Dreamcircus said:
Incredibly popular on the British weekend chess tournament circuit in the late eighties and early nineties due to some spectacular victories for White, the Grand Prix Attack is seen far less often these days as analysis has shown several ways for Black to achieve at least equality. It is played in response to the Sicilian Defense, and is a blatant attempt to generate a crude, but often effective, kingside attack directly from the opening. The opening moves are:

1.e4 c5
2.Nc3 (the alternative move order, 2.f4, allows Black to play 2...d5 which forces White to spend many moves trying to neutralize Black's initiative.) 2...Nc6
3.f4

With this move, White effectively renounces his usual strategy against the Sicilian Defense, which is to open up the center and aim for quick development, in favour of immediately gaining space on the kingside. The plan for development and attack is mechanical and straightforward - if Black plays the main lines with a bishop fianchetto on g7, White will continue with the following moves (usually, though not always, in this order): Nf3, Bc4, d3, o-o, Qe1, f5, Qh4, Bh6, Ng5 followed (he hopes) by a rapid checkmate. This strategy worked very well for the first few years of the Grand Prix Attack's popularity.

Unfortunately, while White is carrying out his plan, Black also has things to be doing, and the most effective and modern tactics involve controlling and opening up the center of the board, rather than grabbing material and passively allowing White's buildup:

3...g6
4.Nf3 Bg7
5.Bc4 e6
6.f5!? (A pawn sacrifice which should not be accepted. If Black plays 6...exf5 now, then White simply plays 7.d3, letting Black have an extra pawn in return for guaranteeing that the center now cannot be opened up by Black's d7-d5 pawn push. A closed center allows White to attack on the kingside with impunity, and is worth at least a pawn.) 6...Nge7
7.fxe6 fxe6
8.d3 d5!?

A complicated position is reached in which Black has as many chances as White due to the fluidity of the center and the possibilities of gaining space on the queenside by b7-b5. There are many lines possible in the Grand Prix Attack depending on the moves chosen by either player (for instance, White can play 5.Bb5 instead of 5.Bc4, or Black can play 7...dxe6 instead of 7...fxe6, each of which leads to a completely different kind of position). However, the opening has been waning in popularity as defensive ideas against White's plan become more well-known even at lower levels of chess tournament play.

One of the first books on the Grand Prix Attack was written by Grandmaster Julian Hodgson, one of its most successful exponents, but the authoritative work is generally agreed to be Gary Lane's The Grand Prix Attack. James Plaskett recently brought out a book called Sicilian Grand Prix Attack which, according to at least one reviewer, contributes little in the way of new analysis or ideas.

References:
http://www.infochess.com/Group2/Pub... http://www.chessopolis.com/br/grand...
http://www.chessopolis.com/br/sicil...

* Artists: Game Collection: Art of Checkmate

* A few KIAs: Game Collection: Opening Ideas

* Advance French: Game Collection: Attacking with the French

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

* Black Defends: Game Collection: Opening repertoire black

* Breyer Variation:
Game Collection: Moroczy bind

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

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

* Closed: Game Collection: Closed Sicilian Structures

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

* A piece of cake: https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/che...

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

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

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

* Dr. Edmund Adam Miniatures: Edmund Adam

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

* Alekhine's French Def: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che...

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

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

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

* Maroczy is pronounced "MAR-ot-see" by the way.

* Masterful: Game Collection: FRENCH DEFENSE MASTERPIECES

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

* IECC: https://www.chess-iecc.com/

* Internet tracking: https://www.studysmarter.us/magazin...

* Lasker-Pelikan: Game Collection: tpstar SP

* Overloaded! Game Collection: OVERLOADED!

* Use this page:www.chessgames.com/perl/explorer?node=866374&mov- e=6.5&moves=e4.c5.Nf3.Nc6.d4.cxd4.Nxd4.g6.c4.Bg7- .Be3&nodes=21720.32033.32034.32035.32036.32037.3- 2038.865781.592879.1484674.866374

* Prize Games: Game Collection: Great Brilliancy Prize Games of the ChessMasters

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

* QGD: Game Collection: QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED

* 38 Tactics: https://www.chess.com/article/view/...

* Wei Yi spent 48 minutes on a move: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF8...

