Will You Tube be my next venture for this raises my curiosity. I love a good song and the music behind it includes my songs I can sing with the lyrics to the musical instruments. Music is a good diversion effect from the burn out of too much chess it can raise my creativity level and thought process. The music scores can be inspirational and lead me on. It did make my day this time rather than become a distraction in fact this time it was glorious. Do you think this new energy drink has led me to new heights? Call it what you will. An audio journal is good for the blind and I can also play the songs one can hear my words and then the tunes of my sounds that convey my messages. I wish I could play it for you right here but I am not quite ready to begin this technology yes I know so many people do it that one does not have to be a genius at it. Any country which can produce or show the top player as the United States had done with Bobby Fischer beating Spassky from Russia is making a statement. But now from what I have concluded the champion isn't human but a computer which plays chess and what country puts out such a computer? I'm not going to tell you just yet but the ones of us that do know have already come out to tell us. All I know is that I cannot make any promises that I will become a vastly improved chess player but from the meager results of my last few games I am at it beating my chest like a gorilla because of a new found lover? No it was I've broken out of the longest slump.

Enduring A Long Slump

Of course there are no bragging rights when one suffers from a long losing streak and this is precisely what I have done made a series of consecutive loses having lost twelve games in a row recently and today I lost but opponent was not in the game to destroy me no mercy take no prisoners. Believe you me I am not an expert at this game just a poor boy from the streets learning the game so ever slowly if at all ready to accept the fact that I've grown way past my peek that after a certain age the human mind and body is often thought of as being relegated to the process of retirement. Playing chess as a hobby is not a fierce battle for life and death. Or is it? Online chess can be as fierce and brutal as any other activity and I can feel the flames of hell nipping away at my toes and no this doesn't help feel comfort during the winter of a cold spell unless a down blanket or coat is worn to keep down the cost of gas. Any love or passion for chess can be snuffed out in a moments flash when the monster of a devil comes out to say there are too many games lost you have to give it up. This should never have to be it should never have to be. Whether can overcome this long slump remains to be seen.

Playing Online Chess Is Like A Boxing Match

An audio journal is nothing but a journal in sound with which a blind man cannot see but can hear. Although writing is an exercise for the improvement of reading and writing skills speech is an important part of human expression for if we can see, touch and hear whatever subject matter is at hand then we are all the more wiser. Take yesterday's fight of the century and yes I believe it was the fight of this century so far. No one I know was willing to predict the precise manner in which this epic fighting match went down but it did go down and it went down big time. Things did go down right for me as I laid my money down to see a fight more money than ever for a fight. The fighting spectacular was more for my son being he is the sports fan of boxing and the martial arts in particular a fan of Manny Pacquiao I've also shown you I'm not a fight fan either of Manny his proper name is a Spanish one but for those ignorant on the matters of boxing and that includes me we were able to sit back and make observations and pretending to be real sports reporters at ringside but actually better for we got the action on pay per view on our Direct TV and we let the experts show it to us live in Las Vegas. None of us expected this to happen but it did happen. The great champion boxer/fighter got knocked down and counted out for the first tine in his career. Please anyone can correct me if I'm wrong but I will check it out later for accuracy. If anything this was Pacquiao worst defeat but yet a gallant fight he did indeed give his audience around the world over their money's worth. I got mine. And to make this blog legit who is the foremost legend of all time in chess? No it is not anyone in the boxing match I saw yesterday. The answer is Bobby Fischer who else?

You might not hear me grip about losing as much but for now I am good to go. Today so far it paid off the win is essential for life for in defeat goes forth darkness and despair or the agony and the ecstasy as so it was called back in the earlier decades of sports or contests or war games any kind of contest be it war or what. Hell is losing but for today there was luck in one of the most skilled mental games called chess. So how may I ask that I called it luck today. I don't know what do you take me for a genius? I'm not trying to be smart by playing chess Einstein already established that his expert knowledge in physics gave him that presence. I'm merely a grown man whose boyish fascination with the game of chess taken from my adolescence into my older years has kept the boy within me happy. By winning some of my games or roughly more than half of my games and to improve upon my win/lost ratio I can sense a feeling of well being like I'm headed somewhere important don't know what done the street around the corner where can it be who can it be? Google my last line and it might take you the song and lyrics from West Side Story the song and tune rings within my ears right now.

The Winning Streak

Without this streak of wins I'd be looking for a new hobby. In fact I've found new hobbies with ease. I do not need chess any more than chess needs me. But I have found the game and it has found me. Winning is very important without the ability to win without this experience there is very little reason to pursue the activity at mind. Finally the San Francisco Giants have been put into the arena. Is this the beginning of a new dynasty? It is too early to tell. That this second time the Giants have won the World Series does show that the first win was not a fluke. Ronn Owens of a major radio station in San Francisco says it is too early to tell whether this is the beginning of a new dynasty. The truth has been spoken.

Proud Enough To Play Chess

I only won one game out of four but I gave it my all I figured for his profile I could give him a game I didn't want to be blown out like I did to my other opponent yesterday. It was like I fought a whole World War 11 by my lonesome self I lost the session for today but you should have seen what I did to my opponent. The preacher man was there for me and I felt his coaching put me on the right track I felt like I was in the drivers seat. Thanksgiving Day is coming up an American holiday. Mr. Leroy Votto if I can recall his name correctly was my history teacher in college the only class in which I got an A in on the college level transferable to the UC Berkeley institution. For this holiday or occasion I'm not going to comment. I've a few songs in my heart and my soul and one song in particular I thought I sang and recorded it on my digital recorder well and the recorder is an Olympus Vn7100.

