This sketch comedy was broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974. The top players were Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.

<Schwartz: Schubert: Im Abendrot, D.799 <https://youtu.be/IgpmFZ7WKFY>

In the sunset

German source: Joseph von Eichendorff

We have gone hand in hand
through adversity and joy,
From wandering we
now rest over the silent land.

All around the valleys slope,
The air is already darkening,

Only two larks rise
dreaming into the fragrance.

Come here, and let them buzz,
Soon it will be bedtime,

That we may not get lost
in this loneliness.

O on, silent peace!
So deep in the sunset
How are we weary of wandering—
Is this death?>

We have a local player, an older medical doctor with much more important demands on his time, who always plays the same chess openings. The doctor plays the Torre Attack as White, and the Caro-Kann/Slav defense as Black. (He does not play gambits or Indian Defenses.) Everybody knows this is what the doctor plays -- every time. Yet, the doctor wins more than he loses because he has become very familiar with his openings over time, and plays slowly, thinking about the opposing army before he moves. The doctor says he does not memorize opening lines deliberately, but he has acquired such knowledge from so many replays. (He did some research on the Panov-Botvinnik Attack.) The doctor simply plays over grandmaster games in these three openings, and only these three openings. Other openings are shunned. He does not bother with any other openings. (Of course, the doctor sampled other openings many years ago before eventually deciding on his safe, solid choices. He had read some Fred Reinfeld and Max Euwe writings before medical school.) The doctor refuses to debate the French defense and the Benoni w/the rest of us! This careful, restricted approach to openings is how the doctor makes use of his limited time for chess and finds success. The triangle pawn structure of the Torre/C-K/Slav defense is sound, the piece development is active enough, and basic middlegame plans are familiar. He gets a fair middlegame and does not keep repeating the same mistakes over and over. It works for him. FTB knows the doctor has read a few chess books -- and many chess book reviews for possible discussions of his repertoire. The doctor reviews the master reviewers like Silman, Donaldson, Watson, Bauer, Hartmann, etc. but rarely buys the book -- he just borrows FTB's books if he likes the review. We have discussed various books, mostly just the reviews. These are the books the good doctor has read, likes, and KEEPS: - Chess the Easy Way by Reuben Fine, Sam Sloan. Playing strong chess is not so easy as it sounds, but the doctor has all the listed principles/tips memorized from this book. You might want to read "Easy Guide to Chess" by B.H. Wood, and "The Right Way to Play Chess" by D.B. Pritchard first. - The Middle_Game in Chess by Reuben Fine, Sam Sloan ( -- NOT Burt Hochberg's mistake-prone revision). - Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Irving Chernev. The doctor admires Capablanca and Karpov, but he says the Queen's Gambit has way too much opening theory for his tastes. - Opening Systems for Competitive Chess Players by John Hall. This helped him lock in on his repertoire (he avoids playing fianchettoes). - Two opening books by Eric Schiller about his same repertoire: Play the Torre Attack, and Complete Defense to King Pawn Openings. - The doctor has read other chess books, but he has deliberately mentioned these around the club. He's not worried about keeping chess secrets; this is what worked for him. - The doctor also has some Foxy Opening videos, but got rid of others. - I've loaned him Batsford Chess Openings by Kasparov and Keene a few times over the years. FTB has made a habit of taking a few reference books to the club because somebody is always asking about openings and I don't want to give away what I have personally memorized (or haven't memorized), so we look it up in the books. This way players learn to help themselves use reference sources.

The doctor steadfastly follows/gives this bit of advice: "Never fall for the same trap twice. Always learn from your mistakes and don't repeat them." There are so many, many different openings to choose from! Pick just three openings...one with White, one defense against 1.e4, and one defense against 1.d4. "It is better to be a master of one trade than a fool in many." The doctor does not care about the latest opening theory for a tiny plus advantage as sought by grandmasters because "I usually don't play grandmasters, so why worry about 'em?" He's happy to have an equal game w/a secure position, waiting for his opponent to hastily slip up. He tells club members to stop buying so many chess books and videos -- study those you already have and play more chess, but play carefully. "Don't play unless you're focused, determined, ready to concentrate deeply. Thinking a few moves ahead is the nature of the game." The doctor is always telling the kids (including the big kids w/grey hair) to "Slow down, look around! Plan ahead for both sides. Always know what will happen next before it happens. Never guess, never hurry, never capture just because you can -- that's when you make mistakes." How many times have we heard "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,"? The good doctor watches but does not play blitz chess in public at the club (just rated tournaments at slower time controls when his schedule allows), but he does play chess against the computer some. The doctor maintains an Expert rating, having beaten his share of masters from time to time.

