User Profile: playground player

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playground player
Member since Oct-01-06 · Last seen Apr-26-25

NJ--no rating. Favorites, Morphy, Marshall, Anderssen. Played a lot as a teen, then let it go for 40 years. Trying to reconstitute myself as a chess player.
Meanwhile, let this forum serve as a refuge from wild-eyed loony leftism. Here there will be no admiration for Hugo Chavez, Castro, or any of the other tin-pot dictators admired by chess players from the safety of freedom-loving Western democracies. Here will be found a premise that most of the nations of the world today are governed by Godless fools. Ours, too, unfortunately.
I was also going to say some uncomplimentary things about Queen Pawn games, the Sicilian and the French Defenses, Semi-Slav games, and a few other chess matters. But as those are purely questions of personal taste, I have chosen to leave them alone.
Since setting up this forum, I have also had several novels published: "Bell Mountain," "The Cellar Beneath the Cellar," and "The Thunder King." For more information about them (and me), visit my website, http://leeduigon.com/
Update, much delayed: my fourth book, "The Last Banquet," came out last year, and my fifth, "The Fugitive Prince," I expect to be published sometime this Spring. For book covers and free sample chapters, visit my blog.
Update again: "The Fugitive Prince" is out now and the next project is "The Palace." Editing is well advanced, but we're still waiting for a cover.
Update: "The Palace" is in print now along with No. 7, "The Glass Bridge," with No. 8, "The Temple," waiting in the wings. The first seven are all available via amazon.com.

Update: No. 8, "The Temple," and No.9, "The Throne," are now in print, with No. 10, "The Silver Trumpet,"due for release any day now.

   playground player has kibitzed 7335 times to chessgames [more...]

   Apr-26-25 playground player chessforum

playground player: <OCF> The only remedy is to pull the kids out of those schools.

   Sep-06-24 K Supatashvili vs E Matsuura, 1995

playground player: (If only I had something wise to say!)

   Aug-30-24 Aronian vs Carlsen, 2019

playground player: White can't do anything. I hate it when that happens.

   Aug-01-24 Schlechter vs P Meitner, 1899

playground player: Holy moly!

   Jun-13-24 Kramnik vs Sadvakasov, 2001

playground player: That pin of the rook was deadly.

   May-10-24 M Sinner vs N Miezis, 1997

playground player: And I thought I had a problematic surname!

   Apr-25-24 P Delekta vs Geller, 1992

playground player: Great pun!

   Apr-19-24 J Taylor vs NN, 1862

playground player: How come NN never wins? Maybe he should switch of Chutes & Ladders.

   Apr-19-24 J Tarjan vs D J Strauss, 1978

playground player: I can't believe no one offered the pun, "Me Tarjan..."

   Apr-05-24 Tal vs NN, 1963

playground player: Amazing! Tal's games are always a treat.

indicates a reply to the comment.

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 645 OF 751 · Later Kibitzing>
Apr-08-19		playground player: <WannaBe> Eight posts yesterday, and three today so far,without a problem. <OCF> Thanks for the song. Who says you can't praise the Lord with a banjo?

Apr-08-19		cormier: Apr-05-19 cormier: correction; Gospel <They tried to arrest him, but his hour had not yet come.>

Apr-09-19		playground player: <Esteemed Colleagues> Has anybody read that story in the Chess News, about the Henderson TX team cheating to win the national scholastic chess tournament? https://leeduigon.com/2019/04/08/te... Dontcha love the way the coach tries to weasel out of it by playing the race card?

Apr-09-19		Robed.Bishop: The story says the kids denied cheating. If it's true that they cheated, then they also lied to cover it up. Further, it's inconceivable that all the parents were unaware of what was going on (given the rampant losses to lower-rated opponents), making the entire atmosphere ethically toxic.

Apr-10-19		playground player: <Esteemed Colleagues> You all have more experience in formal chess tournaments than I do, so I'd like to ask your opinion about that scholastic chess scandal. Do you think any of the parents knew their kids and their coach were cheating, and let it go? Do you think school officials knew the coach was cheating? I mean, losing a whole bunch of games to weak opponents, when the team is supposed to be so strong--shouldn't that be kind of a red flag? How much cheating--how much sandbagging--do you think goes on at these tournaments?