Chess Is A Brutal Game

I never expected my opponent to exist so fast as he was a higher rated player and I was making moves as if I were a robot playing chess machine where I could do no wrong making moves never before rehearsed. No I don't have a recording of this game except from my memory and I can't do that but only describe what went down. You might think I'm playing at a professional level but no not hardly. I only write the story but the stories written by the professional chess players like the highest rated woman chess player give me inspiration although I have never met her in person. Like Susan Boyle the Internet singing sensation it may not at all be to late to play chess if Susan Boyle could do it in her singing career then why not in chess? Can the old timers do it or is this mere fully of the old with a yearn to recapture the glory days? Most of the chess players I play are younger but I don't know for sure since I never see their faces and they don't see mine. But I was cutting up my opponent so bad that he or she just cut and ran. We are competing for ratings but my last game was brutal for my opponent. I don't usually win like that in a blitzkrieg type fashion. I better get a hold on to myself.

Trapping an Opponents Queen For The Kill

I've done this a zillion times on my first chess playing computer and not a toy computer for children under twelve but it could calculate it cost about a hundred dollars and back then in the eighties that was not cheap. I practiced it the capture of the queen and got it down to a science and today online this is precisely what I did but sadly to say in the exchange I was only maybe ahead five points not enough to put my opponent away but the fact is that I trapped my opponent's queen which trumps a lost at least in my mind the memories of trapping was enough pleasure for me it offsets a lost as far as I'm concern my capabilities to win or a winning streak is not here yet but could well be in the making as this has been my pattern.

When My Chess Game Is Oblivious

The last game of online chess finished moments ago or a few minutes ago. I was a bundle of nerves I just could not play another game my nerves were shot even though this higher rated player lost to me that one game. I'm not tired I had plenty of rest and the caffeine was kicking in as well as the rest of my performance enhancing ...no...sorry no tease here what I do is perfectly legal unless I am declared an illegal. Can you imagine steroids becoming a problem in chess? I don't think so. But don't mind me my game is oblivious to everyone and everything no one cares about my chess game but me myself and I because I am merely an ordinary chess playing fool as one eighty five year old retired pharmacist put it at the Chinese Methodist Church in Oakland. When I asked her if she played chess she retorted remarking what a waste of time and for that matter any hobbies. And so ended that conversation with that old woman. Sorry for dragging this monologue this far. The point is that the real nerves galore lies not in my private or now public game of chess I am attempting to make public but in this World Series baseball game tonight. If the San Francisco Giants win tonight the anti baseball people will change over night including myself and even some will jump on the band wagon. The game begins now and the music I played and recorded is coming in loud and audible for the commenter who knows who is playing unlike myself has arrived in the room and has become a spectator. Okay ladies and gentlemen boys and girls it is the Detroit Tigers who will play our beloved San Francisco Giants baseball team not the Detroit Lions who are a football team. My sports educated son has just educated his father.

The Feel For Chess

If at the moment you give me a glass of milk I will make you a milk shake. This is how nervous I am it is no wonder I call this online game of chess Nerves Galore. An excellent orator John F Kennedy once said we are going to put a man on the moon not because it is easy but because it is hard. And oh my God he carried out his and our impossible dream he or we did in fact put a man on the moon thereafter. And I play the game of online chess not because it is easy but for the same reasons it is hard. And have I achieved a miracle? Not to long ago in this chess blog I was ready to pack it up for good it seemed and take up another hobby or whatever remember? The picture of the horses I drew to ride away to never never land far far away from the game of chess because I could no longer stand the torture and the agony of losing? I never could dream at that point of no returning to chess would I be still playing chess and even enjoying it but of course the nerves galore never goes away. As long as there is life in me there will my nerves when chess games are concerned. The last game I made a hit and assassinated my opponents queen hoping to carry out a perfect game but no I too blundered and gave away a rook out and out for no exchange in all the excitement of the game chess computers have no feelings they are as cold as steel when playing against them and they unlike humans do not blunder they do not make mistakes they are the super fast moving machines which calculate many thousands times faster than what a Ph D in mathematics can do. This last game I did do a wrong and I blundered but lady luck was on my side I could do a wrong and still win this game as long as my opponent blundered and he/she did big time by handing over his queen. This was a slightly higher rated chess player a human player. When I lose to a computer I say no hard feelings for machines are expected to out perform humans in a multitude of tasks. But for a human to beat me it can send my nerves to a doctor or a neurologist. And yes stress can make one more vulnerable to particular diseases but please oh please tell me you have at least an inkling of faith in something within me.

Having The Right Mind The Desire

It does help to have the right mind. If playing the game of tennis or chess isn't fun anymore then I say don't do it hold back wait for the time it can and will be a fun thing to do. I can honestly say this is what I have done in chess. I eliminated the regimented self enforced edict that I must constantly practice. Maybe it did pay off despite all the anguish and torment. But taking this new attitude the Magnus Carlsen way has enlightened me and made chess for me more enjoyable. Let there be other endeavors in my life and think of them not as these other activities not as a diversion but as a way out of being stuck in a rut of a chess burn out where finally the burn out is so great that one may never want to see a game of chess again. I was almost at that point not to say I am or was a good player but I do see an improvement in chess on the horizon after feeling of being at the verge of total collapse and extinction of the chess game permanently. You have all seen it in this blog. Anyway this is going to be my new attitude toward the game and not burn out but to play the game when I'm in the mood to do so it may not yield a long winning streak right away but it might lead to a greater desire to practice more without the torment or frustrations when I take the loses. I do see in the horizons let me repeat a time for improvement in my win/lost record and what could be so wrong with that?

I Told Myself So

The ever ready battle to win is just that the struggle to survive you would think just what kind of person is qualified to coach in the game of chess? Is it someone who has been at the top? Surely I am all ears and a willing student of someone famous who has been at the top with all earnest I've been inspired by those at the top who have achieved. Although my rating is not very high I do pay attention to those who have made it there to the top and have made a name for themselves. I find soul and inspiration enhanced when I read up on those who can inspire me to move on and press on despite the overwhelming odds of the competition being far over my head. Feed the soul and let the quest for victory never die even when little hope is there. Now yes that is a tall order but nevertheless these orders will never cease to exist and life can and will go on regardless of the negativity. Although I sense and feel my winning streak has been past I wait and hunker down until the storm passes over my head and I can see the light again. I believe good prevails over evil. Beware of those who can lead us into the desirable ways and the right way call them leaders or the priests of hope remember we must listen to the preacher man listen to the logic and the inspiration in his or her voice and choice of words. We may or may not ever become champions at our chosen fields of endeavor but if we can show a sign of heart and direction we will achieve.

