**MARKER DIAGRAM**

He has played 27...Rac8 to reach this position (White to play):

click for larger view

If I told the truth
You would not believe me.
If I said: no fellow soul
Drops death from the air, no conscious plot
Drove us underground, you would laugh
As if I had twitched the wax mouth
Of my tragic mask into a smile--
A smile to you; to me the truth behind
The catenary: locus of the transcendental:
y = a/2 (e[x/a] + e[-x/a]).

What's the immediate plans for forum hosting and coordinating? I have a volunteer lined up to host if I take over coordinating, but there's some scheduling issues.

I've saved many old lines, and I separated out the ones with a deferred Nxd5, just in case. But I don't have everything, and most of those I do have include moves like Qd1 that aren't likely now. I had some old h4 lines too, but not with Nxd5, thus useless. So there's not much available here from the transposition archives.

I have a line 25.Rf3 Bg7 26.Raf1 Nd5 27.Nxd5 cxd5 which we'll transpose into if he plays ...Bg7.

And 25.Rf3 Bg7 26.Raf1 Rac8 27.Qd1 Nd5 28.Nxd5 cxd5 29.Qd3 where we're a clear tempo down on the game and black has played ...Bg7 for free - yet this was agreed to be fine for white.

This was actually the position where I looked at 29...Rc6!? (the horizontal pin idea) for Black, eg 30.f6 Bh6 31.Qxa6 Be3+ 32.Kh1 Bxd4 33.Qb5 Bxb6 34.axb6. Good for White, and I think somebody later improved on this anyway.

Of course lines with ...Bg7-h6 cancel out the lost tempo from Qd2-d1-d3.

Looking at it again now, it strikes me that Black can also play the 'horizontal pin' theme with 29...Qc6 - but the idea is probably irrelevant now anyway.

These precise variations won't happen now: Qd2-d1-d3 is absurd. But the analogous positions after 27...Rac8 28.Qd3 Bh6 [or ...Bg7] seem, if anything, better for us. The extra tempo cuts out the 'horizontal pin', for one thing.

It also underlines the point about not playing fxg6 too hastily (if we haven't also played h3). In some lines black can sacrifice the a6 pawn to get a rook to c2 - and our f5-pawn stops him adding to the attack with ...Qg4. We should do a deep engine run on, say, the position after 29.Qxa6 Rc2, because it's either won or lost. The queenside pawns look winning to me, and neither Fritz nor I can find anything concrete for black here.

But it should be given the full 28-ply going-over. These are the kind of games you can often lose in CC, even with engines. Umansky, to whom Thorsson provided a link earlier, wins games 2 or 3 pawns down, with more active pieces and long-range tactical plans.

Forumswise, I'm not sure. I'll be ready to take over org central from <twinlark> with the help of you and Deffi. I have to catch up on the overall scheme of things first, and start trying to organize my time better. I've been making a mess of this in both realities lately...

Another reason for my dislike of CC is that my OTB playing style is unsuitable for CC. (Actually I'm too weak to have a style, but that is another thing...) I seek complicated positions with possibilities. I'm willing to make positional concessions for initiative. And hope to emerge on top when the smoke clears. But this kind of playing does not work in CC. You just can't make opportunistic moves in CC.

And one more thing. In OTB both players make mistakes. And when your opponent makes one, you can try to exploit it. But in CC you have much less to work with, so to speak. It's frustrating to fight for advantage when your opponents doesn't give you any, move after move.

**MARKER DIAGRAM**

We have played 28.h3 to reach this position (Black to play):

click for larger view

I think some CC players still play like this. I've seen some pretty wild games. The style in our GMAN game is more a function of the voting, I think. I had a glance back at some earlier 'crises' recently - different ideas, different plans, a lot of different people. Most of those who wanted the white side of a Sicilian imagined something much more aggressive.

Neat. Now I can do two things at once. Give <Deffi> a (non)-answer, and provide a verse for the day.

What went wrong with your plan, Dan?
What went wrong with your plan?

In the meantime, I could indulge in one last zany bout of madcappery. Or I could practice being grown-up. Or I could just catch up on the sleep I know I'll need in the near future...

** MARKER DIAGRAM **

He has played 28...Bg7 to reach this position (White to play):

click for larger view

I'm sticking this in both of your forums so youse guys can stay in da loop.

OK. I've set the FAQ to a new page. I'm keeping the move list on my bio though, since it won't fit on the other page.

BTW, the FAQ is under User: FAQ NR

As I said, my endgame skills tend to mimic fecal matter, BUT, I've made room for an <Endgame Forum>. I can at the very least, oversee and moderate it. Other than that, I'm a little fuzzy as to how to proceed from there. My thought was to pick up some of the more promising lines and post then with diagrams, but that might be redundant. Any thoughts?

Any suggestions, people? What should we do next?

Those of you currently hosting forums may wish to post a summary today.

After that, assuming we play 29.Kh2, it's a little tricky to see what to do next. Many of GMAN's lesser options, like 29...Kh8, have effectively been busted on the main page. But he has a number of playable moves, with roughly equal engine evals and a lot of transposition possibilities. I see that even Thorsson has suggested adopting a wait-and-see approach.

While waiting for his reply, we could take the top 3 or 4 lines given by RV, and provisionally set up forums for them. Some of it would be wasted effort, but it beats doing nothing.

People are always saying <bet he takes a week here!> and then GMAN responds in 24 hours, so I won't try to second-guess him.

The Endings Forum is up and running, and I hope it will catch on. <Nightranger> will be free to operate it from Sunday.

Any ideas? Anybody want to volunteer for a move/line after 29.Kh2...?