The illustrative games (where available) labelled by section from John Nunn's book, "Understanding Chess Middlegames"

"The quality of a game lays in how much originality, fighting spirit, beauty the player brings--not technique." --- David Bronstein

Chess Books by Fred Reinfeld:

101 Chess Problems for Beginners (Wilshire, Hollywood, 1960)(ISBN 0879800178) 1001 Brillian Chess Sacrifices and Combinations (Sterling, NY, 1955) 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate (Wilshire Books, Hollywood, 1955)(ISBN 0879801107) 1001 Chess Sacrifices and Combinations (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1959) (ISBN 0879801115) 1001 Ways to Checkmate (Sterling, NY, 1955)
A Chess Primer (Dolphin Books, Garden City, 1962) A New Approach to Chess Mastery (Hanover House, Garden City, 1959) A Treasury of British Chess Masterpieces (Chatto & Windus, London, 1950) A. Alekhine vs. E.D. Bogoljubow : World's Chess Championship 1934 (McKay, Philadelphia, 1934) An Expert's Guide to Chess Strategy (Hollywood, 1976) Art of Chess (edited by Reinfeld; written by Mason) (1958) (ISBN 0486204634) Art of Sacrifice in Chess (ISBN 0486284492)
Attack and Counterattack In Chess (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1958) Beginner's Guide to Winning Chess (ISBN: 0879802154) Book of the 1935 Margate Tournament
Book of the 1935 Warsaw International Chess Team Tournament Book of the 1936-37 Hastings Tournament
Botvinnik the Invincible
Botvinnik's Best Games, 1927-1934
British Chess Masters: Past and Present
Challenge to Chessplayers (McKay, Philadelphia, 1947) Chess At-A-Glance by Edward Young (Ottenheimer, Baltimore, 1955) Chess By Yourself (McKay, Philadelphia, 1946)
Chess Combinations and Traps
Chess for Amateurs: How To Improve Your Game (McKay, Philadelphia, 1942) Chess for Children, with Moves and Positions Pictured in Photo and Diagram (ISBN 0806949058) Chess for Young People
Chess In A Nutshell (Permabooks, NY, 1958) (ISBN 0671643916) Chess is an Easy Game
Chess Mastery by Question and Answer (McKay, Philadelphia, 1939) Chess Quiz (McKay, Philadelphia, 1945)
Chess Secrets Revealed (Wilshire, Hollywood, 1959) Chess Strategy and Tactics: Fifty Master Games (Black Knight, NY, 1933) Chess Strategy for Offense and Defense (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1955) Chess Tactics for Beginners (ISBN 0879800194)
Chess Traps, Pitfalls, and Swindles (ISBN 0671210416) Chess Victory Move By Move
Chess: Attack and Counterattack (Sterling, NY, 1955) Chess: Win in 20 Moves or Less (Crowell, NY, 1962) Complete Chess Course (ISBN 0385004648)
Complete Chess Player (ISBN 0671768956)
Colle's Chess Masterpieces (Black Knight Press, NY, 1936) Complete Book of Chess Openings (Sterling, NY, 1957) Complete Book of Chess Stratagems (Sterling, NY, 1958) Creative Chess (Sterling, NY, 1959)
Development of a Chess Genius, 100 Instructive Games of Alekhine (Dover) Dr. Lasker's Chess Career, Part I, 1889-1914 (Printingcraft, London, 1935) E. S. Lowe's Chess In 30 Minutes (E.S. Lowe Co, NY, 1955) Eighth Book of Chess: How to Play the Queen Pawn Openings and Other Close Games (Sterling, NY, 1957) Epic Battles of the Chessboard (ISBN 0486293556) Fifth Book of Chess: How to Win When You're Ahead (Sterling, NY, 1955) Fifty-one Brilliant Chess Masterpieces (Capitol Pub, NY, 1950) First Book of Chess (with Horowitz) (Harper & Row, NY 1952) Fourth Book of Chess: How to Play the Black Pieces (Sterling, NY, 1955) Games of the 1938 Washington State Chess Association Championship (1938) Great Brilliancy Prize Games of the Chess Masters (Collier, NY, 1961)(ISBN 0486286142) Great Chess Upsets (written by Reshevsky; annotated by Reinfeld) Great Games By Chess Prodigies (Macmillan, NY, 1967) Great Moments In Chess (Doubleday, NY, 1963)