Make My Day

Let us face it chess is a game played primarily by males why this is so I do not know maybe because females are smarter than men as to not get themselves in a do or die conflict. Chess is a game which is a simulation of war. I got interested in chess while at the peak of my tennis game coming off from placing in the finals of the city I often practiced the most I wished it were a major metropolitan city but some champions do come from small towns like I have come to know. I was bred so to speak in Oakland my place of birth and yes I met up with Brad Gilbert one of the coaches of the winner of the last major tournament of the U.S. Open recently. I was never the star player as Brad was now a commentator for ESPN I could be corrected my errors can be corrected. Excuse me for rambling on but even the best legends have been known for ramblings. Note one of my best actor/directors is under fire for doing so and it was this person named Clint Eastwood who coined the phrase Make My Day based on one of his movies. My chess partner named Mike Smith(not his real name) from work would love to threaten me and we would love reciting the macho words Clint Eastwood used in his movies such go ahead make a move make my day. I always ask myself this question whenever I go online to play a rated game with few exceptions. Clint Eastwood is such a major legend that I believe he can overshadow his so called ramblings seen in today's news story. But a mere mortal who rambles cannot be forgiven as easily.

How To Win

The formula for winning; should I reveal it? I'm not sure as every time I think I know how to win what to do and I reveal it all things just backfire and I wind up with smoke in my face. The last session of wins has been fun but tolerating the loses is the bad part for me. I have been reading other blogs on chess mainly the more expert chess bloggers who show the chess boards and the moves. It is all diagrammed. All in a package. For the average person on the street reading advanced chess blogs might pose a meaningless and confusing story way over the heads of the average reader the story complex and so forth. One would think a simple basic story like this one based on a beginners experience would be more suitable for the masses of readers who want to know about chess. But for all these years that I've been playing chess one would think that by now or even years ago I would be now writing about my past successes in achieving a grandmaster status rather than writing still for several years now the elementary steps of chess. What is this you say I'm retarded then? Yes yes the proper and appropriate expression is that I'm as mentally challenged as say the top ranked chess player of the world Magnus Carlsen if not much much more than he is. Who knows how much more effort I put in just to win some simple chess games where as Magnus Carlsen but puts in so little effort to win the very complex chess games in the range far above and beyond my capabilities? As a living person like Magnus Carlsen I feel as much as he does and the effort I put in for each game may be more than his efforts. I can still write about championship chess from my point of view. In fact I am in the mood for a chess game. Will I play a good one? If I do you will certainly hear from me. Oh and by the way hello to all my readers in Russia I see your country on my statistics as one of the countries who is reading this blog on chess. One of my best friends for a time was Russian American until he accused me of stealing from him but I had forgiven him for my Christian upbringing got the best of me and I was able to forgive that who trespassed against me as much as I wished for others to forgive me for my trespasses. I am now free to move on and not be confined to a bitterness toward an opposition that tried to falsely destroy me. I am now free at last free at last to move on.

To Win or Not That Is The Question

To Win or Not To Win This Is The Question. With no wins there would be little point in playing chess. That is why I gave up on tennis but I did give it up on a high note as my last tennis tournament was my best result of such a class A tournament but I do confess the best players did not come from around all the country. My last victory was very satisfactory and no this much higher rated player was rated 1245 and it was over from the near beginning I ambushed him he must have been looking somewhere else for an attack but I saw a clear cut path to his throat and my dagger or weapon or the opportunity was at the ready he could have defended and thwarted my check mate but I don't think he even saw it coming. This time my performance was near perfect no flaws in my game no blunders no strategic mistakes no tactical errors just plain simple moves each one counting to move for excellence not for defeat. Opponent probably could clearly see I wasn't setting things up for a quick and decisive check mate which is what really happened. He just forced into doing what I had to do and that was stepping with him each and every step matching step for step feeling no distractions like the previous game. It is the games like this one where I could do no wrong only right which is why I keep playing the game until it isn't fun anymore.

This Is Nerves Galore

You have come to the right blog. Chess can and will make you nervous to what degree is a matter of opinion to lose in chess big time is not the end of the world but mentally it can appear to me true you will not suffer as in an accident while sky diving or hang gliding due to some unforeseen circumstances while playing chess as opposed to riding a surf or whatever by vehicle but a nice protected game of chess from the climate outside can still chill the nerves to a frazzle. Here I've played over close to three thousand games of online chess and my last opponent made my nerves into a frazzle the day has been long although the day hasn't even begun it is only 9:30am now but I've been on this caffeine kick now for many hours having taken more caffeine than usual about as much caffeine when I was a LSM operator or tennis player trying to practice for tennis tournaments when my performance counted. In this game against a 1220 rated player clearly higher rated than my rating of 1100 I blundered but he gave me the take back but then he did too and so I replied in turn. But his last blunder cost him the game players just don't blunder on line very much if it weren't for his blunder I would not have been so lucky as to winning the game. So you may ask what is so lucky when my nerves have turned to liquid jell? In this game my opening has been modified having changed the routine but not swaying drastically away from my practice routine. It is innovative or at least I've this feeling it is. In this instance the caffeine did make a difference but my day was not just pure chess practice. I'm looking at Jimmie Hendrix the greatest guitar player ever it is said and I'm studying that too. I figure the number one ranked chess player currently in the world Magnus Carlsen is doing the things which are right for him by engaging in other endeavors besides chess but they say he is just plain smart and he denies all of this being the young modest champion.

