I now wish You all the best with Your upcoming operation!

For one post?

How are you, my friend, it's been torrential rain here in the low countries, and I spend the rainy days by studying Timman's official Biopgraphy, published end of last year, as Timman reached the ripe old age of <60>.

Great book, great anecdotes, Timman perhaps was the Horowitz of Chess, the Last Romantic, and his Bohemian take-off and attitude in Life only indicate his absolute deepest love for the game: composing endgame studies.

Some said that OTB chess was too simple, too normal for Timman, the fullness of his talent mostly shows through his compositions.

Some give more for just a few minuttes with lady latitta ;)

And thanks for showing up here in DK where I guess it is the same rainy,grey weather as in Holland.But the lowertemperature part fits me fine as it increases the chance for a good nights sleep which in my age(as Timman ) and condition is of utterly importance..But the sun is missed.

Besides from a hopefully minor back problem of my wife and me on a kind of standby(hipoperation on tuesday)everything is fine and when my aged body permits it,I really enjoy life and also on a certain distance Dortmund and the scenery in TDF.

I think I know,kind of,that puzzels are deeper(in a way)that traditionally OTB and the state the big gun enters and some of the challenge is gone.E.g.one time Tony Miles asked what I considered the strongest first move...Kind of puzzle too ;).

And you <old chap>,how are you doing these days !?

It's about opening up, and letting go...

Not easy old chap, but never before succeeded by any old passenger.

I intend to be the next in line.

Meaning i will grab the next chance when I get it, thank you for being a brother and for your support.

Is it your current rating? Quite exceptional, considering you're not in your 20s or 30s anymore.

That would mean that your rating some 20 years ago must have been even higher! Are you still actively playing, defending the rating?

If it's okay with you I'd like to show you a position from a game I recently played against Stockfish 2.0 engine, which to my surprise was installed on the "Tablet" (Android operating system) I bought recently.

Today is the regular chessday with my son and later I will meet a good friend.We always do that on wednedsdays ;)

My rating dates back from the 80ties and I was definately stronger than the number but stopped tournamentactivities due to something I found more giving.Doing groups for personal developement which actually was an old dream of mine and I enjoyed it immensely.

I made an IM-norm but,though attached to living as a semipro,concluded that the chessenvironment was kind of too nerdy for me.Today I occasionally do some coaching (strong players) and the rating in the profile is not a bad guess about my actual strenght.

<It's about opening up, and letting go...> you are right,but considering the alternative,is sometimes the argument that make a new start..as it is said(haven´t been there yet;)what we regret on our deathbed are the things we did´t do...

I can assure you from my story that there has always bee some guidance when I opened up,being it inwards or outwards.

Looking,searching for that guidance is a part of support as it doesn´t always come on a silverplatter,or at least it doesn´t seem so at first sight.But saying yes to the "irrationel" (sometimes) seems to be part of the deal/package.

It takes an effort to learn the language of angels (!?) but it is worth the effort.And couldn´t it be possible to "burn the bridges" and still return to your hometown..!?

In any case it may be very fruitfull to you whatever you choose as long as you have already started a new journey right now.

Let us make a silent and passionate moment for Walt Witmann and all fellowflyers...

And yes you are very welcome to post your game,but you shall know I have no computer here.

So may you enjoy it all and give Lars a hug from me.

Done. He wants more! ;)

- - - -

This is the position after 16. Qe3 - the opening phase completed

click for larger view

This early, unrestrained by Theory, I have little Opening knowledge, I try and define a plan, which consists of trying to play f2-f4-f5, and d4, lock those pawn chains, and since Black has exchanged both his Bishops, my intention, plan, is to deploy my DS-Bishop on the c1-h6 diagonal, play Kh2-g3 even, swing the rooks underneath, preparing for a double pawn-push on g- and h-files.

Fully mobilized attack, before Black can create counterplay in the center and on the Qside.

Meanwhile, here are the moves, but it is the moves upto 27 Bc1 (see Diagram below) that I want you to look at:

[ECO "A36"]
[Opening "English"]
[Variation "Symmetrical, Keres-Parma, Main Line Exchange"] [TimeControl "60 mins/game + 5 sec incr"]

Me vs Stockfish (Tablet)

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Qb3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Qxc3 O-O 7. g3 d6 8. Bg2 e5 9. b4 a6 10. O-O Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Re8 13. Bb2 Qd7 14. Rac1 Rac8 15. d3 Qe6 16. Qe3 Re7 17. f4 Rce8 18. f5 Qc8 19. Qf2 Qd7 20. e4 Ra8 21. g4 h6 22. Kh2 Qd8 23. Qe3 Re8 24. Kg3 Nh7 25. Rc2 Qf6 26. h4 b6 27. Bc1 Nd4 28. Rcf2 Qe7 29. g5 hxg5 30. hxg5 f6 31. g6 Ng5 32. Qe1 d5 33. Rh1 dxc4 34. Rh5 Nf7 35. Qh1 Qd7 36. gxf7+ Kxf7 37. Rh7 Rg8 38. dxc4 a5 39. b5 c5 40. a4 Nb3 41. Bg5 *

Position after 27. Bc1

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This clearly looks threatening now, badly, for Black... g4-g5 will now break the pawn chain, create an open file, and Black should be in serious trouble.