"The words of truth are simple." ― Aeschylus

"It is only after our basic needs for food and shelter have been met that we can hope to enjoy the luxury of theoretical speculations." ― Aristotle.

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." — Dolly Parton

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." — Groucho Marx

"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things." — Albert Einstein

"Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." — Babe Ruth

John 14:6
"<I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.>" ― Jesus Christ

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." ― Buddha

"No legacy is so rich as honesty." ― William Shakespeare

"Of chess it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not chess." ― William Napier / Irving Chernev

"Winning needs no explanation, losing has no alibi." ― Greg Baum.

"A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop." ― Robert Hughes

"Chess is a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders." ― Savielly Tartakower

"Pawns are the soul of the game." ― François-André Danican Philidor

"The king pawn and the queen pawn are the only ones to be moved in the early part of the game." ― Wilhelm Steinitz

"I believe that it is best to know a 'dubious' opening really well, rather than a 'good' opening only slightly." ― Simon Williams

"There is no such thing as an absolutely freeing move. A freeing move in a position in which development has not been carried far always proves illusory, and vice versa, a move which does not come at all in the category of freeing moves can, given a surplus of tempi to our credit, lead to a very free game." ― Aron Nimzowitsch

"You may knock your opponent down with the chessboard, but that does not prove you the better player." ― English Proverb

"For a period of ten years--between 1946 and 1956--Reshevsky was probably the best chessplayer in the world. I feel sure that had he played a match with Botvinnik during that time he would have won and been World Champion." ― Bobby Fischer

"I believe that true beauty of chess is more than enough to satisfy all possible demands." ― Alexander Alekhine

"We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a chessplayer's nature." ― Rudolf Spielmann

"To play for a draw, at any rate with white, is to some degree a crime against chess." ― Mikhail Tal

"Boring? Who's boring? I am Fredthebear. My mind is always active, busy. If you're bored, follow your uncle around or go ride your bike."

"Capa's games looked as though they were turned out by a lathe, while Alekhine's resembled something produced with a mallet and chisel." ― Charles Yaffe

"Whereas Anderssen and Chigorin looked for accidental positions, Capablanca is guided by the logicality of strong positions. He values only that which is well-founded: solidity of position, pressure on a weak point, he does not trust the accidental, even if it be a problem-like mate, at the required moment he discovers and carries out subtle and far-sighted combinations..." ― Emanuel Lasker

"Capablanca possessed an amazing ability to quickly see into a position and intuitively grasp its main features. His style, one of the purest, most crystal-clear in the entire history of chess, astonishes one with its logic." ― Garry Kasparov

Chessgames.com will be unavailable December 7, 2024 from 2:00PM through 2:45PM(UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience.

"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

"Chess is an infinitely complex game, which one can play in infinitely numerous and varied ways." ― Vladimir Kramnik

"It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained." ― Queen Elizabeth II

"The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat. So people who don't know what they're doing, or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self." — Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), You've Got Mail

"The future reshapes the memory of the past in the way it recalibrates significance: some episodes are advanced, others lose purchase." ― Gregory Maguire, A Lion Among Men

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons." ― Douglas MacArthur

"Old habits die hard, especially for soldiers." ― Jocelyn Murray, The Roman General: A Novel

"In chess, as in life, a man is his own most dangerous opponent." — Vasily Smyslov

Ye Jiangchuan has won the Chinese Chess Championship seven times.

Matthew 17:20
Our faith can move mountains.

Other people's wisdom prevents the king from being called a fool. ~ Nigerian Proverb

Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand. ~ Guinean Proverb

Ingratitude is sooner or later fatal to its author. ~ Twi Proverb

The laughter of a child lights up the house. ~ Swahili proverb

"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

All that glitters is not gold – this line can be found in a text from c.1220: ‘ Nis hit nower neh gold al that ter schineth.'

A friend in need is a friend indeed – a proverb from c.1035 say this: ‘Friend shall be known in time of need.'

All's well that ends well – a line from the mid-13th century is similar: ‘Wel is him te wel ende mai.' Meanwhile, Henry Knighton's Chronicle from the late 14th-century one can read: ‘ If the ende be wele, than is alle wele.'

