Here is the main variation:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qf6 3. Bc4 Qg6 4. O-O Qxe4 5. Bxf7+ Ke7 6. Re1 Qf4 7. Rxe5+

leading to this tasty position for Black:

click for larger view

This position was reached twice by the redoubtable <NN> against <Greco> in 9 BC.

However, on Yahoo <2...Qf6> Lives!!

Of course you would get it.

I think you would have provided stiffer opposition for <Greco> than the "stiffs" he actually played.

He enjoys lasagna.

He talks a lot too.

Oh well. I could, of course, buy my own membership. The thing is that I wouldn't really take advantage of any of the features, since I do all my chess study (guess-the-move type and opening-explorer, etc) on ChessBase 9.0, which is much better for that kind of stuff. The only reason I want one would be for a cool avatar next to my name, but I can live without it :P

I suppose I was too harsh.

Unfortunately I'm on <triple secret probation> for multiple posting violations and I have to watch my P's and Qs from now on.

I might agree with you that I should have expected what ended up occurring -- at least with <sd>, whom I already knew gets defensive very quickly. I had also witnessed in some of his arguments with others that he was no stranger when it came to making misleading statements.

I have to confess I enjoy arguing as much as anyone.

<Plato> don't be so hard on yourself.

Any friend of <Eyal's> is a friend of mine, and I miss when we three were all posting at his house and I got a chance to know you.

I don't think you need to apologize to anyone from what I've seen of you.

Remember you have lots of friends at <CG.com>.

Nun with TV - Buddha in a box. Just what the US promotes. Instant God. The stomach turns at the prospect.

For anyone who wants to visit, my forum is open.

<For me, engines are a wonderful analytic tool.

But I can't beat them and to be frank I really have no interest in beating them.

This could just be "sour grapes"-- given that they psyche me out so badly-

But when I beat <Little Chess Partner> he didn't feel bad at all.

I could tell.

I'm afraid a huge part of the game for me is taking losses seriously-- and personally-- and also, I have more than a little of <Fischer's> temperament.>

I am right there with you, with your approach...

It is darn difficult to beat an engine, except that the occasional good win gives a very good feeling- albeit in one of every twenty games... But there is definitely a lot of friction/duality involved in engaging, psychologically, in a 'n'-game match against a computer...

You, however, are, and have done so, very able in putting that concept, into words... (At this very moment I feel the struggle to find the correct Englisch terms)

Kramnik said that he didn't like, at all, playing Deep Fritz - he said that it kept him from playing Chess - he was only trying to avoid mistakes...

In sports like tennis and table tennis it is so easy to say "Just play the Ball, not the OPPONENT" - but it sure is hellishly difficult. I did manage it numerous times in my sports career, but the number of those will always be a minority...

If there was such a thing as the perfect Tennis Robot, NOBODY would be interested in watching Federer get thrashed 6-1 6-0, but in Chess it seems a whole different story...

Proper training and a healthy dose of confidence can get you a long way, even in a practice match against your engine.

Was the air alarm you mentioned at Dom's nothing serious?

Regards,
Niels

I dunno. Maybe you'll find the monster post I just put up bringing 12. Be3 back into the mix. There's a ton of fun in that line. I don't even care if it is flawed. It demonstrates many of the thematic points of the postition.

But YOU also owe ME a grovel, mademoiselle. For Dortmund. If you recall, you had Anand and I had Kramnik for that one :-P

How may I do justice to this most sagacious and prophetic of Queens, second only to Caissa herself, whose raptures of chessical spirit overwhelm all measly mortals that dare obstruct her regal path? No Plateau stands higher than even the least of her thousand thrones, for the power of her Queenly reign surpasses even the combined force of Alekhine's three (fake) queens in his (fake) legendary and brilliant conquest of the hapless (not fake) Grigoriev.

Beware ye perfidious patzers, beware! Your lot shall be as the dust beneath her feet, no more! Yea, though cretinous enemies conspire against her like dying stars against the sun, they too shall suffer forlorn fates at but the flick of her imperial wrist.

OK so now I owe you for <Dortmund>?

Give me to the weekend to think up something good-- I'll drop it at your house.

<Plato: Let's not have groveling associated with these, but gloating rights are still legit IF we get 6/8 or more :)>

And as you wrote: <<Candidates 6/8> = gloating privileges.>

I demand that my grovel be declared void. You may even delete it, since it now carries no weight and I didn't mean any of it! Or if it remains, it counts as my grovel for a future bet (should I ever lose a groveling bet, which is not possible).

Let's consider your current <Grovel> as accepted in exchange for a <first round draft pick>, provided the <Seattle Mariners> don't finish dead last next season.

We can either cancel the gloat, or parley it into a trifecta on the finishers of the top three races in the <Breeder's Cup>, coming up next week.

Or, the missing gloat could be exchanged for the <grovel> I owe plus seven <E-class> tickets at <Disneyland>.

Get back to me with any counter-proposals.

BTW, where do you live? i've forgotten.

I"m in South Korea but my computer clock is still set for PST-- so I rarely know what time it is.

Did you know there is an "internet clock" based on "beat-pulses", rather than "seconds," and that it is run from <Biel,> Switzerland? That's where they have the <Bee> Chess tourney!!

Anyhoo, at <Bee>, it's always midnight <internet time> and <eternal noon> is expressed by the number 500.

Actually, I don't understand how the "world internet clock" works even though I just read about it a few minutes ago.