Sorry for being a late host :)

And hope your sugeries have done you good and tha tyou will have the best recovery <brankat> and please stay a little longer this time,nes´t pas !?

<perfidious> Hope you appreciate your good health.Which I think you do.As my motto in life always has´been:Enjoy it while you can. So did I,when an oldtimer looks back.
Also back to the times in Vermont were my sister used to live with her husband and 3 kids.Up there in the mountains with snowscooters and coyotes.

Great atttitude <virgimind> ! Can not think of a better one.

Yes,Spain were very disapointing.I think there was something wrong already when the left their bus.No sign of joy and fire.And a welldeserved win for the italians.

Had money on Italy combned with Iceland,so no complaints here :)

Take care guys and all the best.

How is Vermont, tell me a bit please. I only was in Washington DC and then in Champaign-Illinois and Chicago area, back in 1994-95 - where the land is just too flat...:) I can imagine Vermont's mountaneus surrounding is quite a different kettke of fish. Have you been fishing there, by the way (pun intended)? :)

A colleague of mine went to Los Angeles to see his sister and she gave him her car and he returned driving from California all the way to Illinois - it was a memorable journey of which he sometimes recalls.

<Aha, so you guessed right with Iceland and Italy, congrats!> Thank you.When I try (and often succeed> to make pocket money out of it,it is a very nice feeling.And somehow green light to proceed too.

Well it was in 95 and not much to rapport since I spent most of the time with my sister,brother in law and their 3 kids.It was very enjoyable to race with the snowscooters and also for transportation when needed.And as mentioned the snow and the mountains.Also the population is(was) very welcomming and polite.But as usual when in America (it was the third visit)I miss deeper conversations with someone.And in that regard I find Americans,in general,too flat for my need....No fishing but skiing with my sister with whom I have had a long and close relation since childhood.

And how did you experince the culture over there !?

In the quarters I am rooting for Portugal,Belgium,Germany-Italy equal and then Iceland :) Would love the fayritale to continue...

And who do you roote for ?
It feels a bit surrealistic there are only 7 games left,nést pas !?

My feelings were mixed, although somewhat close to yours. I did manage to find a colleague at the university in Champaign, he 's 13 years older than me and we had a very good relationship (kept writing to each other ever since, with some gaps, but each time finding each other again). He eventually quit law school and he has some health problems. He wrote some poems at the time and generaly had/has a very good knowledge of English language, and we are resembling in some respects. I also had some other buddies while there, another American, then some of the other international LL.M students in my group (a Slovenian, a Japanese and a Philipino) with whom I got along well. Overall a nice experience that year, with some periods of longing for my wife and my parents and also after the European human environment which, as you said, is different from the American one.

Of the countries in the quarters I root for Poland, Iceland and a bit Belgium. The others, so far, I don't know...it depends on how they will play.

Hope you and your wife(say hello to her from me,s.v.p.)will enjoy the weekend.And do you have any plans ?

Here we will celebrate my wifes 57th.
How,will usually depend on my old bodys state(which is relatively fine,for the time being).But coffe with fresh baked bed and presents in the morning is for shure.

Think Belgium will win tonight and go to the semis and hopefully it will be a better match than yesterday.

Only watched the first half last night (sleepy) and found out the result this morning. Tonight I hope Belgium will make it further.

Yeah wow ! Agreed,the best match so far.And Wales were surprisingly good.I for one did´nt se that one comming :)A shame they have to cope without Ramsey who has had two yellow cards.But so far they are the champions in their homecountry and no pressure furtheron.They will have a decent chance vs Portugal.

Thanks fro the birthdaywishes for my wife!And if everything will be in order we will enjoy a visit to the town and perhaps with diner and then the grand finale tonight.Which could be the moral finale,but that expression would not be fair to our new friends from Wales and Iceland ;)

Sorry to hear about your daily headaches.That must be tough... I sincerely hope you will find the cause(s)/cure!And that you will ahve the right doctor... If you drink "light" products,such as e.g. coca cola it can cause headache(s).I dropped my behavior,and it most likely helped ! which I am off course very gratefull for.

So all the best and see you around and may you enjoy your weekend on your own.

Ciao !

Last night match was a bit as expected from two pragmatic teams, not spectacular - but they gave us thrills at the penalty shots instead. I think Germany deserved to win overall as the more solid team. But the goal they received...what was that guy doing with his hands so high up in the air, asking for a handball offence?

And yes tonights match may show some very nervous french players who are splendid technicians, but are not yet acting like a team.As quite the opposite can be said about the icelandic squad(HUH!)I really cheeere for the underdogs and want their adventure to continue.Also keeping the hopes for the final Wales-Iceland alive,as you mentioned.

Good to hear your head is doing fine today ! and here not much to say,so I´ll let the players talk in 2 hours time;)

It's shaping up a cruel fight tonight, France-Germany, can't wait. No idea whom to root for, though. Oh, and Dortmund starts on Saturday, featuring Kramnik, Caruana, Lagrave and...Nisipeanu, among others. Of course, he plays for Germany. Don't think he ever crossed swords with the Russian.

