A passive but playable defense fraught with danger. One slip can be costly.

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"Grandmaster games are said to begin with novelty, which is the first move of the game that exits the book. It could be the fifth, it could be the thirty-fifth. We think about a chess game as beginning with move one and ending with checkmate. But this is not the case. The games begins when it gets out of book, and it end when it goes into book...And this is why Game 6 between Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue didn't count...Tripping and falling into a well on your way to the field of battle is not the same thing as dying in it...Deep Blue is only itself out of book; prior to that it is nothing. Just the ghosts of the game itself." ― Brian Christian, The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive

"The cherished dream of every chessplayer is to play a match with the World Champion. But here is the paradox: the closer you come to the realization of this goal, the less you think about it." ― Mikhail Tal

"I mean a man whose hopes and aims may sometimes lie (as most men's sometimes do, I dare say) above the ordinary level, but to whom the ordinary level will be high enough after all if it should prove to be a way of usefulness and good service leading to no other. All generous spirits are ambitious, I suppose, but the ambition that calmly trusts itself to such a road, instead of spasmodically trying to fly over it, is of the kind I care for." ― Charles Dickens, Bleak House

"Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley." ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"But I find something compelling in the game's choreography, the way one move implies the next. The kings are an apt metaphor for human beings: utterly constrained by the rules of the game, defenseless against bombardment from all sides, able only to temporarily dodge disaster by moving one step in any direction." ― Jennifer duBois, A Partial History of Lost Causes

<The Celestial Sphere
Around the celestial sphere, we gaze in awe,
The universe's secrets, tightly draw.
The sky, a doorway to the beyond,
Where stars and galaxies fondly respond.>

"The move is there, but you must see it." ― Savielly Tartakower

"You may delay, but time will not." ― Benjamin Franklin

"Chess is all about maintaining coherent strategies. It's about not giving up when the enemy destroys one plan but to immediately come up with the next. A game isn't won and lost at the point when the king is finally cornered. The game's sealed when a player gives up having any strategy at all. When his soldiers are all scattered, they have no common cause, and they move one piece at a time, that's when you've lost." ― Kazuo Ishiguro, A Pale View of Hills

"The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds." ― Teck Foo Check, The Autobiography of Sun Tzu

"War is not just the shower of bullets and bombs from both sides, it is also the shower of blood and bones on both sides." ― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

"The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field." ― Sun Tzu, The Art Of War

"Technique has taken over the whole of civilization. Death, procreation, birth all submit to technical efficiency and systemization." ― Jacques Ellul

"Time is an illusion." ― Albert Einstein

"Time isn't precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is." ― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

"It's being here now that's important. There's no past and there's no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can't relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don't know if there is one." ― George Harrison

"My formula for success is rise early, work late, and strike oil." ― JP Getty

* How to Play Chess! http://www.serverchess.com/play.htm...

* Basic Rules: https://thechessworld.com/basic-che...

* Annotated Games: Game Collection: Annotated Games

* Artists: Game Collection: Art of Checkmate

* A few KIAs: Game Collection: Opening Ideas

* Assorted good games: Game Collection: assorted Good games

* Back rank mating tactics: Game Collection: 610_Back rank mating tactics

* Black Defends: Game Collection: Opening repertoire black

* Best (Old) Games of All Time: Game Collection: Best Games of All Time

* Best of the British: Game Collection: Best of the British

* The Best Chess Games (part 2): Game Collection: The Best Chess Games (part 2)

* Brilliant games: Game Collection: Brilliant games

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

* Broadway straight

* Common Checkmate Patterns:
http://gambiter.com/chess/Checkmate...

* Chess Prehistory: Game Collection: Chess Prehistory

* 'Chess Praxis' by Aron Nimzowitsch: Game Collection: Chess Praxis (Nimzowitsch)

* Classic games by great players: Game Collection: Guinness Book - Chess Grandmasters (Hartston)

* Caviar: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

* Chess Links: http://www.chessdryad.com/links/ind...

* Chess in old newspapers: https://www.schach-chess.com/chess-...

