A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he can always beat players of the general strength found in chess clubs, who themselves typically can nearly always prevail against the level of play generally possessed by the average player in the general population.
Master #1, 2000:
The first master I had the “pleasure” of playing was Selby Anderson in the 2000 Waco Open. The tournament was a four round Swiss, and my first two games were excellent, drawing an expert with the Black pieces and easily defeating a Class A player. My good results meant that my round 3 match-up would probably be against someone else with 1.5 points.
That someone else was Anderson, the highest rated guy in the tournament.
Before the game, he asked who I’d played, and gave a grunt of minor respect when mentioning my draw with the expert. This quickly turned into complete disrespect as the game started. He opened with e4, and started reading a book! I went with Basman’s Defense (1. … g5) for a surprise factor–yes, I’d been practicing this opening–but in retrospect, it was probably best to try for a more solid, orthodox game. He had an easy game, although towards the end, he briefly set the book aside for one or two moves when I managed to get a piece or two in the neighborhood of his King. (Stream of consciousness at the time: “Take that, Selby! You actually had to pay attention for a couple of moves!”)
More than one person expressed to me their dismay at Anderson’s classlessness afterwards. But what do you do except laugh? (He also made Sam Sloan’s Hall of Shame, not that having a point of view in common with Sloan is necessarily something to brag about.)
Master #2, 2007
My friends were either busy or working on Saturday, which gave me a chance to visit the Houston Chess Club. They are quite active, holding some sort of event most of the days of the week, and I hope to be involved with them whenever I’m in the area.
On Saturday mornings, Life Master Larry Englebretson gives lectures at the club, followed by a three round G/60 tournament. I’d been sick, feeling awful, and was wavering as to whether to play in the tournament at all. Only five players had shown up, so I decided to enter so that no one had to take a bye. (That altruistic gesture was for naught, as one more player showed up for round 2, and someone had to take a bye anyway. And I had the bye for Round 3.)
My first game was against a Class A player. Although I didn’t play particularly well, I managed to win the Exchange, and should have won. I plead rustiness and sickness as reasons, not excuses, for the endgame loss.
The second game was against Mr. Englebretson. Around move 10, I dropped a Pawn (seeing the mistake after hitting the clock), and immediately I had to try to create some sort of imbalance that would at least give me a chance at counterplay–except for his extra Pawn, the pawn structure was symmetrical. At several points during the game, I kept telling myself, “OK, here’s something I’d like to do, but how can I force it? I know this guy’s seeing everything that I do, and more!” While parrying my plans to force a weakening his pawn structure, he was able to constrict my space and implement a plan of his own, ramming a central passed pawn down my throat. Recognizing that the most important square for a passed pawn is the square in front of it, I attempted a blockade, and for a little while, I was able to hold. However, he was preparing to blast his d4 passed pawn through by landing a supporting Pawn on e4. Realizing this, I got as much stuff as possible to try to defend the e4 square. However, due to his well-posted Bishop and superior space, I was not able to match his buildup, and he was eventually able to have 5 pieces eyeing e4 compared to my 4. At move 29, my position was resignable, but I played a few more moves just to be able to say I survived 30 moves with a master. (Non-chesser’s note: a move is considered one play for each player).
After the game, Mr. Englebretson motioned me to step outside. He was very friendly, and we discussed what happened during the game. He was complimentary of how I handled the game after losing that Pawn early, saying I played “tough” (probably partially true; I’m sure part of it was him being nice, but it felt good to hear it anyway). He talked about the parts of the game I handled well, and mentioned a couple specific moves where I could have played better. I told him seemed like he saw everything, and he did a great job of restricting my pieces.
Even if we hadn’t chatted, I’d visit the Houston Chess Club again, but his friendliness not only makes it a lock I’ll return, but would actively recommend it.
August 27th, 2007
no comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess
I’m so excited! A non-regular visitor has responded very intriguingly to Liquid Egg Product, and I am trying to determine the best way to mock her. In the meantime, 160 new work e-mails deserve my immediate attention.
August 27th, 2007
no comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Uncategorized
Vacation has been successfully completed with a few unintentional side effects, such as being sick half the time. (Being afflicted with an illness is not a good way to restart work.)
Look forward to a more regular posting schedule that will enable you to slack off at work for a period of 2 to 30 minutes, depending on how large and compelling the material is.
August 26th, 2007
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Uncategorized
Vacation has been satisfactory enough so that I don’t feel like going back to work on Monday. I’d not been planning to post anything until then, but wanted to get this out.
I am way behind on personal e-mail and blog stuff, and will catch up upon return.
John Witter of the Jig-Saw History Blog was the original guy to tag me.
Rules:
1. Post these rules before you give your facts.
2. List 8 random facts about yourself.
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them.
4. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know they’ve been tagged.
Eight Random Facts About Me
- Despite my obvious whiteness, I’m about a quarter black.
- I have a phobia of anorexics, but it does not extend to the (involuntarily) starving or especially thin.
- Much of my casual wardrobe consists of free T-shirts from giving blood.
- After living in Miami for five years, I root for the Heat, Marlins, and Panthers, but will never back the Dolphins.
- Practically any drink with rum as the primary alcohol gets a thumbs-up from me.
- I used to be able to accurately multiply two 3-digit numbers in my head (but not nearly as fast as just using a calculator).
- The opening move 1. e4 is anathema to me. I don’t remember ever using it in a chess tournament.
- I will undoubtedly think of a few items that were more interesting than #3, #4, and #8 about an hour from now.
Tagged: BabyA622, I Hate Pink!, Reassembler, Hardcore Pawnography, Out of the Ether, thelaw, Mr. Fantasy, Romance of the Three Kingdoms
August 24th, 2007
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Grilled Cheese
Last night, after picking up the rental car, I drive to the Dallas tollway to get to my friend’s place. The entry sign clearly said “Change Made”, so there shouldn’t have been a problem with me having naught but a $10 bill.
The sign should have said “Change Made only if you have a $1 or $5 bill”. Instead of an actual person manning the booth, there was a change machine that worked for $1 or $5 only. Seeing the cars pile up behind me, I desperately slipped in the $10, but no dice. Panicked thrashing through luggage wasn’t any help either. Left with no choice, I meekly crawled through the booth, well aware of the behemoth camera recording the scene of rental car’s license plate in conjunction with a red light indicating an unpaid toll.
The next booth actually did have a person; with relief, I got change and asked for the NTTA’s number (North Texas Tollway Authority).
This morning I tried to call them to do a little preemptive action. After jumping through several voice menus, I managed to get to where a violation number had to be entered to go any further.
Not having one (yet), I attempted to call them a second time. After pressing “1″ for English, the system started spewing the second voice menu. Apparently, a defeated sigh is a valid option, because that took me to the Tolltag customer menu.
Time for attempt #3. I hate this.
(UPDATE: Spoke with a representative who said if it was only that one time when that happened, there won’t be any problems. NTTA is now off my archenemies list, bringing the total to zero.)
August 17th, 2007
4 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Burning Agony, Grilled Cheese
That 3-1-1 policy (severely limiting the amount of liquids one can bring on a flight) is a knee-jerk reaction to a single event. Someone tries to blow up the plane with shoes? Check everybody’s shoes. Next time it’s liquids, so ban the liquids. If Al-Qaeda’s smart, the next plot will prominently feature socks and underwear, leading the FAA to ban socks and underwear on all future US flights.
The electronic chess set I carry on flights seems to give the inspectors fits, as this is the second time in a row they called for a bag check. (For you chess people, game score of the sad miniature below.)
Being an airline employee, I can fly at a nominal price, but on a space available status. Fortunately, the flight was not nearly full, and they even asked whether I wanted a window or aisle seat. The most natural answer, of course, was to request a middle seat to double my chances of sitting next to a cute girl to flirt with.* Of course, there was the flip side (doubling the odds one of those 55-year-old South American men who like me a bit too much would be adjacent), so I stuck with the window.
After we were seated, we discovered we’d be delayed 45 minutes, and we were already at a point where we couldn’t use electronic devices. So, it was time to break out the SkyMall. On the cover was a chick in a bathing suit, which is as close as I’d get to sitting near a cute girl on the plane. Products featured that are useful for someone who’s not me:
- Another “revolutionary” electric razor from Norelco
- GrillAlert, which lets you know when your meat’s done cooking from 300 feet away
- Pop-up hot dog toaster, for those who like eating unidentifiable meat
- Thunderbolt storm detector, to tell you when a storm is coming. Only $430.
The sad game against the crappy computer. The only possible defense is that I haven’t played any serious chess in six months (diagrams made with apronus.com’s diagram editor, since I’m well away from my usual tools)
| White (Me) |
| Black (Crappy Computer) |
| 1. d4 |
d5 |
| 2. c4 |
dxc4 |
|
The Queen’s Gambit Accepted! Most low-level comps don’t handle it very well, making too many positional or developmental sacrifices to keep the Pawn.
|
| 3. Nc3 |
Nc6 |
| 4. d5 |
… |
|
The combo of not playing in six months and being generally too lazy to study openings anyway meant I thought for a while about the last two moves. For a long time, my favorite reply to the QGA was 3. e4, trying to establish a classical center and not block my Queen’s Bishop. It seems that move tries for too much, and Black can counterattack the center.
