It Could Be Much Worst

I'm being denied access to Yahoo online chess and yes my e-mail not that it is that important. But I do have access to this blog I do have the right memory items to get on this blog. But what no chess games to speak of and report on today? Until I get this problem fixed it will be until who knows when call it an unknown. This is not good news but it is only minimal to the real bad news. Chances are somehow the problem will be corrected I can get on the engine search and I can get into this blog it doesn't have to be about chess maybe this yahoo access problem is a blessing in disguise e.g. not having access to my online chess provider or e-mail could lead to better and greater happiness, people, places or things. Maybe Yahoo booted me for all the problems this computer has what with the controls going every which way at times but not enough to prevent operation you think? I really don't know. Does anyone have an answer? Is God listening?

A Common Man's Game Of Chess

It's not that I claim to be an expert on chess despite I write a blog on my chess experiences playing it online. If I were good at it I'd be burning holes through the rating system of the top numbers game 3200 is excellent nowadays for a chess playing computer far higher than the highest mark set by the top world champion chess player. A Norwegian player just a youngster of nineteen has that title not a common household name like Bobby Fischer the legend who sticks in the minds of us middle agers and then some. I know a little about the game and brushed paths with one of the legendary chess player of all time from the United States of America; I saw him in person and we played games IN TENNIS mind you not chess. And my point? Never underestimate the symbol of the cross for the king always has one without it the game is lost no king no game no chess life is but a mess I do confess. That last line was suppose to be a little rap and poetry but it came out sounding so God awful like the last two games of chess I played today.

Enter The Picture

I'm a one man band here thinking of posting a drawing of my through digital imaging yes I did read a little bit of the instructions but I am pretty new to this practice of adding imaging to this blog of mine as I promised some time ago after so many other blog people like me have been doing it for years but not I said the author of another blog called It Never Takes A Genius (and that author is me). I need to reach much more of the instructions before I attempt to provide pictures with these words.

A Bad Start In Chess Could Reverse Itself Later In The Day

The tone of a player's well being or poor being can be seen in their words. This morning the ungodly hours were spent going through the motions autonomous without any real feelings. The last two games was a losing battle but all I could do was try my best and it wasn't my best game I know when I do. The changes in people places and things go with notice I can see the changes things are not the same changes are always happening. My first opponent I can describe with negative words his name is just another name and he is not going to be around I haven't recognize the same person each player is someone new never do I recall the same player twice or more. Marty Nemko the only one I know of to read this blog gave me a pointer or two on writing a better blog one that can be read with a viewership. I'm working on it need to study or make plain sense on his words of wisdom.

The Online Players Who Do No Wrong

They are almost like machines often at times they do no wrong make no errors or fall from grace. It's the machines however that don't make mistakes or errors ever if they are set to the program's level of whatever ability so desired. The machines will become harder and harder to beat and it is fast and mean and lean already here it's just a matter of consistency. But humans will continue to play one another despite the dominance of the chess machine. Humans like to interact and I for one would glad accept the advice or/and suggestions of a chess teacher or master with a grandmaster I would apt to listen more closely. My energy sources are growing weak time to rest time to eat time to maybe take a sleeping pill didn't think I'd do sleeping pills anymore well here goes one or two down the hatch just over the counter mind you nothing lethal.

Victory And Luck

Yesterday I failed to mention I had won by a long shot I fired off a hit for a check mate and my opponent never saw it coming he thought I was in retreat from his over powering and cunning strategy in his preparation for dissecting my game piece meal and I was but I had this fantasy that I could end this potential slaughter of my kingdom and turn things around by the grace of God it happened and I struck gold a miracle chess players dream of. My nap still awaits for me the time has come.

In A Game Over My Head This Is Not A Drill

The game wasn't an exhibition game this one was for points to win a lost of point to lose a game. Reservations as whether to play this 1265 rated player triggered my mind there were few good times I would challenge someone with a higher rating than my ratings but I took the plunge. This one was not for an exhibition game but for ratings and he was clobbering everything I could give him in terms of competition; the game was so one sided the whole game was laughable. But this game was in desperation mode all the wrong things I was doing including a computer that was going in every direction in need of repair or more like the author in need of a total makeover. I am so burned out from the last chess game I'm now gone!

