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[what is this?]

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Green Valley Boys Who dunnit? Was it the tenderfoot "Pilgrim", the skittish Sheriff, the school teacher's beau, "the toughest man south of the picket wire," the young lawyer, Pompey, Senator Stoddard, Liberty's second, or the newsman? “The first instance of this opening [Grünfeld Defence] is in an 1855 game by Moheschunder Bannerjee, an Indian player who had transitioned from Indian chess rules, playing Black against John Cochrane in Calcutta, in May 1855: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Be2 Nxc3 8.bxc3 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.cxd4 Nc6 11.Bb2 Bg4 12.Rc1 Rc8 13.Ba3 Qa5 14.Qb3 Rfe8 15.Rc5 Qb6 16.Rb5 Qd8 17.Ng5 Bxe2 18.Nxf7 Na5 and White mates in three (19.Nh6+ double check Kh8 20.Qg8+ Rxg8 21.Nf7#). Cochrane published a book reporting his games with Moheshchunder and other Indians in 1864.” -- Wikipedia * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohes... Dum spiro, spero “The game might be divided into three parts: the opening, the middle-game and the end-game. There is one thing you must strive for, to be equally efficient in the three parts.” ― Jose Raul Capablanca “Unfortunately, many regard the critic as an enemy, instead of seeing him as a guide to the truth.” ― Wilhelm Steinitz “My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose.” ― Bette Davis “Chess is a matter of vanity.” ― Alexander Alekhine “As a chess player one has to be able to control one's feelings, one has to be as cold as a machine.” ― Levon Aronian “Sometimes it happens that the computer's assessment is very abstract. It's correct, but it's not useful for a practical game. You have to prove the assessment with very strong moves and if you don't find all of these strong moves you may lose very quickly. For a computer this is not a problem, but for humans it is not so easy.” ― Vassily Ivanchuk “A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit.” ― John Milton “Chess is a sport. The main object in the game of chess remains the achievement of victory.” ― Max Euwe “A sport, a struggle for results and a fight for prizes. I think that the discussion about "chess is science or chess is art" is already inappropriate. The purpose of modern chess is to reach a result.” ― Alexander Morozevich “No one man is superior to the game.” ― A. Bartlett Giamatti, in reference to Pete Rose, the all-time MLB hits leader banned for gambling. “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” ― Alexander Pope “I consider Mr. Morphy the finest chess player who ever existed. He is far superior to any now living, and would doubtless have beaten Labourdonnais himself. In all his games with me, he has not only played, in every instance, the exact move, but the most exact. He never makes a mistake; but, if his adversary commits the slightest error, he is lost.” ― Adolf Anderssen “After white's reply to 1.e4 e5 with 2.f4 the game is in its last throes” ― Howard Staunton “I have added these principles to the law: get the Knights into action before both Bishops are developed.” ― Emanuel Lasker “With opposite coloured bishops the attacking side has in effect an extra piece in the shape of his bishop.” ― Mikhail Botvinnik “A pawn, when separated from his fellows, will seldom or never make a fortune.” ― Francois-Andre Danican Philidor “Be warned! From Satan's viewpoint you are a pawn in his game of cosmic chess.” ― Adrian Rogers “Pawns not only create the sketch for the whole painting, they are also the soil, the foundation, of any position.” ― Anatoly Karpov “The object of the state is always the same: to limit the individual, to tame him, to subordinate him, to subjugate him.” ― Max Stirner “It is a profound mistake to imagine that the art of combination depends only on natural talent, and that it cannot be learned.” ― Richard Reti “A Queen's sacrifice, even when fairly obvious, always rejoices the heart of the chess-lover.” ― Savielly Tartakower “Everyone makes mistakes. The wise are not people who never make mistakes, but those who forgive themselves and learn from their mistakes.” ― Ajahn Brahm “As a rule, so-called "positional" sacrifices are considered more difficult, and therefore more praise-worthy, than those which are based exclusively on an exact calculation of tactical possibilities.” ― Alexander Alekhine “It would be idle, and presumptuous, to wish to imitate the achievements of a Morphy or an Alekhine; but their methods and their manner of expressing themselves are within the reach of all.” ― Eugene Znosko-Borovsky “The most powerful weapon in chess is to have the next move.” ― David Bronstein “Get there firstest with the mostest.” ― Nathan Bedford Forrest “If the defender is forced to give up the center, then every possible attack follows almost of itself.” ― Siegbert Tarrasch “Erudition, like a bloodhound, is a charming thing when held firmly in leash, but it is not so attractive when turned loose upon a defenseless and unerudite public.” ― Agnes Repplier “If you watch it, you should watch it with other players and try to find moves, like it was before. Now on many sites you watch together with the computer and the pleasure is gone.” ― Boris Gelfand “I believe that Chess possesses a magic that is also a help in advanced age. A rheumatic knee is forgotten during a game of chess and other events can seem quite unimportant in comparison with a catastrophe on the chessboard.” ― Vlastimil Hort “It's funny, but many people don't understand why I draw so many games nowadays. They think my style must have changed but this is not the case at all. The answer to this drawing disease is that my favorite squares are e6, f7, g7 and h7 and everyone now knows this. They protect these squares not once but four times!” ― Mikhail Tal “Having spent alarmingly large chunks of my life studying the white side of the Open Sicilian, I find myself asking, why did I bother?” ― Daniel J. King “Apart from direct mistakes, there is nothing more ruinous than routine play, the aim of which is mechanical development.” ― Alexey Suetin “Not infrequently ... the theoretical is a synonym of the stereotyped. For the 'theoretical' in chess is nothing more than that which can be found in the textbooks and to which players try to conform because they cannot think up anything better or equal, anything original.” ― Mikhail Chigorin “The choice of opening, whether to aim for quiet or risky play, depends not only on the style of a player, but also on the disposition with which he sits down at the board.” ― Efim Geller “Despite the development of chess theory, there is much that remains secret and unexplored in chess.” ― Vasily Smyslov “No matter how much theory progresses, how radically styles change, chess play is inconceivable without tactics.” ― Samuel Reshevsky “Collect as precious pearls the words of the wise and virtuous.” ― Abdelkader El Djezairi “Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.” ― Abigail Adams “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” ― Winston Churchill “When I was preparing for one term's work in the Botvinnik school I had to spend a lot of time on king and pawn endings. So when I came to a tricky position in my own games, I knew the winning method.” ― Garry Kasparov “As a rule, pawn endings have a forced character, and they can be worked out conclusively.” ― Mark Dvoretsky “It is a gross overstatement, but in chess, it can be said I play against my opponent over the board and against myself on the clock.” ― Viktor Korchnoi “The fact that the 7 hours time control allows us to play a great deep game is not of great importance for mass-media.” ― Alexei Shirov “For me, each game is a new challenge, which has to be dealt with rationally and systematically. At that time, every other thought fades into oblivion.” ― Viswanathan Anand Ne kadar bilirsen bil, o kadar azdır. “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein “One bad move nullifies forty good ones.” ― Israel Albert Horowitz “It is a well-known phenomenon that the same amateur who can conduct the middle game quite creditably, is usually perfectly helpless in the end game. One of the principal requisites of good chess is the ability to treat both the middle and end game equally well.” ― Aron Nimzowitsch “My hard work and excellent training entitled me to be a better actress than some of my competitors.” ― Pola Negri “Endings of one rook and pawns are about the most common sort of endings arising on the chess board. Yet though they do occur so often, few have mastered them thoroughly. They are often of a very difficult nature, and sometimes while apparently very simple they are in reality extremely intricate.” ― Jose Raul Capablanca “Capablanca used to talk calmly and moderately about everything. However, when our conversation turned to the problems of the battle for the world championship, in front of me was a quite different person: an enraged lion, although with the fervour typical only of a southerner, with his temperamental patter, which made it hard to follow the torrent of his indignant exclamations and words.” ― Alexander Koblencs “A player is said to have the opposition when he can place his King directly in front of the adverse King, with only one square between them. This is often an important advantage in ending games.” ― Howard Staunton “A player can sometimes afford the luxury of an inaccurate move, or even a definite error, in the opening or middlegame without necessarily obtaining a lost position. In the endgame ... an error can be decisive, and we are rarely presented with a second chance.” ― Paul Keres “Never trust a government that doesn't trust its own citizens with guns.” ― Benjamin Franklin “The Soviet Union was an exception, but even there chess players were not rich. Only Fischer changed that.” ― Boris Spassky “Chess never has been and never can be aught but a recreation. It should not be indulged in to the detriment of other and more serious avocations - should not absorb or engross the thoughts of those who worship at its shrine, but should be kept in the background, and restrained within its proper province. As a mere game, a relaxation from the severe pursuits of life, it is deserving of high commendation.” ― Paul Morphy “Incidentally, when we're faced with a "prove or disprove," we're usually better off trying first to disprove with a counterexample, for two reasons: A disproof is potentially easier (we need just one counterexample); and nitpicking arouses our creative juices. Even if the given assertion is true, our search for a counterexample often leads to a proof, as soon as we see why a counterexample is impossible. Besides, it's healthy to be skeptical.” ― Ronald Graham “Even though chess isn't the toughest thing that computers will tackle for centuries, it stood as a handy symbol for human intelligence. No matter what human-like feat computers perform in the future, the Deep Blue match demands an indelible dot on all timelines of AI progress.” ― Steven Levy “Attackers may sometimes regret bad movez, but it’s much worse to forever regret an opportunity you allowed to pass you by.” ― Garry Kasparov “Even the laziest king flees wildly in the face of a double check.” ― Aron Nimzowitzch “When you see a good move – WAIT! – look for a better one.” ― Emanuel Lasker The Portuguese chess player and author Pedro Damiano (1480–1544) first wrote this in his book "Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de li partiti" published in Rome, Italy, in 1512. Proverbs 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. “Winning is about commitment, discipline, hard work, dedication, determination, courage and sometimes even luck!” ― Susan Polgar “Every defeat is an opportunity to learn from our mistakes! Every victory is a confirmation of our hard work!” ― Susan Polgar “A chess player uses his/her knowledge to prepare for next game while a passionate coach preparez for next generation!” ― Susan Polgar French Proverb: “Ce n’est pas à un vieux singe qu’on apprend à faire la grimace.” ― (There’s no substitute for experience.) * Gene Pitney tells one version... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDN... * How to be Black Bart: Game Collection: tpstar KG * Black Licorice: Game Collection: repertorio gaston * Pie? https://www.old-mill.com/oldmill-re... * Devin's Doughnuts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goK... * For now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fik... * Copy the Colle 5.c3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3N... * More slow QP answers for Black: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK2... * Club 1.d4 Nf6 2...e6 3...as you please. Symmetrical English ...c5, Qc7, a6, form a hut/small center. Much the same w/the QGA dxc4 and cxd4: D Kryakvin vs Evgeni Kuligin, 2008 Also, Lasker's NY System fighting for e4 is good against slow QP openings w/a pawn on e3. * Short Draws: Game Collection: Short Forced Draws * G Boogie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSL... * Gambits & stuff: https://gambitchessplayer.com/page/3/ * Black B-G Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAI... * Philidorians: Game Collection: winning with the philidor * King's English: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... * Bg2 vs Bg7 English: Game Collection: Inglesa 3 * Snipe Hunting: https://temposchlucker.blogspot.com... * Some Gs: https://saintlouischessclub.org/blo... * Attacking French: Game Collection: Attacking with the French * FT 0-1: Game Collection: French Tarrasch * Combat the Spanish: Game Collection: JAENISCH GAMBIT (SCHLIEMANN DEFENSE) * More Schliemanns: Game Collection: schliemann * Nimzowitsch Defense: https://www.chessable.com/blog/nimz... * Tartakower Defense: https://www.chess.com/blog/MatBobul... Thank you prime rib, RickL. For PT: BFTC C4C QCK CKBOC A1BOFM COFC AWCG2C Y1CO Sorry folks, this collection is just an echo in Fredthebear's mind....some games that might help my chess buddy. It grew! * Diagrammed Checkmate Patterns Game Collection: Checkmate: Checkmate Patterns * Chessman's excellent overview of the Open games: Game Collection: The Open Games: 1.e4 e5 * Slow down w/the Petroff: Game Collection: 0 * Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch playing his Tarrasch Defense! http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * Small: Game Collection: Reti/English systems: Black's viewpoint * 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 1) -0.12 (33 ply) 5...O-O 6.Rc1 dxc4 7.Bxc4 c5 8.dxc5 Qxd1+ 9.Rxd1 Nbd7 10.Nf3 Bxc5 11.O-O a6 12.a4 b6 13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.Ne5 Bb7 15.Nd7 Rfd8 16.Nxc5 bxc5 17.Rxd8+ Rxd8 18.f3 Kf8 19.Rd1 Rxd1+ 20.Nxd1 Ke7 21.Nc3 a5 22.Kf2 Nd7 23.Be2 Nf6 24.b3 Nd5 2) =0.00 (33 ply) 5...h6 6.Bf4 O-O 7.Nf3 b6 8.Ne5 Bb7 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Bxh6 gxh6 11.Qg4+ Kh8 12.Qh5 Kg7 13.Qg4+ Kh8 3) +0.07 (32 ply) 5...b6 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Bxe7 Qxe7 8.Rc1 O-O 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Ne2 Bb7 11.Nf4 Re8 12.Be2 c6 13.O-O Nd7 14.Re1 Nf6 15.Bf3 Rac8 16.Qa4 a5 17.g3 Ba6 18.Qd1 Qb4 19.Qc2 Bc4 20.a3 Qd6 21.Bg2 Rc7 22.Bh3 Bb5 23.Bg2 <Alireza Firouzja (Persian: علی‌رضا فیروزجا, Persian pronunciation: [æliːɾeˈzɑː fiːɾuːzˈdʒɑː]; born 18 June 2003) is an Iranian and French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest ever 2800-rated player, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months. A chess prodigy, Firouzja won the Iranian Chess Championship at age 12 and earned the Grandmaster title at 14. At 16, Firouzja became the second youngest 2700-rated player and won a silver medal at the 2019 World Rapid Chess Championship. In November 2021, at 18, he won the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament and an individual gold medal at the European Team Chess Championship. He won a bronze medal at the 2021 World Blitz Chess Championship. In 2022, Firouzja won the Grand Chess Tour. Firouzja left the Iranian Chess Federation in 2019 because of the country's longstanding policy against competing with Israeli players.[4] He played under the FIDE flag until mid-2021, when he became a French citizen and began representing France, where he had already been living.> — Wikipedia Q: What do you call someone who draws funny pictures of cars? A: A car-toonist. Q: What do you call a magician on a plane? A: A flying sorcerer. Q: What do you call fruit playing the guitar? A: A jam session. Q: What do you call the shoes that all spies wear? A: Sneakers. Q: What do you call something you can serve, but never eat? A: A volleyball. Q: What did the alien say to the garden? A: Take me to your weeder. Q: What do you call a skeleton who went out in freezing temperatures? A: A numb skull. Q: What do you call a farm that grows bad jokes? A: Corny. A Game of Chess - by T. S. Eliot II. A GAME OF CHESS The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne, Glowed on the marble, where the glass Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines From which a golden Cupidon peeped out (Another hid his eyes behind his wing) Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra Reflecting light upon the table as The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it, From satin cases poured in rich profusion; In vials of ivory and coloured glass Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes, Unguent, powdered, or liquid — troubled, confused And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air That freshened from the window, these ascended In fattening the prolonged candle-flames, Flung their smoke into the laquearia, Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling. Huge sea-wood fed with copper Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone, In which sad light a carved dolphin swam. Above the antique mantel was displayed As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale Filled all the desert with inviolable voice And still she cried, and still the world pursues, " Jug Jug " to dirty ears. And other withered stumps of time Were told upon the walls; staring forms Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed. Footsteps shuffled on the stair. Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair Spread out in fiery points Glowed into words, then would be savagely still. " My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me. " Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak. — " What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? " I never know what you are thinking. Think. " I think we are in rats' alley Where the dead men lost their bones. " What is that noise? " The wind under the door. " What is that noise now? What is the wind doing? " Nothing again nothing. " Do " You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember " Nothing? " — I remember Those are pearls that were his eyes. " Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head? " But O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag — It's so elegant So intelligent " What shall I do now? What shall I do? " " I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street " With my hair down, so. What shall we do to-morrow? " What shall we ever do? " The hot water at ten. And if it rains, a closed car at four. And we shall play a game of chess, Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door. When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said — I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself, H URRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME Now Albert's coming back, make yourself a bit smart. He'll want to know what you done with that money he gave you To get yourself some teeth. He did, I was there. You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set, He said, I swear, I can't bear to look at you. And no more can't I, I said, and think of poor Albert, He's been in the army four years, he wants a good time, And if you don't give it him, there's others will, I said. Oh is there, she said. Something o' that, I said. Then I'll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look. H URRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME If you don't like it you can get on with it, I said. Others can pick and choose if you can't. But if Albert makes off, it won't be for lack of telling. You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique. (And her only thirty-one.) I can't help it, she said, pulling a long face, It's them pills I took, to bring it off, she said. (She's had five already, and nearly died of young George.) The chemist said it would be all right, but I've never been the same. You are a proper fool, I said. Well, if Albert won't leave you alone, there it is, I said, What you get married for if you don't want children? H URRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon, And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot — H URRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME H URRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight. Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight. Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night. * 2024s: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn7... Haxo Gambit, * KaspaChess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSH... Leonhardt Gambit, Bc4 vs Pirc D & Alekhine D, Bishop's Opening 3.Nf3 Kieseritzky Gambit, Petroff D Cochrane Gambit, links. * KaspaChess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dh... Benoni Indian. * thechesswebsite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYK... Old Benoni Trap. * Volclus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6z... Old Benoni D. * The Chess Giant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNo... Old Benoni D. These games feature a piece capturing a queenside pawn or two, for better or worse, and queenside checkmates. This pawn removal may or may not be materially important to the eventual outcome of the game. (The pawn capture sometimes serves as a self-inflicted displacement of the capturing piece leaving it out-of-bounds.) Again, the pawn capture on the queenside may have little or no impact on the outcome. * Overloaded! Game Collection: OVERLOADED! * Famous Chess Photos: https://tr.pinterest.com/pin/585256... * Starting Out: French Defense: Game Collection: Starting out : The French * Gambits against the French Defense: Game Collection: alapin gambit -alapin diemer gambit + reti gam * Common Checkmate Patterns: http://gambiter.com/chess/Checkmate... * Fabulous chess brilliancies: https://www.chess.com/article/view/... * Mr. Harvey's Puzzle Challenge: https://wtharvey.com/ * Malaguena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxD... * Women: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/wom... * Best Games of 2018: Game Collection: Best Games of 2018 * Glossary: https://www.peoriachess.com/Glossar... * Opening Tree: https://www.shredderchess.com/onlin... * Tic-Tac-Toe is Easy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNF... * A Brief History of Chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeB... * A Brief History of the Game of Chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2a... * Chess for Beginners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU6... * Learn Chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adY... * Learn Chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGu... * Learn ALL the Rules of the Royal Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_... * Ladder Checkmate with Two Rooks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaQ... * Checkmate with King and Rook vs lone King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yf... * Checkmate with Two Bishops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN7... * Chess Equipment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLA... * The Opposition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52y... * King and Pawn vs King (both kings want to be in front of the pawn to affect it's progress): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvB... * Three Dog Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l52... * Son of Three Dog Knight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4N... * Arabian Checkmate Pattern: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejh... * Basic Checkmates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y-... * Most Common Opening Mistake (Four Knights, Italian Variation): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrp... * Scotch Game, Four Knights Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcn... * Top 4 Traps in the Center Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8f... * Top 4 Vienna Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb7... * Top 4 Scholar's Mates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr4... * More Scholar's Mates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUN... * Top 4 Fishing Pole Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11N... * Top 4 Excellent Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTS... * 1.d4 Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ-... * Top 3 Versions of the Italian Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CP... * Top 5 Versions of the Italian Game Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-2... * Top 4 Aggressive 1.e4 e5 Openings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tm... * Top 5 Traps after 1.e4 e5 for White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YW... * 5 Chess traps in Giuoco Piano Opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny7... * Italian Game Variations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xh... * Garry Kasparov's Checkmate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuP... * 5 Best Traps for White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5t... * Max Lange Attack instead of the Fried Liver Attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI7... * Top 5 Traps in the Bishop's Opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9l... * Top 5 King Pawn Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS2... * King's Gambit critique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrW... * Top 5 More Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar9... * Top 5 Famous Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJU... * Top 5 Fastest Traps to Know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veZ... * Top 5 Underrated Openings Against the Sicilian Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsh... * 1.d4 d5 Ryder Gambit, Halosar Trap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZq... * Top 6 Opening Checkmates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRu... * Top 7 Aggressive Chess Openings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib8... * Wing Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODK... * Mengarini Gambit?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecd... * MC plays the Mengarini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XH... * Top 8 Versions of the Scotch Trap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbu... * Underrated Scotch Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8n... * Scotch Gambit for White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYP... * Scotch Gambit Trap for White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC-... * Learn the Scotch Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nr... * Scotch, Goring Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0F... * Haxo Gambit vs Nge7?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgm... * Haxo Gambit hammer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3om... * Top 10 Fastest Checkmates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctP... * Find Mate-in-One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOa... * 10 Well-Known Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf8... * 10 Most Deadly Opening Traps to Know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyE... * 10 Ruy Lopez Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztm... * Common Mistakes in the Ruy Lopez Opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y96... * You are going to lose a lot of chess games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W4... * Don't Hang Your Piece! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hz... * DGT North American Chess Clock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkh... * Electronic chessboard isn't necessary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOn... * Elements of Chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2C... * Easy to Learn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--D... * No such thing as "Best Opening": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agU... * Endgame Fundamentals: King & Pawn vs King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLy... * Types of Opposition of the Kings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3o... * Pillsbury's Greek Gift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNC... * Punish Opening Errors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkL... * A Thought Process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rZ... * A Practical Thought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ-... * Quick Smothered Mate in the Budapest Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpe... * Tips for Knights & More: http://www.chesssets.co.uk/blog/tip... * Beautiful Knight Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_3... * Knight's Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab_... * Knight vs Pawn Endgame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4f... * Trompowsky Attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrK... * Trompowsky vs Naroditsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILY... * Top 10 Tactics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpl... * Rajnish Das Tips: https://enthu.com/blog/chess/chess-... * Removing the Defender: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Y... * Decoy onto the square for ambush there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdI... * All 54 Tactics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY8... * Alapin Sicilian for Beginners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY-... * Alapin Sicilian Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezy... * Alapin Sicilian Never Disappoints: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzd... * Chess Rules: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk1... * Chess Clock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a10... * Crazy Ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM_... * Cultural History of Chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWN... * First Chess Game Ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC4... * Nelson explains his thought process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KN... * How the Chess Clock Works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgg... * How to Handle Losing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrg... * His First OTB Chess Tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUi... * How Not to Blunder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Y... * A Thought Process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rZ... * Analysis Made Easy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y4... * Attack the Fianchetto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF6... * Destroy g6, Bg7 Modern Robatsch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv_... * The Modern Defense: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moder... * Attack w/the London System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmq... * London System vs KID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU2... * Rosen's London System vs KID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W2... * Anti-London System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUB... * Beat the London System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U-... * Crush the London System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qg... * London System Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTu... * Beginner Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR-... * Don't Blunder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jO... * Blunder Less: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYy... * Nimzo-Larsen Attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwC... * 1.b3: Game Collection: Nimzo Larsen attack (1. b3!) - Opening Ideas * Black against 1.b3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpw... * Owen's Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkf... * Owen's Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF7... * Queen's Fianchetto for White and Black: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O24... * IM Lawrence Trent (not speaking) advocates 1...b6 against ALL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlW... * More ...b6 against ALL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKn... * Naselwaus Gambit vs Owen's Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBv... * Botvinnik System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmi... * Basics of the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8a... * Brief Caro-Kann Defense Variations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-... * Black stops losing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgX... * Use the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtP... * Three Caro-Kann Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNp... * The Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3H... * Beat the Caro-Kann Quickly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhj... * Crush the Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXv... * The Caro-Kann, Advance Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npq... * Gokerkan vs Niemann 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gw... * Classical Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA1... * Main Ideas of the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pN... * Magnus plays the Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDa... * Karpov's Caro-Kann Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa4... * ...c6 against all by Hansen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCZ... * ...c6 speedrun by Hansen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDU... * Instructive Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLp... * Dangerous Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI_... * C-K Advance, Botvinnik-Carls Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWb... * Caro-Kann, Fantasy Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4e... * Caro-Kann, Korchnoi Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF3... * Complete Caro-Kann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZ... * Chessbase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZl... * Chessbase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS_... * Chess Evolution: Game Collection: # Chess Evolution Volumes 1-50 * Faster Learning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClS... * Flashcards Fix Your Failures by reminding you of the right way to go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvH... * Flashcard Converter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B4... * Flashcard Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isy... * Free Tools: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-n... * French Defense, Rubinstein Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jR... * Five Gambits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48W... * King's Gambit, Queen's Gambit in Style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-w... * Halloween Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XK... * Icelandic Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gj... * Improvement is COMMITTMENT, DEDICATION, DESIRE, and PERSEVERENCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCB... * Improvement Book Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Up... This book appears to be for advanced players who already know the material listed above. * Solve Puzzles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWz... * How to Solve (Don't immediately look for your next move -- survey the board instead!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUr... * Save the Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGz... * Magnus sees a way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkq... * Amazing Stafford Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uh... * Killer Stafford Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUL... * Stafford Gambit Tricks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q2... * Stafford Gambit lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFb... * Best Stafford Gambit Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIe... * Improved Stafford Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_p... * The Bob Ross of Chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag0... * The Pride of the Yankees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPy... * The detailed history of chess: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show... * Englund Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSh... * Crush the Englund Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABg... * Crush the Englund Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5q... * Englund Gambit Queen Sacrifice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcM... * Englund Gambit Famous? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXX... * Englund Gambit Stockholm Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx2... * Oh no, my knight! Trap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oks... * One Year 0-1700: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYC... * Find the Best Move: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmF... * Three Most Common: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6x... * d4 Disclaimer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5z... * Fundamentals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSv... * Alireza Firouzja Attacks with the Jobava London System! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wG... * Facing ...Bf5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6p... * Learn Danya's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLb... * Magnus sends g4 early: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNE... * Hansen has a go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTG... * Roswell, GA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgE... * Sidelines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-T... * Slav Lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3s... * 3...a6 Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFS... * 3...g6 Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3S... * Naroditsky's Lab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN8... * New JLo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnG... * Rapport System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBj... * Nutty Tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAF... * No such thing as Free ELO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMt... * Rapport Speedrun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGb... * Run to 2000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBn... * Romanian Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8p... * Benoni Indian ...c5, ...Qb6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2P... * KID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKy... * KID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4O... * Na6 Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhF... * Middlegame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=261... * Jim's Middlegame Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vC... * What happens if...? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnS... * Queen Endgames: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxG... * Hubner vs Kasparov 1992: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwR... * Karpov's Immortal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUd... * Queen's Gambit Complete: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfO... * Queen's Gambit Fast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEm... * Queen's Gambit According to BoJanglles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXM... * Top 5 Queen's Gambit Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqI... * Queen's Gambit Accepted Tricks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx2... * Magnus opens classically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbs... * Kostya's QGD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie_... * Queen's Gambit Concepts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYB... * Queen's Gambit Tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAt... * QGD, Slav D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HT... * The Slav D in 10 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs5... * Slav Main Line dxc4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnH... * 4...Bf5? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDY... * 4...a6 Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcp... * Beginner Mistakes in the Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTL... * Cheery Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq-... * Chessbase Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suk... * Chameleon Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rW... * ...a6 Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsD... * Beat the Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeY... * MC plays the Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAT... * Defeat the Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQX... * Lifetime Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGD... * Unbreakable Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBN... * Ben's QGD lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOW... * Fundamentals of the Semi-Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFc... * Kevin's Semi-Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ll... * Kostya's Semi-Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgy... * MC plays the Semi-Slav: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqT... * Semi-Slav Pathways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB7... * Semi-Slav, Meran Action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykn... * Last Play of Every Super Bowl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9J... * Learn the Stonewall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_b... * Pillsbury's Stonewall Attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR5... * The Stonewall Sucks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwv... * Stonewall Alteration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzI... * Against the Stonewall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33M... * Black Stonewall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeW... * Simon's Classical Dutch w/d6, not d5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt8... * 2.Bg5 Hopton Attack vs the Dutch Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dr... * Another 2.Bg5 destroys the Dutch Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvo... * Crush 2.Bg5 with the Dutch Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeK... * Prep for a Tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpv... * Never Do This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b1... * Unnecessary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz0... * IM Rosen Stalemate Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB_... * How to Sicilian Taimanov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiv... * MC goes nuclear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLo... * Regrettable Pawn Moves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI0... * Shortcuts: Game Collection: 21+ Too Fast French Kisses * She's right, but there are plenty of others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw5... * Space Advantages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLL... * Time Controls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljp... * Tricks to Turn It Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxV... * Trading Pieces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wg... * Trade Queens? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIG... * Evaluate Exchanges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNG... * When to Exchange: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D2... * What is YOUR study plan? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Y... * Wild Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlk... * The Opposition and Outflanking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X1... * King and Pawn vs King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z52... * Knight and Pawn Endgames: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHW... * Queen vs Knight Endgames: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex1... * Principles of Rook and Pawn Endgames: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXl... * Unusual Openings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJQ... * A trap in Grob's Opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P50... * Pulverize Grob's Opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTs... * Tricks in Grob's Attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESt... * The Grob is TERRIBLE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wB... * Basman's / Borg's Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThK... * Mike explains Borg's Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Res... * Last Play of the World Series 1943-1973: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzt... * Last Play of Every Modern World Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkD... * Tricks to Trap the Queen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmU... * Tricks to Win a Queen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfS... * Queen Traps in the Scandinavian D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syr... * Trap the Queen in the Tennison Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZt... * Top 10 Traps of the Queens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZh... * White, Black Trap the Queen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olz... * Win the Queen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ8... * More Tricks to Trap the Queen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd0... * Qxb2 Poisoned Pawn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74h... * Levy shows us more traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fot... * Richard Reti Does It Again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9z... Better be ill spoken of by one before all than by all before one. ~ Scottish Proverb * Weird is what you're not used to: https://chessentials.com/weird-ches... limerick, entitled ‘The Solver’s Plight’ was by ‘A.J.F.’ [A.J. Fink] and was published on page 22 of Chess Potpourri by Alfred C. Klahre (Middletown, 1931): There was a man from Vancouver Who tried to solve a two-mover; But the boob, he said, ‘“Gee”, I can’t find the “Kee”, No matter HOW I manouvre.’ 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. 64All Zajogin cldnt login but sumhou managd tosign outr space, force, time, android K safety b4 Zamikhovsky started the clock o' time: https://24timezones.com/#/map Chess Squares Riddle Question: How many squares are in a chessboard? “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. "It ain't over 'til it's over, no matter how over it looks." ― Yogi Berra Riddle Answer: 204 squares: 64 one-by-one squares, 49 two-by-two, 36 three-by-three, 25 four-by-four, 16 five-by-five, 9 six-by-six, 4 seven-by-seven, and 1 eight-by-eight Dreamers By Siegfried Sassoon Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land, Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows. In the great hour of destiny they stand, Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows. Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives. Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin They think of firelit homes, clean beds and wives. I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats, And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain, Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats, And mocked by hopeless longing to regain Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats, And going to the office in the train. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” A team or group is only as strong as its weakest member. If a person is not performing in a group, the whole group will suffer. ‘May your Departures equal your Landfalls!’ “Birds of a feather flock together.” People with similar tastes often form a group for company or discussion. * https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/oth... Phone scammers are getting smarter with their tactics like AI voice scams. And if you’re not careful, they could make big bucks off of you, the unsuspecting caller. Aside from hanging up if you hear this four-word phrase, there's something else you can do to avoid becoming a victim and to keep up with your smartphone security and privacy. Certain area codes can warn potential targets that the call isn't safe, according to Joseph Steinberg, CEO of SecureMySocial. Although scam callers once used a 900 number, they’ve changed their methods as the general public became aware of their tactic. Now, many scam phone numbers have different area codes, including 809, which originates in the Caribbean. Another area code to look out for may look like it's coming from the United States, but isn't. "Criminals have been known to use caller IDs with the area code 473, which appears to be domestic, but is actually the area code for the island of Grenada," Steinberg says. Watch out for these phone call scams that could steal your money, too. By the way, those calls add up fast. You could be charged for taking a call from any of these foreign countries, according to AARP. Plus, scammers can swindle you out of your money through phony vacation scams and fake stories about danger or money problems. iPhone scams and Uber scams are also on the rise, making Apple fans and Uber users alike more wary. Make sure you know how to avoid Uber scams and how to stop spam texts on your phone. To play it extra safe, Steinberg recommends never answering or returning a call from a number you don't recognize. If you actually know the person, they can always leave a voicemail. "Remember that it's unlikely that someone you do not know—who is in distress at a location with which you are not familiar—would dial a random number in another country and ask you to help them," he says. "They would call the police." It can't hurt to be wary of possible scam phone numbers with the following international area codes. And watch out for these Facebook Marketplace scams before you go shopping. Scam phone numbers: International Area Codes with a +1 Country Code 232—Sierra Leone 242 — Bahamas 246 — Barbados 268 — Antigua 284 — British Virgin Islands 345 — Cayman Islands 441 — Bermuda 473 — Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique 649 — Turks and Caicos 664 — Montserrat 721 — Sint Maarten 758 — St. Lucia 767 — Dominica 784 — St. Vincent and Grenadines 809, 829, and 849 — The Dominican Republic 868 — Trinidad and Tobago 869 — St. Kitts and Nevis 876 — Jamaica It's important to note that scammers can create scam phone numbers by spoofing numbers from many area codes, not just the ones listed above. Remember, a good rule of thumb is if you don't recognize the phone number, don't pick up your phone and let it go to voicemail. This can help you avoid falling for common phone scams, such as those pesky car extended warranty calls. By the way—if you are charged for picking up a scam call, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recommends contacting your phone company to try and take care of the matter. You can also file a complaint about the scam call with the FCC. Next, read about these online scams you need to be aware of and how to avoid them. Also, read up on what doxxing is and how it sets you up to be hacked. Question: What’s the brightest star in the sky? Answer: Sirius – also known as the Dog Star or Sirius A, Sirius is the brightest star in Earth’s night sky. The star is outshone only by several planets and the International Space Station. Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs used their slaves as fly catchers. They would lather their slaves in honey, which would serve a dual purpose of attracting any flies to their slaves rather than themselves, as well as trapping and killing the flies. Question: What’s the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard? Answer: Graveyards are attached to churches while cemeteries are stand-alone. Patty Loveless "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi... French Proverb: “Il ne faut rien laisser au hasard.” ― (Nothing should be left to chance.) “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 “As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight.” — The Revenant 407 games, 1606-2022 Grega's Black Repertoire 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 “Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game.” – Being Caballero “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” – Garry Kasparov “Age brings wisdom to some men, and to others chess.”– Evan Esar * Good Historical Links: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/in... * JonathanJ's favorite games 4: Game Collection: JonathanJ's favorite games 4 * elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games * Internet tracking: https://www.studysmarter.us/magazin... 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 Ass and the Little Dog 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. In 1090, a Chessboard with alternating light and dark squares was introduced in Europe. * Riddle-e-dee: https://chessimprover.com/chess-rid... During World War II, several of the world’s best chess players were code breakers. In India, chess was initially known as the ‘Game of Kings.’ “In life, as in chess, one’s own pawns block one’s way. A man’s very wealth, ease, leisure, children, books, which should help him to win, more often checkmate him.” — Charles Buxton “Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.” — Rudolph Spielmann “A thorough understanding of the typical mating continuations makes the most complicated sacrificial combinations leading up to them not only difficult, but almost a matter of course.” — Savielly Tartakower. “Knowing which pieces you want to be exchanged is a great help in finding the right moves.” — Graham Burgess “Life is like a chess game. Every decision, just like every move, has consequences. Therefore, decide wisely!” ― Susan Polgar “When people insult and disrespect you, the best revenge is to continue to win, and win, and win….” ― Susan Polgar “The mind has no restrictions. The only restriction is what you believe you cannot do. So go ahead and challenge yourself to do one thing every day that scares you.” ― Susan Polgar “I don’t think you can really compare anyone to Fischer and I have high respect for him – he’s one of the greatest chess players who ever lived!” — Wesley so “Fischer…is abnormally sensitive to the slightest noise in the hall…Then there are other players, among them Spassky, [Viktor] Korchnoi, and myself. For us, it is simply boring to play in an empty hall. When we appear on the stage, we are artistes.” — Mikhail Tal “He went out of his way to provoke the opponent to attack, and, reeking of contempt and crusader’s zeal, devoted himself to consolidating some of the most hideously unconsolidated positions ever seen on a chessboard.” — Robert Byrne on Wilhelm Steinitz “The defensive power of a pinned piece is only imaginary.” ― Aaron Nimzowitsch Bobby Fischer on Paul Morphy: “Perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived, he would beat anybody today in a set-match. He had complete sight of the board and seldom blundered even though he moved quite rapidly. I've played over hundreds of his games and am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity.” “He (Jose R. Capablanca) makes the game look easy. Art lies in the concealment of art.” ― Philip W. Sergeant “Beautiful, cold, remorseless chess, almost creepy in its silent implacability.” ― Raymond Chandler (on a Capablanca game) “What others could not see in a month's study, he saw at a glance.” ― Reuben Fine (on Capablanca) “Capablanca invariably chose the right option, no matter how intricate the position.” ― Garry Kasparov. “Capablanca's games generally take the following course: he begins with a series of extremely fine prophylactic maneuvers, which neutralize his opponent's attempts to complicate the game; he then proceeds, slowly but surely, to set up an attacking position. This attacking position, after a series of simplifications, is transformed into a favorable endgame, which he conducts with matchless technique.” ― Aaron Nimzowitsch “The greatest compliment one can pay a master is to compare him with [Jose] Capablanca.” — Irving Chernev “The peculiarity of his style is that only rarely does he make moves which no one else would make.” — Max Euwe on Vassily Smyslov “When his opponent forces him into wild play, his performance is stunning.” — Robert Byrne on Tigran Petrosian “You can never relax. I keep the same amount of energy and concentration during the tournament.” ― 13-year-old FM Brewington Hardaway from New York “Most promises featuring the word 'always' are unkeepable.” ― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed “You should never say never. Just like you should never say always; because, always and never are always never true.” ― J. R. Krol “Never and Always Never take advantage of someone whom loves you Never avoid someone whom needs you Never betray anyone whom has trust in you Never forget the people that always remember you Never speak ill of a person who is not present Never support something you know is wrong or unethical Always speak to your parents on their birthday and anniversary Always defend those who cannot defend themselves Always forgive those you love whom have made mistakes Always give something to those less fortunate than you Always remember to look back at those who helped you succeed Always call your parents and siblings on New Year’s Eve.” ― R.J. Intindola “I learned that you have to study more to keep improving (to avoid plateauing). (...) I also realized I had to move slower because I was moving very quickly and making easy blunders.” ― 13-year-old FM Brewington Hardaway from New York “It's a lot of things [that I consider (what opening to play)]. Obviously, my opponent's rating—I don't want to play an equal game where I don't have many winning chances. But also, my mood is important, and my opponent's styles themselves.” ― 13-year-old FM Brewington Hardaway from New York “You can never relax. I keep the same amount of energy and concentration during the tournament.” ― 13-year-old FM Brewington Hardaway from New York “I don't think about it (representing African-Americans) during the games, but I certainly do think about how few African-Americans there are at the top level. So, I try to do my best to motivate more people like us to give it a try and hopefully succeed.” ― 13-year-old FM Brewington Hardaway from New York Take care of your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves. ~ Scottish Proverb Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER 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... * Chess Principles: https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comm... * List of gambits: https://detailedpedia.com/wiki-List... * Fried Fox is awful: https://allchessopenings.blogspot.c... * The Gaw-Paw? Game Collection: GA PA Wins Draws by Black * Chicago, 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEp... * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEp... * Defensive Replies to the Queen's Pawn: Game Collection: e6 after 1.d4 * QP Bg2: Queen's Pawn Game (E00) * Game with ...e6: Game Collection: Partidas modelo con temas variados * Sicilians: Game Collection: Sicilian/French/Westerimen and other ...c5,...e6 * Sicilian O'Kelly leaves White all kinds of choices: Opening Explorer * Wikipedia on Computer Chess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compu... * elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games * Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz) * Last Collection by Jaredfchess: Game Collection: LAST COLLECTION * 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! 'A rising tide lifts all boats' 'Don't put the cart before the horse' “Examine what is said, not who is speaking.” ~ African Proverb “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 <The Fooles Mate Black Kings Biſhops pawne one houſe. White Kings pawne one houſe. Black kings knights pawne two houſes White Queen gives Mate at the contrary kings Rookes fourth houſe — Beale, The Royall Game of Chesse-Play Beale's example can be paraphrased in modern terms where White always moves first, algebraic notation is used, and Black delivers the fastest possible mate after each player makes two moves: 1.f3 e6 2.g4 Qh4# There are eight distinct ways in which Fool's Mate can be reached in two moves. White may alternate the order of f- and g-pawn moves, Black may play either e6 or e5, and White may move their f-pawn to f3 or f4.> “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” — Garry Kasparov “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 blow your own trumpet.” — Australian Proverb Old Russian Proverb: "Scythe over a stone." (Нашла коса на камень.) The force came over a stronger force. “Continuing to play the victim is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Blaming others for your station in life will indeed make you a victim but the perpetrator will be your own self, not life or those around you.” — Bobby Darnell Feb-09-12 ray keene: nimzos best endgames v lasker zurich 1934 v spielmann carlsbad 1929 v lundin stockholm 1934 v maroczy bled 1931 v henneberger winterthur 1931 v thomas frankfurt 1930 v sultan khan liege 1930 v marshall berlin 1928 v reti berlin 1928 v alehine ny 1927 v tchigorin carlsbad 1907 and for a joke entry duras v nimzo san sebastian 1912 !! People believe what they want to believe, truth or not. “Search for the grain of truth in other opinions.” ― Richard Carlson “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). The Bear ~ Author Unknown ~ Here is a cave, (make a fist) Inside is a bear. (put a thumb inside fist) Now he comes out To get some fresh air. (pop out thumb) He stays out all summer In sunshine and heat. He hunts in the forest For berries to eat. (move thumb in circle) When snow starts to fall, He hurries inside His warm little cave, And there he will hide. (put thumb back inside fist) Snow covers the cave Like a fluffy white rug. Inside the bear sleeps All cozy and snug. (cover fist with other hand) Old Russian Proverb: Чему́ быть, того́ не минова́ть Pronunciation: ChiMU BYT’, taVOH ni mihnoVAT’ Translation: You can’t avoid that which is meant to happen Meaning: Whatever shall be, will be. Engineer Ralph Baer is often held to be the "father of video games." His "Brown Box" video game system, designed in 1967, paved the way for all future consoles. “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“ Contrary to popular belief, the first video game was not Pong. It was preceded by Tennis for Two in 1958 and Spacewar! in 1962. Q: What do you call something that goes up when the rain comes down? A: An umbrella. Q: What do you call a doctor who fixes websites? A: A URL-ologist. Q: What do you call a sleeping dinosaur? A: A dinosnore. Q: What do you call a Christmas tree that knows karate A: Spruce Lee. Q: What does a triangle call a circle? A: Pointless. Q: What do you call a piece of sad cheese? A: Blue cheese. Q: What do you call a cow in an earthquake? A: A milkshake. Q: What do you call an M&M that went to college? A: A smarty. The Man And His Image To M. The Duke De La Rochefoucauld. A man, who had no rivals in the love Which to himself he bore, Esteemed his own dear beauty far above What earth had seen before. More than contented in his error, He lived the foe of every mirror. Officious fate, resolved our loverFrom such an illness should recover, Presented always to his eyes The mute advisers which the ladies prize; – Mirrors in parlours, inns, and shops, – Mirrors the pocket furniture of fops, – Mirrors on every lady's zone,[13] From which his face reflected shone. What could our dear Narcissus do? From haunts of men he now withdrew, On purpose that his precious shape From every mirror might escape. But in his forest glen alone, Apart from human trace, A watercourse, Of purest source, While with unconscious gaze He pierced its waveless face, Reflected back his own. Incensed with mingled rage and fright, He seeks to shun the odious sight; But yet that mirror sheet, so clear and still, He cannot leave, do what he will. Before this, my story's drift you plainly see. From such mistake there is no mortal free. That obstinate self-lover The human soul does cover; The mirrors follies are of others, In which, as all are genuine brothers, Each soul may see to life depicted Itself with just such faults afflicted; And by that charming placid brook, Needless to say, I mean your Maxim Book. This is one of La Fontaine's most admired fables, and is one of the few for which he did not go for the groundwork to some older fabulist. The Duke de la Rochefoucauld, to whom it was dedicated, was the author of the famous "Reflexions et Maximes Morales," which La Fontaine praises in the last lines of his fable. La Rochefoucauld was La Fontaine's friend and patron. The "Maximes" had achieved a second edition just prior to La Fontaine's publication of this first series of his Fables, in 1668. "The Rabbits" (Book 10, Fable 15.), published in the second collection, in 1678-9, is also dedicated to the Duke, who died the following year, 1680. “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 *At some time or other tournament player learns a few opening lines, some tactical ideas, the most basic mating patterns, and a few elementary endgames. As he gets better and more experienced, he significantly adds to this knowledge. However, the one thing that just everybody has problem is planning. From Z to class E (under 1200) D to Master, I get blank stares when asking what plan they had in mind in a particular position. Usually the choice of a plan (if they had any plan at all) is based on emotional rather than chess-specific considerations. By emotional, I mean that the typical player does what he feels like doing rather than the board "telling him what to do. This is somewhat cryptic sentence leads us to the following extremely important concept: if you want to be successful, you have to base your moves and plans on the specific imbalance-oriented criteria that exist in that given position, not your mood, taste and/or feared. Literally every non-master's games are filled with examples of "imbalance avoidance". Beginners, of course, simply don't know what imbalances are. Most experienced players have heard of the term and perhaps even tried to make use of them from time to time, however once the rush of battle takes over, isolated moves and raw aggression (or terror, if you find yourself defending) push any and all thoughts of imbalances out the door. In this case, chess becomes empty move-by-move, threat-by-threat (either making them or responding to them) affair. What is this mysterious allusion of the chessboard's desires (i.e., doing what the chess board wants you to do)? What is this "imbalance-oriented criteria? ― How To Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman “To a good listener, half a word is enough” – Portuguese Proverb The Old Man And His Sons All power is feeble with dissension: For this I quote the Phrygian slave. If anything I add to his invention, It is our manners to engrave, And not from any envious wishes; – I'm not so foolishly ambitious. Phaedrus enriches often his story, In quest – I doubt it not – of glory: Such thoughts were idle in my breast. An aged man, near going to his rest, His gathered sons thus solemnly addressed: "To break this bunch of arrows you may try; And, first, the string that binds them I untie." The eldest, having tried with might and main, Exclaimed, "This bundle I resign To muscles sturdier than mine." The second tried, and bowed himself in vain. The youngest took them with the like success. All were obliged their weakness to confess. Unharmed the arrows passed from son to son; Of all they did not break a single one. "Weak fellows!" said their sire, "I now must show What in the case my feeble strength can do." They laughed, and thought their father but in joke, Till, one by one, they saw the arrows broke. "See, concord's power!" replied the sire; "as long As you in love agree, you will be strong. I go, my sons, to join our fathers good; Now promise me to live as brothers should, And soothe by this your dying father's fears." Each strictly promised with a flood of tears. Their father took them by the hand, and died; And soon the virtue of their vows was tried. Their sire had left a large estate Involved in lawsuits intricate; Here seized a creditor, and there A neighbour levied for a share. At first the trio nobly bore The brunt of all this legal war. But short their friendship as It was rare. Whom blood had joined – and small the wonder! – The force of interest drove asunder; And, as is wont in such affairs, Ambition, envy, were co-heirs. In parcelling their sire's estate, They quarrel, quibble, litigate, Each aiming to supplant the other. The judge, by turns, condemns each brother. Their creditors make new assault, Some pleading error, some default. The sundered brothers disagree; For counsel one, have counsels three. All lose their wealth; and now their sorrows Bring fresh to mind those broken arrows. from the simpleton poet: Roses are red. Violets are blue. Chess is creative. And a journey too. Good in the morning. Or just before bed. Play cheater_1, with engine. Or OTB, all in your head. “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 “Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got.” — Norman Vincent Peale “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” — Ralph Marston * Riddle-z-dee: https://www.briddles.com/riddles/ch... “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. “Never reply to an anonymous letter.” ― Yogi Berra, MLB Hall of Fame catcher “Even Napoleon had his Watergate.” ― Yogi Berra, 10-time World Series champion How many chess openings are there? Well, White has 20 possible 1st moves. Black can respond with 20 of its own. That’s 400, and we’re ready for move 2. I don’t know them, but I would not be at all surprised if there was a name for each of them. People are like that. You really, really don’t need to know them all. If you follow the rules of thumb for good opening play, I promise you that you’ll be playing a named opening. Just put the 1st 3 moves in google, and you’ll get the opening’s name. With that information you can find other games that started the way your game started, likely by some very good players. Also, with the name you can read about it on Wikipedia, and find out what people think of it, who plays it, and its particular traps and idiosyncrasies. Once again, The Rules of Thumb for Good Opening Play: - Develop your pieces quickly with an eye towards controlling the center. Not necessarily occupying the center but controlling it certainly. - Castle your king just as soon as it’s practical to do so. - Really try not to move a piece more than once during the opening, it’s a waste of valuable time. - Connect your rooks. This marks the end of the opening. Connected rooks means that only your rooks and your castled king are on the back rank. - Respond to threats appropriately, even if you have to break the rules. They’re rules of thumb, not scripture, or physical laws. If you and your opponent follow these rules of thumb, you’ll reach the middle game ready to fight. If only you follow these rules of thumb, you’re already winning! Good Hunting. -- Eric H. * Opening Tree: https://www.shredderchess.com/onlin... It takes 6 minutes for brain cells to react to alcohol. A 2009 study proved that drinking alcohol can alter brain cells in just 6 minutes. During an experiment, they found that alcohol consumption decreased the levels of creatine and choline in the brain. This could explain the long-term brain damage observed in alcoholics. <Chess has six different kinds of pieces, and they all interact in myriad ways. Your opponent’s own pieces can often be used against him. While the Queen is the strongest piece, it is the weakest defender; and while the pawn is the weakest piece, it is the strongest defender. José Raúl Capablanca used the principle "Cutting off pieces from the scene of action."> [Site "Kiev RUE"] [Event "Simul, 30b"] [Date "1914.03.02"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Jose Raul Capablanca"] [Black "Masyutin"] [ECO "A83"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "37"] 1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 c6 5.f3 exf3 6.Nxf3 e6 7.Bd3 d5 8.O-O Nbd7 9.Ne5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Qh5+ Ke7 12.Bxh7 Nf8 13.Qf7+ Kd6 14.Nc4+ dxc4 15.Ne4+ Kd5 16.Rf5+ Kxe4 17.Re1+ Kxd4 18.c3+ Kd3 19.Rd5# 1-0 Discovered Double Checkmate!! “As an adult, Capablanca lost only 34 serious games.[88] He was undefeated from 10 February 1916, when he lost to Oscar Chajes in the New York 1916 tournament, to 21 March 1924, when he lost to Richard Réti in the New York International tournament. During this streak, which included his 1921 World Championship match against Lasker, Capablanca played 63 games, winning 40 and drawing 23.[49][94] In fact, only Marshall, Lasker, Alekhine and Rudolf Spielmann won two or more serious games from the mature Capablanca, though in each case, their overall lifetime scores were minus (Capablanca beat Marshall +20−2=28, Lasker +6−2=16, Alekhine +9−7=33), except for Spielmann who was level (+2−2=8).[95] Of top players, only Keres had a narrow plus score against him (+1−0=5).[96] Keres's win was at the AVRO 1938 chess tournament, during which tournament Capablanca turned 50, while Keres was 22.[97]” ― Wikipedia The Chess Machine: https://chessville.com/jose-raul-ca... Learn from the World Champions: https://www.chessable.com/blog/famo... According to Chessmetrics, 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. Q: What’s the best thing about Switzerland? A: I don’t know, but the flag is a big plus. The City Rat and the Country Rat A city rat, one night, Did, with a civil stoop, A country rat invite To end a turtle soup. On a Turkey carpet They found the table spread, And sure I need not harp it How well the fellows fed. The entertainment was A truly noble one; But some unlucky cause Disturbed it when begun. It was a slight rat-tat, That put their joys to rout; Out ran the city rat; His guest, too, scampered out. Our rats but fairly quit, The fearful knocking ceased. "Return we," cried the cit, To finish there our feast. "No," said the rustic rat; "Tomorrow dine with me. I'm not offended at Your feast so grand and free, – "For I have no fare resembling; But then I eat at leisure, And would not swap, for pleasure So mixed with fear and trembling." The 20-40-40 rule in chess is a rule for players rated below 2000 that states 20% of your study should be dedicated to openings, 40% to the middlegame, and 40% to the endgame. Drive sober or get pulled over. “Prepare for the worst but hope for the best.” -- The Wondrous Tale of Alroy by Benjamin Disraeli, published in 1833 Galatians 6:7 in the Bible “Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” is often cited as originating in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde written in 1385. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson “If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.” – Ancient Chinese Proverb “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” — Mahatma Gandhi “Thirty Days Hath September” Lyrics Thirty days hath September, April, June and November; All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting February alone. Which only has but twenty-eight days clear And twenty-nine in each leap year. “It's not how you start that matters, it's how you finish.” “Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.” — Francis Bacon The cat’s play is the mouse’s death. ~ German Proverb “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” ― Theodore Roosevelt Ah, St. Marher, 1225: "And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet." 2pry Zeitnot Zshaa-Tichondrius - 601 Disc Priest 226 Ilvl - 27750 RBG zek247 dint undrstnd Ziyatdinov's planto ignore the LSB on deck of the carrier. “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. If hard work pays, show me a rich donkey. ― Joker Life has no remote. You have to get up and change it yourself. ― Joker 107 games, 1859-2023 GS Play The Najdorf Sicilian by pdion60 “Life is like a chess game. Every decision, just like every move, has consequences. Therefore, decide wisely!” ― Susan Polgar “When people insult and disrespect you, the best revenge is to continue to win, and win, and win….” ― Susan Polgar “The mind has no restrictions. The only restriction is what you believe you cannot do. So go ahead and challenge yourself to do one thing every day that scares you.” ― Susan Polgar “If you’re too open-minded; your brains will fall out.” ― Lawrence Ferlinghetti Riddle Question: What starts with E, ends with E, and has only 1 letter in it? Fredthebear created this collection. Riddle Answer: Envelope. “Chess is a simple game, but it is that very simplicity that makes the player’s personalities come out.” ― Gamou Jirou “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 In "The Game of Chess" by Siegbert Tarrasch we are told: Tactics are the most important element of the Middle Game. We must above all "see" what is more or less hidden. We must exploit opportunities for combinations wherever they are offered. Here there is only an illusory guard, there our opponent has a man quite unguarded, or a double attack, etc., is possible. Over and over again there occur the tactical maneuvers ... and these opportunities must frequently be created by a sacrifice. Mistakes by our opponent must be recognized as such, and also those that we ourselves are about to make. “Growing up, I always had a soldier mentality. As a kid I wanted to be a soldier, a fighter pilot, a covert agent, professions that require a great deal of bravery and risk and putting oneself in grave danger in order to complete the mission. Even though I did not become all those things, and unless my predisposition, in its youngest years, already had me leaning towards them, the interest that was there still shaped my philosophies. To this day I honor risk and sacrifice for the good of others - my views on life and love are heavily influenced by this.” ― Criss Jami, Healology “The essence of chess is thinking about what CHESS is.” ― David Bronstein “Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got.” ― Janis Joplin Only if you're friendless and faithless. * Best Games of 2018: Game Collection: Best Games of 2018 * Glossary: https://www.peoriachess.com/Glossar... * GK: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen * Extinguish the Dragon: Game Collection: 1.e4 explorations * RL Minis: Game Collection: Ruy Lopez Miniatures * Sacs on f7/f2: Game Collection: Demolition of Pawn Structure: Sac on f7 (f2) * 21st Century: Game Collection: 0 * Can you whip Taimanov's Sicilian? http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * Bg2 vs Sicilian: Game Collection: Grand Prix Attack without early Bc4 * Wall's APCT Miniatures: http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/c... Proverbs 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. Кто не рискует, тот не пьет шампанского Pronunciation: KTOH ni risKUyet, tot ni pyot shamPANSkava) Translation: He who doesn’t take risks doesn’t drink champagne Meaning: Fortune favours the brave "Tal has a terrifying style. Soon even grandmasters will know of this." - Vladimir Saigin (after losing to 17-year-old Tal in a qualifying match for the master title) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5S... “I like to grasp the initiative and not give my opponent peace of mind.” — Mikhail Tal Thank you Qindarka! “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 What would life be like without suffering? Is suffering a necessary part of human existence? (There is NO suffering in heaven, the eternal living afterlife.) Winston Churchill was hit by a car and nearly killed during a New York visit. Talk about a poor way to welcome a visitor. During a lecture tour in the U.S. in Dec. 1931, Winston Churchill was struck by a car while crossing Fifth Avenue and nearly killed. He would describe the experience in The Daily Mail, in an article dictated from his hospital bed: "I felt it on my forehead and across the thighs. But besides the blow there was an impact, a shock, a concussion indescribably violent. Many years ago at 'Plugstreet' in Flanders, a 4.2 shell burst in a corner of the little room in which we were gathered for luncheon, reducing all to dust and devastation. This shock was of the same order as the shell explosion. In my case it blotted out everything except thought." Fortunately, he recovered. The Triumph of Life Percy Bysshe Shelley Swift as a spirit hastening to his task Of glory & of good, the Sun sprang forth Rejoicing in his splendour, & the mask Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth. The smokeless altars of the mountain snows Flamed above crimson clouds, & at the birth Of light, the Ocean’s orison arose To which the birds tempered their matin lay, All flowers in field or forest which unclose Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day, Swinging their censers in the element, With orient incense lit by the new ray Burned slow & inconsumably, & sent Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air, And in succession due, did Continent, Isle, Ocean, & all things that in them wear The form & character of mortal mould Rise as the Sun their father rose, to bear Their portion of the toil which he of old Took as his own & then imposed on them; But I, whom thoughts which must remain untold Had kept as wakeful as the stars that gem The cone of night, now they were laid asleep, Stretched my faint limbs beneath the hoary stem Which an old chestnut flung athwart the steep Of a green Apennine: before me fled The night; behind me rose the day; the Deep Was at my feet, & Heaven above my head When a strange trance over my fancy grew Which was not slumber, for the shade it spread Was so transparent that the scene came through As clear as when a veil of light is drawn O’er evening hills they glimmer; and I knew That I had felt the freshness of that dawn, Bathed in the same cold dew my brow & hair And sate as thus upon that slope of lawn Under the self same bough, & heard as there The birds, the fountains & the Ocean hold Sweet talk in music through the enamoured air. And then a Vision on my brain was rolled. As in that trance of wondrous thought I lay This was the tenour of my waking dream. Methought I sate beside a public way Thick strewn with summer dust, & a great stream Of people there was hurrying to & fro Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam, All hastening onward, yet none seemed to know Whither he went, or whence he came, or why He made one of the multitude, yet so Was borne amid the crowd as through the sky One of the million leaves of summer’s bier.— Old age & youth, manhood & infancy, Mixed in one mighty torrent did appear, Some flying from the thing they feared & some Seeking the object of another’s fear, And others as with steps towards the tomb Pored on the trodden worms that crawled beneath, And others mournfully within the gloom Of their own shadow walked, and called it death … And some fled from it as it were a ghost, Half fainting in the affliction of vain breath. But more with motions which each other crost Pursued or shunned the shadows the clouds threw Or birds within the noonday ether lost, Upon that path where flowers never grew; And weary with vain toil & faint for thirst Heard not the fountains whose melodious dew Out of their mossy cells forever burst Nor felt the breeze which from the forest told Of grassy paths, & wood lawns interspersed With overarching elms & caverns cold, And violet banks where sweet dreams brood, but they Pursued their serious folly as of old …. And as I gazed methought that in the way The throng grew wilder, as the woods of June When the South wind shakes the extinguished day.— And a cold glare, intenser than the noon But icy cold, obscured with [[blank]] light The Sun as he the stars. Like the young moon When on the sunlit limits of the night Her white shell trembles amid crimson air And whilst the sleeping tempest gathers might Doth, as a herald of its coming, bear The ghost of her dead Mother, whose dim form Bends in dark ether from her infant’s chair, So came a chariot on the silent storm Of its own rushing splendour, and a Shape So sate within as one whom years deform Beneath a dusky hood & double cape Crouching within the shadow of a tomb, And o’er what seemed the head, a cloud like crape, Was bent a dun & faint etherial gloom Tempering the light; upon the chariot’s beam A Janus-visaged Shadow did assume The guidance of that wonder-winged team. The Shapes which drew it in thick lightnings Were lost: I heard alone on the air’s soft stream The music of their ever moving wings. All the four faces of that charioteer Had their eyes banded . . . little profit brings Speed in the van & blindness in the rear, Nor then avail the beams that quench the Sun Or that his banded eyes could pierce the sphere Of all that is, has been, or will be done.— So ill was the car guided, but it past With solemn speed majestically on . . . The crowd gave way, & I arose aghast, Or seemed to rise, so mighty was the trance, And saw like clouds upon the thunder blast The million with fierce song and maniac dance Raging around; such seemed the jubilee As when to greet some conqueror’s advance Imperial Rome poured forth her living sea From senatehouse & prison & theatre When Freedom left those who upon the free Had bound a yoke which soon they stooped to bear. Nor wanted here the true similitude Of a triumphal pageant, for where’er The chariot rolled a captive multitude Was driven; althose who had grown old in power Or misery,—all who have their age subdued, By action or by suffering, and whose hour Was drained to its last sand in weal or woe, So that the trunk survived both fruit & flower; All those whose fame or infamy must grow Till the great winter lay the form & name Of their own earth with them forever low, All but the sacred few who could not tame Their spirits to the Conqueror, but as soon As they had touched the world with living flame Fled back like eagles to their native noon, Of those who put aside the diadem Of earthly thrones or gems, till the last one Were there;—for they of Athens & Jerusalem Were neither mid the mighty captives seen Nor mid the ribald crowd that followed them Or fled before . . Now swift, fierce & obscene The wild dance maddens in the van, & those Who lead it, fleet as shadows on the green, Outspeed the chariot & without repose Mix with each other in tempestuous measure To savage music …. Wilder as it grows, They, tortured by the agonizing pleasure, Convulsed & on the rapid whirlwinds spun Of that fierce spirit, whose unholy leisure Was soothed by mischief since the world begun, Throw back their heads & loose their streaming hair, And in their dance round her who dims the Sun Maidens & youths fling their wild arms in air As their feet twinkle; they recede, and now Bending within each other’s atmosphere Kindle invisibly; and as they glow Like moths by light attracted & repelled, Oft to new bright destruction come & go. Till like two clouds into one vale impelled That shake the mountains when their lightnings mingle And die in rain,—the fiery band which held Their natures, snaps . . . ere the shock cease to tingle One falls and then another in the path Senseless, nor is the desolation single, Yet ere I can say where the chariot hath Past over them; nor other trace I find But as of foam after the Ocean’s wrath Is spent upon the desert shore.—Behind, Old men, and women foully disarrayed Shake their grey hair in the insulting wind, Limp in the dance & strain, with limbs decayed, Seeking to reach the light which leaves them still Farther behind & deeper in the shade. But not the less with impotence of will They wheel, though ghastly shadows interpose Round them & round each other, and fulfill Their work and to the dust whence they arose Sink & corruption veils them as they lie And frost in these performs what fire in those. Struck to the heart by this sad pageantry, Half to myself I said, “And what is this? Whose shape is that within the car? & why”- I would have added—”is all here amiss?” But a voice answered . . “Life” . . . I turned & knew (O Heaven have mercy on such wretchedness!) That what I thought was an old root which grew To strange distortion out of the hill side Was indeed one of that deluded crew, And that the grass which methought hung so wide And white, was but his thin discoloured hair, And that the holes it vainly sought to hide Were or had been eyes.—”lf thou canst forbear To join the dance, which I had well forborne,” Said the grim Feature, of my thought aware, “I will now tell that which to this deep scorn Led me & my companions, and relate The progress of the pageant since the morn; “If thirst of knowledge doth not thus abate, Follow it even to the night, but I Am weary” . . . Then like one who with the weight Of his own words is staggered, wearily He paused, and ere he could resume, I cried, “First who art thou?” . . . “Before thy memory “I feared, loved, hated, suffered, did, & died, And if the spark with which Heaven lit my spirit Earth had with purer nutriment supplied “Corruption would not now thus much inherit Of what was once Rousseau—nor this disguise Stained that within which still disdains to wear it.— “If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore.”— “And who are those chained to the car?” “The Wise, “The great, the unforgotten: they who wore Mitres & helms & crowns, or wreathes of light, Signs of thought’s empire over thought; their lore “Taught them not this—to know themselves; their might Could not repress the mutiny within, And for the morn of truth they feigned, deep night “Caught them ere evening.” “Who is he with chin Upon his breast and hands crost on his chain?” “The Child of a fierce hour; he sought to win “The world, and lost all it did contain Of greatness, in its hope destroyed; & more Of fame & peace than Virtue’s self can gain “Without the opportunity which bore Him on its eagle’s pinion to the peak From which a thousand climbers have before “Fall’n as Napoleon fell.”—I felt my cheek Alter to see the great form pass away Whose grasp had left the giant world so weak That every pigmy kicked it as it lay— And much I grieved to think how power & will In opposition rule our mortal day— And why God made irreconcilable Good & the means of good; and for despair I half disdained mine eye’s desire to fill With the spent vision of the times that were And scarce have ceased to be . . . “Dost thou behold,” Said then my guide, “those spoilers spoiled, Voltaire, “Frederic, & Kant, Catherine, & Leopold, Chained hoary anarch, demagogue & sage Whose name the fresh world thinks already old— “For in the battle Life & they did wage She remained conqueror—I was overcome By my own heart alone, which neither age “Nor tears nor infamy nor now the tomb Could temper to its object.”—”Let them pass”— I cried—”the world & its mysterious doom “Is not so much more glorious than it was That I desire to worship those who drew New figures on its false & fragile glass “As the old faded.”—”Figures ever new Rise on the bubble, paint them how you may; We have but thrown, as those before us threw, “Our shadows on it as it past away. But mark, how chained to the triumphal chair The mighty phantoms of an elder day— “All that is mortal of great Plato there Expiates the joy & woe his master knew not; That star that ruled his doom was far too fair— “And Life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not, Conquered the heart by love which gold or pain Or age or sloth or slavery could subdue not— “And near [[blank]] walk the [[blank]] twain, The tutor & his pupil, whom Dominion Followed as tame as vulture in a chain.— “The world was darkened beneath either pinion Of him whom from the flock of conquerors Fame singled as her thunderbearing minion; “The other long outlived both woes & wars, Throned in new thoughts of men, and still had kept The jealous keys of truth’s eternal doors “If Bacon’s spirit [[blank]] had not leapt Like lightning out of darkness; he compelled The Proteus shape of Nature’s as it slept “To wake & to unbar the caves that held The treasure of the secrets of its reign— See the great bards of old who inly quelled “The passions which they sung, as by their strain May well be known: their living melody Tempers its own contagion to the vein “Of those who are infected with it—I Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain!— “And so my words were seeds of misery— Even as the deeds of others.”—”Not as theirs,” I said—he pointed to a company In which I recognized amid the heirs Of Caesar’s crime from him to Constantine, The Anarchs old whose force & murderous snares Had founded many a sceptre bearing line And spread the plague of blood & gold abroad, And Gregory & John and men divine Who rose like shadows between Man & god Till that eclipse, still hanging under Heaven, Was worshipped by the world o’er which they strode For the true Sun it quenched.—”Their power was given But to destroy,” replied the leader—”I Am one of those who have created, even “If it be but a world of agony.”— “Whence camest thou & whither goest thou? How did thy course begin,” I said, “& why? “Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow Of people, & my heart of one sad thought.— Speak.”—”Whence I came, partly I seem to know, “And how & by what paths I have been brought To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess; Why this should be my mind can compass not; “Whither the conqueror hurries me still less. But follow thou, & from spectator turn Actor or victim in this wretchedness, “And what thou wouldst be taught I then may learn From thee.—Now listen . . . In the April prime When all the forest tops began to burn “With kindling green, touched by the azure clime Of the young year, I found myself asleep Under a mountain which from unknown time “Had yawned into a cavern high & deep, And from it came a gentle rivulet Whose water like clear air in its calm sweep “Bent the soft grass & kept for ever wet The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove With sound which all who hear must needs forget “All pleasure & all pain, all hate & love, Which they had known before that hour of rest: A sleeping mother then would dream not of “The only child who died upon her breast At eventide, a king would mourn no more The crown of which his brow was dispossest “When the sun lingered o’er the Ocean floor To gild his rival’s new prosperity.— Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore “Ills, which if ills, can find no cure from thee, The thought of which no other sleep will quell Nor other music blot from memory— “So sweet & deep is the oblivious spell.— Whether my life had been before that sleep The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell “Like this harsh world in which I wake to weep, I know not. I arose & for a space The scene of woods & waters seemed to keep, “Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace Of light diviner than the common Sun Sheds on the common Earth, but all the place “Was filled with many sounds woven into one Oblivious melody, confusing sense Amid the gliding waves & shadows dun; “And as I looked the bright omnipresence Of morning through the orient cavern flowed, And the Sun’s image radiantly intense “Burned on the waters of the well that glowed Like gold, and threaded all the forest maze With winding paths of emerald fire—there stood “Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze Of his own glory, on the vibrating Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays, “A shape all light, which with one hand did fling Dew on the earth, as if she were the Dawn Whose invisible rain forever seemed to sing “A silver music on the mossy lawn, And still before her on the dusky grass Iris her many coloured scarf had drawn.— “In her right hand she bore a crystal glass Mantling with bright Nepenthe;—the fierce splendour Fell from her as she moved under the mass “Of the deep cavern, & with palms so tender Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow, Glided along the river, and did bend her “Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream That whispered with delight to be their pillow.— “As one enamoured is upborne in dream O’er lily-paven lakes mid silver mist To wondrous music, so this shape might seem “Partly to tread the waves with feet which kist The dancing foam, partly to glide along The airs that roughened the moist amethyst, “Or the slant morning beams that fell among The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees; And her feet ever to the ceaseless song “Of leaves & winds & waves & birds & bees And falling drops moved in a measure new Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze “Up from the lake a shape of golden dew Between two rocks, athwart the rising moon, Moves up the east, where eagle never flew.— “And still her feet, no less than the sweet tune To which they moved, seemed as they moved, to blot The thoughts of him who gazed on them, & soon “All that was seemed as if it had been not, As if the gazer’s mind was strewn beneath Her feet like embers, & she, thought by thought, “Trampled its fires into the dust of death, As Day upon the threshold of the east Treads out the lamps of night, until the breath “Of darkness reillumines even the least Of heaven’s living eyes—like day she came, Making the night a dream; and ere she ceased “To move, as one between desire and shame Suspended, I said—’If, as it doth seem, Thou comest from the realm without a name, ” ‘Into this valley of perpetual dream, Shew whence I came, and where I am, and why— Pass not away upon the passing stream.’ ” ‘Arise and quench thy thirst,’ was her reply, And as a shut lily, stricken by the wand Of dewy morning’s vital alchemy, “I rose; and, bending at her sweet command, Touched with faint lips the cup she raised, And suddenly my brain became as sand “Where the first wave had more than half erased The track of deer on desert Labrador, Whilst the fierce wolf from which they fled amazed “Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore Until the second bursts—so on my sight Burst a new Vision never seen before.— “And the fair shape waned in the coming light As veil by veil the silent splendour drops From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite “Of sunrise ere it strike the mountain tops— And as the presence of that fairest planet Although unseen is felt by one who hopes “That his day’s path may end as he began it In that star’s smile, whose light is like the scent Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it, “Or the soft note in which his dear lament The Brescian shepherd breathes, or the caress That turned his weary slumber to content.— “So knew I in that light’s severe excess The presence of that shape which on the stream Moved, as I moved along the wilderness, “More dimly than a day appearing dream, The ghost of a forgotten form of sleep A light from Heaven whose half extinguished beam “Through the sick day in which we wake to weep Glimmers, forever sought, forever lost.— So did that shape its obscure tenour keep “Beside my path, as silent as a ghost; But the new Vision, and its cold bright car, With savage music, stunning music, crost “The forest, and as if from some dread war Triumphantly returning, the loud million Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star.— “A moving arch of victory the vermilion And green & azure plumes of Iris had Built high over her wind-winged pavilion, “And underneath aetherial glory clad The wilderness, and far before her flew The tempest of the splendour which forbade Shadow to fall from leaf or stone;—the crew Seemed in that light like atomies that dance Within a sunbeam.—Some upon the new “Embroidery of flowers that did enhance The grassy vesture of the desart, played, Forgetful of the chariot’s swift advance; “Others stood gazing till within the shade Of the great mountain its light left them dim.— Others outspeeded it, and others made “Circles around it like the clouds that swim Round the high moon in a bright sea of air, And more did follow, with exulting hymn, “The chariot & the captives fettered there, But all like bubbles on an eddying flood Fell into the same track at last & were “Borne onward.—I among the multitude Was swept; me sweetest flowers delayed not long, Me not the shadow nor the solitude, “Me not the falling stream’s Lethean song, Me, not the phantom of that early form Which moved upon its motion,—but among “The thickest billows of the living storm I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.— “Before the chariot had begun to climb The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme “Of him whom from the lowest depths of Hell Through every Paradise & through all glory Love led serene, & who returned to tell “In words of hate & awe the wondrous story How all things are transfigured, except Love; For deaf as is a sea which wrath makes hoary “The world can hear not the sweet notes that move The sphere whose light is melody to lovers—- A wonder worthy of his rhyme—the grove “Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers, The earth was grey with phantoms, & the air Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers “A flock of vampire-bats before the glare Of the tropic sun, bring ere evening Strange night upon some Indian isle,—thus were “Phantoms diffused around, & some did fling Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves, Behind them, some like eaglets on the wing “Were lost in the white blaze, others like elves Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes Upon the sunny streams & grassy shelves; “And others sate chattering like restless apes On vulgar paws and voluble like fire. Some made a cradle of the ermined capes “Of kingly mantles, some upon the tiar Of pontiffs sate like vultures, others played Within the crown which girt with empire “A baby’s or an idiot’s brow, & made Their nests in it; the old anatomies Sate hatching their bare brood under the shade “Of demon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes To reassume the delegated power Arrayed in which these worms did monarchize “Who make this earth their charnel.—Others more Humble, like falcons sate upon the fist Of common men, and round their heads did soar, “Or like small gnats & flies, as thick as mist On evening marshes, thronged about the brow Of lawyer, statesman, priest & theorist, “And others like discoloured flakes of snow On fairest bosoms & the sunniest hair Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow “Which they extinguished; for like tears, they were A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained In drops of sorrow.—I became aware “Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained The track in which we moved; after brief space From every form the beauty slowly waned, “From every firmest limb & fairest face The strength & freshness fell like dust, & left The action & the shape without the grace “Of life; the marble brow of youth was cleft With care, and in the eyes where once hope shone Desire like a lioness bereft “Of its last cub, glared ere it died; each one Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown “In Autumn evening from a popular tree— Each, like himself & like each other were, At first, but soon distorted, seemed to be “Obscure clouds moulded by the casual air; And of this stuff the car’s creative ray Wrought all the busy phantoms that were there “As the sun shapes the clouds—thus, on the way Mask after mask fell from the countenance And form of all, and long before the day “Was old, the joy which waked like Heaven’s glance The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died, And some grew weary of the ghastly dance “And fell, as I have fallen by the way side, Those soonest from whose forms most shadows past And least of strength & beauty did abide.”— “Then, what is Life?” I said . . . the cripple cast His eye upon the car which now had rolled Onward, as if that look must be the last, And answered …. “Happy those for whom the fold Of … “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell Q: Why did the gym close down? A: It just didn’t work out! A piece of cake: https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/che... Dionsysius1: I had basil on the pub's potage du jour yesterday. Soup herb! Q: Why aren’t koalas actual bears? A: They don’t meet the koalafications. California: San Diego Established in: 1769 San Diego is the second largest city in the state and sits just north of Mexico. Back in the 16th century, the Diegueño, Luiseño, Cahuilla, and Cupeño peoples were some of the first settlers in the area. It was named after explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, but later was renamed for Spanish monk San Diego de Alcalá de Henares in 1602. * Brief History of Chess: https://www.athleticscholarships.ne... This poem is dedicated to all female chessplayers on Caissa's Web. Sweet Caissa Oh, Sweet Caissa, Goddess of chess in the name of this holistic game I pray Thee: bless my noble aim to render all my opponents lame in my holy quest for worldly fame, to be Supreme no more no less. In awe I heard this Sweet Caissa say "Daughter go forth and smite them all, stoutly charge your knight sitting tall while flying over the castle's wall to slay all men in your deadly call." Now in fear I hide and will no longer play. * 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. Confessed faults are half mended. ~ Scottish Proverb 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! Q: What do you call a tiny mother? A: A minimum!' Q: What do you call a person who doesn't fart in public? A: A private tutor! Q: What do you call someone wearing a belt with a watch on it? A: A waist of time! The Three Kings By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Three Kings came riding from far away, Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar; Three Wise Men out of the East were they, And they travelled by night and they slept by day, For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star. The star was so beautiful, large and clear, That all the other stars of the sky Became a white mist in the atmosphere, And by this they knew that the coming was near Of the Prince foretold in the prophecy. Three caskets they bore on their saddle-bows, Three caskets of gold with golden keys; Their robes were of crimson silk with rows Of bells and pomegranates and furbelows, Their turbans like blossoming almond-trees. And so the Three Kings rode into the West, Through the dusk of the night, over hill and dell, And sometimes they nodded with beard on breast, And sometimes talked, as they paused to rest, With the people they met at some wayside well. “Of the child that is born,” said Baltasar, “Good people, I pray you, tell us the news; For we in the East have seen his star, And have ridden fast, and have ridden far, To find and worship the King of the Jews.” And the people answered, “You ask in vain; We know of no King but Herod the Great!” They thought the Wise Men were men insane, As they spurred their horses across the plain, Like riders in haste, who cannot wait. And when they came to Jerusalem, Herod the Great, who had heard this thing, Sent for the Wise Men and questioned them; And said, “Go down unto Bethlehem, And bring me tidings of this new king.” So they rode away; and the star stood still, The only one in the grey of morn; Yes, it stopped—it stood still of its own free will, Right over Bethlehem on the hill, The city of David, where Christ was born. And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the guard, Through the silent street, till their horses turned And neighed as they entered the great inn-yard; But the windows were closed, and the doors were barred, And only a light in the stable burned. And cradled there in the scented hay, In the air made sweet by the breath of kine, The little child in the manger lay, The child, that would be king one day Of a kingdom not human, but divine. His mother Mary of Nazareth Sat watching beside his place of rest, Watching the even flow of his breath, For the joy of life and the terror of death Were mingled together in her breast. They laid their offerings at his feet: The gold was their tribute to a King, The frankincense, with its odor sweet, Was for the Priest, the Paraclete, The myrrh for the body’s burying. And the mother wondered and bowed her head, And sat as still as a statue of stone, Her heart was troubled yet comforted, Remembering what the Angel had said Of an endless reign and of David’s throne. Then the Kings rode out of the city gate, With a clatter of hoofs in proud array; But they went not back to Herod the Great, For they knew his malice and feared his hate, And returned to their homes by another way. Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever. “Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got.” — Norman Vincent Peale “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” — Ralph Marston * Riddle-zip-pee: https://chessimprover.com/chess-rid... Why is an artichoke’s heart on its bottom? Is there a reason our hearts are closer to our mouths than to our exit holes? And who are we to assume that’s the way it should be with every living thing? When Moses asked God, "Who shall I tell Pharaoh has sent me?" God said, "I AM THAT I AM." Jehovah or Yahweh is the most intensely sacred name to Jewish scribes and many will not even pronounce the name. When possible, they use another name.” https://www.biblestudytools.com/bib... “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 Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.' “To what greater inspiration and counsel can we turn than to the imperishable truth to be found in this treasure house, the Bible?” — Queen Elizabeth II Ecclesiastes 9:9: “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.” Amanda Kay wrote: Checkmate You were my knight Shining armor Chess board was our home Queen's fondness you garnered A kiss sweeter than honeycomb “My guiding principles in life are to be honest, genuine, thoughtful and caring.” ― Prince William “Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess.” ― Siegbert Tarrasch “In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” — Max De Pree 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. John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. RING AROUND THE ROSIE Ring around the rosie A pocket full of posies Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down. Frank and Ella: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?... Q: Want to hear a construction joke? D: Oh never mind, I’m still working on that one. 182 games, 1958-2016 Have a good time tonight! Eldorado BY EDGAR ALLAN POE Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado. But he grew old— This knight so bold— And o’er his heart a shadow— Fell as he found No spot of ground That looked like Eldorado. And, as his strength Failed him at length, He met a pilgrim shadow— ‘Shadow,’ said he, ‘Where can it be— This land of Eldorado?’ ‘Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride,’ The shade replied,— ‘If you seek for Eldorado!’ The monstrous Two Knights defense to the Italian game is in another entire collection by itself. Patience is a virtue. * C-K, 2 Knts games: Game Collection: Caro-Kann Two Knights * Candidates 2014: World Championship Candidates (2014) * Carlsen's Minis: Game Collection: Carlsen's winning miniatures * Expanded Edition: Game Collection: 125 Greatest Chess Games * Hastings 1895: Hastings (1895) * Petrosian's Best: Game Collection: P.H.Clarke: Petrosian's Best games * Solitaire: Game Collection: Solitaire Chess by I. A. Horowitz * Fabulous brilliancies: https://www.chess.com/article/view/... * Good Historical Links: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/in... * Many gambits from all openings by ECO code: https://www.jimmyvermeer.com/openin... * Oskar plays 1e4: Oskar Oglaza * Feeling Punny? Don't tell Fredthebear. Use the Submission Page: Pun Submission Page * Common checkmate patterns: http://gambiter.com/chess/Checkmate... * Chess Records: https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/record... * Famous Chess Photos: https://tr.pinterest.com/pin/585256... “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” ― George Orwell * Chess Step-by-Step: https://www.chess.com/learn-how-to-... * Pawn Instruction: http://www.logicalchess.com/learn/l... Oct-09-11 FSR: After 1.e4 e5, 2.Ba6?? is the worst move by a country mile. After that, probably 2.b4 and 2.Ke2 are the worst. 2.Qg4 and 2.g4 are also pretty bad. White still has equality after 2.Qh5, so it's actually not a <terrible> move. * Glossary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloss... * Paul Morphy Miniatures: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * Top Chessgames by ECO Code: http://schachsinn.de/gamelist.htm * Top Games by Year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_... * Terminology: https://www.angelfire.com/games5/ch... * 4 Miniz: zPonziani, zKieseritzky, zPhilidor, zFrankenstein-Dracula: z https://www.bing.com/videos/search?... * Mr. Harvey's Puzzle Challenge: https://wtharvey.com/ “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 Filomena wrote: A Tactical Appeal On this one bit I will not yield: When on a modern battlefield Where not one thought can be concealed As hidden things can be revealed You Shouldn't Wield a Wooden Shield Q: What do you call the lights on Noah’s Ark? A: Flood lights. Q: What do you call a snobby criminal walking down the steps? A: A condescending con descending! Q: What do you call a dollar frozen in a block of ice? A: Cold hard cash. Q: What do you call a dead pine tree? A: A nevergreen. Q: What do you call a pencil that is broken? A: Pointless. Q: What do you call two birds in love? A: Tweethearts! Q: What do you call a sad coffee? A: Depresso. Q: What do you call a priest that becomes an attorney? A: Father-in-Law. Q: What do you call a man with a toilet on his head? A: John. "Zeitnot" is German for "time pressure." “....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 'April showers bring forth May flowers 'An army marches on its stomach 'As thick as thieves 'As you make your bed, so you must lie upon it 'As you sow so shall you reap 'Ashes to ashes dust to dust 'Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer 'Ask no questions and hear no lies 'Attack is the best form of defence The Earthen Pot and the Iron Pot An iron pot proposed To an earthen pot a journey. The latter was opposed, Expressing the concern he Had felt about the danger Of going out a ranger. He thought the kitchen hearth The safest place on earth For one so very brittle. "For you, who art a kettle, And have a tougher skin, There's nothing to keep you in." "I'll be your body-guard," Replied the iron pot; "If anything that's hard Should threaten you a jot, Between you I will go, And save you from the blow." This offer him persuaded. The iron pot paraded Himself as guard and guide Close at his cousin's side. Now, in their tripod way, They hobble as they may; And eke together bolt At every little jolt, – Which gives the crockery pain; But presently his comrade hits So hard, he dashes him to bits, Before he can complain. Take care that you associate With equals only, lest your fate Between these pots should find its mate. Collected by Fredthebear, harassed by editor cyberstalker perv. “Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.” — Donald Porter “It is so much easier to be nice, to be respectful, to put yourself in your customer’s’ shoes and try to understand how you might help them before they ask for help, than it is to try to mend a broken customer relationship.” — Mark Cuban “Only once customer service has become habitual will a company realize its true potential.” — Than Merrill “Customers don’t care about your policies. Find and engage the need. Tell the customer what you can do.” — Alice Sesay Pope “Always keep in mind the old retail adage: Customers remember the service a lot longer than they remember the price.” — Lauren Freedman “Here is a powerful yet simple rule. Always give people more than they expect to get.” — Nelson Boswell “Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. We have to be great every time or we’ll lose them.” — Kevin Stirtz “The customer is always right.” — Harry Gordon Selfridge (Not hardly says FTB.) “Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe “Always carry champagne! In victory You deserve it & in defeat You need it!” ― Napoléon Bonaparte “Be your own Sunshine. Always.” ― Purvi Raniga “Most promises featuring the word 'always' are unkeepable.” ― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed “You should never say never. Just like you should never say always; because, always and never are always never true.” ― J. R. Krol 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. “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 Switch your pawn insurance to Promotion and you could save hundreds. “In chess, as in life, the best moves are often the ones you don’t play.” ― Savielly Tartakower Fortune and the Boy Beside a well, uncurbed and deep, A schoolboy laid him down to sleep: (Such rogues can do so anywhere.) If some kind man had seen him there, He would have leaped as if distracted; But Fortune much more wisely acted; For, passing by, she softly waked the child, Thus whispering in accents mild: "I save your life, my little dear, And beg you not to venture here Again, for had you fallen in, I should have had to bear the sin; But I demand, in reason's name, If for your rashness I'm to blame?" With this the goddess went her way. I like her logic, I must say. There takes place nothing on this planet, But Fortune ends, whoever began it. In all adventures good or ill, We look to her to foot the bill. Has one a stupid, empty pate, That serves him never till too late, He clears himself by blaming Fate! “A wise man will know what game to play to-day, and play it. We must not be governed by rigid rules, as by the almanac, but let the season rule us. The moods and thoughts of man are revolving just as steadily and incessantly as nature's. Nothing must be postponed. Take time by the forelock. Now or never! You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this, or the like of this. Where the good husbandman is, there is the good soil. Take any other course, and life will be a succession of regrets. Let us see vessels sailing prosperously before the wind, and not simply stranded barks. There is no world for the penitent and regretful.” — Henry David Thoreau “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 “It's not life or death. It's a game, and at the end of the game there is going to be a winner and a loser.” — Bernhard Langer Why did the turtle cross the road? To get to the Shell station. <A wise old owl sat on an oak, The more he saw the less he spoke, The less he spoke the more he heard, Why aren't we like that wise old bird?> Give a HOOT -- don't pollute!! "Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground." ― Theodore Roosevelt REMOVE/REPUBLISH THE EXTRA BELOW: Charge! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charg.... “Chess is a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders.” ― Savielly Tartakower “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 “I believe that it is best to know a 'dubious' opening really well, rather than a 'good' opening only slightly.” ― Simon Williams “There is no such thing as an absolutely freeing move. A freeing move in a position in which development has not been carried far always proves illusory, and vice versa, a move which does not come at all in the category of freeing moves can, given a surplus of tempi to our credit, lead to a very free game.” ― Aron Nimzowitsch “The future reshapes the memory of the past in the way it recalibrates significance: some episodes are advanced, others lose purchase.” ― Gregory Maguire, A Lion Among Men “Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.” ― Douglas MacArthur Matthew 17:20 Our faith can move mountains. Other people’s wisdom prevents the king from being called a fool. ~ Nigerian Proverb Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand. ~ Guinean Proverb Ingratitude is sooner or later fatal to its author. ~ Twi Proverb The laughter of a child lights up the house. ~ Swahili proverb * One of Pandolfini's Best: Game Collection: Solitaire Chess by Bruce Pandolfini * Two Great Attackers: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... Кто не рискует, тот не пьет шампанского Pronunciation: KTOH ni risKUyet, tot ni pyot shamPANSkava) Translation: He who doesn’t take risks doesn’t drink champagne Meaning: Fortune favours the brave "Tal has a terrifying style. Soon even grandmasters will know of this." - Vladimir Saigin (after losing to 17-year-old Tal in a qualifying match for the master title) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5S... “I like to grasp the initiative and not give my opponent peace of mind.” — Mikhail Tal * Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: 0 * Glossary: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/13/... * Chessmaster 2000 Classic Games: Game Collection: Chessmaster '86 * MC Move-by-Move: Game Collection: Move by Move - Carlsen (Lakdawala) * Indians: Game Collection: adichess' Indian * Were you looking for these ol' timers? Game Collection: Old Indian * Freaky Fridays: https://allchessopenings.blogspot.c... * Glossary: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/13/... * Javed's way: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?... * Prep for San Antonio? Game Collection: magnus carlsen * Wikipedia on Computer Chess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compu... * Rip 'em to shreds! https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/m... * Bit Collection: Game Collection: Special Gambit Collection * B20s: Game Collection: Grand Prix (Ginger’s Models) * GPA: https://chesstier.com/grand-prix-at... “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 “He examined the chess problem and set out the pieces. It was a tricky ending, involving a couple of knights. 'White to play and mate in two moves.' Winston looked up at the portrait of Big Brother. White always mates, he thought with a sort of cloudy mysticism. Always, without exception, it is so arranged. In no chess problem since the beginning of the world has black ever won. Did it not symbolize the eternal, unvarying triumph of Good over Evil? The huge face gazed back at him, full of calm power. White always mates.” ― George Orwell, 1984 Lichess has all the same basic offerings as Chess.com: a large community, many game types, tutorials, puzzles, and livestreams. The site has a simple appearance, and it seems built to get you where you want to go in as few clicks as possible. You can create an account, but if you’re not concerned with tracking your games and finding other players at your level, there’s no need to log in. Just fire up a new game, try some puzzles, or watch a chess streamer play three-minute games while listening to techno and chatting with the comments section. A piece of cake: https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/che... Dionysius1: I had basil on the pub's potage du jour yesterday. Soup herb! "Mony a mickle maks a muckle" - Old Scots proverb Very loosely translated as “Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”, it is an expression which is aimed at educating people on the wisdom of saving and really means “many little things add up to a lot”. Song of the Storm-Swept Plain William D. Hodjkiss The wind shrills forth From the white cold North Where the gates of the Storm-god are; And ragged clouds, Like mantling shrouds, Engulf the last, dim star. Through naked trees, In low coulees, The night-voice moans and sighs; And sings of deep, Warm cradled sleep, With wind-crooned lullabies. He stands alone Where the storm’s weird tone In mocking swells; And the snow-sharp breath Of cruel Death The tales of its coming tells. The frightened plaint Of his sheep sound faint Then the choking wall of white— Then is heard no more, In the deep-toned roar, Of the blinding, pathless night. No light nor guide, Save a mighty tide Of mad fear drives him on; ‘Till his cold-numbed form Grows strangely warm; And the strength of his limbs is gone. Through the storm and night A strange, soft light O’er the sleeping shepherd gleams; And he hears the word Of the Shepherd Lord Called out from the bourne of dreams. Come, leave the strife Of your weary life; Come unto Me and rest From the night and cold, To the sheltered fold, By the hand of love caressed. The storm shrieks on, But its work is done— A soul to its God has fled; And the wild refrain Of the wind-swept plain, Sings requiem for the dead. Riddle: What word is always pronounced wrong? Everybody should get this one right. Answer: Wrong! Psalm 96: 1-3 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Old Russian Proverb: "Measure seven times, cut once. (Семь раз отмерь — один отрежь.)" Be careful before you do something that cannot be changed. Riddle Question: If there are four sheep, two dogs and one herds-men, how many feet are there? Agriculture: You Can’t Live Without It! Does your soil have what it takes? Riddle Answer: Two. Sheep have hooves; dogs have paws; only people have feet. PinkFaerie5 wrote: Leopard King Coronation bird of paradise flew in briefing the leopard king a candle was tossed but isn’t he disguised? a pheasant asked Yes, wearing a butterfly mask and one of your feathers the pheasant was pleased which is why I left, said the bird I thought he would be wearing my feather feelings are always being hurt at coronations of leopard kings this was no exception “Drawing is rather like playing chess. Your mind races ahead of time that you eventually make.” ― David Hockney “There are more adventures on a chessboard than on all the seas of the world.” ― Pierre Mac Orlan “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 "Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got." — Norman Vincent Peale "What you do today can improve all your tomorrows." — Ralph Marston Psalm 96: 1-3 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. “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! “If you’re too open-minded; your brains will fall out.” ― Lawrence Ferlinghetti “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. "It ain't over 'til it's over, no matter how over it looks." ― Yogi Berra You can make a small fortune in farming-provided you start with a large one. “Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess.” ― Siegbert Tarrasch “In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” — Max De Pree “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman 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. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. JACK AND JILL Jack and Jill Went up the hill To fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down And broke his crown And Jill came tumbling after. REMOVE BELOW: * One of Pandolfini's Best: Game Collection: Solitaire Chess by Bruce Pandolfini * Two Great Attackers: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... * Capablanca's Double Attack — having the initiative is important: https://lichess.org/study/tzrisL1R * Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: 0 * Glossary: https://www.peoriachess.com/Glossar... * Classic games by great players: Game Collection: Guinness Book - Chess Grandmasters (Hartston) * 100+ Scandinavian Miniatures: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * 610_Back rank mating tactics: Game Collection: 610_Back rank mating tactics * Fork OVerload (Remove the Defender): Game Collection: FORK-OVERLOAD OR HOOK-AND-LADDER TRICK * Impact of Genius: 500 years of Grandmaster Chess: Game Collection: Impact of Genius : 500 years of Grandmaster Ches * Chess Prehistory Compiled by Joe Stanley: Game Collection: Chess Prehistory * Organized Steinitz collection: Game Collection: Steinitz Gambits * Best (Old) Games of All Time: Game Collection: Best Games of All Time * 'Great Brilliancy Prize Games of the Chess Masters' by Fred Reinfeld: Game Collection: 0 * bengalcat47's favorite games of famous masters: Game Collection: bengalcat47's favorite games * Mil y Una Partidas 1914-1931: Game Collection: Mil y Una Partidas 1914-1931 * Fire Baptisms Compiled by Nasruddin Hodja: Game Collection: Fire Baptisms * maxruen's favorite games III: Game Collection: maxruen's favorite games III * some famous brilliancies: Game Collection: brilliacies * Brilliant games Compiled by madhatter5: Game Collection: Brilliant games * The Fireside Book of Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld: Game Collection: Fireside Book of Chess * 'Chess Praxis' by Aron Nimzowitsch: Game Collection: Chess Praxis (Nimzowitsch) * '500 Master Games of Chess' by Savielly Tartakower and Julius Du Mont: Game Collection: 500 Master Games of Chess * Great Combinations Compiled by wwall: Game Collection: Combinations * Middlegame Combinations by Peter Romanovsky: Game Collection: Middlegame Combinations by Peter Romanovsky * Exchange sacs – 1 Compiled by obrit: Game Collection: Exchange sacs - 1 * Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters Volume II: Game Collection: Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters Volume II * Ne5 Holler of a Tree in Fredthebear Country: Game Collection: 5 Ne5 Holler of a Tree in Fredthebear Country * 'The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games' by Graham Burgess, John Nunn and John Emms. New expanded edition-now with 125 games. Game Collection: Mammoth Book-Greatest Games (Nunn/Burgess/Emms) * Best of the British Compiled by Timothy Glenn Forney: Game Collection: Best of the British * The Best Chess Games (part 2): Game Collection: The Best Chess Games (part 2) * GK: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen * Annotated Games: Game Collection: Annotated Games * sapientdust's favorite games: Game Collection: sapientdust's favorite games * shakman's favorite games – 2: Game Collection: shakman's favorite games - 2 * Reti Opening Compiled by KingG: Game Collection: Reti Opening * Veliki majstori saha 16 RETI (Slavko Petrovic): Game Collection: Veliki majstori saha 16 RETI (Petrovic) * Richard Réti's Best Games by Golombek: Game Collection: Richard Réti's Best Games by Golombek * ray keene's favorite games: Game Collection: ray keene's favorite games * (Variety Pack) Compiled by Nova: Game Collection: KID games * JonathanJ's favorite games 4: Game Collection: JonathanJ's favorite games 4 * jorundte's favorite games: Game Collection: jorundte's favorite games * elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games * assorted Good games Compiled by rbaglini: Game Collection: assorted Good games * Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: 0 * LAST COLLECTION Compiled by Jaredfchess: Game Collection: LAST COLLECTION “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 “Make peace with imperfection.” ― Richard Carlson Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' — 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 “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 * The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy by Irving Chernev - https://lichess.org/study/w2JcfP5K * Legendary: Game Collection: The 12 Legendary Games of the Century The Sofia Rules forbid agreed draws before 30 moves. The "Bilbao" scoring system awards 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. “You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.” ― Indira Gandhi Psalm 96: 1-3 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. “To a large degree, the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment.” — Richard Carlson M.Hassan: <Eggman>: Scarborough Chess Club * 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: "The elbow is close but you cannot bite it. (Близок локоток, да не укусишь.)" Close is no cigar. Ya might be ah redneck if'n ya thunk "lol" means low on liquor. “If you ain’t the lead dog, the view never changes.” “Here’s a two-step formula for handling stress... Step number one: Don’t sweat the small stuff. Step number two: Remember it’s all small stuff.” ― Tony Robbins Q: What do you call the lights on Noah’s Ark? A: Flood lights. Q: What do you call a snobby criminal walking down the steps? A: A condescending con descending! Q: What do you call a dollar frozen in a block of ice? A: Cold hard cash. Q: What do you call a dead pine tree? A: A nevergreen. Q: What do you call a pencil that is broken? A: Pointless. Q: What do you call two birds in love? A: Tweethearts! Q: What do you call a sad coffee? A: Depresso. Q: What do you call a priest that becomes an attorney? A: Father-in-Law. Q: What do you call a man with a toilet on his head? A: John. 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. “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 “To what greater inspiration and counsel can we turn than to the imperishable truth to be found in this treasure house, the Bible?” — Queen Elizabeth II “Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess.” ― Siegbert Tarrasch “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman 'A stitch in time saves nine' “You can't hold with the hare and run with the hounds.” Ah, St. Marher, 1225: "And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet." wordsyfun 48xp L Zaid Tacocchio peeked up eza wally's pride b4 HOCF askd CIOD to open athe zodiacaleon bad zappasta gaspd last requested Dzagnidze instead of Dzindzi's line of playday. Psalm 96: 1-3 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' HUMPTY DUMPTY Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses And all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty Together again. Psalm 96: 1-3 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT Star light, star bright First star I see tonight I wish I may, I wish I might Have this wish I wish tonight Q: What is money called in space? A: Star bucks. Q: Where do the stars go to get their milk? A: The Milky Way. Q: Why didn’t the Dog Star laugh at the joke? A: It was too Sirius. ] Give a HOOT ― Don't Pollute! 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. “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 “If you’re too open-minded; your brains will fall out.” ― Lawrence Ferlinghetti “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. “My concern about my reputation is with the people who I respect and my family and my Lord. And I’m perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir.” — John Durham * Forney's Brutes: Game Collection: Brutal Attacking Chess 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! * Mr. Harvey's Puzzle Challenge: https://wtharvey.com/ * Murder by Email: Brendan Searson “If you open it, close it. If you turn it on, turn it off. If you take it out, put it back. If you empty it, fill it. If you fill it, empty it.” — Kathryn Malter, St. Paul, MN * Dec-12-20 MissScarlett: My advice to <acapo> is to close the pop-up ads by clicking on the little <x> in the top right corner. “From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.” ― William Shakespeare, Henry V “They made us many promises, but they kept only one. They promised to take our land -- and they did.” — Chief Red Cloud, Oglala-Lakota Sioux, 1822-1909. “There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who believe there are two kinds of people in this world and those who are smart enough to know better.” ― Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker “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. Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever. “To what greater inspiration and counsel can we turn than to the imperishable truth to be found in this treasure house, the Bible?” — Queen Elizabeth II “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” ― Benjamin Franklin Q: Why did it get so hot in the baseball stadium after the game? A: All of the fans left. “In chess, as in life, the best moves are often the ones you don’t play.” ― Savielly Tartakower Dec-26-23 hemy: I sent email messages to <jessicafischerqueen> and <Tabanus>. I was contacted by email to both of them for many years. Responses from the mail servers were: "Sorry, your message to <her email address> cannot be delivered. This mailbox is disabled" and "Recipient address rejected: Access denied". Credits for Robert Bergersen aka <Tabanus>, include his picture, for his contribution to "Lithuanian chess history" project, you can find on page 45 of this project. He also mentioned on page 141 (with one more picture), pages 166, 1315, 1383-1386, 1823, 2807 and 3423. “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 "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 “If you want it, work for it.” “Tough times don't last, tough people do, remember?” — Gregory Peck Old Russian Proverb: "If you are given something, take it; if you are being beaten, run. (Дают — бери, а бьют — беги.)" "Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got." — Norman Vincent Peale "What you do today can improve all your tomorrows." — Ralph Marston 'Don't keep a dog and bark yourself' 'Don't cast your pearls before swine' 'Don't count your chickens before they are hatched' Fortune and the Boy Beside a well, uncurbed and deep, A schoolboy laid him down to sleep: (Such rogues can do so anywhere.) If some kind man had seen him there, He would have leaped as if distracted; But Fortune much more wisely acted; For, passing by, she softly waked the child, Thus whispering in accents mild: "I save your life, my little dear, And beg you not to venture here Again, for had you fallen in, I should have had to bear the sin; But I demand, in reason's name, If for your rashness I'm to blame?" With this the goddess went her way. I like her logic, I must say. There takes place nothing on this planet, But Fortune ends, whoever began it. In all adventures good or ill, We look to her to foot the bill. Has one a stupid, empty pate, That serves him never till too late, He clears himself by blaming Fate! You can make a small fortune in farming-provided you start with a large one. Riddle Question: If there are four sheep, two dogs and one herds-men, how many feet are there? Agriculture: You Can’t Live Without It! Does your soil have what it takes? Riddle Answer: Two. Sheep have hooves; dogs have paws; only people have feet. "Zeitnot" is German for "time pressure." “....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 499 games, 1804-2022 Hm Queenside Raps and Zaps Just about any materially advantageous maneuver on the queenside will be included. This certainly does not mean the entire game was waged on the queenside, but just a portion of it. * Starting Out: French Defense: Game Collection: Starting out : The French * Gambits against the French Defense: Game Collection: alapin gambit -alapin diemer gambit + reti gam * Here's a link to common Checkmate Patterns: http://gambiter.com/chess/Checkmate... * Here's a link to some fabulous chess brilliancies: https://www.chess.com/article/view/... * Mr. Harvey's Puzzle Challenge: https://wtharvey.com/ * Women: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/wom... * Gambits against the French: Game Collection: alapin gambit -alapin diemer gambit + reti gam * Glossary: https://www.peoriachess.com/Glossar... Forget It wrote: En passant: this whole piece reads in black & white like an End Game until it turns out to be an English Opening Double check J'adoube En prise Stalemate Blindfold chess The Eye of the Master A stag took refuge from the chase Among the oxen of a stable, Who counseled him, as says the fable, To seek at once some safer place. "My brothers," said the fugitive, "Betray me not, and, as I live, The richest pasture I will show, That ever was grazed on, high or low; Your kindness you will not regret, For well some day I'll pay the debt." The oxen promised secrecy. Down crouched the stag, and breathed more free. At eventide they brought fresh hay, As was their custom day by day; And often came the servants near, As did indeed the overseer, But with so little thought or care, That neither horns, nor hide, nor hair Revealed to them the stag was there. Already thanked the wild-wood stranger The oxen for their treatment kind, And there to wait made up his mind, Till he might issue free from danger. Replied an ox that chewed the cud, "Your case looks fairly in the bud; But then I fear the reason why Is, that the man of sharpest eye Has not yet come his look to take. I dread his coming, for your sake; Your boasting may be premature: Till then, poor stag, you're not secure." It was but a little while before The careful master oped the door. "How's this, my boys?" said he; "These empty racks will never do. Go, change this dirty litter too. More care than this I want to see Of oxen that belong to me. Well, Jim, my boy, you're young and stout; What would it cost to clear these cobwebs out? And put these yokes, and hames, and traces, All as they should be, in their places?" Thus looking round, he came to see One head he did not usually. The stag is found; his foes Deal heavily their blows. Down sinks he in the strife; No tears can save his life. They slay, and dress, and salt the beast, And cook his flesh in many a feast, And many a neighbour gets a taste. As Phaedrus says it, pithily, The master's is the eye to see: I add the lover's, as for me. 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) 493 games, 1475-2016 How to Defend in Chess by Colin Crouch 45 games, 1834-1993 King pawn games A little bit of everything. Some common, some uncommon. Some games might find a new home later on in specific opening collections, especially the Scandinavian collection. Fredthebear is the original creator of this collection. * Absolutely Stunning: Game Collection: Absolutely Stunning * Morphy Miniatures: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * Simple tactics course using miniatures: http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/x/FTP... * 23 pages of King's Gambit (over 2000 games) wins by Black! http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * List of gambits: https://detailedpedia.com/wiki-List... * Passive, but playable in the Russian Game: Game Collection: Alpha Russian (White) * White - Sicilian: Bb2 by gabon: Game Collection: White - Sicilian: Bb2 * Weird: https://chessentials.com/weird-ches... * Glossary: https://www.peoriachess.com/Glossar... * Mr. Harvey's Puzzle Challenge: https://wtharvey.com/ The Earthen Pot and the Iron Pot An iron pot proposed To an earthen pot a journey. The latter was opposed, Expressing the concern he Had felt about the danger Of going out a ranger. He thought the kitchen hearth The safest place on earth For one so very brittle. "For you, who art a kettle, And have a tougher skin, There's nothing to keep you in." "I'll be your body-guard," Replied the iron pot; "If anything that's hard Should threaten you a jot, Between you I will go, And save you from the blow." This offer him persuaded. The iron pot paraded Himself as guard and guide Close at his cousin's side. Now, in their tripod way, They hobble as they may; And eke together bolt At every little jolt, – Which gives the crockery pain; But presently his comrade hits So hard, he dashes him to bits, Before he can complain. Take care that you associate With equals only, lest your fate Between these pots should find its mate. * Opening Tree: https://www.shredderchess.com/onlin... All kinds of defensive responses have been thrown in here. See Deep Trouble's opening repertoire games to study compiled by Deep Trouble. See Black Repertoire: 1. d4 d5 compiled by libertyjack. See Opening repertoire key games compiled by chessbuzz. See LibertyJack's Chess Notebook compiled by libertyjack. This is GMVA's (no longer) recent opening repertoire with black pieces: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 <French, Classical> 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 <French, Tarrasch, Closed Variation> 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 <Czech (Pribil) system> 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 or 1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 <Queen's Gambit Declined> 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 <Tarrasch Defense> 1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 <Czech system> 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4 <Wade Defense> 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 <English Rat> The list above is not included much at all in this collection. “Life is like a chess game. Every decision, just like every move, has consequences. Therefore, decide wisely!” ― Susan Polgar “When people insult and disrespect you, the best revenge is to continue to win, and win, and win….” ― Susan Polgar “The mind has no restrictions. The only restriction is what you believe you cannot do. So go ahead and challenge yourself to do one thing every day that scares you.” ― Susan Polgar “The defensive power of a pinned piece is only imaginary.” ― Aaron Nimzowitsch Bobby Fischer on Paul Morphy: “Perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived, he would beat anybody today in a set-match. He had complete sight of the board and seldom blundered even though he moved quite rapidly. I've played over hundreds of his games and am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity.” * Sicilians: Game Collection: Sicilian/French/Westerimen and other ...c5,...e6 * Sicilian O'Kelly leaves White all kinds of choices: Opening Explorer * Short Parables: https://www.simplybible.com/f675-se... * The Gaw-Paw? Game Collection: GA PA Wins Draws by Black * Chicago, 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEp... * Defensive Replies to the Queen's Pawn: Game Collection: e6 after 1.d4 * QP Bg2: Queen's Pawn Game (E00) * Game with ...e6: Game Collection: Partidas modelo con temas variados * Wikipedia on Computer Chess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compu... * elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games * assorted Good games Compiled by rbaglini: Game Collection: assorted Good games * Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz) * LAST COLLECTION Compiled by Jaredfchess: Game Collection: LAST COLLECTION * 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! 'A rising tide lifts all boats' 'Don't put the cart before the horse' “Examine what is said, not who is speaking.” ~ African Proverb “He (Jose R. Capablanca) makes the game look easy. Art lies in the concealment of art.” ― Philip W. Sergeant “Beautiful, cold, remorseless chess, almost creepy in its silent implacability.” ― Raymond Chandler (on a Capablanca game) “What others could not see in a month's study, he saw at a glance.” ― Reuben Fine (on Capablanca) “Capablanca invariably chose the right option, no matter how intricate the position.” ― Garry Kasparov. “Capablanca's games generally take the following course: he begins with a series of extremely fine prophylactic maneuvers, which neutralize his opponent's attempts to complicate the game; he then proceeds, slowly but surely, to set up an attacking position. This attacking position, after a series of simplifications, is transformed into a favorable endgame, which he conducts with matchless technique.” ― Aaron Nimzowitsch Mar-07-13 Abdel Irada: In case anyone wonders who Kermit Norris is/was, he's an expert in Santa Cruz against whom I used to play a great deal of blitz. His specialty, when a particularly complex position arose (especially in his pet Owen's Defense), was to lean forward, fix his opponent with a scowl and a withering stare, and say, in a deep and solemn tone, "Chicken parts!" "Here's to being in a boat with a drink on the rocks rather than being in the drink with a boat on the rocks" The Lion and the Rat To show to all your kindness, it behoves: There's none so small but you his aid may need. I quote two fables for this weighty creed, Which either of them fully proves. From underneath the sward A rat, quite off his guard, Popped out between a lion's paws. The beast of royal bearing Showed what a lion was The creature's life by sparing – A kindness well repaid; For, little as you would have thought His majesty would ever need his aid, It proved full soon A precious boon. Forth issuing from his forest glen, T" explore the haunts of men, In lion net his majesty was caught, From which his strength and rage Served not to disengage. The rat ran up, with grateful glee, Gnawed off a rope, and set him free. By time and toil we sever What strength and rage could never. Riddle: The one who has it does not keep it. It is large and small. It is any shape. Bears like 'em too! Answer: A gift. This poem is dedicated to all female chessplayers on Caissa's Web. Sweet Caissa Oh, Sweet Caissa, Goddess of chess in the name of this holistic game I pray Thee: bless my noble aim to render all my opponents lame in my holy quest for worldly fame, to be Supreme no more no less. In awe I heard this Sweet Caissa say "Daughter go forth and smite them all, stoutly charge your knight sitting tall while flying over the castle's wall to slay all men in your deadly call." Now in fear I hide and will no longer play. “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 “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. “My concern about my reputation is with the people who I respect and my family and my Lord. And I’m perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir.” — John Durham The Blossom by William Blake Merry, merry sparrow! Under leaves so green A happy blossom Sees you, swift as arrow, Seek your cradle narrow, Near my bosom. Pretty, pretty robin! Under leaves so green A happy blossom Hears you sobbing, sobbing, Pretty, pretty robin, Near my bosom. <Atterdag: Geoff - are you a descendant of Wordsworth?: There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The earth, and every common sight, To me did seem Apparell'd in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. It is not now as it hath been of yore;— Turn wheresoe'er I may, By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more. :-) Sally Simpson: Hi Atterdag, This is my tribute to Wordsworth. (Daffodils.) I wandered lonely as a pawn, o'er a field coloured brown and cream, When suddenly I ran out of squares and discovered I was now a Queen.> “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. Isolated pawns require a very expensive therapy, for keeping them alive. This poem is dedicated to all members who strive to become Masters of chess. yakisoba's combination in the middle of a cold Canadian winter night a phantom creature was riding a stallion knight but lo and behold it is the man called yakisoba together with a bishop and queen chasing nova. though the old bishop was getting pooped out the merry queen in her glory was bouncing about while riding hard yakisoba grinningly thought "I know what to do with that nova when caught." there on top of the castle was nova in hiding strapped to a kite for a quick get-away gliding, then trembling he realized to his consternation: he was being killed by the bishop-queen combination. * Weird is what you're not used to: https://chessentials.com/weird-ches... <limerick, entitled ‘The Solver’s Plight’ was by ‘A.J.F.’ [A.J. Fink] and was published on page 22 of Chess Potpourri by Alfred C. Klahre (Middletown, 1931): There was a man from Vancouver Who tried to solve a two-mover; But the boob, he said, ‘“Gee”, I can’t find the “Kee”, No matter HOW I manouvre.’> Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system, approximately 3000 miles (4850 km) in diameter, hardly larger than the moon. Despite being the smallest, it’s extremely dense. In fact, it’s the second densest planet after Earth. It’s also the closest planet to the sun, making it dangerous to explore. Mercury is 48 million miles from the earth. <Mar-11-05 aw1988: S.W.I.F.T. indeed. Mar-11-05 tpstar: Sokolov Was In For Trouble Suddenly White Initiated Forcing Threats Severe Whipping Into Frenzied Tantrum Shocking When Ivan Fell Through Savvy Winner Ingests French Toast Mar-11-05 aw1988: LOL! I must admit, that is very good. May-27-05 Durandal: AdrianP: SWIFT was the sponsor of the tournament, the company is a cooperative effort to provide secure financial communications between banks worldwide (SWIFT is the acronym for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, see swift.com), based in La Hulpe, near Brussels, Belgium. IIRC, its CEO at the time was Bessel Kok, a well known chess patron. May-27-05 AdrianP: <Durandal> I see - as in SWIFT transfer. May-27-05 arifattar: May not compare with <tpstar>'s effort but, Sweet Win In Five & Twenty.> “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!> "May your jib never luff" <There are distinct situations where a bishop is preferred (over a knight). For example, two bishops are better than two knights or one of each. Steven Mayer, the author of Bishop Versus Knight, contends, “A pair of bishops is usually considered to be worth six points, but common sense suggests that a pair of active bishops (that are very involved in the formation) must be accorded a value of almost nine under some circumstances.” This is especially true if the player can plant the bishops in the center of the board, as two bishops working in tandem can span up to 26 squares and have the capacity to touch every square. Bishops are also preferable to knights when queens have been exchanged because, Grandmaster Sergey Erenburg, who is ranked 11th in the U.S., explains, “[Bishops and rooks] complement each other, and when well-coordinated, act as a queen.” Conversely, a knight is the preferred minor piece when the queen survives until the late-middlegame or the endgame. Mayer explains, “The queen and knight are [able] to work together smoothly and create a greater number of threats than the queen and bishop.” When forced to say one is better than the other, most anoint the bishop. Mayer concludes, “I think it’s true that the bishops are better than the knights in a wider variety of positions than the knights are better than the bishops.” He continues, “Of course, I’m not sure this does us much good, as we only get to play one position at a time.”> 'Don't throw good money after bad' * 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 shut the stable door after the horse has bolted' 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. Riddle: A man looks at a painting in a museum and says, “Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who is in the painting? Scroll down for Riddle Answer... "May your jib never luff" Riddle Answer: The man’s son The Swallow and the Little Birds By voyages in air, With constant thought and care, Much knowledge had a swallow gained, Which she for public use retained, The slightest storms she well foreknew, And told the sailors before they blew. A farmer sowing hemp, once having found, She gathered all the little birds around, And said, "My friends, the freedom let me take To prophesy a little, for your sake, Against this dangerous seed. Though such a bird as I Knows how to hide or fly, You birds a caution need. Do you see that waving hand? It scatters on the land What well may cause alarm. "Twill grow to nets and snares, To catch you unawares, And work you fatal harm! Great multitudes I fear, Of you, my birdies dear, That falling seed, so little, Will bring to cage or kettle! But though so perilous the plot, You now may easily defeat it: All lighting on the seeded spot, Just scratch up every seed and eat it." The little birds took little heed, So fed were they with other seed. Anon the field was seen Bedecked in tender green. The swallow's warning voice was heard again: "My friends, the product of that deadly grain, Seize now, and pull it root by root, Or surely you'll repent its fruit." "False, babbling prophetess," says one, "You'd set us at some pretty fun! To pull this field a thousand birds are needed, While thousands more with hemp are seeded." The crop now quite mature, The swallow adds, "Thus far I have failed of cure; I have prophesied in vain Against this fatal grain: It's grown. And now, my bonny birds, Though you have disbelieved my words Thus far, take heed at last, – When you shall see the seed-time past, And men, no crops to labour for, On birds shall wage their cruel war, With deadly net and noose; Of flying then beware, Unless you take the air, Like woodcock, crane, or goose. But stop; you're not in plight For such adventurous flight, Over desert waves and sands, In search of other lands. Hence, then, to save your precious souls, Remains but to say, "Twill be the safest way, To chuck yourselves in holes." Before she had thus far gone, The birdlings, tired of hearing, And laughing more than fearing, Set up a greater jargon Than did, before the Trojan slaughter, The Trojans round old Priam's daughter.[9] And many a bird, in prison grate, Lamented soon a Trojan fate. It's thus we heed no instincts but our own; Believe no evil till the evil's done. Question: What looks like a half-cut apple? Answer: The other half. Fredthebear created this collection. Question: What is in the middle of MIDDLE and at the end of END? Answer: The letter D. Zhavaed Haemaed wrote: Zugzwang My little game of Chess That I played, with you Making subtle moves Hinting all too softly Allowing impasses Offering a pawn Renouncing knights Denouncing a bishop Even giving up my Queen That trying game of Chess It appears, has come to a stale Without one word spoken, without An idea or intellect having being shared My dear, I have not tried hard enough, and I shall never be the wiser for not having made a move “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 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 "We do not remember days, we remember moments." ― Cesare Pavese “Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. 'Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater' Isaiah 66:13⁣ As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem. 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Matthew 13:31-32 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” () Anne Boleyn Thought She Caught the Prize in King Henry the 8th by PinkFaerie5 Anne Boleyn, you set your sights high, you deviously bold sly fox Your interest was the end of Catherine’s head and locks Mary was declared a bastard, Henry the Eighth’s wife slain. You were singing prettily through this torment, a refrain. Anne Boleyn, you enticed a dangerous king, indeed. Henry the Eighth, who smashed wives like a mustard seed. You thought you would give him sons but alas, it did not happen. So now here you are in the tower, being visited by a chaplain. Anne Boleyn, your three years as a queen was not a record. Although Henry’s next wife Jane will not last assured Sir Rutherford. All of Catherine’s sons died in infancy, and you were beheaded too. Your French fashions and pretty singing voice could not save the likes of you. “It's not how you start that matters, it's how you finish.” “Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.” — Francis Bacon The cat’s play is the mouse’s death. ~ German Proverb “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” ― Theodore Roosevelt Ah, St. Marher, 1225: "And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet." 2pry Zeitnot Zshaa-Tichondrius - 601 Disc Priest 226 Ilvl - 27750 RBG zek247 dint undrstnd Ziyatdinov's planto ignore the LSB on deck of the carrier. “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. Silence is the best reply to a fool. ― Joker Always Remember, the beginning is the hardest part. ― Joker Did you hear about the mathematician who’s afraid of negative numbers? He’ll stop at nothing to avoid them. Mendelevium Md 101 (258) 1.3 .oo. 500 games, 1475-2019 Knights A * Classic games by great players: Game Collection: Guinness Book - Chess Grandmasters (Hartston) * Scandinavian Miniatures: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * Back rank mating tactics: Game Collection: 610_Back rank mating tactics * Fork Overload (Remove the Defender): Game Collection: FORK-OVERLOAD OR HOOK-AND-LADDER TRICK * Impact of Genius: 500 years of Grandmaster Chess: Game Collection: Impact of Genius : 500 years of Grandmaster Ches * Chess Prehistory by Joe Stanley: Game Collection: Chess Prehistory * Organized Steinitz collection: Game Collection: Steinitz Gambits * Best (Old) Games of All Time: Game Collection: Best Games of All Time * 'Great Brilliancy Prize Games of the Chess Masters' by Fred Reinfeld: Game Collection: 0 * bengalcat47's favorite games of famous masters: Game Collection: bengalcat47's favorite games * Mil y Una Partidas 1914-1931: Game Collection: Mil y Una Partidas 1914-1931 * Fire Baptisms by Nasruddin Hodja: Game Collection: Fire Baptisms * maxruen's favorite games III: Game Collection: maxruen's favorite games III * some famous brilliancies: Game Collection: brilliacies * Brilliant games by madhatter5: Game Collection: Brilliant games * The Fireside Book of Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld: Game Collection: Fireside Book of Chess * 'Chess Praxis' by Aron Nimzowitsch: Game Collection: Chess Praxis (Nimzowitsch) * '500 Master Games of Chess' by Savielly Tartakower and Julius Du Mont: Game Collection: 500 Master Games of Chess * Great Combinations by wwall: Game Collection: Combinations * Middlegame Combinations by Peter Romanovsky: Game Collection: Middlegame Combinations by Peter Romanovsky * Exchange sacs – 1 by obrit: Game Collection: Exchange sacs - 1 * Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters Volume II: Game Collection: Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters Volume II * 'The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games' by Graham Burgess, John Nunn and John Emms. New expanded edition-now with 125 games. Game Collection: Mammoth Book-Greatest Games (Nunn/Burgess/Emms) * Best of the British by Timothy Glenn Forney: Game Collection: Best of the British * The Best Chess Games (part 2): Game Collection: The Best Chess Games (part 2) * Annotated Games: Game Collection: Annotated Games * sapientdust's favorite games: Game Collection: sapientdust's favorite games * shakman's favorite games – 2: Game Collection: shakman's favorite games - 2 * Reti Opening by KingG: Game Collection: Reti Opening * Veliki majstori saha 16 RETI (Slavko Petrovic): Game Collection: Veliki majstori saha 16 RETI (Petrovic) * Richard Réti's Best Games by Golombek: Game Collection: Richard Réti's Best Games by Golombek * ray keene's favorite games: Game Collection: ray keene's favorite games * Variety pack by Nova: Game Collection: KID games * JonathanJ's favorite games 4: Game Collection: JonathanJ's favorite games 4 * jorundte's favorite games: Game Collection: jorundte's favorite games * elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games * assorted good games by rbaglini: Game Collection: assorted Good games * Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: 0 * Last Collection by Jaredfchess: Game Collection: LAST COLLECTION “Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.” – Alexander Alekhine “Among a great many other things that chess teaches you is to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good. It trains you to think before grabbing and to think just as objectively when you’re in trouble.” -- Stanley Kubrick “Chess helps you to concentrate, improve your logic. It teaches you to play by the rules, take responsibility for your actions, how to problem solve in an uncertain environment.” – Garry Kasparov “Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe “To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game.” – Savielly Tartakower “Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.” ― Winston S. Churchill The Use Of Knowledge Between two citizens A controversy grew. The one was poor, but much he knew: The other, rich, with little sense, Claimed that, in point of excellence, The merely wise should bow the knee To all such moneyed men as he. The merely fools, he should have said; For why should wealth hold up its head, When merit from its side has fled? "My friend," said Bloated-purse, To his reverse, "You think yourself considerable. Pray, tell me, do you keep a table? What comes of this incessant reading, In point of lodging, clothing, feeding? It gives one, true, the highest chamber, One coat for June and for December, His shadow for his sole attendant, And hunger always in the ascendant. What profits he his country, too, Who scarcely ever spends a sou – Will, haply, be a public charge? Who profits more the state at large, Than he whose luxuries dispense Among the people wealth immense? We set the streams of life a-flowing; We set all sorts of trades a-going. The spinner, weaver, sewer, vender, And many a wearer, fair and tender, All live and flourish on the spender – As do, indeed, the reverend rooks Who waste their time in making books." These words, so full of impudence, Received their proper recompense. The man of letters held his peace, Though much he might have said with ease. A war avenged him soon and well; In it their common city fell. Both fled abroad; the ignorant, By fortune thus brought down to want, Was treated everywhere with scorn, And roamed about, a wretch forlorn; Whereas the scholar, everywhere, Was nourished by the public care. Let fools the studious despise; There's nothing lost by being wise. When the heart is full the tongue will speak. Scottish Proverb The Two Friends Two friends, in Monomotapa, Had all their interests combined. Their friendship, faithful and refined, Our country can't exceed, do what it may. One night, when potent Sleep had laid All still within our planet's shade, One of the two gets up alarmed, Runs over to the other's palace, And hastily the servants rallies. His startled friend, quick armed, With purse and sword his comrade meets, And thus right kindly greets: "You seldom com'st at such an hour; I take you for a man of sounder mind Than to abuse the time for sleep designed. Have lost your purse, by Fortune's power? Here's mine. Have suffered insult, or a blow, I have here my sword – to avenge it let us go." "No," said his friend, "no need I feel Of either silver, gold, or steel; I thank you for your friendly zeal. In sleep I saw you rather sad, And thought the truth might be as bad. Unable to endure the fear, That cursed dream has brought me here." Which think you, reader, loved the most! If doubtful this, one truth may be proposed: There's nothing sweeter than a real friend: Not only is he prompt to lend – An angler delicate, he fishes The very deepest of your wishes, And spares your modesty the task His friendly aid to ask. A dream, a shadow, wakes his fear, When pointing at the object dear. In days of old when knights were bold and toilets weren’t invented they did their load beside the road and walked away contented The Triumph of Life Percy Bysshe Shelley Swift as a spirit hastening to his task Of glory & of good, the Sun sprang forth Rejoicing in his splendour, & the mask Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth. The smokeless altars of the mountain snows Flamed above crimson clouds, & at the birth Of light, the Ocean’s orison arose To which the birds tempered their matin lay, All flowers in field or forest which unclose Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day, Swinging their censers in the element, With orient incense lit by the new ray Burned slow & inconsumably, & sent Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air, And in succession due, did Continent, Isle, Ocean, & all things that in them wear The form & character of mortal mould Rise as the Sun their father rose, to bear Their portion of the toil which he of old Took as his own & then imposed on them; But I, whom thoughts which must remain untold Had kept as wakeful as the stars that gem The cone of night, now they were laid asleep, Stretched my faint limbs beneath the hoary stem Which an old chestnut flung athwart the steep Of a green Apennine: before me fled The night; behind me rose the day; the Deep Was at my feet, & Heaven above my head When a strange trance over my fancy grew Which was not slumber, for the shade it spread Was so transparent that the scene came through As clear as when a veil of light is drawn O’er evening hills they glimmer; and I knew That I had felt the freshness of that dawn, Bathed in the same cold dew my brow & hair And sate as thus upon that slope of lawn Under the self same bough, & heard as there The birds, the fountains & the Ocean hold Sweet talk in music through the enamoured air. And then a Vision on my brain was rolled. As in that trance of wondrous thought I lay This was the tenour of my waking dream. Methought I sate beside a public way Thick strewn with summer dust, & a great stream Of people there was hurrying to & fro Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam, All hastening onward, yet none seemed to know Whither he went, or whence he came, or why He made one of the multitude, yet so Was borne amid the crowd as through the sky One of the million leaves of summer’s bier.