Copy - All chess players DO require a QUICK FIX opening selection, here are some good choices for him.

Games from the World Blitz 2014, Tbilisi 2015, Tradewise Gibraltar 2015, and European Championship 2015, etc.

"As one by one I mowed them down, my superiority soon became apparent." ― Jose Raul Capablanca

"I always play carefully and try to avoid unnecessary risks. I consider my method to be right as any superfluous ‘daring' runs counter to the essential character of chess, which is not a gamble but a purely intellectual combat conducted in accordance with the exact rules of logic." ― Jose Raul Capablanca

"When you sit down to play a game you should think only about the psotion, but not about the opponent. Whether chess is regarded as a science, or an art, or a sport, all the same psychology bears no relation to it and only stands in the way of real chess." ― Jose Raul Capablanca

"There is no jewel in the world comparable to learning; no learning so excellent both for Prince and subject, as knowledge of laws; and no knowledge of any laws so necessary for all estates and for all causes, concerning goods, lands or life, as the common laws of England." ― Sir Edward Coke

"Without integrity and honor, having everything means nothing." ― Robin Sharma

"I am no longer cursed by poverty because I took possession of my own mind, and that mind has yielded me every material thing I want, and much more than I need. But this power of mind is a universal one, available to the humblest person as it is to the greatest." ― Andrew Carnegie

"Luckily, there is a way to be happy. It involves changing the emphasis of our thinking from what we want to what we have." ― Richard Carlson

"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us." ― Winston S. Churchill

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

* FT 0-1: Game Collection: French Tarrasch

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

* A few KIAs: Game Collection: Opening Ideas

* Advance French: Game Collection: Attacking with the French

* According to... Game Collection: The French According to ...

* Black Defends: Game Collection: Opening repertoire black

* Checkmate art: Game Collection: Art of Checkmate

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

* Dr. Edmund Adam Miniatures: Edmund Adam

* Fraudster: https://zanchess.wordpress.com/2025...

* Happy Days! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slv...

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

* Masterful: Game Collection: FRENCH DEFENSE MASTERPIECES

* A few thoughts: https://nikhildixit.com/how-to-coun...

* Short course: https://www.chess.com/openings/Fren...

* Starter lines to know: https://www.ichess.net/blog/french-...

* 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...

* Transform: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/I-zK...

* Trompowsky Tactics: https://www.chessable.com/trompowsk...

* Trap the Queen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmU...

* 2.Qh5?! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_Ijs...

* Bad ...h6?? allows Qh5+: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Yq4Y...

* Good Qh5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ3...

* QGD: Game Collection: QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED

* QGD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPH...

* UK: https://chesscircuit.substack.com/

* Uncomfortable boots: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_g5a...

* Variety pack: Game Collection: KID games

* Wages of sin: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EvQt...

* Wilhelm Steinitz: https://www.chessjournal.com/wilhel...

* When to Trade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGa...

* When to Trade/Avoid Exchanges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69K...

* Wishful Thinking, Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlN...

* You aint seen nothing yet: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jEO2...

* Zukertort System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcN...

* 0ZeR0's Favs Vol 76: Game Collection: 0ZeR0's collected games volume 76

* 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 can be described as the movement of pieces eating one another." — Marcel Duchamp

"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

"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." — Ernest Hemingway

"You win some, you lose some, you wreck some." — Dale Earnhardt

"In life, unlike chess the game continues after checkmate." ― Isaac Asimov

"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." ― Albert Einstein

"When in doubt, don't." ― Benjamin Franklin

Illinois: Peoria
Established in: 1680

French settlers Robert Cavalier Sieur de LaSalle and Henri de Tonti built Fort Crevecoeur on the bank of the Illinois River in 1680. Soon, a village grew around it. Peoria's history goes back further than that. Archaeologists can trace signs of men there as far back as 10,000 B.C.E. thanks to the evidence of artifacts and burial mounds as evidence of a Native American civilization.

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

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

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

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

* History of Chess: https://boldchess.com/history/

* Short history: Game Collection: A history of chess

* Chess Aps: https://www.wired.com/story/best-ch...

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.