Civilized Chess Played To Your Schedule

Can today be the day I am prepared mentally I do have a choice. Having felt not right or mentally prepared gave me time to postpone the game. In any other sport I have known there is no such thing you either play out your schedule for that given day or you default. Online chess in this era my era isn't like that. I am very charmed that such a type of online chess games can cater to my whims.

Mind Preparation

As I go into another online chess game I first prepare and do the things that are necessary one must be prepared to do his or her best. And yes I predict there will be more and more women participating in this game traditionally played by males. It is just the way I can't choose or decree that this shall be so everybody knows for sure I'm not God. Anyhow chess like tennis is not to be taken lightly when entering an online game it is preparation for many who are thinking in terms of tournament chess after all ratings are assigned to each game played and yes I know some players don't think along these lines when I play them. Nevertheless it is Magnus Carlsen who said it himself as he has learned chess primarily from computers that one cannot operate without the other or in other words if it were not for computers he would not be ranked as the number one player of the world. You don't have to believe what I say I could be wrong. After all I only know what I read off the Internet and what some people believe and I did not get a near perfect score like Bill Gates did on the SAT exam. But if I am leading us all in the right direction then I say all for the better we are and how merrily merrily we can strut along.

Like I've said the caffeine gets me there when in a game playing contest as in these online chess games it is very much like the sport of tennis just before you get to play in a school tennis tournament except online chess is on your own time but every game counts toward ratings if one cannot win anymore but has a whole line of loses with no wins then something is to be said like don't go there anymore. Check out the 100th ranked tennis player who made a name for himself by thrashing Nadal Rafael in Wimbledon the other week he was in the zone he could do no wrong everything was going for him and for this he will be remembered. Buster Douglas was another who rang Mike Tyson's bell knocking him down for the count. I'm always looking and waiting or I want to look and wait for the opportune time to knock off a much higher rated chess player

The Slump: Can It Be Avoided?

As you can see in as much as I try to duck the chess slump it just sucks me into the depths of this seemingly bottomless pit and it is the opposite of being in the zone or I can do all the wrong not so much in blunders but in concentration. I love being in the zone but that will have to wait until whenever. There is no magic formula for arriving there to the zone but when I get there that is if I get there I probably will not be quiet about it. I will get there I always do and when I don't then I will go away from playing the games like I did tennis. The fond memories in tennis will never go away as well as the bitter ones too.

Chess Is Very Hard It Isn't As Easy As You Think

The rules are very easy to follow but to become a champion well it just isn't easy and when a player does become a champion he walks tall and proud he has this esteem that clouds in and around him he is far from the loser but he is the winner for all to see and maybe even worship. But please don't ask me what it is like I am not the champion with which I speak about. I have only seen them one in particular getting his physical fitness in tune so mind and body become one as when Bobby Fischer exercised at tennis like I did but now bicycle around to achieve physical fitness sitting down all day and all night doesn't cut it in chess the body needs movement in order for it to think well and play a good game of chess. My last two games drained me it was hard and I could not go on another game. It is a very hard game to master believe you me.

I Will Know When I've Arrived In The Zone

I'm still waiting for the zone when it comes I will know it this is called strategy in practice for the real game in ratings. Although I lost a practice game for no ratings I did put in my best but the best wasn't good enough I explained to my opponent what I am doing remember it pays to communicate intelligent messages where both opponent and I can benefit. In this way one can make friends and win over enemies or at least walk like a man live like a king and be all powerful like a queen. Being down in the slump is a regular track record for me if I wait it out by playing for no ratings I can get a feel for the game and decide whether I've had too much play or a burnout and then adjust accordingly. A slump doesn't last forever in as much as it seems to be. Writing this blog in chess helps me to see my statistics and where I am or was to where I am going. For instance recording and entering my weight daily from the past months and years shows that I'm making progress by charting the data. You genius types know what I'm talking about and it never takes a genius to know what I speak about. To know that you are headed toward progress is to know your better self. I'm playing chess not because it is easy but because it is hard. Once I achieve and realize a goal has been obtained then will I know I will know sing it to the tune of Whitney Houston there is a song in my heart.

Waiting For The Right Moment In Time

At this time there is not the feeling of being in the right mood nor the anticipation of playing decent chess and so the will to play at this time will be on hold. Now this makes sense why engage in something when you know deep down inside it would not be fun? And so I wait and I lie low

The Mental Focus

Approaching the chess game will require my upmost attention and concentration after all these opponent have come to a point of serious thought not to be taken lightly. The feeling for the game must be right otherwise postpone the game come again on another day enter an online chess game half cocked and the chance of getting blown away is ever there. The right mood is important. Some say just go in there in play out your heart you have to learn one day or another and if that isn't good enough just go in there again and keep pressing on. I say whatever works out best for you. But I say chess is a good game don't destroy yourself in the midst of practicing the rated games no one wants to rate themselves into oblivion. I've been there and come back but don't do as I have done it isn't what anyone wants to do living in hell would be better. Oh the stories never end. This is so much fun.

My Opponent Can Change His Underwear Now

I had a much higher rated player a 1338 or I don't care how high he was rated I was prepared to take on all comers. But let me finish I had him against the ropes toward the end leading having hooked two of his rooks with my knight a classy shift of my knights prowess moving in to score but let him off the hook. I'll spare you the details there is nothing more boring than describing a chess game and yes there are boring chess games but that could change. I am confronted with the slowness movement but don't forget I am an older player so old I should be nursed by the prettiest and sexiest nurse. How does an old goat like me hang with these young whipper snappers anyhow?

Playing A Grandmaster

Not only would I challenge Walter Browne to chess games but I already was challenged in games one time way back when he was playing tennis and I knew who he was as I faced off one to one on a tennis court. Depending on my mood and where I was it is possible or at least conceivable that I would play him in a game of chess. Over all my chess ratings indicate I'm a beginner but on a good day as I have said I would play anyone I don't care how good he or she is even a computer if I am on my chess game then I am on and will take on the most formidable opponent. My energies however at this moment are near completion it is time or in other words I made an upset of a higher rated chess player this morning.