Great Short Games of the Chess Masters (Collier, NY, 1961)(ISBN 0486292665) How Do You Play Chess?
How Not to Play Chess (Edited by Reinfeld; authored by Znosko-Borovsky) (ISBN 0486209202) How To Be A Winner at Chess (Hanover, Garden City, 1954)(ISBN 044991206X) How To Beat Your Opponent Quickly (Sterling, NY, 1956) How To Force Checkmate (Dover, NY, 1958) (ISBN 0486204391) How To Get More Out of Chess (Hanover, Garden City, 1957) How To Improve Your Chess (with Horowitz) (Collier, NY, 1952) How To Play Better Chess (Pitman, NY, 1948)
How To Play Chess Like A Champion (Fawcett, Greenwich, 1956) How To Play Winning Chess (Bantam Books, NY, 1962) How to Think Ahead in Chess (with Horowitz)
How To Win Chess Games Quickly (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1957) Hypermodern Chess: As Developed in the Games of its Greatest ExponentAron Nimzovich (Dover, NY, 1948)(ISBN 0486204480) Immortal Games of Capablanca (ISBN 0486263339)
Improving Your Chess (Barnes & Noble, NY, 1955)
Improving Your Chess (Faber, London, 1954)
Instructive and Practical Endings From Master Chess Kemeri Tournament, 1937
Keres' Best Games of Chess (1941)
Keres' Best Games of Chess, 1931-1948 (Printed Arts Co., 1949) Lasker's Greatest Chess Games, 1889-1914 (Dover, NY, 1963) Learn Chess Fast! (with Reshevsky) (McKay, Philadelphia, 1947) Learn Chess From the Masters (Dover, NY, 1946)
Modern Fundamentals of Chess
Morphy Chess Masterpieces (with Soltis) (Macmillan, NY, 1974) Morphy's Games of Chess (by Sergeant; edited by Reinfeld) (ISBN 0486203867) My System: A Treatise on Chess (by Nimzovich; edited by Reinfeld) (McKay, Philadelphia, 1947) Nimzovich: The Hypermodern (McKay, Philadelphia, 1948) Practical End-game Play (Pitman, London, 1940)
Reinfeld Explains Chess (Sterling, NY, 1957)
Reinfeld On The End-Game in Chess (Dover, NY, 1957) Relax With Chess and Win In 20 Moves (Pitman, NY, 1948) Second Book of Chess: The Nine Bad Moves, and How to Avoid Them (Sterling, NY, 1953) Semmering-Baden Tournament of 1937
Seventh Book of Chess: How to Play the King Pawn Openings (Sterling, NY, 1956) Sixth Book of Chess: How to Fight Back (Sterling, NY, 1955) Strategy in the Chess Endgame
Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess (Chatto & Windus, London 1947) The Book of the Cambridge Springs International Tournament 1904 (Black Knight Press, 1935) The Chess Masters On Winning Chess
The Complete Book of Chess Tactics (Doubleday, Garden City, 1961) The Complete Chess Course (Doubleday, Garden City, 1959) The Complete Chessplayer (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1953) The Complete Chessplayer by Edward Young (New English Library, London, 1960) The Great Chess Masters and Their Games (Hanover, Garden City, 1960) The Easiest Way To Learn Chess (Simon & Schuaster, NY, 1960) The Elements of Combination Play In Chess (Black Knight, NY, 1935) The Fireside Book of Chess (with Chernev) (Simon & Schuster, NY, 1949) The Games of the 1933 Match Between S. Flohr and M. Botvinnik The Human Side of Chess (Pellegrini & Cudahy, NY 1952) The Immortal Games of Capablanca
The Joys of Chess (Hanover, Garden City, 1961)
The Macmillan Handbook of Chess
The Secret of Tactical Chess (Crowell, NY, 1958) The Treasury of Chess Lore (McKay, NY, 1951)
The Unknown Alekhine 1905-1914
The USCF 7th Biennial US Championship of 1948
The Way To Better Chess (Macmillan, NY, 1959)
Third Book of Chess: How to Play the White Pieces (Sterling, NY, 1954) Thirty Five Nimzowitsch Games, 1904-1927
Two Weeks To Winning Chess
Ventnor City Tournament, 1939 (New York, 1939)
Why You Lose At Chess (Simon & Schustor, NY, 1956) Win at Chess (Dover, NY, 1958)(ISBN 0486418782)
Winning Chess: How to Perfect your Attacking Play Winning Chess for Beginners (Grosset, NY, 1959)
Winning Chess Openings (Hanover, Garden City, 1961)