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

"I do not know how old I was when I learned to play chess. I could not have been older than eight, because I still have a chessboard on whose side my father inscribed, with a soldering iron, "Saša Hemon 1972." I loved the board more than chess—it was one of the first things I owned. Its materiality was enchanting to me: the smell of burnt wood that lingered long after my father had branded it; the rattle of the thickly varnished pieces inside, the smacking sound they made when I put them down, the board's hollow wooden echo. I can even recall the taste—the queen's tip was pleasantly suckable; the pawns' round heads, not unlike nipples, were sweet. The board is still at our place in Sarajevo, and, even if I haven't played a game on it in decades, it is still my most cherished possession, providing incontrovertible evidence that there once lived a boy who used to be me." ― Aleksandar Hemon, The Book of My Lives

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.>

Ireland is now one of the least forested countries in Europe. Until the end of the Middle Ages, Ireland was heavily forested. Native species include deciduous trees such as oak, ash, hazel, birch, alder, willow, aspen, rowan and hawthorn, as well as evergreen trees such Scots pine, yew, holly and strawberry trees. Only about 10% of Ireland today is woodland; most of this is non-native conifer plantations, and only 2% is native woodland.

<<Daisies and Dance>

In gardens where the daisies sway,
The butterflies come out to play.
With colors bold, they twirl and glide,
In springtime's warmth, they dance with pride.
Their graceful loops, a blissful sight,
Among the blooms, so pure and bright.>

Youngest world champion
Youngest undisputed classical chess world champion: D Gukesh; 18 years 6 months 14 days, title won 2024

Youngest Women's World Chess Champion: Hou Yifan; 16 years, 9 months and 27 days, title won 2010

Youngest grandmaster
The youngest player to be awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE is Abhimanyu Mishra. In 2021, he qualified for the title at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days. See List of youngest grandmasters for the history of this record.

Henry Ernest Atkins - Herbert Levi Jacobs 1915: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rzeg...

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

Central Park in New York City is larger than the entire country of Monaco.

Cuvier's beaked whales can hold their breath underwater for over two hours.

The average golf ball has 336 dimples.

This poem is dedicated to all Caissa's members who understand that chess is but a game.

Chess is but a Game

As he secretly rode his knight out of the castle's gate, still believing that he could escape this inevitable fate, the sky broke open with an array of incredible light. and there smitten to the earth lay nova under his knight. I am who I am and always am, spoke this thundering voice and you, my friend nova, do not at all have another choice but to go forth south and north, west and east
loudly proclaiming the good Word to man and beast. Thus beset by the compelling voice from the broken sky nova set about explaining through the word the how and why. He travelled north and south, west and east never losing aim to let all Caissa's members know: chess is but a game.

A Digital Puzzle
Riddle Question: What arithmetic symbol can we place between 2 and 3 to make a number greater than 2 but less than 3? Scroll down for riddle answer...

Fact: The United States, Burma, and Liberia are the only countries that have not officially adopted the metric system.

Riddle Answer: A decimal point.

FACTRETRIEVER: Dolphins usually breathe through their blowhole, but, in 2016, scientists discovered a dolphin with a damaged blowhole that could breath through its mouth.

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER

Snow White & the Huntsman by Evan Daugherty

"Who will you be when faced with the end?
The end of a kingdom,
The end of good men,
Will you run?
Will you hide?
Or will you hunt down evil with a venomous pride?

Rise to the ashes,
Rise to the winter sky,
Rise to the calling,
Make heard the battle cry.
Let it scream from the mountains
From the forest to the chapel,
Because death is a hungry mouth
And you are the apple.

So who will you be when faced with the end?
When the vultures are circling
And the shadows descend
Will you cower?
Or will you fight?
Is your heart made of glass?
Or a pure Snow White?"
― Lily Blake, Snow White & the Huntsman

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

Thank you, Qindarka!

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

‘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.

Vera Menchik, a Russian-born Czechoslovak chess player who primarily resided in England, was the dominant female chess player before being killed by a German air raid during the Second World War. Menchik won at least 59 games in a row at the Women's World Championship tournaments. She was the first and longest-reigning Women's World Chess Champion from 1927 to 1944, winning the championship a record eight times.

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.

The Dog That Dropped The Substance For The Shadow

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

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/

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

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

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

"You made a decision. You did what you thought was decent... You made a decision. Now stand by it. Right or wrong, you stand by it." ― Sam Elliott, 1883

The Sweet South-Wind
by Oscar Fay Adams

Over the fields and the waters there suddenly swept in mid-April Something that seemed like a breath that was blown from far coasts of the sunlands. Languorous was it and sweet as are lilies or odorous spices, Laden with delicate hints of a summer not far in the distance. Over the meadows and fields that, embrowned by the cold of the winter, Lay as if dead to the spring and with never a hope of a harvest, Silently passed the south-wind, and there suddenly sprang into being Millions of grass blades that tossed like an emerald sea in the sunshine, Daffodils fair as were those that gained Pluto a consort in Hades, Buttercups golden and gleaming like gems on the hands of a maiden, Daisies that grew near the ground and yet ever and always gazed upward, Violets azure and yellow and white and of wonderful fragrance.

