White to move and mate in 2.
"Ne quid nimis"
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
2010 US Chess Championship, Link to Chessgames.com
2010 US Chess Championship.
Well, this is just a straight forward post that will help keep this Link on hand for me and anybody else who wants to use it. As the tournament gets older, the link to the whole tournament gets more and more annoying to find!
I am still going to review the games, by the way. I estimated today that at my current rate it will take me about 5 years to finish up all the games. I will try and get a move on!
Well, this is just a straight forward post that will help keep this Link on hand for me and anybody else who wants to use it. As the tournament gets older, the link to the whole tournament gets more and more annoying to find!
I am still going to review the games, by the way. I estimated today that at my current rate it will take me about 5 years to finish up all the games. I will try and get a move on!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Never Resign!
I saw this article on chess.com, and later on I played the following game:
At the top levels, things may be a bit different, but I am very partial to the never resign approach. I actually do this in my tournament games as well. Yeah, it extends some uninteresting games. But I usually find that my opponent's never really seem upset about it. Most of them actually seem like they expect it. Sometimes I get frustrated because the winning line is so easy to see and they are taking too long to play it!
I have had some really great draws though, where things looked really hopeless. I have had a few wins, I think as well. Another reason not to resign is that if you do end up drawing or winning, it is a very memorable game that you could be proud of. I think for me, one of the main reasons I play chess is to have games I could call brilliancies. Come from behind wins or desperate draws often become my brilliancies.
Finally, if you are in a longer tournament, playing hard till the end can actually increase your energy. This probably depends a bit on personality though. I know for me, finishing a game knowing that I played hard till the end leaves me feeling satisfied and ready for more chess. It takes a lot of the sting out of losing. I think, well, that didnt go well, but at least I played hard. If I play like that I will probably win the next game.
For me, that kind of morale boost more than makes up for the extra energy I spend calculating out lines in a lost position.
Oh, one last thing, as a matter of etiquette I do do two things. One, is that when it gets really really lost I try and play as fast as possible. The second is I always play out till checkmate. I think opponent's are less likely to get frustrated with you if you play out till checkmate pretty quickly as opposed to playing really slowly in a lost position and then resigning two moves before checkmate. It is a weird psychological thing, but actually playing the checkmate gives the game a nice finished feeling. It also is logical, I guess. Resigning a move before checkmate is not logical, because you may as well have resigned 5 or 10 moves earlier and spared everyone a lot of time, and it also seems is aesthetically unpleasing.
Well, what do the reader's think? Also, please share any good come from behind wins or other nice things that happened because you didnt resign. I am sure everybody has at least one good story about the benefits of not resigning!
At the top levels, things may be a bit different, but I am very partial to the never resign approach. I actually do this in my tournament games as well. Yeah, it extends some uninteresting games. But I usually find that my opponent's never really seem upset about it. Most of them actually seem like they expect it. Sometimes I get frustrated because the winning line is so easy to see and they are taking too long to play it!
I have had some really great draws though, where things looked really hopeless. I have had a few wins, I think as well. Another reason not to resign is that if you do end up drawing or winning, it is a very memorable game that you could be proud of. I think for me, one of the main reasons I play chess is to have games I could call brilliancies. Come from behind wins or desperate draws often become my brilliancies.
Finally, if you are in a longer tournament, playing hard till the end can actually increase your energy. This probably depends a bit on personality though. I know for me, finishing a game knowing that I played hard till the end leaves me feeling satisfied and ready for more chess. It takes a lot of the sting out of losing. I think, well, that didnt go well, but at least I played hard. If I play like that I will probably win the next game.
For me, that kind of morale boost more than makes up for the extra energy I spend calculating out lines in a lost position.
Oh, one last thing, as a matter of etiquette I do do two things. One, is that when it gets really really lost I try and play as fast as possible. The second is I always play out till checkmate. I think opponent's are less likely to get frustrated with you if you play out till checkmate pretty quickly as opposed to playing really slowly in a lost position and then resigning two moves before checkmate. It is a weird psychological thing, but actually playing the checkmate gives the game a nice finished feeling. It also is logical, I guess. Resigning a move before checkmate is not logical, because you may as well have resigned 5 or 10 moves earlier and spared everyone a lot of time, and it also seems is aesthetically unpleasing.
Well, what do the reader's think? Also, please share any good come from behind wins or other nice things that happened because you didnt resign. I am sure everybody has at least one good story about the benefits of not resigning!
Monday, August 9, 2010
2010 Philadelphia Inventors: Karl Dehmelt
Well, 4 of the 9 roster spots of the Philadelphia Inventors have been added.
Lets talk about current 1st board, Karl Dehmelt.
Karl Dehmelt was born in 1957 and currently has a USCF rating of 2308. This makes him 10th highest rated player in PA. Dehmelt has been very active in USCF tournaments in Southeastern PA. He was inducted in the Philadelphia Modern Chess Hall of Fame in 2003.
Dehmelt has received three IM norms, but did not pursue the minimum chess rating required to become an IM. Hey, maybe he will get his rating up this year in the Chess League!
Ok, lets look at some of his games.
Good stuff.
Well, you cant win them all. And Karl Dehmelt held his own against Anand, which not many people can say.
What a nice sacrifice on 34...Nxh3.
Unfortunately, though, I cant find any games more recent that 1989!
Apparently Karl Dehmelt switched to playing more correspondence chess. Maybe someone with one of the big correspondence databases can post some moves to one of his more recent games.
Anyway, I think this is Karl Dehmelt's first run through with the Philadelphia Inventors. It will be exciting to see how he does. Hopefully he enjoys himself and ups his rating to 2400 so he can become an IM.
Lets talk about current 1st board, Karl Dehmelt.
Karl Dehmelt was born in 1957 and currently has a USCF rating of 2308. This makes him 10th highest rated player in PA. Dehmelt has been very active in USCF tournaments in Southeastern PA. He was inducted in the Philadelphia Modern Chess Hall of Fame in 2003.
Dehmelt has received three IM norms, but did not pursue the minimum chess rating required to become an IM. Hey, maybe he will get his rating up this year in the Chess League!
Ok, lets look at some of his games.
Good stuff.
Well, you cant win them all. And Karl Dehmelt held his own against Anand, which not many people can say.
What a nice sacrifice on 34...Nxh3.
Unfortunately, though, I cant find any games more recent that 1989!
Apparently Karl Dehmelt switched to playing more correspondence chess. Maybe someone with one of the big correspondence databases can post some moves to one of his more recent games.
Anyway, I think this is Karl Dehmelt's first run through with the Philadelphia Inventors. It will be exciting to see how he does. Hopefully he enjoys himself and ups his rating to 2400 so he can become an IM.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
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