— Old age & youth, manhood & infancy, Mixed in one mighty torrent did appear, Some flying from the thing they feared & some Seeking the object of another’s fear, And others as with steps towards the tomb Pored on the trodden worms that crawled beneath, And others mournfully within the gloom Of their own shadow walked, and called it death … And some fled from it as it were a ghost, Half fainting in the affliction of vain breath. But more with motions which each other crost Pursued or shunned the shadows the clouds threw Or birds within the noonday ether lost, Upon that path where flowers never grew; And weary with vain toil & faint for thirst Heard not the fountains whose melodious dew Out of their mossy cells forever burst Nor felt the breeze which from the forest told Of grassy paths, & wood lawns interspersed With overarching elms & caverns cold, And violet banks where sweet dreams brood, but they Pursued their serious folly as of old …. And as I gazed methought that in the way The throng grew wilder, as the woods of June When the South wind shakes the extinguished day.— And a cold glare, intenser than the noon But icy cold, obscured with [[blank]] light The Sun as he the stars. Like the young moon When on the sunlit limits of the night Her white shell trembles amid crimson air And whilst the sleeping tempest gathers might Doth, as a herald of its coming, bear The ghost of her dead Mother, whose dim form Bends in dark ether from her infant’s chair, So came a chariot on the silent storm Of its own rushing splendour, and a Shape So sate within as one whom years deform Beneath a dusky hood & double cape Crouching within the shadow of a tomb, And o’er what seemed the head, a cloud like crape, Was bent a dun & faint etherial gloom Tempering the light; upon the chariot’s beam A Janus-visaged Shadow did assume The guidance of that wonder-winged team. The Shapes which drew it in thick lightnings Were lost: I heard alone on the air’s soft stream The music of their ever moving wings. All the four faces of that charioteer Had their eyes banded . . . little profit brings Speed in the van & blindness in the rear, Nor then avail the beams that quench the Sun Or that his banded eyes could pierce the sphere Of all that is, has been, or will be done.— So ill was the car guided, but it past With solemn speed majestically on . . . The crowd gave way, & I arose aghast, Or seemed to rise, so mighty was the trance, And saw like clouds upon the thunder blast The million with fierce song and maniac dance Raging around; such seemed the jubilee As when to greet some conqueror’s advance Imperial Rome poured forth her living sea From senatehouse & prison & theatre When Freedom left those who upon the free Had bound a yoke which soon they stooped to bear. Nor wanted here the true similitude Of a triumphal pageant, for where’er The chariot rolled a captive multitude Was driven; althose who had grown old in power Or misery,—all who have their age subdued, By action or by suffering, and whose hour Was drained to its last sand in weal or woe, So that the trunk survived both fruit & flower; All those whose fame or infamy must grow Till the great winter lay the form & name Of their own earth with them forever low, All but the sacred few who could not tame Their spirits to the Conqueror, but as soon As they had touched the world with living flame Fled back like eagles to their native noon, Of those who put aside the diadem Of earthly thrones or gems, till the last one Were there;—for they of Athens & Jerusalem Were neither mid the mighty captives seen Nor mid the ribald crowd that followed them Or fled before . . Now swift, fierce & obscene The wild dance maddens in the van, & those Who lead it, fleet as shadows on the green, Outspeed the chariot & without repose Mix with each other in tempestuous measure To savage music …. Wilder as it grows, They, tortured by the agonizing pleasure, Convulsed & on the rapid whirlwinds spun Of that fierce spirit, whose unholy leisure Was soothed by mischief since the world begun, Throw back their heads & loose their streaming hair, And in their dance round her who dims the Sun Maidens & youths fling their wild arms in air As their feet twinkle; they recede, and now Bending within each other’s atmosphere Kindle invisibly; and as they glow Like moths by light attracted & repelled, Oft to new bright destruction come & go. Till like two clouds into one vale impelled That shake the mountains when their lightnings mingle And die in rain,—the fiery band which held Their natures, snaps . . . ere the shock cease to tingle One falls and then another in the path Senseless, nor is the desolation single, Yet ere I can say where the chariot hath Past over them; nor other trace I find But as of foam after the Ocean’s wrath Is spent upon the desert shore.—Behind, Old men, and women foully disarrayed Shake their grey hair in the insulting wind, Limp in the dance & strain, with limbs decayed, Seeking to reach the light which leaves them still Farther behind & deeper in the shade. But not the less with impotence of will They wheel, though ghastly shadows interpose Round them & round each other, and fulfill Their work and to the dust whence they arose Sink & corruption veils them as they lie And frost in these performs what fire in those. Struck to the heart by this sad pageantry, Half to myself I said, “And what is this? Whose shape is that within the car? & why”- I would have added—”is all here amiss?” But a voice answered . . “Life” . . . I turned & knew (O Heaven have mercy on such wretchedness!) That what I thought was an old root which grew To strange distortion out of the hill side Was indeed one of that deluded crew, And that the grass which methought hung so wide And white, was but his thin discoloured hair, And that the holes it vainly sought to hide Were or had been eyes.—”lf thou canst forbear To join the dance, which I had well forborne,” Said the grim Feature, of my thought aware, “I will now tell that which to this deep scorn Led me & my companions, and relate The progress of the pageant since the morn; “If thirst of knowledge doth not thus abate, Follow it even to the night, but I Am weary” . . . Then like one who with the weight Of his own words is staggered, wearily He paused, and ere he could resume, I cried, “First who art thou?” . . . “Before thy memory “I feared, loved, hated, suffered, did, & died, And if the spark with which Heaven lit my spirit Earth had with purer nutriment supplied “Corruption would not now thus much inherit Of what was once Rousseau—nor this disguise Stained that within which still disdains to wear it.— “If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore.”— “And who are those chained to the car?” “The Wise, “The great, the unforgotten: they who wore Mitres & helms & crowns, or wreathes of light, Signs of thought’s empire over thought; their lore “Taught them not this—to know themselves; their might Could not repress the mutiny within, And for the morn of truth they feigned, deep night “Caught them ere evening.” “Who is he with chin Upon his breast and hands crost on his chain?” “The Child of a fierce hour; he sought to win “The world, and lost all it did contain Of greatness, in its hope destroyed; & more Of fame & peace than Virtue’s self can gain “Without the opportunity which bore Him on its eagle’s pinion to the peak From which a thousand climbers have before “Fall’n as Napoleon fell.”—I felt my cheek Alter to see the great form pass away Whose grasp had left the giant world so weak That every pigmy kicked it as it lay— And much I grieved to think how power & will In opposition rule our mortal day— And why God made irreconcilable Good & the means of good; and for despair I half disdained mine eye’s desire to fill With the spent vision of the times that were And scarce have ceased to be . . . “Dost thou behold,” Said then my guide, “those spoilers spoiled, Voltaire, “Frederic, & Kant, Catherine, & Leopold, Chained hoary anarch, demagogue & sage Whose name the fresh world thinks already old— “For in the battle Life & they did wage She remained conqueror—I was overcome By my own heart alone, which neither age “Nor tears nor infamy nor now the tomb Could temper to its object.”—”Let them pass”— I cried—”the world & its mysterious doom “Is not so much more glorious than it was That I desire to worship those who drew New figures on its false & fragile glass “As the old faded.”—”Figures ever new Rise on the bubble, paint them how you may; We have but thrown, as those before us threw, “Our shadows on it as it past away. But mark, how chained to the triumphal chair The mighty phantoms of an elder day— “All that is mortal of great Plato there Expiates the joy & woe his master knew not; That star that ruled his doom was far too fair— “And Life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not, Conquered the heart by love which gold or pain Or age or sloth or slavery could subdue not— “And near [[blank]] walk the [[blank]] twain, The tutor & his pupil, whom Dominion Followed as tame as vulture in a chain.— “The world was darkened beneath either pinion Of him whom from the flock of conquerors Fame singled as her thunderbearing minion; “The other long outlived both woes & wars, Throned in new thoughts of men, and still had kept The jealous keys of truth’s eternal doors “If Bacon’s spirit [[blank]] had not leapt Like lightning out of darkness; he compelled The Proteus shape of Nature’s as it slept “To wake & to unbar the caves that held The treasure of the secrets of its reign— See the great bards of old who inly quelled “The passions which they sung, as by their strain May well be known: their living melody Tempers its own contagion to the vein “Of those who are infected with it—I Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain!— “And so my words were seeds of misery— Even as the deeds of others.”—”Not as theirs,” I said—he pointed to a company In which I recognized amid the heirs Of Caesar’s crime from him to Constantine, The Anarchs old whose force & murderous snares Had founded many a sceptre bearing line And spread the plague of blood & gold abroad, And Gregory & John and men divine Who rose like shadows between Man & god Till that eclipse, still hanging under Heaven, Was worshipped by the world o’er which they strode For the true Sun it quenched.—”Their power was given But to destroy,” replied the leader—”I Am one of those who have created, even “If it be but a world of agony.”— “Whence camest thou & whither goest thou? How did thy course begin,” I said, “& why? “Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow Of people, & my heart of one sad thought.— Speak.”—”Whence I came, partly I seem to know, “And how & by what paths I have been brought To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess; Why this should be my mind can compass not; “Whither the conqueror hurries me still less. But follow thou, & from spectator turn Actor or victim in this wretchedness, “And what thou wouldst be taught I then may learn From thee.—Now listen . . . In the April prime When all the forest tops began to burn “With kindling green, touched by the azure clime Of the young year, I found myself asleep Under a mountain which from unknown time “Had yawned into a cavern high & deep, And from it came a gentle rivulet Whose water like clear air in its calm sweep “Bent the soft grass & kept for ever wet The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove With sound which all who hear must needs forget “All pleasure & all pain, all hate & love, Which they had known before that hour of rest: A sleeping mother then would dream not of “The only child who died upon her breast At eventide, a king would mourn no more The crown of which his brow was dispossest “When the sun lingered o’er the Ocean floor To gild his rival’s new prosperity.— Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore “Ills, which if ills, can find no cure from thee, The thought of which no other sleep will quell Nor other music blot from memory— “So sweet & deep is the oblivious spell.— Whether my life had been before that sleep The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell “Like this harsh world in which I wake to weep, I know not. I arose & for a space The scene of woods & waters seemed to keep, “Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace Of light diviner than the common Sun Sheds on the common Earth, but all the place “Was filled with many sounds woven into one Oblivious melody, confusing sense Amid the gliding waves & shadows dun; “And as I looked the bright omnipresence Of morning through the orient cavern flowed, And the Sun’s image radiantly intense “Burned on the waters of the well that glowed Like gold, and threaded all the forest maze With winding paths of emerald fire—there stood “Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze Of his own glory, on the vibrating Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays, “A shape all light, which with one hand did fling Dew on the earth, as if she were the Dawn Whose invisible rain forever seemed to sing “A silver music on the mossy lawn, And still before her on the dusky grass Iris her many coloured scarf had drawn.— “In her right hand she bore a crystal glass Mantling with bright Nepenthe;—the fierce splendour Fell from her as she moved under the mass “Of the deep cavern, & with palms so tender Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow, Glided along the river, and did bend her “Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream That whispered with delight to be their pillow.— “As one enamoured is upborne in dream O’er lily-paven lakes mid silver mist To wondrous music, so this shape might seem “Partly to tread the waves with feet which kist The dancing foam, partly to glide along The airs that roughened the moist amethyst, “Or the slant morning beams that fell among The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees; And her feet ever to the ceaseless song “Of leaves & winds & waves & birds & bees And falling drops moved in a measure new Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze “Up from the lake a shape of golden dew Between two rocks, athwart the rising moon, Moves up the east, where eagle never flew.— “And still her feet, no less than the sweet tune To which they moved, seemed as they moved, to blot The thoughts of him who gazed on them, & soon “All that was seemed as if it had been not, As if the gazer’s mind was strewn beneath Her feet like embers, & she, thought by thought, “Trampled its fires into the dust of death, As Day upon the threshold of the east Treads out the lamps of night, until the breath “Of darkness reillumines even the least Of heaven’s living eyes—like day she came, Making the night a dream; and ere she ceased “To move, as one between desire and shame Suspended, I said—’If, as it doth seem, Thou comest from the realm without a name, ” ‘Into this valley of perpetual dream, Shew whence I came, and where I am, and why— Pass not away upon the passing stream.’ ” ‘Arise and quench thy thirst,’ was her reply, And as a shut lily, stricken by the wand Of dewy morning’s vital alchemy, “I rose; and, bending at her sweet command, Touched with faint lips the cup she raised, And suddenly my brain became as sand “Where the first wave had more than half erased The track of deer on desert Labrador, Whilst the fierce wolf from which they fled amazed “Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore Until the second bursts—so on my sight Burst a new Vision never seen before.— “And the fair shape waned in the coming light As veil by veil the silent splendour drops From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite “Of sunrise ere it strike the mountain tops— And as the presence of that fairest planet Although unseen is felt by one who hopes “That his day’s path may end as he began it In that star’s smile, whose light is like the scent Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it, “Or the soft note in which his dear lament The Brescian shepherd breathes, or the caress That turned his weary slumber to content.— “So knew I in that light’s severe excess The presence of that shape which on the stream Moved, as I moved along the wilderness, “More dimly than a day appearing dream, The ghost of a forgotten form of sleep A light from Heaven whose half extinguished beam “Through the sick day in which we wake to weep Glimmers, forever sought, forever lost.— So did that shape its obscure tenour keep “Beside my path, as silent as a ghost; But the new Vision, and its cold bright car, With savage music, stunning music, crost “The forest, and as if from some dread war Triumphantly returning, the loud million Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star.— “A moving arch of victory the vermilion And green & azure plumes of Iris had Built high over her wind-winged pavilion, “And underneath aetherial glory clad The wilderness, and far before her flew The tempest of the splendour which forbade Shadow to fall from leaf or stone;—the crew Seemed in that light like atomies that dance Within a sunbeam.—Some upon the new “Embroidery of flowers that did enhance The grassy vesture of the desart, played, Forgetful of the chariot’s swift advance; “Others stood gazing till within the shade Of the great mountain its light left them dim.— Others outspeeded it, and others made “Circles around it like the clouds that swim Round the high moon in a bright sea of air, And more did follow, with exulting hymn, “The chariot & the captives fettered there, But all like bubbles on an eddying flood Fell into the same track at last & were “Borne onward.—I among the multitude Was swept; me sweetest flowers delayed not long, Me not the shadow nor the solitude, “Me not the falling stream’s Lethean song, Me, not the phantom of that early form Which moved upon its motion,—but among “The thickest billows of the living storm I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.— “Before the chariot had begun to climb The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme “Of him whom from the lowest depths of Hell Through every Paradise & through all glory Love led serene, & who returned to tell “In words of hate & awe the wondrous story How all things are transfigured, except Love; For deaf as is a sea which wrath makes hoary “The world can hear not the sweet notes that move The sphere whose light is melody to lovers—- A wonder worthy of his rhyme—the grove “Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers, The earth was grey with phantoms, & the air Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers “A flock of vampire-bats before the glare Of the tropic sun, bring ere evening Strange night upon some Indian isle,—thus were “Phantoms diffused around, & some did fling Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves, Behind them, some like eaglets on the wing “Were lost in the white blaze, others like elves Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes Upon the sunny streams & grassy shelves; “And others sate chattering like restless apes On vulgar paws and voluble like fire. Some made a cradle of the ermined capes “Of kingly mantles, some upon the tiar Of pontiffs sate like vultures, others played Within the crown which girt with empire “A baby’s or an idiot’s brow, & made Their nests in it; the old anatomies Sate hatching their bare brood under the shade “Of demon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes To reassume the delegated power Arrayed in which these worms did monarchize “Who make this earth their charnel.—Others more Humble, like falcons sate upon the fist Of common men, and round their heads did soar, “Or like small gnats & flies, as thick as mist On evening marshes, thronged about the brow Of lawyer, statesman, priest & theorist, “And others like discoloured flakes of snow On fairest bosoms & the sunniest hair Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow “Which they extinguished; for like tears, they were A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained In drops of sorrow.—I became aware “Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained The track in which we moved; after brief space From every form the beauty slowly waned, “From every firmest limb & fairest face The strength & freshness fell like dust, & left The action & the shape without the grace “Of life; the marble brow of youth was cleft With care, and in the eyes where once hope shone Desire like a lioness bereft “Of its last cub, glared ere it died; each one Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown “In Autumn evening from a popular tree— Each, like himself & like each other were, At first, but soon distorted, seemed to be “Obscure clouds moulded by the casual air; And of this stuff the car’s creative ray Wrought all the busy phantoms that were there “As the sun shapes the clouds—thus, on the way Mask after mask fell from the countenance And form of all, and long before the day “Was old, the joy which waked like Heaven’s glance The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died, And some grew weary of the ghastly dance “And fell, as I have fallen by the way side, Those soonest from whose forms most shadows past And least of strength & beauty did abide.”— “Then, what is Life?” I said . . . the cripple cast His eye upon the car which now had rolled Onward, as if that look must be the last, And answered …. “Happy those for whom the fold Of … “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell 473 games, 1515-2023 Lif Carolina Luves Louie Louie doesn't luve her back. Louie respects her, but he doesn't luve her (nor mislead her; teasing would be cruel). Just leave that woman alone so she doesn't get her hopes up. B10 Caro-Kann Defence B11 Caro-Kann, Two knights, 3...Bg4 B12 Caro-Kann defence B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange variation B14 Caro-Kann, Panov-Botvinnik attack, 5...e6 B15 Caro-Kann defence B16 Caro-Kann, Bronstein-Larsen variation B17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz variation B18 Caro-Kann, Classical variation B19 Caro-Kann, Classical, 7...Nd7 * 10 for Black: Game Collection: Caro-Kann Defense * Advanced Beginners: Game Collection: A A A NEW STUDENT'S FOLDER * jakaiden's C-K Collection: Game Collection: Grandmaster Repertoire: The Caro-Kann 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 “Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game.” – Being Caballero “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” – says Garry Kasparov "Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." ― John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, and former Navy Lieutenant “Age brings wisdom to some men, and to others chess.”– Evan Esar * Good Historical Links: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/in... * Internet tracking: https://www.studysmarter.us/magazin... * 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... "Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul." ― General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur 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 Apr-05-23 WannaBe: Can a vegan have a 'beef' with you? Or Vegans only have 'beet' with you? I am confused. Apr-05-23 Cassandro: Vegan police officers should be exempt from doing steak-outs. 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 Sun and the Frogs Rejoicing on their tyrant's wedding-day, The people drowned their care in drink; While from the general joy did Aesop shrink, And showed its folly in this way. "The sun," said he, "once took it in his head To have a partner for his bed. From swamps, and ponds, and marshy bogs, Up rose the wailings of the frogs. "What shall we do, should he have progeny?" Said they to Destiny; "One sun we scarcely can endure, And half-a-dozen, we are sure, Will dry the very sea. Adieu to marsh and fen! Our race will perish then, Or be obliged to fix Their dwelling in the Styx!" For such an humble animal, The frog, I take it, reasoned well." “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 “All warfare is based on deception.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War Adapt on the fly. “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” — General George S. Patton A Psalm of Life Henry Wadsworth Longfellow What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist. Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day. Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife! Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,— act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o’erhead! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time; Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. * 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... The Triumph of Life Percy Bysshe Shelley Swift as a spirit hastening to his task Of glory & of good, the Sun sprang forth Rejoicing in his splendour, & the mask Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth. The smokeless altars of the mountain snows Flamed above crimson clouds, & at the birth Of light, the Ocean’s orison arose To which the birds tempered their matin lay, All flowers in field or forest which unclose Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day, Swinging their censers in the element, With orient incense lit by the new ray Burned slow & inconsumably, & sent Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air, And in succession due, did Continent, Isle, Ocean, & all things that in them wear The form & character of mortal mould Rise as the Sun their father rose, to bear Their portion of the toil which he of old Took as his own & then imposed on them; But I, whom thoughts which must remain untold Had kept as wakeful as the stars that gem The cone of night, now they were laid asleep, Stretched my faint limbs beneath the hoary stem Which an old chestnut flung athwart the steep Of a green Apennine: before me fled The night; behind me rose the day; the Deep Was at my feet, & Heaven above my head When a strange trance over my fancy grew Which was not slumber, for the shade it spread Was so transparent that the scene came through As clear as when a veil of light is drawn O’er evening hills they glimmer; and I knew That I had felt the freshness of that dawn, Bathed in the same cold dew my brow & hair And sate as thus upon that slope of lawn Under the self same bough, & heard as there The birds, the fountains & the Ocean hold Sweet talk in music through the enamoured air. And then a Vision on my brain was rolled. As in that trance of wondrous thought I lay This was the tenour of my waking dream. Methought I sate beside a public way Thick strewn with summer dust, & a great stream Of people there was hurrying to & fro Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam, All hastening onward, yet none seemed to know Whither he went, or whence he came, or why He made one of the multitude, yet so Was borne amid the crowd as through the sky One of the million leaves of summer’s bier.— Old age & youth, manhood & infancy, Mixed in one mighty torrent did appear, Some flying from the thing they feared & some Seeking the object of another’s fear, And others as with steps towards the tomb Pored on the trodden worms that crawled beneath, And others mournfully within the gloom Of their own shadow walked, and called it death … And some fled from it as it were a ghost, Half fainting in the affliction of vain breath. But more with motions which each other crost Pursued or shunned the shadows the clouds threw Or birds within the noonday ether lost, Upon that path where flowers never grew; And weary with vain toil & faint for thirst Heard not the fountains whose melodious dew Out of their mossy cells forever burst Nor felt the breeze which from the forest told Of grassy paths, & wood lawns interspersed With overarching elms & caverns cold, And violet banks where sweet dreams brood, but they Pursued their serious folly as of old …. And as I gazed methought that in the way The throng grew wilder, as the woods of June When the South wind shakes the extinguished day.— And a cold glare, intenser than the noon But icy cold, obscured with [[blank]] light The Sun as he the stars. Like the young moon When on the sunlit limits of the night Her white shell trembles amid crimson air And whilst the sleeping tempest gathers might Doth, as a herald of its coming, bear The ghost of her dead Mother, whose dim form Bends in dark ether from her infant’s chair, So came a chariot on the silent storm Of its own rushing splendour, and a Shape So sate within as one whom years deform Beneath a dusky hood & double cape Crouching within the shadow of a tomb, And o’er what seemed the head, a cloud like crape, Was bent a dun & faint etherial gloom Tempering the light; upon the chariot’s beam A Janus-visaged Shadow did assume The guidance of that wonder-winged team. The Shapes which drew it in thick lightnings Were lost: I heard alone on the air’s soft stream The music of their ever moving wings. All the four faces of that charioteer Had their eyes banded . . . little profit brings Speed in the van & blindness in the rear, Nor then avail the beams that quench the Sun Or that his banded eyes could pierce the sphere Of all that is, has been, or will be done.— So ill was the car guided, but it past With solemn speed majestically on . . . The crowd gave way, & I arose aghast, Or seemed to rise, so mighty was the trance, And saw like clouds upon the thunder blast The million with fierce song and maniac dance Raging around; such seemed the jubilee As when to greet some conqueror’s advance Imperial Rome poured forth her living sea From senatehouse & prison & theatre When Freedom left those who upon the free Had bound a yoke which soon they stooped to bear. Nor wanted here the true similitude Of a triumphal pageant, for where’er The chariot rolled a captive multitude Was driven; althose who had grown old in power Or misery,—all who have their age subdued, By action or by suffering, and whose hour Was drained to its last sand in weal or woe, So that the trunk survived both fruit & flower; All those whose fame or infamy must grow Till the great winter lay the form & name Of their own earth with them forever low, All but the sacred few who could not tame Their spirits to the Conqueror, but as soon As they had touched the world with living flame Fled back like eagles to their native noon, Of those who put aside the diadem Of earthly thrones or gems, till the last one Were there;—for they of Athens & Jerusalem Were neither mid the mighty captives seen Nor mid the ribald crowd that followed them Or fled before . . Now swift, fierce & obscene The wild dance maddens in the van, & those Who lead it, fleet as shadows on the green, Outspeed the chariot & without repose Mix with each other in tempestuous measure To savage music …. Wilder as it grows, They, tortured by the agonizing pleasure, Convulsed & on the rapid whirlwinds spun Of that fierce spirit, whose unholy leisure Was soothed by mischief since the world begun, Throw back their heads & loose their streaming hair, And in their dance round her who dims the Sun Maidens & youths fling their wild arms in air As their feet twinkle; they recede, and now Bending within each other’s atmosphere Kindle invisibly; and as they glow Like moths by light attracted & repelled, Oft to new bright destruction come & go. Till like two clouds into one vale impelled That shake the mountains when their lightnings mingle And die in rain,—the fiery band which held Their natures, snaps . . . ere the shock cease to tingle One falls and then another in the path Senseless, nor is the desolation single, Yet ere I can say where the chariot hath Past over them; nor other trace I find But as of foam after the Ocean’s wrath Is spent upon the desert shore.—Behind, Old men, and women foully disarrayed Shake their grey hair in the insulting wind, Limp in the dance & strain, with limbs decayed, Seeking to reach the light which leaves them still Farther behind & deeper in the shade. But not the less with impotence of will They wheel, though ghastly shadows interpose Round them & round each other, and fulfill Their work and to the dust whence they arose Sink & corruption veils them as they lie And frost in these performs what fire in those. Struck to the heart by this sad pageantry, Half to myself I said, “And what is this? Whose shape is that within the car? & why”- I would have added—”is all here amiss?” But a voice answered . . “Life” . . . I turned & knew (O Heaven have mercy on such wretchedness!) That what I thought was an old root which grew To strange distortion out of the hill side Was indeed one of that deluded crew, And that the grass which methought hung so wide And white, was but his thin discoloured hair, And that the holes it vainly sought to hide Were or had been eyes.—”lf thou canst forbear To join the dance, which I had well forborne,” Said the grim Feature, of my thought aware, “I will now tell that which to this deep scorn Led me & my companions, and relate The progress of the pageant since the morn; “If thirst of knowledge doth not thus abate, Follow it even to the night, but I Am weary” . . . Then like one who with the weight Of his own words is staggered, wearily He paused, and ere he could resume, I cried, “First who art thou?” . . . “Before thy memory “I feared, loved, hated, suffered, did, & died, And if the spark with which Heaven lit my spirit Earth had with purer nutriment supplied “Corruption would not now thus much inherit Of what was once Rousseau—nor this disguise Stained that within which still disdains to wear it.— “If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore.”— “And who are those chained to the car?” “The Wise, “The great, the unforgotten: they who wore Mitres & helms & crowns, or wreathes of light, Signs of thought’s empire over thought; their lore “Taught them not this—to know themselves; their might Could not repress the mutiny within, And for the morn of truth they feigned, deep night “Caught them ere evening.” “Who is he with chin Upon his breast and hands crost on his chain?” “The Child of a fierce hour; he sought to win “The world, and lost all it did contain Of greatness, in its hope destroyed; & more Of fame & peace than Virtue’s self can gain “Without the opportunity which bore Him on its eagle’s pinion to the peak From which a thousand climbers have before “Fall’n as Napoleon fell.”—I felt my cheek Alter to see the great form pass away Whose grasp had left the giant world so weak That every pigmy kicked it as it lay— And much I grieved to think how power & will In opposition rule our mortal day— And why God made irreconcilable Good & the means of good; and for despair I half disdained mine eye’s desire to fill With the spent vision of the times that were And scarce have ceased to be . . . “Dost thou behold,” Said then my guide, “those spoilers spoiled, Voltaire, “Frederic, & Kant, Catherine, & Leopold, Chained hoary anarch, demagogue & sage Whose name the fresh world thinks already old— “For in the battle Life & they did wage She remained conqueror—I was overcome By my own heart alone, which neither age “Nor tears nor infamy nor now the tomb Could temper to its object.”—”Let them pass”— I cried—”the world & its mysterious doom “Is not so much more glorious than it was That I desire to worship those who drew New figures on its false & fragile glass “As the old faded.”—”Figures ever new Rise on the bubble, paint them how you may; We have but thrown, as those before us threw, “Our shadows on it as it past away. But mark, how chained to the triumphal chair The mighty phantoms of an elder day— “All that is mortal of great Plato there Expiates the joy & woe his master knew not; That star that ruled his doom was far too fair— “And Life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not, Conquered the heart by love which gold or pain Or age or sloth or slavery could subdue not— “And near [[blank]] walk the [[blank]] twain, The tutor & his pupil, whom Dominion Followed as tame as vulture in a chain.— “The world was darkened beneath either pinion Of him whom from the flock of conquerors Fame singled as her thunderbearing minion; “The other long outlived both woes & wars, Throned in new thoughts of men, and still had kept The jealous keys of truth’s eternal doors “If Bacon’s spirit [[blank]] had not leapt Like lightning out of darkness; he compelled The Proteus shape of Nature’s as it slept “To wake & to unbar the caves that held The treasure of the secrets of its reign— See the great bards of old who inly quelled “The passions which they sung, as by their strain May well be known: their living melody Tempers its own contagion to the vein “Of those who are infected with it—I Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain!— “And so my words were seeds of misery— Even as the deeds of others.”—”Not as theirs,” I said—he pointed to a company In which I recognized amid the heirs Of Caesar’s crime from him to Constantine, The Anarchs old whose force & murderous snares Had founded many a sceptre bearing line And spread the plague of blood & gold abroad, And Gregory & John and men divine Who rose like shadows between Man & god Till that eclipse, still hanging under Heaven, Was worshipped by the world o’er which they strode For the true Sun it quenched.—”Their power was given But to destroy,” replied the leader—”I Am one of those who have created, even “If it be but a world of agony.”— “Whence camest thou & whither goest thou? How did thy course begin,” I said, “& why? “Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow Of people, & my heart of one sad thought.— Speak.”—”Whence I came, partly I seem to know, “And how & by what paths I have been brought To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess; Why this should be my mind can compass not; “Whither the conqueror hurries me still less. But follow thou, & from spectator turn Actor or victim in this wretchedness, “And what thou wouldst be taught I then may learn From thee.—Now listen . . . In the April prime When all the forest tops began to burn “With kindling green, touched by the azure clime Of the young year, I found myself asleep Under a mountain which from unknown time “Had yawned into a cavern high & deep, And from it came a gentle rivulet Whose water like clear air in its calm sweep “Bent the soft grass & kept for ever wet The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove With sound which all who hear must needs forget “All pleasure & all pain, all hate & love, Which they had known before that hour of rest: A sleeping mother then would dream not of “The only child who died upon her breast At eventide, a king would mourn no more The crown of which his brow was dispossest “When the sun lingered o’er the Ocean floor To gild his rival’s new prosperity.— Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore “Ills, which if ills, can find no cure from thee, The thought of which no other sleep will quell Nor other music blot from memory— “So sweet & deep is the oblivious spell.— Whether my life had been before that sleep The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell “Like this harsh world in which I wake to weep, I know not. I arose & for a space The scene of woods & waters seemed to keep, “Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace Of light diviner than the common Sun Sheds on the common Earth, but all the place “Was filled with many sounds woven into one Oblivious melody, confusing sense Amid the gliding waves & shadows dun; “And as I looked the bright omnipresence Of morning through the orient cavern flowed, And the Sun’s image radiantly intense “Burned on the waters of the well that glowed Like gold, and threaded all the forest maze With winding paths of emerald fire—there stood “Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze Of his own glory, on the vibrating Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays, “A shape all light, which with one hand did fling Dew on the earth, as if she were the Dawn Whose invisible rain forever seemed to sing “A silver music on the mossy lawn, And still before her on the dusky grass Iris her many coloured scarf had drawn.— “In her right hand she bore a crystal glass Mantling with bright Nepenthe;—the fierce splendour Fell from her as she moved under the mass “Of the deep cavern, & with palms so tender Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow, Glided along the river, and did bend her “Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream That whispered with delight to be their pillow.— “As one enamoured is upborne in dream O’er lily-paven lakes mid silver mist To wondrous music, so this shape might seem “Partly to tread the waves with feet which kist The dancing foam, partly to glide along The airs that roughened the moist amethyst, “Or the slant morning beams that fell among The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees; And her feet ever to the ceaseless song “Of leaves & winds & waves & birds & bees And falling drops moved in a measure new Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze “Up from the lake a shape of golden dew Between two rocks, athwart the rising moon, Moves up the east, where eagle never flew.— “And still her feet, no less than the sweet tune To which they moved, seemed as they moved, to blot The thoughts of him who gazed on them, & soon “All that was seemed as if it had been not, As if the gazer’s mind was strewn beneath Her feet like embers, & she, thought by thought, “Trampled its fires into the dust of death, As Day upon the threshold of the east Treads out the lamps of night, until the breath “Of darkness reillumines even the least Of heaven’s living eyes—like day she came, Making the night a dream; and ere she ceased “To move, as one between desire and shame Suspended, I said—’If, as it doth seem, Thou comest from the realm without a name, ” ‘Into this valley of perpetual dream, Shew whence I came, and where I am, and why— Pass not away upon the passing stream.’ ” ‘Arise and quench thy thirst,’ was her reply, And as a shut lily, stricken by the wand Of dewy morning’s vital alchemy, “I rose; and, bending at her sweet command, Touched with faint lips the cup she raised, And suddenly my brain became as sand “Where the first wave had more than half erased The track of deer on desert Labrador, Whilst the fierce wolf from which they fled amazed “Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore Until the second bursts—so on my sight Burst a new Vision never seen before.— “And the fair shape waned in the coming light As veil by veil the silent splendour drops From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite “Of sunrise ere it strike the mountain tops— And as the presence of that fairest planet Although unseen is felt by one who hopes “That his day’s path may end as he began it In that star’s smile, whose light is like the scent Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it, “Or the soft note in which his dear lament The Brescian shepherd breathes, or the caress That turned his weary slumber to content.— “So knew I in that light’s severe excess The presence of that shape which on the stream Moved, as I moved along the wilderness, “More dimly than a day appearing dream, The ghost of a forgotten form of sleep A light from Heaven whose half extinguished beam “Through the sick day in which we wake to weep Glimmers, forever sought, forever lost.— So did that shape its obscure tenour keep “Beside my path, as silent as a ghost; But the new Vision, and its cold bright car, With savage music, stunning music, crost “The forest, and as if from some dread war Triumphantly returning, the loud million Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star.— “A moving arch of victory the vermilion And green & azure plumes of Iris had Built high over her wind-winged pavilion, “And underneath aetherial glory clad The wilderness, and far before her flew The tempest of the splendour which forbade Shadow to fall from leaf or stone;—the crew Seemed in that light like atomies that dance Within a sunbeam.—Some upon the new “Embroidery of flowers that did enhance The grassy vesture of the desart, played, Forgetful of the chariot’s swift advance; “Others stood gazing till within the shade Of the great mountain its light left them dim.— Others outspeeded it, and others made “Circles around it like the clouds that swim Round the high moon in a bright sea of air, And more did follow, with exulting hymn, “The chariot & the captives fettered there, But all like bubbles on an eddying flood Fell into the same track at last & were “Borne onward.—I among the multitude Was swept; me sweetest flowers delayed not long, Me not the shadow nor the solitude, “Me not the falling stream’s Lethean song, Me, not the phantom of that early form Which moved upon its motion,—but among “The thickest billows of the living storm I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.— “Before the chariot had begun to climb The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme “Of him whom from the lowest depths of Hell Through every Paradise & through all glory Love led serene, & who returned to tell “In words of hate & awe the wondrous story How all things are transfigured, except Love; For deaf as is a sea which wrath makes hoary “The world can hear not the sweet notes that move The sphere whose light is melody to lovers—- A wonder worthy of his rhyme—the grove “Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers, The earth was grey with phantoms, & the air Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers “A flock of vampire-bats before the glare Of the tropic sun, bring ere evening Strange night upon some Indian isle,—thus were “Phantoms diffused around, & some did fling Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves, Behind them, some like eaglets on the wing “Were lost in the white blaze, others like elves Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes Upon the sunny streams & grassy shelves; “And others sate chattering like restless apes On vulgar paws and voluble like fire. Some made a cradle of the ermined capes “Of kingly mantles, some upon the tiar Of pontiffs sate like vultures, others played Within the crown which girt with empire “A baby’s or an idiot’s brow, & made Their nests in it; the old anatomies Sate hatching their bare brood under the shade “Of demon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes To reassume the delegated power Arrayed in which these worms did monarchize “Who make this earth their charnel.—Others more Humble, like falcons sate upon the fist Of common men, and round their heads did soar, “Or like small gnats & flies, as thick as mist On evening marshes, thronged about the brow Of lawyer, statesman, priest & theorist, “And others like discoloured flakes of snow On fairest bosoms & the sunniest hair Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow “Which they extinguished; for like tears, they were A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained In drops of sorrow.—I became aware “Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained The track in which we moved; after brief space From every form the beauty slowly waned, “From every firmest limb & fairest face The strength & freshness fell like dust, & left The action & the shape without the grace “Of life; the marble brow of youth was cleft With care, and in the eyes where once hope shone Desire like a lioness bereft “Of its last cub, glared ere it died; each one Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown “In Autumn evening from a popular tree— Each, like himself & like each other were, At first, but soon distorted, seemed to be “Obscure clouds moulded by the casual air; And of this stuff the car’s creative ray Wrought all the busy phantoms that were there “As the sun shapes the clouds—thus, on the way Mask after mask fell from the countenance And form of all, and long before the day “Was old, the joy which waked like Heaven’s glance The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died, And some grew weary of the ghastly dance “And fell, as I have fallen by the way side, Those soonest from whose forms most shadows past And least of strength & beauty did abide.”