So it was just all about chess and language. Again.

No denizen of Frogspawn would impute or imply that *any* form of gender-related activity between consenting adults was wrong.

Well, okay, some would. But I wouldn't agree with them.

I don't hold with rumours on the Nutterweb either.

Maybe it's been reclaimed - like <Queer Vegetarians for Marian Virginity> - and used as badge of honour by self-confessed fans of the younger male sort, but I still don't like it.

So kindly refrain, etc. Even if allegedly quoting somebody else. There's far too much quotation and citation of past verbal effluvia as it is.

Are you not, Doc, concerned with the coherence of CG qua community and the integrity of the 'old guard'?

Quite untrue. What happened, when I still had my marbles, was this: I was playing chess with a friend. I used the French Defence. He said "Do you want to make this more interesting?"

the pattern shown by tpstar here in your forum today and yesterday is fairly typical, btw: false or twisted accusations, repeated again and again, showing absolutely no will to or interest in dialogue. it's one-way bullying, repeating claims often proven false, but more often simply ignored, because there's no reason to contradict my judge: his words equal truth, and whatever perspective or correction provided by others is irrelevant.

that's the story, it's only a little more than 4 years in the making, and tpstar chose to present himself to you as the other leading character in it.

you wondered in a previous post what i "wanted" from you. i think the better question is what you want cg.com to be. what you want to be going on in your virtual community. whether you choose to close your big eye or not, is your decision to make, not mine. as long as tpstar wants no dialogue and prefers to continue his campaign, we're not getting anywhere. so until he sits down at the table with us, hopefully here in your place (as a neutral-ish location), i'll leave it at this.

If you're right about the absence of irony ... and I'm half-persuaded that you are ... then some children have been behaving very childishly.

to recap, *counting* the two extra "magical" rating points that kasparov/kramnik got from that 2001 match gives a game average of 2828 for their linares 2003 encounters (not live, though - i never bothered to calculate that). hence, taking away that 2 point gift from fide reduces the average to 2827 ...

BTW, with Anglo-wikipedia down/ sulking/ on strike, <Frogspawn> is arguably the most polymathically omniscient entity on the anglophone Nutterweb. So the *next* time they go on strike we'll be ready to monetize our vast collective knowledge of all that is knowable and much that isn't. Next time ...

<Everyone> -- < Why is 50% of every frogbert post explaining what a great genius and wise soothsayer frogbert is?>

The logical answer must be: because it is not a self-evident truth, and must therefore be repeated, 'debated', repeated. You don't have to do this with self-evident truths, because they're, y'know, self-evident.

On the other hand, some things -- like the chorus of a pop song -- can be repeated because they're light, catchy fun and have nothing to do with self-evident truth.

However, this doesn't look or sound much like a pop song, does it? Hmmm.

<Shams> -- < Is 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 only bad in the French when White's Knight is on c3, not d2?>

OK, so I'm trying to work out the first three moves here. It's not as if I have an Opening Explorer in my head.

French ... you said 'French'. Right. We'll ignore Chigorin and similar nonsense and go with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3/Nd2 ... and 3...Nf6, 'cos otherwise it couldn't go to d7 after 4.e5.

Right. So the choice is between the Tarrasch line (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4) and the Classical/ Steinitzian (... 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4).

Though it sometimes leads to disaster, 5.f4 is still a main line of the Classical/Steinitz, after 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7.

(I don't think I've ever actually played this, so I'm trusting 'theory' here -- after 3.Nc3 I've played 3...Bb4, 3...dxe4, and 3...a6, but have avoided 3...Nf6. I may get round to it if I get bored, or people start to notice 3...a6 and prepare against it.)

Anyway. Back in Tarraschland (aka Herrdoktorsiegberts Urheimat) we have the line 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4...

A quick search in a database produces 2800 games with this move order. It's not quite the main line (5.Bd3 and even 5.c3 have been seen more often) but it's out there. It's a move. It keeps things rolling.

So, based on books and databases and other people's experience, I havta say that 5.f4 is playable in both situations.

Did I say it was a mistake? I was rambling at the time. Speculating. Away with the fairies.

Gosh, being an Oracle is tiring me out already. Is wiki back yet?

People who speak *entirely* in puns (und bee leave mee, thay eggs ist) may, on the other hand, need psychiatric help. It could be Williams Syndrome, or some sort of genetic brain dysfunction. But I die, grace.

(2) -- < 'American' or 'Americans' are also good search terms >

In the American language, the word 'American' is often used to mean 'human being' -- as in statements like "If that comet strikes the Pacific then Americans will be at risk".

Anthropologists tell me that Americans are far from being the only tribe with this verbal trait.

Well, you did, and I'm fairly sure you were referring to 5.f4 in <some> French position. I remember distinctly because I looked it up when I read your post (I do know how to use the Opening Explorer, I'm just lazy) and sure enough it scored great for Black.

Hhhehhmmha.

We like a nice juicy bit of data, and you're a quality provider of same.

<Howard> I'm pleased to hear it. There's a theory that many Americans are in fact human beings ... but as *some* Americans like to say, "it's only a theory".

If we take F, the <frogbert number> to equal 2827, and *add* the extra two points revealed by the sages, we reach MF, the <modified frogbert number>, which may also equal the average Elo rating of the players in the highest-rated chess game on record:

MF = 2829

and, as <everyone> can see

2829 = 23 x 123