The Need For Practice

The winning streaks don't last forever and I notice when they the winning streaks are exhausted a series of losing streaks come into play if you notice the track record and so if I give up the practice time and wait until the feel for confidence returns I might be waiting a long time yet true I don't want to burn out by playing too much and losing the feel for the game. No one should be playing chess in a vacuum. I figure if I do have the feel for the game but don't want to risk or gamble my chances for almost certain play below my par or capabilities then practice games played not for ratings would seem appropriate thus a lost would not hurt me nor depress me. Yes I can easily say this but as in the past I have not done this. However I must follow my own advice and not use chess as a means of suicide. I do not need to continue to hurt myself I must see chess as a means of achievement and not a torture chamber. This should hold true for anyone else. At least I feel pretty good with what I just wrote. I hope I can make this world a better place.

Physical Training For The Mental Toughness

I can vouch for Walter Browne especially after reading his 1970's blog in which I believe he states he does pretty much the same as Bobby Fischer in preparation for chess. He played tennis at the time having mention he beats ninety per cent of his tennis opposition. At the time we played a set of tennis at the rose gardens on a tennis court I remembered him oh so well it isn't often where I hung out that a celebrity would show up but make no doubt about it people would point and stare knowing that the number one ranked chess player at the time in the 70's was on the tennis courts where I too on occasions would hang out to play tennis. It was there we met and agreed on a pick up game he probably had seen me before we rallied and then we figured the both of us were ready to do battle and play some tennis a set at least. The score was close but I knew I was far from playing in the zone. But I could clearly see he could be in the lead when challenging pick up tennis players at the tennis courts. So do professional chess players in the circuit do workouts like tennis to be more fit for the mental war games in chess? In the case of Walter Browne and having seen Bobby Fischer on a talk show on the Dick Cavette television show speaking of his tennis workouts to make him a better chess player I'd have to say yes some of them do workout and tennis was good for them...bicycling is my physical workouts.

The Feel For Confidence

My Opponent was worthy and I had gone into this rated game with a feel for confidence no matter how highly rated or no matter how well this higher rated player could play. It didn't mean I was going to win just because I had this feel for confidence. I can imagine how Nadal felt in his last match in tennis against his opponent where his opponent was 100th ranked tennis player an unknown who knocked on the door of Nadal the famed tennis player in a major tennis tournament of Wimbledon and scored an upset. This morning of this ungodly hour I felt ready to take on all comers it didn't matter how good they were I felt ready with or without caffeine. Well I had none and I did score an upset I wasn't tired I could have played on for another two more games maybe more but this win for me this morning was enough I needed time to catch my breathe look around and make sure I wasn't just dreaming. I felt things clicking for me it was this feel as if I could do no wrong if this was ever playing in the zone then this was it. I'm taking a shower for it is due time I'm not so dead tired at all that I do not have any strength to shower myself off. The lady of the house will get her wish.

Performance

Everything it seems is related to performance. Ratings believe it or not do count. The very survival of this blog is dependent upon ratings I may think it is good enough but if the viewing audience or readers disagree with me or those with authority over this content find it not in line with what is productive I'm out of here. It's only common sense. Correct me if I am wrong but people just don't want to read about losers and that is not what I'm about. If I were in a perpetual slump the charts would read as a line in a slash going no where but down. An exception to the rule is JD Salinger a popular novel about a college student named Holden Caufield a failing student headed nowhere but the mental ward. As time moves onward the technology becomes more advanced and those with older minds get weeded out. Take the number one rated chess player in the world still rated number one after all the years I've mentioned his name in this chess blog Magnus Carlsen although he hasn't achieved the status of a legend because his name hasn't been around long enough. The very young players have access to computers which supply them with the right information to succeed the very data they need to arm themselves with. My point is that chess is so intensely skilled as a game that it takes powerful computers to measure performance and rate those who are in the elite. We ordinary people can participate but don't we become in awe of those players who rate and perform. Having met the highly rated movie and television actor Clint Eastwood on the air on the radio (yes I am a name dropper)if I could suggest to him that unlike all the other major games we see in sports chess should reign as the game of intelligence. I'd have Clint Eastwood sitting at a table looking down at a chess board telling his opponent to go ahead make his day and does his opponent feel lucky? This would be an old line for an emerging game that just won't fade away just you wait for the screaming headlines or the Internet stories of major proportions and the unmentionables is thrust before our very eyes and is there intelligent life on other planets besides earth? They the aliens would have to make my day and make a move for when I'm on my game I am on my game I'm in the zone I can do no wrong give me Bobby Fischer bring him back and make him play his best game and I can only try my best to crush him. Today I did that just about having played the second highest rated chess player to oppose me rated 1425 he did beat me but I played my best game took him to the distance like from the movie Rocky One I was only one move away from check mating him I pushed him to the limit he would not play me a second game I felt he fled because he feared me because I had the capability to thrash him the next game and how would he look when a low rated chess player so much lower than she would look? Yes correction my opponent was a female who had been on a ten game winning streak I checked her profile. Man woman or beast when I am ready to play I will play.

Live To Win

I am not dead. I past the test and had beaten one of the highest rated chess players since who knows when it was so long ago that I had finished out this well and I deserve to have a good night's sleep since I also worked out more than usual. All I do know is that yes I like winning more than....oh never mind it is late and I cannot think. Good night.

