More batteries involving the queen. Spearheads are quite common, and quite lethal, but that is not always the case in these games. The Spearhead may just be an indecisive structure in some games, while it smashes through in others.

The Memory Pillow

Those We Love
Don't Go Away
They Walk Beside Us
Everday Unseen
Unheard,
But Always Near,
Still Loved, Still Missed
And Very Dear
Thinking of You Always
Great Grandma Simultaneous

Acts 20:35 "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." ― Lao Tzu

"God has given you one face, and you make yourself another." ― William Shakespeare

"I started chess around the age of seven. I was inspired by the game, but soon legends like Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer, Anand and many other world champions captivated me." ― Anish Giri

"Chess is a game where all different sorts of people can come together, not a game in which people are divided because of their religion or country of origin." ― Hikaru Nakamura

"In chess, you have to bring all the pieces into the game. It is about development. In writing, you have to develop the story." ― Gza

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." ― Albert Einstein

Richard the Lionheart only spent six months of his ten-year reign in England.

"Chess is a lot of fun for me. Football is a physical game, and in chess you can just beat someone mentally - you outwit somebody, outmaneuver them, think ahead of them." ― Larry Fitzgerald

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." ― Archimedes

"The most powerful weapon in chess is to have the next move." ― David Bronstein

"Young men preen. Old men scheme." ― Mason Cooley

"Chess and me, it's hard to take them apart. It's like my alter ego." ― Bobby Fischer

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." ― Henry David Thoreau

"Chess is the art of analysis." ― Mikhail Botvinnik

"Patience is the companion of wisdom." ― Saint Augustine

"Chess is a sport. The main object in the game of chess remains the achievement of victory." ― Max Euwe

"There are no adequate substitutes for father, mother, and children bound together in a loving commitment to nurture and protect. No government, no matter how well-intentioned, can take the place of the family in the scheme of things." ― Gerald R. Ford

"My biggest competitor was my mum. I used to try to beat her at Chinese chequers, chess, carrom, volleyball, badminton, football, wrestling." ― Sunil Chhetri

"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances." ― Thomas Jefferson

"Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak." ― Alan Dundes

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." ― Albert Einstein

"The human element, the human flaw and the human nobility - those are the reasons that chess matches are won or lost." ― Viktor Korchnoi

"In chess, you should be as cool as a cucumber." ― Yuliya Snigir

"O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!" ― Walter Scott

"It is a profound mistake to imagine that the art of combination depends only on natural talent, and that it cannot be learned." ― Richard Reti

"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift." ― Steve Prefontaine

"I love to play chess. The last time I was playing, I started to really see the board. I don't mean just seeing a few moves ahead - something else. My game started getting better. It's the patterns. The patterns are universal." ― Forest Whitaker

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say 'thank you?' " ― William Arthur Ward

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." ― Epictetus

"I think a gentleman is someone who holds the comfort of other people above their own. The instinct to do that is inside every good man, I believe. The rules about opening doors and buying dinner and all of that other 'gentleman' stuff is a chess game, especially these days." ― Anna Kendrick

Never judge a book by its cover.

"You cannot say, 'Go! Go! Rah! Rah! Good move!' People want some emotion. Chess is an art and not a spectator sport." ― Garry Kasparov

"My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose." ― Bette Davis

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." ― Winston Churchill

"I spend hours playing chess because I find it so much fun. The day it stops being fun is the day I give up." ― Magnus Carlsen

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." ― Mark Twain

Napoleon took 187,600 horses with his army as he rode into Russia in 1812, only 1,600 came back.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." ― Eleanor Roosevelt

"I may not be where I want to be, but thank God I am not where I used to be." ― Joyce Meyer

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." ― Jim Rohn

"I have a scheme for stopping war. It's this - no nation is allowed to enter a war till they have paid for the last one." ― Will Rogers

"Winning is about commitment, discipline, hard work, dedication, determination, courage and sometimes even luck!" ― Susan Polgar

"Every defeat is an opportunity to learn from our mistakes! Every victory is a confirmation of our hard work!" ― Susan Polgar

"A chess player uses his/her knowledge to prepare for next game while a passionate coach prepares for next generation!" ― Susan Polgar

* Ataman's Minis: Game Collection: Instructive Chess Miniatures (Ataman)

* Bearly Thinking: https://www.etsy.com/listing/972054...