Rope A Dope

Lost the steam in the third game was up all night so what else is new I've this insomnia special and it just doesn't go away for more than a year but the first game I was like steam rolling got tired in the third consecutive game commented to my opponent "rope a dope" covering up not making any offensive moves although tried to figured maybe he'd make errors but no it was I making a dumb error fatigue crept in old man fatigue can do this to a fellow wait a minute I'm over sixty years most of these players are maybe just whippersnappers most champion tournament chess players are would not you say? I'd say my caffeine fix was way up by now over non effective or expired need a nap when I wake ready for another round. Yes boxing or the martial arts can be compared to chess it is all one on one a match between two opponents in most cases two can play in tennis four can play but not ordinarily in chess or boxing you already know we all get the drift. Doesn't anybody have a job around here doesn't anybody work the audacity that one would have the time for fun and games.

Trash Talking Insolent Opponents

As an older chess player now into my early 60's the whippersnappers are very smart and sassy. I wasn't always an older guy I was mostly a younger fellow throughout my life. Time will do it to you. Online the players can be more brazen and vulgar than in real life they just don't throw punches or shoot guns when on line as they do in person from across the table but wait a minute how many stories do you hear of physical attacks in real person to person at the table chess games? Virtually none. Anyhow the last game some half an hour ago was as expected dull and boring tit for tat where I ended up losing even had I won it it still would have been dull and I was getting all the credit for the ugly game by my trash talking opponent. Rope a dope doesn't always work my friends it got me nowhere but into a very boring tedious game as indicated by my trash talking opponent. Mining for gold is the same the long hours spent with no prospects until finally at long last a strike in the big one is discovered and a significant vein or artery mind you of gold is STRUCK!!! That's when all the yelling and screaming emerges! GOOD GAMES REALLY DO HAPPEN! Just wait for the strike but a man's beard can get pretty long waiting eventually it always comes however.

A Lightning Speed Victory

He was rated a 1208 opponent the type of player crucifying me earlier today but not this time. This was fun this time. He was undercut he made no errors no mistakes he just was subdued by my style of play which was on I could do no wrong this time the zone was there for me for the taking. There has to be a payoff this game of chess it cannot be dominated by torture and crucifixion if any interest in the game is to be maintained.

Tough Competing

All the players were tough competitors no room for the lame of mind. My last game I was finally able to pull one from out of the bag a winner after being crucified game after game this last provisional player had all the moves not a brand new beginner to the game if he had played me in the morning he would have walked all over me. But that one mistake he made by not seeing his knight wide open for the taking was his downfall. I played the perfect game I had to just to beat him. He has the potential I say to win the majority of his future games that's how good he was. I needed that last game to redeem myself Christ could take a Crucifixion he was a God I am but a mere mortal a human with many flaws God save me from the hell before me.

What Is Good For The Soul Is Good For The Gander

Far from the truth am I in the zone for playing a good game of chess this morning. But nevertheless there is a kind of feel for a journal writing moment and this case a blog. My ability to calculate moves in chess would be a near disaster so for now I will not. Again I do give due credit to Anne Frank who has been my inspiration in writing my soul my feelings and my literary thoughts. In due time perhaps pictures will follow if I can only pick up on the scheme of things to come when it comes to my writing the words in unison with pictures I have drawn. Isn't a well drawn picture worth many times more than a photograph? So what's my point you may ask so far I haven't mention a word about chess and this blog has evolved into a chess blog. This blog is also about the lives you and I live after all life is a chessboard whether you like it or not. For some reason now I think of the mayor of San Francisco and I don't know quite why.

How Long Will This Blog Last?

It's not for money although I could certainly use an income. I've had journals end and computers trashed along with the hard drive and now some warning says this blog is ending or something to that extent. After all who reads this anyhow I have no ideal but the intent is for it being published but what do I know about computers? Virtually nothing. People know. But because it is self evident I'm no whiz kid never have been never will all I can say is that it never takes a genius to achieve if luck can be my ally why not? The end is near. My God did I say that? When this blog goes life will go on. My journals my blog my stories are never ending they will follow me to my end of my life and to the very endless boundary of the beyond. I didn't say the word chess yet did I? I had a good one yesterday evening a game my wife witnessed where upon completion I yelled and screamed in approval my win in such fashion when the struggle was going my opponents way a resistance of immense proportions driving me back into a corner. To make a long story short we don't have the time here I launched my queen like a long distance air to air surface missile backed by a bishop to strike into the heart and row of three pawns for an total surprise to my opponent he didn't know what hit him I don't think but hit he did get. End of story.

1458 Rated Player Blunders Horribly I Won!

I cannot believe it! This player could not be serious! I stole that line from Johnny McEnroe the professional tennis player I met on the air on KGO radio 810 of San Francisco.

