<MSN.com>- the <MICROSOFT: GUTLESS VENDORS OF EVIL> homepage-

Is FULL OF SPAM AND SPYWARE.

Also, do not trust emails from "The Windows Team"- since there is no protection or quality control of any kind on the <MSN.com> page. Some of these "official emails" are from deposed Nigerian Kings asking you to help them "cash a large cheque."

I keep trying to mark these "official emails" as <phishing scams>, but the software won't let me.

Also, it has a "no backtrack cookie blocker"-

Meaning that you can't navigate away from the page by hitting the "back button"- you have to close and then reopen your browser instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh3W...

I'm for sure getting <Apple> next time out.

I hope this computer lasts for a while though because it's quite expensive.

I'm not too worried about <Vista 7>, since <MICROSOFT: GUTLESS VENDORS OF EVIL> have promised to support the current version of Vista for another five years.

For whatever that's worth.

Soon, however, there will be the "non PC-based operating systems" in which absolutely nothing is saved on a "hard drive"- it will all be virtual, like <yahoo email> is.

I don't even understand this concept. That's how much I'm looking forward to it.

Brilliant!

heh-

I never heard that <Genesis> track before either. That show was five years after the "Reunion concert" with Peter Gabriel re-joining for one special show--

I love Phil's voice, and Tony Banks.

Also, <Ginger Baker>.

?????

How does this guy keep PERFECT time on the drum kit when he's so obviously obliterated by every drug known to humanity?

One of the greatest drummers ever IMO.

I'm listening to the track again as I type.

I took extra special care to do so.>

-lol-

Chess online really is a whole different animal :-)

As if using the allotted time for a game could in a million years ever be abuse?!

Trouble is, with players like Topalov around at the highest level bending the rules back to front with their underhanded tactics, such methods take on a veneer of professional behaviour -lol-

And it's not exactly rare atm...

thanks for the laugh out loud funny <Jess>.

ps

sorry for being such a sore loser in that game.

You know after the "incident" in my game on Yahoo today, he started taking a long time with his moves as well... and I thought, "he's probably plugged the game into an Engine because he's so angry."

I fretted about this for a moment or so- then I thought- well OK then if he does do that, I get a very stern workout- and if he doesn't, I get to play the same moves I'd play anyways in either case.

So it would be a "win win" for me even if I had lost.

BTW I love the chess of <Topalov>, and I will be cheering for both him and <World Champion GM Viswanathan Banana> in their upcoming match.

Agreed whole heartedly on <Moon>.

I saw a wonderful documentary about him- he was nuts nuts nuts. His poor long suffering wife....

There was a GIANT HONKING FIGHT at the <Letsplaychess.com> website in July because two prominent members who shall remain nameless- members with lots of friends in common- spent a month trying to get each other banned through mutual accusations of Engine Cheating.

Although I have to say that it's totally pointless to worry about engine use at a correspondence website. You should just assume that any opponent may be using an Engine for some or all of his/her moves and then forget about it altogether.

Case in point- there are about 3000000 members at that website with <3500> ratings- and the webmaster- <Tryfon Gavriel>- "Kingscrusher"- is under 2300, I believe.

Even though he is a very, very strong correspondence, standard, and blitz player who recently finished joint second at an OTB 5/0 tournament in England that featured the presence of both <IMs> and <GMs>.

A few hours of chess over the weekend and my brain feels fresher and sharper all week :-)

I take your point about Topalov, a great player but a poor sportsman, at least in the past anyway.

He might change, but the thing about high pressure situations is, they usually shine a light on what is inside a person, and Topa did not pass the inspection well...

I don't play on letsplaychess.com <Jess>, mainly queenalice.com and gameknot, but I think that story is probably typical of what goes on so much with these CC sites.

I like your approach of just assuming every move is an engine one, kind of takes the pressure off wondering all the time -lol-

I just play CC for the openings anyway. Once the early middle-game is reached I try to make an assessment of whether the opening has been a success and I would want to play the position OTB.

If the game becomes so complex that I would <never> be able to reproduce it OTB then the opening is a failure as far as I am concerned.

I just look for playable positions, in real games.