Hay dos maneras de hermosura: una del alma y otra del cuerpo; la del alma campea y se muestra en el entendimiento, en la honestidad, en el buen proceder, en la liberalidad y en la buena crianza, y todas estas partes caben y pueden estar en un hombre feo; y cuando se pone la mira en esta hermosura, y no en la del cuerpo, suele nacer el amor con ímpetu y con ventajas. (There are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body; that of the soul shows and demonstrates itself in understanding, in honesty, in good behavior, in generosity and in good breeding, and all these things can find room and exist in an ugly man; and when one looks at this type of beauty, and not bodily beauty, love is inclined to spring up forcefully and overpoweringly.) ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616)

Cuando una puerta se cierra, otra se abre. (When one door is closed, another is opened.) ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616)

Dijo la sartén a la caldera, quítate allá ojinegra. (The frying pan said to the cauldron, "Get out of here, black-eyed one." This is believed to be the source of the phrase "the pot calling the kettle black.") ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

"A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference." — Eeyore

* For Intermediate and Advanced Players: http://patrickvossen.com/wp-content...

* Reasonable Book Choices: https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell...

* List of gambits: https://detailedpedia.com/wiki-List...

* Monte Carlo 1902: http://edochess.ca/batgirl/MonteCar...

* Black Storms: Game Collection: Tal - The Modern Benoni

* CG Biography: Aryan Tari

* Chess Step-by-Step: https://www.chess.com/learn-how-to-...

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

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

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

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

* 10 Best to Watch: https://www.chessjournal.com/best-c...

* 23 Opening Traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-5...

* 30 Concepts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amr...

* 50 Games to Know: https://en.chessbase.com/post/50-ga...

* Anderssen - Steinitz Match: Anderssen - Steinitz (1866)

* Art: Game Collection: Art of Checkmate

* Attack: Game Collection: Chess Secrets - Attackers (Crouch)

* Black Defends: Game Collection: Opening repertoire black

* Black attack!
Game Collection: Modern Defence Reversed

* Book: Game Collection: Dismantling the Sicilian (Jesus de la Villa)

* How did Spassky handle it? Game Collection: Spassky's Best Games (Cafferty)

* Common Phrases and Terms: https://www.ragchess.com/chess-basi...

* Chess - The Art of the Mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3P...

* Chess is cold-steel calculation, not emotion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-T...

* CFN: https://www.youtube.com/@CFNChannel

* Lekhika Dhariyal Chess Ops: https://www.zupee.com/blog/category... Zucci

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

* 1.d4 some Panov Attack: Game Collection: Rick Prep

* 1.d4 various: Game Collection: d2-d4 and win

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

* Winning w/1.d4: Game Collection: Winning with 1 d4!

* Against 1.d4: Game Collection: Against d4 favs

* Didn't stand a chance: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QPMj...

* Dr. Edmund Adam Miniatures: Edmund Adam

* En passant: Wikipedia article: En passant

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

* Everyday people should play tabletop games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUU...

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

* Famous players and their chess quotes: https://www.azquotes.com/author/310...

* Free Chess Curriculum: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

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

* fran's favs: Game Collection: franskfranz's favorite games as white

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

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

https://archive.org/details/the-gol...

* GM Avetik Grigoryan: https://chessmood.com/blog/improve-...

* GPA: https://chesstier.com/grand-prix-at...

* GK Sicil: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen

* Glossary: Wikipedia article: Glossary of chess

* Greats: Game Collection: These were the greatest...

* Hotel: https://www.chesshotel.com/

* ICC: https://www.chessclub.com/

* Just appetizers, fighter jets: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YiQv...

* h-file attacks: Game Collection: h-file Attacks, some Greek Gifts by Fredthebear

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

* Imagination: Game Collection: Imagination in Chess

* Immortal Games: Game Collection: Immortal games

* King's Pawn Theory and Practice: Game Collection: Chess Openings: Theory and Practice, Section 1

* Surprise Knockouts: Game Collection: quick knockouts of greats

* A few KIAs: Game Collection: Opening Ideas

* KID 0-1s: Game Collection: K.I.D B wins E98

* Tips for Knights & More: http://www.chesssets.co.uk/blog/tip...

* Unleash the Knight: https://cardclashgames.com/blog/che...

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

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

* Overloaded! Game Collection: OVERLOADED!

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

* Pawn Instruction: http://www.logicalchess.com/learn/l...