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

* tacticmania - Game Collection: tacticmania

* Three-minute pastry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIa...

* Trappy game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gC...

Petrosian's mastery of a closed position:
<In what appears to be perfectly equal positions, Petrosian consistently finds seemingly innocuous moves that gradually overwhelm his opponent. He accomplishes his objective simply by exchanging pieces and manoeuvring for victory without taking unnecessary risks. This essentially defensive technique has the virtue, when it doesn't utterly succeed, of producing a draw.> ― Larry Evans, introduction to game 3 from My 60 Memorable Games by Robert James Fischer.

'Don't let the cat out of the bag'

'Don't shut the stable door after the horse has bolted'

'Don't throw good money after bad'

'Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater'

"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

InkHarted wrote:

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

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

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

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

Drive sober or get pulled over.

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

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

Q: What do you call a cat that likes to eat beans? A: Puss 'n' Toots!

Q: What do you call a clown who's in jail?
A: A silicon!

Q: What do you call a deer with no eyes?
A: No eye deer!!

Q: What do you call a three-footed aardvark?
A: A yardvark!

Q: What do you call a dancing lamb?
A: A baaaaaa-llerina!

Q: What do you call a meditating wolf?
A: Aware wolf!

Q: What do you call a witch who lives at the beach? A: A sand-witch!

Q: What do you call an avocado that's been blessed by the pope? A: Holy Guacamole!

The Old Man And His Sons

All power is feeble with dissension:
For this I quote the Phrygian slave.
If anything I add to his invention,
It is our manners to engrave,
And not from any envious wishes; –
I'm not so foolishly ambitious.
Phaedrus enriches often his story,
In quest – I doubt it not – of glory:
Such thoughts were idle in my breast.
An aged man, near going to his rest,
His gathered sons thus solemnly addressed:
"To break this bunch of arrows you may try;
And, first, the string that binds them I untie." The eldest, having tried with might and main,
Exclaimed, "This bundle I resign
To muscles sturdier than mine."
The second tried, and bowed himself in vain.
The youngest took them with the like success.
All were obliged their weakness to confess.
Unharmed the arrows passed from son to son;
Of all they did not break a single one.
"Weak fellows!" said their sire, "I now must show What in the case my feeble strength can do."
They laughed, and thought their father but in joke, Till, one by one, they saw the arrows broke.
"See, concord's power!" replied the sire; "as long As you in love agree, you will be strong.
I go, my sons, to join our fathers good;
Now promise me to live as brothers should,
And soothe by this your dying father's fears."
Each strictly promised with a flood of tears.
Their father took them by the hand, and died;
And soon the virtue of their vows was tried.
Their sire had left a large estate
Involved in lawsuits intricate;
Here seized a creditor, and there
A neighbour levied for a share.
At first the trio nobly bore
The brunt of all this legal war.
But short their friendship as It was rare.
Whom blood had joined – and small the wonder! – The force of interest drove asunder;
And, as is wont in such affairs,
Ambition, envy, were co-heirs.
In parcelling their sire's estate,
They quarrel, quibble, litigate,
Each aiming to supplant the other.
The judge, by turns, condemns each brother.
Their creditors make new assault,
Some pleading error, some default.
The sundered brothers disagree;
For counsel one, have counsels three.
All lose their wealth; and now their sorrows
Bring fresh to mind those broken arrows.

'Ashes to ashes dust to dust

"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

In 2016, a Michigan-based priest named Gerald Johnson suffered a heart attack. He says he had a near-death experience that sent him somewhere he never thought he'd visit: Hell.

Johnson says that immediately after his heart attack in February 2016, his spirit left his physical body and went down to hell, entering through "the very center of the Earth." Though he says "the things I saw there are indescribable," he did his best.

Johnson claims he saw a man walking on all fours like a dog and getting burned from head to toe:

"His eyes were bulging and worse than that: He was wearing chains on his neck. He was like a hellhound. There was a demon holding the chains."

Lord Dunsany mentioned that after Capablanca's death he published the following epitaph in CHESS, June 1942, page 131:

Now rests a mind as keen,
A vision bright and clear
As any that has been
And who is it lies here?

One that, erstwhile, no less
Than Hindenburg could plan,
But played his game of chess
And did no harm to man.

Bertini's auto repair...