— “Then, what is Life?” I said . . . the cripple cast His eye upon the car which now had rolled Onward, as if that look must be the last, And answered …. “Happy those for whom the fold Of … “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell 423 games, 1883-2020 Lif Counterpunching in Blitz Quos by sternocleidomastoid "Chess is imagination." ― David Bronstein "Intuition in chess can be defined as the first move that comes to mind when you see a position." ― Viswanathan Anand “Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game.” ― Being Caballero "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 "When I am in form, my style is a little bit stubborn, almost brutal. Sometimes I feel a great spirit of fight which drives me on." ― Boris Spassky “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” ― Garry Kasparov "Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." ― John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, and former Navy Lieutenant "After we have paid our dutiful respects to such frigid virtues as calculation, foresight, self-control and the like, we always come back to the thought that speculative attack is the lifeblood of chess." — Fred Reinfeld “Age brings wisdom to some men, and to others chess.” ― Evan Esar “Sometimes a feeling is all we humans have to go on.” — Captain Kirk "After I won the title, I was confronted with the real world. People do not behave naturally anymore - hypocrisy is everywhere." ― Boris Spassky “The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country.” ― George S. Patton Jr. "The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." ― Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, and former U.S. Army Colonel Checkmate by treecards In front of the king, white moves his pawn. The opponent begins, with a sign and yawn. White Bishop from C, moves to F five. Followed by adrenaline, Queen is more than alive. Black moves his pawn, foolishly to B four. It looks tragically close, to the end of his war. The white Queen glides, elegantly to the right side. Shocks her opponent, and rips out his pride. It was a beautifully executed, and efficient checkmate. Opponent lacked caution, and now rest with his fate. This wonderful game, that we all call chess. Your odds are reduced, each time you guess. Remember to follow, your strategy and tact. When you see opportunity, make sure you act. At the end of the day, hope you enjoy. Many sweet games, it’s much more than a toy. * White moves first: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First... * What's the results? https://www.chess.com/article/view/... * Assorted Good games Compiled by rbaglini: Game Collection: assorted Good games * C-K Minis: Game Collection: Caro-Kann short GM games * 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... * GK's Scheveningen: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen * Two Knts Defense: Game Collection: Two Knights Defence by Beliavsky mikhalchisin "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 "There is no remorse like the remorse of chess." ― H. G. Wells. * Fabulous chess brilliancies: https://www.chess.com/article/view/... * Merit Badge Teaching Examples: Game Collection: 0 * Uncompromising Chess, by Belyavsky, Alexander (User: Resignation Trap) Game Collection: Uncompromising Chess by Alexander Beliavsky ♖♖♖ http://www.amazon.com/Uncompromisin... * Understanding Chess Move by Move: A Top-Class Grandmaster Explains Step-by-Step How Chess Games Are Won, by Nunn, John (User: PhilipTheGeek) Game Collection: Nunn's Understanding Chess Move by Move ♖♖♖ http://www.amazon.com/Understanding... * Understanding the Queen's Indian Defense, by Soltis, Andy, Edmar Mednis, Raymond Keene and John Grefe (User: suenteus po 147) Game Collection: Understanding the Queen's Indian Defense ♖♖♖ http://www.amazon.com/Queens-Indian... Adams Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Qh5 Nd6 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.d4) Adelaide Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 Nc6 3.Nf3 f5) Alapin Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 Bg4 6.h3 h5) Alapin Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Be3) Albin Counter Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5) Alekhine Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Ne2 dxe4 5.a3 Be7 6.Nxe4 Nf6 7.N2g3 0-0 8.Be2 Nc6) Allgaier Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ng5) Andreaschek Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 e5 4.c3) Anti-Meran Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c6 5.Bg5) Anti-Moscow Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 g5 7.Bg3 dxc4 8.e4) Balogh Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.e4 d6) Basque Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d4 exd4 7.e5 Ne4 8.c3) Belgrade Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5) Bellon Gambit (1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Ng5 b5) Benko Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5) Bertin (Three Pawns) Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Be7 4.Bc4 Bh4+ 5.g3 fxg3 6.0-0 gxh2+ 7.Kh1) Bishop’s Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4) Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4) Blackburne Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ng5 h6 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Nc3) Blackmar–Diemer Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 – also (1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3) Blumenfeld Counter Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5) Blumenfeld Reversed Gambit (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.e3 c5 4.b4) Boden–Kieseritzky Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxe4 4.Nc3) Boehnke Gambit (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 e6 3. dxe6 Bxe6) Brentano Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g5) Breyer Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Qf3) Bronstein Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.0-0 Nc6 6.c3 Nf6 7.d4) Bryan Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 b5) Bryan (Kieseritzky) CounterGambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 b5) Budapest Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5) Calabrian Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 f5) Carrera (Basman) Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Qe2) Catalan Queens Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3) Charousek Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4 4.d3 Nf6 5.dxe4 Nxe4 6.Qe2) Chicago Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nxe5 Nxe5 4.d4) Cochrane Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7) Colorado Gambit (1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 f5) Cunningham Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Be7) Dada Gambit (1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5 3.b4) Danish Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3) Danube Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.d5 b5) De Smet Gambit (1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 d6) Diemer Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e4) Diemer–Duhm Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c4) Double Muzio Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.0-0 gxf3 6.Qxf3 Qf6 7.e5 Qxe5 8.Bxf7+) Duras Gambit (Fred Defence) (1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Kf7) Elephant Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5) Englund Gambit (1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Qd5 f6 5.exf6 Nxf6) Evans Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4) Evans Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 d5) Fajarowicz Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4) Falkbeer Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5) Four Pawns Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.b4 Bxb4 4.f4 exf4 5.Nf3 Be7 6.d4 Bh4+ 7.g3 fxg3 8.0-0 gxh2+ 9.Kh1) Franco-Hiva Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 f5) Frankenstein–Dracula Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Qh5 Nd6 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.Nb5 g6 7.Qf3 f5 8.Qd5 Qe7 9.Nxc7+ Kd8 10.Nxa8 b6) French: Wing Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4) Fried Liver Attack Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7 Kxf7) From Gambit (1.f4 e5) Fyfe Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.d4) Gent Gambit (1.Nh3 d5 2.g3 e5 3.f4 Bxh3 4.Bxh3 exf4 5.0-0 fxg3 6.hxg3) Ghulam Khassim Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.d4) Gianutio Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 f5) Ginsburg Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bc4) Godley Gambit (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Nf6) Göring Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3) Greco Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.f4) Grünfeld Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0-0) Halasz Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4) Halibut Gambit (1.c4 b5) Halloween Gambit (Müller–Schultze) Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5) Hamppe–Muzio Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3 g5 5.Bc4 g4 6.0-0) Hanstein Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.0-0) Harksen Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.c4) Herrstrom Gambit (1.Nf3 g5) Hubsch Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 Nxe4 4.Nxe4 dxe4 4.Bc4) Icelandic Gambit (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.c4 e6) Italian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d4) Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7) John Tracy Gambit (1.e4 Nf6 2.Nf3) Karpov Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5) Kasparov Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Nf6 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 d5) Keres Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nc3) Khan Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 d5) Kieseritzky Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5) King’s Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4) Kotrč–Mieses Gambit (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.b4) Krejcik Gambit (1.e4 Nf6 2.Bc4 Nxe4 3. Bxf7+) Krol Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.f4 d5 3.Nf3) Lasker Gambit (1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 c6 (or 4…g6) 5.f3) Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.g4) Lewis Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.d4) Lisitsin Gambit (1.Nf3 f5 2.e4) Locock Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Ng5 h6 5.Nxf7) Lopez Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 f5) Lopez Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qe2 Nf6 4.d3 Nc6 5.c3 Ne7 6.f4) Lopez–Gianutio Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 f5) Marshall Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.e4) McDonnell Double Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.b4 Bxb4 4.f4) McDonnell Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Nc3) Michel Gambit (1.Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 3. b4 c5) Milner-Barry Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7 8.Nc3 Nxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4) Moller Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.d5) Morphy Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3) Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3) Muzio Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.0-0) Nakhmanson Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.O-O Nxe4 6.Nc3) Nimzowitsch Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Qg4) Orthoschnapp Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 exd5 4.Qb3) Paris Gambit (1.Nh3 d5 2.g3 e5 3.f4 Bxh3 4.Bxh3 exf4 5.0-0) Petroff Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6 4.c3 Qe7 5.d4) Philidor Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.h4) Philidor Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5) Pierce Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3 g5 5.d4 g4 6.Bc4) Poisoned Pawn (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2) Polerio Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4) Ponziani Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 f5) Ponziani Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4) Portsmouth Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.b4) Portuguese Gambit (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Bg4) Quade Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Nc3) Queen’s Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4) Rasa–Studier Gambit (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.f3) Relfsson Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bb5) Reti (Landstrasse) Gambit (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4) Rice Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.Bc4 d5 7.exd5 Bd6 8.0-0) Rosentreter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.d4 g4) Ross Gambit – (1.Nf3 e5) Rotary-Albany Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 b6) Rousseau Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 f5) Rubinstein Counter Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nxd5 exd5 6.d4 Nc6) Ryder Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Qxf3) Salvio Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Ne5) Schliemann (Jaenisch) Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5) Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4) Sicilian Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 Bb4 7.0-0) Slav Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4) Smith–Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3) Sorensen Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.d4 g4 5.Ne5) Spanish Counter Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d5) Spielmann Gambit (1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e5 Nfd7 4.e6) Stafford Gambit (1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6) Stamma Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.h4) Staunton Gambit Deferred (1.d4 f5 2.c4 e6 3.e4) Staunton Gambit (1.d4 f5 2.e4) Steinitz Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.d4) Steinitz Counter Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 c5) Sturm Gambit (1.f4 d5 2.c4) Swiss Gambit (1.f4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g4) Tarrasch Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.dxc5 d4 6.Na4 b5) Tartakower (Lesser Bishop’s) Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Be2) Tartakower (Fischer) Gambit (1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 f6 3.e4) Tennison Gambit (1.e4 d5 2.Nf3) Tolush–Geller Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.e5) Triple Muzio Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.0-0 gxf3 6.Qxf3 Qf6 7.e5 Qxe5 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7) Tumbleweed Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Kf2) Two Knights’ Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5) Urusov Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4) Urusov (Ponziani) Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nf3) Van Weersel Attack (1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Qb3) Vienna Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4) Villemson Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.d4) Von Hennig–Schara Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4) Vukovic Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4. d4 Nxe4 5. d5 Bc5) Wagner Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 c5 4.e4) Ware Gambit (1.a4 e5 2.a5 d5 3.e3 f5 4.a6) White Gambit (1.c4 d5 2.b3 dxc4 3.bxc4 Qd4 4.Nc3) Wild Muzio Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Bxf7+) Wilkes-Barre/Traxler Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5) Williams Gambit (1.f4 d5 2.e4) Wing Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.b4) Wing Gambit Deferred (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 (or 2…e6) 3.b4) Wing Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.b4) Wing Gambit Delayed (1.e4 c5 2.a3 Nc6 (or 2…e6) 3. b4) Zollner Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 Qb6 10.e5) ‘May your Departures equal your Landfalls!’ A Windsong by Ray Paquette (1984): As you set sail for new horizons May a brisk fair wind be with you May your journey provide that mixture of Joy, contentment, love and excitement That gives rise to zestful anticipation Of new adventures together. May you cheerfully weather the unavoidable storms together And steer as clear of all obstacles As the currents allow May God Bless and keep you Bon Voyage And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:9, 10. 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 "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 “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 Conceive a man by nature and misfortune prone to a pallid hopelessness, can any business seem more fitted to heighten it than that of continually handling these dead letters and assorting them for the flames? For by the cart-load they are annually burned. Sometimes from out the folded paper the pale clerk takes a ring: - the finger it was meant for, perhaps, moulders in the grave; a bank-note sent in swiftest charity: - he whom it would relieve, nor eats nor hungers any more; pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities. On errands of life, these letters speed to death. Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity! — Herman Melville <There are distinct situations where a bishop is preferred (over a knight). For example, two bishops are better than two knights or one of each. Steven Mayer, the author of Bishop Versus Knight, contends, “A pair of bishops is usually considered to be worth six points, but common sense suggests that a pair of active bishops (that are very involved in the formation) must be accorded a value of almost nine under some circumstances.” This is especially true if the player can plant the bishops in the center of the board, as two bishops working in tandem can span up to 26 squares and have the capacity to touch every square. Bishops are also preferable to knights when queens have been exchanged because, Grandmaster Sergey Erenburg, who is ranked 11th in the U.S., explains, “[Bishops and rooks] complement each other, and when well-coordinated, act as a queen.” Conversely, a knight is the preferred minor piece when the queen survives until the late-middlegame or the endgame. Mayer explains, “The queen and knight are [able] to work together smoothly and create a greater number of threats than the queen and bishop.” When forced to say one is better than the other, most anoint the bishop. Mayer concludes, “I think it’s true that the bishops are better than the knights in a wider variety of positions than the knights are better than the bishops.” He continues, “Of course, I’m not sure this does us much good, as we only get to play one position at a time.”> "Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got." — Norman Vincent Peale "What you do today can improve all your tomorrows." — Ralph Marston The Triumph of Life Percy Bysshe Shelley Swift as a spirit hastening to his task Of glory & of good, the Sun sprang forth Rejoicing in his splendour, & the mask Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth. The smokeless altars of the mountain snows Flamed above crimson clouds, & at the birth Of light, the Ocean’s orison arose To which the birds tempered their matin lay, All flowers in field or forest which unclose Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day, Swinging their censers in the element, With orient incense lit by the new ray Burned slow & inconsumably, & sent Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air, And in succession due, did Continent, Isle, Ocean, & all things that in them wear The form & character of mortal mould Rise as the Sun their father rose, to bear Their portion of the toil which he of old Took as his own & then imposed on them; But I, whom thoughts which must remain untold Had kept as wakeful as the stars that gem The cone of night, now they were laid asleep, Stretched my faint limbs beneath the hoary stem Which an old chestnut flung athwart the steep Of a green Apennine: before me fled The night; behind me rose the day; the Deep Was at my feet, & Heaven above my head When a strange trance over my fancy grew Which was not slumber, for the shade it spread Was so transparent that the scene came through As clear as when a veil of light is drawn O’er evening hills they glimmer; and I knew That I had felt the freshness of that dawn, Bathed in the same cold dew my brow & hair And sate as thus upon that slope of lawn Under the self same bough, & heard as there The birds, the fountains & the Ocean hold Sweet talk in music through the enamoured air. And then a Vision on my brain was rolled. As in that trance of wondrous thought I lay This was the tenour of my waking dream. Methought I sate beside a public way Thick strewn with summer dust, & a great stream Of people there was hurrying to & fro Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam, All hastening onward, yet none seemed to know Whither he went, or whence he came, or why He made one of the multitude, yet so Was borne amid the crowd as through the sky One of the million leaves of summer’s bier.— Old age & youth, manhood & infancy, Mixed in one mighty torrent did appear, Some flying from the thing they feared & some Seeking the object of another’s fear, And others as with steps towards the tomb Pored on the trodden worms that crawled beneath, And others mournfully within the gloom Of their own shadow walked, and called it death … And some fled from it as it were a ghost, Half fainting in the affliction of vain breath. But more with motions which each other crost Pursued or shunned the shadows the clouds threw Or birds within the noonday ether lost, Upon that path where flowers never grew; And weary with vain toil & faint for thirst Heard not the fountains whose melodious dew Out of their mossy cells forever burst Nor felt the breeze which from the forest told Of grassy paths, & wood lawns interspersed With overarching elms & caverns cold, And violet banks where sweet dreams brood, but they Pursued their serious folly as of old …. And as I gazed methought that in the way The throng grew wilder, as the woods of June When the South wind shakes the extinguished day.— And a cold glare, intenser than the noon But icy cold, obscured with [[blank]] light The Sun as he the stars. Like the young moon When on the sunlit limits of the night Her white shell trembles amid crimson air And whilst the sleeping tempest gathers might Doth, as a herald of its coming, bear The ghost of her dead Mother, whose dim form Bends in dark ether from her infant’s chair, So came a chariot on the silent storm Of its own rushing splendour, and a Shape So sate within as one whom years deform Beneath a dusky hood & double cape Crouching within the shadow of a tomb, And o’er what seemed the head, a cloud like crape, Was bent a dun & faint etherial gloom Tempering the light; upon the chariot’s beam A Janus-visaged Shadow did assume The guidance of that wonder-winged team. The Shapes which drew it in thick lightnings Were lost: I heard alone on the air’s soft stream The music of their ever moving wings. All the four faces of that charioteer Had their eyes banded . . . little profit brings Speed in the van & blindness in the rear, Nor then avail the beams that quench the Sun Or that his banded eyes could pierce the sphere Of all that is, has been, or will be done.— So ill was the car guided, but it past With solemn speed majestically on . . . The crowd gave way, & I arose aghast, Or seemed to rise, so mighty was the trance, And saw like clouds upon the thunder blast The million with fierce song and maniac dance Raging around; such seemed the jubilee As when to greet some conqueror’s advance Imperial Rome poured forth her living sea From senatehouse & prison & theatre When Freedom left those who upon the free Had bound a yoke which soon they stooped to bear. Nor wanted here the true similitude Of a triumphal pageant, for where’er The chariot rolled a captive multitude Was driven; althose who had grown old in power Or misery,—all who have their age subdued, By action or by suffering, and whose hour Was drained to its last sand in weal or woe, So that the trunk survived both fruit & flower; All those whose fame or infamy must grow Till the great winter lay the form & name Of their own earth with them forever low, All but the sacred few who could not tame Their spirits to the Conqueror, but as soon As they had touched the world with living flame Fled back like eagles to their native noon, Of those who put aside the diadem Of earthly thrones or gems, till the last one Were there;—for they of Athens & Jerusalem Were neither mid the mighty captives seen Nor mid the ribald crowd that followed them Or fled before . . Now swift, fierce & obscene The wild dance maddens in the van, & those Who lead it, fleet as shadows on the green, Outspeed the chariot & without repose Mix with each other in tempestuous measure To savage music …. Wilder as it grows, They, tortured by the agonizing pleasure, Convulsed & on the rapid whirlwinds spun Of that fierce spirit, whose unholy leisure Was soothed by mischief since the world begun, Throw back their heads & loose their streaming hair, And in their dance round her who dims the Sun Maidens & youths fling their wild arms in air As their feet twinkle; they recede, and now Bending within each other’s atmosphere Kindle invisibly; and as they glow Like moths by light attracted & repelled, Oft to new bright destruction come & go. Till like two clouds into one vale impelled That shake the mountains when their lightnings mingle And die in rain,—the fiery band which held Their natures, snaps . . . ere the shock cease to tingle One falls and then another in the path Senseless, nor is the desolation single, Yet ere I can say where the chariot hath Past over them; nor other trace I find But as of foam after the Ocean’s wrath Is spent upon the desert shore.—Behind, Old men, and women foully disarrayed Shake their grey hair in the insulting wind, Limp in the dance & strain, with limbs decayed, Seeking to reach the light which leaves them still Farther behind & deeper in the shade. But not the less with impotence of will They wheel, though ghastly shadows interpose Round them & round each other, and fulfill Their work and to the dust whence they arose Sink & corruption veils them as they lie And frost in these performs what fire in those. Struck to the heart by this sad pageantry, Half to myself I said, “And what is this? Whose shape is that within the car? & why”- I would have added—”is all here amiss?” But a voice answered . . “Life” . . . I turned & knew (O Heaven have mercy on such wretchedness!) That what I thought was an old root which grew To strange distortion out of the hill side Was indeed one of that deluded crew, And that the grass which methought hung so wide And white, was but his thin discoloured hair, And that the holes it vainly sought to hide Were or had been eyes.—”lf thou canst forbear To join the dance, which I had well forborne,” Said the grim Feature, of my thought aware, “I will now tell that which to this deep scorn Led me & my companions, and relate The progress of the pageant since the morn; “If thirst of knowledge doth not thus abate, Follow it even to the night, but I Am weary” . . . Then like one who with the weight Of his own words is staggered, wearily He paused, and ere he could resume, I cried, “First who art thou?” . . . “Before thy memory “I feared, loved, hated, suffered, did, & died, And if the spark with which Heaven lit my spirit Earth had with purer nutriment supplied “Corruption would not now thus much inherit Of what was once Rousseau—nor this disguise Stained that within which still disdains to wear it.— “If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore.”— “And who are those chained to the car?” “The Wise, “The great, the unforgotten: they who wore Mitres & helms & crowns, or wreathes of light, Signs of thought’s empire over thought; their lore “Taught them not this—to know themselves; their might Could not repress the mutiny within, And for the morn of truth they feigned, deep night “Caught them ere evening.” “Who is he with chin Upon his breast and hands crost on his chain?” “The Child of a fierce hour; he sought to win “The world, and lost all it did contain Of greatness, in its hope destroyed; & more Of fame & peace than Virtue’s self can gain “Without the opportunity which bore Him on its eagle’s pinion to the peak From which a thousand climbers have before “Fall’n as Napoleon fell.”—I felt my cheek Alter to see the great form pass away Whose grasp had left the giant world so weak That every pigmy kicked it as it lay— And much I grieved to think how power & will In opposition rule our mortal day— And why God made irreconcilable Good & the means of good; and for despair I half disdained mine eye’s desire to fill With the spent vision of the times that were And scarce have ceased to be . . . “Dost thou behold,” Said then my guide, “those spoilers spoiled, Voltaire, “Frederic, & Kant, Catherine, & Leopold, Chained hoary anarch, demagogue & sage Whose name the fresh world thinks already old— “For in the battle Life & they did wage She remained conqueror—I was overcome By my own heart alone, which neither age “Nor tears nor infamy nor now the tomb Could temper to its object.”—”Let them pass”— I cried—”the world & its mysterious doom “Is not so much more glorious than it was That I desire to worship those who drew New figures on its false & fragile glass “As the old faded.”—”Figures ever new Rise on the bubble, paint them how you may; We have but thrown, as those before us threw, “Our shadows on it as it past away. But mark, how chained to the triumphal chair The mighty phantoms of an elder day— “All that is mortal of great Plato there Expiates the joy & woe his master knew not; That star that ruled his doom was far too fair— “And Life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not, Conquered the heart by love which gold or pain Or age or sloth or slavery could subdue not— “And near [[blank]] walk the [[blank]] twain, The tutor & his pupil, whom Dominion Followed as tame as vulture in a chain.— “The world was darkened beneath either pinion Of him whom from the flock of conquerors Fame singled as her thunderbearing minion; “The other long outlived both woes & wars, Throned in new thoughts of men, and still had kept The jealous keys of truth’s eternal doors “If Bacon’s spirit [[blank]] had not leapt Like lightning out of darkness; he compelled The Proteus shape of Nature’s as it slept “To wake & to unbar the caves that held The treasure of the secrets of its reign— See the great bards of old who inly quelled “The passions which they sung, as by their strain May well be known: their living melody Tempers its own contagion to the vein “Of those who are infected with it—I Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain!— “And so my words were seeds of misery— Even as the deeds of others.”—”Not as theirs,” I said—he pointed to a company In which I recognized amid the heirs Of Caesar’s crime from him to Constantine, The Anarchs old whose force & murderous snares Had founded many a sceptre bearing line And spread the plague of blood & gold abroad, And Gregory & John and men divine Who rose like shadows between Man & god Till that eclipse, still hanging under Heaven, Was worshipped by the world o’er which they strode For the true Sun it quenched.—”Their power was given But to destroy,” replied the leader—”I Am one of those who have created, even “If it be but a world of agony.”— “Whence camest thou & whither goest thou? How did thy course begin,” I said, “& why? “Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow Of people, & my heart of one sad thought.— Speak.”—”Whence I came, partly I seem to know, “And how & by what paths I have been brought To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess; Why this should be my mind can compass not; “Whither the conqueror hurries me still less. But follow thou, & from spectator turn Actor or victim in this wretchedness, “And what thou wouldst be taught I then may learn From thee.—Now listen . . . In the April prime When all the forest tops began to burn “With kindling green, touched by the azure clime Of the young year, I found myself asleep Under a mountain which from unknown time “Had yawned into a cavern high & deep, And from it came a gentle rivulet Whose water like clear air in its calm sweep “Bent the soft grass & kept for ever wet The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove With sound which all who hear must needs forget “All pleasure & all pain, all hate & love, Which they had known before that hour of rest: A sleeping mother then would dream not of “The only child who died upon her breast At eventide, a king would mourn no more The crown of which his brow was dispossest “When the sun lingered o’er the Ocean floor To gild his rival’s new prosperity.— Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore “Ills, which if ills, can find no cure from thee, The thought of which no other sleep will quell Nor other music blot from memory— “So sweet & deep is the oblivious spell.— Whether my life had been before that sleep The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell “Like this harsh world in which I wake to weep, I know not. I arose & for a space The scene of woods & waters seemed to keep, “Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace Of light diviner than the common Sun Sheds on the common Earth, but all the place “Was filled with many sounds woven into one Oblivious melody, confusing sense Amid the gliding waves & shadows dun; “And as I looked the bright omnipresence Of morning through the orient cavern flowed, And the Sun’s image radiantly intense “Burned on the waters of the well that glowed Like gold, and threaded all the forest maze With winding paths of emerald fire—there stood “Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze Of his own glory, on the vibrating Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays, “A shape all light, which with one hand did fling Dew on the earth, as if she were the Dawn Whose invisible rain forever seemed to sing “A silver music on the mossy lawn, And still before her on the dusky grass Iris her many coloured scarf had drawn.— “In her right hand she bore a crystal glass Mantling with bright Nepenthe;—the fierce splendour Fell from her as she moved under the mass “Of the deep cavern, & with palms so tender Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow, Glided along the river, and did bend her “Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream That whispered with delight to be their pillow.— “As one enamoured is upborne in dream O’er lily-paven lakes mid silver mist To wondrous music, so this shape might seem “Partly to tread the waves with feet which kist The dancing foam, partly to glide along The airs that roughened the moist amethyst, “Or the slant morning beams that fell among The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees; And her feet ever to the ceaseless song “Of leaves & winds & waves & birds & bees And falling drops moved in a measure new Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze “Up from the lake a shape of golden dew Between two rocks, athwart the rising moon, Moves up the east, where eagle never flew.— “And still her feet, no less than the sweet tune To which they moved, seemed as they moved, to blot The thoughts of him who gazed on them, & soon “All that was seemed as if it had been not, As if the gazer’s mind was strewn beneath Her feet like embers, & she, thought by thought, “Trampled its fires into the dust of death, As Day upon the threshold of the east Treads out the lamps of night, until the breath “Of darkness reillumines even the least Of heaven’s living eyes—like day she came, Making the night a dream; and ere she ceased “To move, as one between desire and shame Suspended, I said—’If, as it doth seem, Thou comest from the realm without a name, ” ‘Into this valley of perpetual dream, Shew whence I came, and where I am, and why— Pass not away upon the passing stream.’ ” ‘Arise and quench thy thirst,’ was her reply, And as a shut lily, stricken by the wand Of dewy morning’s vital alchemy, “I rose; and, bending at her sweet command, Touched with faint lips the cup she raised, And suddenly my brain became as sand “Where the first wave had more than half erased The track of deer on desert Labrador, Whilst the fierce wolf from which they fled amazed “Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore Until the second bursts—so on my sight Burst a new Vision never seen before.— “And the fair shape waned in the coming light As veil by veil the silent splendour drops From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite “Of sunrise ere it strike the mountain tops— And as the presence of that fairest planet Although unseen is felt by one who hopes “That his day’s path may end as he began it In that star’s smile, whose light is like the scent Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it, “Or the soft note in which his dear lament The Brescian shepherd breathes, or the caress That turned his weary slumber to content.— “So knew I in that light’s severe excess The presence of that shape which on the stream Moved, as I moved along the wilderness, “More dimly than a day appearing dream, The ghost of a forgotten form of sleep A light from Heaven whose half extinguished beam “Through the sick day in which we wake to weep Glimmers, forever sought, forever lost.— So did that shape its obscure tenour keep “Beside my path, as silent as a ghost; But the new Vision, and its cold bright car, With savage music, stunning music, crost “The forest, and as if from some dread war Triumphantly returning, the loud million Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star.— “A moving arch of victory the vermilion And green & azure plumes of Iris had Built high over her wind-winged pavilion, “And underneath aetherial glory clad The wilderness, and far before her flew The tempest of the splendour which forbade Shadow to fall from leaf or stone;—the crew Seemed in that light like atomies that dance Within a sunbeam.—Some upon the new “Embroidery of flowers that did enhance The grassy vesture of the desart, played, Forgetful of the chariot’s swift advance; “Others stood gazing till within the shade Of the great mountain its light left them dim.— Others outspeeded it, and others made “Circles around it like the clouds that swim Round the high moon in a bright sea of air, And more did follow, with exulting hymn, “The chariot & the captives fettered there, But all like bubbles on an eddying flood Fell into the same track at last & were “Borne onward.—I among the multitude Was swept; me sweetest flowers delayed not long, Me not the shadow nor the solitude, “Me not the falling stream’s Lethean song, Me, not the phantom of that early form Which moved upon its motion,—but among “The thickest billows of the living storm I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.— “Before the chariot had begun to climb The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme “Of him whom from the lowest depths of Hell Through every Paradise & through all glory Love led serene, & who returned to tell “In words of hate & awe the wondrous story How all things are transfigured, except Love; For deaf as is a sea which wrath makes hoary “The world can hear not the sweet notes that move The sphere whose light is melody to lovers—- A wonder worthy of his rhyme—the grove “Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers, The earth was grey with phantoms, & the air Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers “A flock of vampire-bats before the glare Of the tropic sun, bring ere evening Strange night upon some Indian isle,—thus were “Phantoms diffused around, & some did fling Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves, Behind them, some like eaglets on the wing “Were lost in the white blaze, others like elves Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes Upon the sunny streams & grassy shelves; “And others sate chattering like restless apes On vulgar paws and voluble like fire. Some made a cradle of the ermined capes “Of kingly mantles, some upon the tiar Of pontiffs sate like vultures, others played Within the crown which girt with empire “A baby’s or an idiot’s brow, & made Their nests in it; the old anatomies Sate hatching their bare brood under the shade “Of demon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes To reassume the delegated power Arrayed in which these worms did monarchize “Who make this earth their charnel.—Others more Humble, like falcons sate upon the fist Of common men, and round their heads did soar, “Or like small gnats & flies, as thick as mist On evening marshes, thronged about the brow Of lawyer, statesman, priest & theorist, “And others like discoloured flakes of snow On fairest bosoms & the sunniest hair Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow “Which they extinguished; for like tears, they were A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained In drops of sorrow.—I became aware “Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained The track in which we moved; after brief space From every form the beauty slowly waned, “From every firmest limb & fairest face The strength & freshness fell like dust, & left The action & the shape without the grace “Of life; the marble brow of youth was cleft With care, and in the eyes where once hope shone Desire like a lioness bereft “Of its last cub, glared ere it died; each one Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown “In Autumn evening from a popular tree— Each, like himself & like each other were, At first, but soon distorted, seemed to be “Obscure clouds moulded by the casual air; And of this stuff the car’s creative ray Wrought all the busy phantoms that were there “As the sun shapes the clouds—thus, on the way Mask after mask fell from the countenance And form of all, and long before the day “Was old, the joy which waked like Heaven’s glance The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died, And some grew weary of the ghastly dance “And fell, as I have fallen by the way side, Those soonest from whose forms most shadows past And least of strength & beauty did abide.”— “Then, what is Life?” I said . . . the cripple cast His eye upon the car which now had rolled Onward, as if that look must be the last, And answered …. “Happy those for whom the fold Of … “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell 42 games, 1620-2011 Lif GumboGambit's favorites “Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game.” — Being Caballero “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” — Garry Kasparov “Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.” ― John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, and former Navy Lieutenant “Age brings wisdom to some men, and to others chess.” — Evan Esar “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 "There's likely a place in paradise for people who tried hard, but what really matters is succeeding. If that requires you to change, that's your mission." — General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Army Retired “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” — Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom “I will never quit. My nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.” ― Marcus Luttrell, Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 General chess advice from Joe Brooks: https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comm... * C40s: https://chessopenings.com/eco/C40/ * Good Historical Links: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/in... * JonathanJ's favorite games 4: Game Collection: JonathanJ's favorite games 4 * elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games * assorted Good games Compiled by rbaglini: Game Collection: assorted Good games * LAST COLLECTION Compiled by Jaredfchess: Game Collection: LAST COLLECTION * Internet tracking: https://www.studysmarter.us/magazin... 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. “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ― Sun Tzu “One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War All The World’s A Stage William Shakespeare All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. “Be active. I do things my way, like skiing when I’m 100. Nobody else does that even if they have energy. And I try to eat pretty correctly and get exercise and fresh air and sunshine.” ― Elsa Bailey, first time skier at age 100 “Don't look at the calendar, just keep celebrating every day.” ― Ruth Coleman, carpe diem at age 101 “My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose--somehow we win out.” ― Ronald Reagan The Road Not Taken Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” ― Amelia Earhart The Sun and the Frogs Rejoicing on their tyrant's wedding-day, The people drowned their care in drink; While from the general joy did Aesop shrink, And showed its folly in this way. "The sun," said he, "once took it in his head To have a partner for his bed. From swamps, and ponds, and marshy bogs, Up rose the wailings of the frogs. "What shall we do, should he have progeny?" Said they to Destiny; "One sun we scarcely can endure, And half-a-dozen, we are sure, Will dry the very sea. Adieu to marsh and fen! Our race will perish then, Or be obliged to fix Their dwelling in the Styx!" For such an humble animal, The frog, I take it, reasoned well." And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:9, 10. Conceive a man by nature and misfortune prone to a pallid hopelessness, can any business seem more fitted to heighten it than that of continually handling these dead letters and assorting them for the flames? For by the cart-load they are annually burned. Sometimes from out the folded paper the pale clerk takes a ring: - the finger it was meant for, perhaps, moulders in the grave; a bank-note sent in swiftest charity: - he whom it would relieve, nor eats nor hungers any more; pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities. On errands of life, these letters speed to death. Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity! — Herman Melville “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ― Thomas A. Edison It's not the quantity that counts; it's the quality. 1046 “You can only get good at chess if you love the game.” ― Bobby Fischer “Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It's a journey of discovery--there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair.” ― Rick Warren “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” ― Henry Ford “Live life to the fullest, and focus on the positive.” ― Matt Cameron Acronyms and Initialisms: Worksheet Printouts Click Here for K-3 Themes An acronym is a pronounceable word that is formed using the first letters of the words in a phrase (sometimes, other parts of the words are also used). Some common acronyms include NASA (which stands for "National Aeronautical and Space Administration"), scuba ("Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus") and laser ("Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation"). An initialism is a word that is formed using the first letters of the words in a phrase -- it is pronounced like a series of letters, not like a word. Some common initialisms include UFO (which stands for "Unidentified Flying Object") and LOL (which stands for "Laughing Out Loud"). Note: Some people consider both of these to be acronyms. Some common acronyms (and initialisms) include: AC - Air Conditioning AD - Anno Domini ("In the Year of Our Lord") AKA - Also Known As AM - Ante Meridiem (before noon) AM - Amplitude Modification (radio) ASAP - As Soon As Possible ATM - Automated Teller Machine B&B - Bed and Breakfast BC - Before Christ or Because BCE - Before the Common Era BLT - Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato BTW - By The Way CC - Credit Card CIA - Central Intelligence Agency CO - Commanding Officer CST - Central Standard Time DOA - Dead on Arrival DOT - Department of Transportation DST - Daylight Saving Time EST - Eastern Standard Time ET - Extra-Terrestrial FAQ - Frequently-Asked Questions FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation FDR - Franklin Delano Roosevelt FM - Frequency Modification (radio) FYI - For Your Information GI - Government Issue GMO - Genetically Modified IM - Instant Message IMO - In My Opinion IMHO - In My Humble Opinion HAZ-MAT - Hazardous Material HMO - Health Maintenence Organization ID - Identification IQ - Intelligence Quotient ISBN - International Standard Book Number JFK - John Fitzgerald Kennedy JV - Junior Varsity KO - Knockout laser - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation LCD - Liquid Crystal Display LED - Light Emitting Diode LOL - Laughing Out Loud MC - Master of Ceremonies MLK - Martin Luther King, Jr. MO - Modus Operandi MRE - Meals Ready to Eat MS - Manuscript MST - Mountain Standard Time MTG - Magic: The Gathering MTD - Month To Date NIB - New In the Box NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement NASA - National Aeronautical and Space Administration NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization NBA - National Basketball Association NIB - New In the Box NIMBY - Not In My Backyard OJ - Orange Juice OPEC - Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries PBJ - Peanut Butter and Jelly PC - Politically Correct PI - Private Investigator PIN - Personal Identification Number PM - Post Meridiem (after noon) POTUS - President of the United States POW - Prisoner of War PPS - Post-Postscript PS - Postscript PR - Public Relations PSI - Pounds Per Square Inch PST - Pacific Standard Time Q&A - Question and Answer R&R - Rest and Relaxation RAM - Random Access Memory RGB - Red, Green, Blue RIP - Rest in Peace (from the Latin, "Requiescat In Pace") ROM - Read Only Memory ROTC - Reserve Officers Training Corps ROYGBIV - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet RPG - Role Playing Game RSVP - Répondez S'il Vous Plaît (in French, this means "Please respond") RV - Recreational Vehicle scuba - Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus SNAFU - Systems Normal, All Fouled Up SOP - Standard Operating Procedure SOS - Save Our Souls (decided after the fact - SOS was chosen because it was short in Morse code) SPF - Sun Protection Factor (how sunscreen lotion is rated) TBA - To Be Announced TEOTWAWKI - The End Of The World As We Know It TGIF - Thank God It's Friday TLC - Tender Loving Care TV - Television UFO - Unidentified Flying Object UN - United Nations UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund UPC - Universal Product Code VIP - Very Important Person VP - Vice President WASP - White Anglo Saxon Protestant WHO - World Health Organization WOM - Word of Mouth WoW - World of Warcraft WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get YTD - Year To Date ZIP (code) - Zone Improvement Plan 47 games, 1783-2013 Lif iamlam's Italians E2 Compiled by iamlam or Tim Forney The Italian Game -1. The Giuoco Piano & The Moeller Attack. --2. The Two Knight's Defense-The Max Lange Attack & The Fried Liver Attack. * Andre the Giant: Game Collection: Defensa Philidor, ese campo de minas “Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game.” ― Being Caballero “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” ― Garry Kasparov “Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.” ― John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, and former Navy Lieutenant “Age brings wisdom to some men, and to others chess.” ― Evan Esar “Genius does not need a special language; it uses newly whatever tongue it finds.” ― Edmund Clarence Stedman “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 “Do we weep for the heroes who died for us, Who living were true and tried for us, And dying sleep side by side for us; The martyr band That hallowed our land With the blood they shed in a tide for us?” ― Abram Joseph Ryan * Good Historical Links: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/in... * JonathanJ's favorite games 4: Game Collection: JonathanJ's favorite games 4 * elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games * assorted Good games Compiled by rbaglini: Game Collection: assorted Good games * LAST COLLECTION Compiled by Jaredfchess: Game Collection: LAST COLLECTION * Internet tracking: https://www.studysmarter.us/magazin... 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. “Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.” ― General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur “Some reckon their age by years, Some measure their life by art; But some tell their days by the flow of their tears And their lives by the moans of their hearts.” ― Abram Joseph Ryan The Sun and the Frogs Rejoicing on their tyrant's wedding-day, The people drowned their care in drink; While from the general joy did Aesop shrink, And showed its folly in this way. "The sun," said he, "once took it in his head To have a partner for his bed. From swamps, and ponds, and marshy bogs, Up rose the wailings of the frogs. "What shall we do, should he have progeny?" Said they to Destiny; "One sun we scarcely can endure, And half-a-dozen, we are sure, Will dry the very sea. Adieu to marsh and fen! Our race will perish then, Or be obliged to fix Their dwelling in the Styx!" For such an humble animal, The frog, I take it, reasoned well." I entered ten puns in our contest to see which would win. No pun in ten did. “Above the clouds I lift my wing To hear the bells of Heaven ring; Some of their music, though my fights be wild, To Earth I bring; Then let me soar and sing!” ― Edmund Clarence Stedman Feb-13-11 keypusher: <scutigera: They give this as one of Myagmarsuren's notable games with 162 others in the database?> notable games are selected based on how many games collections they are in. The Old Man And His Sons All power is feeble with dissension: For this I quote the Phrygian slave. If anything I add to his invention, It is our manners to engrave, And not from any envious wishes; – I'm not so foolishly ambitious. Phaedrus enriches often his story, In quest – I doubt it not – of glory: Such thoughts were idle in my breast. An aged man, near going to his rest, His gathered sons thus solemnly addressed: "To break this bunch of arrows you may try; And, first, the string that binds them I untie." The eldest, having tried with might and main, Exclaimed, "This bundle I resign To muscles sturdier than mine." The second tried, and bowed himself in vain. The youngest took them with the like success. All were obliged their weakness to confess. Unharmed the arrows passed from son to son; Of all they did not break a single one. "Weak fellows!" said their sire, "I now must show What in the case my feeble strength can do." They laughed, and thought their father but in joke, Till, one by one, they saw the arrows broke. "See, concord's power!" replied the sire; "as long As you in love agree, you will be strong. I go, my sons, to join our fathers good; Now promise me to live as brothers should, And soothe by this your dying father's fears." Each strictly promised with a flood of tears. Their father took them by the hand, and died; And soon the virtue of their vows was tried. Their sire had left a large estate Involved in lawsuits intricate; Here seized a creditor, and there A neighbour levied for a share. At first the trio nobly bore The brunt of all this legal war. But short their friendship as It was rare. Whom blood had joined – and small the wonder! – The force of interest drove asunder; And, as is wont in such affairs, Ambition, envy, were co-heirs. In parcelling their sire's estate, They quarrel, quibble, litigate, Each aiming to supplant the other. The judge, by turns, condemns each brother. Their creditors make new assault, Some pleading error, some default. The sundered brothers disagree; For counsel one, have counsels three. All lose their wealth; and now their sorrows Bring fresh to mind those broken arrows. A Psalm of Life Henry Wadsworth Longfellow What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist. Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day. Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife! Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,— act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o’erhead! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time; Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell 153 games, 1590-2022 Manual of Chess (Lasker) 'Lasker's Manual of Chess' by Emanuel Lasker. “The words of truth are simple.” ― Aeschylus “It is only after our basic needs for food and shelter have been met that we can hope to enjoy the luxury of theoretical speculations.” ― Aristotle. John 14:6 “<I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.>” ― Jesus Christ “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” ― Buddha “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” ― William Shakespeare “Of chess it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not chess.” ― William Napier / Irving Chernev “Winning needs no explanation, losing has no alibi.” ― Greg Baum. “A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop.” ― Robert Hughes “Chess is a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders.” ― Savielly Tartakower “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 “I believe that it is best to know a 'dubious' opening really well, rather than a 'good' opening only slightly.” ― Simon Williams “There is no such thing as an absolutely freeing move. A freeing move in a position in which development has not been carried far always proves illusory, and vice versa, a move which does not come at all in the category of freeing moves can, given a surplus of tempi to our credit, lead to a very free game.” ― Aron Nimzowitsch “You may knock your opponent down with the chessboard, but that does not prove you the better player.” ― English Proverb “For a period of ten years--between 1946 and 1956--Reshevsky was probably the best chessplayer in the world. I feel sure that had he played a match with Botvinnik during that time he would have won and been World Champion.” ― Bobby Fischer “I believe that true beauty of chess is more than enough to satisfy all possible demands.” ― Alexander Alekhine “We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a chessplayer's nature.” ― Rudolf Spielmann “To play for a draw, at any rate with white, is to some degree a crime against chess.” ― Mikhail Tal “Boring? Who's boring? I am Fredthebear. My mind is always active, busy.” “Capa's games looked as though they were turned out by a lathe, while Alekhine's resembled something produced with a mallet and chisel.” ― Charles Yaffe “Whereas Anderssen and Chigorin looked for accidental positions, Capablanca is guided by the logicality of strong positions. He values only that which is well-founded: solidity of position, pressure on a weak point, he does not trust the accidental, even if it be a problem-like mate, at the required moment he discovers and carries out subtle and far-sighted combinations...” ― Emanuel Lasker “Capablanca possessed an amazing ability to quickly see into a position and intuitively grasp its main features. His style, one of the purest, most crystal-clear in the entire history of chess, astonishes one with its logic.” ― Garry Kasparov “Chess is an infinitely complex game, which one can play in infinitely numerous and varied ways.” ― Vladimir Kramnik “It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained.” ― Queen Elizabeth II “The future reshapes the memory of the past in the way it recalibrates significance: some episodes are advanced, others lose purchase.” ― Gregory Maguire, A Lion Among Men “Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.” ― Douglas MacArthur “Old habits die hard, especially for soldiers.” ― Jocelyn Murray, The Roman General: A Novel “In chess, as in life, a man is his own most dangerous opponent.” — Vasily Smyslov Ye Jiangchuan has won the Chinese Chess Championship seven times. Matthew 17:20 Our faith can move mountains. Other people’s wisdom prevents the king from being called a fool. ~ Nigerian Proverb Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand. ~ Guinean Proverb Ingratitude is sooner or later fatal to its author. ~ Twi Proverb The laughter of a child lights up the house. ~ Swahili proverb “Win with grace, lose with dignity!” ― Susan Polgar “What does it take to be a champion? Desire, dedication, determination, personal and professional discipline, focus, concentration, strong nerves, the will to win, and yes, talent!” ― Susan Polgar “No matter how successful you are (or will be), never ever forget the people who helped you along the way, and pay it forward! Don’t become arrogant and conceited just because you gained a few rating points or made a few bucks. Stay humble and be nice, especially to your fans!” ― Susan Polgar All that glitters is not gold – this line can be found in a text from c.1220: ‘ Nis hit nower neh gold al that ter schineth.’ A friend in need is a friend indeed – a proverb from c.1035 say this: ‘Friend shall be known in time of need.’ All’s well that ends well – a line from the mid-13th century is similar: ‘Wel is him te wel ende mai.’ Meanwhile, Henry Knighton’s Chronicle from the late 14th-century one can read: ‘ If the ende be wele, than is alle wele.’ Hay dos maneras de hermosura: una del alma y otra del cuerpo; la del alma campea y se muestra en el entendimiento, en la honestidad, en el buen proceder, en la liberalidad y en la buena crianza, y todas estas partes caben y pueden estar en un hombre feo; y cuando se pone la mira en esta hermosura, y no en la del cuerpo, suele nacer el amor con ímpetu y con ventajas. (There are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body; that of the soul shows and demonstrates itself in understanding, in honesty, in good behavior, in generosity and in good breeding, and all these things can find room and exist in an ugly man; and when one looks at this type of beauty, and not bodily beauty, love is inclined to spring up forcefully and overpoweringly.) ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) Cuando una puerta se cierra, otra se abre. (When one door is closed, another is opened.) ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) Dijo la sartén a la caldera, quítate allá ojinegra. (The frying pan said to the cauldron, "Get out of here, black-eyed one." This is believed to be the source of the phrase "the pot calling the kettle black.") ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra * One of Pandolfini's Best: Game Collection: Solitaire Chess by Bruce Pandolfini * Two Great Attackers: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... * CFN: https://www.youtube.com/@CFNChannel * Chessmaster 2000 Classic Games: Game Collection: Chessmaster '86 * Flip the Finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWH... * Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: 0 * Glossary: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/13/... * GK: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen * GPA: https://chesstier.com/grand-prix-at... * B20s: Game Collection: Grand Prix (Ginger’s Models) * How dumb is it? Game Collection: Diemer-Duhm Gambit * King Registration: https://www.kingregistration.com/to... * Make a Stand: https://www.history.com/topics/amer... * MC Move-by-Move: Game Collection: Move by Move - Carlsen (Lakdawala) * Become a Predator at the Chessboard: https://www.chesstactics.org/ * Tactical Games: Game Collection: Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics * The Regulators: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAn... * Real Swag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgY... * The Unthinkable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9z... * World Chess Championship History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkO... Connecticut: Windsor Established in: 1633 Windsor was Connecticut's first English settlement, with a perfect location on the water. Today, the city uses its "first town" status to create a historical atmosphere ideal for tourism. * Chess History: https://www.uschesstrust.org/chess-... The Kings of Chess: A History of Chess, Traced Through the Lives of Its Greatest Players by William Hartston William Hartson traces the development of the game from its Oriental origins to the present day through the lives of its greatest exponents - men like Howard Staunton, who transformed what had been a genteel pastime into a competitive science; the brilliant American Paul Morphy, who once played a dozen simultaneous games blindfold; the arrogant and certified insane Wilhelm Steinitz; the philosopher and mathematician Emanual Lasker; Bobby Fischer, perhaps the most brilliant and eccentric of them all; and many other highly gifted individuals. Hartson depicts all their colorful variety with a wealth of rare illustrations. Format: Hardcover Language: English ISBN: 006015358X ISBN13: 9780060153588 Release Date: January 1985 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Length: 192 Pages Weight: 1.80 lbs. Eilfan ywmodryb dda Meaning: A good aunt is a second mother The Frog and the Rat They to bamboozle are inclined, Says Merlin, who bamboozled are. The word, though rather unrefined, Has yet an energy we ill can spare; So by its aid I introduce my tale. A well-fed rat, rotund and hale, Not knowing either Fast or Lent, Disporting round a frog-pond went. A frog approached, and, with a friendly greeting, Invited him to see her at her home, And pledged a dinner worth his eating, – To which the rat was nothing loath to come. Of words persuasive there was little need: She spoke, however, of a grateful bath; Of sports and curious wonders on their path; Of rarities of flower, and rush, and reed: One day he would recount with glee To his assembled progeny The various beauties of these places, The customs of the various races, And laws that sway the realms aquatic, (She did not mean the hydrostatic!) One thing alone the rat perplexed, – He was but moderate as a swimmer. The frog this matter nicely fixed By kindly lending him her Long paw, which with a rush she tied To his; and off they started, side by side. Arrived on the lakelet's brink, There was but little time to think. The frog leaped in, and almost brought her Bound guest to land beneath the water. Perfidious breach of law and right! She meant to have a supper warm Out of his sleek and dainty form. Already did her appetite Dwell on the morsel with delight. The gods, in anguish, he invokes; His faithless hostess rudely mocks; He struggles up, she struggles down. A kite, that hovers in the air, Inspecting everything with care, Now spies the rat belike to drown, And, with a rapid wing, Upbears the wretched thing, The frog, too, dangling by the string! The joy of such a double haul Was to the hungry kite not small. It gave him all that he could wish – A double meal of flesh and fish. The best contrived deceit Can hurt its own contriver, And perfidy does often cheat Its author's purse of every stiver. Chessgames.com will be unavailable October 13, 2023 from 11:30AM through 11:45AM(UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience. M.Hassan: <Eggman>: Scarborough Chess Club which is said to be the biggest chess club in Canada, arranges tournaments under the name of "Howard Rideout" tournaments. Is he the same Rideout that you are mentioning?. I only know that this is to commemorate "Rideout" who has been a player and probably in that club because the club is over 40 years old. This tournament is repeated year after year and at the beginning of the season when the club resumes activity after summer recession in September. Zxp PeterB: Eggman and Mr. Hassan - you are right, Howard Ridout was a long time member of the Scarborough Chess Club! He was very active even when I joined in 1969, and was still organizing tournaments at the time of his death in the 1990s. This game is a good memorial to him! Theodorovitch was a Toronto master rated about 2250 back then, perhaps about 2350 nowadays. “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 “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” — Aristotle 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 * Beauty Prize: Game Collection: Les Prix de Beauté aux Echecs (I) * Brutal: Game Collection: Brutal Attacking Chess * Katar's Repertoire: Game Collection: An Opium Repertoire for White * Names and Places: Game Collection: Named Mates * C-Ks: Game Collection: Caro Kann Lines * Pretzels? Game Collection: Special Pretzel Collection * Sicilian Wingers: Game Collection: wing gambit victories * Ray Keene's favorite games: Game Collection: ray keene's favorite games * (Variety Pack) Compiled by Nova: Game Collection: KID games * JonathanJ's favorite games 4: Game Collection: JonathanJ's favorite games 4 * jorundte's favorite games: Game Collection: jorundte's favorite games * elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games * Assorted good games: Game Collection: assorted Good games * The are exceptions: https://academicchess.com/worksheet... * Black Defends: Game Collection: Opening repertoire black * Masterful: Game Collection: FRENCH DEFENSE MASTERPIECES * C53s: Game Collection: rajat21's italian game * RL Minis: Game Collection: Ruy Lopez Miniatures * Del's: Game Collection: Del's hidden gems * Flip the Finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWH... * 21st Century: Game Collection: 21st Century Masterpieces - First decade (2000) * GK: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen * Can you whip Taimanov's Sicilian? http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * Bg2 vs Sicilian: Game Collection: Grand Prix Attack without early Bc4 * 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! 'A rising tide lifts all boats' 'Don't put the cart before the horse' Create protected outposts for your knights. <There are distinct situations where a bishop is preferred (over a knight). For example, two bishops are better than two knights or one of each. Steven Mayer, the author of Bishop Versus Knight, contends, “A pair of bishops is usually considered to be worth six points, but common sense suggests that a pair of active bishops (that are very involved in the formation) must be accorded a value of almost nine under some circumstances.” This is especially true if the player can plant the bishops in the center of the board, as two bishops working in tandem can span up to 26 squares and have the capacity to touch every square. Bishops are also preferable to knights when queens have been exchanged because, Grandmaster Sergey Erenburg, who is ranked 11th in the U.S., explains, “[Bishops and rooks] complement each other, and when well-coordinated, act as a queen.” Conversely, a knight is the preferred minor piece when the queen survives until the late-middlegame or the endgame. Mayer explains, “The queen and knight are [able] to work together smoothly and create a greater number of threats than the queen and bishop.” When forced to say one is better than the other, most anoint the bishop. Mayer concludes, “I think it’s true that the bishops are better than the knights in a wider variety of positions than the knights are better than the bishops.” He continues, “Of course, I’m not sure this does us much good, as we only get to play one position at a time.”> Machgielis "Max" Euwe Fifth World Chess Champion from 1935 to 1937 Birthdate: May 20, 1901 Birthplace: Amsterdam, Netherlands Died: November 26, 1981 Max Euwe scripted history when he became the first chess Grandmaster from the Netherlands. A PhD in math, he also taught both math and computer programming, apart from publishing a mathematical analysis of chess. A chess world champion, he also served as the president of FIDE. greersome wrote: There once was a woman from Mizes Who had chess sets of two different sizes One was quite small Almost nothing at all But the other was large and won prizes! “For a period of ten years--between 1946 and 1956--Reshevsky was probably the best chessplayer in the world. I feel sure that had he played a match with Botvinnik during that time he would have won and been World Champion.” ― Bobby Fischer <Oct-04-23 HeMateMe: I play 3/2 blitz occasionally on Lichess. I find it an excellent site, none of the delays/cancellations that ruined chess.com (for me). Oct-04-23 Cassandro: Yes, lichess is by far the best site for online chess. And you never know, apparently you may even get to play against a living legend like the highly esteemed Leonard Barden there!> FTB plays all about but has always been happy with FICS: https://www.freechess.org/ 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.” — Assia 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 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. 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 “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 “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. “My concern about my reputation is with the people who I respect and my family and my Lord. And I’m perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir.” —John Durham pages 24-25 of The Year Book of the United States Chess Federation 1944 (Chicago, 1945), which published ‘Brave Heart’, Anthony Santasiere’s tribute to Frank J. Marshall. Written in August 1942 for Marshall’s 65th birthday, it began: Brave Heart – We salute you! Knowing neither gain nor loss, Nor fear, nor hate –; But only this – To fight – to fight – And to love. Santasiere then gushes on in a similar vein for another 40 lines or so, and we pick up the encomium for its final verse: For this – dear Frank – We thank you. For this – dear Frank – We love you! Brave heart – Brave heart – We love you! The Old Woman And Her Two Servants A beldam kept two spinning maids, Who plied so handily their trades, Those spinning sisters down below Were bunglers when compared with these. No care did this old woman know But giving tasks as she might please. No sooner did the god of day His glorious locks enkindle, Than both the wheels began to play, And from each whirling spindle Forth danced the thread right merrily, And back was coiled unceasingly. Soon as the dawn, I say, its tresses showed, A graceless cock most punctual crowed. The beldam roused, more graceless yet, In greasy petticoat bedight, Struck up her farthing light, And then forthwith the bed beset, Where deeply, blessedly did snore Those two maid-servants tired and poor. One oped an eye, an arm one stretched, And both their breath most sadly fetched, This threat concealing in the sigh – "That cursed cock shall surely die!" And so he did: they cut his throat, And put to sleep his rousing note. And yet this murder mended not The cruel hardship of their lot; For now the twain were scarce in bed Before they heard the summons dread. The beldam, full of apprehension Lest oversleep should cause detention, Ran like a goblin through her mansion. Thus often, when one thinks To clear himself from ill, His effort only sinks Him in the deeper still. The beldam, acting for the cock, Was Scylla for Charybdis" rock. Old Russian Proverb: "Measure seven times, cut once. (Семь раз отмерь — один отрежь.)" Be careful before you do something that cannot be changed. Riddle: If there are four sheep, two dogs and one herds-men, how many feet are there? Skip down for the answer... Dionysis1: I had basil on the pub's potage du jour yesterday. Soup herb! Riddle Answer: Two. Sheep have hooves; dogs have paws; only people have feet. Q: Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? R: It’s okay. He woke up. PinkFaerie5 wrote: Leopard King Coronation bird of paradise flew in briefing the leopard king a candle was tossed but isn’t he disguised? a pheasant asked Yes, wearing a butterfly mask and one of your feathers the pheasant was pleased which is why I left, said the bird I thought he would be wearing my feather feelings are always being hurt at coronations of leopard kings this was no exception “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. “Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got.” — Norman Vincent Peale “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” — Ralph Marston “A wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim.” — Maya Angelou wordyfun: 032 rxp Felix Dzagnidze zombd Zelinsky fust NewJzy Zaza Bakgandzhiyo ztecho22 muzio out-of-print scratch, scratch, scratched th rash on hes... Psalm 96: 1-3 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. 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. Ecclesiastes 9:9: "Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun." LONDON BRIDGE London Bridge is falling down Falling down Falling down London Bridge is falling down My Fair Lady. MFL 124 games, 1783-1928 Min ority atk 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 “Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game.” – Being Caballero “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” – says Garry Kasparov “Age brings wisdom to some men, and to others chess.” – Evan Esar * Good Historical Links: https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/in... * Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz) * JonathanJ's favorite games 4: Game Collection: JonathanJ's favorite games 4 * elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games * Assorted Good Games by rbaglini: Game Collection: assorted Good games * Last Collection by Jaredfchess: Game Collection: LAST COLLECTION * Internet tracking: https://www.studysmarter.us/magazin... 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 “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 “All warfare is based on deception.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War Adapt on the fly. “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” — General George S. Patton 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. Most dinosaurs are known from just a single tooth or bone. Given that dinosaurs were alive 65 million years ago, complete fossils are extremely rare. Instead, archaeologists study traces such as loose teeth, bones, tracks, or dung in order to identify the dinosaurs we read about in books now. The Old Man And His Sons All power is feeble with dissension: For this I quote the Phrygian slave. If anything I add to his invention, It is our manners to engrave, And not from any envious wishes; – I'm not so foolishly ambitious. Phaedrus enriches often his story, In quest – I doubt it not – of glory: Such thoughts were idle in my breast. An aged man, near going to his rest, His gathered sons thus solemnly addressed: "To break this bunch of arrows you may try; And, first, the string that binds them I untie." The eldest, having tried with might and main, Exclaimed, "This bundle I resign To muscles sturdier than mine." The second tried, and bowed himself in vain. The youngest took them with the like success. All were obliged their weakness to confess. Unharmed the arrows passed from son to son; Of all they did not break a single one. "Weak fellows!" said their sire, "I now must show What in the case my feeble strength can do." They laughed, and thought their father but in joke, Till, one by one, they saw the arrows broke. "See, concord's power!" replied the sire; "as long As you in love agree, you will be strong. I go, my sons, to join our fathers good; Now promise me to live as brothers should, And soothe by this your dying father's fears." Each strictly promised with a flood of tears. Their father took them by the hand, and died; And soon the virtue of their vows was tried. Their sire had left a large estate Involved in lawsuits intricate; Here seized a creditor, and there A neighbour levied for a share. At first the trio nobly bore The brunt of all this legal war. But short their friendship as It was rare. Whom blood had joined – and small the wonder! – The force of interest drove asunder; And, as is wont in such affairs, Ambition, envy, were co-heirs. In parcelling their sire's estate, They quarrel, quibble, litigate, Each aiming to supplant the other. The judge, by turns, condemns each brother. Their creditors make new assault, Some pleading error, some default. The sundered brothers disagree; For counsel one, have counsels three. All lose their wealth; and now their sorrows Bring fresh to mind those broken arrows. A Psalm of Life Henry Wadsworth Longfellow What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist. Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day. Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife! Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,— act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o’erhead! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time; Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell A Psalm of Life Henry Wadsworth Longfellow What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist. Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day. Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife! Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,— act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o’erhead! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time; Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker The Deserted Village BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH (1730-1774) Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain, Where health and plenty cheared the labouring swain, Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid, And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed, Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease, Seats of my youth, when every sport could please, How often have I loitered o'er thy green, Where humble happiness endeared each scene! How often have I paused on every charm, The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm, The never-failing brook, the busy mill, The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill, The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made! How often have I blest the coming day, When toil remitting lent its turn to play, And all the village train, from labour free, Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree, While many a pastime circled in the shade, The young contending as the old surveyed; And many a gambol frolicked o'er the ground, And slights of art and feats of strength went round; And still as each repeated pleasure tired, Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired; The dancing pair that simply sought renown By holding out to tire each other down; The swain mistrustless of his smutted face, While secret laughter tittered round the place; The bashful virgin's side-long looks of love, The matron's glance that would those looks reprove! These were thy charms, sweet village; sports like these, With sweet succession, taught even toil to please; These round thy bowers their chearful influence shed, These were thy charms—But all these charms are fled. Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn; Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen, And desolation saddens all thy green: One only master grasps the whole domain, And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain; No more thy glassy brook reflects the day, But, choaked with sedges, works its weedy way; Along thy glades, a solitary guest, The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest; Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies, And tires their echoes with unvaried cries. Sunk are thy bowers, in shapeless ruin all, And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall; And, trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, Far, far away, thy children leave the land. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay: Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade; A breath can make them, as a breath has made; But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed, can never be supplied. A time there was, ere England's griefs began, When every rood of ground maintained its man; For him light labour spread her wholesome store, Just gave what life required, but gave no more: His best companions, innocence and health; And his best riches, ignorance of wealth. But times are altered; trade's unfeeling train Usurp the land and dispossess the swain; Along the lawn, where scattered hamlets rose, Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose; And every want to oppulence allied, And every pang that folly pays to pride. Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom, Those calm desires that asked but little room, Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful scene, Lived in each look, and brightened all the green; These, far departing seek a kinder shore, And rural mirth and manners are no more. Sweet Auburn! parent of the blissful hour, Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power. Here as I take my solitary rounds, Amidst thy tangling walks, and ruined grounds, And, many a year elapsed, return to view Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew, Remembrance wakes with all her busy train, Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain. In all my wanderings round this world of care, In all my griefs—and God has given my share— I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown, Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down; To husband out life's taper at the close, And keep the flame from wasting by repose. I still had hopes, for pride attends us still, Amidst the swains to shew my book-learned skill, Around my fire an evening groupe to draw, And tell of all I felt, and all I saw; And, as an hare whom hounds and horns pursue, Pants to the place from whence at first she flew, I still had hopes, my long vexations past, Here to return—and die at home at last. O blest retirement, friend to life's decline, Retreats from care that never must be mine, How happy he who crowns, in shades like these A youth of labour with an age of ease; Who quits a world where strong temptations try, And, since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly! For him no wretches, born to work and weep, Explore the mine, or tempt the dangerous deep; No surly porter stands in guilty state To spurn imploring famine from the gate, But on he moves to meet his latter end, Angels around befriending virtue's friend; Bends to the grave with unperceived decay, While resignation gently slopes the way; And, all his prospects brightening to the last, His Heaven commences ere the world be past! Sweet was the sound, when oft at evening's close, Up yonder hill the village murmur rose; There, as I past with careless steps and slow, The mingling notes came soften'd from below; The swain responsive as the milk-maid sung, The sober herd that lowed to meet their young, The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool, The playful children just let loose from school, The watch-dog's voice that bayed the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind, These all in sweet confusion sought the shade, And filled each pause the nightingale had made. But now the sounds of population fail, No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale, No busy steps the grass-grown foot-way tread, For all the bloomy flush of life is fled. All but yon widowed, solitary thing That feebly bends beside the plashy spring; She, wretched matron, forced in age, for bread, To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread, To pick her wintry faggot from the thorn, To seek her nightly shed, and weep till morn; She only left of all the harmless train, The sad historian of the pensive plain. Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled, And still where many a garden-flower grows wild; There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, The village preacher's modest mansion rose. A man he was, to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a year; Remote from towns he ran his godly race, Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change his place; Unpractised he to fawn, or seek for power, By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour; Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, More skilled to raise the wretched than to rise. His house was known to all the vagrant train, He chid their wanderings but relieved their pain; The long-remembered beggar was his guest, Whose beard descending swept his aged breast; The ruined spendthrift, now no longer proud, Claim'd kindred there, and had his claims allowed; The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, Sate by his fire, and talked the night away; Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done, Shouldered his crutch, and shewed how fields were won. Pleased with his guests, the good man learned to glow, And quite forgot their vices in their woe; Careless their merits, or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And even his failings leaned to Virtue's side; But in his duty prompt at every call, He watched and wept, he prayed and felt, for all. And, as a bird each fond endearment tries, To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies; He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way. Beside the bed where parting life was layed, And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns, dismayed The reverend champion stood. At his control Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul; Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise, And his last faltering accents whispered praise. At church, with meek and unaffected grace, His looks adorned the venerable place; Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray. The service past, around the pious man, With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran; Even children followed, with endearing wile, And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile. His ready smile a parent's warmth exprest, Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distrest: To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, But all his serious thoughts had rest in Heaven. As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, Tho' round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head. Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, With blossomed furze unprofitably gay, There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule, The village master taught his little school; A man severe he was, and stern to view, I knew him well, and every truant knew; Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laughed, with counterfeited glee, At all his jokes, for many a joke had he: Full well the busy whisper circling round, Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned; Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault; The village all declared how much he knew; 'Twas certain he could write, and cypher too; Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage, And ev'n the story ran that he could gauge. In arguing too, the parson owned his skill, For even tho' vanquished, he could argue still; While words of learned length and thundering sound, Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around; And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, That one small head could carry all he knew. But past is all his fame. The very spot Where many a time he triumphed, is forgot. Near yonder thorn, that lifts its head on high, Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye, Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired, Where grey-beard mirth and smiling toil retired, Where village statesmen talked with looks profound, And news much older than their ale went round. Imagination fondly stoops to trace The parlour splendours of that festive place; The white-washed wall, the nicely sanded floor, The varnished clock that clicked behind the door; The chest contrived a double debt to pay, A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day; The pictures placed for ornament and use, The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose; The hearth, except when winter chill'd the day, With aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel gay; While broken tea-cups, wisely kept for shew, Ranged o'er the chimney, glistened in a row. Vain transitory splendours! Could not all Reprieve the tottering mansion from its fall! Obscure it sinks, nor shall it more impart An hour's importance to the poor man's heart; Thither no more the peasant shall repair To sweet oblivion of his daily care; No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale, No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail; No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear, Relax his ponderous strength, and lean to hear; The host himself no longer shall be found Careful to see the mantling bliss go round; Nor the coy maid, half willing to be prest, Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest. Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, These simple blessings of the lowly train; To me more dear, congenial to my heart, One native charm, than all the gloss of art; Spontaneous joys, where Nature has its play, The soul adopts, and owns their first-born sway; Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind, Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined. But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade, With all the freaks of wanton wealth arrayed, In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain, The toiling pleasure sickens into pain; And, even while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart distrusting asks, if this be joy. Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey The rich man's joys encrease, the poor's decay, 'Tis yours to judge, how wide the limits stand Between a splendid and a happy land. Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore, And shouting Folly hails them from her shore; Hoards even beyond the miser's wish abound, And rich men flock from all the world around. Yet count our gains. This wealth is but a name That leaves our useful products still the same. Not so the loss. The man of wealth and pride Takes up a space that many poor supplied; Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds, Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds: The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth, Has robbed the neighbouring fields of half their growth; His seat, where solitary sports are seen, Indignant spurns the cottage from the green: Around the world each needful product flies, For all the luxuries the world supplies. While thus the land adorned for pleasure, all In barren splendour feebly waits the fall. As some fair female unadorned and plain, Secure to please while youth confirms her reign, Slights every borrowed charm that dress supplies, Nor shares with art the triumph of her eyes. But when those charms are past, for charms are frail, When time advances, and when lovers fail, She then shines forth, solicitous to bless, In all the glaring impotence of dress. Thus fares the land, by luxury betrayed: In nature's simplest charms at first arrayed; But verging to decline, its splendours rise, Its vistas strike, its palaces surprize; While, scourged by famine from the smiling land, The mournful peasant leads his humble band; And while he sinks, without one arm to save, The country blooms—a garden, and a grave. Where then, ah where, shall poverty reside, To scape the pressure of contiguous pride? If to some common's fenceless limits strayed, He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade, Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide, And ev'n the bare-worn common is denied. If to the city sped—What waits him there? To see profusion that he must not share; To see ten thousand baneful arts combined To pamper luxury, and thin mankind; To see those joys the sons of pleasure know, Extorted from his fellow-creature's woe. Here while the courtier glitters in brocade, There the pale artist plies the sickly trade; Here while the proud their long-drawn pomps display, There the black gibbet glooms beside the way. The dome where Pleasure holds her midnight reign, Here, richly deckt, admits the gorgeous train; Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square, The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare. Sure scenes like these no troubles e'er annoy! Sure these denote one universal joy! Are these thy serious thoughts?—Ah, turn thine eyes Where the poor houseless shivering female lies. She once, perhaps, in village plenty blest, Has wept at tales of innocence distrest; Her modest looks the cottage might adorn Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn: Now lost to all; her friends, her virtue fled, Near her betrayer's door she lays her head, And, pinch'd with cold, and shrinking from the shower, With heavy heart deplores that luckless hour When idly first, ambitious of the town, She left her wheel and robes of country brown. Do thine, sweet Auburn, thine, the loveliest train, Do thy fair tribes participate her pain? Even now, perhaps, by cold and hunger led, At proud men's doors they ask a little bread! Ah, no. To distant climes, a dreary scene, Where half the convex world intrudes between, Through torrid tracts with fainting steps they go, Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe. Far different there from all that charm'd before, The various terrors of that horrid shore; Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray, And fiercely shed intolerable day; Those matted woods where birds forget to sing, But silent bats in drowsy clusters cling; Those poisonous fields with rank luxuriance crowned, Where the dark scorpion gathers death around; Where at each step the stranger fears to wake The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake; Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey, And savage men, more murderous still than they; While oft in whirls the mad tornado flies, Mingling the ravaged landscape with the skies. Far different these from every former scene, The cooling brook, the grassy vested green, The breezy covert of the warbling grove, That only shelter'd thefts of harmless love. Good Heaven! what sorrows gloom'd that parting day, That called them from their native walks away; When the poor exiles, every pleasure past, Hung round their bowers, and fondly looked their last, And took a long farewell, and wished in vain For seats like these beyond the western main; And shuddering still to face the distant deep, Returned and wept, and still returned to weep. The good old sire the first prepared to go To new found worlds, and wept for others woe. But for himself, in conscious virtue brave, He only wished for worlds beyond the grave. His lovely daughter, lovelier in her tears, The fond companion of his helpless years, Silent went next, neglectful of her charms, And left a lover's for a father's arms. With louder plaints the mother spoke her woes, And blessed the cot where every pleasure rose; And kist her thoughtless babes with many a tear, And claspt them close, in sorrow doubly dear; Whilst her fond husband strove to lend relief In all the silent manliness of grief. O luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree, How ill exchanged are things like these for thee! How do thy potions, with insidious joy, Diffuse their pleasures only to destroy! Kingdoms, by thee, to sickly greatness grown, Boast of a florid vigour not their own; At every draught more large and large they grow, A bloated mass of rank unwieldy woe; Till sapped their strength, and every part unsound, Down, down they sink, and spread a ruin round. Even now the devastation is begun, And half the business of destruction done; Even now, methinks, as pondering here I stand, I see the rural virtues leave the land: Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail, That idly waiting flaps with every gale, Downward they move, a melancholy band, Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand. Contented toil, and hospitable care, And kind connubial tenderness, are there; And piety with wishes placed above, And steady loyalty, and faithful love. And thou, sweet Poetry, thou loveliest maid, Still first to fly where sensual joys invade; Unfit in these degenerate times of shame, To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame; Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried, My shame in crowds, my solitary pride; Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe, That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so; Thou guide by which the nobler arts excell, Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well! Farewell, and O where'er thy voice be tried, On Torno's cliffs, or Pambamarca's side, Whether were equinoctial fervours glow, Or winter wraps the polar world in snow, Still let thy voice, prevailing over time, Redress the rigours of the inclement clime; Aid slighted truth with thy persuasive strain, Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain; Teach him, that states of native strength possest, Tho' very poor, may still be very blest; That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away; While self-dependent power can time defy, As rocks resist the billows and the sky. Banana peels have almost no friction. Banana peels have felled many cartoon characters, Mario Kart players, and average people alike. However, what makes it so slippery in the first place? To answer this, four Japanese scientists measured the amount of friction between a shoe, a banana skin, and the floor. Turns out, the friction coefficient was at an almost nonexistent 0.07 – walking with the banana peel was 6 times slippier than normal friction between a shoe and the floor. TIP is the acronym for “To Insure Promptness.” 25 games, 1873-2010 Miniatures, Collection XVII KG wannabe by wwall * Vienna 1903 KG games: Game Collection: Vienna 1903 * Foxy video series featuring early Bc4 development (C30-C33). Thank you lanceolsen! Game Collection: Foxy Openings - King's Gambit * 23 pages of King's Gambit (over 2000 games) wins by Black! http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * Watch this video and play the KG anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8v... * Assorted Good games by rbaglini: Game Collection: assorted Good games * GK's Scheveningen: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen 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 “The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country.” ― George S. Patton Jr. "The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." ― Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, and former U.S. Army Colonel All The World’s A Stage William Shakespeare All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. Apr-05-23 WannaBe: Can a vegan have a 'beef' with you? Or Vegans only have 'beet' with you? I am confused. Apr-05-23 Cassandro: Vegan police officers should be exempt from doing steak-outs. 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. Drive sober or get pulled over. Conceive a man by nature and misfortune prone to a pallid hopelessness, can any business seem more fitted to heighten it than that of continually handling these dead letters and assorting them for the flames? For by the cart-load they are annually burned. Sometimes from out the folded paper the pale clerk takes a ring: - the finger it was meant for, perhaps, moulders in the grave; a bank-note sent in swiftest charity: - he whom it would relieve, nor eats nor hungers any more; pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities. On errands of life, these letters speed to death. Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity! — Herman Melville And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:9, 10. The Road Not Taken Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Apr-05-23 WannaBe: Can a vegan have a 'beef' with you? Or Vegans only have 'beet' with you? I am confused. Apr-05-23 Cassandro: Vegan police officers should be exempt from doing steak-outs. The Triumph of Life Percy Bysshe Shelley Swift as a spirit hastening to his task Of glory & of good, the Sun sprang forth Rejoicing in his splendour, & the mask Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth. The smokeless altars of the mountain snows Flamed above crimson clouds, & at the birth Of light, the Ocean’s orison arose To which the birds tempered their matin lay, All flowers in field or forest which unclose Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day, Swinging their censers in the element, With orient incense lit by the new ray Burned slow & inconsumably, & sent Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air, And in succession due, did Continent, Isle, Ocean, & all things that in them wear The form & character of mortal mould Rise as the Sun their father rose, to bear Their portion of the toil which he of old Took as his own & then imposed on them; But I, whom thoughts which must remain untold Had kept as wakeful as the stars that gem The cone of night, now they were laid asleep, Stretched my faint limbs beneath the hoary stem Which an old chestnut flung athwart the steep Of a green Apennine: before me fled The night; behind me rose the day; the Deep Was at my feet, & Heaven above my head When a strange trance over my fancy grew Which was not slumber, for the shade it spread Was so transparent that the scene came through As clear as when a veil of light is drawn O’er evening hills they glimmer; and I knew That I had felt the freshness of that dawn, Bathed in the same cold dew my brow & hair And sate as thus upon that slope of lawn Under the self same bough, & heard as there The birds, the fountains & the Ocean hold Sweet talk in music through the enamoured air. And then a Vision on my brain was rolled. As in that trance of wondrous thought I lay This was the tenour of my waking dream. Methought I sate beside a public way Thick strewn with summer dust, & a great stream Of people there was hurrying to & fro Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam, All hastening onward, yet none seemed to know Whither he went, or whence he came, or why He made one of the multitude, yet so Was borne amid the crowd as through the sky One of the million leaves of summer’s bier.— Old age & youth, manhood & infancy, Mixed in one mighty torrent did appear, Some flying from the thing they feared & some Seeking the object of another’s fear, And others as with steps towards the tomb Pored on the trodden worms that crawled beneath, And others mournfully within the gloom Of their own shadow walked, and called it death … And some fled from it as it were a ghost, Half fainting in the affliction of vain breath. But more with motions which each other crost Pursued or shunned the shadows the clouds threw Or birds within the noonday ether lost, Upon that path where flowers never grew; And weary with vain toil & faint for thirst Heard not the fountains whose melodious dew Out of their mossy cells forever burst Nor felt the breeze which from the forest told Of grassy paths, & wood lawns interspersed With overarching elms & caverns cold, And violet banks where sweet dreams brood, but they Pursued their serious folly as of old …. And as I gazed methought that in the way The throng grew wilder, as the woods of June When the South wind shakes the extinguished day.— And a cold glare, intenser than the noon But icy cold, obscured with [[blank]] light The Sun as he the stars. Like the young moon When on the sunlit limits of the night Her white shell trembles amid crimson air And whilst the sleeping tempest gathers might Doth, as a herald of its coming, bear The ghost of her dead Mother, whose dim form Bends in dark ether from her infant’s chair, So came a chariot on the silent storm Of its own rushing splendour, and a Shape So sate within as one whom years deform Beneath a dusky hood & double cape Crouching within the shadow of a tomb, And o’er what seemed the head, a cloud like crape, Was bent a dun & faint etherial gloom Tempering the light; upon the chariot’s beam A Janus-visaged Shadow did assume The guidance of that wonder-winged team. The Shapes which drew it in thick lightnings Were lost: I heard alone on the air’s soft stream The music of their ever moving wings. All the four faces of that charioteer Had their eyes banded . . . little profit brings Speed in the van & blindness in the rear, Nor then avail the beams that quench the Sun Or that his banded eyes could pierce the sphere Of all that is, has been, or will be done.— So ill was the car guided, but it past With solemn speed majestically on . . . The crowd gave way, & I arose aghast, Or seemed to rise, so mighty was the trance, And saw like clouds upon the thunder blast The million with fierce song and maniac dance Raging around; such seemed the jubilee As when to greet some conqueror’s advance Imperial Rome poured forth her living sea From senatehouse & prison & theatre When Freedom left those who upon the free Had bound a yoke which soon they stooped to bear. Nor wanted here the true similitude Of a triumphal pageant, for where’er The chariot rolled a captive multitude Was driven; althose who had grown old in power Or misery,—all who have their age subdued, By action or by suffering, and whose hour Was drained to its last sand in weal or woe, So that the trunk survived both fruit & flower; All those whose fame or infamy must grow Till the great winter lay the form & name Of their own earth with them forever low, All but the sacred few who could not tame Their spirits to the Conqueror, but as soon As they had touched the world with living flame Fled back like eagles to their native noon, Of those who put aside the diadem Of earthly thrones or gems, till the last one Were there;—for they of Athens & Jerusalem Were neither mid the mighty captives seen Nor mid the ribald crowd that followed them Or fled before . . Now swift, fierce & obscene The wild dance maddens in the van, & those Who lead it, fleet as shadows on the green, Outspeed the chariot & without repose Mix with each other in tempestuous measure To savage music …. Wilder as it grows, They, tortured by the agonizing pleasure, Convulsed & on the rapid whirlwinds spun Of that fierce spirit, whose unholy leisure Was soothed by mischief since the world begun, Throw back their heads & loose their streaming hair, And in their dance round her who dims the Sun Maidens & youths fling their wild arms in air As their feet twinkle; they recede, and now Bending within each other’s atmosphere Kindle invisibly; and as they glow Like moths by light attracted & repelled, Oft to new bright destruction come & go. Till like two clouds into one vale impelled That shake the mountains when their lightnings mingle And die in rain,—the fiery band which held Their natures, snaps . . . ere the shock cease to tingle One falls and then another in the path Senseless, nor is the desolation single, Yet ere I can say where the chariot hath Past over them; nor other trace I find But as of foam after the Ocean’s wrath Is spent upon the desert shore.—Behind, Old men, and women foully disarrayed Shake their grey hair in the insulting wind, Limp in the dance & strain, with limbs decayed, Seeking to reach the light which leaves them still Farther behind & deeper in the shade. But not the less with impotence of will They wheel, though ghastly shadows interpose Round them & round each other, and fulfill Their work and to the dust whence they arose Sink & corruption veils them as they lie And frost in these performs what fire in those. Struck to the heart by this sad pageantry, Half to myself I said, “And what is this? Whose shape is that within the car? & why”- I would have added—”is all here amiss?” But a voice answered . . “Life” . . . I turned & knew (O Heaven have mercy on such wretchedness!) That what I thought was an old root which grew To strange distortion out of the hill side Was indeed one of that deluded crew, And that the grass which methought hung so wide And white, was but his thin discoloured hair, And that the holes it vainly sought to hide Were or had been eyes.