Over the trees in the orchard and forest it breathed in its progress, Bringing the sap from the roots to the near and the farthermost branches, Swelling the buds till the willow was hid in a verdurous mist-cloud, Touching the boughs of the maple that reddened with joy at the meeting, Leaving wherever it lingered assurance and promise of summer. Over the streams the beneficent breeze from the south-land swept gently, Filled all the waters with quick-darting life that rejoiced in the springtime, Sent all the rivers, now freed from the grasp of the winter, exultant, Moving in shimmering, glittering, sinuous curves that led seaward. So on its way passed the wonderful wakening wind from the sunlands, Driving before it the frost and the cold of the winter, reluctant, While in their stead came the warmth and the re-aroused life of the springtide, For in the wake of the life-giving breeze flew the jubilant swallows, Twittered the robins and wrens, while the azure-hued wing of the bluebird Cut through the air like the scintillant blade that is famed of Toledo.

Thus in mid-April the heart of another springtide was awakened; Faster the blood ran along through the veins in the glorious weather, Generous impulses quickened and waxed in the glow of the season. Winter was banished, and with him the cold and the afternoon twilight, And, as the wail of his storms in the north passed at last into silence, May could be seen in the distance approaching, her lap full of blossoms.

Matthew 17:20
Our faith can move mountains.

'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)

<<<"Love Is A Place"> by E.E. Cummings>

Love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds>

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.

"To a large degree, the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment." — Richard Carlson

M.Hassan: <Eggman>: Scarborough Chess Club which is said to be the biggest chess club in Canada, arranges tournaments under the name of "Howard Rideout" tournaments. Is he the same Rideout that you are mentioning?. I only know that this is to commemorate "Rideout" who has been a player and probably in that club because the club is over 40 years old. This tournament is repeated year after year and at the beginning of the season when the club resumes activity after summer recession in September. Zxp

PeterB: Eggman and Mr. Hassan - you are right, Howard Ridout was a long time member of the Scarborough Chess Club! He was very active even when I joined in 1969, and was still organizing tournaments at the time of his death in the 1990s. This game is a good memorial to him! Theodorovitch was a Toronto master rated about 2250 back then, perhaps about 2350 nowadays.

<<<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-...

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

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

* ...shortly after the Bolshevik revolution Alekhine, as a member of the old Russian nobility, was imprisoned and sentenced to death by Trotsky, then in the height of his glory … https://medium.com/@BobbyFischerTru...

<"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.>

Old News: https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C...