Maximo wrote:

My Forking Knight's Mare
Gracefully over the squares, as a blonde or a brunette, she makes moves that not even a queen can imitate. Always active and taking the initiative,
she likes to fork.
She does it across the board,
taking with ease not only pawns, but also kings, and a bad bishop or two.
Sometimes she feels like making
quiet moves,
at other times, she adopts romantic moods,
and makes great sacrifices.
But, being hers a zero-sum game,
she often forks just out of spite.
An expert at prophylaxis, she can be a swindler, and utter threats,
skewering men to make some gains.
Playing with her risks a conundrum,
and also catching Kotov's syndrome.
Nonetheless, despite having been trampled
by her strutting ways
my trust in her remains,
unwavering,
until the endgame.

"When you're lonely, when you feel yourself an alien in the world, play Chess. This will raise your spirits and be your counselor in war" ― Aristotle

"The habit of holding a Man in the hand, and moving it first to one square and then to another, in order to engage the assistance of the eye in deciding where it shall actually be placed, is not only annoying to the adversary but a practical infraction of the touch-and-move principle." ― Howard Staunton

"A bad plan is better than none at all." ― Frank Marshall

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.

Isaiah 66:24
24 "And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

"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

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

Quotes from the Middle Ages:

Alfonso X, King of Castile: "Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe."

Thomas à Kempis: "Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing higher, nothing stronger, nothing larger, nothing more joyful, nothing fuller, and nothing better in heaven or on earth."

Hildegard von Bingen: "When the words come, they are merely empty shells without the music. They live as they are sung, for the words are the body and the music the spirit."

Albertus Magnus: "Do there exist many worlds, or is there but a single world? This is one of the most noble and exalted questions in the study of Nature."

Louis IX , King of France, speaking to his eldest son: "I would rather have a Scot come from Scotland to govern the people of this kingdom well and justly than that you should govern them ill in the sight of all the world."

Nicholas of Cusa: "For even he who is most greedy for knowledge can achieve no greater perfection than to be thoroughly aware of his own ignorance in his particular field. The more be known, the more aware he will be of his ignorance."

Taqî ad-Dîn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah: "Don't depend too much on anyone in this world because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness."

William of Ockham: "No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary."

Gerald of Wales: "There is a remarkable thing about swans. They teach us that the troubles of death should not grieve us; for in the very moment of dying they make a virtue of necessity and despise their sad fate in singing."

Isidore of Seville: "Letters are signs of things, symbols of words, whose power is so great that without a voice they speak to us the words of the absent; for they introduce words by the eye, not by the ear."

The Saga of Grettir the Strong: "A tale is but half told when only one person tells it."

Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna): "The world is divided into men who have wit and no religion and men who have religion and no wit."

Thomas Aquinas: "The Study of philosophy is not that we may know what men have thought, but what the truth of things is."

Geoffrey Chaucer: "What is better than wisdom? Woman. And what is better than a good woman? Nothing."

`Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Caliph: "The nourishment of body is food, while the nourishment of the soul is feeding others."

Meister Eckhart: "The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love."

Emperor Justinian: "Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render every one his due."

Christine de Pizan: "If it were customary to send maidens to school and teach them the same subjects as are taught to boys, they would learn just as fully and would understand the subtleties of all arts and sciences."

Peter Abelard: "Against the disease of writing one must take special precautions, since it is a dangerous and contagious disease."

Leon Battista Alberti: "When I investigate and when I discover that the forces of the heavens and the planets are within ourselves, then truly I seem to be living among the gods."

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

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." — Calvin Coolidge

Psalm 96: 1-3
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

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

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

JACK BE NIMBLE
Jack be nimble
Jack be quick
Jack jump over
The candlestick

MARY MARY QUITE CONTRARY
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row

A TISKET A TASKET
A tisket, a tasket
A green and yellow basket.
I wrote a letter to my love
And on the way I dropped it.
I dropped it, I dropped it
And on the way I dropped it.
A little boy he picked it up
And put it in his pocket.

BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
One for the master
And one for the dame.
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

JACK AND JILL
Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

LONDON BRIDGE
London Bridge is falling down
Falling down
Falling down
London Bridge is falling down
My Fair Lady.

RING AROUND THE ROSIE
Ring around the rosie
A pocket full of posies
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down.

WISE OLD OWL
A wise old owl lived in an oak.
The more he saw the less he spoke.
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

HUMPTY DUMPTY
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses
And all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty
Together again.

Able:

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/

‘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.

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.

"Attack! Always attack!" — Adolph Anderssen

Most games were included on a first-come, first-served basis. Some games are duds. Some are spectacular. It's a matter of having a variety of gambits included, not necessarily the greatest of all time.

Thank you jeta, patzer 2, Fredthebear!

* Opening Names: https://allchessopenings.blogspot.c...

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

* Lots of P-K4 gambits in this portion of the book: Game Collection: 200 Miniature Games of Chess - Du Mont (II)

* Matovinsky Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF7...

* See for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBv...

* Open up the French Defense?! http://studimonetari.org/edg/latex/...

* Special Collection: Game Collection: 0

* This fellow has some creative gambits: http://krolaszachykor.blogspot.com/...

* For safe keeping until I need 2 hours of entertainment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CG...

* Looking for Unorthodox? Game Collection: 6 GumboG's Unorthodox Games-Names (ECO=A,D,

* Looking for Redemption? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykH...

* GK: Game Collection: Kasparov - The Sicilian Sheveningen

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

Fredthebear started this collection split in summer 2020. It will continue to steadily fill up.

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!

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

The 20-40-40 rule in chess is a rule for players rated below 2000 that states 20% of your study should be dedicated to openings, 40% to the middlegame, and 40% to the endgame.

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

"God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with." — Billy Graham

"My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world." — Billy Graham

"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

* Riddle-ziggy-bean: https://www.briddles.com/riddles/ch...

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

"Never reply to an anonymous letter." ― Yogi Berra, MLB Hall of Fame catcher

"Even Napoleon had his Watergate." ― Yogi Berra, 10-time World Series champion

Weiord Funn:
8two After Columbia Zan Francoppa pagan ideology Zajogin free papal map to Zaza Varkondzhova for zborris63 outr space, force, time, andrew j...son K safety.

H.T. Bland. On page 207 of the December 1929 American Chess Bulletin he exalted the challenger in that year's world championship match:

Bravo ‘Bogol', you've shown pluck.
One and all we wish you luck.
Gee, some thought you'd barged between
Other players who'd have been
Less likely straightaway to lose
Just as friend Alekhine might choose;
Undaunted, ‘Bogol', you went in
Believing you'd a chance to win.
Or failing that, to make a fight,
Which you are doing as we write.

Thank you Qindarka!

"My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose." — Bette Davis

"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

"Those who do not risk, do not benefit." — Portuguese 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

Maximo wrote:

My Forking Knight's Mare
Gracefully over the squares, as a blonde or a brunette, she makes moves that not even a queen can imitate. Always active and taking the initiative,
she likes to fork.
She does it across the board,
taking with ease not only pawns, but also kings, and a bad bishop or two.
Sometimes she feels like making
quiet moves,
at other times, she adopts romantic moods,
and makes great sacrifices.
But, being hers a zero-sum game,
she often forks just out of spite.
An expert at prophylaxis, she can be a swindler, and utter threats,
skewering men to make some gains.
Playing with her risks a conundrum,
and also catching Kotov's syndrome.
Nonetheless, despite having been trampled
by her strutting ways
my trust in her remains,
unwavering,
until the endgame.

"When you're lonely, when you feel yourself an alien in the world, play chess. This will raise your spirits and be your counselor in war." — Aristotle

"A bad plan is better than none at all." — Frank Marshal

"To find something, anything, a great truth or a lost pair of glasses, you must first believe there will be some advantage in finding it." — Jack Burden, All The King's Men

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." — Jimmy Dean

"Chess is above all, a fight!" — Emanuel Lasker

"In chess, at least, the brave inherit the earth." — Edmar Mednis

Chessgames.com will be unavailable August 28, 2023 from 1:00AM through 1:30AM(UTC/GMT) for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience.