* Pawn Structures: Game Collection: Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide

* Pirc Defense, Classical: Game Collection: Pirc, Classical Variation

* The Chess Portal will broaden your horizons: http://schackportalen.nu/English/es...

* Passive, but playable in the Russian Game: Game Collection: Alpha Russian (White)

* Queen Pawn Games: Game Collection: ANIL RAJ.R'S QUEEN PAWN GAMES

* QGD: Game Collection: QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED

* Lasker's Manual: Game Collection: Manual of Chess (Lasker)

* Nuremberg 1896: Nuremberg (1896)

* Nunn's Chess Course: Game Collection: Lasker JNCC

* Become a Predator at the Chessboard: https://www.chesstactics.org/

* Scandinavian Minis: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Collection assembled by Fredthebear.

* Miniatures: Game Collection: 200 Miniature Games of Chess - Du Mont (III)

* Monday Puzzles: Game Collection: Monday Puzzles, 2011-2017

* POTD 2023: Game Collection: Puzzle of the Day 2023

* Tartakower Defense: https://www.chess.com/blog/MatBobul...

* Seven Minutes: French Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRU...

* Reasonable 1.d4 Repertoire: Game Collection: d4 repertoire for white

* Rajnish Das Tips: https://enthu.com/blog/chess/chess-...

* Roger that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9S...

"The only way to change anything in Russia is a revolution" ― Daniil Dubov https://en.chessbase.com/post/dubov...

* Read The Planet Greenpawn - https://www.redhotpawn.com/

* Results: https://chess-results.com/TurnierSu...

* Queen vs Rook Ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJn...

* Simple EG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejj...

* GM Endgames: Game Collection: Grandmaster Preparation - Endgame Play

* Use your King: Game Collection: ABC Games for Lessons

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

* So True: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/gre...

* tacticmania - Game Collection: tacticmania

* Tactical Games: Game Collection: Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics

* That's a lot of counting: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/st...

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

* It takes me back where, when and who: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh2...

* Underpromotion to B or Hyena? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2JA5...

* 21st Century: Game Collection: 21st Century Masterpieces - First decade (2000)

* 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

Sleeper straddle "Try again. Fail again. Fail better." ― Samuel Beckett

Idaho: Franklin
Established in: 1860

Franklin was founded in the spring of 1860 by a small group of Mormon pioneers and was named for Apostle Franklin D. Richards. As early settlers began building cabins and farming, they believed they were still in Utah. It wasn't until 1872 that an official boundary survey placed a border between the two states.

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

* Chess History: https://www.uschesstrust.org/chess-...

* World Chess Championship History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkO...

* Chess Timeline: https://wegochess.com/an-easy-to-re...

Picture History of Chess
by Fred Wilson

This classic photo-history offers up hundreds of photos of all the great players along with many outstanding adversaries who helped fashion the immortals. Excellent captions throughout. Hours of fascinating reading and a book I return to again and again. Many of these photos are quite old and hard to find, but collected here under one cover, in an oversized (10x12") format, printed on high-quality glossy paper.

Publisher‏: ‎ Dover Pubns; First Edition (January 1, 1981) Language: ‎ English
Paperback: ‎ 182 pages
ISBN-10: ‎ 0486238563
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0486238562
Item Weight: ‎ 1.23 pounds
Dimensions: ‎ 8.75 x 0.5 x 11.5 inches

Eilfan ywmodryb dda
Meaning: A good aunt is a second mother

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!

Come, Lord Jesus, our guest to be

And bless these gifts

Bestowed by Thee.

And bless our loved ones everywhere,

And keep them in Your loving care.
Amen.

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

According to Chessmetrics, Emanuel Lasker was #1 for longer than anyone else in history: 292 different months between June 1890 and December 1926. That's a timespan of 36 1/2 years, in which Lasker was #1 for a total of 24 years and 4 months. Lasker was 55 years old when he won New York 1924.

"Just because you know stuff doesn't mean you are smart... You have to know how to use that information." ― Josh Keller

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.

This poem is dedicated to PhillA, who sparked off the seed for this poem.

The Stark Naked King

When the challenge arrived from the ax wielding Philla "I must hurry and offer a bribe to his queen, thought nova, to avoid a merciless onslaught ending in bloody gore". Alas, the challenge had been secretly sent the day before. There he stood with ax and all at the castle's gate, While teasingly sending in a not-so-holy bishop as bait. High on the castle's wall nova bellowed: dump the boiling oil, To force the ax-man with his troops to screamingly recoil. To no avail, Philla hurled his castle straight upon the king, Who standing stark naked, tried to hide his private thing. So nova quickly conceded out of shameful desperation and Philla gently lowering the ax accepted nova's resignation.

