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Jan-28-24
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Studying the games of players using openings which get named after them can become fascinating. Here we see Robatsch, playing his defense--which had a poor reputation at the time--facing an opponent experimenting with 5.Bb5. It looks like blindfolded people feeling their way around a mansion. |
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Jan-28-24
 | | OhioChessFan: Nice pun. As <al wazir> mentioned, Black had no discernible plan in what looked like a clearly winning position. |
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| Jan-28-24 | | thegoodanarchist: Great pun by User: samatoms1980 Mr Atoms hasn't been seen on cg.com for nearly 21 months. Let us be optimistic that he shows up to claim his prize for GOTD pun. |
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| Jan-28-24 | | thegoodanarchist: Also, let us toast his success with a Sam Atoms lager. Always a good incision. |
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Jan-28-24
 | | Honza Cervenka: 49...f5! 50.gxf5+ Kh5! would have left white in a pretty zugzwang, as 51.Nf3 Qxf5 practically forces white Rook to leave the 4th rank (52.Rc4 g4 53.Rf4 Qe6 loses a piece) dropping thus Pa4, which falls then after Qf4+ and Qxa4. And 51.f6 Qc7+ 52.Kg2 Qc6+ 53.Kg3 Qxf6 54.Nf3 Qf5 leads to the same position. |
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Jan-28-24
 | | Stonehenge: I don't get the pun :( |
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| Jan-28-24 | | stone free or die: A play on "I, Robot" most likely.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343818/
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Jan-28-24
 | | Breunor: I would hope people remember I Robot as the great set of short stories by Asimov and not the second rate movie! |
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Jan-29-24
 | | perfidious: My recollection of 'I, Robot' is as the title of an album by <Alan Parsons Project>. |
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| Jan-29-24 | | stone free or die: I'd probably side with you <Breunor>, but the world being what it is... (All the same, the movie does give Asimov writer credits) |
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| Jan-29-24 | | stone free or die: (Feel free to post a link to your favorite edition of the book or some other source (e.g. it may have originally been published serially - I don't know)) |
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| Jan-29-24 | | vonKrolock: quote <Failure at physical sports has never bothered me...What bothered me, though, was my failure at chess. When I was quite young and had a checkerboard, but no chess pieces, I read books on the game and learned the various moves. I then cut out cardboard squares on which I drew the symbols for the various pieces, and tried to play games with myself. Eventually I managed to persuade my father to get me real chessmen. Then I taught my sister the moves and played the game with her. Both of us played very clumsily indeed. My brother, Stanley, who watched us play, learned the moves and, eventually, asked if he might play. Ever the indulgent older brother, I said, "Sure," and prepared to beat the pants off him. The trouble was that in the first game he ever played he beat me. In the years that followed, I discovered that everyone beat me, regardless of race, color, or religion. I was simply the most appallingly bad chess player who ever lived, and, as time went on, I just stopped playing chess."> to be continued |
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| Jan-29-24 | | vonKrolock: quote 2/3 <"My failure at chess was really distressing. It seemed completely at odds with my "smartness," but I now know (or at least have been told) that great chess players achieve thier results by years and years of studying chess games, by the memorization of large numbers of complex "combinations." They don't see chess as a succession of moves but as a pattern. I know what that means, for I see an essay or a story as a pattern. But these talents are different. Kasparov sees a chess game as a pattern but an essay as a mere collection of words. I see an essay as a pattern and a chess game as a mere collection of moves. So he can play chess and I can write essays and not vice versa. That's not enough, however. I never thought of comparing myself to grand masters of chess. What bothered me was my inability to beat anyone! The conclusion that I finally came to (right or wrong) was that I was unwilling to study the chessboard and weigh the consequences of each possible move I might make. Even people who couldn't see complex patterns might at least penetrate two or three moves ahead, but not I. I moved entirely on impulse, if not at random, and could not make myself do anything else. That meant I would almost certainly lose."> continue |
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| Jan-29-24 | | vonKrolock: quote 3/3 <"And again - why? To me, it seems obvious. I was spoiled by my ability to understand instantly, my ability to recall instantly. I expected to see things at once and I refused to accept a situation in which that was not possible. " > end quote from the book: "I. Asimov: A Memoir" |
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| Jan-29-24 | | stone free or die: One of the best chess quotes I've read recently - thanks for posting it <vonKrolock>. |
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| Jan-29-24 | | vonKrolock: <stone free or die> In a way these autobiographical reflections are more revealing ... Another (not sure it's autobiographical - but it sounds like if it was);
<""Once while I was in the army, I read "The Royal Game", surely the best chess story ever written. It filled me with a wild desire to play chess and I began to approach various soldiers who appeared the chess type. No Luck! To each one I came with a wistful "Would you like to play a game of chess?" and from each one came a cold "No." Finally I had the idea that I should have had to start with. I came to a soldier and said, "Would you like to read a terrific story?" and handed him " The Royal Game". I waited. An hour passed. And then he came to me and said "Would you like to play a game of chess?"> from "Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor: A Lifetime Collection of Favorite Jokes, Anecdotes, and Limericks with Copious Notes on how to Tell Them and why" |
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| Jan-30-24 | | stone free or die: More good stuff! I never knew Asimov had a thing for chess till now. |
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Jan-30-24
| | perfidious: It would appear that Asimov had the good sense to understand that chess was not to become his metier. |
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| Jan-30-24 | | stone free or die: Here's a selection of chess appearances in Asimov's works of fiction: https://www.chess.com/blog/DaveOakR... . |
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Jan-30-24
 | | HeMateMe: Is Asimov the only person to write more books than Andy soltis? |
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Jan-30-24
| | An Englishman: Good Morning: The American chess players Fred Reinfeld and I. A. Horowitz also wrote a large number of books. More than Soltis? Might prove an interesting comparison. |
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Jan-30-24
 | | Sally Simpson: Hi Stoney,
<More good stuff! I never knew Asimov had a thing for chess till now.> I read a lot Sci-Fi and the game is often mentioned, certainly a lot more than any other game. Edgar Rice Burroughs best known for the Tarzan series also wrote, 'The Chessmen of Mars' he was a keen player who also marketed a chess variant. Best Sci-Book with chess in it? My personal favourite is 'Men, Martians and Machines ' by Eric Frank Russell. (1955) brilliant. It is a good guess that Gene Roddenberry read it as there is a more than a touch of Star Trek in it. This wiki link about the book mentions Star Trek. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men,_... |
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| Jan-31-24 | | stone free or die: Thanks for that tip, <Sally>, not sure if I've heard of it before. I didn't read enough sci-fi to pick up on a chess theme - <"The Foundation Trilogy"> by Asimov, <"War of the Worlds"> and <"The Time Machine"> by Wells, <"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"> by Verne, <"Neuromancer"> by Gibson, <"2001: A Space Odyssey"> by Clark and <"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"> by Dick. Just the minimum.
I think Verne's work has chess in it, maybe for decorative effect, but I'm not sure. I can't recall it be even more than a passing mention, if that, in any of those works. Of course, I watched far more sci-fi than I read. . |
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Jan-31-24
| | Sally Simpson: Hi Stoney,
<I think Verne's work has chess in it.?
I've not read it but Jules Verne has a Murphy (sic) playing chess in 'Off On A Comet' (1877) apparently it's game where no pawns are captured. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off_o... |
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| Jan-31-24 | | stone free or die: <Sally> always enjoy a good underpromotion. |
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