Goodness gracious, GREAT BALLS O' F_I_R_E_!-!-! If the Chess Variants at the top of the list don't knock your socks off, then chess just aint your cup o' tea. Chernev says there's a world record within this top twenty list.

A GAME OF CHESS
by T S (Thomas Stearns) Eliot

The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne, Glowed on the marble, where the glass
Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines From which a golden Cupidon peeped out 80 (Another hid his eyes behind his wing)
Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra Reflecting light upon the table as
The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it,
From satin cases poured in rich profusion;
In vials of ivory and coloured glass
Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes, Unguent, powdered, or liquid— troubled, confused And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air That freshened from the window, these ascended 90 In fattening the prolonged candle-flames,
Flung their smoke into the laquearia,
Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling.

Huge sea-wood fed with copper
Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone, In which sad light a carved dolphin swam.

Above the antique mantel was displayed
As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale 100 Filled all the desert with inviolable voice
And still she cried, and still the world pursues, "Jug Jug" to dirty ears.

And other withered stumps of time
Were told upon the walls; staring forms
Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed.

Footsteps shuffled on the stair.

Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair Spread out in fiery points
Glowed into words, then would be savagely still. 110

"My nerves are bad to-night.
Yes, bad.
Stay with me.

"Speak to me.
Why do you never speak.
Speak.

"What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? "I never know what you are thinking.
Think.
"

I think we are in rats' alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.

"What is that noise?"
The wind under the door.

"What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?" Nothing again nothing. 120
"Do "You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember "Nothing?"

I remember
Those are pearls that were his eyes.

"Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?" But O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag—
It's so elegant
So intelligent 130 "What shall I do now? What shall I do?"
I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street
"With my hair down, so.
What shall we do to-morrow?
"What shall we ever do?"
The hot water at ten.

And if it rains, a closed car at four.

And we shall play a game of chess,
Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.

When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said—
I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself, 140 HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Now Albert's coming back, make yourself a bit smart.

He'll want to know what you done with that money he gave you To get yourself some teeth.
He did, I was there.

You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set, He said, I swear, I can't bear to look at you.

And no more can't I, I said, and think of poor Albert, He's been in the army four years, he wants a good time, And if you don't give it him, there's others will, I said.

Oh is there, she said.
Something o' that, I said.
150
Then I'll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look.

HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
If you don't like it you can get on with it, I said.

Others can pick and choose if you can't.

But if Albert makes off, it won't be for lack of telling.

You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique.

(And her only thirty-one.
) I can't help it, she said, pulling a long face, It's them pills I took, to bring it off, she said.

(She's had five already, and nearly died of young George. ) 160
The chemist said it would be alright, but I've never been the same.

You are a proper fool, I said.

Well, if Albert won't leave you alone, there it is, I said, What you get married for if you don't want children? HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon, And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot— HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Goonight Bill.
Goonight Lou.
Goonight May.
Goonight.
170
Ta ta.
Goonight.
Goonight.

Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.

"Chess first of all teaches you to be objective." Source: "The Soviet School of Chess" Book by Alexander Kotov, p. 42, 2001.

"Among a great many other things that chess teaches you is to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good. It trains you to think before grabbing and to think just as objectively when you're in trouble." — Stanley Kubrick

"Chess helps you to concentrate, improve your logic. It teaches you to play by the rules, take responsibility for your actions, how to problem solve in an uncertain environment." — Garry Kasparov

"Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game." — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game." — Savielly Tartakower

"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter." ― Winston S. Churchill

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

"I always plan for long-term; life to me is a never-ending chess match." ― James D. Wilson

"Tis action moves the world....in the game of chess, mind that: ye cannot leave your men to stand unmoving on the board and hope to win. A soldier must first step upon the battlefield if does mean to cross it." ― Susanna Kearsley, The Winter Sea

"It's an entire world of just 64 squares. I feel safe in it. I can control it; I can dominate it. And it's predictable. So, if I get hurt, I only have myself to blame." ― Walter Tevis, The Queen's Gambit

"In life, as in chess, it is always better to analyze one's motives and intentions." ― Vladimir Nabokov

"Never play to win a pawn while your development is yet unfinished!" ― Aron Nimzowitsch

"Check your moves well, because it can
cost one pawn or losing a lot of just from three moves!" ― Deyth Banger

"What is a weak pawn? A pawn that is exposed to attack and also difficult to defend is a weak pawn. There are several varieties: isolated, doubled, too advanced, retarded backward." ― Samuel Reshevsky, Art of Positional Play (Note: A weak pawn cannot be defended by another pawn; it's protection must come from a piece of the back rank that might rather be more aggressively active.)