Weather's fine and all well so far in this part of the world. Going to the wedding of my niece this Saturday (or how do you call the daughter of my cousin? I suppose it's still niece to me, right?)

Yes,no Iceland-Wales final this time.(The odds around our last talk would have been around 1:150).But refreshing as always to see the minor nations have a say in the big picture. Had good money on France yesterday which saved my euro,gamblingwise.A welldeserved win and likely the hosts will win it all.Unless a certain CR7 will hit big time...:)

Hope everything is fine at your place!?And any plans for the weekend ? I am going to see "good old" JWH if body permits and on sunday we will watch the grabd final with 2 former neighbours.Not bad plans,at all :)

Takke care and see you around !

Waiting for the footbal euro final to begin, I'm watching a bit of Sparkassen. Yesterday Nisi drawn with Ponomariov and now he's facing Caruana in an equal still rather dynamic position. The video relay only shows Gustaffson commenting, apart from the live position on boards. A progress from past years when there was no videocam at all, maybe next year the Dortmund organisers (or rather those on chess24?) will treat us with an additional cam focused on the players.

Rooting for France who may win easily(everything is relativ:).That is what my sense and wallet says right now,2 hours to kick off.And in regards to what the french people have been through lately they may neeed the comfort a trophy will give..

Glad you liked the religious part of the wedding and I had a nice time yeterday with my good friend and today with wfe at the seaside.But all that means there were no time for Dortmund,but yesterday is a free day at TDF,sooo....

And whom do you roote for ?

Now time for chess :) After drawing Caruana yesterday, Nisipeanu gets to play against another top gun today, Vachier Lagrave. I thought it will be their first encounter, but I just found a Berlin Wall played in Bundesliga in 2008, which Lagrave won. At the time he was rated 2632, while Nisi was 2684 (mind you, his live rating is about the same today).

I would have made a hefty profit if they have settled it in the penalties. But Eder wanted it otherwise,so for the moment he is person non gratia here in the house :) A dissappoiting event IMHO,but the fans
were(we dont count the russians here)very friendly towards the other teams and that kind of behaviour may bode well for the future.And the refeeres were excellent.

Interesting to see what your compatriot is able to achieve vs the bigger names...I´ll roote for him and he has formerly shown that he is able to make upsets.But his romantic style may make it more difficult to make results on a higher level...

Here the weather is not here not anywere.Somehow typical July in Denmark. Usually August will make up for it.Kind of poetic justice ? ;)

♘Bilbao 2016♘ Bilbao 2016 ♗Bilbao 2016♗

This tournament will run from July 13th thru July 23rd 2016.

Participants include: Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Sergey Karjakin, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So & Wei Yi.

*****
*****

<<> Bilbao 2016!!! <>>

< 2 Prediction Contests: (Win virtual medals - Gold, Silver & Bronze) >

User: Golden Executive - Predict the result 1-0, 1/2, or 0-1 (3 categories to medal in)

This year will be the 10th Anniversary for this contest! (from 2007 to 2016 - 10 years running)

User: OhioChessFan - Predict the result 1-0, 1/2, or 0-1 & the number of moves. (4 categories to medal in). This contest is run by <chessmoron> & hosted by <OhioChessFan>.

***<lostemperor> will be back for the Sinquefield Cup tournament on August 4, 2016***

*****
*****

Also don't forget about <chessgames> ChessBookie game for this event. He can't wait to take some or all of your chessbucks. ;)

ChessBookie Game

Don't miss out on the fun for this Super Event!!!

Nisi seems to be strong so far.Pressing hard against MVL yesterday...

And Bilbao today.Were everyone waits for the Car-Kar encounter.Probably a theoratical draw !?..

Hope all is good with you and I send my best wishes.

Friday wife starts her 3 week holiday and she hopes for better weathercondition,so that we e.g. can go to the seaside.

So far headaches are holding well against my will, so I might have to take a different approach. We will see about that.

Dont know if Carlsen was too optimistic,but there are certain indications,but in any case it must have been a big relief for Nakamura,finally to break "the spell".So kudos to him.

Hmm,did you witness the absolutely crazy finish today in Tour de France ? With Froome expanding his lead, while cofavourite Quintana,was trailing behind and suddenly Froome crashed into a motorbike and started running without his bike!!!???...Unbeliveable.Never seen anything like it.

No, I haven't seen that one but I heard about it later on. Usually I don't follow bicycle tours. In the mean time, a couple of bad news in the world, in Nisa and in Turkey, a lot of people died, unfortunately. As, I suppose, in a lot of other places too, only that we hear less about them or we simply don't pay much attention. But life's equally priceless everywhere. Or it should be. RIP for all the innocent who payed with their lives the madness of this world...

I am fine and hope you too. Magnus bounced back big time, including a win against his next challenger to the world crown. Meanwhile, I'm dead last in all three sections of game prediction contest (Goldenexecutive). And Nisipeanu kept his string of draws last night in Dortmund, in a 146 move game this time against Kramnik. Oh, and congratulations Lagrave for a very fine event!

What are the news on you side? Nothing much here, apart from finishing 2 novels of Murakami, and preparing to start another one today.