The Players Confession OF Torture And Mayhem

Opponent was hungry for a win having lost four straight games previous to battling me. In my attempt to what I thought was an advantage in gaining opportunity and ground turn up nothing more than a sacrifice for not in castling a cardinal rule I know full well of and failed to do while risking it all for a possible quick blitz or a quick win but the risk proved to much at a cost of the game this game was no drill it was for points for ratings and it cost me a good twenty points. My timer was going off to turn the garden water off the game was being prolonged my opponent was taunting me threatening to torture me once I failed at the blitzkrieg and we both knew the game was his despite my higher ratings but I knew my slump was not over but the next game was a bonified first game beginner day one for him at an 0-4 record four loses no wins.

The Biggest Loser

In the mind of a chess junkie I blame my chess game lost today against a lower rated player due to my so called self appointed physical trainer and I won't name any names. This so called physical trainer must fancy himself after that television show called "Biggest Loser" about how trainer what's her name induces obese contestants to work out physically so they can lose weight. I can not name names due to potential lawsuits. But I am a bit stiff and sore and weary from doing those dumb walking stints or stunts that this nut case engages in as a recruiter for dumb walks or hikes which is and was never my cup of tea not my niche not my passion not my interest ever on a regular basis. And so it is the fault of this idiot trainer who is worst than a telemarketer causing me to be so weary to play a decent game of chess for today.

It Is Not For Passion For Chess?

I may remember this game for the rest of my life and beyond. Had I not won this one I do not know what I would have done. He was marching his pawn down to the seventh square with his rook to escort my knight and rook and king were powerless to stop an onslaught and what looked like certain defeat again for me. His pawns of equal number were poised to move on my defenses and they too I could not stop as they advanced coming closer and closer to strangle the very life of my soul and heart. This was no rank beginner playing his first game he knew what he was doing had he scored a queen with his pawn with one more move certain death would have come to me. But with uncanny timing and a miraculous series of calculations he was stopped dead in his tracks as he fled and retreated with his rook for his very life rather than score a game winning queen with an advancing pawn. The days were wearing on me the bleak and the muck and mire were digesting my very soul and consuming me within.

A Ray Of Light

A 1128 rated player threaten to humiliate me upset me like so many lower rated players have done before me and he played well too didn't make one slip or not even an error these are how good these players are just for me beat I must have my wits about me not hesitating and overcoming my ailments and computer breakdowns and controls which are out of tune and in need of repair or replacement. With a broken arm does a fighter/boxer need go on if he has the rush the adrenalin pumping could it hurt him or her more in the long run? It isn't good for me but a broken arm I don't have but who knows maybe what I have is worst. I do know I have today to live for and knock on wood chances are I will make it alive and well and the light of the day will shine.

Dismal Spiral Downhill

The entry yesterday didn't sound like a series of victories but a darken tunnel with no where in sight of light at the end of the tunnel. In fact the tunnel looks as though it could collapse dear me that would be pure disaster....knock on wood my destiny requires all the good will and luck of God and my country. It looks like another losing streak these streaks are never fun. What can we do when such blight of success vanished into thin air? Do we pack up our gear and quit for awhile if not for good? It's really not funny. I find no humor in this losing streak I'm just waiting for it to get better. Time will heal the most tragic story in as much as it seems impossible at this point but time always heals optimism cannot go on forsaken. Yes I am truly a chess junkie I just take it as it comes brush off the doom and gloom and wait for the boom much like the way our economy works it is always mentioned in the news. So I lie in wait hunker down and the zone will come around one day it may never seem like it is coming but it always does.

Another entry today more than I normally do some would say I'm over doing this chess game hobby as I'm not going to be a chess champion I'm too smart to suffer from delusion too smart to be the idiot thinking I'm going to make it to the top of the chess world not a chance. Anyone can see it is not in the cards. I opted out from playing for points my game today just isn't there played another so called exhibition game for practice it's a hobby I don't even play tournaments in chess I've already enough nerves on end on line. The confidence to play my best game the last two games just wasn't there so no surprises it was a routine upset by a lower rated player playing me a tired soul in need of further naps to restore my energies. When will these chess games end? God only knows. They will end soon enough though these games don't last forever I'll find something else down the line. Chess is not my life.

