<22...Bc7 23.Bd4 Be6 24.Nc3>

Rybka 3 w32

[-0.44] d=23 24...Nh7 25.e4 Rd8 26.Ne2 Qd7 27.Ng5 Bc4 28.Qxc4 Nxg5 29.Be3 Qe6 30.Qxe6 Nxe6 31.Rc1 Be5 32.Rb1 g6 33.Kf1 Rd7 34.f4

Thanks for visiting my forum!

<I just discovered your profile. Though I have not played seriously for decades, I was at one time a VERY active table tennis player. My top rating was about 1800, I think.>

Way cool - we're about the same level then!

I was very active in 2006, the year after I retired, when I played well over 600 rated matches, a USATT record. The bad news is that I lost more than half of them.

<Between the ages of 18 and 22, I played about 10 hours per week plus tournaments. I was mostly a control player but had good serves and a good loop. I used Sriver 1.5 mm on the forehand and Super Sriver 1.5 mm on the backhand, with a Kenny blade. I have no idea if those products are even available anymore.>

You started in organized tournament play a bit earlier than I did - I was already 23 before I joined a club, though I'd played in the basement for years.

Butterfly is still around, so the old standby products Sriver and Super Sriver are still around in various flavors. I used to use Sriver (not Super Sriver) regularly.

My style of play is rather different, mostly quick timing on blocks and flat counterhitting with sponge rubber. I can loop, but not well.

<In 1974, I was part of a week-long TT clinic held by then US-champion Danny Seemiller in Berwick, PA.>

Danny occasionally came down to our tournaments in Howard County MD in the early 1980's. Once, Eric Boggan and Danny (then the #1 and #2 players in the country) squared off in an Open final. Eric won. I played Eric once, but never Danny. I did play Danny's brother Ricky a couple times, once in a handicap event. He was rated over 2400 and I was about 1350 at the time. Therefore, I received a 42-point handicap in a single game to 51! I did win the match at that handicap, but I rarely returned his serve.

Also, I attended a camp run by Ricky in 1983 - it was physically very demanding.

<The best player in my home club was a Hungarian named Karl who was in his 40s then. He was an excellent chopper who used Toni Hold anti on both sides. When we played each other, he almost always won, but we would have very long rallies - me looping, him chopping. After about 20 loops my heart rate would really be up there!>

I know what you mean! That's one reason I avoid the looping style - it's very demanding physically. I'm better suited to endurance than intense aerobics.

Chopper vs looper is always a fun match for spectators.

<Great memories - good luck with your camp.>

Many thanks. It's a small-scale thing right now that I'm trying to grow mostly by word of mouth.

I like your chess bio; and I wish my enthusiasm for chess started earlier than in my 20's. The following part is very commendable:

<I am very involved in volunteer activities in my church, where I hold a lay leadership position. We also enjoy visiting nursing homes and hospitals with our registered therapy dog.>

I just started some volunteering at a nursing home also; and, when I feel like I'm ready to take a bigger step I will promote myself to being a hospital volunteer, too.

The crucial element needed to succeed in the goal of helping others is to cover your eyes, close your ears, and ignore discouragement. I can tell from your attitude and style that you definitely know this better than me, so I can't really give you any advice or instruction; but, I would like to share the following article with you and hear your feedback or thoughts:

I am so sorry to hear about your health problems. I hope the doctors can find a solution that will give you some relief and allow you to enjoy life and your family. May God give you the strength to endure this burden.

All the time. I deal with it the same way you do. Discouragement shouldn't prevent me from doing what I believe in.

The saying, that "no good deed goes unpunished" sometimes makes me feel less ambitious in life, because I know that my unconventional choices are not meant to generate my own happiness, and that's frustrating occasionally.

Ironically, I'm a process oriented person, and the myriad of results that I will encounter in my future will be a mix of some positives and some negatives.

I believe that successes and failures are just statistical phenomena anyway; and, I believe that what is truly important is helping others.

I also started myself back into Wikipedia heavily today, where I will spend a lot of time until the next team game starts. I really missed sitting this one out. I love watching the votes, and watching the 2nd place move overtake the runaway move. That's the best feeling I ever get from these games! I was ecstatic with our 38. h4 in the GMT game.

but couldn't help reading that centriclub still keeps an eye on us. this brings to mind his expressed interest to invent a new tool to simplify our currently used move generating method.

his interest in this subject could greatly benefit the world team in our pursue to win our next encounter.

my chess view based on many years could be of some help for designing such a concept. you may have seen today's debate with thorston re the use of PGN in our forums.

it may be necessary to clarify my intentions why my persistence which obviously seem to be an annoyance.

my intentions are and always were to get the team to change from playing moves to set realistic goals which are beyond the current horizon limit of our engines.

this method served me well when engines had considerable shorter horizon than todays programs. but with the recent developments in computer science and the ever increasing data availability via the Internet, our task to search for winning positions is very time consuming and thus requires team work and may need your coordination skills.

we would need many Rybka's for tactical verifications and human perceptions to strategy's where to look for potential theoretical novelties.

centriclub's analytical mind may help us overcome the present bias instilled by the win or loss percentage of particular opening lines. the success rate of opening lines are currently presented by opening explorers as to the win/loss ratio derived from inaccurate historical data. and data constructed for opening book lines made by human assumption to guide engines into position to maximise their potential evaluation power.

if we assume that Rybka's horizon play can generate accurate moves which are indisputable in accuracy there will always be a outcome of a value inadequate to force a win.

therefor to win we must find erroneous opening lines which lead to winning positions due to the short horizon of current engines which are being misguided from deficient program instructions limited by human input and present cpu capacity to reach endgame table bases successfully.

I don't think you will ever be able to stop the "one move at a time" mode that the team operates in. However, I do think it is possible to persuade the team to factor in longer term strategic considerations into their voting decisions.

At the beginning of the current game, you and others developed an opening strategy which a majority of the team respected and voted for. This planning effort was excellent and proves that many on the team will follow a plan that they believe has been well thought out.

I am hopeful that we can duplicate that effort in future games and I agree with you that we should begin the planning process for the next game as soon as possible (but first we need to know who the opponent is). As an extension of that, my suggestion is that the same group of people who plan the opening strategy should stay together and form the long term strategy forum. This concept has been suggested in the past but never took hold. But I believe it is a worthy idea. Suppose we are at move 20 and debating two or three moves that <RV> and others show as being equal. Further suppose that only one of those moves fits the long term strategic goals. Someone in the long term startegy group can make an argument to the team (WITH DIAGRAMS AND WORDS) that only move "A" should be considered.

I would not be part of this group but I am willing to help in creating an organizational infrastructure within which this concept can flourish.