Jimfromprovidence Member since Oct-04-07 · Last seen Sep-25-23 I'm a 71 year-old retired public finance official. I reside in Ventura County, CA, which is about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles. I am bi-coastal, from Providence, Rhode Island. I consider myself a fortunate survivor of the Catholic schooling experience at both the grade and secondary school level. I left the East Coast and ventured the 3,000 miles to California in 1983 not knowing a soul in order to attend grad school at UC-Santa Barbara. After earning my Masters' in Economics, I decided to stick around. I made a good living explaining to politicians the consequences of various budget alternatives in mostly difficult economic times. (They would mostly respond, do what you need to do to balance the budget, but do not reduce staff, cut programs or raise taxes). I am relatively recently widowed (May, 2017). I have a son and two grand kids. As far as chess goes, I don't know as much about it as I should, but that's O.K. I just like the challenge of trying to solve the puzzles, analyzing the positions and communicating with other enthusiasts. Last updated 6/18/23

Jimfromprovidence has kibitzed 3138 times to chessgames   [more...]

Sep-16-23 Speelman vs Koneru, 2002    Jimfromprovidence: I picked 21 c5 hoping for 21...Qa6 like <Teyss> figured out. I did not see 21...Qd8. Nevertheless, 22 Re5 was a great move. [DIAGRAM] It took me a long time to see the reason for it, the threat being Rxf5 gxf5 Qg5+.      Sep-06-23 M Yuganova vs A Demchenko, 2007    Jimfromprovidence: Here's a side puzzle. Let's remove black's pawn on d4. So does 23...Rxh4 still win? [DIAGRAM]      Sep-06-23 I Videnova-Kuljasevic vs M Lubbe, 2008    Jimfromprovidence: After the text line 33 Rxa7+ Kxa7 34 Bc5+, instead of resigning black plays 34...Kb8. White has the clever 35 Bxf2, threatening 36 Ba7+ [DIAGRAM]      Sep-05-23 Duda vs E Goudriaan, 2014    Jimfromprovidence: I found 42 Qa6 Qf8 43 Qxd6 Kg8?! to be interesting. [DIAGRAM] Simplifying is fine, as in 44 Qxf8+ Kxf8 45 Bxg7+ Kxg7 46 d6. [DIAGRAM]      Aug-23-23 D Andreikin vs Kosteniuk, 2006    Jimfromprovidence: Here's another (lesser) solution to this puzzle. 28 Nf6+ gxf6. [DIAGRAM] White to play and win.      Aug-20-23 M A Tabatabaei vs Baklan, 2015    Jimfromprovidence: Here's a mini puzzle within the main puzzle. It comes after 26 Bc5+ Nxc5 27 Qxd8+ Kf7 28 Qd5+ Ne6. [DIAGRAM] White to play and win.      Aug-09-23 Minasian vs O Nikolenko, 1991    Jimfromprovidence: If black tries to stay on the 7th rank with 34...Qa7, then 35 d7 wins. [DIAGRAM]      Jul-29-23 Plachetka vs Z Basagic, 1979    Jimfromprovidence: Instead of the text 28...Nd3, black instead plays 28...Qa1+, seeing 29 Rg1 Qc3, below. ( This is an observation posted a dozen years ago on this page). [DIAGRAM] Black threatens 30...Qxf3+, followed by 31...Nd3 winning significant material. What is white's best move here?      Jul-25-23 Spoelman vs E Agrest, 2017    Jimfromprovidence: Beside the text move, white also had 37 Qe5, below, where the threat of 38 Qd5+ seems unstoppable. [DIAGRAM]      Jul-12-23 Gheorghiu vs T Ghitescu, 1961    Jimfromprovidence: I was curious if 38...f3+ and 39...Rxb3 were interchangeable. The answer is no because if 38...Rxb3 39 Nxb3, below, the pawn on f4 no longer has the rook's protection. [DIAGRAM]

