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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 208 OF 914 ·
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| Sep-06-10 | | technical draw: Descubrieron el Pacifico. |
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Sep-06-10
 | | Phony Benoni: <JB> Oh, really? I'll lay down good ChessBucks right now that 90% of successful onside kicks occur when everybody knows they are coming--including AP headline writers. |
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| Sep-06-10 | | Jim Bartle: I'll take that bet--if it's by percentage. I'd say the percentage of onside kicks recovered by the kicking team is much higher when it's at a random moment than when the kicking team is desperate to get the ball (last minute, way behind, etc.) Of course most of the recovered ones come when the receiving team is expecting it, but only because (in 2009) 40 of 48 were in the "desperation" category. |
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Sep-06-10
| | Phony Benoni: <JB> You've been hanging around <td> too much, honing those parsing skills! |
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Sep-06-10
| | Phony Benoni: <JB> And while I've got you here, a tennis question. Now, I know that having the serve at tennis is a significant advantage. And I would expect that most, if not all of this advantage persists as the beginning of a point, because the receiver usually has to worry about just getting the ball back over the net. But as the rally goes on, I would expect this advantage eventually evaporates. Is that true, and how long does it take? (I'm assuming opponents of roughly equal strength.) |
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| Sep-06-10 | | Jim Bartle: Depends. In some way it's like being white in chess; you get to dictate play until the receiver/black player does something to catch up. Since serve-and-volley tennis has virtually disappeared, the usual advantage of a big first serve is a short (not necessarily soft) return, which the server can come in and hit for a winner or at least force a really weak return while coming to the net. A good solid return and it's even, no advantage for the server. And on second serves it's about even. Generally no advantage for the server unless it's a Sampras or a McEnroe. |
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Sep-06-10
| | Phony Benoni: Interesting. Seeing how often serve is held, I would have assumed a more lasting advantage. |
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| Sep-06-10 | | Jim Bartle: Well, remember it's first player to four points, or to get ahead by two. In a typical game the server will get, say, two "free" points, meaning an unreturned serve or a weak return he can hit for an easy winner. That's a huge advantage. Now the faster the court the bigger the advantage for the server. In the old days (pre-2003, I think) at Wimbledon, the grass was so fast players could go through whole matches without losing serve. In fact Stefan Edberg lost a semi-final in 1991 (to Michael Stich) even though he never lost his serve. He lost three tiebreakers. Now the courts at Wimbledon is slower and the ball bounces up higher than before, meaning longer rallies and more breaks. On slow clay courts the advantage to the server is much less, and you see a lot more breaks. |
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Sep-06-10
| | Phony Benoni: <JB> Very clear. Thanks. |
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| Sep-06-10 | | notyetagm: <PB>
Could you also please find the game from this position, again from the same 1001 book by Reinfeld? 
click for larger viewhttp://www.chesscafe.com/text/heism...
<Here is another cute one from the same intermediate text:
Black, to move, has a good position with more than enough
compensation for the Exchange. <<<Here he uses the less common
interference theme to remove the guard.>>> Since the Rooks guard
each other, preventing them fromdoing so makes sense, so 1…Be2
removes both guards, creates a double attack, wins the
Exchange, and ends all resistance.>
Thanks |
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Sep-06-10
| | Phony Benoni: <notyetagm> Sorry, but I can't find that one. |
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| Sep-07-10 | | notyetagm: <Phony Benoni: <notyetagm> Sorry, but I can't find that one.> Thanks anyway. |
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| Sep-07-10 | | nescio: <Phony Benoni> If <dakgootje> writes that "The Netherlands" is the correct name for our country I suppose he is right, but in my view both that and "Holland" are inaccurate. Not for nothing the Dutch themselves call their country "Nederland" and not "De Nederlanden", but that use of the singular has not been followed in other languages. "The Netherlands" (Low Countries) was of old, say around 1550 and before, the name of the coastal region between Roobaais/Duinkerken (Roubaix/Dunkirk for you) in the south and the islands in the north. It was divided into 15-20 principalities (I'm not sure of the right number) of which Flanders was by far the largest and most important. One of them was Holland, which took over the role of Flanders after the forming of the United Provinces (the Dutch Republic), largely because Flanders still belonged to the king of Spain and many Flemings came to Holland, and because the entry to the port of Antwerp was blocked by the province of Zeeland. So The Netherlands is saying too much and Holland is saying too little. It may be interesting for you that your Declaration of Independence has many similarities with the Dutch equivalent, the "Acte van Verlatinghe", 200 years earlier, almost as if the latter was a model for Benjamin Franklin and the other founding fathers. The original constitution of the United States looks like that of the United Provinces (Unie van Utrecht, 1579) as well. They also adopted a federal structure, but added the feature of a kind of elected king they called a president, thereby strengthening the central government. Perhaps inevitable in such a large country with difficult communication lines. |