Ramp It Up

Two caffeine pills plus a nap play it in the afternoons my finer hour and I can compile a win against even a higher rated player than I. My opponent was a 1288 rated player and I'm holding at 1268. I had just won but in the mornings a much lower rated player can easily beat me but I play them anyhow as best as I can for the practice. Sometimes the unexpected happens and I'll win in the mornings. Playing in the zone can happen at any given time within reason. We all live to be playing in the zone don't we all? In or on Market Street of San Francisco they have been playing chess for decades there well known to many of passer by people including myself but I've never played there only in my fantasy...one day maybe but I don't consider it a cure all for my game or well being necessarily.

The Machine Called Chessman Pro

This has been my training machine designed for beginners but think again it doesn't make errors but hours ago I gave it one of my best games and it wasn't from pure memorization but innovative calculations I hadn't done before. That was my cue to play online for a rated game for points win or lose and I don't like losing point I do hate losing more than I like winning. Just when I thought I had my composure on control and my emotions stabled with nerves of steel I could feel the rush the heart beat grow and patter not knowing which way the game would go this rated player was a threat with enough capacity to upset my ratings with ease if my guard was let down and my preparations not in check. When I enter a rated game for points and half cocked this becomes my worst time for dropping a game I should know better than to go in wearing blinds. But today the machine Chessman Pro gave to me the cue to go since my mind was on track and still there with enough life in me to play another game against a rated human online. My opponent erred left his queen exposed for an assassination requested a take back but my sights were already locked on I was already committed in firing off for a hit a capture but it wasn't enough to decapitate his game immediately he fought on well despite his lost. But I was a nervous wreck and needed to recuperate after that game. Naps have done me a world of good.

1298 Rated Exhibition Game

One tiny mistake and the game would be lost but these hours are better for me plus the caffeine. Opponent got penetrated when it over looked the exposure of its pawn when it moved in his queen with a horse or knight as backup. Once I plucked off its pawn and his failure to castle brought his game tumbling down like a house of cards. These funny words these metaphors we use are they not?

Opponent Rated 1325

The ungodly hours pass on by without sleep insomnia is something else to be desired yet I did manage to come to a draw with my last opponent rated 1325 another exhibition game for no ratings. I sense had he moved the wrong way he would had been done. He allowed me a take back I slipped like a rifleman pressing too early on the hair trigger had he not allowed the game would have been over his win my lost. Don't forget I'm on little sleep and I've taken no caffeine for several hours maybe four or more hours. I wanted that game to win. Will I get the Pulitzer Prize for this blog? Is there such a thing? Watch it. I'll now get a million comments each one saying absolutely not.

The UnGodly Hour

At five thirty in the morning completed a practice exhibition game as in football analogy a practice game which doesn't affect my ratings win or lose. It is the ungodly hour can't sleep that performance enhancing cup of coffee might had something to do with it. My opponent failed to castle at all throughout the entire game that was his downfall. Castling is an elementary move which all beginners learn from the get go take it from me an advanced beginner would you believe? That's all I am. But anyone can learn the game and enjoy it even if the losing streaks come by it is a matter of hunkering down and taking it as it comes until the light at the end of the tunnel opens up. No one is going to beat up on you forever they will just get tired and go away like the fame boxing match where Muhammad Ali played rope a dope took a cover up until his opponent got tired of punching! The question is does this work in real life? In chess? It is something to think about. It was a good game however he was in the game on the verge of beating me my clock my timer down to the seconds left before I was to be counted out my alertness was there enough to realize I had only seconds left to move to save the game to win and this is what I did to turn it around it was Joe Montana who told me on the air if you hate losing more than winning you will do everything in your power to turn things around despite the few seconds you have left to pull it out to win. He the great quarter back football hero related this to me on the air when I asked him this question on his mental thought processes when in the heat of battle.

Practicing The Exhibition Games

With enough of these exhibition games such games ought to put me in the driver's seat to be at ease when playing the rated games for higher or lower ratings hopefully for higher ratings without the nerves galore. Even though I call this blog about chess Nerves Galore I say who needs the nerves? If it is nerves of steel then I say well.....whatever it takes. But playing on line chess is certainly not a way for me to relax or rest when mental alertness is required. Every bit of my concentration is required when playing chess players within my own category the players within my rating range.

Exhibition Game Won Finally!

I was losing so many exhibition games that I had dire reservations about playing another rated game for ratings that I figured I'd get more practice exhibition games under my belt and try to win at least some of them but as usual the performance enhancement caffeine got me there in the late afternoon to early evening and I played a higher rated 1268 player who played well not making one mistake and pushing back hard and fighting with all guns blazing likewise I had to do at least the same. This game is not for the feeble minded.