"The game gives us a satisfaction that Life denies us. And for the Chess player, the success which crowns his work, the great dispeller of sorrows, is named 'combination'." ― Emanuel Lasker

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

"Of course, errors are not good for a chess game, but errors are unavoidable and in any case, a game without errors, or as they say 'flawless game' is colorless." ― Mikhail Tal

"Whereas a novice makes moves until he gets checkmated (proof), a Grand Master realizes 20 moves in advance that it's futile to continue playing (conceptualizing)." ― Bill Gaede

"Chess is not a game, it's a war." ― Joshua the poetic penguin

"The King in chess is indeed a symbol of unity and wholeness and the other pieces are not separate entities but rather parts of "the One Thing", as Campbell put it." ― Roumen Bezergianov, Character Education with Chess

"In chess, without the king, the other pieces would all be "dead", so their existence is supported by the king, but they need to serve the king with their capacity for action in order to have a good game." ― Roumen Bezergianov

"...That is my biography from the first day of my chess life to the present.

JOURNALIST. And your plans?
PLAYER. To play!"
― Mikhail Tal, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

"There had been a few times over the past year when she felt like this, with her mind not only dizzied but nearly terrified by the endlessness of chess." ― Walter Tevis, The Queen's Gambit

"Но человек существо легкомысленное и неблаговидное и, может быть, подобно шахматному игроку, любит только один процесс достижения цели, а не самую цель." ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground Russian

"But man is a frivolous and unseemly creature and, perhaps, like a chess player, loves only one process of achieving a goal, and not the goal itself." ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground English translation

"Le jeu dechec, say the French, n'est pas assez jeu: That is, chess games and others of the same importance, are not Spill, but a Study. Such may be presented to those who have nothing to order, and who fear, out of idleness, for the rust of Hiernen, but not industrious people who seek recreation in Spill and Company." ― Ludvig Holberg, Epistles

"To refer to the oft mooted question, "Which piece is stronger, the Bishop or the Knight?" it is clear that the value of the Bishop undergoes greater changes than that of the Knight." ― Emanuel Lasker

"An advantage could consist not only in a single important advantage but also in a multitude of insignificant advantages." ― Emanuel Lasker, "Lasker's Manual of Chess", p.464

"Fancy what a game of chess would be if all the chessmen had passions and intellects, more or less small and cunning; if you were not only uncertain about your adversary's men, but a little uncertain also about your own; if your knight could shuffle himself on to a new square by the sly; if your bishop, at your castling, could wheedle your pawns out of their places; and if your pawns, hating you because they are pawns, could make away from their appointed posts that you might get checkmate on a sudden. You might be the longest-headed of deductive reasoners, and yet you might be beaten by your own pawns. You would be especially likely to be beaten, if you depended arrogantly on your mathematical imagination, and regarded your passionate pieces with contempt. Yet this imaginary chess is easy compared with the game a man has to play against his fellow-men with other fellow-men for his instruments." ― George Eliot, Felix Holt: The Radical

"She had heard of the genetic code that could shape an eye or hand from passing proteins. Deoxyribonucleic acid. It contained the entire set of instructions for constructing a respiratory system and a digestive one, as well as the grip of an infant's hand. Chess was like that. The geometry of a position could be read and reread and not exhausted of possibility. You saw deeply into the layer of it, but there was another layer beyond that, and another, and another." ― Walter Tevis, The Queen's Gambit