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

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

"I'm 58 years old and I just went through 8 back surgeries. They started cutting on me in February 2009, and I was basically bed ridden for almost two years. I got a real dose of reality that if you don't have your health, you don't have anything." — Hulk Hogan

jnpope: User: gifflefunk
Email server: yahoo.com
Just add the @ between the two

Feb-02-21 fisayo123: As can be seen, the chessgames.com database is not the end all and be all database for "vs" matchups. In fact, its known for not really being as complete as some other game databases, especially for modern era games. https://2700chess.com/

Reuben Fine can show you the not-so-easy way. Sign up for free and you can read books for free: https://archive.org/details/chessea...

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

Jonathan Moya wrote:
The King's Rumination

Befuddled with thought
the king sought the oracle.

"Count the sands,
calculate the seas,"
she said.

Of the king's future,
she spoke nothing.

Henceforth he
contented only
in his nightmares.

Can you still daydream at night?
We know you have some great ideas for your nighttime dreaming. But if you're awake and trying to give your brain some suggestions for dream time, is it daydreaming or just backseat driving?

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Song of the Storm-Swept Plain
William D. Hodjkiss

The wind shrills forth
From the white cold North
Where the gates of the Storm-god are;
And ragged clouds,
Like mantling shrouds,
Engulf the last, dim star.

Through naked trees,
In low coulees,
The night-voice moans and sighs;
And sings of deep,
Warm cradled sleep,
With wind-crooned lullabies.

He stands alone
Where the storm's weird tone
In mocking swells;
And the snow-sharp breath
Of cruel Death
The tales of its coming tells.

The frightened plaint
Of his sheep sound faint
Then the choking wall of white—
Then is heard no more,
In the deep-toned roar,
Of the blinding, pathless night.

No light nor guide,
Save a mighty tide
Of mad fear drives him on;
‘Till his cold-numbed form
Grows strangely warm;
And the strength of his limbs is gone.

Through the storm and night
A strange, soft light
O'er the sleeping shepherd gleams;
And he hears the word
Of the Shepherd Lord
Called out from the bourne of dreams.

Come, leave the strife
Of your weary life;
Come unto Me and rest
From the night and cold,
To the sheltered fold,
By the hand of love caressed.

The storm shrieks on,
But its work is done—
A soul to its God has fled;
And the wild refrain
Of the wind-swept plain,
Sings requiem for the dead.

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

"Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities. Without humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy." ― Norman Vincent Peale

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

This poem is dedicated to all members
who strive to become Masters of chess.

yakisoba's combination

in the middle of a cold Canadian winter night
a phantom creature was riding a stallion knight
but lo and behold it is the man called yakisoba
together with a bishop and queen chasing nova.
though the old bishop was getting pooped out
the merry queen in her glory was bouncing about
while riding hard yakisoba grinningly thought
"I know what to do with that nova when caught."
there on top of the castle was nova in hiding
strapped to a kite for a quick get-away gliding,

then trembling he realized to his consternation:

he was being killed by the bishop-queen combination.

Scottish Proverbs

"Better bend than break." ~ Scottish Proverb

Never let your feet run faster than your shoes. ~ Scottish Proverb

Be happy while you're living, For you're a long time dead. ~ Scottish Proverb

What may be done at any time will be done at no time. ~ Scottish Proverb

Learn young, learn fair; learn old, learn more. ~ Scottish Proverb

Get what you can and keep what you have; that's the way to get rich. ~ Scottish Proverb

Willful waste makes woeful want. ~ Scottish Proverb

When the heart is full the tongue will speak. ~ Scottish Proverb

Be slow in choosing a friend but slower in changing him. ~ Scottish Proverb

Fools look to tomorrow. Wise men use tonight. ~ Scottish Proverb

Confessed faults are half mended. ~ Scottish Proverb

They that will not be counselled cannot be helped. ~ Scottish Proverb

They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind. ~ Scottish Proverb

Luck never gives; it only lends. ~ Scottish Proverb

Better be ill spoken of by one before all than by all before one. ~ Scottish Proverb

Take care of your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves. ~ Scottish Proverb

Chessgames.com will be unavailable January 16, 2024 from 12:15PM through 12:45PM(UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience.