This poem is dedicated to all
Caissa members who are the Silent Majority.

The Silent Majority

Spoke the silent pawn to the opposing queen:
Your master is a filthy man and also very mean.
He does naught but curse and foulmouth my gentle master. Your king ought to punish him real fast if not faster. because we are all tired of his filthy ranting and raving. We want to play chess which is our gift and inborn craving. But if he is allowed to continue to act like a filthy prick, we'll catch him and drown him in the cesspool with frick. Replied the queen smilingly though in a very loud voice: Fear not silent majority because that is also our choice. So it came about,that one could hear in the deep of night an inhuman scream of the filthy man who died slowly of fright.

The Will Explained by Aesop

If what old story says of Aesop's true,
The oracle of Greece he was,
And more than Areopagus he knew,
With all its wisdom in the laws.
The following tale gives but a sample
Of what has made his fame so ample.
Three daughters shared a father's purse,
Of habits totally diverse.
The first, bewitched with drinks delicious;
The next, coquettish and capricious;
The third, supremely avaricious.
The sire, expectant of his fate,
Bequeathed his whole estate,
In equal shares, to them,
And to their mother just the same, –
To her then payable, and not before,
Each daughter should possess her part no more.
The father died. The females three
Were much in haste the will to see.
They read, and read, but still
Saw not the willer's will.
For could it well be understood
That each of this sweet sisterhood,
When she possessed her part no more,
Should to her mother pay it over?
It was surely not so easy saying
How lack of means would help the paying.
What meant their honoured father, then?
The affair was brought to legal men,
Who, after turning over the case
Some hundred thousand different ways,
Threw down the learned bonnet,
Unable to decide on it;
And then advised the heirs,
Without more thought, t" adjust affairs.
As to the widow's share, the counsel say,
"We hold it just the daughters each should pay
One third to her on demand,
Should she not choose to have it stand
Commuted as a life annuity,
Paid from her husband's death, with due congruity." The thing thus ordered, the estate
Is duly cut in portions three.
And in the first they all agree
To put the feasting-lodges, plate,
Luxurious cooling mugs,
Enormous liquor jugs,
Rich cupboards, – built beneath the trellised vine, – The stores of ancient, sweet Malvoisian wine,
The slaves to serve it at a sign;
In short, whatever, in a great house,
There is of feasting apparatus.
The second part is made
Of what might help the jilting trade –
The city house and furniture,
Exquisite and genteel, be sure,
The eunuchs, milliners, and laces,
The jewels, shawls, and costly dresses.
The third is made of household stuff,
More vulgar, rude, and rough –
Farms, fences, flocks, and fodder,
And men and beasts to turn the sod over.
This done, since it was thought
To give the parts by lot
Might suit, or it might not,
Each paid her share of fees dear,
And took the part that pleased her.
It was in great Athens town,
Such judgment gave the gown.
And there the public voice
Applauded both the judgment and the choice.
But Aesop well was satisfied
The learned men had set aside,
In judging thus the testament,
The very gist of its intent.
"The dead," Said he, "could he but know of it,
Would heap reproaches on such Attic wit.
What! men who proudly take their place
As sages of the human race,
Lack they the simple skill
To settle such a will?"
This said, he undertook himself
The task of portioning the pelf;
And straightway gave each maid the part
The least according to her heart –
The prim coquette, the drinking stuff,
The drinker, then, the farms and cattle;
And on the miser, rude and rough,
The robes and lace did Aesop settle;
For thus, he said, "an early date
Would see the sisters alienate
Their several shares of the estate.
No motive now in maidenhood to tarry,
They all would seek, post haste, to marry;
And, having each a splendid bait,
Each soon would find a well-bred mate;
And, leaving thus their father's goods intact,
Would to their mother pay them all, in fact," – Which of the testament
Was plainly the intent.
The people, who had thought a slave an ass,
Much wondered how it came to pass
That one alone should have more sense
Than all their men of most pretence.

* CG Biography: Aryan Tari

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

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

* Imagination: Game Collection: Imagination in Chess

* Immortal Games: Game Collection: Immortal games

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

* Surprise Knockouts: Game Collection: quick knockouts of greats

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

* Nuremberg 1896: Nuremberg (1896)

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

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

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

* Collection assembled by Fredthebear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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