"May the sun bring you energy by day,

May the moon softly restore you by night,

May the rain wash away your worries,

May the breeze blow new strength into your being.

May you walk gently through the world

and know its beauty all the days of your life."

Apache Blessing

"I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive." — Goyahkla a.k.a. Geronimo (1829-1909), a POW for 23 years

"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

"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him." ― Napoleon Bonaparte

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

"A God you understood would be less than yourself." ― Flannery O'Connor

"The journey is its own reward." — Homer

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." ― George Orwell

"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

"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

"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

"Giving doesn't always involve money." ― Charmaine J. Forde

"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

"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

"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

"Pick a leader who is strong and confident, yet humble. Intelligent, but not sly. A leader who encourages diversity, not racism. One who understands the needs of the farmer, the teacher, the welder, the doctor, and the environmentalist -- not only the banker, the oil tycoon, the weapons developer, or the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyist." ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

"Question the answers, I repeated every class. Reevaluate your conclusions when the evidence changes." ― Craig M. Mullaney, The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education

"O it's Tommy this, and Tommy that, and Tommy 'ow's your soul/But it's thin red line of heroes when the drums begin to roll." ― Rudyard Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads & Departmental Ditties and Ballads

"I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any treat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." ― Douglas MacArthur

"America's finest - our men and women in uniform, are a force for good throughout the world, and that is nothing to apologize for." ― Sarah Palin

"I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy." ― John F. Kennedy

"Civilians are like beans; you buy 'em as needed for any job which merely requires skill and savvy. But you can't buy fighting spirit."
― Robert A. Heinlein

"There were many, many times thereafter that Don regretted having enlisted - but so has every man who ever volunteered for military service." ― Robert A. Heinlein, Between Planets

Alas, heed Lasker's observation: "More chess games are lost by not applying what you already know, than by what you don't know." (FTB is paraphrasing the original quote.)

"Heroism doesn't always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history. Sometimes a chicken can save a man's life." ― Mary Roach, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War

"Remember that there are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body. That of the soul displays its radiance in intelligence, in chastity, in good conduct, in generosity, and in good breeding, and all these qualities may exist in an ugly man. And when we focus our attention upon that beauty, not upon the physical, love generally arises with great violence and intensity. I am well aware that I am not handsome, but I also know that I am not deformed, and it is enough for a man of worth not to be a monster for him to be dearly loved, provided he has those spiritual endowments I have spoken of." ― Miguel Cervantes

"Customers don't expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong." — Donald Porter

"It is so much easier to be nice, to be respectful, to put yourself in your customer's' shoes and try to understand how you might help them before they ask for help, than it is to try to mend a broken customer relationship." — Mark Cuban

"Only once customer service has become habitual will a company realize its true potential." — Than Merrill

"Customers don't care about your policies. Find and engage the need. Tell the customer what you can do." — Alice Sesay Pope

"Always keep in mind the old retail adage: Customers remember the service a lot longer than they remember the price." — Lauren Freedman

"Here is a powerful yet simple rule. Always give people more than they expect to get." — Nelson Boswell

"Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they'll come back. We have to be great every time or we'll lose them." — Kevin Stirtz

"The customer is always right." — Harry Gordon Selfridge (Not hardly says FTB.)

"Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia." ― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

"Always carry champagne! In victory You deserve it & in defeat You need it!" ― Napoléon Bonaparte

"Be your own Sunshine. Always." ― Purvi Raniga

"Most promises featuring the word 'always' are unkeepable." ― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed

"You should never say never. Just like you should never say always; because, always and never are always never true." ― J. R. Krol

"<Never and Always>

Never take advantage of someone whom loves you
Never avoid someone whom needs you
Never betray anyone whom has trust in you

Never forget the people that always remember you

Never speak ill of a person who is not present

Never support something you know is wrong or unethical

Always speak to your parents on their birthday and anniversary

Always defend those who cannot defend themselves

Always forgive those you love whom have made mistakes

Always give something to those less fortunate than you

Always remember to look back at those who helped you succeed

Always call your parents and siblings on New Year's Eve." ― R.J. Intindola

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

* Champion miniatures: Game Collection: Champions miniature champions

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

* 1908 WC Match: Game Collection: Lasker vs Tarrasch WCM 1908

* En Passant Mate: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...

* Frank Marshall - Edward Lasker 1923 Match:
Game Collection: Marshall -- Ed. Lasker 1923 match

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

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

* Bill Wall should have been on beer commercials crushing empty beer cans with his bare hands: Bill Wall

"Why don't you play checkers with Bill anymore?" "Would you play with a person who cheats and moves his men around when you are not looking?" "No."
"Well, neither would Bill."