* Checkmate patterns: Game Collection: Checkmate: Checkmate Patterns

* Alpha Glossary: https://www.chess-poster.com/englis...

* Best Games of 2018: Game Collection: Best Games of 2018

* Black attack!
Game Collection: Modern Defence Reversed

* Chessmaster 2000 Classic Games:
Game Collection: Chessmaster '86

* Del's: Game Collection: Del's hidden gems

* The Donner Party of Misery: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che...

* Don't Steal: https://www.openbible.info/topics/s...

* Failing is a part of life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nja...

* Fischer Wins: Game Collection: Bobby Fischer Wins With The King's Indian Attack

* Fried Fox is awful: https://allchessopenings.blogspot.c...

* French According to... Game Collection: The French According to ...

* GK: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen

* Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): Game Collection: Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz)

* How dumb is it? Game Collection: Diemer-Duhm Gambit

* King Registration: https://www.kingregistration.com/to...

* Make a Stand: https://www.history.com/topics/amer...

* Malaguena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxD...

* Notable Games: Game Collection: List of Notable Games (wiki)

* Online safety: https://www.entrepreneur.com/scienc...

* Opening Ideas/Novelties: Game Collection: Great opening ideas

* Post-Beginners Book: Game Collection: Chess training for post-beginners

* Sacs on f7/f2: Game Collection: Demolition of Pawn Structure: Sac on f7 (f2)

* Six Ways: https://takelessons.com/blog/6-tips...

* Starting Out 1d4: Game Collection: Starting Out: 1 d4!

* Sports Clichés: http://www.sportscliche.com/

* 107 battles: Game Collection: 107 Great Chess Battles: 1939-45 Alekhine

* 21st Century: Game Collection: 0

* RL Minis: Game Collection: Ruy Lopez Miniatures

* Can you whip Taimanov's Sicilian? http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Bg2 vs Sicilian: Game Collection: Grand Prix Attack without early Bc4

* Extinguish the Dragon: Game Collection: 1.e4 explorations

* She's a Stonewaller: Eneida Astolfi Perez

* VP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncH...

* Wall's APCT Miniatures:
http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/c...

* Six Ways: https://takelessons.com/blog/6-tips...

* Secrets of Combination: Game Collection: Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters Volume II

* tacticmania - Game Collection: tacticmania

* Tate lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyh...

* Top Chessgames by ECO Code: http://schachsinn.de/gamelist.htm

* The Unthinkable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9z...

* Understanding the Chess Openings: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...

* Universal studios: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7C...

* VP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncH...

* Wall's APCT Miniatures:
http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/c...

* Will Power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9S...

* Wonders and Curiosities: Game Collection: Wonders and Curiosities of Chess (Chernev)

* You should be: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zMcK...

* 960Chess: https://lichess.org/variant/chess960

* 1967: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PiFW...

* Z Vol 105: Game Collection: 0ZeR0's collected games volume 105

* Mr. Harvey's Puzzle Challenge: https://wtharvey.com/

WTHarvey:
There once was a website named WTHarvey,
Where chess puzzles did daily delay,
The brain-teasers so tough,
They made us all huff and puff,
But solving them brought us great satisfaction today.

There once was a website named WTHarvey
Where chess puzzles were quite aplenty
With knight and rook and pawn
You'll sharpen your brain with a yawn
And become a master of chess entry

There once was a site for chess fun,
Wtharvey.com was the chosen one,
With puzzles galore,
It'll keep you in store,
For hours of brain-teasing, none done.

There once was a website named WTHarvey,
Where chess puzzles were posted daily,
You'd solve them with glee,
And in victory,
You'd feel like a true chess prodigy!

"Chess is played with the mind and not with the hands." ― Renaud & Kahn

"Chess is a terrific way for kids to build self-image and self-esteem." ― Saudin Robovic

"Chess is a sport. The main object in the game of chess remains the achievement of victory." ― Max Euwe

"Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game." ― Being Caballero

"If you wish to succeed, you must brave the risk of failure." — Garry Kasparov

"You win some, you lose some, you wreck some." — Dale Earnhardt

"In life, unlike chess the game continues after checkmate." ― Isaac Asimov

"Stick a fork in him. He's done." ― Leo Durocher

"The pin is mightier than the sword." ― Fred Reinfield

"A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it." ― Wilhelm Steinitz

"As day is to a sword, night is to a shield." ― Anthony Liccione

This poem is dedicated to all Caissa's members who understand that chess is but a game.

