I got the owl special postal order.

It only cost fity pee!!

Thanks for dropping by!

Try to save up the 20 bucks man.

My Moms bought me my membership for my last two birthdays.

Hoot!

P.S. You've got me on your "hoot" path.

I cant' remember what his avatar is though.

Heh his real name is <GERRY MCARTHY>

Now that I know his real name, I've already sold his email to several right wing Christian Evangelical spam mailing lists.

This is a great game it has four (count em- four) queens in it:

I love your posts!

That is why IF I get my premium membership you will go straight to my favorites list, <jessicafischerqueen>.

I don't have a credit card either, and I stopped being a kid -- well, at least in the sense that banks and governments and such measure these things -- a long, long time ago. Let's just say I was "around" in the 1960s. I haven't been round much since, though -- more kinda stretched and angular.

Sorry, that's hangular. As in 'Howl'. You know, Allan Ginsberg's great beat poem about Jessica ...

I saw the best mind of my
Or nearby proximate generation
Addled by chess
Starving, hysterical, clothed in pawns
Walking backwards thru
Northern Lunch
And False Creek
Looking for a cigarette shop
That sold Bishops.

[or something like that ...]

IMO, the just-a-kid defense should be used sparingly, if at all. Most of us here are either (a) former prodigies, (b) former morons, (c) chess engines practising humanoid boogie etiquette, or (d) child molesters.

Use the just-a-kid defense in such company and you might find yourself being groomed by a nine-year-old who wants a quasi-adult to 'front' for her. A beardless beard, in fact.

Or else what I believe what Kurt Vonnegut called a Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum.

Dangerous, any road. But, believe me, the opposite -- "Leave me alone, you cad, I'm just a harmless senile old codger" -- is even worse. Cos they *do*.

Remember: the universe isn't expanding: it's escaping. And what is it escaping from? Its central point? Which is *you*, right?

Why is the Universe running away from you, <Rabble 5184>?

There are ways round the credit card thing that don't involve crime. A parent or relative is useful, if you have one. Failing that, email CG and discuss an alternative one-off payment by bank draft or whatever. No business turns down money, even from kids. Many exist solely to take kid money, though this isn't one of them.

The rules are simple. Everything is as normal, but the King moves like a Knight. It is checked etc in the normal way, but it must make knight-type moves in reply.

Thus, for example, the move
1.Kd3
is a legal way to begin the game; though maybe not a very good one.

One thing that emerges is that a King on the edge, or even worse, the corner, is in real trouble. Here's a sort of 'back rank mate':

click for larger view

White plays 1.Ra8#
The black king's flight squares, f7 and g6, are blocked by its own pawns - so it's both a smothered mate and a back rank mate, in a way.

This related position is interesting:

click for larger view

White to play, plays
1.Ng6+
Which is mate. But note that if there was no pawn at f5, black could reply with 1...Kxg6 -- it's OK for kings to occupy adjacent squares in this game, as long as they're never a knight-move apart.

Finally, look at this similar position, where we change the black rook on f7 for a queen, and remove the f-pawn:

click for larger view

Black has just played 1...Qf7+

Now white can, and should, move his king away. But he thinks that the knight interposition will at least force black to give up his queen ...

2.Ng6+

In fact black can now play either 2...Kxg6(!) or 2...Qxg6+. I haven't analysed further, so I don't have a forced win in either line. But I do in a similar position, as follows:

click for larger view

Black to play:
1...Qe5#

The queen checks in the normal way, while covering the escape squares g7, f6, f4 and g3.

A king on the rim, his chances are slim.

i had fun with it-- didn't see the logic at first. Then when I did, the beauty of the move was staggering.>

Indeed. That was an -INCREDIBLE- <ZWISCHENZUG> played by Reshevsky in that game against Mieses. Black won a pawn from a position which appeared to be completely bereft of tactical complications!

I'am a premiere member now!!; only for three months though..

I took a survey with CG and they gifted this free trial..

Do visit my forum..

I am most eager to see your unpredictable humour at my house..

Black to play: 20 ... ?

click for larger view

Position after 20 ... ♘g4-f2+! 0-1

click for larger view

Nakamura plays <TACTICS> in 1 0 bullet games that you would be thrilled to see in your slow OTB games!

[Event "ICC 1 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2008.06.29"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Iturrizaga"]
[Black "Smallville"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2559"]
[BlackElo "2896"]
[Opening "Queen's Pawn"]
[ECO "A41"]
[NIC "QO.17"]
[Time "02:37:33"]
[TimeControl "60+0"]

But the ...Nf2+ tactic itself isn't *that* impressive. It's not the kind of move you suddenly see, sitting there waiting to be played. It's the kind of thing you prepare, ideally teeing up another threat at the same time, and - at speed chess anyway - hope your opponent misses one of them.

In a very vague way - more to do with black's sudden kingside assault and the white king walk - I was reminded of a (standard OTB) game I played once - against a kid who later went on to be rated about 2380. He walked his king out to d3, where I mated it with a couple of knights.

Hey <Jess>, what's Gnu?

<Looking for a cigarette shop
That sold Bishops. >

Whatzis?? I can't be bought at any price! Rented or leased, perhaps...

<jessicafischerqueen: I'm going to change my user name to <Just an Owl> then.>