"<To be, or not to be: that is the question:> Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd!"
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Riddle of the Day:
Mary's mother had four children: April, May and June.

What's the name of the fourth child?

Thank you, Qindarka!

Answer to the Riddle of the Day above:
The name of the fourth child is Mary.

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!"

Chessgames.com will be unavailable Friday, February 17, 2023 from 11AM through 11:30AM(UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<‘H.T.B.' (Henry Thomas Bland) managed to have published on page 64 of the March 1930 American Chess Bulletin:

Miss Menchik

Miss Menchik is of master rank,
It seems Maróczy she's to thank;
Still, there is little doubt of it
She owes a deal to native wit.
Much knowledge she has garnered in,
E'en 'gainst the giants she'll oft win
– No doubt sometimes to their chagrin –
Chess champion of the gentler sex
Here's luck to her! Should she annex
In her next venture some big prize
Keen critics will feel no surprise.>

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

The Three Kings by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question: What was the first patented service uniform in the United States? Answer: Playboy Bunny

Thank you, Qindarka!

Question: What is the oldest authenticated age ever for a human? Answer: 122

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." ― Nora Ephr

"The Seven Social Sins are:

Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.

From a sermon given by Frederick Lewis Donaldson in Westminster Abbey, London, on March 20, 1925." ― Frederick Lewis Donaldson

The Memory Pillow

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

Endgame Maxims
Collector unknown

There is quite a difference between endgame technique and endgame strategy. In order to develop an endgame strategy I will gather all maxims I can find, put them in a blender and distill a strategy out of it. I will try to avoid double maxims around the same topic: what good is for you to strive for is automatically bad for the opponent and has to be avoided by him and vice versa.

Endgames of the 0-st order: pawn endings.
If one pawn can hold two that is favourable.
If you have two pawns on adjacent files, push the one on the free file first. To prevent the previous maxim. Have your pawn majority on the side where it is not opposed by the enemy king. Advanced pawns can lead to a favourable break because they are closer to promotion. Create a passer whenever it is safe.
Create an outside passed pawn as a decoy to help your king to penetrate in the enemy position on the other wing. Endgames of the 1st order: 1 piece+pawns vs 1 piece+pawns

The light pieces.
If you have a bishop, put your pawns on the opposite color. No matter what your opponent's piece is. The idea is twofold: it makes your bishop active, and when the opponent pushes his pawns till they are blocked against yours, they automatically become a potential target for your bishop since they are on the same color. If you have bishops of the same color the previous maxim will make his bishop bad. If you have bishops of opposite color, and you try to win, put your pawns on the opposite color as your bishop. If you are defending, put them on the same color as your bishop. A bishop is strong in an open position.
A bishop is strong when working on two wings at the same time. Especially important with bishops of opposite colors. If you have a knight, a knight is strong in closed (blocked) positions. A knight is strong with all pawns on one wing.
With knight vs knight, the penetration of the king is the main motif, plus the outside passer. A knight needs outposts.
B vs N deprive the knight from outposts, then dominate the knight. Rook vs rook.
Before anything else you must be able to play the Lucena and the Philidor position and the 3rd rank defense. Make your rook active at all costs.
Let your king help.
Try to bind the enemy rook to the defense.
Defend a passer from behind, i.e. the first rank, to leave the promotion square free. Two joined passers are often winning, so you can sacrifice a few pawns for that. A condition to play for the win is that there are pawns on both wings, which make it very difficult for the defending king to choose where to go. If the pawns are on one wing you have only a chance when you can cut of the enemy king. Rook vs bishop or knight
Keep the pawns on the board.
Attack the enemy pawns from behind (=7th or 8th rank). Create weakness which you can attack with both your rook and king. Endgames of the second order: 2 pieces+pawns vs 2 pieces+pawns. The Ohio Valley legend Fredthebear assembled this collection and borrowed these maxims.