Chess is but a Game

As he secretly rode his knight out of the castle's gate, still believing that he could escape this inevitable fate, the sky broke open with an array of incredible light. and there smitten to the earth lay nova under his knight. I am who I am and always am, spoke this thundering voice and you, my friend nova, do not at all have another choice but to go forth south and north, west and east
loudly proclaiming the good Word to man and beast. Thus beset by the compelling voice from the broken sky nova set about explaining through the word the how and why. He travelled north and south, west and east never losing aim to let all Caissa's members know: chess is but a game.

https://worldchesshof.org
World Chess Hall of Fame
4652 Maryland Ave, Saint Louis, MO 63108
(314) 367-9243

The Cloud
By Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

I sift the snow on the mountains below,
And their great pines groan aghast;
And all the night 'tis my pillow white,
While I sleep in the arms of the blast.
Sublime on the towers of my skiey bowers,
Lightning my pilot sits;
In a cavern under is fettered the thunder,
It struggles and howls at fits;
Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion,
This pilot is guiding me,
Lured by the love of the genii that move
In the depths of the purple sea;
Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills,
Over the lakes and the plains,
Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream,
The Spirit he loves remains;
And I all the while bask in Heaven's blue smile, Whilst he is dissolving in rains.

The sanguine Sunrise, with his meteor eyes,
And his burning plumes outspread,
Leaps on the back of my sailing rack,
When the morning star shines dead;
As on the jag of a mountain crag,
Which an earthquake rocks and swings,
An eagle alit one moment may sit
In the light of its golden wings.
And when Sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath, Its ardours of rest and of love,
And the crimson pall of eve may fall
From the depth of Heaven above,
With wings folded I rest, on mine aëry nest,
As still as a brooding dove.

That orbèd maiden with white fire laden,
Whom mortals call the Moon,
Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor,
By the midnight breezes strewn;
And wherever the beat of her unseen feet,
Which only the angels hear,
May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof, The stars peep behind her and peer;
And I laugh to see them whirl and flee,
Like a swarm of golden bees,
When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent,
Till calm the rivers, lakes, and seas,
Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high, Are each paved with the moon and these.

I bind the Sun's throne with a burning zone,
And the Moon's with a girdle of pearl;
The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim, When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl.
From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape,
Over a torrent sea,
Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof,
The mountains its columns be.
The triumphal arch through which I march
With hurricane, fire, and snow,
When the Powers of the air are chained to my chair, Is the million-coloured bow;
The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove,
While the moist Earth was laughing below.

I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stain
The pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.

Chessgames.com will be unavailable August 15, 2024 from 2:00PM through 2:20PM (UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience.

The longest wedding veil was the same length as 63.5 football fields. When Maria Paraskeva, a woman from Cyprus, got married in August 2018, her goal wasn't just to say "I do." She was also determined to set a record.

"My dream as a child has always been to break the Guinness World Record title for the longest wedding veil," she explained. She fulfilled her dream by wearing a lace veil that stretched 22,843 feet and 2.11 inches, or as long as 63.5 football fields.

InkHarted wrote:

Checkmate.
I started off as an equal
I have everything that they do
my life was one and the same as my foe
childish battles of lesser
I won baring cost of a little
but as time outgrew my conscience
I found that the pieces were moving against me
with time my company reduced
they left one by one
all in time forgetting me
my castles collapsed
my religion dissuaded
my protectors in hiding
I could not run anymore
I have been cornered to a wall
as the queen left silently
without saying goodbye
I could not live any longer
she was most precious to me
I could not win without her by my side
so the king knelt down and died.

"Everyone should know how to play chess." — José Raúl Capablanca

Mark 3:25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

'Finders keepers, losers weepers'
No, turn it over to Lost and Found.

Drive sober or get pulled over.

"For surely of all the drugs in the world, chess must be the most permanently pleasurable." — Assiac

Once I asked Pillsbury whether he used any formula for castling. He said his rule was absolute and vital: castle because you will or because you must; but not because you can.' — W.E. Napier (1881-1952)

Blogger: J. Delarosa

Some say the first American chess champion of the world was Paul Morphy of New Orleans. He was clearly the strongest player of his day, though his "reign" was brief.

If you are interted in reading more about Morphy, I suggest Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess, by David Lawson.