The Famous Painting: Dora Maar au Chat by Picasso

The Famous Painting: Dora Maar au Chat by Picasso

I'm not sure what this is all about I'm an insomniac woke up at this weird ungodly hour for most people but not for me and found or discovered this master piece on my computer screen.  But yes earlier in the day or of late I did google this particular painting  found it fascinating that such a picture sold for so much a much sought after picture not because how well it was drawn but because of who drew it.  I'm not an artist but I do draw I am learning but I do not think it is in  the cards that I will ever be good at it but I would never have known Picasso and his works if it were  not for tracing some of his works.  I can and have drawn some things freehand and when I do I feel pure as the wind driven snow.  But tracing is my backbone.  Tracing from a picture is a traditional word a sin associated with cheating yes I know but if I am up front then it  isn't  cheating.  We must let our common sense dictate to us what is right and what is wrong.  When I move my painting brush to make a stroke it is like moving a chess piece in a board game it is a move to get to the right picture in my case recently I painted my second oil painting of the famous Golden Gate Bridge using a digital picture and tracing from it.  But I didn't trace it all I used my own interpretation and drew lines far different than what was seen in the digital picture.  It was if you please an exaggeration maybe dramatized.  This picture I named The Golden Gate Bridge In The Twilight it is completed but hasn't been shown as yet to the public.  The first  two people I showed it to like it from the  get go.  Some of your best friends or your loved ones can be your worst critics but not in this case of the Golden Gate Bridge In The Twilight.  It is quite possible I  will show it to you sometime in the coming.  Whether playing and practicing chess online leads to a better understanding of movement on canvas with an oil on a paint brush can boggle  the mind.  

The Moves In Chess Create Patterns; Every Picture Has A Pattern

When a decent game of chess is played my concentration is clicking in the designs of the pattern from which the pieces have moved.  It sounds  outrageous this I know but this is what is happening.  How do I know?  Like bowling a perfect game of 300 there is no such  score in chess the perfect game in chess is when your lines are better drawn than that of your opponents and  you can do no wrong.  Then  you are in the zone and the picture is looking good you see victory and you have a picture perfect result  or if I may say a product.  So what am I saying?  What I am saying is that it is in oil.  A picture done in oil of the Golden Gate Bridge on canvas will appear some time.  You will see what I mean.

Bitter Sweet Trumps Sour

I'm just making barely enough wins over loses in the win/lost column to make chess the game worth my while.  The last game is what keeps me in play as I felt I was in the zone and could do no wrong.  Was it that review of an old hypnotic recording which prompted me to play a good game this time?  I made short order of my last opponent and he was around the same rating as I.  Like what Joe Montana said to me on a talk show if you hate losing more than you like winning this would have to be what was on his mind at the time he is in control of his precious but limited time to win it or not.

To Assassinate A Queen

I can legally do this and get away with it.  So let me talk chess and not  politics....please.  At this ungodly hour in the morning until five and I'm stalking a queen and having fun doing it?  It is no wonder there are chess players online who have logged in tens of thousands of chess games on their profile.  They are having fun!  And I've only a mere 2500 or so  games logged on.  Yes I am only a beginner chess player when it comes to ratings but come on if you may excuse the phrase I've written enough about this game to fool quite a number of people who might mistake me as an expert in this field the game of chess.  I'm beginning dose off never do this when playing chess my advice especially for myself(I'm  talking to myself?) is  take a break when fatigue sets in or you get ready for a nap; take the nap not  a game of chess.

Just Singing In The Rain

It rained on me and losing is not my kind of game.  I was the monster as always when I lose so anyone beware I am not a fun guy to be around when I lose.  But it is a good thing at least that I can win as many games as I can lose in fact more winning games.  For a time the voice of reason was telling me to not to play chess if it is going to turn me into this horrible monster.  Now  I  know now I know why I kept   playing   through en endless slump that appeared there would be no end in sight.  My last game for today so far was the more interesting game as I was playing wounded my upper leg/thigh area was in a discomfort almost a pain any longer sitting would have been grounds for a forfeiture  and I did quit  rather than go on to play another game.  But I sent my queen  back down to my turf to defend against an attack rather than go for  one lone pawn.  It worked like a storybook charm I had succeeded in trapping my opponents queen on my own turf thus my opponent resigned on the spot once he  or she saw  no way out.  
Chances were that my  opponent was a guy.  I've got an oil painting of the Golden Gate Bridge I'd like to show you once it is finished.  Remember what I've been saying all along;  that there is a correlation between  the patterns one sees in chess as well as the patterns necessary to draw a good picture in the world of art.                                                    

The Agony And The Ecstasy

Wow this blog just won't  go away just when I thought the very life of it was over and hovering near death it was like an angel came to rescue the heart and soul what was left if any.  Death was so apparent. Most of us chess players know when a game is over yet many of us hang on despite  what little hope there is to savage a game.   In fact in major league sports it happens all the time.  They play out the game despite there is zero to no chance in winning.  The past few weeks I was in my worst chess slump ever despite a revival attempt by this television preacher man.  He spoke to me as he did to his millions of his audience and I sense his coaching but received the battle of my life another thrashing of my worst.  I'm not getting any younger and an old man like myself can't take much more.  Don't make any mistake about it the young whipper snappers are in the drivers seat.  The very young  ranked number one player of twenty one Magnus Carlsen looks like a new sprung baby he  could be out there for a very long time to come watch his style of play for years to come.  But I just had a game of all games it was a thriller I was in the zone but didn't know that I was exactly I felt very right at this crazy hour of the morning to take on any  player that came along the highest level rated player to challenge me.  I felt ready.  He played and  mixed it up sent me into an unconventional game a pattern of moves I had never used.  My game was adapted to his which usually gets me in deep trouble.  It was a difficult dance to do but  I had to calculate there was no advantage to the memory work over all except for a few basic ones which I took advantage of.  Games like this is what keeps me plugging along.  From a state of brain dead to brain alive is  what is in short order.   It wasn't a major victory this player was capable of cleaning out my clock but this time I cleaned out his first he didn't make any errors that was the game it was throughout the entire game from the get go I was with confidence giving him all the breaks and take backs he requested.  I confess however the agony and the ecstasy is so primitive.  Who needs a nervous break down?

