Wonder why the WK is on g7 in the original? Definitely a composition.

I solved this problem instead:

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I am posting the position again because <sfod> posted two different diagrams after it, so I feel I need to bring back the original.

Mate in 2:

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1.Be3

Not too difficult and not too easy.And very charming.

Tonight I went to the club to play the monthly deluxe quads (G25/5). I lost to Alexander Fishbein and his son, Mitch Fishbein. I beat a kid in the 2000s.

So, I lost to the guys rated higher than me and beat the one rated lower than me. As it often happens.

I had a mostly a good game against the GM, and after some complications, this position arose, with me (white) to play:

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The move is 34.Rg6. It looks scary but it leads to a draw. What I saw was 34...Qxa2 35.Qh3 (threatens Rxh6+)

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and there I thought he had 35...Qa1+ and simply didn't see I have Rg1 against that (and the queen will gobble the rook on d7). Black draws with 35...Rgd8 instead of Qa1+, where white will sac the second exchange on h6 and give perpetual.

I just played it (blitz on chess.com), and the engine says, again and again, for five moves in a row, that my move was fine but Na5 was <best>. Then, I finally played Na5 and... it doesn't like it, and tells me I should have played something else. Sigh.

Corrected.

I like religion. I like the idea of God. I grew up in a practicing Catholic household. I went to a Catholic school 1-12.

Growing up in Argentina, where 95%+ of the population are nominally Catholic, we didn't think much of being Catholic. You were just a religious type or not. The church was the Catholic church. (Then there were some synagogues. Anything else was really, really rare.) But also, Catholicism was just part of the culture.

I was a <religious type> (going to church, youth group, etc.) when young, then I abandoned that. The Catholic church scandals were disappointing and hurtful. But mainly, I just didn't feel it anymore. But I miss the culture.

Sometime ago I listened to a podcast with Carlos Lozada, a journalist who grew up in Peru. What he said strongly resonated with me. He discovered that being Catholic was something more specific than he ever experienced in Peru after moving to the U.S. He calls himself a <cultural Catholic>. And I realize that's what I am. I feel part of the Catholic Church. I care about what the Catholic Church says and does. I listen to the Pope and care about what the Pope says.

The problem is... I just don't care for all the religious doctrine stuff. Too much. I just don't believe the stuff. I like the culture, I like the community, but I really can't bring myself to buy into all the theological stuff. If it weren't for the stuff, I would look for a church to maybe join, or at least explore. But I don't know if that kind of space exists.

I watched <The Kominsky Method> years ago. This dialogue cracked me up:

Sandy (Michael Douglas): "So, where are you thinking of finding these answers? Are you going to get religion?”

Norman (Alan Arkin): "I've considered it. I like traditions, ancient languages, ritual."

Sandy: "But?"

Norman: "The whole God thing puts me off."

That resonated, although I don't feel put off by <the whole God thing>. I like the idea of something bigger than ourselves (as many people say). I don't necessarily think of God, or that thing bigger than ourselves, in a traditional way, but I do like to use the word to refer to it (or him).

I do, however, feel put off by doctrine and a whole edifice of theology that requires so much (in my view) suspension of disbelief. But I like community, and I like ritual, and I miss the culture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Q...

I'll return later with a quote of my favorite part.