I think the case can be made that the first "American" world champion was Wilhem Steinitz! "American" can describe anyone who lives in the Americas. And the United States is a country of immigrants.

Steinitz, a Bohemian by birth (Prague, 1836), was sent to the 1862 London tournament as the representative of the Austrian Empire. He stayed there, married, and eventual became a British subject.

Steinitz was widely considerd the strongest active player in the world after he defeat the German Aldof Anderssen in 1866. But so long as Morphy was alive, Steinitz never claimed a world chanionship.

In 1882, Steinitz was invited to Philadelphia by the chess patron, David Thompson. Steintiz, feeling somewhat ostracized in England (feeling a "foreigner for 20 years"), relocared to the United States. He took up residence in New York City, which remained his home for the rest of his life.

After Morphy passed away in 1884, a match between the two strongest recognized players at the time, was organized between Steinitz and Zucktort. The match was adverized and widely recognized as for the World Championship.

The 1886 match was played in New York, St. Louis, and New Orleans. New York resident Wilhelm Steinitz secured the title with 10 wins, 5 draws, and 5 losses.

Wilhelm Steinitz - first American world champion of chess.

>Proverbs 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.

‘May your Departures equal your Landfalls!'

Кто не рискует, тот не пьет шампанского Pronunciation: KTOH ni risKUyet, tot ni pyot shamPANSkava) Translation: He who doesn't take risks doesn't drink champagne Meaning: Fortune favours the brave

"Tal has a terrifying style. Soon even grandmasters will know of this." - Vladimir Saigin (after losing to 17-year-old Tal in a qualifying match for the master title) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5S...

"I like to grasp the initiative and not give my opponent peace of mind." — Mikhail Tal

In 1913 Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky, Tito all lived in Vienna for a couple of months.

Alabama: Mobile
Established in: 1702

The city of Mobile is a port city on the Gulf Coast in Alabama that has a lot of French influence (which makes sense, since it was founded by the French). Mardi Gras celebrations originated there, and you can experience the history of the holiday at the Mobile Carnival Museum.

* Chess History: https://www.britannica.com/topic/ch...

* Short history: Game Collection: A history of chess

* Chess Aps: https://www.wired.com/story/best-ch...

* Crouch's book: Game Collection: Chess Secrets - Attackers (Crouch)

<<Below is a Morphy acrostic by C.V. Grinfield from page 334 of the Chess Player's Chronicle, 1861:>

Mightiest of masters of the chequer'd board,
Of early genius high its boasted lord!
Rising in youth's bright morn to loftiest fame, Princeliest of players held with one acclaim;
Host in thyself – all-conquering in fight: –

Yankees exult! – in your great champion's might.>

The Dancing Bear
by James Russell Lowell

Far over Elf-land poets stretch their sway,
And win their dearest crowns beyond the goal
Of their own conscious purpose; they control
With gossamer threads wide-flown our fancy's play, And so our action. On my walk to-day,
A wallowing bear begged clumsily his toll,
When straight a vision rose of Atta Troll,
And scenes ideal witched mine eyes away.
'Merci, Mossieu!' the astonished bear-ward cried, Grateful for thrice his hope to me, the slave
Of partial memory, seeing at his side
A bear immortal. The glad dole I gave
Was none of mine; poor Heine o'er the wide
Atlantic welter stretched it from his grave.

* Learn these and burn them! https://herculeschess.com/chess-tac...

* Tactics by a different Gary: https://chessdelights.com/chess-tac...

* Malaguena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxD...

<<Alireza Firouzja> (Persian: علی‌رضا فیروزجا, Persian pronunciation: æliːɾeˈzɑː fiːɾuːzˈdʒɑː; born 18 June 2003) is an Iranian and French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest ever 2800-rated player, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months.

A chess prodigy, Firouzja won the Iranian Chess Championship at age 12 and earned the Grandmaster title at 14. At 16, Firouzja became the second youngest 2700-rated player and won a silver medal at the 2019 World Rapid Chess Championship. In November 2021, at 18, he won the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament and an individual gold medal at the European Team Chess Championship. He won a bronze medal at the 2021 World Blitz Chess Championship. In 2022, Firouzja won the Grand Chess Tour.

Firouzja left the Iranian Chess Federation in 2019 because of the country's longstanding policy against competing with Israeli players.4 He played under the FIDE flag until mid-2021, when he became a French citizen and began representing France, where he had already been living.> — Wikipedia

Q: What do you call someone who draws funny pictures of cars? A: A car-toonist.