A Cure For A Nervous Condition?

If I were to change the title of this blog or the name it might be Frustration Galore rather than Nerves Galore.  I can imagine more frustrating situations however.  My frustrations in not  being a champion in the game I can accept in fact this game of chess has made me quite humble not that I need anymore ways and means to be humble.  But why oh why you may ask do I continue to play these  games and embarrassing myself for these loses with nothing but excuses?  Well one reason is I played tennis so similar to the games in chess.  Tennis tournament for players I'd say is a young man's sport.  But don't   tell me chess isn't either look at Magnus Carlsen a mere twenty one year old very young for being ranked number one currently.  I do glance at other chess blogs.  Let me deviate a little from this blog on chess.  In fact who really wants to know about chess when the title of this blog is called Nerves Galore? There are much more situations than chess which causes a person to have their nerves go hay wire or just plain out of control.  Don't we all experience nerves gone wild out of control that  horrible feeling when things simply or more accurately confusingly go wrong?  One of the most disturbing conditions of nerves gone galore is when one is in an airplane and in flight something serious goes wrong an emergency alarm is sounded it is not a drill.  You are on a commercial airliner and only precious minutes at the most are left maybe only seconds or less.  This is by far more agonizing and frustrating and hell inducing situation than any chess match on line or no online chess game I can imagine.  Online there are more people asking why don't commercial craft have parachutes military jets do why not for civilians?  Of course the reasons are endless too long and laborious to explain it right here.  What is of utmost importance when you are going down in a plane is for you to think get me the hell a parachute give me a last chance not a chance for certain death.  Oh sure talk is cheap and that is what I'm doing I don't have to put up with the expense of such a bureaucracy for any such requirements of safety yes it is very expensive but I hate to think the lives  of my friends killed when something more may be done don't get me wrong I think the American airline industry is the safest in the world and it is getting better if only there was something I   could do to  help it along.

A Cure For The Nerves

It was and is   the Holy man or the preacher man who gave me inspiration to press on with this game known simply as chess.  The obvious is apparent after a hiatus  from the game due to burn out and a showing of little to zero and below  net results I had  taken a very long break maybe as long as a year I'm not certain for those who have let me know.  Are there really people reading this blog does anyone really care?  Can I honestly say after more than two thousand games of chess online requires nerves of steel? No  one can deny that it takes a certain kind of intelligence and if he or she is a recognized champion he or she is not suffering from a mental breakdown.  I will cover Bobby Fischer and the talk of his breakdown if any at all?  Yes I do believe there was something to his life which wasn't the prettiest story of boy makes good from rags to riches.  Preparing or  getting ready to  play a chess match really isn't that bad.  What I am about to tell you is far worst than playing chess with the fear of losing.  And what it is is in my next post.  Please pay attention to what I am about to explain.  There are things far worst than losing in chess among humans and one of the  things on the list is  going down from the air in a commercial airliner in a crash mode due to whatever the cause be it mechanical problems to enemy aircraft firing its weapons.  No one wants to go down to their death.  Read my next post to come up soon.

My Bad Is My Slow Motion

No online chess player likes a slow mover like me but I'm working on a faster game it all depends on how my medicine is kicking in and if I took enough caffeine otherwise your opponents are at the ready to denounce you right  there  on there on the spot.  However it was not my desire to torture my opponent but a meltdown was happening right in from of my eyes and in the eyes of my opponent his all powerful queen was being chased and tracked down.  Nevertheless my dream was coming true as through much of my chess  playing days practicing on the computer I would often trap and serve up the queen as pork on a silver platter.  It appeared I was torturing my opponent slowly but surely but  I would want nothing more  than a fast, quick victory.  

Halaluja

Did it come too soon?  Look at my blog and see the hopelessness with which I expressed myself with hell and damnation squeezing the very breathe out of very heart and soul collapsing my every  hope for fresh air just not that many days ago.  My torment it appeared could not be met my any formidable pain and suffering that the most dreaded disease could bring.  And yes I do have that one dreaded disease yet no one conclusive piece of evidence can come up with how I got it.  Losing at chess has been one of the most agonizing pain and suffering imaginable.  I was prepared to delete this entire blog just blow it up and destroy it for mark my words what I had said that there was little to no hope at achieving anything in life especially at the game of chess players my opponents were laughing at me as they trounced me kicked sand and dirt in my face as I lied there still and defenseless as they ground their heels into my backside and ridiculed me sneering at my lifeless motion calling me every name in the book my great weakness was their strength they gain power and prominence at the expense of my ill fate of earning one of worst slumps in chess  due to my refusal to play more games and losing losing losing.  The more games in a row I  lost the more grief I could feel what with the taunts.  Some of my opponents no doubt would have loved to meet with me and see me live on stage making me the butt of all morons.  Consider this fact
the name calling  didn't have the impact when Clint Eastwood.....pardon me.  But did this preacher man plant a seed in my brain as I so often dreamt about?  A long story needs to be made short.  My last game of chess went down as no one would have expected victory and performance was not part of the ticket.  Here goes;   my opponent wasn't too far off  in ratings of the highest rating.  I took down one of the highest rated chess  players







                         

The Preacher Man

I've got this preacher man in mind.  He's well known does the talk show circuits of the most popular shows and I think about what he has preached catering to the down and out people who don't think they have a chance in life in succeeding.  He is an optimist for sure and I saw his videos on the ways he speaks to his audience.  His words of assurance motivates a weaken mortal to look at great heights  which such a mortal soul could never hope for.  Could this be my answer when all is looking hopeless?  Can I mention his name in this blog?