Z is for Zipper (to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb")

Zipper starts with letter Z,
Letter Z, letter Z,
Zipper starts with Letter Z,
/z/, /z/, /z/, /z/!

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

To Any Reader
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 –1894

As from the house your mother sees
You playing round the garden trees,
So you may see, if you will look
Through the windows of this book,
Another child, far, far away,
And in another garden, play.
But do not think you can at all,
By knocking on the window, call
That child to hear you. He intent
Is all on his play-business bent.
He does not hear; he will not look,
Nor yet be lured out of this book.
For, long ago, the truth to say,
He has grown up and gone away,
And it is but a child of air
That lingers in the garden there.

Polar bears have black skin.
It's true: Their black skin helps absorb the heat from the sun so that they can stay warm while facing Arctic temperatures. This likely helps protect them from harmful UV rays as well.

Q: Who is Gordon Ramsay's least favourite Dragon Ball character? A: Frieza

Bottlenose dolphins are even more right-handed than humans. "Most humans (say 70 percent to 95 percent) are right-handed, a minority (say 5 percent to 30 percent) are left-handed," according to Scientific American. And the same holds true for bottlenose dolphins. In fact, the savvy swimmers are even more right-handed than we are.

A team led by Florida's Dolphin Communication Project took a look at the feeding behavior of bottlenose dolphins and found that the animals were turning to their left side 99.44 percent of the time, which "actually suggests a right-side bias," according to IFL Science. "It places the dolphin's right side and right eye close to the ocean floor as it hunts."

The Fowler, the Hawk, and the Lark

From wrongs of wicked men we draw
Excuses for our own:
Such is the universal law.
Would you have mercy shown,
Let yours be clearly known.

A fowler's mirror served to snare
The little tenants of the air.
A lark there saw her pretty face,
And was approaching to the place.
A hawk, that sailed on high
Like vapour in the sky,
Came down, as still as infant's breath,
On her who sang so near her death.
She thus escaped the fowler's steel,
The hawk's malignant claws to feel.
While in his cruel way,
The pirate plucked his prey,
On himself the net was sprung.
"O fowler," prayed he in the hawkish tongue,
"Release me in your clemency!
I never did a wrong to you."
The man replied, "It's true;
And did the lark to you?"

Q: What do you call an illegally parked frog?
A: Toad!

Q: What do you call twin dinosaurs?
A: A pair-odactyls!

Q: What do you call a pile of cats?
A: A meow-ntain!

Q: What do you call a row of rabbits hopping away? A: A receding hare line!

Q: What do you call the wife of a hippie?
A: A Mississippi!

Q: What do you call a monkey that loves Doritos? A: A chipmonk!

Q: What do you call a mac 'n' cheese that gets all up in your face? A: Too close for comfort food!

Q: What do you call a cow in an earthquake?
A: A milkshake!

<....Here is an excerpt from Sergeant's book Championship Chess, with Alekhine's view of Fine, as early as 1933:

'Before (Alekhine) left the States the Champion was induced to say whom he thought likely challengers for his title in the future. He named two Americans, Kashdan, who was favourably known in Europe already, and R Fine, whose achievements so far were mainly in his own country, and the Czecho-Slovakian, Flohr.'>

"Chess is an infinitely complex game, which one can play in infinitely numerous & varied ways." ― Vladimir Kramnik

"If you're too open-minded; your brains will fall out." ― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"How Do I Love Thee?" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

An Irish Blessing:

May we all feel…
happy and contented,
healthy and strong,
safe and protected
and living with ease…

~

A game of chess, even played by dilettantes, is an austere metaphor of life and a struggle for life, and the chess player's virtues—reason, memory, and invention—are the virtues of every thinking man. The stern rule of chess, according to which a piece that was touched must be moved and it is not permissible to redo a move of which one repents, reproduces the inexorability of the choices of the living. When your king, as a result of your inexperience, lack of attention, imprudence, or the opponent's superiority, is ever more closely threatened … cornered and finally transfixed, you cannot fail to perceive a symbolic shadow beyond the chess board. You are living a death; it is your death, and at the same time it is a death for which you are guilty. —Primo Levi, "The Irritable Chess Players"

"The first place you need to look is the last place you saw it." — Digger Manes, Moonshiners

The Blossom
by William Blake

Merry, merry sparrow!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Sees you, swift as arrow,
Seek your cradle narrow,
Near my bosom.
Pretty, pretty robin!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Hears you sobbing, sobbing,
Pretty, pretty robin,
Near my bosom.

