Actually, I only played 6 games in 2006, making 50% -- the opponents averaged out at 1800+, I was just 1900, so I had to drop some points.

In fact I was quite pleased, given that I hadn't played a rated tournament in 16 years. Both my losses were to fast-improving young players, one of them a FM -- and both happened first thing in the morning, in rounds 2 and 5. I should maybe try to avoid mornings in future...

Before playing in this I thought my old 1900 rating was artificially high, and that I might do really badly. But it all came back surprisingly easily. I'd never given up chess totally -- I used to follow games, tournaments etc and sometimes play casually with friends, engines, friends who happen to be engines, engines who happen to be friends, etc.

Isn't that a tautology? A rigorous thinker like <danielpi> might disagree, and even cite examples of things that were complete nonsense but not fun (transsubstantiation?) or fun but not complete nonsense (Borges? Lem? Wittgenstein?).

But I'm not a rigorous thinker, and on behalf of the Sloppy Tendency, Frogspawn Division, I will contend that 'complete nonsense' and 'fun' overlap sufficiently often to make differentiation unnecessary.

<Pointsman vs Mexico ('the antipointsman')... contd...>

<To Pointsman, anything less than mechanistic rigour firmly grounded in experiment is 'The last refuge of the incorrigibly lazy', a mysticism which has precisely nothing to say. Mexico, in reply, suggests that rigorous analysis is, at bottom, at least as empty:

<In fact I was quite pleased, given that I hadn't played a rated tournament in 16 years.> Great job and brave too, considering not playing for so long.

<Engines> <Friends> Yeah I played with my dad and then my Mephisto MMIV since childhood and beat it regularly. Even bought a program for an Amiga-comp and it was ~2250 strength. Not often I was able to beat it without one or two takebacks. I joined a student chessclub here in Amsterdam but didn't like the <nerdy> atmosphere that much. (and loosing ) but I played OK there. Never even played in a real tournament..

But Whenever the big names came to holland/Amsterdam I was sitting on the front row.

OTB Blunders happen to everyone.. In rapids at ICC it is still a horror for me.. let alone blitz!!

Right now, I'd rather bunch a few loose threads together -- including chess, for a change -- and look at this phenomenon that Bobby Fischer called 'getting good'.

Anecdotally, it seems to happen in spurts. Assume for convenience that ELO rating models playing strength, then a typical progression might be 1100 - 1200 - 1280 - 1750 - 1900. Sudden leaps are cut with periods of stabilization.

My own first few ratings, approx, were 1650 - 1840 - 1880 - 1910. Same big jump in a few months, then a plateau.

So -- is this a kind of quantum leap? Or a discontinuity? Do ratings *really* reflect the improvement curve, or do they make it seem 'jerkier' than it actually is?

And what are the requirements for this jump, this sudden increase in fluency? Like a new language, things that were noisy and opaque before suddenly become clear and even obvious.

(Is a jump in chess understanding always necessarily accompanied by a leap in playing strength? It might seem obviously so ... or it might be contingent on other factors...)

I think we've actually observed the process in action in recent weeks. Jess 'got good' -- and I wouldn't dare put a rating on the result, apart from saying that my previous estimate of 1800 was too low. 2000? Why not? And why stop there?

The typical GM curve also has periods of stabilisation, but at a much higher level. Such players may zip straight up to the 2500 zone, before pausing.

This is one reason I like to watch high-level matchplay, btw. You can see the players actually improve (eg, Kasparov in 1983-85, Jessica right now...)

There's nothing wrong with nerdy/geeky company in itself -- but they should be brought to a bar or cafe and encouraged to mix with girls more. Simple, really.

Even though there are now many more women playing chess, I wonder how much of that is an internet phenomenon. The traditional chess club atmosphere is uniquely off-putting. Not just for female persons but also male ones like me who happen to enjoy their company.

I like tournament atmospheres, though -- 'special' events, more variety, meet old friends, make new ones, watch some games (I always stroll around and observe while meant to be playing...)