"Truth derives its strength not so much from itself as from the brilliant contrast it makes with what is only apparently true. This applies especially to Chess, where it is often found that the profoundest moves do not much startle the imagination." ― Emanuel Lasker, Common Sense in Chess

"Chess, like love, is infectious at any age - Salo Flohr" ― Irving Chernev, The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy

"Life is short, precious, and should not be wasted. Everyone has a chance at it. We're equals after all. There are no pawns, no kings, and no queens.
We're all humans and we all have the same value." ― Cristelle Comby, Blind Chess

"Life is a mysterious and witty intermingling of fate and events." ― Alexandra Kosteniuk

"Zugzwang. It's when you have no good moves. But you still have to move." ― Michael Chabon

"Everyone wants to be wanted and if all people wait for someone else to invest in them, the world will be stuck in an eternal stalemate: nobody moves and nobody wins." ― Laura L.

"У нас есть шахматы с собой, Шекспир и Пушкин, с нас довольно." ― Vladimir Nabokov, Стихотворения Russian

"We have chess with us,
Shakespeare and Pushkin, we've had enough." English translation ― Vladimir Nabokov, Poems

"So if you think that when you are better, it means that you can smash ahead and mate the guy, you are wrong, that is not what better means. What better means is that your position has the potential, if played correctly, to turn out well. So do not think that when you are better and when you are attacking that you can just force mate. That is not what it is about. Often the way to play best, the way to play within the position, is to maintain it." ― Josh Waitzkin

"I put my hand on a bishop, my would be assassin, and thought of my father's heights when he won, how he galloped around. The depths of his despair at losing, I expected, would be equal to the peaks. He'd mope about, his face fallen and miserable, his posture stooped as if his back ached. I took my hand from the piece and leaned back in deliberation." ― Rion Amilcar Scott, Insurrections: Stories

"We are men who find chess fascinating. Did you expect our lives to be secretly interesting?" ― Noah Boyd, Agent X

"I keep on fighting as long as my opponent can make a mistake." ― Emanuel Lasker

"You need to realize something if you are ever to succeed at chess,' she said, as if Nora had nothing bigger to think about. ‘And the thing you need to realize is this: the game is never over until it is over. It isn't over if there is a single pawn still on the board. If one side is down to a pawn and a king, and the other side has every player, there is still a game. And even if you were a pawn – maybe we all are – then you should remember that a pawn is the most magical piece of all. It might look small and ordinary but it isn't. Because a pawn is never just a pawn. A pawn is a queen-in-waiting. All you need to do is find a way to keep moving forward. One square after another. And you can get to the other side and unlock all kinds of power.'

Mrs. Elm"
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

"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

"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

"Deep Blue didn't win by being smarter than a human; it won by being millions of times faster than a human. Deep Blue had no intuition. An expert human player looks at a board position and immediately sees what areas of play are most likely to be fruitful or dangerous, whereas a computer has no innate sense of what is important and must explore many more options. Deep Blue also had no sense of the history of the game, and didn't know anything about its opponent. It played chess yet didn't understand chess, in the same way a calculator performs arithmetic bud doesn't understand mathematics." ― Jeff Hawkins, On Intelligence

<10 Ways a Computer Betters Your Chess

#1 Efficient and thorough opening preparation.

#2 Prepare against a single opponent by viewing past games in database.

#3 Analyzing your own games with a silicon grandmaster.

#4 Learning chess through a computer chess tutorial.

#5 Playing games against a grandmaster opponent.

#6 Reading chess books no longer in print in digital format.

#7 Looking at games from any player, tournament, or opening.

#8 Researching on the internet any facet of chess.

#9 Storing or web publishing your own games for posterity.