General.
The attacker decides when to trade pieces for an endgame of the first order, since the defender doesn't want to change pieces. Two bishops vs two bishops.
After the trade you will have two bishops of the same color. So the pawn structure dictates which bishop to trade. You must be left with the good bishop. Your opponent's bishop will automatically be bad. Two bishops vs bishop and knight.
A Russian proverb says: "The advantage of the bishop pair is that you can trade it off." Beware that you keep the good bishop and avoid bishops of opposite color when the underlying pawn ending is better for you. Two bishops vs two knights.
Open up the position. Create two wings. Trade off your bad bishop. Pawns at the rim are difficult to stop by a knight. Bishop+knight vs bishop+knight.
Bishop+knight vs 2 knights.
In general a good bishop is better than a knight. The only reason to prefer a knight is when your opponent has the bad bishop and the pawns are on one wing. 2 knights vs 2 knights.
Trade of a set of knights when the underlying pawn ending is better. Remember that the remain ending with knight vs knight is about penetrating with the king and the outside passer. 2 rooks vs 2 rooks.
Trade off a set of rooks when you have winning chances. What to do with your King?
Head for the center, from where the king can intervene where needed. Walk to your passed pawns.
Walk to pawns that are susceptible of being attacked. Free a piece that is bound to defence.
Penetrate the enemy positions when you are faster than the counterattack of your opponent.

General ideas.
When you don't know what to do, try to inflict your opponent with an extra weakness. When you are worse, don't play for the win.
Only accept a draw or offer a draw when you are worse. Otherwise you will never learn to play an endgame. Worse can mean behind in time.

When to trade pieces and pawns?
When behind in material, head for a drawish endgame (bishop of opposite color or rook vs rook with pawns on one wing) When behind in material, trade pawns, not pieces. In the end you can sac your last piece for his last pawn, when you leave him with insufficient mating potential.

Middlegame techniques to get a good endgame.
Minority attack. You attack with 2 pawns 3 hostile pawns. After trading off you leave your opponent with an isolani that you can conquer. Inflict damage to the opponent's pawn structure: double pawn, isolani, backward pawn, many pawn islands. Create an (outside) passed pawn.
No open files leads to a rook ending.

One of my early instructional books that I probably gained the most from was Ludek Pachman's classic, Modern Chess Strategy. In the book's section on passed Pawns, he wrote that two united passed Pawns are a dangerous weapon, but the possessor of such Pawns must make sure that they cannot be blockaded and that, as a rule, such Pawns should advance together.

Endgame Practice
While on the website Chess Videos TV yesterday I noticed they have several "Chess Tools" like diagram generators, endgame simulator, visualization training, etc. that are worth checking out. For example, under the endgame simulator they have linked to the Crafty engine so you can play versus the computer in different situations right from your browser.

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

* The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy by Irving Chernev Game Collection: Instructive Games (Chernev)

* The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy by Irving Chernev - https://lichess.org/study/KMMrJvE1

* Legendary: Game Collection: The 12 Legendary Games of the Century

<from the simpleton poet:

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.

Chess is creative.
And a journey too.

Good in the morning.
Or just before bed.

Play cheater_1, with engine.
Or OTB, all in your head.>

Psalm 107:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever.

"The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third." ― Gale Sayers

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

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ― Benjamin Franklin

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

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

Luck never gives; it only lends. ~ Scottish Proverb

"The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal." — Criss Jami

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.

"God's mercy and grace give me hope - for myself, and for our world." — Billy Graham

"Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness." — Billy Graham

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

Dinner Prayer Hymn
Traditional Hymn

Lord, bless this food and grant that we

May thankful for thy mercies be;

Teach us to know by whom we're fed;

Bless us with Christ, the living bread.

Lord, make us thankful for our food,

Bless us with faith in Jesus' blood;

With bread of life our souls supply,

That we may live with Christ on high.
Amen.

<High Flight
BY JOHN GILLESPIE MAGEE JR.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds,—and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air ....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace Where never lark nor ever eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.>

"There just isn't enough televised chess." — David Letterman

"Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don't be concerned about whether people are watching you or criticizing you. The chances are that they aren't paying any attention to you. It's your attention to yourself that is so stultifying. But you have to disregard yourself as completely as possible. If you fail the first time then you'll just have to try harder the second time. After all, there's no real reason why you should fail. Just stop thinking about yourself." — Eleanor Roosevelt

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

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ― Howard Thurman

z64All free bumd one off puffy went out 4A smoke saw a UFOA outr space, force, time, android K safety Wesley So Zamikhovsky pauzed clock o' time: https://24timezones.com/#/map

September 1963: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7n...

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Why did the turkey cross the road?
To prove he wasn't chicken!

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