* C-K, 2 Knts games:
Game Collection: Caro-Kann Two Knights

* Candidates 2014: World Championship Candidates (2014)

* Carlsen's Minis: Game Collection: Carlsen's winning miniatures

* A great decade of chess: Game Collection: Mil y Una Partidas 1950-1959

* Expanded Edition:
Game Collection: 125 Greatest Chess Games

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

* Feeling Punny? Don't tell Fredthebear. Use the Submission Page: Pun Submission Page

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

* Many gambits from all openings by ECO code: https://www.jimmyvermeer.com/openin...

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

* Good Historical Links:
https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/in...

* Hastings 1895: Hastings (1895)

* Oskar plays 1e4: Oskar Oglaza

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

* Petrosian's Best: Game Collection: P.H.Clarke: Petrosian's Best games

* Solitaire: Game Collection: Solitaire Chess by I. A. Horowitz

* Stunners: Game Collection: Stunners

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

* Top Games by Year: Wikipedia article: List of chess games

* Terminology: https://www.angelfire.com/games5/ch...

* 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

Connecticut: Windsor
Established in: 1633

Settlers from Plymouth Colony built the first trading house in Windsor in 1633 on an expanse of land they bought from Native Americans who were living there. Windsor was Connecticut's first English settlement, with a perfect location on the water. Today, the city uses its "first town" status to create a historical atmosphere ideal for tourism.

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

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

* Three Simple Chess Tips: https://www.premierchesscoaching.co...

The Kings of Chess: A History of Chess, Traced Through the Lives of Its Greatest Players by William Hartston William Hartson traces the development of the game from its Oriental origins to the present day through the lives of its greatest exponents - men like Howard Staunton, who transformed what had been a genteel pastime into a competitive science; the brilliant American Paul Morphy, who once played a dozen simultaneous games blindfold; the arrogant and certified insane Wilhelm Steinitz; the philosopher and mathematician Emanual Lasker; Bobby Fischer, perhaps the most brilliant and eccentric of them all; and many other highly gifted individuals. Hartson depicts all their colorful variety with a wealth of rare illustrations.

Format: Hardcover
Language: English
ISBN: 006015358X
ISBN13: 9780060153588
Release Date: January 1985
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Length: 192 Pages
Weight: 1.80 lbs.

The Miller, His Son, and the Ass

To M. De Maucroix.

Because the arts are plainly birthright matters, For fables we to ancient Greece are debtors;
But still this field could not be reaped so clean As not to let us, later comers, glean.
The fiction-world has deserts yet to dare,
And, daily, authors make discoveries there.
I had fain repeat one which our man of song,
Old Malherbe, told one day to young Racan.
Of Horace they the rivals and the heirs,
Apollo's pets, – my masters, I should say, – Sole by themselves were met, I'm told, one day,
Confiding each to each their thoughts and cares. Racan begins: 'Pray end my inward strife,
For well you know, my friend, what's what in life, Who through its varied course, from stage to stage, Have stored the full experience of age;
What shall I do? It's time I chose profession.
You know my fortune, birth, and disposition.
Ought I to make the country my resort,
Or seek the army, or to rise at court?
There's nothing but mixes bitterness with charms; War has its pleasures; hymen, its alarms.
it were nothing hard to take my natural bent, – But I have a world of people to content."
"Content a world!" old Malherbe cries; "who can, sir? Why, let me tell a story before I answer."