Riddle: The one who has it does not keep it. It is large and small. It is any shape.

A mix between a Chihuahua and a dachshund is called a "chiweenie."

Riddle Answer: A gift.

"If you can dream it, you can do it." ― Walt Disney

Oct-04-10
I play the Fred: said...
You're distraught
because you're not
able to cope
feel like a dope
when Lasker hits
Puttin on (the Fritz)

"and a most curious country it was. There were a number of tiny little brooks running straight across it from side to side, and the ground between was divided up into squares by a number of little green hedges, that reached from brook to brook. I declare it's marked out just like a large chessboard!' Alice said at last. 'There ought to be some men moving about somewhere--and so there are!' she added in a tone of delight, and her heart began to beat quick with excitement as she went on. 'It's a great huge game of chess that's being played--all over the world--if this is the world at all, you know. Oh, what fun it is!" ― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass

Question: What is considered the first reality TV show? Answer: The Real World

Sea otters have the thickest fur of any mammal, at 1 million hairs per square inch.

Question: Who was Russia's first elected president? Answer: Boris Yeltsin

<the limerick. Here is one from page 25 of the Chess Amateur, October 1907:

A solver, who lived at Devizes,
Had won a great number of prizes –
A dual or cook,
He'd detect at a look,
And his head swelled up several sizes.>

* Wikipedia on Computer Chess: Wikipedia article: Computer chess

"Chess is the gymnasium of the mind." — Blasie Pascal

"Sometimes in life, and in chess, you must take one step back to take two steps forward." — IM Levy Rozman, GothamChess

So much, much, much better to be an incurable optimist than deceitful and untrustworthy.

In God we trust; all others pay cash. ~ American Proverb

Trusting in wealth is like looking for feathers on turtles. ~ Senegalese Proverb

Proverbs 1:7
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."

Zhavaed Haemaed wrote:

Zugzwang
My little game of Chess
That I played, with you
Making subtle moves
Hinting all too softly
Allowing impasses
Offering a pawn
Renouncing knights
Denouncing a bishop
Even giving up my Queen
That trying game of Chess
It appears, has come to a stale
Without one word spoken, without
An idea or intellect having being shared
My dear, I have not tried hard enough, and
I shall never be the wiser for not having made a move

"We do not remember days, we remember moments." — Cesare Pavese

"Friend, you don't have to earn God's love or try harder. You're precious in His sight, covered by the priceless blood of Jesus, and indwelt by His Holy Spirit. Don't hide your heart or fear you're not good enough for Him to care for you. Accept His love, obey Him, and allow Him to keep you in His wonderful freedom." — Charles F. Stanley

<There are distinct situations where a bishop is preferred (over a knight). For example, two bishops are better than two knights or one of each. Steven Mayer, the author of Bishop Versus Knight, contends, "A pair of bishops is usually considered to be worth six points, but common sense suggests that a pair of active bishops (that are very involved in the formation) must be accorded a value of almost nine under some circumstances." This is especially true if the player can plant the bishops in the center of the board, as two bishops working in tandem can span up to 26 squares and have the capacity to touch every square.

Bishops are also preferable to knights when queens have been exchanged because, Grandmaster Sergey Erenburg, who is ranked 11th in the U.S., explains, "Bishops and rooks complement each other, and when well-coordinated, act as a queen." Conversely, a knight is the preferred minor piece when the queen survives until the late-middlegame or the endgame. Mayer explains, "The queen and knight are able to work together smoothly and create a greater number of threats than the queen and bishop."

When forced to say one is better than the other, most anoint the bishop. Mayer concludes, "I think it's true that the bishops are better than the knights in a wider variety of positions than the knights are better than the bishops."

He continues, "Of course, I'm not sure this does us much good, as we only get to play one position at a time.">

"When you have the better of it, play simply. When the game is going against you, look for complications." — Frank J. Marshall

* Pawn Endgames: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUq...

* 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"

Cajun: Joie de vivre (Jhwa da veev) – Joy of living.