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 8 OF 8 ·  Later Kibitzing> Aug-18-12    morfishine: Good morning <Jimfromprovidence>! I'd love to see <25.Bxc4> work. The problem I was having with 25.Bxc4 Bf5 <26.Nd5> is Black interpolates <26...Bxc2+> click for larger view Here, if 27.Kxc2 then 27...Qxc4+ and Black is wiggling free: (28.Kb1 Qxd5 or 28.Nc3 dxc3 29.Qf6 cxb2+ 30.Kxb2 [If 30.Kb1 Qe4+ followed by 31...Qxe5]...Qe2+ 31.K-any Qxe5) At this point, I figured or knew I was on the wrong track for White to win. However, and much thanks for your initiative (which pushed me to see this line through), after 26...Bxc2+ White has the much better <27.Ka1> and Black's tricks are thwarted plus he faces material loss. So yes, I agree <25.Bxc4> wins too, just less elegantly. Its good to see <25.Bxc4> is very strong and winning On the other hand, the immediate <25.Nd5> is cleaner and more 'GM-like' Aug-19-12    sevenseaman: <Jimfromprovidence> <Then I looked over the whole game and saw that it was "cooked', so I said what the @##@ is going on? We need a forensic chess detective to figure this one out!> Intriguing. How so? Not that I could see any tell tale signs! Sep-10-12    LoveThatJoker: <Jimfromprovidence> Thank you for the kind shout-out on the latest Sunday puzzle. I just read it today, as I did not have computer access all day after I posted my solution. That puzzle was surely a doozie! LTJ Mar-03-13    agb2002: <Jimfromprovidence: Thanks for the constructive feedback concerning Saturday's puzzle.> Thanks to you for your thought provoking comments! Antonio Mar-09-13    Jimfromprovidence: Can’t allow Fischer week to pass without showcasing this brilliant endgame of his. It’s move 82, white to play and win. Only one move wins. click for larger view Here is the game link. Fischer vs Taimanov, 1971 May-23-14    Jimfromprovidence: Karpov turned 63 today. Why no shoutout on the front page? Jun-08-14    agb2002: <Jimfromprovidence: <agb2002> and <abuzic>. Thanks for playing along.> Again thanks to you. Your side puzzles are very interesting! Antonio Aug-25-14    Everett: Hello <Jim>. Just giving you a heads up that a put some rudimentary analysis of Dyvoretsky's and Marin's up on the recent Karpov-Kasparov Sunday puzzle page. Oct-06-14    agb2002: Hello Jim, I'll try to find the time to think about the remaining questions in P Leisebein vs B Fels, 2004 today. It was a bit late to answer properly yesterday. Dec-25-14    wordfunph: <Jim> Merry Christmas! Feb-05-15    Fusilli: <It’s move 82, white to play and win. Only one move wins.> Oh yeah, that's such a beauty. Dec-25-15    wordfunph: <Jim> Merry Christmas! Dec-30-16    YouRang: Hey, thanks for the comment you left in my forum regarding the fun POTD: J M Bellon Lopez vs G Garcia, 1976. That game was particularly sharp and tense. Had I been playing either side, I'm sure I would have lost a pound of sweat while finding a way to give my opponent a clever-looking win. I gather that you and I have a similar appreciation for the subtle dynamics of chess. I particularly like endgame positions that have unexpectedly sneaky complications. :-) Mar-10-17    Fusilli: <I consider myself a fortunate survivor of the Catholic schooling experience at both the grade and secondary school level.> Me too! Marianista Institute, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mar-10-17    diceman: <I consider myself a fortunate survivor of the Catholic schooling experience> I'll let you know after my death, if I "actually" survived. Jan-22-18    morfishine: <Jimfromprovidence> I just noticed you are a widower. God Bless, I wish you the best ***** Aug-16-18    Jimfromprovidence: I have been throwing in a few puzzles from my collection from time to time to fill the gap on CG's puzzle page. In a tribute to the late Larry M. Evans, the LA Times chess column for November 28th, 2010 included this excellent puzzle from an Evans game in 1975. It's white to play to win, move 24. click for larger view The game link is below. Larry Evans vs Benko, 1975 The puzzle fits well into the Wednesday /Thursday slot. Aug-16-18    Annie K.: <Jimfromprovidence> Hello, thanks for the work you're doing to help keep the daily puzzles interesting these days. <Kevin>, the usual problemist for CG, said he would appreciate help with the puzzles. I already have one volunteer to help him, <takchess>, but the more people volunteer, the less stressful the task should be to each over the long run. Would you like to join the effort too? :) To clarify the procedure, normally Kevin selected the puzzles, and sent them to Daniel to put up. Now <Sargon> is still working on learning to manage the site, so Kevin's recent selections are not being applied yet (the daily features have been coming out of an emergency queue), but we should soon get over this stage. If you agree to help, I will ask Sargon to give the email associated with your account to Kevin, so he can get in touch with you. Aug-16-18    Jimfromprovidence: <Annie K.> Sure. I think I can help in a limited way. I have accumulated about 60 puzzles mostly from the LA Times (when they had a column)stored on my user pages that link to games in the CG data base. Since I am familiar with them it's not too difficult for me to rate them within a day's level of difficulty in the normal fashion. <Kevin> or whomever can browse through them whenever they have time. They are all good. If you need help overall in puzzle selection and evaluation, I probably can assist from time to time. Feel free to share my Email. Jim Aug-16-18    Annie K.: That's great, I will. Thanks. Try not to draw public attention to games you would like to be featured - they should be surprises. :) Dec-20-20    thegoodanarchist: Your avatar reminds me of James Gandolfini's character "Tony Soprano" in the TV show "The Sopranos". That's the sum total of all of my thoughts, every time I see a post of yours. Dec-22-20    Jimfromprovidence: <thegoodanarchist> <"Your avatar reminds me of James Gandolfini's character "Tony Soprano" in the TV show "The Sopranos".> Yeah, there is a resemblance to Tony. I know a lot of guys that look like that, that's why I chose that avatar. The Sopranos is one of my all-time favorite shows, especially so since I grew up In the Northeast and have a lot of Italian friends and relatives. Dec-25-20    morfishine: Merry Christmas <Jimfromprovidence>! I hope you have a great New year too! Dec-28-20    Jimfromprovidence: Thanks <morfishine>. Happy holidays to you as well. Sep-06-23    King.Arthur.Brazil: Dear, Jim... you're very bad guy sometimes... lgs. Removing the ♙ on d4, is already removing the hand needed for affixation . There's no way... Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 8) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 8 OF 8 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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