#10 Get a game with a human opponent of your level, anytime, anywhere through an internet chess interface.
- Eric Hicks>

"You have good instincts, trust them. Thinking through every step is fine if you're playing chess, but this isn't chess." ― Rick Yancey, The 5th Wave

"I believe that, not only in chess, but in life in general, people place too much stock in ratings – they pay attention to which TV shows have the highest ratings, how many friends they have on Facebook, and it's funny. The best shows often have low ratings and it is impossible to have thousands of real friends." ― Boris Gelfand

"I remember, back in college, how many possibilities life seemed to hold. Variations. I knew, of course, that I'd only live one of my fantasy lives, but for a few years there, I had them all, all the branches, all the variations. One day I could dream of being a novelist, one day I would be a journalist covering Washington, the next - oh, I don't know, a politician, a teacher, whatever. My dream lives. Full of dream wealth and dream women. All the things I was going to do, all the places I was going to live. They were mutually exclusive, of course, but since I didn't have any of them, in a sense I had them all. Like when you sit down at a chessboard to begin a game, and you don't know what the opening will be. Maybe it will be a Sicilian, or a French, or a Ruy Lopez. They all coexist, all the variations, until you start making the moves. You always dream of winning, no matter what line you choose, but the variations are still … different." … "Once the game begins, the possibilities narrow and narrow and narrow, the other variations fade, and you're left with what you've got - a position half of your own making, and half chance, as embodied by that stranger across the board. Maybe you've got a good game, or maybe you're in trouble, but in any case there's just that one position to work from. The might-have-beens are gone." ― George R.R. Martin, Dreamsongs, Volume II

"Life is a lot like chess," he said.
…
"All a matter of choices. Every move you face choices, and every choice leads to different variations. It branches and then branches again, and sometimes the variation you pick isn't as good as it looked, isn't sound at all. But you don't know that until your game is over."

(Unsound Variations)"
― George R.R. Martin, Dreamsongs, Volume II

"Papi taught me every piece
has its own space.

Papi taught me every piece
moves in its own way.

Papi taught me every piece
has its own purpose.

The squares do not overlap.
& neither do the pieces.

The only time two pieces
stand in the same square

is the second before one
is being taken & replaced."
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

"Life is an exchange; you'd think a chess player would know that." ― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

"In life, as in chess, learning must be constant - both new things and fresh ways of learning them. The process will invariably involve a certain degree of unlearning, and possessing the readiness to that is utterly important. If your way of doing things isn't working, clinging to your conclusions is only going to hold you back. You have to get to the root of a snag in order to make a breakthrough, because it's possible that what you thought you knew isn't actually the way it is. Unlearning is perhaps the hardest thing to do, but it is a necessity if growth and success are your goals." ― Vishwanathan Anand

"World-class chess players, in addition to being considered awesomely smart, are generally assumed to have superhuman memories, and with good reason. Champions routinely put on exhibitions in which they play lesser opponents while blindfolded; they hold the entire chessboard in their heads. Some of these exhibitions strike the rest of us as simply beyond belief. The Czech master Richard Reti once played twenty-nine blindfolded games simultaneously. (Afterward he left his briefcase at the exhibition site and commented on what a poor memory he had.)" ― Geoff Colvin, Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

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

* Lasker's Opening Rules: http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2013...

* Author Tim Sawyer explains openings: http://sawyerbdg.blogspot.com/

* Alekhine's Defense, Krejcik Variation: Opening Explorer

* Australian Interschools links/tournament guide: http://www.actjcl.org.au/actjcl/dow...

* Adolf Anderssen miniatures: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Game Collection: Alekhine vs Bogolubov
search "Alekhine vs Bogolubov"

* Comprehensive 1929: Game Collection: Alekhine-Bogoljubov 1929 ARCHIVE

* The BCF: https://boylstonchess.org/

* The CCC: https://www.chichess.org/

* Chicago Chess Blog: http://chicagochess.blogspot.com/se...

Many club links on the lower right column; scroll down.

* chessbrah streamer: https://www.twitch.tv/chessbrah

* Chesswarehouse: https://chesswarehouse.com/

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

* Cool Math/Board Games: https://www.coolmathgames.com/1-boa...

* Deadly Battery: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

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

* ICA Youth Resources: https://www.il-chess.org/index.php?...

* Kingpin magazine: https://www.kingpinchess.net/

* LG - White wins: Game Collection: Latvian Gambit-White wins

* Plenty to see: http://www.schackportalen.nu/Englis...