* ChessCafe.com column, The Openings Explained: Abby Marshall

* Carlsen: Game Collection: Move by Move - Carlsen (Lakdawala)

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

* Dr. Edmund Adam Miniatures: Edmund Adam

* Exchange sacs: Game Collection: Exchange sacs - 1

* Four o' diamonds

* Fork Overload (Remove the Defender): Game Collection: FORK-OVERLOAD OR HOOK-AND-LADDER TRICK

* Famous Chess Photos: https://tr.pinterest.com/pin/585256...

* Famous brilliancies: Game Collection: brilliacies

* The Fireside Book of Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld: Game Collection: Fireside Book of Chess

* Fire Baptisms: Game Collection: Fire Baptisms

* Games of famous masters: Game Collection: bengalcat47's favorite games

* elmubarak: my fav games: Game Collection: elmubarak: my fav games

* Glossary P: https://www.peoriachess.com/Glossar...

* Golden Treasury of Chess (Wellmuth/Horowitz): https://www.chess "Win with grace, lose with dignity!" ― Susan Polgar

"What does it take to be a champion? Desire, dedication, determination, personal and professional discipline, focus, concentration, strong nerves, the will to win, and yes, talent!" ― Susan Polgar

"No matter how successful you are (or will be), never ever forget the people who helped you along the way, and pay it forward! Don't become arrogant and conceited just because you gained a few rating points or made a few bucks. Stay humble and be nice, especially to your fans!" ― Susan Polgar

* Diagrammed Checkmate Patterns: Game Collection: Checkmate: Checkmate Patterns

* Morphy Miniatures:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Simple tactics course using miniatures:
http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/x/FTP...

* P Rep: Game Collection: E4 repertoire

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

"My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time." — Charles Dickens

"The journey is its own reward." — Homer

Colorado: San Luis
Established in: 1851

San Luis has a predominately Hispanic population of less than 700 people, and so the town features a very strong Spanish influence. It was once part of four Spanish land grants decreed by the King of Spain, and a classic adobe architecture and Spanish town layout remain.

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

St. Nicholas

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.

"There are more adventures on a chessboard than on all the seas of the world." ― Pierre Mac Orlan

"You can only get good at chess if you love the game." ― Bobby Fischer

Dear Dad, $chool i$ really great. I am making lot$ of friend$ and $tudying very hard. With all my $tuff, I $imply can't think of anything I need, $o if you would like, you can ju$t $end me a card, a$ I would love to hear from you. Love, Your $on

Dear Son, I kNOw that astroNOmy, ecoNOmics, and oceaNOgraphy are eNOugh to keep even an hoNOr student busy. Do NOt forget that the pursuit of kNOwledge is a NOble task, and you can never study eNOugh. Love, Dad

The Bird Wounded By An Arrow

A bird, with plumed arrow shot,
In dying case deplored her lot:
"Alas!" she cried, "the anguish of the thought!
This ruin partly by myself was brought!
Hard-hearted men! from us to borrow
What wings to us the fatal arrow!
But mock us not, you cruel race,
For you must often take our place."

The work of half the human brothers
Is making arms against the others.

<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.

The Three Kings By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Three Kings came riding from far away,
Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar;
Three Wise Men out of the East were they,
And they travelled by night and they slept by day, For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.

The star was so beautiful, large and clear,
That all the other stars of the sky
Became a white mist in the atmosphere,
And by this they knew that the coming was near
Of the Prince foretold in the prophecy.

Three caskets they bore on their saddle-bows,
Three caskets of gold with golden keys;
Their robes were of crimson silk with rows
Of bells and pomegranates and furbelows,
Their turbans like blossoming almond-trees.

And so the Three Kings rode into the West,
Through the dusk of the night, over hill and dell, And sometimes they nodded with beard on breast, And sometimes talked, as they paused to rest,
With the people they met at some wayside well.

"Of the child that is born," said Baltasar, "Good people, I pray you, tell us the news;
For we in the East have seen his star,
And have ridden fast, and have ridden far,
To find and worship the King of the Jews."

And the people answered, "You ask in vain;
We know of no King but Herod the Great!"
They thought the Wise Men were men insane,
As they spurred their horses across the plain,
Like riders in haste, who cannot wait.

And when they came to Jerusalem,
Herod the Great, who had heard this thing,
Sent for the Wise Men and questioned them;
And said, "Go down unto Bethlehem,
And bring me tidings of this new king."