Q: What do you call a magician on a plane?
A: A flying sorcerer.

Q: What do you call fruit playing the guitar?
A: A jam session.

Q: What do you call the shoes that all spies wear? A: Sneakers.

Q: What do you call something you can serve, but never eat? A: A volleyball.

Q: What did the alien say to the garden?
A: Take me to your weeder.

Q: What do you call a skeleton who went out in freezing temperatures? A: A numb skull.

Q: What do you call a farm that grows bad jokes? A: Corny.

roy B zev2270 Zatonskih toy stor haz a song pertning t2 stnky fshy wshd ashore

Paul Revere's Ride
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1807-1882

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,— One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm."

Then he said "Good night!" and with muffled oar Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war:
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon, like a prison-bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street
Wanders and watches with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers
Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed to the tower of the church,
Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry-chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,—
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town,
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night-encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,—
A line of black, that bends and floats
On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride,
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse's side,
Now gazed on the landscape far and near,
Then impetuous stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry-tower of the old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height,
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns!

A hurry of hoofs in a village-street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark

Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet: That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders, that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river-fog,
That rises when the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read,
How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

Want to stop getting nailed by royal thunderbolts? Ask "Can my opponent aim that queen toward my king's surrounding kill box 8, gain near opposition just outside the kill box, blockade a near pawn on a weak square preventing advancement, or fire upon my back rank defender or it's defendant? Can she arrive in two moves?" She often strikes or supports a penetrating rook diagonally. Check her diagonals! She's a Medusa -- Do NOT allow her to peak at your king!

(What's more, don't align your own queen with your king for your own queen's sake -- to avoid forks, pins, and skewers! All the more reason to castle and separate the couple).

<<<A Fallen Leaf> By Ella Wheeler Wilcox>

A trusting little leaf of green,
A bold audacious frost;
A rendezvous, a kiss or two,
And youth for ever lost.
Ah, me!
The bitter, bitter cost.

A flaunting patch of vivid red,
That quivers in the sun;
A windy gust, a grave of dust,
The little race is run.
Ah, me!
Were that the only one.>

Of the eight planets in the Solar System, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were observed by Babylonian astronomers as early as the 2nd millennium BC. The Greek Aristarchus of Samos (310–230 bc) also correctly observed the position of Earth in relation to the planets – known as the heliocentric model.

H.T. Bland. On page 207 of the December 1929 American Chess Bulletin he exalted the challenger in that year's world championship match:

Bravo ‘Bogol', you've shown pluck.
One and all we wish you luck.
Gee, some thought you'd barged between
Other players who'd have been
Less likely straightaway to lose
Just as friend Alekhine might choose;
Undaunted, ‘Bogol', you went in
Believing you'd a chance to win.
Or failing that, to make a fight,
Which you are doing as we write.

<Steinitz's Theory

1. At the beginning of the game, Black and White are equal.

2. The game will stay equal with correct play on both sides.

3. You can only win by your opponent's mistake.

4. Any attack launched in an equal position will not succeed, and the attacker will suffer.

5. You should not attack until an advantage is obtained.

6. When equal, do not seek to attack, but instead, try to secure an advantage.

7. Once you have an advantage, attack or you will lose it.>

The Swarm
by Sylvia Plath

Somebody is shooting at something in our town -- A dull pom, pom in the Sunday street.

Jealousy can open the blood,
It can make black roses.

Who are the shooting at?

It is you the knives are out for
At Waterloo, Waterloo, Napoleon,
The hump of Elba on your short back,
And the snow, marshaling its brilliant cutlery
Mass after mass, saying Shh!

Shh! These are chess people you play with,
Still figures of ivory.

The mud squirms with throats,
Stepping stones for French bootsoles.

The gilt and pink domes of Russia melt and float off

In the furnace of greed.
Clouds, clouds.

So the swarm balls and deserts
Seventy feet up, in a black pine tree.

It must be shot down.
Pom! Pom!
So dumb it thinks bullets are thunder.

It thinks they are the voice of God
Condoning the beak, the claw, the grin of the dog Yellow-haunched, a pack-dog,
Grinning over its bone of ivory
Like the pack, the pack, like everybody.

