eternaloptimist Member since Jan-23-08 I am a Christian & have been a foreign missionary to China, Spain, Morocco & Mexico. I learned to play chess when I was 9 years old in 4th grade in elementary school when my homeroom teacher taught my homeroom class how to play it. Ever since she taught me how to play it, it has been my favorite game. Now 46 years later, I'm still playing it! My style (positional) was heavily influenced by Anatoly Karpov & Salomon Flohr . When I first started studying chess books in my teens, I studied collections of their games. Karpov has been my favorite player ever since then. <Tournaments<>><:I haven't played in a tournament since '03 in Denver, where I saw many GMs, IMs & lower rated masters (GMs: a 15 yr old Naka [who became a GM that same yr before this tourney...the U. S.' youngest-ever GM at that time!], Shabalov, Stripunsky, Ibragimov & Browne just to name a few players)...tourney results: http://www.chesstour.com/elm03r.htm I met Patrick Wolff (2-time U. S. Chess Champion: '92 & '95) in New Orleans @ a tourney there in '92 after he won the U. S. Championship. He played a simultaneous exhibition vs ~20 players the day before the tourney. I remember that he had only 1 draw & he won the rest of the games. He played in the tourney & won it; he had a Q & A session as well. I asked him who some of his favorite chess players are & he mentioned Emanuel Lasker because: "He epitomized the struggle in chess."> <23 of the games that I submitted to be game of the day (w/ my puns) have been chosen for it!<>>: S Li vs Ding Liren, 2011 — S Factor vs Gilg, 1928 — Kasparov vs Anand, 1995 — Stockfish vs Rybka, 2013 — N Evseev vs Flohr, 1949 — J Polgar vs A S Rasmussen, 2013 — D Bit-Narva vs R Egilstoft, 2014 — L Bruzon Batista vs C Zhu, 2004 — Bagirov vs N Iordanov, 1976 — Kramnik vs Bluebaum, 2017 — Speelman vs J Horner, 1976 — L Day vs B Nickoloff, 1977 — Pelletier vs C McNab, 2012 — Ding Liren vs Wei Yi, 2015 — W M Byland vs C F Tears, 1951 — M Diamond vs Santasiere, 1922 — Bondarevsky vs Smyslov, 1946 — Leko vs Nepomniachtchi, 2016 — Anderssen vs C Mayet, 1855 — J Turn vs Petrov, 1929 — D Monokroussos vs L Barcarola, 1999 — Benko vs J P Dominguez Sanz, 1972 — Smeets vs Bacrot, 2008 <<>some of my analysis<>>: N Karaklajic vs Smyslov, 1955 -- I Odesskij vs P Skacelik, 2001 <to see my games & stats/profile page on gameknot.com (username: eternaloptimist): http://gameknot.com/players.pl -- Type in eternaloptimist in the search box. (You have to have a gameknot acct. to see it.)<<<>>>> <Right now I'm trying out different chess variants for something different. Please feel free to mention variants that you like in my forum.<<<<>>>>> <Some of my favorite chess books are: 1) My Best Games by Anatoly Karpov 2) The Search for Chess Perfection by C. J. S. Purdy 3) 125 Selected Games by Vasily Smyslov 4) Modern Chess Strategy by Ludek Pachman 5) Transpo Tricks in Chess by Andrew Soltis 6) Pawn Structure Chess by Andrew Soltis 7) The Wisest Things Ever Said About Chess by Andrew Soltis 8) The Development of Chess Style by John Nunn & Max Euwe (Nunn added material to the original text that Euwe wrote.) 9) Salo Flohr's Best Games of Chess by Salo Flohr (translated by Gregory S. Donges) 10. H.O.T. Chess by Paul Motwani <<<<<<>>>>>>> <1 book that helped me improve a lot is "How to Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman. Although he wasn’t the most honest guy in the world b/c he made himself out to be a better chess player than he actually was. (I'm aware that he was an IM so I'm not saying that he wasn't a strong player.) He did that by giving a lot of his moves in the book a "!" or "!!" that don't deserve them. If you analyze some of his games on a chess engine then you will see that some of his moves that got a "!" or "!!" actually aren't anywhere close to being the best move. In addition to that sometimes he didn't mention if his opponent played a move that deserves a "?" to make some of his victories appear brilliant & to show the triumph of a strategical theme in a particular section of the book.<<<<<<<>>>>>>>> <*profile updated on 1/25/2025<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>

eternaloptimist has kibitzed 2030 times to chessgames   [more...]