YET! - the engine scores this as minus .40 for Black!

It hardly smells danger ahead, yet within <3> , yes three, moves, we arrive here, after 30...f6:

click for larger view

White to play, how many ways to the Promised Land are there here?

Point is when you play vs engines, is to make sure you convert, because they will wriggle out of the tiniest crack in the wall. But this looks dead and buried, although a very concrete plan ioncluding calculations, must now be called for... It was 1am, I was tired, and surely the attack could have been more powerful, but I managed to win easily at some point, in the endgame.

Position after 41 Bg5:

click for larger view

And why is fxg5 bad? ;)

So this should be brought home easily, but nothing is easy against a defending engine...

<I made an IM-norm but,though attached to living as a semipro,concluded that the chessenvironment was kind of too nerdy for me.> E-x-a-c-t-l-y the same here. Exactly. The nerdy part, that is. I spoke about this with Domdaniel a few years ago, and he understood what I meant, then. It's the atmosphere and the tunnel in which a clubnight proceeds from 8 to 12pm. I loved to play creatively and win, but the atmosphere drove me out.

No IM norms for me, though, but if I had chosen Chess as a sport, to excell at, I would expect from myself 2200 at minimum. Longer time controls. But I have over the years become more of a "chess student", and it stayed that way. Two years ago I sparred with some young talent from around here, 15 yr/olds with a 1900 rating, and lost as easily as I won, really. Longer timecontrols suited me, but these kids look at you weird when you want to play a 45 min game, in practise.

Thanks for your post and the game which I am looking forward to play through,but it may take some days because I am occupied with some practical stuff before my operation(left hip)on tuesday. And it was some fine time with my son,one of the best in a long time.

Interesting that you also said no to the nerdy part !? I suppose we will touch that subject later,thouh it has been done between the lines so far.

Take all the time you want - obviously preparing for the hip operation is now very important, but just to get your mind of that, a look at a chessboard can come in handy. Will you have internet access in the hospital? Or is it just for a couple days and then back home to recover a revalidate?

So much has changed over the last 20 years...

Cheers.

But how are you doing down under these
days,if I may ask !?

Take all the time you want - obviously preparing for the hip operation is now very important, but just to get your mind of that, a look at a chessboard can come in handy. Will you have internet access in the hospital? Or is it just for a couple days and then back home to recover a revalidate?

<So much has changed over the last 20 years...>

Good afternoon , Sir !

Yup much has changed and they will throw me home(if the op wounds heal well)the next day and I believe they are right.Chance for speedy recovery is much higher when the patient is active as quickly as possible.

So looking at a real game from a real player with real wooden pieces,nést pas, could be good for the process ;)

Your upbeat spirit will heal those wounds in a heartbeat!

Meanwhile to warm you up, there's a tournament at this moment in Amsterdam of all places, Ivanchuk is here, Kamsky, and the Dutch Championship is also contested from the same venue, and in the swiss format A group a 2200 player had this position against a GM, after <11> moves, miracles do exist....

click for larger view

Can you spot a winning move, <moro>?

Unfortunately for Aran Kohler, he did not spot it, it isn't <that> easy, and a handsome alternative was at hand.... But not winning...

Cann´t make Bxh7+,nor Qxh5 work,so 1.Bf6,closing the f-file seems to do the trick.

<Your upbeat spirit will heal those wounds in a heartbeat!> Thanks and let us not forget to mention my beautiful wife.And now I almost feel like Columbo and as such I have a funny little question for you:

(You may know by now,that i have no chessprogram in the house)

So you have a program I think, and a funny little challenge(to the machine) is if it can evaluate these 2 positions alike.

A :e4-e5 Nf3-Nc6 Bb5

B :e3-e5 e4-Nc6 Nc3 Bb4

To see,as you and I know are 2 identical positions with colors reversed,but do the Rybkas and Houdinis realize that !?... Just as a curiosity.

Good solution, you are as sharp as ever, clearly. As is your Wife. :)

I'll do the experiment later... I'm annotating Timman's official Bio, in order to write a worthy draft for the Timman Bio here at the CG website, and will have to put in quite a few hours to get something "on the paper" by this weekend.

Yeah,unfortunately there is only 24 hours in a day/night . But not yours or mine fault ;)

click for larger view

Third horse promoted on e8, for an equine smothering of the Black King at d6 :)

If we could underpromote to a king,blitz would be different in some ways,nést pas !?

??

We need alliances, btw, whether through under- or over-promotion, as long as it serves the good purpose, which is all we need. Super promotion.