* POTD Scotch: Game Collection: POTD Scotch Game Scotch Gambit

* RL Minis: Game Collection: Ruy Lopez Miniatures

* Reasonable book choices: https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell...

* Ten books for aspiring masters: http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2023...

* Bobby Fischer playing White against the Sicilian: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Wild: Game Collection: Wild Games!

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

* Walter Browne, American Champ: Game Collection: Six by Mr. Six Time

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

Mar-21-23 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!

Actions speak louder than words.

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

"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind." — Mahatma Gandhi

"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow." ― Ancient Chinese Proverb

Apr-27-23 WTHarvey:
There once was a chess player keen
He studied each move he had seen
With tactics so clever
His games were a pleasure
His passion for chess was extreme!
There once was a chess player bright
Whose moves were a beautiful sight
He never lost hope
Or his skill, he would mope
For he believed in fighting the good fight.

There once was a chess player so keen
Whose passion for the game was extreme
He'd study and strategize
And often would visualize
His victories, in every daydream.

"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

...an old joke found in the book "Chess with the Masters: 100 Classic Games 1834-1962" by Martin Beheim, Arco Publishing Company, 1963.

Burletzki (a coffee house player) arranged a 6-game match with a German master named Kohlein. Kohlein won the first game. Burletzki said "I made a silly mistake". Kohlein won the 2nd game. "You can't be expected to win every game". Kohlein won game 3. "I'm not in form today". Kohlein made it 4 in a row. "He's not a bad player". Kohlein picked up win number 5. "I think I underestimated my opponent". And after Kohlein won game 6, Burletzki admitted "I believe the man may well be my equal".

Yates, Frederick Dewhurst - Reti, Richard B18
New York International Masters-01 New York,NY (19), 13.04.1924

Start positionPrevious MoveNext MoveEnd positionPlay movesStop playing 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nf3 Nd7 7. c3 Ngf6 8. Bc4 e6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Nd5 12. Bb3 a5 13. a3 Qc7 14. c4 Nf4 15. Bxf4 Qxf4 16. Rad1 Bf6 17. Bc2 Rfd8 18. Bxg6 hxg6 19. Ne4 Nb6 20. b3 Be7 21. Rd3 Bxa3 22. Ne5 Qh4 23. Rh3 Qe7 24. Ng5 1-0 If 24...QxNg5 then 25.Rh8+ KxRh8 and the royal couple has been decoyed into a royal family fork 26.Nxf7+ K moves 27.NxQg5.

The Devil tempts all men... but some men tempt the Devil - Arab proverb

Jan Gustafsson
@GMJanGustafsson
Note to self: Don't write notes to self during a chess game.

"You must play boldly to win." ― Arnold Palmer

"Champions keep playing until they get it right." ― Billie Jean King

Fred Wellmuth was a strong amateur from California

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

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

* 50 Soviet Attacks: Game Collection: Chernev: The Russians Play Chess

* 2008 POTD: Game Collection: Puzzle of the Day 2008

* 2012-2015 Attacks: Game Collection: 2012-2015 Attacking Games (Naiditsch/Balogh)

* 2016 Stunners: Game Collection: 2016 Stunning Victories (Naiditsch/Balogh/Maze)

* Alekhine Alert: Game Collection: Alekhine Alert by Timothy Taylor

* Attacking Themes: Game Collection: Attacking Themes

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

* Best of All: Game Collection: Best Chess Games of All Time

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

* Bishop Pair Promotions: Game Collection: Bishop pair + passed pawns = winning equation

* Boden's Mate: Game Collection: Boden's Mate

* Brilliant: Game Collection: hans bouwmeesters 100 briljante partijen

* Checkmate Minis: Game Collection: Checkmate miniatures

* Chess Minis I: Game Collection: Chess Miniatures, Collection I

* Classics: Game Collection: 19 th century classics

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

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

* Defensive Combos: Game Collection: Defensive Combinations

* Double Bishop Sacrifices: Game Collection: Double Bishop Sacrifices (dedicated to Anatoly K

* Fabulous chess brilliancies:
https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

* Glass-like Gambit for Black: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAI...