The bees have got so far.
Seventy feet high!
Russia, Poland and Germany!
The mild hills, the same old magenta
Fields shrunk to a penny
Spun into a river, the river crossed.

The bees argue, in their black ball,
A flying hedgehog, all prickles.

The man with gray hands stands under the honeycomb Of their dream, the hived station
Where trains, faithful to their steel arcs,

Leave and arrive, and there is no end to the country.

Pom! Pom! They fall
Dismembered, to a tod of ivy.

So much for the charioteers, the outriders, the Grand Army! A red tatter, Napoleon!

The last badge of victory.

The swarm is knocked into a cocked straw hat.

Elba, Elba, bleb on the sea!
The white busts of marshals, admirals, generals
Worming themselves into niches.

How instructive this is!
The dumb, banded bodies
Walking the plank draped with Mother France's upholstery Into a new mausoleum,
An ivory palace, a crotch pine.

The man with gray hands smiles --
The smile of a man of business, intensely practical.

They are not hands at all
But asbestos receptacles.

Pom! Pom! 'They would have killed me.
'

Stings big as drawing pins!
It seems bees have a notion of honor,
A black intractable mind.

Napoleon is pleased, he is pleased with everything.

O Europe! O ton of honey!

Riddle Question: If you drop a yellow hat in the Red Sea, what does it become?

The Persian epic Explanation of Chatrang and the Invention of Nard tells the story of chess being introduced to the royal court by an envoy from India.

Riddle Answer: Wet, duh!

Maximo wrote:

My Forking Knight's Mare
Gracefully over the squares, as a blonde or a brunette, she makes moves that not even a queen can imitate. Always active and taking the initiative,
she likes to fork.
She does it across the board,
taking with ease not only pawns, but also kings, and a bad bishop or two.
Sometimes she feels like making
quiet moves,
at other times, she adopts romantic moods,
and makes great sacrifices.
But, being hers a zero-sum game,
she often forks just out of spite.
An expert at prophylaxis, she can be a swindler, and utter threats,
skewering men to make some gains.
Playing with her risks a conundrum,
and also catching Kotov's syndrome.
Nonetheless, despite having been trampled
by her strutting ways
my trust in her remains,
unwavering,
until the endgame.

In 2016, the iconic sparkly dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to serenade President John F. Kennedy on his birthday sold for a staggering $4.8 million at auction. This remains the world record for the most expensive article of clothing ever sold, beating out the record previously held by… another one of Monroe's dresses, her costume from The Seven Year Itch.

The Wolf Turned Shepherd

A wolf, whose gettings from the flocks
Began to be but few,
Bethought himself to play the fox
In character quite new.
A shepherd's hat and coat he took,
A cudgel for a crook,
Nor even the pipe forgot:
And more to seem what he was not,
Himself on his hat he wrote,
"I'm Willie, shepherd of these sheep."
His person thus complete,
His crook in upraised feet,
The impostor Willie stole on the keep.
The real Willie, on the grass asleep,
Slept there, indeed, profoundly,
His dog and pipe slept, also soundly;
His drowsy sheep around lay.
As for the greatest number,
Much blessed the hypocrite their slumber,
And hoped to drive away the flock,
Could he the shepherd's voice but mock.
He thought undoubtedly he could.
He tried: the tone in which he spoke,
Loud echoing from the wood,
The plot and slumber broke;
Sheep, dog, and man awoke.
The wolf, in sorry plight,
In hampering coat bedight,
Could neither run nor fight.

There's always leakage of deceit
Which makes it never safe to cheat.
Whoever is a wolf had better
Keep clear of hypocritic fetter.

<<Is Queen + Knight really stronger than Queen + Bishop?> The Queen + Knight does not seem to be an advantage of itself. In order to be considered advantageous, there must always be a second element influencing the position. The most common factors are weakness of the opposing king, passed pawns, and weak squares that can be accessed.

Mr. H. H. Strand wrote: "There is no true answer to this, but here are some general observations that are commonly agreed upon by strong players:

Bishops are stronger in open positions with few pawns on the board, especially if you have the bishop pair and especially in endgames.

Knights are stronger in closed positions, where the pawns are locked against each other.

Having the bishop pair against a knight and a bishop is usually a slight advantage in middle games. Against the knight pair it is less clear.

A knight that can be anchored in the center of the board (protected by a pawn) is often stronger than a bishop.