Anne Boleyn Thought She Caught the Prize in King Henry the 8th by PinkFaerie5

Anne Boleyn, you set your sights high, you deviously bold sly fox Your interest was the end of Catherine's head and locks Mary was declared a bastard, Henry the Eighth's wife slain. You were singing prettily through this torment, a refrain.

Anne Boleyn, you enticed a dangerous king, indeed. Henry the Eighth, who smashed wives like a mustard seed. You thought you would give him sons but alas, it did not happen. So now here you are in the tower, being visited by a chaplain.

Anne Boleyn, your three years as a queen was not a record. Although Henry's next wife Jane will not last assured Sir Rutherford. All of Catherine's sons died in infancy, and you were beheaded too. Your French fashions and pretty singing voice could not save the likes of you.

Mar-07-13 Abdel Irada: In case anyone wonders who Kermit Norris is/was, he's an expert in Santa Cruz against whom I used to play a great deal of blitz. His specialty, when a particularly complex position arose (especially in his pet Owen's Defense), was to lean forward, fix his opponent with a scowl and a withering stare, and say, in a deep and solemn tone, "Chicken parts!"

Lichess has all the same basic offerings as Chess.com: a large community, many game types, tutorials, puzzles, and livestreams. The site has a simple appearance, and it seems built to get you where you want to go in as few clicks as possible. You can create an account, but if you're not concerned with tracking your games and finding other players at your level, there's no need to log in. Just fire up a new game, try some puzzles, or watch a chess streamer play three-minute games while listening to techno and chatting with the comments section.

<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 Dog That Dropped The Substance For The Shadow

This world is full of shadow-chasers,
Most easily deceived.
Should I enumerate these racers,
I should not be believed.
I send them all to Aesop's dog,
Which, crossing water on a log,
Espied the meat he bore, below;
To seize its image, let it go;
Plunged in; to reach the shore was glad,
With neither what he hoped, nor what he'd had.

Lichess has all the same basic offerings as Chess.com: a large community, many game types, tutorials, puzzles, and livestreams. The site has a simple appearance, and it seems built to get you where you want to go in as few clicks as possible. You can create an account, but if you're not concerned with tracking your games and finding other players at your level, there's no need to log in. Just fire up a new game, try some puzzles, or watch a chess streamer play three-minute games while listening to techno and chatting with the comments section.

On August 16th, 2022, Hans Niemann played against Magnus Carlsen as part of the 2022 Crypto Cup in a best-of-three chess match. After beating Carlsen in the first game, Niemann was approached by an interviewer asking about his strategy for the game, to which he responded, "The chess speaks for itself." A reupload of the brief interview was posted to YouTube by David Mays on August 16th, gathering nearly 40,000 views in two weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxe...

<"From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day." ― William Shakespeare, Henry V>

"They made us many promises, but they kept only one. They promised to take our land -- and they did." — Chief Red Cloud, Oglala-Lakota Sioux, 1822-1909.

"There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who believe there are two kinds of people in this world and those who are smart enough to know better." ― Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker

* 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"

* Roger that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9S...

"The only way to change anything in Russia is a revolution" ― Daniil Dubov https://en.chessbase.com/post/dubov...

Old Russian Proverb: "Measure seven times, cut once. (Семь раз отмерь — один отрежь.)" Be careful before you do something that cannot be changed.

CHESS WORDS of WISDOM
The Principles, Methods and
Essential Knowledge of Chess
MIKE HENEBRY
2011

You should not trade pieces if you have the initiative

Opening the position helps to exploit weak squares

The best number of pawn islands to have is two

Exchanges increase the chances of mobilizing the majority wing

When behind in pieces, trade pawns, but not pieces

Calculate wide, not deep

Space is usually more important than time (Fredthebear disagrees)

Releasing the tension reduces your options

The player playing against the IQP should usually exchange all of the knights

You should not mobilize pawn structures that have doubled pawns

If a move looks bad on general principles, the plan is probably bad

The side with a positional advantage has no need to complicate

Knights are often better than bishops in blitz

A plan is made up of ideas, not moves

Trying to play the best move and playing to win are not the same

When faced with a critical position, you have to calculate variations

A gambited pawn is equal to three tempi

With the initiative, miracles can happen

Do not ignore your intuition

The weak point of the fianchetto position is the h3 (h6) square

Complications are good for the side that is losing

Long analysis, wrong analysis

If the move feels wrong, it usually is

The fianchettoed bishop is not as good as a pawn is in guarding holes

Do not win a pawn if it costs you more than two tempi

Sharp openings are best in blitz

The initiative is especially important in blitz

To play chess at a strong level, it is essential to play according to sound principles