"A miller and his son, I have somewhere read,
The first in years, the other but a lad, –
A fine, smart boy, however, I should say, –
To sell their ass went to a fair one day.
In order there to get the highest price,
They needs must keep their donkey fresh and nice; So, tying fast his feet, they swung him clear,
And bore him hanging like a chandelier.
Alas! poor, simple-minded country fellows!
The first that sees their load, loud laughing, bellows, "What farce is this to split good people's sides? The most an ass is not the one that rides!"
The miller, much enlightened by this talk,
Untied his precious beast, and made him walk.
The ass, who liked the other mode of travel,
Brayed some complaint at trudging on the gravel; Whereat, not understanding well the beast,
The miller caused his hopeful son to ride,
And walked behind, without a spark of pride.
Three merchants passed, and, mightily displeased, The eldest of these gentlemen cried out,
"Ho there! dismount, for shame, you lubber lout! Nor make a foot-boy of your grey-beard sire;
Change places, as the rights of age require."
"To please you, sirs," the miller said, "I ought." So down the young and up the old man got.
Three girls next passing, "What a shame!" says one, "That boy should be obliged on foot to run,
While that old chap, on his ass astride,
Should play the calf, and like a bishop ride!"
"Please save your wit," the miller made reply,
"Tough veal, my girls, the calf as old as I."
But joke on joke repeated changed his mind;
So up he took, at last, his son behind.
Not thirty yards ahead, another set
Found fault. "The biggest fools I ever met,"
Says one of them, "such burdens to impose.
The ass is faint, and dying with their blows.
Is this, indeed, the mercy which these rustics
Show to their honest, faithful, old domestics?
If to the fair these lazy fellows ride,
"Twill be to sell thereat the donkey's hide!"
"Zounds!" cried the miller, "precious little brains Has he who takes, to please the world, such pains; But since we're in, we'll try what can be done." So off the ass they jumped, himself and son,
And, like a prelate, donkey marched alone.
Another man they met. "These folks," said he,
"Enslave themselves to let their ass go free – The darling brute! If I might be so bold,
I had counsel them to have him set in gold.
Not so went Nicholas his Jane to woo,
Who rode, we sing, his ass to save his shoe."
"Ass! ass!" our man replied; "we're asses three! I do avow myself an ass to be;
But since my sage advisers can't agree,
Their words henceforth shall not be heeded;
I'll suit myself." And he succeeded.

"For you, choose army, love, or court;
In town, or country, make resort;
Take wife, or cowl; ride you, or walk;
Doubt not but tongues will have their talk."

<Chris Chaffin wrote:

master/piece
She moves him ‘round the chess board,
dodging bishops, pawns and rooks.
She coaxes him from square to square
without a second look.

The white knight cannot catch him.
Piece by piece, the foe now yields.
Her king is safe; the game is done.
The queen controls the field.>

A Patience Worth Blessing
by Patience Worth

This hour, this hour, a chalice. Unto its golden cup We have poured our love, for there be not one man Who may honestly disclaim that he hath taken within His heart, God. Mayhap to refuse Him an abiding place; But His shadow hath rested upon him.
Behold, from this instant we disperse and His shadow Shall follow thee. I say that tomorrow at some instant Of time, each of thee shall stop, and I, like a moth Shall flit thee, and thou shalt remember Him.
I charge thee; it shall be!

"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." -- Abraham Lincoln

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

* Crisis of Character: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWE...

* Tips for 100-1000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCb...

* Sacrifice on f7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGk...

* Most common errors below 1200: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmw...

* EZ C-K traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCw...

* 15,000,000 disappeared? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn0...

* Tips for 1100-2000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIE...

* Top 5 C-K traps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB8...

* 3 Tips to reach 2000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzB...

* The Bob Fischer Story collection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A8...

* Fireworks in the Ruy Lopez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIO...

* Deflect the Defender of the mating square w/a Pin: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/axBq...

* Trap the bishop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQG...

* Boo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzC...

* Budapest Gambit Trap: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xWC3...

* Englund Gambit beat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL0...

* Soller Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jB5M...

* Learn the Q's Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWH...

* Tips for the Q's Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAt...

* 5 Traps Against 1.d4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkd...

* Meet Old Ben: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34N...

* Jim's Modern Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts8...

* Daaron opened the same way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqA...

* Benoni Defense Blunder: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8cpd...

* Benoni trap for Black: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0hQP...

* Blitz Benoni Defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nue...

* A65 by RJ Fischer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Op...

* Fischer's Trap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTC...

* Transpose to a Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ0...

* Kasparov breaks the Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_1...

* Fantastic attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuw...

* Benoni Traps Against 1.d4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsb...

* Benoni is back! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40e...

* Benoni Masterclass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6x...

* Simplified Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv5...

* How to play against the Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mz...

* How to beat the Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhG...

* Beat the Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIa...

* Beat the Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25...

* Benoni Plans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZq...

* Crush the Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yuy...

* Destroy the Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUr...

* GMAC likes the Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNm...

* MC plays the Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzo...

* Online Benoni victory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUN...

* The Benoni is a Joke? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aT...

* Almost a refutation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otb...

* Is the Modern Benoni in trouble? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYW...

* Black tries the Czech Benoni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIt...

* 9 Ideas in the Q's Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONB...

* 10 Ideas in the Q's Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYB...

* Simple but vital habit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CX...

* Complete Chess EG series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc2...

* Naroditsky's EG series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhU...

* Win R&P endings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkG...

* Mental Endgame Mastery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvv...

* Scut'in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO7...