—”lf thou canst forbear To join the dance, which I had well forborne,” Said the grim Feature, of my thought aware, “I will now tell that which to this deep scorn Led me & my companions, and relate The progress of the pageant since the morn; “If thirst of knowledge doth not thus abate, Follow it even to the night, but I Am weary” . . . Then like one who with the weight Of his own words is staggered, wearily He paused, and ere he could resume, I cried, “First who art thou?” . . . “Before thy memory “I feared, loved, hated, suffered, did, & died, And if the spark with which Heaven lit my spirit Earth had with purer nutriment supplied “Corruption would not now thus much inherit Of what was once Rousseau—nor this disguise Stained that within which still disdains to wear it.— “If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore.”— “And who are those chained to the car?” “The Wise, “The great, the unforgotten: they who wore Mitres & helms & crowns, or wreathes of light, Signs of thought’s empire over thought; their lore “Taught them not this—to know themselves; their might Could not repress the mutiny within, And for the morn of truth they feigned, deep night “Caught them ere evening.” “Who is he with chin Upon his breast and hands crost on his chain?” “The Child of a fierce hour; he sought to win “The world, and lost all it did contain Of greatness, in its hope destroyed; & more Of fame & peace than Virtue’s self can gain “Without the opportunity which bore Him on its eagle’s pinion to the peak From which a thousand climbers have before “Fall’n as Napoleon fell.”—I felt my cheek Alter to see the great form pass away Whose grasp had left the giant world so weak That every pigmy kicked it as it lay— And much I grieved to think how power & will In opposition rule our mortal day— And why God made irreconcilable Good & the means of good; and for despair I half disdained mine eye’s desire to fill With the spent vision of the times that were And scarce have ceased to be . . . “Dost thou behold,” Said then my guide, “those spoilers spoiled, Voltaire, “Frederic, & Kant, Catherine, & Leopold, Chained hoary anarch, demagogue & sage Whose name the fresh world thinks already old— “For in the battle Life & they did wage She remained conqueror—I was overcome By my own heart alone, which neither age “Nor tears nor infamy nor now the tomb Could temper to its object.”—”Let them pass”— I cried—”the world & its mysterious doom “Is not so much more glorious than it was That I desire to worship those who drew New figures on its false & fragile glass “As the old faded.”—”Figures ever new Rise on the bubble, paint them how you may; We have but thrown, as those before us threw, “Our shadows on it as it past away. But mark, how chained to the triumphal chair The mighty phantoms of an elder day— “All that is mortal of great Plato there Expiates the joy & woe his master knew not; That star that ruled his doom was far too fair— “And Life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not, Conquered the heart by love which gold or pain Or age or sloth or slavery could subdue not— “And near [[blank]] walk the [[blank]] twain, The tutor & his pupil, whom Dominion Followed as tame as vulture in a chain.— “The world was darkened beneath either pinion Of him whom from the flock of conquerors Fame singled as her thunderbearing minion; “The other long outlived both woes & wars, Throned in new thoughts of men, and still had kept The jealous keys of truth’s eternal doors “If Bacon’s spirit [[blank]] had not leapt Like lightning out of darkness; he compelled The Proteus shape of Nature’s as it slept “To wake & to unbar the caves that held The treasure of the secrets of its reign— See the great bards of old who inly quelled “The passions which they sung, as by their strain May well be known: their living melody Tempers its own contagion to the vein “Of those who are infected with it—I Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain!— “And so my words were seeds of misery— Even as the deeds of others.”—”Not as theirs,” I said—he pointed to a company In which I recognized amid the heirs Of Caesar’s crime from him to Constantine, The Anarchs old whose force & murderous snares Had founded many a sceptre bearing line And spread the plague of blood & gold abroad, And Gregory & John and men divine Who rose like shadows between Man & god Till that eclipse, still hanging under Heaven, Was worshipped by the world o’er which they strode For the true Sun it quenched.—”Their power was given But to destroy,” replied the leader—”I Am one of those who have created, even “If it be but a world of agony.”— “Whence camest thou & whither goest thou? How did thy course begin,” I said, “& why? “Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow Of people, & my heart of one sad thought.— Speak.”—”Whence I came, partly I seem to know, “And how & by what paths I have been brought To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess; Why this should be my mind can compass not; “Whither the conqueror hurries me still less. But follow thou, & from spectator turn Actor or victim in this wretchedness, “And what thou wouldst be taught I then may learn From thee.—Now listen . . . In the April prime When all the forest tops began to burn “With kindling green, touched by the azure clime Of the young year, I found myself asleep Under a mountain which from unknown time “Had yawned into a cavern high & deep, And from it came a gentle rivulet Whose water like clear air in its calm sweep “Bent the soft grass & kept for ever wet The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove With sound which all who hear must needs forget “All pleasure & all pain, all hate & love, Which they had known before that hour of rest: A sleeping mother then would dream not of “The only child who died upon her breast At eventide, a king would mourn no more The crown of which his brow was dispossest “When the sun lingered o’er the Ocean floor To gild his rival’s new prosperity.— Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore “Ills, which if ills, can find no cure from thee, The thought of which no other sleep will quell Nor other music blot from memory— “So sweet & deep is the oblivious spell.— Whether my life had been before that sleep The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell “Like this harsh world in which I wake to weep, I know not. I arose & for a space The scene of woods & waters seemed to keep, “Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace Of light diviner than the common Sun Sheds on the common Earth, but all the place “Was filled with many sounds woven into one Oblivious melody, confusing sense Amid the gliding waves & shadows dun; “And as I looked the bright omnipresence Of morning through the orient cavern flowed, And the Sun’s image radiantly intense “Burned on the waters of the well that glowed Like gold, and threaded all the forest maze With winding paths of emerald fire—there stood “Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze Of his own glory, on the vibrating Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays, “A shape all light, which with one hand did fling Dew on the earth, as if she were the Dawn Whose invisible rain forever seemed to sing “A silver music on the mossy lawn, And still before her on the dusky grass Iris her many coloured scarf had drawn.— “In her right hand she bore a crystal glass Mantling with bright Nepenthe;—the fierce splendour Fell from her as she moved under the mass “Of the deep cavern, & with palms so tender Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow, Glided along the river, and did bend her “Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream That whispered with delight to be their pillow.— “As one enamoured is upborne in dream O’er lily-paven lakes mid silver mist To wondrous music, so this shape might seem “Partly to tread the waves with feet which kist The dancing foam, partly to glide along The airs that roughened the moist amethyst, “Or the slant morning beams that fell among The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees; And her feet ever to the ceaseless song “Of leaves & winds & waves & birds & bees And falling drops moved in a measure new Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze “Up from the lake a shape of golden dew Between two rocks, athwart the rising moon, Moves up the east, where eagle never flew.— “And still her feet, no less than the sweet tune To which they moved, seemed as they moved, to blot The thoughts of him who gazed on them, & soon “All that was seemed as if it had been not, As if the gazer’s mind was strewn beneath Her feet like embers, & she, thought by thought, “Trampled its fires into the dust of death, As Day upon the threshold of the east Treads out the lamps of night, until the breath “Of darkness reillumines even the least Of heaven’s living eyes—like day she came, Making the night a dream; and ere she ceased “To move, as one between desire and shame Suspended, I said—’If, as it doth seem, Thou comest from the realm without a name, ” ‘Into this valley of perpetual dream, Shew whence I came, and where I am, and why— Pass not away upon the passing stream.’ ” ‘Arise and quench thy thirst,’ was her reply, And as a shut lily, stricken by the wand Of dewy morning’s vital alchemy, “I rose; and, bending at her sweet command, Touched with faint lips the cup she raised, And suddenly my brain became as sand “Where the first wave had more than half erased The track of deer on desert Labrador, Whilst the fierce wolf from which they fled amazed “Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore Until the second bursts—so on my sight Burst a new Vision never seen before.— “And the fair shape waned in the coming light As veil by veil the silent splendour drops From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite “Of sunrise ere it strike the mountain tops— And as the presence of that fairest planet Although unseen is felt by one who hopes “That his day’s path may end as he began it In that star’s smile, whose light is like the scent Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it, “Or the soft note in which his dear lament The Brescian shepherd breathes, or the caress That turned his weary slumber to content.— “So knew I in that light’s severe excess The presence of that shape which on the stream Moved, as I moved along the wilderness, “More dimly than a day appearing dream, The ghost of a forgotten form of sleep A light from Heaven whose half extinguished beam “Through the sick day in which we wake to weep Glimmers, forever sought, forever lost.— So did that shape its obscure tenour keep “Beside my path, as silent as a ghost; But the new Vision, and its cold bright car, With savage music, stunning music, crost “The forest, and as if from some dread war Triumphantly returning, the loud million Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star.— “A moving arch of victory the vermilion And green & azure plumes of Iris had Built high over her wind-winged pavilion, “And underneath aetherial glory clad The wilderness, and far before her flew The tempest of the splendour which forbade Shadow to fall from leaf or stone;—the crew Seemed in that light like atomies that dance Within a sunbeam.—Some upon the new “Embroidery of flowers that did enhance The grassy vesture of the desart, played, Forgetful of the chariot’s swift advance; “Others stood gazing till within the shade Of the great mountain its light left them dim.— Others outspeeded it, and others made “Circles around it like the clouds that swim Round the high moon in a bright sea of air, And more did follow, with exulting hymn, “The chariot & the captives fettered there, But all like bubbles on an eddying flood Fell into the same track at last & were “Borne onward.—I among the multitude Was swept; me sweetest flowers delayed not long, Me not the shadow nor the solitude, “Me not the falling stream’s Lethean song, Me, not the phantom of that early form Which moved upon its motion,—but among “The thickest billows of the living storm I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.— “Before the chariot had begun to climb The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme “Of him whom from the lowest depths of Hell Through every Paradise & through all glory Love led serene, & who returned to tell “In words of hate & awe the wondrous story How all things are transfigured, except Love; For deaf as is a sea which wrath makes hoary “The world can hear not the sweet notes that move The sphere whose light is melody to lovers—- A wonder worthy of his rhyme—the grove “Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers, The earth was grey with phantoms, & the air Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers “A flock of vampire-bats before the glare Of the tropic sun, bring ere evening Strange night upon some Indian isle,—thus were “Phantoms diffused around, & some did fling Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves, Behind them, some like eaglets on the wing “Were lost in the white blaze, others like elves Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes Upon the sunny streams & grassy shelves; “And others sate chattering like restless apes On vulgar paws and voluble like fire. Some made a cradle of the ermined capes “Of kingly mantles, some upon the tiar Of pontiffs sate like vultures, others played Within the crown which girt with empire “A baby’s or an idiot’s brow, & made Their nests in it; the old anatomies Sate hatching their bare brood under the shade “Of demon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes To reassume the delegated power Arrayed in which these worms did monarchize “Who make this earth their charnel.—Others more Humble, like falcons sate upon the fist Of common men, and round their heads did soar, “Or like small gnats & flies, as thick as mist On evening marshes, thronged about the brow Of lawyer, statesman, priest & theorist, “And others like discoloured flakes of snow On fairest bosoms & the sunniest hair Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow “Which they extinguished; for like tears, they were A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained In drops of sorrow.—I became aware “Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained The track in which we moved; after brief space From every form the beauty slowly waned, “From every firmest limb & fairest face The strength & freshness fell like dust, & left The action & the shape without the grace “Of life; the marble brow of youth was cleft With care, and in the eyes where once hope shone Desire like a lioness bereft “Of its last cub, glared ere it died; each one Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown “In Autumn evening from a popular tree— Each, like himself & like each other were, At first, but soon distorted, seemed to be “Obscure clouds moulded by the casual air; And of this stuff the car’s creative ray Wrought all the busy phantoms that were there “As the sun shapes the clouds—thus, on the way Mask after mask fell from the countenance And form of all, and long before the day “Was old, the joy which waked like Heaven’s glance The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died, And some grew weary of the ghastly dance “And fell, as I have fallen by the way side, Those soonest from whose forms most shadows past And least of strength & beauty did abide.”— “Then, what is Life?” I said . . . the cripple cast His eye upon the car which now had rolled Onward, as if that look must be the last, And answered …. “Happy those for whom the fold Of … “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell 475 games, 1560-2019 MiniMixer D4 C4 B4 A4 Crafty EG Contributions by ph2ca, ianD, MorphyMatt, Mating Net, Fredthebear, RayDelColle and saveyougod! “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born, is to remain always a child.” ― Cicero “Enormous self-belief, intuition, the ability to take a risk at a critical moment and go in for a very dangerous play with counter-chances for the opponent it’s precisely these qualities that distinguish great players.” ― Garry Kasparov “Even the laziest king flees wildly in the face of a double check.” ― Aron Nimzowitsch “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 is everything: art, science and sport.” — Anatoly Karpov “Kestrel's cruel calculation appalled her. This was part of what had made her resist the military: the fact that she could make decisions like this, that she did have a mind for strategy, that people could be so easily become pieces in a game she was determined to win...” ― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Curse “The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country.” ― George S. Patton Jr. “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” ― Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, and former U.S. Army Colonel And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:9, 10. * Checkmate Patterns to Recognize Instantly: https://chessfox.com/checkmate-patt... * Brilliant (and mostly famous games)!! Game Collection: Brilliant Miniatures * Champion miniatures: Game Collection: Champions miniature champions * Charming Miniatures: Game Collection: 0 * The Donner Party of Misery: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... * Tactical Mix: Game Collection: mastering Tactical ideas by minev * Forney's Collection: Game Collection: Brutal Attacking Chess * Spassky had a universal style: Game Collection: 0 * Shirov minis: Game Collection: Shirov miniatures * Dr. Siegbert Tarrarsch playing his QGD Tarrasch Defense! http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... * 50 Ways: Game Collection: 50 Ways to Win at Chess * Pawn Structures: Game Collection: Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide * A11s: Game Collection: A11 (White Wins): English Opening * D00-D99 Master Lists: - https://allchessopenings.blogspot.c... - https://www.chesslecture.com/eco.ph... - https://www.ficsgames.org/eco.html - http://myweb.astate.edu/wpaulsen/ch... - https://www.brentwoodchessclub.org/... - http://www.bookuppro.com/ecopgn/d.h... - https://www.chessagain.com/?cnt=2&l... - http://www.jimmyvermeer.com/opening... - https://www.saela.eu/games/chess/gi... - https://www.blia.it/giochi/scacchi/ - http://gambiter.com/chess/openings/... - http://www.ficgs.com/directory_open... - http://www.learn-and-play-online-ch... - https://www.thechesswebsite.com/che... - https://www.chessopolis.com/eco-cod... - https://vi.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan... - https://www.dailychess.com/chess/op... - http://eudesign.com/chessops/ch-lis... - http://www.ecochess.com/d00d99.htm - http://www.szachowe.pl/viewtopic.ph... - https://sv.abcdef.wiki/wiki/List_of... - http://www.hilmar-alquiros.de/D.htm - https://www.chess.com/blog/Gm_andre... - https://ecochessopeningcodes.blogsp... - http://www.giocareascacchi.it/eco/D... - https://chessopenings.com/eco/D00/ - https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-op... - https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/ch... - http://www.jordigonzalezboada.com/a... - https://www3.diism.unisi.it/~addabb... - https://qdoc.tips/67813176-chess-op... - http://www.abdelnauer.de/gametop.htm ‘May your Departures equal your Landfalls!’ * 1.d4 g6: Game Collection: A40 Modern: Queen Pawn Fianchetto (Black) * 1.d4: Game Collection: Winning with 1 d4! * 1.d4: Game Collection: d4 * Staunton Gambits: Game Collection: DUTCH Staunton Gambit: White Mates in 25 * Nov-24-20 Penguincw: Recently a trap has emerged in this opening, best used in online blitz/bullet with pre-moving: 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6 4.exd6 Ne7 5.dxe7 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Qxd1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oks... (bullet game vs. Naroditsky, 2:33) Lichess has all the same basic offerings as Chess.com: a large community, many game types, tutorials, puzzles, and livestreams. The site has a simple appearance, and it seems built to get you where you want to go in as few clicks as possible. You can create an account, but if you’re not concerned with tracking your games and finding other players at your level, there’s no need to log in. Just fire up a new game, try some puzzles, or watch a chess streamer play three-minute games while listening to techno and chatting with the comments section. * Crafty Endgame Trainer: https://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-... You know there's no official training for trash collectors? They just pick things up as they go along. “You can only get good at chess if you love the game.” ― Bobby Fischer “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 “Be active. I do things my way, like skiing when I’m 100. Nobody else does that even if they have energy. And I try to eat pretty correctly and get exercise and fresh air and sunshine.” ― Elsa Bailey, first time skier at age 100 “Don't look at the calendar, just keep celebrating every day.” ― Ruth Coleman, carpe diem at age 101 Phoebus And Boreas Old Boreas and the sun, one day Espied a traveller on his way, Whose dress did happily provide Against whatever might betide. The time was autumn, when, indeed, All prudent travellers take heed. The rains that then the sunshine dash, And Iris with her splendid sash, Warn one who does not like to soak To wear abroad a good thick cloak. Our man was therefore well bedight With double mantle, strong and tight. "This fellow," said the wind, "has meant To guard from every ill event; But little does he wot that I Can blow him such a blast That, not a button fast, His cloak shall cleave the sky. Come, here's a pleasant game, Sir Sun! Will play?" Said Phoebus, "Done! We'll bet between us here Which first will take the gear From off this cavalier. Begin, and shut away. The brightness of my ray." "Enough." Our blower, on the bet, Swelled out his pursy form With all the stuff for storm – The thunder, hail, and drenching wet, And all the fury he could muster; Then, with a very demon's bluster, He whistled, whirled, and splashed, And down the torrents dashed, Full many a roof uptearing He never did before, Full many a vessel bearing To wreck on the shore, – And all to doff a single cloak. But vain the furious stroke; The traveller was stout, And kept the tempest out, Defied the hurricane, Defied the pelting rain; And as the fiercer roared the blast, His cloak the tighter held he fast. The sun broke out, to win the bet; He caused the clouds to disappear, Refreshed and warmed the cavalier, And through his mantle made him sweat, Till off it came, of course, In less than half an hour; And yet the sun saved half his power. – So much does mildness more than force. I entered ten puns in our contest to see which would win. No pun in ten did. “Above the clouds I lift my wing To hear the bells of Heaven ring; Some of their music, though my fights be wild, To Earth I bring; Then let me soar and sing!” ― Edmund Clarence Stedman Feb-13-11 keypusher: <scutigera: They give this as one of Myagmarsuren's notable games with 162 others in the database?> notable games are selected based on how many games collections they are in. Kasparov vs. Deep Blue; A Limerick by Edward D. Collins "Man versus Machine" it was billed And each day the auditorium filled! An interesting fight - With Garry first to have White Can anyone claim they weren't thrilled? The first game proved Garry still King "Deep Blue hasn't learned anything!" Quickly out of its book It later "won" Garry's Rook Does this thing even belong in the ring? But then Kasparov resigned in Game 2 And at the time nobody knew Later shown he could draw Did this stick in his craw? Others may be wondering too! "The printouts!" Kasparov cried "Why was I so flatly denied?" So they were then sealed Only later revealed One point each -- this match is now tied! Games 3, 4, and 5 were all drawn Deep Blue did indeed have some brawn! It's now winner take all So don't fumble the ball (Or in our case don't fumble a pawn!) Game 6 was the most startling yet And I'm sure it cost many a bet Deep Blue sacked a Knight Quickly proved this was right And so began all the talk on the "Net" This chess match made worldwide news And most thought that Deep Blue would lose But with its three-and-a-half If you do the math You'll find Garry's the one with the "blues!" No machine has done it 'till now Bested our champion in match play -- kapow! While few thought it would Deep Blue proved that it could And Garry is wondering "How?" "I was not in the mood to fight" Said the champ to the press that night "But let this be clear" "I guarantee -- do you hear?" "I will tear it to pieces!" -- he might! So, in New York on the eleventh of May Of '97, the records will say A machine, no less Sat down to play chess And proved that it really can play! "Rematch" was then heard through the land It is something we ALL should demand For if Deep Blue will square-off One more time with Kasparov The games would be certainly grand! We really have nothing to fear Computers can help us, it's clear And although Deep Blue won And had its day in the sun I think "chess" was the real winner here! “We do not remember days, we remember moments.” ― Cesare Pavese Why is England the wettest country? Because the queen reigned there for decades. <Luke 8:16-18 New King James Version The Parable of the Revealed Light Jesus said: 16 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. 18 Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”> “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. Oct-04-10 I play the Fred: said... You're distraught because you're not able to cope feel like a dope when Lasker hits Puttin on (the Fritz) <There are distinct situations where a bishop is preferred (over a knight). For example, two bishops are better than two knights or one of each. Steven Mayer, the author of Bishop Versus Knight, contends, “A pair of bishops is usually considered to be worth six points, but common sense suggests that a pair of active bishops (that are very involved in the formation) must be accorded a value of almost nine under some circumstances.” This is especially true if the player can plant the bishops in the center of the board, as two bishops working in tandem can span up to 26 squares and have the capacity to touch every square. Bishops are also preferable to knights when queens have been exchanged because, Grandmaster Sergey Erenburg, who is ranked 11th in the U.S., explains, “[Bishops and rooks] complement each other, and when well-coordinated, act as a queen.” Conversely, a knight is the preferred minor piece when the queen survives until the late-middlegame or the endgame. Mayer explains, “The queen and knight are [able] to work together smoothly and create a greater number of threats than the queen and bishop.” When forced to say one is better than the other, most anoint the bishop. Mayer concludes, “I think it’s true that the bishops are better than the knights in a wider variety of positions than the knights are better than the bishops.” He continues, “Of course, I’m not sure this does us much good, as we only get to play one position at a time.”> “Let us say that a game may be continued in two ways: one of them is a beautiful tactical blow that gives rise to variations that don't yield to precise calculations; the other is clear positional pressure that leads to an endgame with microscopic chances of victory. I would choose the latter without thinking twice. If the opponent offers keen play I don't object; but in such cases I get less satisfaction, even if I win, than from a game conducted according to all the rules of strategy with its ruthless logic.” — Anatoly Karpov “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” ― Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, and former U.S. Army Colonel # $. When you die, what part of the body dies last? The pupils… they dilate. 500 games, 1620-2020 MiniMixer E4 E5 No C30s, No C50s Contributions by ph2ca, ianD, MorphyMatt, Mating Net, Fredthebear, RayDelColle, and saveyougod! "To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born, is to remain always a child." — Cicero “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) “Chess is an infinitely complex game, which one can play in infinitely numerous & varied ways.” ― Vladimir Kramnik “Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.” ― George F. Kennan * Checkmate Patterns To Recognize Instantly: https://chessfox.com/checkmate-patt... * Anderssen's Assaults: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... * Ataman's Miniatures: Game Collection: Instructive Chess Miniatures (Ataman) * Charming Miniatures: Game Collection: 0 * 1.e4 e5 flavor flav: Game Collection: The Open Games: 1.e4 e5 * 1.e4 e5 Leach: Game Collection: Chess in the USA 1945-72, Part 1 (Leach) * C45s: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... * LG - White wins: Game Collection: Latvian Gambit-White wins * Uncommon KP Gambits: Game Collection: Unusual Gambits * Wall's APCT Miniatures: http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/c... * Short Draws: Game Collection: Short Forced Draws * Scotch: Game Collection: The Scotch Game * Getting started w/the Danish Gambit: https://www.chessonly.com/danish-ga... * Extinguish the Dragon: Game Collection: 1.e4 explorations * Brilliant (and mostly famous games)!! Game Collection: Brilliant Miniatures * Spassky had a universal style: Game Collection: 0 * Champion miniatures: Game Collection: Champions miniature champions * Wonders and Curiosities: Game Collection: Wonders and Curiosities of Chess (Chernev) * Blowing Away the Castled King: Game Collection: Attack The King's Pocket * Many gambits from all openings by ECO code: https://www.jimmyvermeer.com/openin... “In life, as in chess, one’s own pawns block one’s way. A man’s very wealth, ease, leisure, children, books, which should help him to win, more often checkmate him. – Charles Buxton The Cockerel, the Cat, and the Young Mouse A youthful mouse, not up to trap, Had almost met a sad mishap. The story hear him thus relate, With great importance, to his mother: "I passed the mountain bounds of this estate, And off was trotting on another, Like some young rat with nothing to do But see things wonderful and new, When two strange creatures came in view. The one was mild, benign, and gracious; The other, turbulent, rapacious, With voice terrific, shrill, and rough, And on his head a bit of stuff That looked like raw and bloody meat, Raised up a sort of arms, and beat The air, as if he meant to fly, And bore his plumy tail on high." A cock, that just began to crow, As if some nondescript, From far New Holland shipped, Was what our mousling pictured so. "He beat his arms," said he, "and raised his voice, And made so terrible a noise, That I, who, thanks to Heaven, may justly boast Myself as bold as any mouse, Scud off, (his voice would even scare a ghost!) And cursed himself and all his house; For, but for him, I should have staid, And doubtless an acquaintance made With her who seemed so mild and good. Like us, in velvet cloak and hood, She wears a tail that's full of grace, A very sweet and humble face, – No mouse more kindness could desire, – And yet her eye is full of fire. I do believe the lovely creature A friend of rats and mice by nature. Her ears, though, like herself, they're bigger, Are just like ours in form and figure. To her I was approaching, when, Aloft on what appeared his den, The other screamed, – and off I fled." "My son," his cautious mother said, "That sweet one was the cat, The mortal foe of mouse and rat, Who seeks by smooth deceit, Her appetite to treat. So far the other is from that, We yet may eat His dainty meat; Whereas the cruel cat, Whenever she can, devours No other meat than ours." Remember while you live, It is by looks that men deceive. "We do not remember days, we remember moments." ― Cesare Pavese This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill Fifteen percent concentrated power of will Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain And a hundred percent reason to remember the name! ― Fort Minor Lasker's Secret Principle: "He (Emanuel Lasker) told me that this principle of controlling as many squares as possible was his guide at every stage of the game. He said "In the majority of cases it is probably best to have Knight and Bishop on squares of the same color, because then they control squares of opposite colors." ― Edward Lasker, Chess Secrets I Learned from the Masters The Horse and the Wolf A wolf, what time the thawing breeze Renews the life of plants and trees, And beasts go forth from winter lair To seek abroad their various fare, – A wolf, I say, about those days, In sharp look-out for means and ways, Espied a horse turned out to graze. His joy the reader may opine. "Once got," said he, "this game were fine; But if a sheep, it were sooner mine. I can't proceed my usual way; Some trick must now be put in play." This said, He came with measured tread, As if a healer of disease, – Some pupil of Hippocrates, – And told the horse, with learned verbs, He knew the power of roots and herbs, – Whatever grew about those borders, – And not at all to flatter Himself in such a matter, Could cure of all disorders. If he, Sir Horse, would not conceal The symptoms of his case, He, Doctor Wolf, would gratis heal; For that to feed in such a place, And run about untied, Was proof itself of some disease, As all the books decide. "I have, good doctor, if you please," Replied the horse, "as I presume, Beneath my foot, an aposthume." "My son," replied the learned leech, "That part, as all our authors teach, Is strikingly susceptible Of ills which make acceptable What you may also have from me – The aid of skilful surgery; Which noble art, the fact is, For horses of the blood I practise." The fellow, with this talk sublime, Watched for a snap the fitting time. Meanwhile, suspicious of some trick, The wary patient nearer draws, And gives his doctor such a kick, As makes a chowder of his jaws. Exclaimed the wolf, in sorry plight, "I own those heels have served me right. I erred to quit my trade, As I will not in future; Me nature surely made For nothing but a butcher." "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. Oct-04-10 I play the Fred: said... You're distraught because you're not able to cope feel like a dope when Lasker hits Puttin on (the Fritz) “Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess.” ― Siegbert Tarrasch Lichess has all the same basic offerings as Chess.com: a large community, many game types, tutorials, puzzles, and livestreams. The site has a simple appearance, and it seems built to get you where you want to go in as few clicks as possible. You can create an account, but if you’re not concerned with tracking your games and finding other players at your level, there’s no need to log in. Just fire up a new game, try some puzzles, or watch a chess streamer play three-minute games while listening to techno and chatting with the comments section. “Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got.” — Norman Vincent Peale “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” — Ralph Marston An Irish Blessing: May we all feel… happy and contented, healthy and strong, safe and protected and living with ease… ~ “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:9, 10. “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” ― Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, and former U.S. Army Colonel # 500 games, 1590-2021 Minnows in the fish bowl by chessmaster, fredthebear, gambitfan, Phony Benoni, etc. + Game Collection: Chess Miniatures, Collection I + Game Collection: Brutal Attacking Chess + Game Collection: 0 + Game Collection: Mating Net's Tactical Favorites + Game Collection: Immortal Games of Capablanca, F. Reinfeld + Game Collection: bad apertures + Game Collection: Traps in the openings by Mateen + Game Collection: Mikhail Tal's Best Games + Game Collection: Chess Miniatures, Collection IV + Game Collection: Ruy Lopez / Sicilian Traps + Game Collection: Master Games - Modern Chess (Tartakower/du Mont) + Game Collection: Great Chess Battles (Alekhine) + Game Collection: barb's favorite games 2 + Game Collection: Comprehensive Chess Course V2 games + Game Collection: Tal's Tactics + Game Collection: miniatures + Game Collection: Sicilian Defence Opening Traps + Game Collection: The Anti-Sicilians + Game Collection: quick knockouts by traps + Game Collection: miniatures + Game Collection: BishopofBlunder's Miniatures + Game Collection: Mil y Una Partidas 1932-1949 + Game Collection: Having fun with the QP + Game Collection: Veliki majstori saha 12 CAPABLANCA (Petrovic) + Game Collection: super quick deadly traps and such + Game Collection: Counterpunching in blitz + Game Collection: Chessgames.com members in action + Game Collection: Trap Collection + Game Collection: SHORT AND QUICK + Game Collection: Opening traps + Game Collection: Learning collection + Game Collection: Kasputin's favorite games + Game Collection: Modern Chess Strategy II by Ludek Pachman + Game Collection: A52 - The Budapest Gambit + Game Collection: samhamfast's favorite games + Game Collection: greatest games ever played + Game Collection: # Chess Informant Best Games 801-900 + Game Collection: Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors Part 1 + Game Collection: Apocalypse now - Chess, Controversy and charges + Game Collection: Move by Move - Carlsen (Lakdawala) + Game Collection: Great Games by ECO Code + Game Collection: Puzzle of the Day 2008 The Chess Play by Nicholas Breton A Secret many yeeres vnseene,  In play at Chesse, who knowes the game First of the King, and then the Queene,  Knight, Bishop, Rooke, and so by name. Of euerie Pawne I will descrie The nature with the qualitie. The King. The King himselfe is haughtie Care  Which ouerlooketh all his men And when he seeth how they fare.  He steps among them now and then, Whom when his foe presumes to checke His seruants stand, to giue the necke. The Queene. The Queene is queint, and quicke Conceit,  Which makes hir walke which way she list And rootes them vp, that lie in wait  To worke hir treason, ere she wist: Hir force is such, against hir foes, That whom she meetes, she ouerthrowes. The Knight. The Knight is knowledge how to fight  Against his Princes enimies, He neuer makes his walke outright,  But leaps and skips, in wilie wise. To take by sleight a traitrous foe, Might slilie seeke their ouerthrowe. The Bishop. The Bishop he is wittie braine,  That chooseth Crossest pathes to pace. And euermore he pries with paine,  To see who seekes him most disgrace: Such straglers when he findes astraie, He takes them vp, and throwes awaie. The Rookes The Rookes are reason on both sides,  Which keepe the corner houses still. And warily stand to watch their tides.  By secret art to worke their will, To take sometime a theefe vnseene, Might mischiefe meane to King or Queene. The Paiones. The Pawne before the King, is peace  Which he desires to keepe at home, Practise the Queenes, which doth not cease  Amid the world abroad to roame. To finde, and fall vpon each foe, Whereas his mistres meanes to goe. Before the Knight, is perill plast,  Which he, by skipping ouergoes, And yet that Pawne can worke a cast  To ouerthrow his greatest foes; The Bishops, prudence; prieng still, Which way to worke his masters will. The Rookes poore Pawnes, are sillie swaines,  Which seeidome serue, except by hap, And yet those Pawnes, can lay their traines.  To catch a great man, in a trap: So that I see, sometime a groome May not be sparèd from his roome. The Nature of the Chesse men. The King is stately, looking hie: The Queene doth beare like maiestie: The Knight is hardie, valiant, wise: The Bishop, prudent and precise:  The Rookes, no raungers out of raie  The Pawnes, the pages in the plaie. Lenvoy. Then rule with care, and quicke conceit,  And fight with knowledge, as with force; So beare a braine, to dash deceit,  And worke with reason and remorse: Forgiue a fault when yoong men plaie So giue a mate and go your way And when you plaie beware of Checke Know how to saue and giue a necke: And with a Checke, beware of Mate; But cheefe, ware had I wist too late:  Loose not the Queene, for ten to one.  If she be lost, the game is gone. The Triumph of Life Percy Bysshe Shelley Swift as a spirit hastening to his task Of glory & of good, the Sun sprang forth Rejoicing in his splendour, & the mask Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth. The smokeless altars of the mountain snows Flamed above crimson clouds, & at the birth Of light, the Ocean’s orison arose To which the birds tempered their matin lay, All flowers in field or forest which unclose Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day, Swinging their censers in the element, With orient incense lit by the new ray Burned slow & inconsumably, & sent Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air, And in succession due, did Continent, Isle, Ocean, & all things that in them wear The form & character of mortal mould Rise as the Sun their father rose, to bear Their portion of the toil which he of old Took as his own & then imposed on them; But I, whom thoughts which must remain untold Had kept as wakeful as the stars that gem The cone of night, now they were laid asleep, Stretched my faint limbs beneath the hoary stem Which an old chestnut flung athwart the steep Of a green Apennine: before me fled The night; behind me rose the day; the Deep Was at my feet, & Heaven above my head When a strange trance over my fancy grew Which was not slumber, for the shade it spread Was so transparent that the scene came through As clear as when a veil of light is drawn O’er evening hills they glimmer; and I knew That I had felt the freshness of that dawn, Bathed in the same cold dew my brow & hair And sate as thus upon that slope of lawn Under the self same bough, & heard as there The birds, the fountains & the Ocean hold Sweet talk in music through the enamoured air. And then a Vision on my brain was rolled. As in that trance of wondrous thought I lay This was the tenour of my waking dream. Methought I sate beside a public way Thick strewn with summer dust, & a great stream Of people there was hurrying to & fro Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam, All hastening onward, yet none seemed to know Whither he went, or whence he came, or why He made one of the multitude, yet so Was borne amid the crowd as through the sky One of the million leaves of summer’s bier.— Old age & youth, manhood & infancy, Mixed in one mighty torrent did appear, Some flying from the thing they feared & some Seeking the object of another’s fear, And others as with steps towards the tomb Pored on the trodden worms that crawled beneath, And others mournfully within the gloom Of their own shadow walked, and called it death … And some fled from it as it were a ghost, Half fainting in the affliction of vain breath. But more with motions which each other crost Pursued or shunned the shadows the clouds threw Or birds within the noonday ether lost, Upon that path where flowers never grew; And weary with vain toil & faint for thirst Heard not the fountains whose melodious dew Out of their mossy cells forever burst Nor felt the breeze which from the forest told Of grassy paths, & wood lawns interspersed With overarching elms & caverns cold, And violet banks where sweet dreams brood, but they Pursued their serious folly as of old …. And as I gazed methought that in the way The throng grew wilder, as the woods of June When the South wind shakes the extinguished day.— And a cold glare, intenser than the noon But icy cold, obscured with [[blank]] light The Sun as he the stars. Like the young moon When on the sunlit limits of the night Her white shell trembles amid crimson air And whilst the sleeping tempest gathers might Doth, as a herald of its coming, bear The ghost of her dead Mother, whose dim form Bends in dark ether from her infant’s chair, So came a chariot on the silent storm Of its own rushing splendour, and a Shape So sate within as one whom years deform Beneath a dusky hood & double cape Crouching within the shadow of a tomb, And o’er what seemed the head, a cloud like crape, Was bent a dun & faint etherial gloom Tempering the light; upon the chariot’s beam A Janus-visaged Shadow did assume The guidance of that wonder-winged team. The Shapes which drew it in thick lightnings Were lost: I heard alone on the air’s soft stream The music of their ever moving wings. All the four faces of that charioteer Had their eyes banded . . . little profit brings Speed in the van & blindness in the rear, Nor then avail the beams that quench the Sun Or that his banded eyes could pierce the sphere Of all that is, has been, or will be done.— So ill was the car guided, but it past With solemn speed majestically on . . . The crowd gave way, & I arose aghast, Or seemed to rise, so mighty was the trance, And saw like clouds upon the thunder blast The million with fierce song and maniac dance Raging around; such seemed the jubilee As when to greet some conqueror’s advance Imperial Rome poured forth her living sea From senatehouse & prison & theatre When Freedom left those who upon the free Had bound a yoke which soon they stooped to bear. Nor wanted here the true similitude Of a triumphal pageant, for where’er The chariot rolled a captive multitude Was driven; althose who had grown old in power Or misery,—all who have their age subdued, By action or by suffering, and whose hour Was drained to its last sand in weal or woe, So that the trunk survived both fruit & flower; All those whose fame or infamy must grow Till the great winter lay the form & name Of their own earth with them forever low, All but the sacred few who could not tame Their spirits to the Conqueror, but as soon As they had touched the world with living flame Fled back like eagles to their native noon, Of those who put aside the diadem Of earthly thrones or gems, till the last one Were there;—for they of Athens & Jerusalem Were neither mid the mighty captives seen Nor mid the ribald crowd that followed them Or fled before . . Now swift, fierce & obscene The wild dance maddens in the van, & those Who lead it, fleet as shadows on the green, Outspeed the chariot & without repose Mix with each other in tempestuous measure To savage music …. Wilder as it grows, They, tortured by the agonizing pleasure, Convulsed & on the rapid whirlwinds spun Of that fierce spirit, whose unholy leisure Was soothed by mischief since the world begun, Throw back their heads & loose their streaming hair, And in their dance round her who dims the Sun Maidens & youths fling their wild arms in air As their feet twinkle; they recede, and now Bending within each other’s atmosphere Kindle invisibly; and as they glow Like moths by light attracted & repelled, Oft to new bright destruction come & go. Till like two clouds into one vale impelled That shake the mountains when their lightnings mingle And die in rain,—the fiery band which held Their natures, snaps . . . ere the shock cease to tingle One falls and then another in the path Senseless, nor is the desolation single, Yet ere I can say where the chariot hath Past over them; nor other trace I find But as of foam after the Ocean’s wrath Is spent upon the desert shore.—Behind, Old men, and women foully disarrayed Shake their grey hair in the insulting wind, Limp in the dance & strain, with limbs decayed, Seeking to reach the light which leaves them still Farther behind & deeper in the shade. But not the less with impotence of will They wheel, though ghastly shadows interpose Round them & round each other, and fulfill Their work and to the dust whence they arose Sink & corruption veils them as they lie And frost in these performs what fire in those. Struck to the heart by this sad pageantry, Half to myself I said, “And what is this? Whose shape is that within the car? & why”- I would have added—”is all here amiss?” But a voice answered . . “Life” . . . I turned & knew (O Heaven have mercy on such wretchedness!) That what I thought was an old root which grew To strange distortion out of the hill side Was indeed one of that deluded crew, And that the grass which methought hung so wide And white, was but his thin discoloured hair, And that the holes it vainly sought to hide Were or had been eyes.—”lf thou canst forbear To join the dance, which I had well forborne,” Said the grim Feature, of my thought aware, “I will now tell that which to this deep scorn Led me & my companions, and relate The progress of the pageant since the morn; “If thirst of knowledge doth not thus abate, Follow it even to the night, but I Am weary” . . . Then like one who with the weight Of his own words is staggered, wearily He paused, and ere he could resume, I cried, “First who art thou?” . . . “Before thy memory “I feared, loved, hated, suffered, did, & died, And if the spark with which Heaven lit my spirit Earth had with purer nutriment supplied “Corruption would not now thus much inherit Of what was once Rousseau—nor this disguise Stained that within which still disdains to wear it.— “If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore.”— “And who are those chained to the car?” “The Wise, “The great, the unforgotten: they who wore Mitres & helms & crowns, or wreathes of light, Signs of thought’s empire over thought; their lore “Taught them not this—to know themselves; their might Could not repress the mutiny within, And for the morn of truth they feigned, deep night “Caught them ere evening.” “Who is he with chin Upon his breast and hands crost on his chain?” “The Child of a fierce hour; he sought to win “The world, and lost all it did contain Of greatness, in its hope destroyed; & more Of fame & peace than Virtue’s self can gain “Without the opportunity which bore Him on its eagle’s pinion to the peak From which a thousand climbers have before “Fall’n as Napoleon fell.”—I felt my cheek Alter to see the great form pass away Whose grasp had left the giant world so weak That every pigmy kicked it as it lay— And much I grieved to think how power & will In opposition rule our mortal day— And why God made irreconcilable Good & the means of good; and for despair I half disdained mine eye’s desire to fill With the spent vision of the times that were And scarce have ceased to be . . . “Dost thou behold,” Said then my guide, “those spoilers spoiled, Voltaire, “Frederic, & Kant, Catherine, & Leopold, Chained hoary anarch, demagogue & sage Whose name the fresh world thinks already old— “For in the battle Life & they did wage She remained conqueror—I was overcome By my own heart alone, which neither age “Nor tears nor infamy nor now the tomb Could temper to its object.”—”Let them pass”— I cried—”the world & its mysterious doom “Is not so much more glorious than it was That I desire to worship those who drew New figures on its false & fragile glass “As the old faded.”—”Figures ever new Rise on the bubble, paint them how you may; We have but thrown, as those before us threw, “Our shadows on it as it past away. But mark, how chained to the triumphal chair The mighty phantoms of an elder day— “All that is mortal of great Plato there Expiates the joy & woe his master knew not; That star that ruled his doom was far too fair— “And Life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not, Conquered the heart by love which gold or pain Or age or sloth or slavery could subdue not— “And near [[blank]] walk the [[blank]] twain, The tutor & his pupil, whom Dominion Followed as tame as vulture in a chain.— “The world was darkened beneath either pinion Of him whom from the flock of conquerors Fame singled as her thunderbearing minion; “The other long outlived both woes & wars, Throned in new thoughts of men, and still had kept The jealous keys of truth’s eternal doors “If Bacon’s spirit [[blank]] had not leapt Like lightning out of darkness; he compelled The Proteus shape of Nature’s as it slept “To wake & to unbar the caves that held The treasure of the secrets of its reign— See the great bards of old who inly quelled “The passions which they sung, as by their strain May well be known: their living melody Tempers its own contagion to the vein “Of those who are infected with it—I Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain!— “And so my words were seeds of misery— Even as the deeds of others.”—”Not as theirs,” I said—he pointed to a company In which I recognized amid the heirs Of Caesar’s crime from him to Constantine, The Anarchs old whose force & murderous snares Had founded many a sceptre bearing line And spread the plague of blood & gold abroad, And Gregory & John and men divine Who rose like shadows between Man & god Till that eclipse, still hanging under Heaven, Was worshipped by the world o’er which they strode For the true Sun it quenched.—”Their power was given But to destroy,” replied the leader—”I Am one of those who have created, even “If it be but a world of agony.”— “Whence camest thou & whither goest thou? How did thy course begin,” I said, “& why? “Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow Of people, & my heart of one sad thought.— Speak.”—”Whence I came, partly I seem to know, “And how & by what paths I have been brought To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess; Why this should be my mind can compass not; “Whither the conqueror hurries me still less. But follow thou, & from spectator turn Actor or victim in this wretchedness, “And what thou wouldst be taught I then may learn From thee.—Now listen . . . In the April prime When all the forest tops began to burn “With kindling green, touched by the azure clime Of the young year, I found myself asleep Under a mountain which from unknown time “Had yawned into a cavern high & deep, And from it came a gentle rivulet Whose water like clear air in its calm sweep “Bent the soft grass & kept for ever wet The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove With sound which all who hear must needs forget “All pleasure & all pain, all hate & love, Which they had known before that hour of rest: A sleeping mother then would dream not of “The only child who died upon her breast At eventide, a king would mourn no more The crown of which his brow was dispossest “When the sun lingered o’er the Ocean floor To gild his rival’s new prosperity.— Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore “Ills, which if ills, can find no cure from thee, The thought of which no other sleep will quell Nor other music blot from memory— “So sweet & deep is the oblivious spell.