I'd get a better game from the microwave!" He was playing against whatever you could buy at Radio Shack in 1986 though, so he may not have been far off.

<Shakespearean Puns
Perhaps no writer is better known for the use of puns than William Shakespeare. He plays with "tide" and "tied" in Two Gentlemen of Verona:

"Panthino
Away, ass! You'll lose the tide if you tarry any longer.

Launce
It is no matter if the tied were lost; for it is the unkindest tied that ever any man tied.

Panthino
What's the unkindest tide?

Launce
Why, he that's tied here, Crab, my dog."

In the opening of Richard III, the sun refers to the blazing sun on Edward IV's banner and the fact that he is the son of the Duke of York:

"Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York."

In this line from Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare plays on the different meanings of heavy (which also means sad) and light:

"Give me a torch: I am not for this ambling; Being but heavy I will bear the light."

Later in Romeo and Juliet, a morbid pun comes from a fatally-stabbed Mercutio, where grave means serious, but also alludes to his imminent death:

"Ask for me tomorrow, you shall find me a grave man."

If you open any Shakesperean play, you're likely to find at least one pun on the page! Keep an eye out for a clever play on words example the next time you read Hamlet or watch As You Like It on the stage.>

harrylime's TOP FIVE FLY ON A WALL MOMENTS IN CHESS

1. 1896 ... Bardelbum leaves his game v STEINITZ Hastings

2. PILLSBURY in 1896 Becomes the best player in the World at Hastings

3. CAPA in Havana 1921

4. BOBBY 1972

5. MORPHY in Paris at the Opera 1858