The Exhibition Games

I'm not getting the comments which means I might have my settings turn off. I'm a one man band here. So far so good I suppose; I'm winning five games in a roll for ratings but losing the exhibition games which are like meaningless games win or lose. My finest hours are not at the ungodly hours of the morning when playing chess and I don't perform that well especially without the caffeine my performance enhancing drug strictly legal absolutely. As you might notice I don't have a support team here so I'm fending for myself against superior forces more corporate. But that doesn't bother me Walter Browne the legendary chess player not as famous however to Bobby Fischer of course did tell me he did not have a manager and I say good for him. May the forces be with me as I engage into battle to fight for a checkmate! Let the game begin. Real war would be a living hell you think?

Hung Over But Still Hanging In

It's only a game. Lost one just now even the exhibition games I don't like dropping. But the ones that count for ratings mean more to me. The meaningless games still I would like to win but experimentation often involves high risk and risk I did by doing the off beat road while experimenting with my game. Are you watching a champion in the making? I seriously doubt that; there is no room here for illusions. I'm just a boy at heart okay an old man of sixty one who wants to have fun and when it isn't fun anymore then I'll quit and find something else that is fun. I've written journals far longer than playing chess. I can write about anything and not just about chess. Meanwhile I will guard this house against intruders and vandals and stand watch as best as I can. Remember I won four straight games in a roll hiking up my chess ratings and I'm jamming or playing knowingly when I feel conditions are not prime like lack of sleep when the confidence comes around and I sense the opportunity then I will play a rated game for points once the confidence is there let's hope my good senses can take command and tell me when to hold or fold or get in there for the gold and go for higher ratings.

1324 Rated Player Met His

He quit I think he knew I had him. I don't beat these rated players that often but every now and then I do. I win some I lose some I didn't mention the lower rated players who beat me today. I was one square ahead of him racing my pawn for a queen and I was to make it before him and the way I was playing there was no margin for error. It was going down like clockwork orange so to speak. Once a player acquires the first queen by converting a pawn at the end zone so to speak player gets a queen or whatever piece so desired and usually wins the game in most instances. Advance players reading this please comment. Anyone out there? Comment please.

Rated 1244 Player Met His Match

Not all the players beat me all the time. The last player was behind one pawn but I thought I was the slowest of the slow but this player must have been playing in his sleep. He ran out of time and this time I wasn't pressed for time although waiting for him to move is like watching two cats make a move which one is going to score first will it be a cat fight or will one make an overture for love making. By the way I happen to notice no one is reading this blog despite my having 320 profile views I think I can tell by the way no one is making any comments. Who wants to follow the daily accounts of an advance beginner chess player? You'd have to be out of your gore and I don't mean Al Gore. But come on I must have one reader at least out there reading this blog. We are friends aren't we? Hi mom! Imagine those celebrities who command viewer ship of millions of profile views. I can see it all now my name up in lights neon style high definition a star rising above the skylight grandmaster chess player the.....oh....sorry....got carried away a little. Sorry Mother.

I Won One!

Yes I did. Not everyone beats me, no sir. My opponent was not making any mistakes that was how good he was until he made that one fatal error of not opening up any holes for his king to escape once checked horizontally down the line. He was out pointing me the clever son of a gun proceeding to mow down my pawns but all the time I was eye balling his king sitting there in the back roll all pretty after a castle with three pawns line up in starting formation. He was gaining ground on me enough to finish off a game had he kept open a hole his king to move out of my way but my way was the highway for him he was toast on that final checkmate I pulled off on him. I stung him good. Yes I know I sound like a thug on chess not the scientific types who program chess at the highest level the computer nerds who sophisticate those computers to beat those world class chess champions. Karpov is one of them. You see I do have a brain in my head I can say Karpov!

In The Mind Of A Chess Junkie

The champions in chess don't get the publicity and status of tennis players at the top of their games. The money there is bigger too by far. Tennis was fun and I'm never going to give it up so long as I can stand. But that's neither here nor there. Did I say that right? It's been in the dead of morning and I played three games. I saw one player's log having played 26 games in one day so I'm going up against plenty of players who are well practiced. It remains to be seen if I can ramp it up. Life is a chess board. Bobby Fischer said that. My background was more in tennis. I'm not done with my future chess games of today. If it is in my desire to play then I will. So what's wrong with being addicted to chess? By the way it isn't my problem. Laugh if you will addicts are always in denial. Am I ever being so facetious? I have a knight made of solid gold close to 24 ct. Gold chessman I'm a man with a heart and knight of gold a man with a heart so cold I am bold and you are told! This reminds me of that song Goldfinger.