Very good EMU~

Especially your observations on <units of narrative closure>

I look forward to more extended versions of your ideas.

heh-- I"m one day different than you in Time Zone.

And I hope you and <blacksburg> and <chancho> continue to vigorously defend Bobby's honor and memory.

It's really sad that this even needs to be done- but it does need to be done.

Oh no, that means I get 48 hours of seething jealousy instead of just 24!

OK, remember to sit in the radiation proof chair.

The submarine is in position on the sea bed 20 clicks South-East from the South Korean mainland.

Lets hope he hasn't been clever and removed all of his teeth.

Well I'm not too worried, as I'm pretty sure I could take him in a scrap.

Also, I will look at your games later today!!

I lost my game yesterday, so there was much gnashing of teeth.

I spent a long time in <post mortem>, however, and was dismayed to find that I blundered by miscalculating the position after a <petite stupid combination>--

And before I did this I was better than him.

Also, he was again over 100 points higher than me, so I don't feel that bad.

heh....

Ok <techno or house>

Well in that first <Highpockets> vid, I'm sure you know as well as me it's neither.

The "music" in that vid is <10th rate watered-down bourgeois pseudo-dance music>, and that's being generous.

Of sociological interest- notice the crowd in that bar?

They are all from "Beer Commercialville, USA"

That is, they all come from affluent homes, they are all currently affluent, they are in their mid-to late-twenties. and their greatest goal in life is to live as if they were stars in a <beer commercial>.

Other attributes of this amusingly stunned demographic is <a total lack of concern with anything remotely germane to humantiy>, <access to cool automobiles>, and <Persistent STD problems>.

Unbelievably tacky.

Kind of puts the <bona fide> "techno-house-rave" kids in a good light, if that's possible.

At least they have better music, and acne.

Ah but it wasn't anything your opponent did to save himself then. He just got lucky.

Over 100 points is a big difference, regardless of where the ratings actually start, so you did well to get a better position I think.

<Still learning>

Yep, that's the main thing!

Can I ask what the opening was? Did you get a comfortable position in the middle game?

Getting out of the opening OK is so important in the long games you play, it's horrible to be stuck with a bad position from the get-go.

But then I know how hard you work on the opening so I expect you were fine.

Anand said he was in the habit of having a little nap before his game started in Bonn...

Anything for the <edge>!

hehe

1. e4 d5
2. exd5 c6
3. dxc6 Nxc6

click for larger view

As you can see, this is a very "pure gambit", in the sense that Black gambles that essentially "switching colors" is worth a whole pawn.

Intuitively, I'd have to say "no it isn't," but the glory of human chess is that you have to prove points over the board, and it's CASE CLOSED in terms of one particular game of chess, at the least.

Playing from here, I managed to avoid any undue complications or pressure, and I was able to develop no problem- and in fact, at the point I made my blunder, the <Shredder> EVAL had me up just over a <pawn>--

So "it" "thought" that Black, at that point, had not managed to gain compensation for the lost pawn.

Habitually, I try to prove gambits wrong.

I'm very materialist in chess- maybe to a fault- but I feel it's kind of my JOB to prove gambits wrong.

This has led, as you might expect, to me being slaughtered on numerous occasions by players who know the gambit line they are playing thoroughly.

While playing the Black Sicilian,
Three times I've accepted the <full Smith-Morra> and three times I've gone down to it.

"full Smith Morra":

1. e4 c5
2. d4 cxd4
3. c3 dxc3
4. Nxc3

click for larger view

In our database here, it shows Black scoring a whopping <44%> out of 266 games.

So I'm going to continue trying to disprove it.

Actually maybe I should do some work on it- thanks for reminding me.

I have a good deal of material on this in my <Chess logs>, and time to review I'm thinking.

click for larger view

I moved <27.Ne6???> here, thinking I could relieve the pressure and win the exchange, but I miscalculated badly as you can see.

This boner falls to <27...Rxe6 28.Qxe6 Bxf2!>, because the White <g-pawn> is attacked twice and defended once- which I failed to forsee in my "calculations."

Long story short- I didn't calculate long enough or carefully enough before executing myself here.

Josh Waitzkin:

"If you have time, don't move until you can see it"--

That's the <Bruce Pandolfini> school of thought on chess calculation, at least.

And I had tons of time here.

No excuse! And it's not hard to see why <27.Ne6???> doesn't work- this was really a case of laziness on my part rather than "nerves" or BEING A GIANT BONEHEAD.

No excuse for laziness on the board- you get punished for that.