And what are the requirements for this jump, this sudden increase in fluency? Like a new language, things that were noisy and opaque before suddenly become clear and even obvious.>

Improvement in *any* field goes in leaps. Never Linear. Why?

It is natural. Ever since childhood we experience it over and over again. Riding a bike, learning to read, speak, play piano etc etc.

<This is one reason I like to watch high-level matchplay, btw. You can see the players actually improve (eg, Kasparov in 1983-85, Jessica right now...)> Mainly the reason I enjoy sports, following certain players, in any sport or music or chess..

Gazza is one of those special talents indeed! Watch his every move.

<Right now, I'd rather bunch a few loose threads together -- including chess, for a change -- and look at this phenomenon that Bobby Fischer called 'getting good'.> Very well put and done. And an unbelievably fascinating subject. Wish I had the time to get really into it but time is one of a few disturbing factors.

<Anecdote>

The first thing Ronnie O'Sullivan did after winning his first WC was acknowledge Jimmy White and saying he did it for him. Very moving and surprising and illuminating from a human/psychological standpoint. He felt for Jimmy not having reached his *natural* reward (peak) and dedicated his Ch'ship to him!

He got *good* and set the record straight!

G'night <Dom>!

I'm a fright in the "morning" (4pm in the afternnoon here)...

Just red the last 2 pages here, what'sa ll this then about profereeding?

The typo is a necessary step to the necessayr misprision necessary to confirm every batty theory <Deridaa> ever stole from <pseudodyoneseus> (google that!)

etc. tetc.

My freekin car broke down on way bak from Vancover... thank god for BCAA who gave me a tow and then I had to walk three miles home n the meidel of the nite...

Good times!! Actually I had a blast with my frends and blew off a lotta steam (I'm not a "quiet" person in a bar, though I don't drink or do any drugs)....

What's the point of improving if you can't crow like a dammed peacock about to be served up for some rich guy's dinner!

(will make more sense as caffeine levels rise)

<Niels>!!! your game with Branko is already at a critical juncture and you just started!!! Master level chess is amazing, congratulations to tyou both. Since you beat <branko> last time, I'll cheer for branjo this time....

I've decided to join the pointless race (btw, Branko is engergetically expanding his forum to get ahead in the standings-- I've been helping him)

Erse humor (from <Asterix in Britain>)

For that, I have several books and one brain. Or, on certain days, the other way round.

McLuhan said that <a medium amputates the organ it extends> -- meaning, usually, that we stop using some 'natural' facility once a technological shortcut emerges. Thus cars 'amputated' legs. Metaphorically. I think.

I used to get calls (texts, emails, pigeons) all the time from acquaintances with trivia questions needing answers. My record, sometime in the early 90s, was six phone calls in one day from six different countries, wanting to know really profound stuff like 'what shape are Finnish ashtrays?' and 'is the Irish for contraceptive, frith-ghiniunach, really pronounced friggin-eunuch?' and 'What's a Katmandu?' (he miaows) ... und so weiter ... quiz show entrants, screenwriters, small children, future trolls, the lot.

Then google took over, and I got amputated. Can you imagine how it feels to amputate your entire body?

Hey? Hey? No, I can't either. But if they have drugs for this, bring 'em on...

The best of luck in your upcoming tournament!! KILL THEM!! LEAVE NO PRISONERS!!!

Girl in the front row with binoculars....

We expect a full record of your games to be posted in <FROGSPAWN,> of course....

Up the Irish!!!

<The traditional chess club atmosphere is uniquely off-putting. Not just for female persons but also male ones like me who happen to enjoy their company.> Yes, same here.. there is a deformaty there but The landscape is changing and I am to doze off while it happens!

G'night and see you tomorrow <Dom> and <JessQ>!!

Jess... if it really matters so much to certain other persons, then let their forums/posts *artificially* overtake mine, by all means. I will not deign to compete.

It shouldn't make any difference in the long run. Nobody is crazy enough to keep spamming their own forum like that. Is they?

It's a stamina thing. Or a rare form of post-famine kibitzing disorder, known as Faminism, and peculiar to the cyber-Erse.

Sigh. Different test this time, OK?