You know, I have a feeling it's a bit like that in many countries; the "capital people" are often not considered to be as friendly and easy-going as most of their other countrymen. Its definitely like that in France, for instance. There's a big difference between Parisians and those from the south of France, for instance. Even in nice and friendly Denmark; Copenhagen people are the least friendly and welcoming of all Danes. That's always been my impression, let's see if <moronovich> agrees with me :)

Visiting Norway sounds like a great idea and as I have mentioned a couple of times lately here on CG,I guess that Norway may be the best country in the World.

And I agree with our dear <Count> that it is worth a consideration "to get away" from the largest cities.

Nothing compares to sit at a minor cafe in a pittoresgue village southwards,instead of standing in a line for staring at a dissappointing Mona Lisa or the overrated little Mermaid in Copenhagen.

And the Counts advice is good about asking the locals for advice.

We should fly to Oslo then rent a car and drive for some 10-11 days, then back to Oslo. The itinerary I attempted on Google Maps included Oslo, Eidfjord, Bergen, Stalheim, Flam/Aurland and back to Oslo. Basicaly two nights in Oslo (but if you say folks there are not quite friendly, we may stay only one night - kidding), then about 3 nights in each of Eidfjord, Bergen, Flam - from where we would do daily trips around to places of interest. I don't think we will stay more than 11-12 days, and it of course depend on the scheduled return flight to Bucharest (no direct connection Iasi-Oslo). And this will also affect if visiting the capital at the beginning or end of trip.

I read that Norway is very expensive, still I could get (unexpectedly) cheap flights - at least this was true for Sept., now I'll have to look for June - Bucharest-Oslo. And also I found acceptable rates for housing (but still for Sept., heh). It's going to be the last decade of June, as hopefully warmer.

Cheers and thank you for the tips you may have - we're mostly interested in cultural/historical sights/buildings, but for Norway we will also look for wonders of nature and anything specific.

Hi again.
I'm quite familiar to all the places you mention here, and will try to point out a few things to see, and some to avoid. I'll divide it into three parts:
I) Eidfjord and the areas around the Hardangerfjord.
II) Flåm and the areas around the Sognefjord.
III) Bergen and its surroundings.

Comming down to Eidfjord you will pass the Vøringsfossen. One of the best known waterfalls in Norway a short detour from the main road. The main road itself, Måbødalen, used to be a notorious piece of road. Known for its spectacular view and many fatal accidents. Now it's mainly covered by tunnels.
Eidfjord is a nice little village just by the Hardangerfjord, and should be good starting point for exploring the area. Coming here late May / early June is the ultimate period. When the fruit trees are in blossom, Hardanger is at its most beautiful. Lots of nice places to visit both north and south of the fjord: Ulvik, Granvin, Røldal, Lofthus and Rosendal. Here is a link to some of the places worthwhile a visit. https://en.hardangerfjord.com/attra...

There is a chain of Hotels and Restaurants operating both in Hardanger and Sogn called the Historic Hotels that consists of very picturesque and historic buildings. Not cheap, but having a cup of coffee in their garden won't kill your budget. https://www.dehistoriske.com/#_ga=2... (not a sponsored link)

Getting from Bergen to the Sognefjord you will pass Voss. A nice little town with an old church and a new cable car.
Further up you get to Stalheim. The view at the hotel is stunning, even by Norwegian standards, and if your in the mood for an adventure you really should drive the old road up or down.
A must see further down is the small village of Undredal. Still not trampled down by tourists and containing 100 people, 500 goats and the smallest stave church in Norway. Sample the goat cheese in the harbor by maybe Norway's most beautiful fjord, the Nærøyfjord.

Flåm is a hellish tourist trap with no redeeming qualities, with the possible exception of the train ride to Myrdal, up the scenic Flåmsdalen.
Going further in you can get to Lærdal either by the longest car tunnel in the world (25 km) or driving over the mountain. Open only in the summer and one of the prettiest roads in Norway, especially coming westwards.
Lærdal is a quite charming little town. Originally built as a point for travellers to change from horse to boat. The buildings are still there, but has for some reason becomed a centre for antique and second hand stores. If your into items from the Norwegian national romantic period, this is the place to be.

You can also deviate by going over Vikafjell, road cross just prior to Stalheim, and get down to Vik. Vik has a nice stave church and an old stone church both worth a visit.
Coming down to the fjord you should probably experience it from the best place possible, that would be in the fjord! Take the ferry from Vangsnes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vangs... There you will see a humongues bronze statue. Paid for by no other than Kayser Willhelm II who spent every summer here up to 1914.

On the other side you should visit Balestrand. A beautiful village that was the preferred holiday destination for rich Norwegians and English over a 100 years ago. They still have an Anglican church there.