Did you check this game out <JFQ>

Alekhine vs L Morelli, 1923

Looks like you are not alone in wanting to refute gambits!

I'm very much a chess materialist myself as well, more than I would like to admit even.

I see what you mean about that 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 gambit, Black does seem to do OK in the stats.

Probably worth accepting I would think, based on that anyway.

The Sicilian isn't my territory though, least of all gambits in the Sicilian.

I agree the main problem with these sorts of lines is that the people playing them have usually done so a lot, and are so familiar with the resulting positions that even if they are objectively weaker, they usually get other compensation.

Time on the clock and a big bag of pre-baked tactical tricks is always difficult to fight against OTB.

Maybe next time you should try a deviation from the main line, and just see how well prepared they are then.

That is easier said than done though...Looking at the OE, almost everything has been tried on move 4 for Black.

Worth further investigation though.

Thanks <JFQ>!

I will investigate the <Alekhine v. Spaghetti> game now....

Looks like my friend may be standing me up....

But I'm not worried as it's a <win win> situation.

If you're a foreigner living in Korea, you are kind of forced to look at everything as <win-win>-

Mainly, because from a Western perspective, Korean social mores are almost totally alien.

Which should come as no surprise.

But the other point, which is more mysterious to me- is that many, many foreign teachers here exhibit a marked reluctance to associate in any meaningful way with other foreign teachers.

Part of this, I discovered, is that many expatriates here are in Korea precisely because they are sick of the West- and Westerners- in the first place.

Also, many are running from something and feel embarrassed about it.

My neighbor last year, for example, confessed to me that he was AWOL from the US Air Force!!

Heh- luckily he has dual <US- Polish> citizenship and he was able to gain admittance to a Graduate Program in Poland.

But, like <Roman Polanski> (the original five foot Pole you wouldn't want to touch anyone with), he can't ever go back the the USA again.

Also, because life is so alien and frequently prfoundly isolated for many expatriates, many of them are leery of sharing any kind of <meaningful friendship> with another expatriate for fear that they might "glom on to them" and never leave them alone.

heh...

This actually does happen a fair bit, so it's no idle fear.

My three closest friends here are all Koreans-

So I'm OK, relatively, in terms of isolation. Also, I'm picking up more of the language- enough to make myself understood to my students, at least, in Korean.

So I hope I get to play chess today, but if not, the "expatriate social rule" here is to say- "It's all good" in every single situation.

"No social obligations" is the watchword among us.

I would play 27.Qe2 here I think to improve the position of the Queen, exert more pressure on the I.P., defend f2 and allow c4, with a tough game for Black. I'm not sure what's best for him, but <Shredder> might try to make something of the half open f-file for Black and that knight could complicate things on the KS a little.

I doubt there is anything much there though.

As you said yourself, <27.Ne6> isn't exactly a mistake you need to worry about. It was just a simple case of not using the time available to double check.

One thing I would say though, is that with these opponents who are 100 points or more higher than you, it is always best to ask why they appear to allow a good move.

27.Ne6 is a very tempting move at first glance, with a weaker opponent this doesn't apply so much, but a stronger one will have seen it.

You should always triple check these tempting offers in these cases.

Either way, a good learning experience. You can be sure you refuted the gambit in this case, next time your opponent will not be so lucky!

Thanks <JFQ>!

Well you're certainly no slouch as that is <Shredder's> first choice on 16 ply.

I'm thinking this was almost surely a simul?

<Blindfold> appears very tough to the greatest players even-

<Alekhine> allows a fork and shortly after is forced to drop two pieces...

Imagine having to keep track of the tactics in THIS middle game--

Well, it was that or your move that I looked at first, so a process of elimination more than anything.

How does Shredder try to save Black?

That's good to hear. Maybe you can return to Canada and teach Korean at some point?

Or maybe the market is not so big for it.

I can't believe that guy confessed to be AWOL!

haha

How much had he drunk?

You should have waited until he passed out and driven him to the nearest US Base, and left a note.

Hell, there might have even been a reward.

haha

Your life sounds very peaceful and quite idyllic at times.

Mind you, I did watch Last Samurai the other day.

Is it anything like that there?

I think you should start your friends clock in case he turns up, he did agree to a serious game after all.

Yeah that is one crazy game. Grudgingly I have to admit Kramnik did a very good job in his blindfold game today against Moro.

Really enjoyable game to play through.

Luckily for me he returned to his usual Drawnik self in time for the rapid game, which he promptly lost.

He better have.

That's right!

The 2 cm square face of a deceased nut-job artist on your computer screen.