A knight anchored in an advanced position in the enemy camp (typically on squares like e6, d6, d3 or e3) is often very strong, even as strong as a rook.

A bishop is usually stronger than a knight in an open endgame, especially if the side with the bishop has a passed wing pawn.

A knight is often stronger than a bishop in endgames with static pawn structures. This theme is called "good knight versus bad bishop."

Knights on the edge of the board, or even worse, a corner, can be quite weak. "A knight on the rim is dim."

Bishops on long diagonals are often very strong, especially on an open diagonal.

The value of knights go up in blitz games or in time trouble, as their movements are harder to calculate and predict.

Rooks cooperate better with a bishop than a knight.

Queens cooperate better with a knight than a bishop."

Such hypothetical conceptions are difficult to answer. Chess requires analysis of a specific position to determine who is better. There are simply too many variables to generalize with any degree of accuracy. Thus, the value of the pieces can change during a game.>

Underface
By Shel Silverstein

Underneath my outside face
There's a face that none can see.
A little less smiley,
A little less sure,
But a whole lot more like me

"Once there is the slightest suggestion of combinational possibilities on the board, look for unusual moves. Apart from making your play creative and interesting it will help you to get better results." ― Alexander Kotov

Let's pause so free pie thief can look up who Alexander Kotov is. free pie thief will research it and be an expert on Kotov tomorrow. Will we get another lecture on Philidor's Gate?

A penguin achieved knighthood.
In 2008, a penguin living in the Edinburgh Zoo was knighted. The penguin is the mascot of the King of Norway's Guard, making it a special figure for the country's military—and the knighting of this particular one, named Nils Olav III, was an opportunity to celebrate the relations between Norway and Scotland. The knighting went over so well that in 2016, he was promoted to Brigadier.

<<<The Man In The Glass > Peter Dale Wimbrow Sr. >

When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your father, or mother, or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life Is the one staring back from the glass.

He's the fellow to please – never mind all the rest For he's with you, clear to the end
And you've passed your most difficult, dangerous test If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years And get pats on the back as you pass
But your final reward will be heartache and tears If you've cheated the man in the glass.>

This poem was first published in 1934 and is still very popular today.

"Zeitnot" is German for "time pressure."

"....his countrymen, Kolisch and Steinitz, are greatly indebted for their later success to their having enjoyed early opportunities of practicing with the departed amateur whose death is also greatly deplored amongst all who knew him personally." — Wilhelm Steinitz, regarding Karl Hamppe

The first appearance of the (John) Cochrane gambit against Petrov's defense C42 was in the year 1848 against an Indian master Mohishunder Bannerjee.

"Sorry don't get it done, Dude!" — John Wayne, Rio Bravo

"Gossip is the devil's telephone. Best to just hang up." — Moira Rose

The Head and the Tail of the Serpent

Two parts the serpent has –
Of men the enemies –
The head and tail: the same
Have won a mighty fame,
Next to the cruel Fates; –
So that, indeed, hence
They once had great debates
About precedence.
The first had always gone ahead;
The tail had been for ever led;
And now to Heaven it prayed,
And said,
"O, many and many a league,
Dragged on in sore fatigue,
Behind his back I go.
Shall he for ever use me so?
Am I his humble servant;
No. Thanks to God most fervent!
His brother I was born,
And not his slave forlorn.
The self-same blood in both,
I'm just as good as he:
A poison dwells in me
As virulent as does
In him. In mercy, heed,
And grant me this decree,
That I, in turn, may lead –
My brother, follow me.
My course shall be so wise,
That no complaint shall rise."

With cruel kindness Heaven granted
The very thing he blindly wanted:
To such desires of beasts and men,
Though often deaf, it was not then.
At once this novel guide,
That saw no more in broad daylight
Than in the murk of darkest night,
His powers of leading tried,
Struck trees, and men, and stones, and bricks,
And led his brother straight to Styx.
And to the same unlovely home,
Some states by such an error come.

"To sense this world of waters known to the creatures of the sea we must shed our human perceptions of length and breadth and time and place, and enter vicariously into a universe of all-pervading water." (From 1937) — Rachel L. Carson

"No one has ever won a game of chess by taking only forward moves (What about Scholar's Mate?). Sometimes you have to move backwards in order to be able to take better steps forward. That is life." — Anonymous

Drive sober or get pulled over.