To increase the influence of your fianchettoed bishop, open the center

A temporary advantage must be exploited at once

When you fianchetto one bishop, the other bishop automatically loses a little of its mobility

Rooks attack best from a distance

You should not change openings because the opponent is higher-rated

Passive defense can work against rook and knight pawns, but it does not work against inner pawns

An imbalance is a double-edged sword

Pawns gain in strength as the power of the pieces left on the board decreases

There is a difference between blitz and time-trouble

Exchange your redundant rook for your opponent's only rook

When ahead pieces, trade pieces, when behind pieces, trade pawns

When you are ahead on pieces, trade pieces (but not necessarily pawns)

Connected passed pawns on the 6th rank beat a Rook

The more redundant two pieces are, generally the weaker they are together

A lead in development is less important in closed positions

An advantage in development leads to other advantages

Poor development is a key breeding ground for opening traps

It is usually a good strategy to put your pawns on the color opposite of your bishop

He who fears an isolated queen's pawn should give up chess

Space is not an advantage unless you can use it beneficially for maneuvering and for piece play

A three-to-two majority is easier to convert into a passed pawn than is a four to-three majority

Plan your action on the side of your pawn majority

A central pawn majority favors the attacker

The fewer pawn islands you have the stronger the structure is

The square in front of the backward pawn is the main factor

Having a rook on the seventh rank is worth about a pawn

It is best to leave active pieces where they are

The initiative is above everything

Tactics flow from superior positions

Only calculate when it is essential

Bishops gain in strength as the endgame approaches

Calculate the moves that are forcing and tactical first

The player with an advantage must attack

Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack

If an attack can succeed with pieces alone, then leave the pawns where they are

It is usually better to have the rook in front of the queen when playing on an open file

If there are no weaknesses, you do not have an attack

Queen exchanges are usually better for the player who is attacking on the queenside

Take the minimum risk and use the maximum in economy to stop an attack

Only defend against direct threats

Bishops and knights rarely coordinate well with each other (Fredthebear says the knight can pile on the diagonal aim of the bishop for a numbers advantage, such as the Fried Live Attack striking together on f7. The bishop lurking behind the knight makes for excellent discovered attacks.)

A sudden change into an endgame can throw an attacker off his game

Three useable diagonals are worth a pawn

Plans are usually made for just a few moves at a time

Any imbalance should give the stronger player an edge

Wing pawns become more valuable relative to central pawns as material diminishes

There is no room for mistakes in a king and pawn endgame

It is usually a mistake to move a pawn on the side where your opponent is attacking

Try to meet short-term threats with long-term moves

The first player in an open position to control an open central file will generally get the initiative

It is usually wrong to remove a piece from an open file to avoid exchanges

Play where you have the advantage

You can usually allow weaknesses in your position in return for good piece activity

The move g3 is usually a more weakening move than h3

A weak square for one player is potentially a strong square for the other

You cannot consider the white and black squares in isolation when analyzing a position

Color Complex weaknesses are not as important when the minor pieces are gone

A support point is only valuable if it is near the action When your pieces are coordinated, they develop extraordinary power

If you have the bishop pair, put your pawns on the same color as your opponent's remaining bishop

If you are facing a double fianchetto, try to close the position and gain control of the center

The knight pair is not a good combination

Never use a rook to defend a pawn
(Never say never.)

If you have a dynamic advantage, but a static weakness, it might be better to keep your queen

If the rooks cannot penetrate, it is often worth the sacrifice of the ex-change to force penetration

Short, slightly whimsical and yet, very accurate chess poem:

Chess is such a noble game,
How it does the soul inflame!
Ever brilliant, ever new,
Surely chess has not its due;
Sad to say, 'tis known to few!

Poem written by W. Harris and printed in the book, "A Complete Guide to the Game of Chess"(1882). By the way, the poem is also an acrostic.

* Most common mistakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GA...

"The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times." ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." ― Theodore Roosevelt

French Proverb: "Tout est bien qui finit bien." ― (All's well that ends well.)

Free dom iz sweet unless our hair, whater, and lhand our polluticed, and our streets ovn Laredo arson full ovn crimenAlz whith more whrites sand they victimz.