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

* GoY's 40 Favs: Game Collection: GoY's favorite games

* 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

* 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 Miniatures: 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

* People on Another Level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7V...

* Open Game Minis: Game Collection: 200 Miniature Games of Chess - Du Mont (I)

* Overloaded! Game Collection: OVERLOADED!

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

* Power Play: Game Collection: The Giants of Power Play by Neil McDonald

* Starting Out: French Defense: Game Collection: Starting out : The French

* Gambits against the French Defense:
Game Collection: alapin gambit -alapin diemer gambit + reti gam

* Named Mates: Game Collection: Named Mates

* Queen's Indian Defense: Game Collection: Understanding the Queen's Indian Defense

* Quick Deadly Traps: Game Collection: super quick deadly traps and such

* Quick Knockouts: Game Collection: quick knockouts by traps

* Reti's Masterful Book: Game Collection: Masters of the Chessboard (Reti)

* Sammy Reshevsky:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

* Scotties: Game Collection: tpstar SG

* Storming the Barricades: Game Collection: Storming The Barricades

* Trap Collection: Game Collection: Trap Collection #2

* Vladimir's book: Game Collection: Art of Attack in Chess Vladamir Vukovic & Chess

* Volume 24: Game Collection: 0ZeR0's collected games volume 24

* Napoleon played: https://blog.napoleon-cologne.fr/en...

* 5-step calculation process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeg...

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

* Muzio Gambits: Game Collection: KGA- white passively gives up Knight muzio and

* Notable Games: Wikipedia article: List of chess games

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

* Old Scandinavian Beats: Game Collection: Beat the Scandinavian

* Old P-K4 Miniatures: Game Collection: Games for Classes

* Ponziani Games: Game Collection: PONZIANI OPENING

* Play Chess Online for Free: https://boldchess.com/play/

* Praggnanandhaa stuns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggb...

* Practical Calculations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXd...

* Chess Records: https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/record...

* RL Minis: Game Collection: Ruy Lopez Miniatures

* The Roaring 20's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9S...

* Scandinavians: Game Collection: B01

* Tops 1959: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kch...

* USA Presidents who played chess: https://en.chessbase.com/post/which...

* Vienna Qf3: Game Collection: Vienna Gambit with Qf3

* Vienna Nxf7: Game Collection: White - Vienna: Nxf7

* Wikipedia on Computer Chess: Wikipedia article: Computer chess

* Your Chess Battle Plan: https://forwardchess.com/blog/revie...

* Kevin Wicker's Book: Game Collection: 0

* Women: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/wom...

The thought crossed my gentle mind that CGs needs some additional avatar variance of figures like Emory and Andrew Tate, Tani Adewumi, James Black Jr., Ambakisye Osayaba, Tom "Murph" Murphy, and Pontus Carlsson, Taahir Levi, Praggy and Pentala Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, Adhiban Baskaran, Manuel Aaron, and Juan Carlos González Zamora, María Teresa Mora Iturralde, Daniela De la Parra, Alejandra Guerrero Rodríguez, Azarya Jodi Setyaki, Medina Warda Aulia, Errol Tiwari, Elshan Moradiabadi, Joey Razo, Collette McGruder, Diamond Shakoor, Phiona Mutesi, Jessica Hyatt, Jean-Pierre and Koneru Humpy, Tania Sachdev, Rout Padmini and Hou Yifan and Zhao Xue, Medhat Moheb, Yao Ming and Awonder Liang, Jeffery Xiong and Liem Le, Li Chao and the like. Our avatars are rather lily silly; not everybody looks like Smith, Jones, Thomas, or Mikhail.

On the other hand, we definitely need some redheads too (Anna Rudolf, Isla Fisher, Jude Acers, Prince Harry, Ed Sheeran)!! I'd say at least a dozen redheads, some with and without beards. Some Canadians too!

Question: What's the brightest star in the sky? Answer: Sirius – also known as the Dog Star or Sirius A, Sirius is the brightest star in Earth's night sky. The star is outshone only by several planets and the International Space Station.

