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(echoes)

Heathcliff?

It's me.

It's Cathy.

I've come home now.

AND I'M A FREAKING GHOST!!

Heathcliff is a zebra!!

I am just checking in, and see you've just posted. Wanted to let you know all's well--busy--but well. (BTW--another hopeless typo: typing an email today, I wanted to say something like "People want to get into everything," but wrote instead, "People want to get into everythong." [You'll note the "i" and "o" keys are right next to each other on the keyboard.] Granted, they do, but it just gets worse and worse (see <Dom's> for my recent odd insights a few days back into NYC, which he caught).

This tourny's kept me totally enthralled. I predicted in <Eyal's> weeks ago that Anand would win, so I have to root for him (though I think that Aronian should have today played f5 [or the more popular h5, though I think f5 is even better] in the final drawn position--would have caused White some unpleasnatness, I believe).

How's Korea tyreating you? Sounds utterly enchanting!

Korean thanksgiving.

And, you'll be pleased to know, on Wednesday every Korean in the county will be served up a giant ROAST DOG.

(no kidding- this is the tradition- a goose or turkey by any other name, I suppose).

Good news on the Meldrum front. I won't be able to get it till I'm stateside again, as I have no credit card to order anything here.

Korea is quite wonderful. Did you know they have their own language and everything?

Who knew?

Glad you're busy back at work.

Re: the "Asian work ethic," there's actually a big secret about that.

Yes, Koreans typically work 25 hour days, but they catnap EVERY CHANCE THEY GET.

I know some teachers who are able to sleep standing up in their classrooms (no joke).

It's rumored that some can actually sleep with their eyes open.

I predicted Anand would win and Kramnik would win the rematch as soon as the format was announced by FIDO.

So you and I are in good company-- Everyone else as predicted pretty much exactly the same.

Not exactly a tough call as they are number 1 and 2 in the world at the moment.

But I suppose surprises could occur.

Chess is still a mystery, thank God.

My chess "psychology" is fixed, apparently. I'm not afraid to play anyone and I don't brood over mistakes or tough beats.

coincidentally, I'm playing better than I ever have in my life, but no OTB around here, sadly.

Great stuff on Korea. And <I know some teachers who are able to sleep standing up in their classrooms (no joke)> has been my strategy for years. But seriously, I've no doubt you must keep your students utterly focused and entertained.

Glad to hear you're playing better than ever. I saw in <Eyal's> that he thought (as I recall) that this might be becasue you were taking soime time off. Could be. (I've actually noticed that I sometimes break out of bad stretches by laying off for a period of time.) I intend to give the game up altogether and become World Champion.

I'm the world's worst predictor.

I don't know why I'm playing the best chess of my life, really.

I think the psychology is the biggest change. I fight on in unpleasant positions as hard as I can now. I used to resign.

sometimes I get a draw or even a win.

Today, for example, I played two long games against the same fellow.

I figure he's at least as tough as me.

In the first game I blundered an exchange early-- and this is how badly I blundered it--

I lost a rook for a bishop, and it wasn't until about ten moves later (not kidding) that I noticed-- "hey, why don't I have two rooks"?

I THOUGHT I WAS A WHOLE PIECE UP.

Anyhoo, I was about to resign but my pieces were all active in the center and I pressed on, and managed to squeak out a draw.

Then in the rematch I crushed him.

Heh.

LOL give up the game altogether and become champion.

What's great about following these tournament games (when I can) is actually witnessing the games as they are created--not as finished products in a book; kind oif like (to use a rather dreadful analogy) looking over Faulkner's shoulder as he actually composed S & F or Ab.,Ab.--watching him slowly craft, sentence by sentence, a masterpiece, adding here, editing there. And all the while having a gnattering array of critics (we Chessgames.com folk) offering suggestions.

I got up at 6:30 to watch, lasted an hour and conked out.

As much as I love to watch the best play, I like playing more. I love to study chess. But I like playing more.

You know Faulkner would rather pull off his own head than have someone see what he wrote before he published it, let alone while he was writing it.

He didn't even like to show the proofs to his publisher.

Course, once he figured he had finished a novel he got rip roaring drunk for weeks, so he was more truculent than usual at these times.

His publisher sometimes had to take the train to <Oxford> and physically drag Bill onto the train to <New York>. Getting him to do "revisions" in New York was a horrendous and, ultimately, fruitless task. Hence, the most verbose American writer since <Melville>.

And in The Big Apple, of course, Bill would continue to drink heavily and behave in his normal drunken mode: polite misanthropy.

He couldn't write a lick while drunk, however. I think he would have died a lot sooner if he weren't so driven to write. He died young as it is anyway, his heart worn out by all that whiskey.

He cared more about his writing than about himself. When asked about the "role of the writer" in one of his very rare interviews, he became puzzled: "Writer? I thought we were discussing literature..."

And to think of him traveling about France all by himself at the same time Hem and Scott and Morley Callaghan were all partying it up.

He never hung with those guys. Instead, he read his <Complete Keats>, his <Complete Shakespeare>, his <Bible>, and wrote endless streams of prosaic, really boring letters home to his family.

I know some teachers who are able to sleep standing up in their classrooms (no joke).>

Well, there's a good literary precedent for that:

<'Damn that boy,' said the old gentleman, 'he's gone to sleep again.'

'Very extraordinary boy, that,' said Mr. Pickwick; 'does he always sleep in this way?'

'Sleep!' said the old gentleman, 'he's always asleep. Goes on errands fast asleep, and snores as he waits at table.'

'How very odd!' said Mr. Pickwick.

'Ah! odd indeed,' returned the old gentleman; 'I'm proud of that boy - wouldn't part with him on any account - he's a natural curiosity! Here, Joe - Joe - take these things away, and open another bottle - d'ye hear?'

The fat boy rose, opened his eyes, swallowed the huge piece of pie he had been in the act of masticating when he last fell asleep, and slowly obeyed his master's orders - gloating languidly over the remains of the feast, as he removed the plates, and deposited them in the hamper [...] The horses were put in - the driver mounted - the fat boy clambered up by his side - farewells were exchanged - and the carriage rattled off. As the Pickwickians turned round to take a last glimpse of it, the setting sun cast a rich glow on the faces of their entertainers, and fell upon the form of the fat boy. His head was sunk upon his bosom; and he slumbered again.> (Dickens, "The Pickwick Papers")

How is boarding school?

Korea kicks ass. Park is a cool last name.

My Korean last name is <Choi>.

The school janitor gave me a Korean name.

He is my best friend in Korea so far.

I live in <Hyunpoong>, 45 minutes from <Daegu> by car.

In October I'm going to visit <Seoul> with my teacher friend <Song Han-il>.

Right now is <Cheo-sok>, as you obviously know, so I have a mini vacation here.