This move 4.d5 is probably the same, an overextension. I was eager to kick the Knight around and try to make some central gains (anticipating 4. … Ne5 5. f4 Ng6 6. e4.)
|
| … |
Na5 |
| 5. Qa4+ |
c6 |
| 6. dxc6 |
Nxc6 |
|
For some reason, I thought Black had to recapture with the Pawn. Put it down to tiredness.
|
| 7. Bf4 |
… |
|
I’m still not sure what’s best. I was eager to bring the Rook to the d-File and stop e5, besides bringing pressure to c7. Perhaps trying to develop the Kingside forces was better, but I thought it might to too slow to take advantage of my slight development advantage.
|
| … |
Qb6 |
|
Seems to be a very strange and bad move. There are probably some tactical reasons the comp played this that I’m not seeing.
|
 |
| 8. Nd5 |
… |
|
Shouldn’t 8. O-O-O be considered here? Yes, Black can take on f2, but it sure looks like a time-waster.
|
| … |
Qxb2 |
| 9. Nc7+ |
Kd8 |
| 10. Rd1+ |
Bd7 |
 |
|
Up to here I’d foreseen, and was anticipating picking up the Rook with a winning advantage. But then doubt crept in my mind about this material grab, and Black would end up with heavy initiative due to my lack of Kingside development. I played the next move to try to increase pressure against his King (threatening Qxf7, which then would hit f8 and d7) and guard the c3 square, but it backfires. Qxf7 is a non-threat which is easily parried and gives Black time to consolidate its defenses.
|
| 11. Qxc4 |
e5 |
|
Strangely, the crappy computer still has me up .4 pawns in this position. Must be event horizon. The rest of my moves are rather poor despite thinking forever about them.
|
| 12. Qxf7 |
Bxb4+ |
| 13. Bd2 |
Nxd4 |
| 14. Bxb4 |
Qxb4+ |
|
Black has forced checkmate in three moves. I resign.
|
August 17th, 2007
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess, Grilled Cheese
Shortly, I leave on vacation.
Unfortunately, those of you who use this site as a diversion from work will find the site very sparsely updated until I get back on the 27th.
Those of you who don’t use this site as a diversion from work will also find the site very sparsely updated until I get back on the 27th.
August 16th, 2007
1 comment
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Uncategorized
I will leave you to make your own judgment on this one…
(All the pics link to the same page: a trailer for the game Bibleman: A Fight for Faith)
August 15th, 2007
4 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Bad Ads, Gaming, Religion
No one can say these guys aren’t willing to take some heat.
The first guy is one we’ve encountered before, that symbol of the American justice system, Judge Roy Pearson. As you probably recall, he sued some dry cleaners for $54 million over a lost pair of trousers and a misleading store sign. He lost, despite an emotional breakdown on the witness stand talking about his lost trousers. The store owners dropped their demand to have their legal fees reimbursed, hoping Mr. Pearson would finally end his crusade. Instead, he’s filing an appeal, clearly attempting to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he is an ***hole.
Leroy Greer is our next exhibit. He’s suing 1-800-FLOWERS $1.5 million for not protecting his privacy.
He and his wife were working out an apparently somewhat civil divorce. While this was going on, Mr. Greer sent a bunch of roses to his girlfriend, specifying it should be private. 1-800-FLOWERS sent a thank you note to his address, the wife got to it first, and that was that. The divorce has now become slightly less civil, the wife’s demanding a lot more money because of his infidelity (sources varying from $300K to $500K), and Mr. Greer’s mad at the florist. The florist must be giddy at the free advertising, especially since hardly anyone thinks the company did anything wrong.
It just hasn’t been a good day for middle-age slightly greying black men with a wispy moustaches wearing black pinstripe suits.
August 15th, 2007
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under In the News, Weaksauce Losers
Stumbling on this article about conflicting studies about the health value of fruit juice was a reminder how often health advice can change. Pretty much, I ignore those guys and have drawn my own conclusion. A common sense way to obtain good health is simply to eat a variety of foods, don’t eat too much, and exercise. So to help you guys out, I’m introducing the Liquid Egg Product Diet.
The Liquid Egg Product Diet:
Alternate days 1 and 2 for variety. Optimally, the beverage should always be eggnog or a small carton of liquid egg product, but you can substitute water for one of the meals if you really want to.
Day 1:
Breakfast: An omelet and Eggs Benedict
Lunch: 3 or 4 hard-boiled eggs
Dinner: Egg fried rice and eggdrop soup
Exercise: Visit a local farm, break into the henhouse, and steal all the eggs
Day 2:
Breakfast: 4 eggs and a bowl of Liquid Egg Product Cereal
Lunch: Egg salad sandwich
Dinner: 1 or 2 packages of boiled Ramen, 2 eggs per package
Exercise: Find some neighborhood enemies and egg their houses
August 15th, 2007
4 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Science/Technology