Question: What's the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard? Answer: Graveyards are attached to churches while cemeteries are stand-alone.

Patty Loveless "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...

* Opening Tree: https://www.shredderchess.com/onlin...

"A passed pawn increase in strength as the number of pieces on the board diminishes." ― Jose Raul Capablanca

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

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

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

In Melitopol, terrible terror has been reigning for over a year. It's quiet, you can't see it on the streets - reported CNN. Anyone who has rejected a Russian passport may become a victim of repression. They can't access the hospital, can't function normally. The "incredible" occupant also takes away the land. Arrests and torture, unfortunately, are common practices.

Partisans are engaged in attacking Russian logistics and eliminating collaborators and Russian officers. They actively cooperate with Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) and are ready for sabotage activities in case the front arrives.

Before the war, Melitopol had a population of 154,000. The city, located in the southeastern part of Ukraine in the Zaporizhzhia region, was occupied by the Russians on March 1, 2022 Eastern Time. Since then, it has been waiting for liberation, but that does not mean that the inhabitants are idle. From the beginning of the war, there has been a partisan movement in and around the city.

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

"Sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary, simply by doing them with the right people." ― Elizabeth Green

"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." ― Andy (Tim Robbins), "The Shawshank Redemption"

Psalms 31:24 - Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

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.

<Sep-12-21 offramp:

"Yeah I'm sorry,
I can't afford a Ferrari,
But that don't mean
I can't get you there
I guess he's an X-box,
and I'm more Aryan Tari
But the way you play
your game ain't fair.">

CG Biography: Aryan Tari

<In a park people come across a man playing chess against a dog. They are astonished and say:

"What a clever dog!"

But the man protests:

"No, no, he isn't that clever. I'm leading three games to one!">

"Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles." — Garry Kasparov

"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.

"Don't blow your own trumpet." — Australian Proverb

Old Russian Proverb: "Scythe over a stone." (Нашла коса на камень.) The force came over a stronger force.

"Continuing to play the victim is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Blaming others for your station in life will indeed make you a victim but the perpetrator will be your own self, not life or those around you." — Bobby Darnell

<The Fooles Mate
Black Kings Biſhops pawne one houſe.
White Kings pawne one houſe.
Black kings knights pawne two houſes
White Queen gives Mate at the contrary kings Rookes fourth houſe — Beale, The Royall Game of Chesse-Play

Beale's example can be paraphrased in modern terms where White always moves first, algebraic notation is used, and Black delivers the fastest possible mate after each player makes two moves: 1.f3 e6 2.g4 Qh4#

There are eight distinct ways in which Fool's Mate can be reached in two moves. White may alternate the order of f- and g-pawn moves, Black may play either e6 or e5, and White may move their f-pawn to f3 or f4.>

Galatians 6:7 in the Bible "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."

'Ashes to ashes dust to dust

"We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!" ― John Adams

"....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

<"Sestrilla, hafelina
Jue amourasestrilla
Awou jue selaviena
En patre jue

Translation:

Beloved one, little cat
I love you for all time
In this time
And all others"
― Christine Feehan>

chess writer and poet Henry Thomas Bland.

Another example of his way with words is the start of ‘Internal Fires', a poem published on page 57 of the March 1930 American Chess Bulletin:

I used to play chess with the dearest old chap,
Whom naught could upset whatever might hap.
He'd oft lose a game he might well have won
But made no excuse for what he had done.
If a piece he o'erlooked and got it snapped up

He took it quite calmly and ne'er ‘cut up rough'.

"You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore." ― William Faulkner

"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.

Old Russian Proverb: "Scythe over a stone." (Нашла коса на камень.) The force came over a stronger force.

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." ― Leonardo da Vinci

Q: How do poets say hello?
A: "Hey, haven't we metaphor?"

Thank you Qindarka!

Q: What do you call a cow jumping on a trampoline? A: A milkshake.

The Words Of Socrates

A house was built by Socrates
That failed the public taste to please.
Some blamed the inside; some, the out; and all
Agreed that the apartments were too small.
Such rooms for him, the greatest sage of Greece!