<Prices>: I don't drink much alcohol (headaches) and we generally buy food from supermarkets and cook it in rented small apartments/studios - that's when we stay at least 2 nights in one place. If only one night stay, then we sleep in hotel rooms. This is to reduce the expenses, and also because we avoid some food ingredients and so prefer to choose/cook personally.

<Roads>: I read there are a lot of ferries and we will try to avoid them as much as possible (expensive) and tunnels (some, or even most should be free). Toll roads, hm, I didn't know there are many, that's not good news. Road quality - you mean the asphalt is not always kept in best condition, or at least acceptable? This too I was not aware of.

<Eastern Norway> On an earlier planning, the return route to Oslo was by Lillehammer, but we dropped that as taking too long.

<Eidjord & Hardangerfjord> Great tips! We thought about late June just because of the temperature, but if it's OK on early too, then surely we would like to see all the colourful flowers and trees around. I guess we should take the northern side of Hardanger fjord on the way to Bergen, not its southern?

Good to see you in my house.

And first of all:let me congratulate you with such a fine start of the bookiegame ! Sometimes it is precisely like in chesstournaments were a good start is everything if one wants to win it all.

I see your point about all these other(kind of) of tournamnents comming up. They are in many way different kettles
of fish(know you love fish:).But in my experience it is worth the effort to take it from the positive side aka with and open mindset.A new journey starts. There will most likely be a lesser amount of draws,which sometimes the players on this board can be late to adjust to.

But I see: It is a hell lot of players to keep track on-so I wouldn´t do.Perhaps just follow a relatively small numbers-those you have a feeling about.Those who may be on a rise and those who may be on a decline.

The alternative is scary:Stop now and you have qualified for the big final...

Anyway,I wish you all the best and I am happy on your behalf. I dont have it in me this time as I told you.E.g.yesterday were I believed in Giri and that So and Aronian would make a draw.And no bucks on DWD odds 70:1....Only a moron doesnt play this line :) But I hit a 50§ pure profit at the professional bookies on Carlsen - Giri combined.And had nice dreams tonight:)

He said that he used to learn from chessbooks in Dutch and german, when he was young already (Euwe's teachings of course among them).

I'll try and find the video and post it in the next post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39y...

Hi man-great to se you in da house again.
I feel we go a long way together..
And thanks a lot for the Larsen link.It brought back many feelings and memories of this special man I met several times and who was a great teacher.So typical of him to speak Dutch.He was often called a man of the world and knew something about almost everything. I could talk about him for a long time.

While searching for Bent I found an,to mee, unknown clip of Bobby Fischer called "April 9,1972,Chess Champ BF on 60 minutes" which hereby is highly recommended.

All in all I am doing ok/fine.Has turned 66 and the old body is not that young anymore.But like since I was born ,the spirit is bright and still curious.

And how about you ?

Good to be in your company again-but now it is bedtime and may be,if everything fits I´ll go to town tomorrow with a good friend.Have a couple of coffees and 2-3 pints and talk about litterally everything.And unterwegs feeling it like a blessing.

I too feel we have ties that run quite deep, considering we have never met in the flesh!

About Jorgen Bent Larsen, he is very rounded, and I heard him say in another interview that he really never diminished in energy and playing strength prior to his 50-55th, and neither had he gained strength much, though his insights might have increased, saying that with increased insights, your OTB tournament strength does not necessarily increase...

Timman was his successor really as "Best of the West" and I looked up the H2h, with Timman edging it with a 9-7 score in classical... I will analyze a few of those games soon, and post some findings here to share...

And if you are able to share a few more snippets on Bent as a person I would be thankful; I really like to read up on those type men, for inspiration, and also as just an agreeable way of passing time and relaxing.

I haven't proceed with the surgery as yet <moronovich> and in fact I'm considering postponing it indefinitely, as I've recently watch a video by a Romanian surgeon who advised against the hernia surgery which comprises putting a special net inside to protect from future hernia problems, as in 10-12% of the cases the pacient gets chronical pain after the operation. So for now I will just wait and see what happens - the hernia problem is not too painful (in some instances with zero pain) and as long as I manage to avoid physical effort and such, I think I'll be relatively OK. Of course, hernia does not go back by itself and it may well aggravate in the future. Well, I guess I'll see about that when time comes.

As for the rest, I'm fine and hope you (two) are the same.

<Good to be in your company again-but now it is bedtime and may be,if everything fits I´ll go to town tomorrow with a good friend.Have a couple of coffees and 2-3 pints and talk about litterally everything.And unterwegs feeling it like a blessing.>...

...which is a joy and blessing in itself, to read that type of honest gratitude and joi-de-vivre, and the way you word it is uniquely you, the way you translate "And <unterwegs> feeling it like a <blessing>...