"For surely of all the drugs in the world, chess must be the most permanently pleasurable." — Assiac

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." ― Thomas Jefferson, chess player

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." ― Mahatma Gandhi

* Crafty Endgame Trainer: https://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-...

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, "Don Quixote"

Old Russian Proverb: "Every sandpiper praises its own swamp. (Всяк кулик свое болото хвалит.)" People tend to have high opinion about the place where they live.

"You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose." ― Indira Gandhi

Don't Let Your Past Determine Your Future

The Chess Poem by Ayaan Chettiar

8 by 8 makes 64
In the game of chess, the king shall rule
Kings and queens, and rooks and knights
Bishops and Pawns, and the use of mind

The Game goes on, the players think
Plans come together, form a link
Attacks, checks and capture
Until, of course, we reach a mate

The Pawns march forward, then the knights
Power the bishops, forward with might
Rooks come together in a line
The Game of Chess is really divine

The Rooks move straight, then take a turn
The Knights on fire, make no return
Criss-Cross, Criss-Cross, go the bishops
The Queen's the leader of the group

The King resides in the castle
While all the pawns fight with power
Heavy blows for every side
Until the crown, it is destroyed

The Brain's the head, The Brain's the King,
The Greatest one will always win,
For in the game of chess, the king shall rule,
8 by 8 makes 64!

Nuclear power provides nearly half of America's clean energy Nuclear energy provided 47% of America's carbon-free electricity in 2022, making it the largest domestic source of clean energy.

Nuclear power plants do not emit greenhouse gases while generating electricity.

They produce power by boiling water to create steam that spins a turbine. The water is heated by a process called fission, which makes heat by splitting apart uranium atoms inside a nuclear reactor core.

<<Nothing Gold Can Stay> By Robert Frost>

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.>

The total number of children fathered by Genghis Khan is unknown, but estimates range from several hundred to over a thousand. DNA evidence has suggested that one in every 200 people in the world today is a descendant of Genghis Khan. That's around 16 million people.

"If you want your children to listen, try talking softly to someone else." ― Ann Landers

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." ― Jesus Christ

"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls." ― Mother Teresa

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be." ― Anne Frank

"Disappointment is inevitable. But to become discouraged, there's a choice I make. God would never discourage me. He would always point me to himself to trust him. Therefore, my discouragement is from Satan. As you go through the emotions that we have, hostility is not from God, bitterness, unforgiveness, all of these are attacks from Satan." ― Charles Stanley

"Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess." ― Siegbert Tarrasch

"In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are." — Max De Pree

"As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight." — The Revenant

WeordFun:
Ziryabn Jona tree nutz zona stick iz betta than kreem zina bowl super Riggins ran 4all STD ona windy side.

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." — Calvin Coolidge

Psalm 96: 1-3
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Philippians 4:7
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Never Let Success Get To Your Head And Never Let Failure Get To Your Heart

BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
One for the master
And one for the dame.
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

16 yellow #2 pencilz

Why did Chicken Little cross the road?
To warn the people on the other side that the sky was falling.

Sep-07-24 Cecco: According to this engine the much criticized 34. ... h2 is the best move. Sep-07-24 offramp: I was wondering about all the chess engines that disappeared from our world. What happened to Mephisto? I used to play that board/set in a London department store.

Gandalf has gone. Shredder has gone. Rybka went suddenly down the toilet. AlphaZero is not commercially available; it probably gave up chess to mine bitcoins.

The best-known engines now seem to be Fritz and Stockfish.

I often have a look at TCEC, which is always interesting. It's the chess version of <RobotWars>.

Sep-07-24 Muttley101: <offramp> if you're unaware of the story of Rybka, the ICCA (or whatever they are/were called), claimed that Rybka contained large sections of code copied from Oakfoam, and banned it from computer chess competitions. If I recall correctly, Chessbase took on the developers and incorporated Rybka's techniques into Fritz. The DCNN that underpins Alphazero was bought by Google and is being used to investigate all sorts of research problems, for example: drug design, protein folding. Not hard to find information, amazing stuff. In any case, Leela (amongst others) used the DCNN architecture (Google published numerous articles on techniques, they are wonderful), and the recent work on KANs is another example of how the area is developing.

Have fun reading up.

Sep-07-24
offramp: User: Muttley101 your précis is perfect. I'm going to have a look. When I lost to Mephisto I must have thought, "This game will create protein folding."