And the coach even kissed him on the head after!!!

Heh. I think a fair bit of "kissing" goes on in professional sports, if you catch my drift.

All them fine physical specimens in the locker room etc.!

Not that there's anything wrong with that <from Seinfeld>

eg.

I just played my second Internet game since my draw the other day, and I was confident, relaxed, and managed to win.

I took a bit of advice from all of you, and also fom this new <chess book> my Mom got me the other day.

The author was describing how when he played on the Net, his opponent would say "Hurry up and move!" or even worse.

He said "it didn't make me move faster, but it tended to break my concentration."

I take my times with my moves, which is why I play 10 minute a move time control on <Yahoo>. I need the time for evaluating position and calculating lines, or I'm just crap otherwise.

The game that began my "downward spiral" last week was one in which I had gained an objectively winning position against a decent player, and he started yelling at me to move quicker.

I made the mistake of typing "maybe if YOU moved a little SLOWER you I might not be kicking your ass!"

Big mistake.

I lost concentration, blundered, and he won. I went on a huge losing streak right after.

So now when I play, I type "hello and good luck" in the conversation box.

Then I drop and drag the bottom of the game board up so I can't read what might be typed there.

After the game, I drag the game board down again and say "gg" and if the guy wants to chat about the game, win or lose, I'm always up for that.

Last note on this--

I find it quite surprising that players in the 1550-1750 range, even if they are only <Yahoo> ratings, often move very quickly and get impatient.

And more than that, if they don't want a slow game, why sit at a table with a 10 minute a move time control in the first place?

I always create my own table whether playing black or white.

There are thousands of tables with clocks set on Yahoo that they could sit at if they want a quick game.

So what gives?

Any and all comments on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Yeah, the old <Kurtz> game column off to a dashing start. <Eyal> was hilarious. Teach me to put up posts when I'm hungover! Better now. I've a bunch of old games--tons of very old books with some great miniatures, etc. But I will be on the lookout. <Karpova> has a collection of short games, and there must be others. I do want short losses by "great" players, and also would prefer them to be when the player was reasonably in his or her prime (losses at eight or eighty aren't so compelling, though Carlsen is almost eligable for the former).

He seems to know everything!!!

I was thinking along the lines of your post above, there, that there must be millions of kinds of games with a certain kind of specificity to them along the lines of what you are wanting to do. I have no doubt you will succeed.

I already officially <surrendered> to <Wilson> and I'm never spamming my own forum again because:

1. While fun, it's really quite silly (I speak only for myself here)

2. It's bloody exhausting!!

If you can put me on to a HUGE database that I can download to my computer, let me know OK?

Also, if you have time/inclination to make any comments or provide any insights into the "chess psychology" questions I raised in my last post (just before yours) I would greatly appreciate them.

<What will I do now?>

Panic, of course!!

I'm considering a move... will put it in after some thought, could be a few days though depending on how my editing work progresses. It's all over on <Monday> and I have the whole summer to rest if I want.

I will be emailing you sometime before tomorrow.

<online databases>

These are the two I use if I want to extend a search beyond CG and the Fritz db:

Online dbs

http://www.chesslive.de/

http://www.chesslab.com/PositionSea...

Both very big, both with various useful features -- search parameters, PGN downloads, play-thrus, etc -- and both good.

There. Hope the info helps and is not entirely redundant. In keeping with today's good-citizen-and-buddy mode, I will even refrain from jokes.

But I like the sound (and the style) of your 10min/move games. Slow, but good. And a truism: the best way to play quickly is to *have played* slowly at some time in the past. Otherwise, without ever really concentrating and analysing, how can somebody learn the good habits and chess reflexes that make speed chess possible?

Maybe an Anand or a Capa can mysteriously learn chess like a language and be fluent (and fast) age ten ... but the rest of us really need to concentrate occasionally.

It's like meditation, with maths and art built in. I think.

As for "why do they sit at your gentle table if they're such speedfreaks?", I think I have the answer. They're neurotic as hell. They're terrified of losing games and losing their weaselly little rating points. So they see somebody wanting slow play and they think "great, a patzer, I can blitz her".

<metric or British, I've no idea>

Refuses to refrain, unless I'm repeating myself.

I'll get back to you soon on the psychological questions--I'm very interested in this!

A nervous, very psychologically driven chessplayer.

<eyal> said they weren't fun enough, but I think REALLY BORING facts are fun cuz i'm a pedant.

sigh.

I'm also introducing a new feature here that <branko> invented.

One <Chess Quote> per day.

I'm copying him.