But I'm not trying to take anything away from all the magical CC games people can play with 2 weeks a move and stuff.

That just isn't real chess like I see it.

When I put a CC game of mine through Fritz and there are only a few suggestions it can make, there is certainly an element of pride.

But nothing compares to winning OTB for me and even if I analyze the game and it is full of holes, still, I feel I have accomplished more :-)

As for all those 3500 players, I'm not going to pull any punches, they are <pathetic>.

spit spit....spit!

Unless of course they want to sit down and play a few games with 2 hours each and no assistance, and they can <still> produce a 3500 performance against me.

heh

HAHAHAH

Yes <Re-animator> is actually on <youtube> in its entirety which is where I saw it.

I also loved it- because it is totally over the top and insane.

Very interesting about the "Shining" footage in "Blade Runner" too...

I have the same notions as you about "Real Chess," but I've been forced to concede that other people enjoy other kinds of chess besides long time controls, preferably OTB as opposed to the internet.

You know there is an argument that these <obvious engine users> at my correspondence site are in fact "sotto voce" playing <Centaur chess>.

Nobody will say so out loud, but it's so obvious that there's a kind of division between people not doing that (2400 and under rated) and people who are doing that.

I don't regard <Centaur> to be real chess but many of my friends really enjoy it so I've decided to stop yelling at people about it.

I used to take my correspondence games really seriously- but it didn't seem to help my "real chess" get any stronger, far as I could tell.

I was using it for "visualization training" for a while- not moving pieces on my board, just using my eyes-

But it started driving me insane because of the long time controls. I would keep thiking about the positions constantly to the point where they became distracting, and an unpleasant experience.

Funnily, I've been practicing my openings in 10/0 games on FICS at which I stink.

But it's useful if you take the time to go back and check the opening sequences you played after the games.

This is what <IM Greg Shahade>, who only plays 5/0 internet chess now, does.

In fact, he once said after one of his Live Blitz video annotations that "I'm going to look up the line here now to see what the H___ is actually going on, or else what's the point?"

I love <IM Shahade>.

I pretend I'm in a tournament and I have to play two long time-control games each day-- I set the clock for 60, 90, or 120 minutes each for these "tournament games."

Today I played one on <Yahoo> with black and one on <FICS> which assigned me the black pieces also.

I got the chance to play two <Scandinavian Defences> which I've been trying to teach myself for about six weeks now.

I won on <Yahoo> today as I said but I lost a "won Rook n' pawn endgame" on FICS after getting a great game out of the opening, and actually I'm pretty choked about it.

I "relaxed" after with a brief 10/0 session which was quite successful, for once, but it didn't cut in to the "bite" I felt about booting the long game on FICS in the way that I did.

I really miss my chess club back home but there's no OTB in this part of Korea.

computer aided chess suffers imo cos somebody always has a bigger, faster machine.

Plus it seems a lot like Formula 1 racing to me, where the man is becoming less and less relevant.

So you play two full length games a day over the weekend? That is terribly impressive. (How come you are in Korea btw, do you have family there?)

I wouldn't have the mental endurance for that. No way.

I can barely summon the energy to play 1 long game a week these days.

btw , when I write OTB I just mean a live game of some sort in real time. I don't get the opportunity to play in person OTB games much at all, so OTB for me is internet

sorry about the confusion

but I do play with a board by my side during the game :-) (not moving pieces tho -lol- surely that would be a waste of time)

I don't play on yahoo, is it any good?

I have played on the playchess server for about 2 years on and off but I quit recently because the 1 year subscription was no longer included with Fritz.

I certainly don't intend to pay them <for> their software and to <use> it -lol-

Sorry to hear you threw that rook endgame, I have experienced the bitter taste of defeat so many times in those endgames, surely not funny anymore...

But I did take action! I now study the endgame more, it eats into my playing time, but when I get the basics learned I will be able to play again a lot more.

I got tired of blundering around not knowing what to do you see.

How come you chose to study the Scandinavian, I thought Fischer said it was simply bad for Black?

Of course that is on GM level tho and hobby level it is possible to win with anything.

Actually with Kramnik now playing the Scandinavian maybe we could even say it is a solid opening :-)

(he played it in a rapid game recently)