Apr-10-19		diceman: <playground player: Do you think any of the parents knew their kids and their coach were cheating, and let it go?> Difficult for me to say. While I knew how the pcs moved at 6, I didn't start studying chess until Fischer-Spassky. While I played in USCF rated events before it, I didn't play a "school" event until High School. (and that was only vs other schools in one day team events) Didn't have a lot of parental involvement. I rode my bike to local tournaments, until I could drive. One of the advantages of playing in the 70's, there wasn't enough money in chess to sandbag. That said, I would guess they didn't know. When you're not a player it's difficult to understand the system. All the players look good to you. Sure, there may be some of those beauty pageant type parents, obsessed with their kid winning, but it would be a small minority. <Do you think school officials knew the coach was cheating?> Probably not. They're probably bureaucrats supporting a slogan like, "Chess in Schools." <How much cheating--how much sandbagging--do you think goes on at these tournaments?> Since they were spotted, probably not much.

Apr-12-19		playground player: <Esteemed Colleagues> Ta-dah! Bell Mountain No. 11, <The Temptation>, goes on sale today. Click the link to see the cover. https://leeduigon.com/2019/04/12/he... Well, the cover's supposed to be there! I can't help it if it isn't.

Apr-14-19		playground player: Okay, the cover's there now! Kirk DouPonce has done the covers for all 11 of my Bell Mountain books so far, and I just love his work. He uses people in his neighborhood as his models. I wonder what it'd be like to visit there and see a lot of my fictional characters walking around.

Apr-14-19		WannaBe: Congrats on book 11, and yes, picture of the cover is there. =))

Apr-15-19		playground player: <Esteemed Colleagues> Watch this video before Youtube censors it: a Cuban-American who remembers what Castro did to his country passionately opposes Oregon's latest gun control bill. https://leeduigon.com/2019/04/15/a-... The ones who want Marxism always think they're going to be the ones who decide who goes to the gulag.

Apr-15-19		saffuna: <Watch this video before Youtube censors it: > That video has been up five years.

Apr-16-19		playground player: <saffuna> Someone sent it to me on Facebook, so I didn't know the video was that old. But that doesn't invalidate or weaken what Mr. Martinez is saying. It's surely as true now--if not more so--as it was five years ago. Just askin'--how to you feel about the Democrats' unashamed embrace of socialism?

Apr-16-19		saffuna: My only point was that if it's been up for five years, it's unlikely youtube will censor it now.

Apr-17-19		playground player: So today I needed to stop my car and the brake pedal went right down to the floor. Not a nice feeling! Good thing I was going very slowly.

Apr-18-19		playground player: Anybody seen or heard from <optimal play> lately?

Apr-19-19		playground player: Still no car. Not having a car is disconcerting. Someone I don't think I'd like the Green New Deal, if they ever managed to repeal the Constitution and actually enact it.

Apr-20-19		playground player: <Esteemed Colleagues> In case I forget to say it later, Happy Easter, everybody. Jesus Christ is risen.

Apr-22-19		playground player: <Esteemed Colleagues> Gee, if you don't kibitz for a day or two, it's mighty hard to find your forum. Ditto if nobody else posts there. The welcome mat's still out...

Apr-22-19		OhioChessFan: You have one of the most used forums in the place. I have 743 pages and I'd bet over 700 are from the prediction contest. I've gone months with no posts when it was between contests. But yes, it's been quiet around here, and really, on all of cg.c's forums.

Apr-22-19		WannaBe: If you think it's (too) quiet, we can raise some H-E-Double hockey sticks, if you wish. To paraphrase Col. Potter.

Apr-22-19		playground player: For no reason at all, the phrase "Be careful what you wish for" comes to mind...

Apr-23-19		playground player: <Steamed Colleagues> Higher education, North America--hot dog! https://leeduigon.com/2019/04/22/no... Why do we continue to fund these institutions? Why do we continue to send our daughters and sons to these places where they're despised and vilified? Beats me!

Apr-24-19		playground player: <Esteemed Colleagues> Can anyone doubt that the Far Left is using the colleges to try to foment potentially disastrous civil strife? Why are we letting them do it?

Apr-25-19		playground player: <cormier> Where have you been lately?

Apr-25-19		diceman: <NYC Vows to Start ‘Phasing Out’ Hot Dogs to Save the Planet as Part of Their Own $14B Green New Deal> ...and it isn't even April 1st!

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