A word of warning-- I have intimate knowledge of this infamous "Dorknob" region you will be visiting.

Word to the wise-- <Bring your own truffle pig>.

A: someone else does the hard work of actually creating a Fischer web resource

B: another person tells me where to find it

Heh- I highly recommend "twice removed" collecting for the truly lazy collector.

(I only eat at the best Falafel take outs)>

HAHAHA

If I make the journey while you are there will you promise to show me around!? I'll bring some warm beer to go with that prize Falafel!

However, I play many a game on <Queen Alice> under the user ID "Technical Draw".

Unfortunately, Montreal is almost EXACTLY on the other side of the circumference of the earth from where I am at the moment.

Not only is there no falafel in Korea- there are no Middle Eastern folk either.

This is an extremely closed society and it has almost zero tourism.

It is arguably the most homogeneous modern industrial state in the world.

Even Seoul has virtually no foreign culture.

American pop culture, however, has poisoned this place. All of it's in Korean but it's just copied- very badly copied-- from the worst of American pop forms.

It's destroying all traditional Korean values.

there are only about 17000 native English teachers in this country.

There are around 10 english people here who arent' Teachers.

A lot of Americans in the army speak English- they represent the largest foreign group by far-- But they almost never leave the base- and almost none of them have their families here as all Korean Tours of Duty are only one year.

I played Texas Holdem with a buncha of them in a Casino in Seoul.

Very nice guys- good card players too.

We had a grand time. They were fond of referring to themselves as "crazed baby killers."

Glad to hear you are playing still. I used to play a few games with some people from chessgames on queenalice. It is a very nice site. I also played a lot of very, very good opponents on letsplaychess. However, I was always afraid people were using computers. And I don't like thinking about that stuff, I am there to play for fun. So I started playing at www.ficgs.com. Like ICCF computers are allowed there.

As far as the English opening is concerned from black's point of view I used to mess around with the Bellon Gambit – A22 – 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 e5 4.Ng5 b5 in correspondence chess.

I don't think it is as bad as people make it out to be. Can it be played at a world championship level? I don't know. But I think it is playable even up to the IM level in CC. I think it is more sound than the Jaenisch Gambit.

Since I have started playing again, I am playing in the FICS teamleague. I am a little intimated. I am playing in the open section and there are some very strong players. I think I am the only untitled player on my team. The time limit is G 45/45.

Right now, its at the same page number as your forum here, i.e. 502. But the surprising thing is that it was at 300 pages just a week ago.

"Hillbillies" are mountain folk and sound different from other parts of the south (maybe not to yankee ears, but trust the Crawf, the differences are there). You can get some interesting mixes between geography and culture. I knew a Jewish woman from West Virginia who owned a shirt that said "Shalom, Y'all." :-)

For an unusual linguistic experience, check out Gullah... :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah

This is making me homesick...let me count to ten...one, two, shree, fo...there, that's better... :-)

After a cab ride in London, that sounds like paradise!

<I played Texas Holdem with a buncha of them in a Casino in Seoul.>

I love Texas Hold'em! I hope you kept your cards close to your chest though, Americans I played with have been ruthless! (Plus you also get added protection from any roving eyes that way hehe)

I made a games collection out of one of the old introductory Spanish books I have, on my favourite line, the Flohr-Zaitsev. Take a peek if you get a chance. The material may be old (sorry about that but I'm stuck with books ATM) but it is mostly high quality! I may even add in some annotation to the games that the whole C.G. universe has overlooked until now as well later!

Game Collection: The Spanish: Closed Defence : Flohr-Zaitsev

hehe

http://www.staples.com/office/suppl...

It runs off the USB port and is very quiet. I was so happy with it we got another one for my girlfriend's work laptop that she brings home.

If you could find something similar in your neck of the woods, it might be worth a try.

Thanks so much for that <not so lengthy, IMNAAHO> EMU!!

The sanest reply, and perhaps the only reply that is not a request for further information, is the one I shall give here:

"Kudos!!"

However, I shall issue a response to your story (and it is a story- a short story, to be precise)-- which will include a request for a great deal of information.

After I receive this information, I shall proceed to learn, and then give you some opinions on some of the topics of which at this moment I don't really know what you are talking about yet, a sad condition that should be remedied via the simple conveyance of said items of knowledge and even fact.

With any luck, both eschewing obfuscation and neglecting to don wrist chronographs, I imagine we should at some point get to the bottom of these matters, and more besides.

Hopefully, we will essay such a journey together without me writing in such an irritating style- VIz, this actual post here.

Yes, but not for the reason you think...

<Ok I'm posting here to thank you for your recent two <exceedingly kind and helpful> posts you made for me.>

You are more than welcome.

While you are certainly <smart> and <funny> you are also <young> and <impressionable>, so allow me indulge in a short story.

It's a twisted tale...

A thousand eyes...

Trapped forever...

Wait, that's <The Simpsons movie>...

Or <is> it?

The “B5” in my userID is not for the Benko, although I did play it in the distant past. It is for <Babylon 5>, which is a terrific sf TV series which ran for five years. Joe Strazynski, who most recently wrote the screenplay for Clint Eastwood's recent movie <Changeling>, conceived of B5 as a five year “novel for TV.” Characters undergo profound and permanent changes, so the best way to watch is from the beginning, in sequence, and pay attention because there is a lot of foreshadowing.

Anyway, I used to burn some free time doing B5 humor posts for <Useless> newsgroups. Doreen began reading them. Then she began emailing me. As she says, she chased me until I caught her. She lured me with...well, nevermind the <lurid> details. January 2000 I came out to Connecticut. <That> was the interesting move.

Despite being a southerner trapped deep behind enemy lines, there are some compensations. Doreen, despite being blind in one eye and crazy in the other, is beyond devoted (“I cut you from the herd and brought you down. You're my kill and I'm not sharing”). I had seven good years with our wonderful corgi, who was my best bud and quickly became <my> dog. After we lost him at 14-1/2, we adopted two 6 month old sisters taken from a local house overrun with animals. We've had them almost two years and continue to feed them, even though they refuse to get jobs. You can get away with a lot if you are young and cute. Doreen is also very cute, which explains a lot, and also why I don't get away with anything. Then again, I have a blonde, a redhead, <and> a brunette, so things are not quite so bleak as they might be otherwise.

So...if it can happen to a crusty old crank like me, look out. You may <think> you're safe and sound behind your firewall, but beware some chess cad doesn't slip in under the radar (I suppose if he has a habit of hanging pawns he might be a chess <chad>). Before you know it, you can have your <gam> <bit>, and while that's probably not as painful as it sounds, you cannot refute that by accepting it. So take care, our queen, lest you be captured.

So there is my tale told by an idiot. Make of it what you will...