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| Sep-07-10 | | crawfb5: <Munich, 1936> Obviously you need no comment on your sanity for starting such a massive project. Even with only a third (365Chess lists just over 500 of the 1600+ games), it's going to take at least two collections. One minor note: 1) <The playing schedule includes 21 rounds over a 16 day period> should be <20> rounds. I don't know if I'd keep marking which teams have had byes in the cumulative match scores to date, but that's a matter of taste. With 21 teams, I might just keep track of the race for the top spots, but again, YMMV. |
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| Sep-07-10 | | crawfb5: I see your point. I was easier to convince because I was only a <local> TD back in the day. What's confusing is to remember to add that extra round for the bye when teams are playing 20 actual matches. |
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| Sep-07-10 | | dakgootje: <I was easier to convince because I was only a <local> TD back in the day.> Do local TD's charge only $5 for their scams instead of the international $20? |
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| Sep-07-10 | | crawfb5: <dak> $5 for a local TD sounds about right, although I was much too young and inexperienced to cash in. I thought the going international rate would be 20 Euros. |
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Sep-07-10
 | | keypusher: <PB> Apologize for page-jack, but... Jim,
I really really love the Peru book. I look at it again and again. Would like to buy a copy when possible. You have some nice pictures of your own in there!
Why were Tyroleans and Prussians emigrating to Peru in 1859? |
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Sep-07-10
| | keypusher: ...I think the two-page picture of the Cordillera Huayhuash at dawn in the distance is my favorite. I had never even heard of Kuelap (or the Chachapoyas) before. |
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Sep-07-10
| | keypusher: <Phony Benoni: <Travis> In 2008, the Lions went 4-0 in the preseason, 0-16 in the regular season.> See third item:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page... Part II of the series (Preseason Hall of Fame) features N. Suh trying to remove a quarterback's head (Item 3, again). http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page... |
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| Sep-09-10 | | Deus Ex Alekhina: <keypusher> Bartle is the Ansel Adams of South American glaciers & mountains <Travis> The Lions will be fired up when they go to Chicago, trying to end a 24 game road losing streak - the last team they beat on the road? - you guessed it - Chicago. But the Lions always find a way to disappoint: final score, in overtime, Bears 27, Lions 21. |
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| Sep-09-10 | | Travis Bickle: Hey Phony, Jim Bartle and all you sportsfans here, do you have a song that makes you cringe when you hear it? If so send your song link or name of the tune to my Forum, for Travis B's Dorkiest Song Contest. |
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Sep-10-10
| | Phony Benoni: I haven't been around much of late, due to a freakish weather occurrence here in Detroit. Tuesday afternoon we had several hours with sustained winds of 40-50 MPH. Dozens of power wires came down around the city, and since we've been bone-dry the last month houses everywhere started going up in flames. A couple were destroyed about five houses south of me. Nobody hurt, thankfully, though one of the owners was out of town on vacation and had no idea of what happened until he got home today. Ouch. At any rate, my power wasn't fully restored until today. I had a partial restoration Wednesday night, but in a true Murphy Moment the only working appliance was my alarm clock. |
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| Sep-10-10 | | Travis Bickle: <Deus Ex Alekhina> I think The bears will wake up from hibernation to defeat The Lions Sunday but it won't be easy. The latest line is Bears giving 6 1/2 to Detroit. Damn them Detroit recievers are both 8 feet tall, kinda tough on a cornerback. The defense gets Urlacher back & the addition of DE Julius Peppers can only help! Plus we have two solid running backs in Mat Forte and ex-Minnesota back Chester Taylor, & we have great depth at tight end with Greg Olsen, Desmond Clark and new addition from San Diego Brandon Manumaleuna. Now all we have to do is block and score in the red zone. ; P Chicago sportswriter point of view.
http://www.windycitygridiron.com/20... P.S. With all those power lines down I hope Phony can watch the game Sunday. |
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Sep-10-10
| | Phony Benoni: <Travis> I generally don't worry about spelling errors. Lord knows, I've pulled off enough typos myself to supply the rest of the world for the foreseeable future. Once, when editing <Michigan Chess>, I wrote <Editorals> for a full year before noticing. But I can't resist the irony of seeing you spelling Brandon Manumaleuna correctly, but missing <Matt> Forte. |
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