So they rode away; and the star stood still,
The only one in the grey of morn;
Yes, it stopped—it stood still of its own free will, Right over Bethlehem on the hill,
The city of David, where Christ was born.

And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the guard, Through the silent street, till their horses turned And neighed as they entered the great inn-yard; But the windows were closed, and the doors were barred, And only a light in the stable burned.

And cradled there in the scented hay,
In the air made sweet by the breath of kine,
The little child in the manger lay,
The child, that would be king one day
Of a kingdom not human, but divine.

His mother Mary of Nazareth
Sat watching beside his place of rest,
Watching the even flow of his breath,
For the joy of life and the terror of death
Were mingled together in her breast.

They laid their offerings at his feet:
The gold was their tribute to a King,
The frankincense, with its odor sweet,
Was for the Priest, the Paraclete,
The myrrh for the body's burying.

And the mother wondered and bowed her head,
And sat as still as a statue of stone,
Her heart was troubled yet comforted,
Remembering what the Angel had said
Of an endless reign and of David's throne.

Then the Kings rode out of the city gate,
With a clatter of hoofs in proud array;
But they went not back to Herod the Great,
For they knew his malice and feared his hate,
And returned to their homes by another way.

The first chess legend, called the wheat and chessboard problem, illustrates the power of exponential growth.

The first chess movie, called Chess Fever, was a silent comedy released in 1925 in the Soviet Union.

The word checkmate comes from the Persian phrase shah mat, meaning "the king is helpless".

Feb-23-23 FSR: Thanks, Susan. I never saw Albert after my freshman year of high school (he and his family moved to the Chicago suburbs, where he went to a different school and played for a different chess team). Super nice guy. I was very surprised many years later to learn that he and your son had started this site.

A toast for friendship:

‘Here's to Tall Ships,
Here's to Small Ships,
Here's to all the Ships at Sea.
But the best Ships are Friendships,
Here's to You and Me!'

The Lion Beaten By The Man

A picture once was shown,
In which one man, alone,
On the ground had thrown
A lion fully grown.
Much gloried at the sight the rabble.
A lion thus rebuked their babble:
"That you have got the victory there,
There is no contradiction.
But, gentles, possibly you are
The dupes of easy fiction:
Had we the art of making pictures,
Perhaps our champion had beat yours!"

"....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

pages 24-25 of The Year Book of the United States Chess Federation 1944 (Chicago, 1945), which published ‘Brave Heart', Anthony Santasiere's tribute to Frank J. Marshall. Written in August 1942 for Marshall's 65th birthday, it began:

Brave Heart –
We salute you!
Knowing neither gain nor loss,
Nor fear, nor hate –;
But only this –
To fight – to fight –
And to love.

Santasiere then gushes on in a similar vein for another 40 lines or so, and we pick up the encomium for its final verse:

For this – dear Frank –
We thank you.
For this – dear Frank –
We love you!
Brave heart –
Brave heart –
We love you!

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, or the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Psalm 31:24
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!

Romans 8:31
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

"To what greater inspiration and counsel can we turn than to the imperishable truth to be found in this treasure house, the Bible?" — Queen Elizabeth II

THE INTELLECT
― Victor Kahn

The world as we view it is much like a dance,
you can take what is coming and live it by chance… Or seek answers to questions and live it by choice, just follow your heart and answer its voice.

Chance brings that karmic phenomenon,
manifested reactions from what you have done.
Look for a place that's hidden within,
search for the message, that's where to begin.

Talk to yourself, have conversation inside,
it's a matter of choice, create from the mind. Picture yourself in a world all your own,
then bring it to life from the seed to the sown.

Search & discover the source of white light,
don't settle for anything, reach for the heights. Your goals are the answer to what you achieve,
and it's almost like magic when you start to believe.

Truth & intuition …bring gifts to rejoice,
go it by chance or live it by choice!

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude." ― Denis Waitley

"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

St. Marher, 1225:
"And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet."

68 Zeus Doctor book had a queen'z rook w/a noze n toez so it waz mo ofa humanoid towr of dowr to nth defree b4u dien library fo inmatoes ala Shwshnkd recension From's gambit Newrk, Delwre Rivr of no return by Monthday or pay ovrchrgz.

raiders.