I’m exhausted, so won’t post a crosstable of results (not like it’s a big deal until week 2). Chessaholic and I won, Polly and Blunderprone drew, while the other games will be played later or I have not received the results.
| Week 2 Pairings | |
| White | Black |
| Drunknknite | Chessaholic |
| Polly | Tom |
| Sciurus | Blunderprone |
| Ivan | The Bye |
| Donnie | Wang |
| Wahrheit | Takchess |
Since Takchess already revealed the result of our match, might as well post it. My first use of chessflash.com!
It’s late, so the analysis might suck.
Apologies for the slight tardiness of this. I’ve been traveling today, and now am up later than optimal trying to finish this. (Your most recent comments have been noted; will respond later.)
Quick version
This week’s pairings are below. Time control is 15/30. Mostly common-sense rules review is here. (One of them is “Don’t cheat.”)
And if you save the PGN, you can easily post the games using chessflash.com.
| Week 1 Pairings | |
| White | Black |
| Sciurus | Chessaholic |
| Blunderprone | Polly |
| Tom | Drunknknite |
| Takchess | Donnie |
| Wang | Ivan |
| Wahrheit | Bye |
(Takchess: I should be able to do any day after 7pm EDT, or anytime on the weekend. Just let me know.)
Details
Unfortunately, I got some pushback from the US government, so Kim Jong Il is now ineligible to play. Shaq and Space Ghost mysteriously dropped out.
Participants…take note of your number!
| # | “Common” Name | Blog | FICS handle |
| 1 | Drunknknite | drunknknite | Kevingafni |
| 2 | Ivan | Getting to 2000 | Ivanw |
| 3 | Polly | Castling Queen Side | PPWchess |
| 4 | Donnie | Liquid Egg Product | LiquidEggProduct |
| 5 | Sciurus | Squirrel Chess | sciurus |
| 6 | Wahrheit | Robert Pearson’s Chess Blog | RLP |
| 7 | Blunderprone | Blunder Prone…The troubled Knight | TheBlunderprone |
| 8 | Takchess | Takchess Chess Improvement | takchessguy |
| 9 | Tom | The Everyday Christian | Rhuiden |
| 10 | Wang | Patzer’s Corner | Wangos |
| 11 | chessaholic | Chessaholic | chezzznut |
The order was based on FICS standard rating, if there was one with a reasonably large history. If not, I used other ratings found via your websites (ie, Ivan, Sciurus, Takchess, Wang, and chessaholic). So this certainly not an exact indicator of playing strength!
There are two divisions, each being a round-robin. The winner of each division will play for the championship!
Unfortunately, no matter the format, some people would have had to take byes. Sorry, Alex Chiu divisioners! (If you want to recruit a 12th, I’ve no prob with the late entry, though.)
| Dr. Gene Ray Division | Alex Chiu Division |
| drunknknite | Ivan |
| Polly | LEP |
| Sciurus | Wahrheit |
| Blunderprone | Takchess |
| Rhuiden | Wang |
| chessaholic | The Bye |
The schedules look like this if you want to plan ahead:
| Round | Dr. Gene Ray Division Schedule | ||
| 1 | 5:11 | 7:3 | 9:1 |
| 2 | 1:11 | 3:9 | 5:7 |
| 3 | 3:11 | 5:1 | 7:9 |
| 4 | 11:9 | 1:7 | 3:5 |
| 5 | 11:7 | 9:5 | 1:3 |
| Round | Alex Chiu Division Schedule | ||
| 1 | 6:12 | 8:4 | 10:2 |
| 2 | 2:12 | 4:10 | 6:8 |
| 3 | 4:12 | 6:2 | 8:10 |
| 4 | 12:10 | 2:8 | 4:6 |
| 5 | 12:8 | 10:6 | 2:4 |
Week 6 will be the championship between the two division leaders!
First, thanking the “sponsors”
Allen, for offering a $5 McDonald’s gift card to anyone who finishes with either perfect or 0 score.
Tacticus has offered to post games from the tournament using his software in development (it’s actually rather impressive) chessflash.com. We’ll be able to upload PGN files–there’s more stuff on his page about it.
Tournament Format
The first tournament was a 9-week marathon. As a few people mentioned (and I agree), it was simply too long. This time, I want to cap it to six weeks at most.
A few ideas were to do two smaller round robins, a Swiss, or just truncate a full round robin schedule. I kinda like the first, but it may not work well with an odd number of players since people will be playing different numbers of games. Your thoughts are welcome.
Er, last time I said pairing would be out June 1. Sorry. It’ll be June 8.
I already regret doing this poster (click for big size). It’s late; I hope everyone’s name is spelled right. If you want in, let me know before Sunday. (More info here.)
Today, we interviewed two prospects for employment. One of them was a transvestite.
This will give you an adequate sense of how this week has started.
How much of human knowledge can be better ascribed to luck or simple deductions, whether expert or non-expert, rather than years of research by the learned?
Adrenoleucodystrophy (ALD) is a genetic condition that slows destroys the brains of boys, something to do with a build of fatty acids. The parents of one afflicted boy (Lorenzo) set about to find a cure after doctors told them there was nothing they could do to prevent certain death.
After doing their own research, the parents developed a combination of olive and rapeseed oil they thought may eliminate the fatty acids that is a signature of the disease. While it did reduce the fatty acid levels, it failed to improve their son’s condition, and he died yesterday.
However, due to the persistance of ALD expert Dr. Hugo Moser, they’ve discovered that Lorenzo’s Oil has some preventative effect on the disease. The substance has been given to boys whose genetics put them at risk for the disease. While there’s still a lot of work to be done–by the trained, there’s now hope–because of the untrained.
Sources:
With apologies to the readership, since only two of you will understand this.
It looks like VIP Spa has opened a branch in Miami.
(BONUS: Some more background on VIP Spa)
對於那些誰，你認為我們在液體蛋產品的歧視，對中國讀者…您的權利。你是不是大多數在這裡。有一樣，三個或四個你。因此，學習英語。我將聘請drunknknite或wahrheit擊退任何訴訟。
Posts have been rather rare here, if only because I am preparing to delve into a shadowy project, anathema to all decent, everyday folk.
You will shun me, spit on my website, and disown me. But it doesn’t matter.
You don’t know the power of the Dark Side.
EDIT: This project is not the David K/Phaedrus collaboration, which may actually end up having some redeeming social value.