— Whether my life had been before that sleep The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell “Like this harsh world in which I wake to weep, I know not. I arose & for a space The scene of woods & waters seemed to keep, “Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace Of light diviner than the common Sun Sheds on the common Earth, but all the place “Was filled with many sounds woven into one Oblivious melody, confusing sense Amid the gliding waves & shadows dun; “And as I looked the bright omnipresence Of morning through the orient cavern flowed, And the Sun’s image radiantly intense “Burned on the waters of the well that glowed Like gold, and threaded all the forest maze With winding paths of emerald fire—there stood “Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze Of his own glory, on the vibrating Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays, “A shape all light, which with one hand did fling Dew on the earth, as if she were the Dawn Whose invisible rain forever seemed to sing “A silver music on the mossy lawn, And still before her on the dusky grass Iris her many coloured scarf had drawn.— “In her right hand she bore a crystal glass Mantling with bright Nepenthe;—the fierce splendour Fell from her as she moved under the mass “Of the deep cavern, & with palms so tender Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow, Glided along the river, and did bend her “Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream That whispered with delight to be their pillow.— “As one enamoured is upborne in dream O’er lily-paven lakes mid silver mist To wondrous music, so this shape might seem “Partly to tread the waves with feet which kist The dancing foam, partly to glide along The airs that roughened the moist amethyst, “Or the slant morning beams that fell among The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees; And her feet ever to the ceaseless song “Of leaves & winds & waves & birds & bees And falling drops moved in a measure new Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze “Up from the lake a shape of golden dew Between two rocks, athwart the rising moon, Moves up the east, where eagle never flew.— “And still her feet, no less than the sweet tune To which they moved, seemed as they moved, to blot The thoughts of him who gazed on them, & soon “All that was seemed as if it had been not, As if the gazer’s mind was strewn beneath Her feet like embers, & she, thought by thought, “Trampled its fires into the dust of death, As Day upon the threshold of the east Treads out the lamps of night, until the breath “Of darkness reillumines even the least Of heaven’s living eyes—like day she came, Making the night a dream; and ere she ceased “To move, as one between desire and shame Suspended, I said—’If, as it doth seem, Thou comest from the realm without a name, ” ‘Into this valley of perpetual dream, Shew whence I came, and where I am, and why— Pass not away upon the passing stream.’ ” ‘Arise and quench thy thirst,’ was her reply, And as a shut lily, stricken by the wand Of dewy morning’s vital alchemy, “I rose; and, bending at her sweet command, Touched with faint lips the cup she raised, And suddenly my brain became as sand “Where the first wave had more than half erased The track of deer on desert Labrador, Whilst the fierce wolf from which they fled amazed “Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore Until the second bursts—so on my sight Burst a new Vision never seen before.— “And the fair shape waned in the coming light As veil by veil the silent splendour drops From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite “Of sunrise ere it strike the mountain tops— And as the presence of that fairest planet Although unseen is felt by one who hopes “That his day’s path may end as he began it In that star’s smile, whose light is like the scent Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it, “Or the soft note in which his dear lament The Brescian shepherd breathes, or the caress That turned his weary slumber to content.— “So knew I in that light’s severe excess The presence of that shape which on the stream Moved, as I moved along the wilderness, “More dimly than a day appearing dream, The ghost of a forgotten form of sleep A light from Heaven whose half extinguished beam “Through the sick day in which we wake to weep Glimmers, forever sought, forever lost.— So did that shape its obscure tenour keep “Beside my path, as silent as a ghost; But the new Vision, and its cold bright car, With savage music, stunning music, crost “The forest, and as if from some dread war Triumphantly returning, the loud million Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star.— “A moving arch of victory the vermilion And green & azure plumes of Iris had Built high over her wind-winged pavilion, “And underneath aetherial glory clad The wilderness, and far before her flew The tempest of the splendour which forbade Shadow to fall from leaf or stone;—the crew Seemed in that light like atomies that dance Within a sunbeam.—Some upon the new “Embroidery of flowers that did enhance The grassy vesture of the desart, played, Forgetful of the chariot’s swift advance; “Others stood gazing till within the shade Of the great mountain its light left them dim.— Others outspeeded it, and others made “Circles around it like the clouds that swim Round the high moon in a bright sea of air, And more did follow, with exulting hymn, “The chariot & the captives fettered there, But all like bubbles on an eddying flood Fell into the same track at last & were “Borne onward.—I among the multitude Was swept; me sweetest flowers delayed not long, Me not the shadow nor the solitude, “Me not the falling stream’s Lethean song, Me, not the phantom of that early form Which moved upon its motion,—but among “The thickest billows of the living storm I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.— “Before the chariot had begun to climb The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme “Of him whom from the lowest depths of Hell Through every Paradise & through all glory Love led serene, & who returned to tell “In words of hate & awe the wondrous story How all things are transfigured, except Love; For deaf as is a sea which wrath makes hoary “The world can hear not the sweet notes that move The sphere whose light is melody to lovers—- A wonder worthy of his rhyme—the grove “Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers, The earth was grey with phantoms, & the air Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers “A flock of vampire-bats before the glare Of the tropic sun, bring ere evening Strange night upon some Indian isle,—thus were “Phantoms diffused around, & some did fling Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves, Behind them, some like eaglets on the wing “Were lost in the white blaze, others like elves Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes Upon the sunny streams & grassy shelves; “And others sate chattering like restless apes On vulgar paws and voluble like fire. Some made a cradle of the ermined capes “Of kingly mantles, some upon the tiar Of pontiffs sate like vultures, others played Within the crown which girt with empire “A baby’s or an idiot’s brow, & made Their nests in it; the old anatomies Sate hatching their bare brood under the shade “Of demon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes To reassume the delegated power Arrayed in which these worms did monarchize “Who make this earth their charnel.—Others more Humble, like falcons sate upon the fist Of common men, and round their heads did soar, “Or like small gnats & flies, as thick as mist On evening marshes, thronged about the brow Of lawyer, statesman, priest & theorist, “And others like discoloured flakes of snow On fairest bosoms & the sunniest hair Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow “Which they extinguished; for like tears, they were A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained In drops of sorrow.—I became aware “Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained The track in which we moved; after brief space From every form the beauty slowly waned, “From every firmest limb & fairest face The strength & freshness fell like dust, & left The action & the shape without the grace “Of life; the marble brow of youth was cleft With care, and in the eyes where once hope shone Desire like a lioness bereft “Of its last cub, glared ere it died; each one Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown “In Autumn evening from a popular tree— Each, like himself & like each other were, At first, but soon distorted, seemed to be “Obscure clouds moulded by the casual air; And of this stuff the car’s creative ray Wrought all the busy phantoms that were there “As the sun shapes the clouds—thus, on the way Mask after mask fell from the countenance And form of all, and long before the day “Was old, the joy which waked like Heaven’s glance The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died, And some grew weary of the ghastly dance “And fell, as I have fallen by the way side, Those soonest from whose forms most shadows past And least of strength & beauty did abide.”— “Then, what is Life?” I said . . . the cripple cast His eye upon the car which now had rolled Onward, as if that look must be the last, And answered …. “Happy those for whom the fold Of … “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell 244 games, 1620-2014 Munich Chess Olympiad 1936: Pt. 2, Rounds 11-21 [A continuation of: Game Collection: Munich Chess Olympiad 1936: Pt. 1, Rounds 1-10 ] <Round 11 (Sunday, August 23, 1936)> Round 11 was played the same day as round 10, and was a repeat in many ways. A leading team (Yugoslavia) got a bye, and Hungary won another match over a contender by toppling Latvia. Poland went back into the lead with Germany 1/2-point behind, while Hungary had now moved into a third-place tie with Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia and Lativa remained in the hunt. table[ Brazil 2.5 Lithuania 5.5 Bulgaria 3.0 Netherlands 5.0 Czechoslovakia 6.0 Switzerland 2.0 Estonia 3.5 Denmark 4.5 Finland 5.5 Iceland 2.5 Hungary 5.5 Latvia 2.5 Italy 2.0 Germany 6.0 Norway 2.5 Austria 5.5 Romania 2.0 Poland 6.0 Sweden 6.5 France 1.5 Bye: Yugoslavia ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 11> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <61.0>: Poland; <60.5>: Germany; <55.0>: Hungary*, Yugoslavia*; <54.5>: Czechoslovakia*; <54.0>: Latvia; <52.0>: Austria*; <49.5>: Sweden; <48.0>: Denmark*; <44.5>: Estonia; <41.0>: Lithuania*; <36.0>: Finland*, Romania*; <35.5>: Brazil; <34.5>: Switzerland; <34.0>: Netherlands*; <33.5>: Iceland; <30.0>: Norway; <27.5>: Italy*; <19.0>: Bulgaria, France* <Round 12 (Monday, August 24, 1936)> Poland added to their lead with an important win over Czechoslovakia, while Germany had some trouble with Romania (especially in the game P Bohosiewicz vs L Roedl, 1936). Hungary won their 11th match in a row to move into third place, and had still played one match less than the teams above them. Latvia's draw with lowly Italy hurt their chances. Meanwhile, down at the foot of the class, winless France won decisively over winless Bulgaria. table[ Austria 4.0 Estonia 4.0 Denmark 5.0 Brazil 3.0 France 5.5 Bulgaria 2.5 Germany 4.5 Romania 3.5 Iceland 1.5 Hungary 6.5 Latvia 4.0 Italy 4.0 Lithuania 3.5 Finland 4.5 Netherlands 5.5 Norway 2.5 Poland 5.0 Czechoslovakia 3.0 Yugoslavia 5.5 Sweden 2.5 Bye: Switzerland ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 12> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <66.0>: Poland; <65.0>: Germany; <61.5>: Hungary*; <60.5>: Yugoslavia*; <58.0>: Latvia; <57.5>: Czechoslovakia*; <56.0>: Austria*; <53.0>: Denmark*; <52.0>: Sweden; <48.5>: Estonia; <44.5>: Lithuania*; <40.5>: Finland*; <39.5>: Netherlands*, Romania*; <38.5>: Brazil; <35.0>: Iceland; <34.5>: Switzerland*; <32.5>: Norway; <31.5>: Italy*; <24.5>: France*; <21.5>: Bulgaria <Round 13 (Tuesday, August 25, 1936)> The teams were well into the second half of the tournament now, and needed to start taking things seriously. Yugoslavia, Latvia, Austria and Denmark all scored crushing wins to stay in contention. An important match between Germany and Czechslovakia was drawn, allowing Poland to lengthen their lead slightly despite a weaker than expected win over Switzerland. Hungary also had trouble with Lithuania, but hung on for their twelfth straight match win. table[ Brazil 1.0 Austria 7.0 Bulgaria 1.0 Yugoslavia 7.0 Czechoslovakia 4.0 Germany 4.0 Estonia 5.5 Netherlands 2.5 Finland 1.0 Denmark 7.0 Hungary 5.0 Lithuania 3.0 Italy 6.0 Iceland 2.0 Norway 7.0 France 1.0 Romania 1.0 Latvia 7.0 Switzerland 2.5 Poland 5.5 Bye: Sweden ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 13> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <71.5>: Poland; <69.0>: Germany; <67.5>: Yugoslavia*; <66.5>: Hungary*; <65.0>: Latvia; <63.0>: Austria*; <61.5>: Czechoslovakia*; <60.0>: Denmark*; <54.0>: Estonia; <52.0>: Sweden*; <47.5>: Lithuania*; <42.0>: Netherlands*; <41.5>: Finland*; <40.5>: Romania*; <39.5>: Brazil, Norway; <37.5>: Italy*; <37.0>: Switzerland*, Iceland; <25.5>: France*; <22.5>: Bulgaria <Round 14 (Wednesday, August 26, 1936)> Poland's bye this round led to a shake-up at the top; Germany and Hungary passed them, while Yugoslavia missed a chance after a disappointing draw with Norway. Latvia stayed in contention with a useful win over Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile, Bulgaria was mathematically eliminated from the race for gold. table[ Austria 4.0 Finland 4.0 Denmark 2.5 Hungary 5.5 France 2.5 Estonia 5.5 Germany 7.0 Switzerland 1.0 Iceland 3.5 Romania 4.5 Latvia 5.5 Czechoslovakia 2.5 Lithuania 6.0 Italy 2.0 Netherlands 4.5 Brazil 3.5 Sweden 6.5 Bulgaria 1.5 Yugoslavia 4.0 Norway 4.0 Bye: Poland ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 14> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <76.0>: Germany; <72.0>: Hungary*; <71.5>: Poland*, Yugoslavia*; <70.5>: Latvia; <67.0>: Austria*; <64.0>: Czechoslovakia*; <62.5>: Denmark*; <59.5>: Estonia; <58.5>: Sweden*; <53.5>: Lithuania*; <46.5>: Netherlands*; <45.5>: Finland*; <45.0>: Romania*; <43.5>: Norway; <43.0>: Brazil; <40.5>: Iceland; <39.5>: Italy*; <38.0>: Switzerland*; <28.0>: France*; <24.0>: Bulgaria At the two-thirds mark, Germany's lead was by no means secure as they had not yet had a bye. Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia were well within striking distance, with an extra match to play. Latvia would have some difficulties, being behind several teams and also having a bye left. Austria was a bit further back, but had a chance to make up ground with matches against Hungary, Poland, Germany, and Czechoslovakia to play. Other important matches to come were Germany v. Poland and Latvia, Hungary v. Yugoslavia, Poland v. Latvia, and Yugoslavia v. Czechoslovakia. On the other end of the scale, Hungary had yet to play tailenders France and Bulgaria. <Round 15 (Friday, August 28, 1936)> The most important match of the round saw Poland edge Germany. While Latvia and Czechoslovakia took advantage with solid wins, Hungary could get only a minimal win over Austria while Yugoslavia drew with Estonia. table[ Brazil 6.0 France 2.0 Czechoslovakia 6.0 Iceland 2.0 Estonia 4.0 Yugoslavia 4.0 Finland 3.5 Netherlands 4.5 Hungary 4.5 Austria 3.5 Italy 1.0 Denmark 7.0 Norway 3.5 Sweden 4.5 Poland 4.5 Germany 3.5 Romania 4.0 Lithuania 4.0 Switzerland 2.5 Latvia 5.5 Bye: Bulgaria ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 15> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <79.5>: Germany; <76.5>: Hungary*; <76.0>: Poland*, Latvia; <75.5>: Yugoslavia*; <70.5>: Austria*; <70.0>: Czechslovakia*; <69.5>: Denmark*; <63.5>: Estonia; <63.0>: Sweden*; <57.5>: Lithuania*; <51.0>: Netherlands*; <49.0>: Finland*, Brazil, Romania*; <47.0>: Norway; <42.5>: Iceland; <40.5>: Switzerland*, Italy*; <30.0>: France*; <24.0>: Bulgaria* <Round 16 (Friday, August 28, 1936)> Germany received their bye this round, and fell into a tie for 4th-5th with Poland. Hungary got their usual 5.5 points to take the lead, 1/2-point ahead of the Yugoslavs. The upcoming match between these two, scheduled for round 18, would obviously be a big one. Latvia held third for the moment, but still had a bye to come. Austria still had a chance to improve their placing, only three points from a medal and with three matches still to come against contenders. table[ Austria 7.0 Italy 1.0 Bulgaria 3.0 Norway 5.0 Denmark 4.5 Romania 3.5 France 2.0 Finland 6.0 Iceland 5.0 Switzerland 3.0 Latvia 4.5 Poland 3.5 Lithuania 4.0 Czechoslovakia 4.0 Netherlands 2.5 Hungary 5.5 Sweden 4.5 Estonia 3.5 Yugoslavia 6.0 Brazil 2.0 Bye: Germany ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 16> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <82.0>: Hungary*; <81.5>: Yugoslavia*; <80.5>: Latvia; <79.5>: Germany*, Poland*; <77.5>: Austria*; <74.0>: Denmark*, Czechoslovakia*; <67.5>: Sweden*; <67.0>: Estonia; <61.5>: Lithuania*; <55.0>: Finland*; <53.5>: Netherlands*; <52.5>: Romania*; <52.0>: Norway; <51.0>: Brazil; <47.5>: Iceland; <43.5>: Switzerland*; <41.5>: Italy*; <32.0>: France*; <27.0>: Bulgaria* <Round 17 (Saturday, August 29, 1936)> As the end neared, the top teams began to pour it on. Hungary had their best round so far with a 7-1 drubbing of France, stretching their lead to two points as Yugoslavia had to face the tougher Finnish team. Germany destroyed any hopes Latvia might have had with a 6.5-1.5 drubbing, Poland duplicating that score against Iceland. Czechoslovakia and Austria also won, but were unable to match the margins of the other contenders. table[ Brazil 2.0 Sweden 6.0 Czechoslovakia 5.0 Denmark 3.0 Estonia 6.0 Bulgaria 2.0 Finland 2.5 Yugoslavia 5.5 Germany 6.5 Latvia 1.5 Hungary 7.0 France 1.0 Italy 3.5 Netherlands 4.5 Poland 6.5 Iceland 1.5 Romania 3.5 Austria 4.5 Switzerland 5.0 Lithuania 3.0 Bye: Norway ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 17> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <89.0>: Hungary*; <87.0>: Yugoslavia*; <86.0>: Germany*, Poland*; <82.0>: Austria*, Latvia; <79.0>: Czechoslovakia*; <77.0>: Denmark*; <73.5>: Sweden*; <73.0>: Estonia; <64.5>: Lithuania*; <58.0>: Netherlands*; <57.5>: Finland*; <56.0>: Romania*; <53.0>: Brazil; <52.0>: Norway*; <49.0>: Iceland; <48.5>: Switzerland*; <45.0>: Italy*; <33.0>: France*; <29.0>: Bulgaria* <Round 18 (Saturday, August 29, 1936)> This round saw 1st place Hungary take on 2nd place Yugoslavia and score yet another small match victory. They weren't doing it in spectacular fashion, but 17 match wins in a row were piling up the game points. Poland jumped into second with a crushing win over a tough Lithuanian team, while Germany had to be dissatisfied with their win over Iceland. The Yugoslavs remained in the medal hunt, but any chance Austria still had was demolished by Czechoslovakia. Elsewhere, the big news was that Bulgaria, after losing 16 matches in a row, picked up a draw against Brazil. table[ Austria 1.0 Czechoslovakia 7.0 Bulgaria 4.0 Brazil 4.0 Denmark 5.5 Switzerland 2.5 France 4.0 Italy 4.0 Iceland 2.5 Germany 5.5 Lithuania 1.0 Poland 7.0 Netherlands 5.0 Romania 3.0 Norway 1.5 Estonia 6.5 Sweden 4.0 Finland 4.0 Yugoslavia 3.0 Hungary 5.0 Bye: Latvia ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 18> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <94.0>: Hungary*; <93.0>: Poland*; <91.5>: Germany*; <90.0>: Yugoslavia*; <86.0>: Czechoslovakia*; <83.0>: Austria*; <82.5>: Denmark*; <82.0>: Latvia*; <79.5>: Estonia; <77.5>: Sweden*; <65.5>: Lithuania*; <63.0>: Netherlands*; <61.5>: Finland*; <59.0>: Romania*; <57.0>: Brazil; <53.5>: Norway*; <51.5>: Iceland; <51.0>: Switzerland*; <49.0>: Italy*; <37.0>: France*; <33.0>: Bulgaria* <Round 19 (Sunday, August 30, 1936)> The top five teams remained unchanged. Hungary squeaked out another win, but Poland, Germany and Yugoslavia could not do much better. Czechoslovakia made up some ground, but were probably too far behind to medal. There are too many games in these collections to make a lot of recommendations, but I would point out P Hage vs K Makarczyk, 1936. table[ Brazil 4.5 Norway 3.5 Czechoslovakia 6.5 Netherlands 1.5 Finland 5.5 Bulgaria 2.5 Germany 4.5 Lithuania 3.5 Hungary 4.5 Sweden 3.5 Italy 3.0 Yugoslavia 5.0 Latvia 5.5 Iceland 2.5 Poland 5.0 Denmark 3.0 Romania 6.0 France 2.0 Switzerland 2.5 Austria 5.5 Bye: Estonia ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 19> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <98.5>: Hungary*; <98.0>: Poland*; <96.0>: Germany*; <95.0>: Yugoslavia*; <92.5>: Czechoslovakia*; <88.5>: Austria*; <87.5>: Latvia*; <85.5>: Denmark*; <81.0>: Sweden*; <79.5>: Estonia*; <69.0>: Lithuania*; <67.0>: Finland; <65.0>: Romania*: <64.5>: Netherlands*; <61.5>: Brazil; <57.0>: Norway*; <54.0>: Iceland; <53.5>: Switzerland*; <52.0>: Italy*; <39.0>: France*; <35.5>: Bulgaria* Hungary led by only a half-point, but had by far the easier schedule left with Norway and last-place Bulgaria to play. Poland still had Austria and the Netherlands, Germany was facing Austria and Denmark, Yugoslavia would play Czechoslovakia and Romania, while the Czechs would also take on France. <Round 20 (Monday, August 31, 1936)> Hungary showed how a champion treats a tailender by demolishing Bulgaria. This gave them a four-point lead with one round to go, as Poland could only draw a tough Austrian team while Germany had some troubles with Denmark. Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia had strong results, but were due to meet in the last round and were likely to knock each other out of medal contention. table[ Austria 4.0 Poland 4.0 Bulgaria 0.5 Hungary 7.5 Denmark 3.0 Germany 5.0 Estonia 6.5 Brazil 1.5 France 1.5 Czechoslovakia 6.5 Lithuania 4.0 Latvia 4.0 Netherlands 5.0 Switzerland 3.0 Norway 4.0 Finland 4.0 Sweden 6.5 Italy 1.5 Yugoslavia 6.5 Romania 1.5 Bye: Iceland ]table <STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 20> (an asterisk (*) indicates the team has had a bye) <106.0>: Hungary*; <102.0>: Poland*; <101.5>: Yugoslavia*; <101.0>: Germany*; <99.0>: Czechoslovakia*; <92.5>: Austria*; <91.5>: Latvia*; <88.5>: Denmark*; <87.5>: Sweden*; <86.0>: Estonia*; <73.0>: Lithuania*; <71.0>: Finland*; <69.5>: Netherlands*; <66.5>: Romania*; <63.0>: Brazil; <61.0>: Norway*; <56.5>: Switzerland*; <54.0>: Iceland*; <53.5>: Italy*; <40.5>: France*; <36.0>: Bulgaria* Given their perfect match record, Hungary needed only 4.0 in the last round against Norway to clinch gold. The race for second and third remained wide open. <Round 21 (Tuesday, September 1, 1936)> No surprises. Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia took themselves out of medal contention; Hungary, Poland and Germany did just enough to win. table[ Czechoslovakia 5.0 Yugoslavia 3.0 Finland 4.0 Estonia 4.0 Germany 5.5 Austria 2.5 Hungary 4.5 Norway 3.5 Iceland 3.5 Lithuania 4.5 Italy 5.5 Bulgaria 2.5 Latvia 5.0 Denmark 3.0 Poland 6.0 Netherlands 2.0 Romania 1.5 Sweden 6.5 Switzerland 5.0 France 3.0 Bye: Brazil ]table <Final standings> table[ Hun Pol Ger Yug Cze Lat Aut Swi Den Est Lit Fin Net Rom Nor Bra Swi Ita Ice Fra Bul 1 Hungary XXX 5.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 5.5 4.5 4.5 5.5 5.0 5.0 6.5 5.5 5.5 4.5 6.5 6.0 5.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 110.5 2 Poland 3.0 XXX 4.5 4.5 5.0 3.5 4.0 5.5 5.0 4.5 7.0 5.5 6.0 6.0 3.5 6.5 5.5 6.5 6.5 7.5 8.0 108.0 3 Germany 3.5 3.5 XXX 4.0 4.0 6.5 5.5 4.5 5.0 6.0 4.5 4.5 5.5 4.5 6.5 6.5 7.0 6.0 5.5 7.0 6.5 106.5 4 Yugoslavia 3.0 3.5 4.0 XXX 3.0 6.0 4.5 5.5 5.5 4.0 4.5 5.5 5.5 6.5 4.0 6.0 7.0 5.0 7.5 7.0 7.0 104.5 5 Czechoslovakia 2.5 3.0 4.0 5.0 XXX 2.5 7.0 4.0 5.0 4.0 4.0 6.0 6.5 6.0 6.5 5.0 6.0 6.5 6.0 6.5 8.0 104.0 6 Latvia 2.5 4.5 1.5 2.0 5.5 XXX 3.5 4.5 5.0 6.0 4.0 5.0 6.5 7.0 6.5 5.5 5.5 4.0 5.5 5.0 7.0 96.5 7 Austria 3.5 4.0 2.5 3.5 1.0 4.5 XXX 4.5 5.0 4.0 5.5 4.0 5.5 4.5 5.5 7.0 5.5 7.0 5.5 6.5 6.0 95.0 8 Sweden 3.5 2.5 3.5 2.5 4.0 3.5 3.5 XXX 5.5 4.5 4.0 4.0 5.0 6.5 4.5 6.0 5.5 6.5 6.0 6.5 6.5 94.0 9 Denmark 2.5 3.0 3.0 2.5 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.5 XXX 4.5 6.5 7.0 5.5 4.5 5.0 5.0 5.5 7.0 5.0 6.5 7.0 91.5 10 Estonia 3.0 3.5 2.0 4.0 4.0 2.0 4.0 3.5 3.5 XXX 3.5 4.0 5.5 4.5 6.5 6.5 6.0 6.0 6.5 5.5 6.0 90.0 11 Lithuania 3.0 1.0 3.5 3.5 4.0 4.0 2.5 4.0 1.5 4.5 XXX 3.5 3.0 4.0 4.5 5.5 3.0 6.0 4.5 5.5 6.5 77.5 12 Finland 1.5 2.5 3.5 2.5 2.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 1.0 4.0 4.5 XXX 3.5 4.0 4.0 4.0 5.5 4.5 5.5 6.0 5.5 75.0 13 Netherlands 2.5 2.0 2.5 2.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 3.0 2.5 2.5 5.0 4.5 XXX 5.0 5.5 4.5 5.0 4.5 4.5 5.0 5.0 71.5 14 Romania 2.5 2.0 3.5 1.5 2.0 1.0 3.5 1.5 3.5 3.5 4.0 4.0 3.0 XXX 5.5 3.5 4.0 4.0 4.5 6.0 5.0 68.0 15 Norway 3.5 4.5 1.5 4.0 1.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 3.0 1.5 3.5 4.0 2.5 2.5 XXX 3.5 3.5 3.5 2.5 7.0 5.0 64.5 16 Brazil 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.0 3.0 2.5 1.0 2.0 3.0 1.5 2.5 4.0 3.5 4.5 4.5 XXX 4.0 5.5 5.0 6.0 4.0 63.0 17 Switzerland 2.0 2.5 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.0 5.0 2.5 3.0 4.0 4.5 4.0 XXX 5.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 61.5 18 Italy 3.0 1.5 2.0 3.0 1.5 4.0 1.0 1.5 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.5 3.5 4.0 4.5 2.5 3.0 XXX 6.0 4.0 5.5 59.0 19 Iceland 1.5 1.5 2.5 0.5 2.0 2.5 2.5 2.0 3.0 1.5 3.5 2.5 3.5 3.5 5.5 3.0 5.0 2.0 XXX 4.5 5.0 57.5 20 France 1.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 1.5 3.0 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 2.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 3.5 XXX 5.5 43.5 21 Bulgaria 0.5 0.0 1.5 1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 1.5 1.0 2.0 1.5 2.5 3.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 3.0 2.5 3.0 2.5 XXX 38.5 ]table For individual statistics and more information, see the Olimpbase site at http://www.olimpbase.org/1936x/1936... 298 games, 1936 New in Chess Book of Improvement by Qindarka 'The New in Chess Book of Chess Improvement' Compiled and edited by Stephen Giddins. I googled “Rorshach test.” But for some reason, all that came up were pictures of my parents fighting. “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.” ― Dalai Lama “There are three constants in life...change, choice and principles.” ― Stephen Covey “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church....a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.” ― Charles Swindoll “God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.” ― Voltaire “The game of chess is not just an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it… Life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often pointed to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with.” ― Benjamin Franklin “Chess is imagination.” ― David Bronstein “Nowadays there is more dynamism in chess, modern players like to take the initiative. Usually they are poor defenders though.” ― Boris Spassky “The computer age has arrived, and it influences everything: analysis, preparation, information. Now a different talent is required - the ability to synthesize ideas.” ― Boris Spassky “For me, chess is not a profession, it is a way of life, a passion. People may feel that I have conquered the peak and will not have to struggle. Financially, perhaps that is true; but as far as chess goes, I'm still learning a lot!” ― Viswanathan Anand “The broader the chess player you are, the easier it is to be competitive, and the same seems to be true of mathematics - if you can find links between different branches of mathematics, it can help you resolve problems. In both mathematics and chess, you study existing theory and use that to go forward.” ― Viswanathan Anand “You need to motivate yourself, no matter what-definitely when things are bad, but also when things are good. Or else, you risk becoming complacent.” ― Viswanathan Anand “I keep forcing, I keep learning new things in the game, and so far I have been taking challenges as they come.” ― Viswanathan Anand “Confidence is very important - even pretending to be confident. If you make a mistake but do not let your opponent see what you are thinking then he may overlook the mistake.” ― Viswanathan Anand “Intuition in chess can be defined as the first move that comes to mind when you see a position.” ― Viswanathan Anand “If revenge motivates you, go for it! But the main thing is to set your game in order." ― Viswanathan Anand “Chess is like a language, the top players are very fluent at it. Talent can be developed scientifically but you have to find first what you are good at.” ― Viswanathan Anand “Parents, first and foremost, it is important to... understand and recognise the activities your child is naturally gravitating towards. It's important also to ensure that your child likes what he or she is doing. I believe in exposing children to as many hobbies and extracurricular activities as possible.” ― Viswanathan Anand “Each match I play is the most important one yet.” ― Viswanathan Anand “Nowadays, when you're not a grandmaster at 14, you can forget about it.” ― Viswanathan Anand “Carlsen will be ridiculously difficult to play against. (on the 2013 World Championship match)” ― Viswanathan Anand “For me, each game is a new challenge, which has to be dealt with rationally and systematically. At that time, every other thought fades into oblivion.” ― Viswanathan Anand “I attend to my fitness. I go the gym every day and try to maintain my physical fitness; without that, it is tough to take challenges on the chess board.” ― Viswanathan Anand “For every door the computers have closed they have opened a new one.” ― Viswanathan Anand "Vishy Anand: 'Chess is like acting'". Der Spiegel interview, en.chessbase.com. “There is always the risk of being over-confident when you are preparing to face a weaker player.” ― Viswanathan Anand “A win is a win, which is about that particular moment.” ― Viswanathan Anand “When you play with the best in the world, it is important that you not lose focus. You must be fully focused. Even a minor error could result in a massive defeat.” ― Viswanathan Anand “Grandmasters decline with age. That's a given. There is nothing special about the age of 40, but age eventually takes its toll. That much is clear. Beyond that it's about how long you can put off the effects and compensate for them. Mistakes will crop in but you try to compensate for them with experience and hard work.” ― Viswanathan Anand “It's important, according to me, to train in small doses so as to not lose the joy of playing chess. I personally think too many coaching and training classes may take away a child's interest in the game itself. The essential thing to do is practice often and, in case of a doubt, to consult a trainer.” ― Viswanathan Anand “Just before a game, I try to keep a clear mind so that I can focus better. I'm the kind of person who plays fast and relies a lot on intuition, so being at peace with myself is vital. Saying my daily prayers helps me achieve this heightened state of mind.” ― Viswanathan Anand “It is important that you don't let your opponent impose his style of play on you. A part of that begins mentally. At the chessboard if you start blinking every time he challenges you then in a certain sense you are withdrawing. That is very important to avoid.” ― Viswanathan Anand “For beginning chess players, studying a Carlsen game is like wanting to be an electrical engineer and beginning with studying an iPhone.” ― Garry Kasparov * Accidents: Game Collection: Accidents in the opening * Attack: Game Collection: 2012-2015 Attacking Games (Naiditsch/Balogh) * Brilliancies: Game Collection: Modern Chess Brilliancies (Evans) * Cheating: https://www.chess.com/article/view/... * 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) * Kasparov's Qkst: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... * Positional: Game Collection: 2012-2015 Positional Games (Naiditsch/Balogh) * Miscellaneous: Game Collection: ! Miscellaneous games * YS Tactics: Game Collection: Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics “A knowledge of tactics is the foundation of positional play. This is a rule which has stood its test in chess history and one which we cannot impress forcibly enough upon the young chess player. A beginner should avoid Queen's Gambit and French Defence and play open games instead! While he may not win as many games at first, he will in the long run be amply compensated by acquiring a thorough knowledge of the game.” ― Richard Reti “Methodical thinking is of more use in chess than inspiration.” ― C.J.S. Purdy “I think an important lesson from the game is that once you have made a move, you cannot take it back. You really have to measure your decisions. You think a lot. You evaluate your choices very carefully. There's never any guarantee about what's going to follow once you have made a decision.” ― Viswanathan Anand “Chess as a sport requires a lot of mental stamina, and this is what that makes it different from a physical sport. Chess players have a unique ability of taking in a lot of information and remembering relevant bits. So, memory and mental stamina are the key attributes.” ― Viswanathan Anand “In any match, there are few critical moments where there's no second-best decision. The rest of the moves are intuitive.” ― Viswanathan Anand “All warfare is based on deception.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War “Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Part I It is an ancient mariner And he stoppeth one of three. –“By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stoppest thou me? The bridegroom’s doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin; The guests are met, the feast is set: Mayst hear the merry din.” He holds him with his skinny hand, “There was a ship,” quoth he. “Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!” Eftsoons his hand dropped he. He holds him with his glittering eye– The wedding-guest stood still, And listens like a three-years’ child: The mariner hath his will. The wedding-guest sat on a stone: He cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed mariner. “The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top. The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea. Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon–” The wedding-guest here beat his breast, For he heard the loud bassoon. The bride hath paced into the hall, Red as a rose is she; Nodding their heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy. The wedding-guest he beat his breast, Yet he cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed mariner. “And now the storm-blast came, and he Was tyrannous and strong; He struck with his o’ertaking wings, And chased us south along. With sloping masts and dipping prow, As who pursued with yell and blow Still treads the shadow of his foe, And forward bends his head, The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, And southward aye we fled. Listen, stranger! Mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold: And ice mast-high came floating by, As green as emerald. And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen: Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken– The ice was all between. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound! At length did cross an albatross, Thorough the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in God’s name. It ate the food it ne’er had eat, And round and round it flew. The ice did split with a thunder-fit; The helmsman steered us through! And a good south wind sprung up behind; The albatross did follow, And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariners’ hollo! In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine; Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, Glimmered the white moon-shine.” “God save thee, ancient mariner! From the fiends, that plague thee thus!– Why lookst thou so?” “With my crossbow I shot the albatross. – Part II The sun now rose upon the right: Out of the sea came he, Still hid in mist, and on the left Went down into the sea. And the good south wind still blew behind, But no sweet bird did follow, Nor any day for food or play Came to the mariners’ hollo! And I had done an hellish thing, And it would work ‘em woe: For all averred, I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow. Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay, That made the breeze to blow! Nor dim nor red, like God’s own head, The glorious sun uprist: Then all averred, I had killed the bird That brought the fog and mist. ‘Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, That bring the fog and mist. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down, ‘Twas sad as sad could be; And we did speak only to break The silence of the sea! All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody sun, at noon, Right up above the mast did stand, No bigger than the moon. Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean. Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. The very deeps did rot: O Christ! That ever this should be! Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea. About, about, in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night; The water, like a witch’s oils, Burnt green, and blue and white. And some in dreams assured were Of the spirit that plagued us so; Nine fathom deep he had followed us From the land of mist and snow. And every tongue, through utter drought, Was withered at the root; We could not speak, no more than if We had been choked with soot. Ah! wel-a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the albatross About my neck was hung. – Part III There passed a weary time. Each throat Was parched, and glazed each eye. A weary time! A weary time! How glazed each weary eye, When looking westward, I beheld A something in the sky. At first it seemed a little speck, And then it seemed a mist; It moved and moved, and took at last A certain shape, I wist. A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! And still it neared and neared: As if it dodged a water sprite, It plunged and tacked and veered. With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, We could nor laugh nor wail; Through utter drouth all dumb we stood! I bit my arm, I sucked the blood, And cried, A sail! a sail! With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, Agape they heard me call: Gramercy! they for joy did grin, And all at once their breath drew in, As they were drinking all. See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more! Hither to work us weal; Without a breeze, without a tide, She steadies with upright keel! The western wave was all aflame. The day was well nigh done! Almost upon the western wave Rested the broad bright sun; When that strange shape drove suddenly Betwixt us and the sun. And straight the sun was flecked with bars, (Heaven’s mother send us grace!) As if through a dungeon grate he peered With broad and burning face. Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) How fast she nears and nears! Are those her sails that glance in the sun, Like restless gossameres? Are those her ribs through which the sun Did peer, as through a grate? And is that woman all her crew? Is that a Death? and are there two? Is Death that woman’s mate? Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy, The nightmare Life-in-Death was she, Who thicks man’s blood with cold. The naked hulk alongside came, And the twain were casting dice; ‘The game is done! I’ve won! I’ve won!’ Quoth she, and whistles thrice. The sun’s rim dips; the stars rush out: At one stride comes the dark; With far-heard whisper, o’er the sea, Off shot the spectre bark. We listened and looked sideways up! Fear at my heart, as at a cup, My lifeblood seemed to sip! The stars were dim, and thick the night, The steersman’s face by his lamp gleamed white; From the sails the dews did drip– Till clomb above the eastern bar The horned moon, with one bright star Within the nether tip. One after one, by the star-dogged moon, Too quick for groan or sigh, Each turned his face with ghastly pang, And cursed me with his eye. Four times fifty living men, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan) With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one. Their souls did from their bodies fly– They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul, it passed me by, Like the whizz of my crossbow!” – Part IV “I fear thee, ancient mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribbed sea-sand. I fear thee and thy glittering eye, And thy skinny hand, so brown.”– “Fear not, fear not, thou wedding-guest! This body dropped not down. Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! And never a saint took pity on My soul in agony. The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I. I looked upon the rotting sea, And drew my eyes away; I looked upon the rotting deck, And there the dead men lay. I looked to heaven, and tried to pray; But or ever a prayer had gushed, A wicked whisper came, and made My heart as dry as dust. I closed my lids, and kept them close, Till the balls like pulses beat; For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky Lay like a load on my weary eye, And the dead were at my feet. The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Nor rot nor reek did they: The look with which they looked on me Had never passed away. An orphan’s curse would drag to hell A spirit from on high; But oh! more horrible than that Is the curse in a dead man’s eye! Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, And yet I could not die. The moving moon went up the sky, And nowhere did abide: Softly she was going up, And a star or two beside– Her beams bemocked the sultry main, Like April hoar-frost spread; But where the ship’s huge shadow lay, The charmed water burnt alway A still and awful red. Beyond the shadow of the ship, I watched the water snakes: They moved in tracks of shining white, And when they reared, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes. Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and every track Was a flash of golden fire. O happy living things! No tongue Their beauty might declare: A spring of love gushed from my heart, And I blessed them unaware: Sure my kind saint took pity on me, And I blessed them unaware. The selfsame moment I could pray; And from my neck so free The albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea. – Part V Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole! To Mary-Queen the praise be given! She sent the gentle sleep from heaven, That slid into my soul. The silly buckets on the deck, That had so long remained, I dreamt that they were filled with dew; And when I awoke, it rained. My lips were wet, my throat was cold, My garments all were dank; Sure I had drunken in my dreams, And still my body drank. I moved, and could not feel my limbs: I was so light–almost I thought that I had died in sleep, And was a blessed ghost. And soon I heard a roaring wind: It did not come anear; But with its sound it shook the sails, That were so thin and sere. The upper air bursts into life! And a hundred fire-flags sheen, To and fro they were hurried about! And to and fro, and in and out, The wan stars danced between. And the coming wind did roar more loud, And the sails did sigh like sedge; And the rain poured down from one black cloud; The moon was at its edge. The thick black cloud was cleft, and still The moon was at its side: Like waters shot from some high crag, The lightning fell with never a jag, A river steep and wide. The loud wind never reached the ship, Yet now the ship moved on! Beneath the lightning and the moon The dead men gave a groan. They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, Nor spake, nor moved their eyes; It had been strange, even in a dream, To have seen those dead men rise. The helmsman steered, the ship moved on; Yet never a breeze up-blew; The mariners all ‘gan work the ropes, Where they were wont to do; They raised their limbs like lifeless tools– We were a ghastly crew. The body of my brother’s son Stood by me, knee to knee: The body and I pulled at one rope, But he said nought to me.” “I fear thee, ancient mariner!” “Be calm, thou wedding-guest! ‘Twas not those souls that fled in pain, Which to their corses came again, But a troop of spirits blessed. For when it dawned–they dropped their arms, And clustered round the mast; Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths, And from their bodies passed. Around, around, flew each sweet sound, Then darted to the sun; Slowly the sounds came back again, Now mixed, now one by one. Sometimes a-dropping from the sky I heard the skylark sing; Sometimes all little birds that are, How they seemed to fill the sea and air With their sweet jargoning! And now ‘twas like all instruments, Now like a lonely flute; And now it is an angel’s song, That makes the heavens be mute. It ceased; yet still the sails made on A pleasant noise till noon, A noise like of a hidden brook In the leafy month of June, That to the sleeping woods all night Singeth a quiet tune. Till noon we silently sailed on, Yet never a breeze did breathe: Slowly and smoothly went the ship, Moved onward from beneath. Under the keel nine fathom deep, From the land of mist and snow, The spirit slid: and it was he That made the ship to go. The sails at noon left off their tune, And the ship stood still also. The sun, right up above the mast, Had fixed her to the ocean: But in a minute she ‘gan stir, With a short uneasy motion– Backwards and forwards half her length With a short uneasy motion. Then like a pawing horse let go, She made a sudden bound: It flung the blood into my head, And I fell down in a swound. How long in that same fit I lay, I have not to declare; But ere my living life returned, I heard and in my soul discerned Two voices in the air. ‘Is it he?’ quoth one, ‘Is this the man? By him who died on cross, With his cruel bow he laid full low The harmless albatross. The spirit who bideth by himself In the land of mist and snow, He loved the bird that loved the man Who shot him with his bow.’ The other was a softer voice, As soft as honeydew: Quoth he, ‘The man hath penance done, And penance more will do.’ – Part VI FIRST VOICE ‘But tell me, tell me! speak again, Thy soft response renewing– What makes that ship drive on so fast? What is the ocean doing?’ SECOND VOICE ‘Still as a slave before his lord, The ocean hath no blast; His great bright eye most silently Up to the moon is cast– If he may know which way to go; For she guides him smooth or grim. See, brother, see! how graciously She looketh down on him.’ FIRST VOICE ‘But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind?’ SECOND VOICE ‘The air is cut away before, And closes from behind. Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high! Or we shall be belated: For slow and slow that ship will go, When the mariner’s trance is abated.’ I woke, and we were sailing on As in a gentle weather: ‘Twas night, calm night, the moon was high; The dead men stood together. All stood together on the deck, For a charnel-dungeon fitter: All fixed on me their stony eyes, That in the moon did glitter. The pang, the curse, with which they died, Had never passed away: I could not draw my eyes from theirs, Nor turn them up to pray. And now this spell was snapped: once more I viewed the ocean green, And looked far forth, yet little saw Of what had else been seen– Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. But soon there breathed a wind on me, Nor sound nor motion made: Its path was not upon the sea, In ripple or in shade. It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek Like a meadow-gale of spring– It mingled strangely with my fears, Yet it felt like a welcoming. Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship, Yet she sailed softly too: Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze– On me alone it blew. O dream of joy! is this indeed The lighthouse top I see? Is this the hill? is this the kirk? Is this mine own country? We drifted o’er the harbour bar, And I with sobs did pray– O let me be awake, my God! Or let me sleep alway! The harbour bay was clear as glass, So smoothly it was strewn! And on the bay the moonlight lay, And the shadow of the moon. The rock shone bright, the kirk no less, That stands above the rock: The moonlight steeped in silentness The steady weathercock. And the bay was white with silent light, Till rising from the same, Full many shapes, that shadows were, In crimson colours came. A little distance from the prow Those crimson shadows were: I turned my eyes upon the deck– O Christ! what saw I there! Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat, And, by the holy rood! A man all light, a seraph man, On every corse there stood. This seraph band, each waved his hand: It was a heavenly sight! They stood as signals to the land, Each one a lovely light; This seraph band, each waved his hand, No voice did they impart– No voice; but oh! the silence sank Like music on my heart. But soon I heard the dash of oars, I heard the pilot’s cheer; My head was turned perforce away And I saw a boat appear. The pilot and the pilot’s boy, I heard them coming fast: Dear Lord in heaven! it was a joy The dead men could not blast. I saw a third–I heard his voice: It is the hermit good! He singeth loud his godly hymns That he makes in the wood. He’ll shrieve my soul, he’ll wash away The albatross’s blood. – Part VII This hermit good lives in that wood Which slopes down to the sea. How loudly his sweet voice he rears! He loves to talk with mariners That come from a far country. He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve– He hath a cushion plump: It is the moss that wholly hides The rotted old oak stump. The skiff boat neared: I heard them talk, ‘Why, this is strange, I trow! Where are those lights so many and fair, That signal made but now?’ ‘Strange, by my faith!’ the hermit said– ‘And they answered not our cheer! The planks look warped! and see those sails, How thin they are and sere! I never saw aught like to them, Unless perchance it were Brown skeletons of leaves that lag My forest-brook along; When the ivy tod is heavy with snow, And the owlet whoops to the wolf below, That eats the she-wolf’s young.’ ‘Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look,’ The pilot made reply, ‘I am a-feared’–‘Push on, push on!’ Said the hermit cheerily. The boat came closer to the ship, But I nor spake nor stirred; The boat came close beneath the ship, And straight a sound was heard. Under the water it rumbled on, Still louder and more dread: It reached the ship, it split the bay; The ship went down like lead. Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound, Which sky and ocean smote Like one that hath been seven days drowned My body lay afloat; But swift as dreams, myself I found Within the pilot’s boat. Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, The boat spun round and round; And all was still, save that the hill Was telling of the sound. I moved my lips–the pilot shrieked And fell down in a fit; The holy hermit raised his eyes, And prayed where he did sit. I took the oars: the pilot’s boy, Who now doth crazy go, Laughed loud and long, and all the while His eyes went to and fro. ‘Ha! ha!’ quoth he, ‘full plain I see, The devil knows how to row.’ And now, all in my own country, I stood on the firm land! The hermit stepped forth from the boat, And scarcely he could stand. ‘Oh shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!’ The hermit crossed his brow. ‘Say quick,’ quoth he, ‘I bid thee say– What manner of man art thou?’ Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched With a woeful agony, Which forced me to begin my tale; And then it left me free. Since then, at an uncertain hour, That agony returns: And till my ghastly tale is told, This heart within me burns. I pass, like night, from land to land; I have strange power of speech; The moment that his face I see, I know the man that must hear me: To him my tale I teach. What loud uproar bursts from that door! The wedding-guests are there: But in the garden-bower the bride And bridemaids singing are: And hark the little vesper bell, Which biddeth me to prayer! O wedding-guest! This soul hath been Alone on a wide wide sea: So lonely ‘twas, that God himself Scarce seemed there to be. Oh sweeter than the marriage feast, ‘Tis sweeter far to me, To walk together to the kirk With a goodly company!– To walk together to the kirk, And all together pray, While each to his great Father bends, Old men, and babes, and loving friends And youths and maidens gay! Farewell, farewell! but this I tell To thee, thou wedding-guest! He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.” The mariner, whose eye is bright, Whose beard with age is hoar, Is gone: and now the wedding-guest Turned from the bridegroom’s door. He went like one that hath been stunned, And is of sense forlorn: A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn. "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 There are distinct situations where a bishop is preferred (over a knight). For example, two bishops are better than two knights or one of each. Steven Mayer, the author of Bishop Versus Knight, contends, “A pair of bishops is usually considered to be worth six points, but common sense suggests that a pair of active bishops (that are very involved in the formation) must be accorded a value of almost nine under some circumstances.” This is especially true if the player can plant the bishops in the center of the board, as two bishops working in tandem can span up to 26 squares and have the capacity to touch every square. Bishops are also preferable to knights when queens have been exchanged because, Grandmaster Sergey Erenburg, who is ranked 11th in the U.S., explains, “[Bishops and rooks] complement each other, and when well-coordinated, act as a queen.” Conversely, a knight is the preferred minor piece when the queen survives until the late-middlegame or the endgame. Mayer explains, “The queen and knight are [able] to work together smoothly and create a greater number of threats than the queen and bishop.” When forced to say one is better than the other, most anoint the bishop. Mayer concludes, “I think it’s true that the bishops are better than the knights in a wider variety of positions than the knights are better than the bishops.” He continues, “Of course, I’m not sure this does us much good, as we only get to play one position at a time.” “Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got.” — Norman Vincent Peale “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” — Ralph Marston The Road Not Taken Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. “Life is fun. It’s all up to the person. Be satisfied. You don’t have to be ‘happy’ all the time, you need to be satisfied.” — Lucille Boston Lewis, eternal optimist 101 years old “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” — Dr. Boyce “Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Adair “He who imagines himself capable should attempt to perform. Neither originality counts, nor criticism of another’s work. It is not courage, nor self-confidence, nor a sense of superiority that tells. Performance alone is the test.” — Emanuel Lasker “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” ― Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, and former U.S. Army Colonel # 97 games, 1936-2013

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