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May-25-21
 | | Dionysius1: Hold on a minute (note to self). I've been bitching for years that it's not possible to find local clubs with good club nights where I can get a cup of tea, a chat about chess and a game with emphasis on aesthetic pleasure rather than winning matches. Well, if I turn a blind eye to the weirder contributors, or just block them, isn't this an ever open club night without the need to find a parking space? Maybe I'll give it a go again on that basis. |
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Jun-03-21
| | Dionysius1: Weeeell, without a lot of blocking it resembles a rowdy pub near closing time, with a few sensible conversations going on in the corners, and a lot of shouty fantasists holding court and assuming status more because of their noise than their sense. It would probably take a lot of blocking to create the atmosphere I want, but it might be possible. |
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Aug-10-21
| | Dionysius1: If I take the stories about the personal lives of less than top chess GMs and IMs at face value, I get an image of brilliant, powerful players living very rickety lives. It makes me wonder - is that so much of a pattern that chess education should be careful while encouraging children to aim to do well at chess, not to recommend it as the main interest in life, and certainly not as an alternative to preparing for a career? And will/should the incidents (isolated or pattern as they may be) put parents off letting their children become too focussed on the game? |
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Aug-10-21
 | | OhioChessFan: <Weeeell, without a lot of blocking it resembles a rowdy pub near closing time, with a few sensible conversations going on in the corners, and a lot of shouty fantasists holding court and assuming status more because of their noise than their sense.> Congratulations on the best composed description of this site ever attempted. |
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Aug-10-21
| | Dionysius1: Thank you kind sir! |
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Aug-11-21
 | | Check It Out: <Dionysius1: If I take the stories about the personal lives of less than top chess GMs and IMs at face value, I get an image of brilliant, powerful players living very rickety lives. It makes me wonder - is that so much of a pattern that chess education should be careful while encouraging children to aim to do well at chess, not to recommend it as the main interest in life, and certainly not as an alternative to preparing for a career? And will/should the incidents (isolated or pattern as they may be) put parents off letting their children become too focused on the game?> However, we wouldn't want to short circuit the Magnus Carlsens of the world! It's precisely because his father encouraged his attraction to the game that he was able to make it his main interest in life. He seems relatively balanced as an individual from what I can tell. |
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Aug-11-21
| | Dionysius1: You're right. I wonder how to chose the right response. I'll watch the documentary again some time and keep my eyes out for clues. I might be conflating 2 sources, but I remember some video coverage of him in school. |
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Aug-11-21
| | OhioChessFan: I'd guess the kind of person who'd tend toward great chess success would tend toward other social/emotional problems. I don't know how you could hope to know that in advance. |
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Aug-12-21
 | | diceman: <Check It Out:
It's precisely because his father encouraged his attraction to the game that he was able to make it his main interest in life.> It doesn't hurt that in 2021 you can also become rich as a top chess player. |
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Aug-12-21
| | Check It Out: <diceman> Good point, top players aren't dealing with the same financial stresses past players had to deal with. However, money doesn't always straighten out unbalanced characters, sometimes it even exacerbates them. |
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Aug-14-21
| | Dionysius1: <Bartleby> has a very relevant quotation today from Edward Lasker, at Erich Cohn |
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Aug-14-21
| | Check It Out: <D> Interesting. Makes me think of someone like <Hou Yifan>, who contrarily chose to finish up her university studies, putting chess on hold. She received a lot of flak for that, e.g. pressure to "fulfill her potential" etc. In addition to the wicked allure of Caissa, thats enough to drive some to focus on chess to the detriment of their well being. We do have the benefit of hindsight, so there's more awareness in the chess community for top players to avoid physical and mental health issues, I suppose. Its the tiers below that that might suffer more, these days. |
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| Aug-15-21 | | nok: <However, we wouldn't want to short circuit the Magnus Carlsens of the world!> You're entitled to your opinion. |
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Aug-15-21
| | Check It Out: <nok> thats a passive aggressive way to disagree. I for one enjoy a talent like Carlsen who stands above all, in the vein of Capablanca, Fischer, Kasparov. |
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Aug-15-21
| | Dionysius1: Maybe it's not as bad nowadays as I feared above <If I take the stories about the personal lives of less than top chess GMs and IMs at face value, I get an image of brilliant, powerful players living very rickety lives.> Here's Ben Finegold, no less, saying that nowadays, any 2200 player, with a non-chess skill (presumably marketing/IT/charm) can make a living at chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUS... Of course it doesn't exclude the combination I'm concerned with - prodigious talent, and an unworldly approach to life - dumping a young chess player hard when the talent runs out or the world catches up with him. |
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Sep-09-21
| | Dionysius1: I'm posting this game partly to have a go at the chessgames techniques involved, partly to have a record of my best game (since I grew up anyway), and partly to see what happens when people comment on it. So feel free - the more the merrier! White: Dion Lindsay (c 109) Black: Marek Gladysz (146D) Bedford League 16 Feb 2017
1.d4 d5
2.c4 c6
3.Nc3 e6
4.Nf3 Nf6
5.Bf4 Nd7
6.e3 Qa5?