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 King James Version

16 Rejoice evermore.

17 Pray without ceasing.

18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

The Satyr and the Traveller

Within a savage forest grot
A satyr and his chips
Were taking down their porridge hot;
Their cups were at their lips.

You might have seen in mossy den,
Himself, his wife, and brood;
They had not tailor-clothes, like men,
But appetites as good.

In came a traveller, benighted,
All hungry, cold, and wet,
Who heard himself to eat invited
With nothing like regret.

He did not give his host the pain
His asking to repeat;
But first he blew with might and main
To give his fingers heat.

Then in his steaming porridge dish
He delicately blew.
The wondering satyr said, "I wish
The use of both I knew."

"Why, first, my blowing warms my hand,
And then it cools my porridge."
"Ah!" said his host, "then understand
I cannot give you storage.
"To sleep beneath one roof with you,
I may not be so bold.
Far be from me that mouth untrue
Which blows both hot and cold."

Herein lay the rub. The Americans, like all Western armies, defined "winning" as killing the enemy and securing control over the battlefield. Their opponents in previous conflicts had generally accepted the same definition. Not so the Moros. What was important to them was the struggle and how one conducted oneself, personally and as a people, not necessarily a measurable outcome. They knew from the beginning they were no match for American firepower. It was a one-sided contest, what today is termed "asymmetric warfare," but so what? Their measure was how well one did against the odds, the more overwhelmingly they were against one, the greater the glory. And being that life is transitory anyway, what mattered most was how much courage was shown and how well did one die. The Americans and the Moros were using different score cards for the same game. To the Moros, it was they who had "won." — Robert A. Fulton

The Heron

One day, – no matter when or where, –
A long-legged heron chanced to fare
By a certain river's brink,
With his long, sharp beak
Helved on his slender neck;
It was a fish-spear, you might think.
The water was clear and still,
The carp and the pike there at will
Pursued their silent fun,
Turning up, ever and anon,
A golden side to the sun.
With ease might the heron have made
Great profits in his fishing trade.
So near came the scaly fry,
They might be caught by the passer-by.
But he thought he better might
Wait for a better appetite –
For he lived by rule, and could not eat,
Except at his hours, the best of meat.
Anon his appetite returned once more;
So, approaching again the shore,
He saw some tench taking their leaps,
Now and then, from their lowest deeps.
With as dainty a taste as Horace's rat,
He turned away from such food as that.
"What, tench for a heron! poh!
I scorn the thought, and let them go."
The tench refused, there came a gudgeon;
"For all that," said the bird, "I budge on.
I'll never open my beak, if the gods please,
For such mean little fishes as these."
He did it for less;
For it came to pass,
That not another fish could he see;
And, at last, so hungry was he,
That he thought it of some avail
To find on the bank a single snail.
Such is the sure result
Of being too difficult.
Would you be strong and great,
Learn to accommodate.
Get what you can, and trust for the rest;
The whole is often lost by seeking the best.
Above all things beware of disdain;
Where, at most, you have little to gain.
The people are many that make
Every day this sad mistake.
It's not for the herons I put this case,
You featherless people, of human race.
– List to another tale as true,
And you'll hear the lesson brought home to you.

"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

Ephesians 6:4: "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Deuteronomy 6:6-9: "These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

Ecclesiastes 9:9: "Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun."

"The participation of women in some armies in the world is in reality only symbolic. The talk about the role of Zionist women in fighting with the combat units of the enemy in the war of 5 June 1967 was intended more as propaganda than anything real or substantial. It was calculated to intensify and compound the adverse psychological effects of the war by exploiting the backward outlook of large sections of Arab society and their role in the community. The intention was to achieve adverse psychological effects by saying to Arabs that they were defeated, in 1967, by women." ― Saddam Hussein, The Revolution and Woman in Iraq

Chess
Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Exactly four different men have tried
to teach me how to play. I could never
tell the difference between a rook
or bishop, but I knew the horse meant

knight. And that made sense to me,
because a horse is night: soot-hoof
and nostril, dark as a sabled evening
with no stars, bats, or moon blooms.

It's a night in Ohio where a man sleeps
alone one week and the next, the woman
he will eventually marry leans her body
into his for the first time, leans a kind

of faith, too—filled with white crickets
and bouquets of wild carrot. And
the months and the honeyed years
after that will make all the light

and dark squares feel like tiles
for a kitchen they can one day build
together. Every turn, every sacrificial
move—all the decoys, the castling,

the deflections—these will be both
riotous and unruly, the exact opposite
of what she thought she ever wanted
in the endgame of her days.

blogger cinephilia once said: "The flawless game is impossible. Feed off your opponent's mistakes like a leech."

