so you didn't exclusively go for the king or the queen, but combined it to a full monarchical attack. nice. not sure how to interpret that psychologically though.

i've got a hunch that 1... Rh8 would've lead to immediate resignation, despite there not being an immediate mate around the corner (not far away, of course - but more than a few moves). does that make it the best practical move? maybe.

i also started with 1... Qf2+ 2. Kh1 but was sufficiently happy with the line i'd envisioned a few moves earlier so that i didn't even notice the dire position of the white queen and that Qxd7 wasn't a "legal" move even after the protection was gone - so i continued 2... Bxf3 - which covers checks from h5 btw, in case of 3. Qh6+ Kf7 4. Qh7+ Rg7.

anyway, he didn't find 3. Rg1 attractive, and hence he sacrificed a rook to start giving checks, with 3. Rxe6+ dxe6 4. Qh6+ Rg6 5. Rxe6+ Kxe6 6. Qxg6+ Ke5 7. Qd6+ Ke4 8. Qe6+ Kd4 etc.

i agreed to a draw once by <unilateral disgust>, after the following moves:

1. e4 e5 2. c3!? Nf6 3. d4 d6?! 4. d5 Nxe5?? 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxe4 with a draw offer!

click for larger view

did i accept immediately? no, in fact i considered the likely outcome of another game first, as this was the last round of 9 and a win (!) for me and a draw in the other game would've made me shared winner of the group - and my opponent was - except the ridiculous trap i stepped into with both feet - a clearly weaker player than me at the time (and i guess this was partly the reason why i naively picked off the poisoned e4-pawn in the first place). you read correctly: despite my own very obvious shortcomings at the time this game was played, i probably would've had decent chances to mess things up sufficiently to make a game from the above position, given the opponent.

Some day I'll post here a selection of positions in which I agreed to draws. The ones I regret are the ones where I was significantly better but not yet totally won, and my opponent was higher rated, but not monstrously so. Up to 200 points, say. Taking a draw there is just lack of faith in my ability to play.

OTOH, I've accepted a draw offer in a position where my opponent had a mate in four. I thought seriously about playing on.

And I've resigned won games, as well as accepting draws. Draws by mutual tiredness are OK, especially when it's the 3rd full-length game on a tournament Saturday.

If you append an exclam or screamer to one of your own moves, it *might* be a good move - though probably not as good as you think. But if you round off one of your own *sentences* with one of the things, it's *never* a good sentence.

---
apropos reading: i'm currently enjoying kahneman's 'thinking, fast and slow', which i recommend if you haven't already picked it up.

this is what domdaniel wrote in kibitzer's cafe a few days ago.

<Domdaniel: <quantum.conscious> Here's a useful technique of which you may be unaware. When attempting to work out why somebody behaves in a particular way, try seeing it from their point of view. It's really much more productive than name-calling ...

Only if you're open to new ways of thinking, of course. Many people aren't. >

perhaps, <domdaniel> is incapable of practicing what he is preaching because he called names to someone today and he wrote following for me in his forum

<Domdaniel: <Neme> I've forgotten Quant already, but feel free to crush him like a bug anytime he comes back. That's what friends are for.>

however, that is no reason you should call him names the way you have called him names. i believe you can prove yourself to be a better person than <domdaniel>.

let's be nice and civil to other users on the site and have fun :)

Specificity is needed here. Unless you show me:

1. the roster of names you deemed as casualties of the war I sparked and continue to wage..

2. Military and civilian installations targeted and razed to the ground by my scuds and tomahawks...

2. burnt and torn pages I have arsonized..

Your accusations remain unfounded and is hereby exposed as a malicious and sorry attempt to exorcise me from this page.

There are those who contend that you take rationality too far. I disagree. I don't even see how it would be logically possible to do so. The more clear thinking, the better.

Oops. Confound it. Yes, I've blown a whistle or two in my time. Anyway:

<Usernames cannot contain the prefix "GM", "IM", "FM", "WGM", or any other chess title, unless that title has actually been earned. In ambiguous cases where the letters exist apparently by accident (e.g. "IMemorizeOpenings") we may be forgiving; the final determination is the ability of the name to confuse the average member. >

All sorts of innaresting possibilities arise. The letter combination 'gm' is common in Greek, and words of Greek origin (Phlegm, pragmatic, paradigm, etc). Syntagma square in Athens, the centre of protest in the city, has been much in the news.

And that's just letter combination within words. By running words together, it gets even easier ...

IFMynameoffends...
NotaGMa Square
DIGMYGRAVE

'WGM' isn't easy, but, at a stretch...

Many regular kibitzers, including me, have since a few years already, complained about that, the lack of tending to the real herd for weeks at a time at some point. Twinlarks being one of those.

So review time for Daniel it seems, though I think he is pretty fed up and wants to take charge to keep his enterprise in shape, return it to shape, and listen to advice.

That said it pains me to see this site attacked by trolls, very intelligently at that, posing as wolves in sheep/lawyer/three-piece-suit clothing - and if ever I meant something it is this:

Every single TROLL at chessgames is one too many, and by golly although accepted as collateral damage on most sites I'm going to resist them.

That's what Daniel said clearly for once: this is not a room or building you can barge in to and insult both owners and guests, this is his apartment, and if you break the house rules, or torment them, on purpose, you'll be sent back down the Elavator Shaft. Perhaps because common sense and the 4 guidelines aren't sufficient, House Rules and Rule Enforcement must be introduced and effected.

click for larger view

I now played 22.Qh5. Yes, it's completely winning in several ways. I could probably have sacrificed one or both of my bishops to rip open the kingside, but I also saw another way to win.

If 22...g6, then I *do* have to rip things apart, with 23.Nxg6 fxg6 24.Bxg6 followed by mate. So he played 22...h6.

Yuck.>>

<Domdaniel: <<Annie> It's OK, he's human.

Don't they have, yanno, *christians* in your part of the world?

OK, maybe it's seen as a pathology. But there's a nice Buddhist equivalent to do with karmic adjustments.

Forgive, turn other cheek, etc? Not Stockholm Syndrome at all, though I do in fact have a number of innaresting Swedish conditions.

In any case, what I seem to have inadvertently said is that friends are for crushing like bugs, which isn't very xtian.

;}>>

I'm afraid you have confused me with <Jess>. Allow me to correct this impression. I don't go around posting in this manner frequently, on impulse, only to apologize the next day.

Everything I write is considered, and will not be void within 24 hours.

Forgiveness is all very well, excellent in fact... where it is deserved. But when one goes out of his way to be chummy with such an unrepentant, perpetually insanely hateful piece of subhuman filth, calls him a friend, and even encourages said creature to feel free to attack other people in his own forum...?

While the psycho is still happily attacking decent people (cg, WannaBe, brankat, and the list goes on...) left and right... just because he's kindly stopped attacking <you>?

Don't tell me that's not a variant of Stockholm Syndrome.

I am disgusted beyond words.

I won't be back here until you regain some semblance of what used to pass for sanity in your case.

What's happened here is one of two possible things: either I'm misinformed about the continuing nastiness of this individual, or you're misinformed about his humanity, desire to apologize, etc.

As usual, we could both be wrong.

It's just that I may not be be in a position to pay much attention to any such assaults. And every attacker deserves their little bit of attention.