Surely Black must play Bb4 first to stop it being locked in? 
click for larger view7.c5!
lots of dark square control now
7...Ne4
8.Qc2 Nf6
9.Bd3 Nxc3
10.Qxc3 Qxc3
11.bxc3 Be7
12.0-0 0-0
13.R(f)b1
I was convinced when I played 9.Bd3 that my Q side play would be better than his K side since Black’s bishops are stymied... 
click for larger view13...h6
...but 13...Nh5 might have been awkward for White 14.h3 g5
15. Bh2 Ne4?
click for larger viewI don't think Black should give me the c4 square like that 16.Bxe4 dxe4
17.Ne5 f5
18.a4 Kg7
19. a5 f4
20. a6 ba
21.Nxc6 Bf6
22. exf4 gxf4
23. Bxf4 Rf7
24. Nb4 Bxd4
25.Bxh6 Kxh6
26. cxd4
click for larger view26...Rb8
27.Nc6 Rxb1
28.Rxb1 Rc7
29.Ne5 Bb7
click for larger view30.g3 Bd5
31.h4 Kh5
click for larger view32.c6 Rg7
33.Rb8
1R6/p5r1/p1P1p3/3bN2k/3Pp2P6P1/5P2/6K1
Now if 33...Rh7 34.Rg8 and 35.Rg5 a kind of epaulette mate I think I missed a quicker finish in the next few moves, but still... 33...Kh6
34.Rh8+ Rh7
35.Rxh7 Kxh7
36.Kf1 a5
37.Ke1 Kg7
38.c7 Bb7
39.Nc4 a4
40.Kd1 Kf6
41.Nd6 e5
42.dxe5+ Ke6
43.Nxb7 1-0
click for larger view |
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Oct-03-21
| | Dionysius1: I'm a convert to using the SF engine. Behind the strings of moves, it provides ideas I wouldn't have thought of, which make analysing games so much more interesting. I love having a go with the analysis feature, and checking with SF for ideas when I run out of them, or checking if I've missed something I shouldn't have. It's like playing lots of games that never actually happened - and I think I'm learning enough this way to be a better player if ever I go back to face to face play. Thanks cg.com! |
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Oct-10-21
| | Dionysius1: I'm in a "If I had my time again" mood
And one of the things I'm regretting is holding on to a pattern of learning about chess openings by rote. I know it's more important to understand the themes than learn the moves by rote, but it's only just occurred to me the answer would have been tabiya.
If I'd learned to understand half a dozen tabiyas reachable by any number of openings, I probably would have been a better player. But when I was young many of my successes came in the openings from just seeing a move or two ahead of my opponents, gaining an overwhelming position through some trick, and converting. For example, I loved to play the Vienna Gambit because I could always find a sucker who would take the f4 pawn. 
click for larger viewIf I'd resisted the temptation, I would have understood more. |
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Oct-10-21
| | Dionysius1: And one of the consequences of my passion for cheap tricks, was I took too long to switch from 1.e4 to 1.d4.
When I did switch, I enjoyed QP openings much more. At least the way I played them, they were more about timing and key squares, and I was better at that than the trappy tactics of KP openings. But the lure of quick wins was too strong, for too long! |
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Oct-11-21
| | Dionysius1: The Kibitzers' Cafe is too weird for me, so I've abandoned it as somewhere to post my occasional seedy jokes. Here will have to do, and will reinforce whatever sense of social responsibility I have left. So:
A neighbour has just told me he had a really bad car crash. I misheard him and told him to go to the STI clinic. |
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| Oct-11-21 | | Z truth 000000001: <<Dion> The Kibitzers' Cafe is too weird for me, so I've abandoned it as somewhere to post my occasional seedy jokes.> A rather rash decision. |
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Oct-12-21
| | Dionysius1: True in all senses :-) |
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Oct-13-21
| | Check It Out: Veteran Navy sailor walks into another seedy bar, in another seedy port and orders a drink. A prostitute sidles up to him and says "Hey sailor, do you want to try something new?" He replies, "Sure, do you have leprosy?" |
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Oct-13-21
 | | technical draw: <CIO> A tourist goes to see Beethoven's grave in Austria.
And, to his shock, he sees the great musician seated next to his grave, erasing pieces of paper with his symphonies written on them. The tour guide leans over to his visibly startled guest and says, "Don't worry, he does this all the time. He's decomposing." |
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Oct-13-21
 | | WannaBe: Ba-Da-Bum... |
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