"There's always a hidden owl in knowledge." – E.I. Jane

"If you open it, close it. If you turn it on, turn it off. If you take it out, put it back. If you empty it, fill it. If you fill it, empty it." — Kathryn Malter, St. Paul, MN

"Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it." — Christopher Hitchens

A Word To Husbands by Ogden Nash

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up.

"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

"Zeitnot" is German for "time pressure."

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

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

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

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

"Risk" by Anais Nin

And then the day came,
when the risk
to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took
to blossom.

Riddle Question: I'm a mobile fortress; straight is my path. When it comes to castling, I'm part of the craft. What am I?

The name "coronavirus" is derived from the Latin word "corona," meaning "crown" or "halo." This refers to the appearance of a crown or a solar corona around the virus particles.

Riddle Answer: Rook

"Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

"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

A Winter Night
by Sara Teasdale 1884-1933

My window-pane is starred with frost,
The world is bitter cold to-night,
The moon is cruel, and the wind
Is like a two-edged sword to smite.

God pity all the homeless ones,
The beggars pacing to and fro.
God pity all the poor to-night
Who walk the lamp-lit streets of snow.

My room is like a bit of June,
Warm and close-curtained fold on fold,
But somewhere, like a homeless child,
My heart is crying in the cold.

"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.

Compiled by Fredthebear

"Messy Room" by Shel Silverstein

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door. His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall. Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or–
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

Oct-04-23 HeMateMe: I play 3/2 blitz occasionally on Lichess. I find it an excellent site, none of the delays/cancellations that ruined chess.com (for me). Oct-04-23 Cassandro: Yes, lichess is by far the best site for online chess. And you never know, apparently you may even get to play against a living legend like the highly esteemed Leonard Barden there!

FTB plays all about but has always been happy with FICS: https://www.freechess.org/

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER

Dreamers
by Siegried Sassoon

Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land,
Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
In the great hour of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows. Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.
Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin
They think of firelit homes, clean beds and wives.

I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain, Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats, And mocked by hopeless longing to regain
Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,
And going to the office in the train.

"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves"- J.M. Barrie (1860 - 1937)

A man who spent his life delighting the masses with his words, perfectly understood that you reap what you sow, and that when we make other people happy, we often find happiness ourselves.

"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

"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

<<"De Ludo Scachorum"> was first translated into French in 1347. In 1474, 2 years before it was printed in French, William Caxton translated the text from the French (of Jean de Vignay) into English and printed it under the title, "The Game of Chess." <"The Game of Chess"> was the second book ever printed in the English language. The first book, also printed by Claxton was "The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye," also translated from French (of Raoul le Fèvre) and also in 1474. Caxton printed almost 100 books, and of these 20 were translations from French or Dutch into English.> — batgirl, chess.com

1 Corinthians 13
King James Version

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

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'.

When Moses asked God, "Who shall I tell Pharaoh has sent me?" God said, "I AM THAT I AM." Jehovah or Yahweh is the most intensely sacred name to Jewish scribes and many will not even pronounce the name. When possible, they use another name." https://www.biblestudytools.com/bib...

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

"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

"Someday, somewhere – anywhere, unfailingly, you'll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life." ― Pablo Neruda

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

The Pawn Who Had to Go

The little pawn screamed: "I cannot hold it anymore, get me a pot or I will do exactly what I did before." Everybody laughed with the exception of the opposing king who guessed what was on the mind of this filthy thing. But nobody had time to fetch a pot or even a plastic bag They were too busy to ensure that the game became a drag. The guys in white kept running back and forth but no change. The guys in black stayed also within the very same range. Suddenly the unhappy pawn who had screamed for a pot, did a weird little dance while moving up one slot. Now standing near the king he simply pulled his pants down and peed straight up against the king's beautiful crown.

"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

"A wise man never knows all; only a fool knows everything." — African Proverb

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Z is for Zaccheus

Zaccheus was a wee little man,
And a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see.

And when the Savior passed that way
He looked up in the tree.
And he said, "Zaccheus, you come down!
For I'm going to your house today!
For I'm going to your house today!"

Zaccheus was a wee little man,
But a happy man was he.
For he had seen the Lord that day,
And a happy man was he.
And a very happy man was he!

Zirconium Zr 40 91.22 1.4

Salus populi suprema lex esto

Q: Why is Chubby Checker so bad at telling jokes? A: Because when there's a twist it doesn't surprise anybody.