Monday, November 28, 2022
George Armstrong Custer, A Contemptible Person

While watching the basketball game between West Virginia and Florida on Sunday night (11/17) I was annoyed by the announcers...they were worthless; for the most part they engaged in idle chit-chat, told anecdotes, tossed out stupid "quizzes" and told us what was happening in other games in the tournament all while virtually ignoring what was going on in the West Virginia vs. Florida game. Nevertheless, they were not nearly as bad as the two asshat announcers Chick Hernandez and Chris Walker, who decided to poke fun at Wichita State basketball player Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler because of his name. His name comes from his being half Native American and it is a tribute to his heritage. He is a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe and he grew up on a reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota before moving to Omaha, Nebraska where he attended high school. Poor Bear-Chandler reminded me of the trip I took many years ago when I drove to Yellowstone National Park which is mostly in Wyoming. On the way I passed through some of the most beautiful and interesting parts of the country I have ever seen...the Black Hills and the Badlands in South Dakota. While on the trip I visited the Little Big Horn battlefield in Montana which is where the US Army's 7th Cavalry and the Lakotas and Cheyennes met in one of the Native American's last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. On June 25 and 26 of 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lieutenant Colonel (NOT General) George A. Custer and his troops died fighting several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. Somehow I think the memorial is to the wrong person...it should have been to the Native Americans, or Indians as they were called in my day. It wasn't far from Yellowstone where Custer made his ignoble charge down Deep Ravine Trail where Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Gall were waiting with the largest concentration of warriors ever assembled. Custer and his troops were lionized and turned into heroes, but after the death of Custer's wife, Elizabeth "Libbie" Custer, a popular Western author, who wrote three books building her husband's legend, historians finally revised the legend to reveal the truth. Custer was born on December 5, 1839 near New Rumley in eastern Ohio not far from Pittsburgh. He entered West Point in July 1857 and his time there was filled with demerits and a few times he managed to escape getting tossed out. While many of his classmates ended up serving as officers for the Confederates in the Civil War, Custer, who graduated last in his class of 34, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US 2nd Cavalry in June 1861. During the Civil War Custer was present at the First Battle of Bull Run but did not see action. Shortly afterwards he transferred to the Cavalry and was promoted to a 1st Lieutenant in July of 1862. From there he was quickly appointed as an aide to General McClellan with the acting rank of Captain. In June 1863, at the age of 23, Custer was made Brigadier General of volunteers. He did distinguish himself while in command of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade at the battle of Gettysburg and leading a cavalry charge 2 days later with the 7th Michigan Cavalry. He then served with the Army of the Potomac throughout 1864 and gained renown during battles in the Shenandoah Valley. At the end of the Civil War he was a Major General with the volunteers where he was leading a cavalry division. Custer loved publicity and the press loved him because he was young, a showman with long red hair and a taste for velvet jackets with gold braid. His men hated him. He was autocratic, dictatorial and incredibly arrogant. He was so bad that his post war command ended when his troops mutinied after Custer had reintroduced lashing as a form of discipline. After his command was disbanded, Custer mustered out of voluntary service in February 1866 and reverted to his Army rank of Captain, but he still liked to be referred to as General Custer. In early 1867 while on a recon mission Custer's actions led to a court martial and he was found guilty of 1) absenting himself from his command, 2) using some troopers as an escort while on unofficial business, 3) abandoning two men reported killed on the march, 4) failing to pursue the Indians responsible, 5) failing recover the bodies, 6) ordering a party going after deserters to shoot to kill which resulted in 1 death and 3 wounded. But, that wasn't all! He was also found guilty of 7) unjustifiable cruelty to those wounded. As the military still does to this day, officers receive a much less harsh punishment than do enlisted personnel. Custer was sentenced to suspension from rank and pay for a year. While sitting out his suspension at home he was recalled to duty early due to a manpower shortage. His early recall resulted in a lot of bad feelings between Custer and the other officers in his regiment. The regiment saw minor action against the Indians for the next few years, but not Custer. it didn't matter; Custer published exaggerated accounts of the 7th Cavalry's actions. Then in November of 1868, under Custer's command, the 7th Cavalry fought at the Battle of Washita River (or the Washita Massacre) over a hundred Indians were killed including some women and children. As a result, the Cheyenne referred to Custer as "Squaw Killer." Custer's incompetence helped increase ill feeling towards him and in the spring 1873 the Regiment was moved to Dakota under command of Colonel D.S. Stanley. There, while protecting some railway engineers, the regiment skirmished with local Indians and Custer's actions ended up with him being charged with insubordination. Even a guy like Custer had friends though and they convinced Stanley to drop the charges. In 1874 an expedition was sent to the Black Hills. While there, Custer was accused by some of spreading stories of a gold find. As a result, prospectors followed and they were attacked by the Indians. These attacks were an excuse for a campaign against the Indians. The campaign was under General Alfred Terry who favored Custer even though at the time Custer was, again, in disgrace for having offended President Grant, Army Commander General William Sherman and his division commander General Phil Sheridan after having accused them of certain irregularities involving trading posts. While on patrol at the Little Big Horn, Custer again chose not to follow orders when he saw Indians in the valley below him...probably around 15,000 of them. He decided to split his force into three groups and attack from three directions... an idiotic plan considering his small force. Two prongs of the attack were driven back but made it to safety while Custer's force was cut off and slaughtered by Crazy Horse's Sioux. Custer had risen to power due to friends and supporters and, also, thanks to the press which was always seeking a good story. A lot of people died that day to serve the glory seeking of an arrogant and incompetent lout who was hardly deserving of a memorial. ― Tartajubow

French Proverb: "Il ne faut rien laisser au hasard." ― (Nothing should be left to chance.)

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

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

"As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight." — The Revenant

worbdftun:
R18 Editor Steinitz perjury iz worse than danidze surgery becuz an op fixes yu up. Who o opz! It happened again! Zvjaginsev tikld Zhang gigld.