Mar-12-25 W J Donaldson vs V Ravikumar, 1980   eternaloptimist: I noticed that we’re having repeat puzzles from last week. I guess the puzzle picker(s) are busy this week. I solved it last week & I must admit that it's a good puzzle. I met IM Donaldson @ a tournament in Denver back in ‘03. He did a Q & A session there & it was ...      Feb-18-25 P Vargas vs R Bassan Noriega, 2005    eternaloptimist: I solved it. I played the same moves as Vargas until his 24th move. I played 24. ♕d5 instead of ♕c4. Stockfish 17 said my 24th move is the best move!      Feb-03-25 Tata Steel Masters (2025)    eternaloptimist: Pragg the raspberry mess❓❓🤷‍♂️🤔      Feb-03-25 Salov vs Minasian, 1983   eternaloptimist: <Hercdon> I chose 31. d8=Q also but no black doesn't have plenty of opportunities after it. Stockfish says white has a +5.73 pawn advantage @ (30 ply) w/ blacks best reply (31…Rxd8). White has an easy win w/ d8=Q      Feb-03-25 Anthony Wirig    eternaloptimist: I see that CG changed his pic to a pic where he looks normal. <Karpova> posted this link that shows the pic that used to be his profile pic here, where he has a bizarre-looking hairdo.: https://en.chessbase.com/news/2007/...      Jan-24-25 Abdusattorov vs D Gukesh, 2025    eternaloptimist: <goodevans> u missed the point. The reason I pointed out that he's not the best is b/c if I don't then someone will probably correct me & say that Gukesh isn't the best/not the *real* world champ. Yet still an idiot (<dheilke>) just had to disagree w/ me & say ...      Dec-30-24 World Rapid Championship (2024)    eternaloptimist: Congrats to GM Murzin! He played a brilliant tournament & beat some really big-name chess players on route to becoming the world rapid champion (Caruana, Naka, Duda & Pragg r some of the players that he defeated). I'm really looking forward to watching live streams of the ...      Dec-24-24 Irina Krush    eternaloptimist: Happy Birthday to 1 of the best combinations of beauty & brains, GM Irina Krush!! I had the privilege of meeting her & have talked to her a couple of times. She's really nice, has a good personality & she's 1 of my favorite chess players as well <MissScarlett> She ...      Dec-23-24 eternaloptimist chessforum   eternaloptimist: WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING Kotronias vs J Gustafsson, 2011. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF GUSTAFSSON. Your score: 47 (no par) Kotronias vs J Gustafsson, 2011      Dec-10-24 Ding Liren vs D Gukesh, 2024    eternaloptimist: This is a brilliant Karpovian style positional game by Ding! I'm really glad that he won this game & evened the score! He did a outstanding job of recovering from a tough loss in the previous game & an outstanding job of gradually increasing the pressure on gukesh. Goooo ...

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing> Dec-25-17    Penguincw: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year <eternaloptimist>. (great name by the way) --- And in response to your response to my comment on the Kibitzer's Cafe, uh, yeah. <wordfunph> is a premium member, surprised he doesn't open his forum. Hoping he does use Search Kibitzing, and if he does, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year <wordfunph>. :) If not, oh well, but Happy Holidays regardless. Dec-26-17    OhioChessFan:   User: aot User: cot User: dot User: dott User: fot User: hot User: hott User: jott User: lot User: mot User: Not User: pot User: sot User: zot Jan-01-18    eternaloptimist: Thx <Penguin>! Happy New Year to u! This is my favorite time of the year w/ Christmas & the New Year's Day holidays! Thx for the complement on my username. It reminds me to think positive. Yes that is surprising that <wordfunph> decided to end his forum. Haha yes hopefully he uses Search Kibitzing! <OCF> Thx for the blue text, & I hope u have a Happy New Year! Sep-01-18    morfishine: <eternaloptimist> Thanks for dropping by my forum! Good to hear from you! Good luck with the bookie game: I hope your chess bucks increase along with your posts! Sep-03-18    eternaloptimist: <morf> U r welcome & thx for dropping by my forum! Hardly anybody kibitzes here anymore so I appreciate it when ppl do kibitz here. Thx for wishing me good luck & I wish u good luck in Bookie also! Sep-10-18    offramp: I hope <Morfishine> is okay. He might be on holiday, or taking a break from the site. I can understand if he did take a break because the place went a bit mental after Daniel died. It looks like Sargon is putting it back on track now. Sep-15-18    eternaloptimist: I hope he’s ok too. I didn’t notice that he hasn’t kibitzed in a while until u mentioned it. That is sad that Daniel died. Btw did u ever find out y he died? I agree that it looks like Sargon has things running smoothly on CG now Jan-30-20    eternaloptimist: It’s been a long time since I’ve posted something in my forum so here goes! I did pretty well on “Guess the Move!” for my favorite chess player!: You actually play Ne3. Full credit awarded for Nd6. Earn 3 points. GAME OVER 1-0 You scored a total of 52 points WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING Karpov vs Huebner, 1982. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF KARPOV. Your score: 52 (par = 48) Jun-01-21    eternaloptimist: It had been a pretty long time since I’ve played “Guess the Move” so I thought I would play it. I did pretty well.: Guess The Move Shirov vs Psakhis, 1988. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF PSAKHIS. Your score: 119 (par = 114) Shirov vs Psakhis, 1988 Jun-10-21    eternaloptimist: Guess the Move Turov vs K Szabo, 2005. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF SZABO. Your score: 58 (par = 56) Turov vs K Szabo, 2005 Jun-22-21    eternaloptimist: Guess the Move V Sherbakov vs G Ilivitsky,?1955. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF ILIVITSKY. Your score: 26 (par = 22) V Sherbakov vs G Ilivitsky, 1955 Jul-07-21    eternaloptimist: Guess the Move Tseshkovsky vs Dorfman, 1982. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF DORFMAN. Your score: 181 (par = 190) Tseshkovsky vs Dorfman, 1982 Jul-17-21    eternaloptimist: I?m pretty happy w/ my score on this Guess the Move game & actually Paul Motwani is a friend of mine on Facebook that I chat w/ some. I'm a big fan of his chess books! They?re unique & very interesting! WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING Adams vs P Motwani,?1990. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF ADAMS. Your score: 125 (par = 118) Adams vs P Motwani, 1990 Jun-12-23    eternaloptimist: As for posting my scores on “Guess the Move” it’s for me so I can keep track w/ how I’ve done on these games. It will also help me come up w/ a good opening repertoire. In the future I can play the openings in which I do the best job of accurately predicting the moves of these games. I can make notes about which moves I got right/wrong. I’m not bragging about my scores & trying to glorify myself Jun-15-23    eternaloptimist: Well I finally started playing “Guess the Move” again & I did well! WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING M Matlakov vs Eljanov, 2013. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF ELJANOV. Your score: 44 (par = 26) Jun-15-23    OhioChessFan: I'm all over the map on those. Way below par, par, occasionally a lot above par. I typically know by the players involved how I'll do. Tactical players, I'm going to have a low score. Positional players, I'll do relatively well. Jun-25-23    eternaloptimist: WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING D H Campora vs Szabo, 1987. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF CAMPORA. Your score: 59 (no par) D H Campora vs Szabo, 1987 Jun-26-23    eternaloptimist: Hey <OCF>! How’s it going? Thx for making a post in my forum. That’s the first time someone other than me has posted in it in a long time! As for GTM, I normally get a score that’s at least a little above par. Actually I just finished 1 of them that doesn’t have a par. I like Campora’s style b/c he has an interesting & universal style (able to adapt your playing style depending on the positions on the board & your opponents)…like Spassky but obviously Spassky was a stronger player than Campora when he was in his prime. Of course Carlsen is another example of a universal player. Szabo was a really strong player but sometimes he played some of the worst blunders that I’ve ever seen a GM play. I hope u r doing well Jun-26-23    technical draw: TD present and making a post in your forum. All the best! Jun-27-23    eternaloptimist: Thx <TD>! Feel free to post here anytime u want to. 1 thing that I’d like to discuss here is chess books but u can mention other things as well. U can mention some of ur favorite books & y they r ur favorite books. I hope u r doing well Jun-27-23    technical draw: I bought my first chess book in 1964. Of course it was by Fred Reinfeld. I think it was "Chess in a Nutshell". Then I got carried away and started buying chess books weekly. "The Complete book of Chess Openings", "Great Moments in Chess" and others. I enjoyed the books that had tournament anecdotes. Reinfeld was a prolific writer and I liked his style. Jul-01-23    eternaloptimist: I can tell that u have a good memory since u remember the exact year that u bought ur 1st chess book. I think I bought my 1st chess book in 1984 or 1985 & I think that it was also a Reinfeld book & that it was “The Complete Chess Course”. That book did a solid job of teaching me the basics & helping me to lay down a solid chess knowledge foundation for myself. I also bought books by I A Horowitz “How to Win in the Chess Openings” & Chernev (“Logical Chess: Move by Move” & “The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played”) just to name a few of the chess books that I bought when I when I 1st starting studying chess. Btw I also bought “Chess in a Nutshell”! Although I never bought the other 2 Reinfeld books that u mentioned. I’ve heard that “Chess in a Nutshell” is also Ray Robson’s 1st chess book! Also he is in the Game of the Day today & it’s a very interesting game. Although since both of them were under 10 years old it definitely has its share of inaccuracies & bad moves. As for Reinfeld being a prolific chess book writer indeed he was. In fact Raymond Keene is the only person who has written more chess books than Reinfeld Jul-09-23    eternaloptimist: Now I c 1 of the main reasons y yermo was a 2-time US chess champion, 3-time world open champion & defeated Kasparov twice. I’m referring to the fact that his moves aren’t easy to predict a pretty good bit of the time. I did ok on this game but nothing special for sure.: WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING Yermolinsky vs Epishin, 1988. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF YERMOLINSKY. Your score: 60 (par = 62) Yermolinsky vs Epishin, 1988 Dec-16-24    eternaloptimist: Apparently my chess playing style isn't that similar to Matulovic’s style.: WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING Matulovic vs S Leban, 1965. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF MATULOVIC. Your score: 37 (par = 44) Matulovic vs S Leban, 1965 Dec-23-24    eternaloptimist: WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING Kotronias vs J Gustafsson, 2011. YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF GUSTAFSSON. Your score: 47 (no par) Kotronias vs J Gustafsson, 2011 Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 3) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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