Quite a rare gift you have, <moro> ;)

Sofar I analysed the two <shortest> games between Larsen and Timman, namely a 19 and 28 move game, both won by Jan as White against the Sicilian, remarkable technique by Jan there, but Bent botched the opening so... Pity actually, that the <Scheveningen> was dismantled so brutally by Timman, a system I played succesfully, mainly because of a Kasparov/Nikitin book on d6, e6 systems I studied in great detail.

Thank you for your kind words.I try to go carpe diem as much as possible and I am happy when it happens :)

Bent is difficult to describe as a human.A rounded man,as you put it,fits well.A man of the world,who said the proof of fame is when people in Timbuktu know your name..I would call him a complex man who was not easy to come close as a human,but as a teacher was he extremely generous and gave away all his inner thoughts about strategy,rules of thumb and the psychology of our dear game with great joy and natural pride about his achievements.And this was likely his best element. I´ll never forget that he took time to analyze one of my CC games.I was white in a closed sicilian.We sat there for an hour and after I have dropped the starstruckesness,we,to my great relief and satisfaction worked as a team with the same strenght.But then,after an hour he found an absolutely brilliant manouver for black :Bg7-f6-g5-e3 + and white was positionally busted.Absolutely outstanding. What a player he was.
But he emphazised that chess was never more than his mistress.

Interesting you also fancy the Scheveningen which also was mine bread and butter back in the days ! And I dont think it was only because it has a Dutch name !? :)

There were some darn great lines and observations and thoughts in that book, Kasparov also being a bit of a hero of me at the time... The 1985 match had me by the balls so to speak, I ate and drank it, at the time I was about 17...

I played most of my games and studied with a beautiful Mephisto board and built in engine, which had about 2100 strength... Not an easy challenge, but always available as punching bag, even though I got many KO's before finding the best line to win... Much more a strategic positional player and endgame student I was, so the engine tactically always got the better of me.

That's a confession! ;)

I did play with fellow student in my dorm but I could easily take them on in longer timecontrols, so they refused that and insisted on blitz and rapid... Never really made peace with those TC's...

And thanks for elaborating some on Bent... I spoke to Timman one time in Wijk aan Zee, at the bar, where Jan downed a beer and a Jenever (Gin) in quick succession! Same as Bent, not approachable on a personal level, but very very generous re chess education and simuls, still today... Every year Jan and Hans Bohm do an outdoor Simul in my town, Amstelveen, and most of the time I manage to go there and enjoy the great atmosphere.

So you build an engine MrMephisto ! Impressive.And it must have been some learning inspiration,I could imagine !? Chess wise as well.And I dor remember your preference for the more quite games and that the tactical fireworks were not the best thing for your nerve system,nicht wahr !?…

Difficult to imagine our chess opening without all these charming names.Spanish,Sicillian,King/Queens Indian,Volga gambit,Jaenisch and so forth and so forth.A poor world if they were reduced to bare numbers. I think there was a painter from Munich who once tried this…

It sounds like great fun to see Jan and Hans doing an outdoor simul in your town which I will look up later on,but for now I´ll hit the pillow.

Also here it is getting colder and I do really enjoy this part of the year were almost three seasons have a rendevous.Everything is so clear in the sunlight and the air so freh and filled with Je ne sais qois.

Take care "old chap" and see you around.

<ps. Do you know why the elite almost never play the Scheveningen these days ? It would otherwise be an excellent way to avoid the Rossolimo>

I meant the Keres Attack, 6.g4 -- I remember not playing it at the time, because I found it premature I think, prior to Be2 and 0-0 ... It is in the book I referred to, from <1983>!!!???

The original title in Russian is as above, and 6.g4 Nc6 is listed as a strong move for Black, but I have NO CLUE whether or not it has been busted, from that early in the variation, by now.

I will look into that, and test it with an online engine ;)

ps - I just read that 6 g4 Nc6 is refuted by now, because the Keres attack moves too fast and becomes too powerful... Kasparov in the referred book gives 6...Nc6 an exclamation mark...:

"The most logical response to White's flank attack. Black creates pressure in the center of the board, which requires his opponent to solve the problem of the Knight on d4.

After 7 g5 Nd7 White is at a crossroads" -Kasparov

He goes on with 8 Ndb5 Nb6 9 Bf4 Ne5 and after 10 Qh5 Ng6, optically, it looks dangerous, but Black is pretty fine here...

click for larger view

9...0-0 seems the obvious move, Stockfish online prefers 10 Qd2 (as well as a3 and Be2) over Qh5, but all three are evaluated as +1.00-1.25, so that scare people off, understandibly...

But could you have a look in the cg DBase if there are good level games with refutations?

Thanks for. your response.Have an awful headdache today,so just a brief answer.

I had nothing concret in my mind,merely wondering why just such a powerful and well respected line/variation has gone out of "fashion" !?

I know the comps-but still.

Sorry about the Memphisto confusion :)