"I ask," said he, "no greater bliss
Than real friends to fill even this."
And reason had good Socrates
To think his house too large for these.
A crowd to be your friends will claim,
Till some unhandsome test you bring.
There's nothing plentier than the name;
There's nothing rarer than the thing.

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER

<The Chess Player
by Howard Altmann

They've left. They've all left.
The pigeon feeders have left.
The old men on the benches have left.
The white-gloved ladies with the Great Danes have left. The lovers who thought about coming have left.
The man in the three-piece suit has left.
The man who was a three-piece band has left.
The man on the milkcrate with the bible has left. Even the birds have left.
Now the trees are thinking about leaving too.
And the grass is trying to turn itself in.
Of course the buses no longer pass.
And the children no longer ask.
The air wants to go and is in discussions.
The clouds are trying to steer clear.
The sky is reaching for its hands.
Even the moon sees what's going on.
But the stars remain in the dark.
As does the chess player.
Who sits with all his pieces
In position.>

Capitonyms are words which change their meaning if the first letter is capitalized. For example: Turkey (the country) and turkey (the bird).

"No matter what happens, no matter how far you seem to be away from where you want to be, never stop believing that you will somehow make it." ― Brad Gast

FTB says "Hopin' alone won't make it happen. You have to take action toward your goal, make commitments and meet deadlines! The world isn't going to hand you your dream. It's your dedicated actions that make it happen one day at a time. Decide wisely, be certain your dream is worthwhile, suitable for you'll pay a price to reach it. You have to go get it, pursue it step-by-step, train, work for it, sacrifice other opportunities, persist, and persevere. There will be a hundred reasons and a thousand opportunities to quit. Fight them all off. No excuses. No quit. Always keep the finish line in mind, and stride forward."

The Mountain In Labour

A mountain was in travail pang;
The country with her clamour rang.
Out ran the people all, to see,
Supposing that the birth would be
A city, or at least a house.
It was a mouse!

In thinking of this fable,
Of story feigned and false,
But meaning veritable,
My mind the image calls
Of one who writes, "The war I sing
Which Titans waged against the Thunder-king."
As on the sounding verses ring,
What will be brought to birth?
Why, dearth.

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy." ― Rabindranath Tagore

It's no time to play chess when the house is on fire. ~ Italian Proverbs

If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. ~ Chinese Proverb

The one who wins plays best. ~ German Proverbs

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

Riddle: What is a ghost's favorite fruit?

Dionysius1: I had basil on the pub's potage du jour yesterday. Soup herb!

Answer: BOO-BERRIES!

Dover publishers have downsized their chess book offerings as decades have passed, but many of the all-time classics written in English descriptive notation remain available at affordable prices: https://doverpublications.ecomm-sea... Those who pitch their tent on the Rogoff page having no use for classic chess books can find adult coloring books at Dover publishers. It's a great, versatile publishing company!

For club players, I would recommend "Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur" by Max Euwe and Walter Meiden (as well as Max Euwe's "The Logical Approach to Chess," "Strategy & Tactics in Chess," and "The Road to Chess Mastery" from other book dealers, likely used) before reading James Mason's "The Art of Chess" which is 340 pages! Mason does not spoon-feed the reader as much as Euwe does IMHO.

Those readers demanding an algebraic notation offering from Dover Publishers would do well to buy any book by Tim Harding. Also, if memory serves correctly, there are two tournament books published in algebraic notation: Carlsbad International Chess Tournament 1929 by Aron Nimzovich, translated by Jim Marfia (30 games) and Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953 by David Bronstein (210 games).

The sign says "free shipping" on orders over $25.00. Several chess offerings are available as e-books. You can bundle -- get both versions and save a bunch. For those wondering about adult coloring e-books, well... I'll have to get back to you on that one, the pace of new technology being what it is.

"Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got." — Norman Vincent Peale

"What you do today can improve all your tomorrows." — Ralph Marston

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.

"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.

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT
Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have this wish I wish tonight

16 yellow #2 pencilz

(N)