A Time For Chess

Not everyone can remain up beat all the time.  What I am saying is  this blog has been at question because it  doesn't appear to be going anywhere.  Lord knows that I should try to try to advertise.  I tried that and look at where....I even must try hard in this blog not let my readers down no matter what.  No one loves a loser and of course that is not my intent.   After all the great champion himself gave me  pointers and he let me inside his mind to further my inspiration   on winning and my disdain for losing.  By the way his name is Joe Montana yes I am horrible I'm a name dropper.  The truth of the matter is that I don't know if there are any readers reading this blog.  I really have few clues as to what is going on.  All I know is that I'm good at keeping journals.  Is there anybody out there in readership land that reads this thing?  I don't see any comments maybe I'm better off this way as I hear these comments on blogs can get pretty nasty and I don't need that.  but I threaten to chuck this blog and just take up another hobby these chess slumps make me feel so god awful.  Besides I don't know anyone who has played as many chess games as myself with an exception of a few.   You would think that I could teach a few good players something about chess in this blog but no I'm not getting the feedback.  Is there anyone out there?  Hello?  Doesn't anyone know what time it is doesn't anyone  care?                                                                                                                                      

Real Drama In A Silly Game Of Chess?

My nerves are shot.  I'm so nervous if I had a milk or a glass of milk in my hand  it would be a milk shake.  And it isn't from Parkinson's either.  It is from what else?  Please the name of this blog is all about what? All together now....chess.  It is an insignificant game nobody cares about it than I but the feeling made my nerves go through the roof.  My opponent struck me through the throat with his sword withdrew his long bladed dagger dripping with blood my blood assassinated my queen I had blundered left it within range of opposition knight to hook my king and queen and I was done.  My  only hope was time as his time was run down to almost nothing;  he had only three moves to go for checkmate.  Seconds were left I moved had all the time in the world to make a move better for me to have him on the ropes and reverse the timing make him wait for  him this time to move in a rush which wasn't his type of game.  This player was even slower than I.  Now who in the dickens cares to know about a silly game of chess?   I do.  This is what counts.

Making A Comeback?

I  belonged on a reclining lounge rather than in front of a computer screen playing chess.  Being made to feel humble by playing chess...well yes it does get down and dirty just downright depressing when my   performance isn't there.  Barry Zito I can  relate with.  I am looking forward to that reclining lawn chair more than I am to a losing streak of chess games but I know by not  playing the games at all I would not raise up my ratings but of course.   It is to be expected that my performance in chess must be met with practice after all the number one player Magnus Carlsen...well never you mind.  My prediction? It can't makes bigger.  

Trash Talking Opponents

And I thought this blog on chess would be abandoned.  I really did.  I did abandon it mostly to spend more time on my other blog It Never Takes A Genius but can we read the writing on the walls?  Yes the focus is on this blog and  I'm committed to it be it for better or worst in sickness and in health...well you get the picture.

I did cover trash talking chess opponents in chess before they come  from every crack in the crevices you can imagine in the more popular sport of tennis it didn't exist for me as it does in this game of chess.  But as proud as I can be I took my opponent I felt and pulled him through the ringer until he had no life not even his breathe yes he was handily beating me in the game of chess being a higher rated player of 1224 but I was ready willing and seemingly able to play this better rated player but I chose to play a him different game which would probably not yield me  better results.  In the beginning it was indeed different more novel a different approach.  But as it normally turns out the end result of the game didn't pan out.  It was a push over for this trash talking opponent but this time I figured even though the game was lost I could take him on in a debate and a debate it was he lost  in that on all counts his trash talking didn't hold water.  If anyone can  hold their own  and debate or respond with a better answer at the end of a game then that game which is like the end of time then I say he is acquiring a spot in time

Play For Fun

Preparing to play another game but first the need to ingest a pill of caffeine or two.  Can't I lose gracefully and not take this game of chess so seriously?  Chess is a game of skill to me at the present I see the game of like a test of intelligence.  I understand that I'm losing dopamine as I get older the mental functioning deteriorates thus the ratings fall in tennis the embarrassment of defeat becomes more apparent.  The older players playing the younger in tournaments have the greater disadvantage.  This we all know.  I'll play chess when I want to where I....okay you get the point.

Do Chess Playing Computers Think?

I don't play those anymore but when I did I was compelled. And what did the practice all add up to? Not much. I get more pleasure cutting the grass which is where I'm going to soon before the sun goes down. I think these chess playing machine are harder now and a poor human doesn't have a chance against the faster brute strength of a chess playing computer. It's been well established some people will tell you different but to put it bluntly they don't know a hole driven in the ground for well water from a black hole in the universe. I just don't find chess fascinating anymore like I use to playing an inordinate of endless games. It's time to pick up the pieces and move on to other pursuits. I will return I did play two games just today. I'm not dead.

The Games We Play

John McEnroe the legendary tennis player once said if the game isn't fun for you don't play it. Tennis for the most part is a bigger game than chess by far and I know tennis better than chess. Chess for me became more interesting than tennis however and I began to play it. The first chess computer I owned kept me in training enough to where I could beat most recreational players. I think I would be a better teacher of chess and tennis than a player of pick up games. Concentration matters and mornings don't produce good results ordinarily. I'm just waiting for the desire to play these games to come around.

My Mistakes Are My Ways To Learn

Yes I am always learning. You can clearly see my mistakes of recent days. But like General MacArthur when there was a great lost of American lives and he knew it all to well he voiced the command "We shall return". Sounds a little like afterwards when an actor in a movie said I'll be back. It isn't all win win win every time. In the moment of weakness we must pause and regroup and take on the issues. There is a great deal of things for me to learn and with all the zest and power I can muster I will find the way through you.

When Our Nerves Try To Tell Us Something

When torture is chosen and volunteered upon ourselves we are saddest. Well I am not one. And Nixon was said to have said I am not a crook. I cannot get into my other blog It Never Takes A Genius because I just don't know how to in fact many things have changed as for me even this blog has changed. I no longer have the capabilities to carry on as I have done. Much of my skills have gone it is only through the grace of God that I am still here. I'm not certain I can recover. It appears I need another power nap because if I don't my concentration will be foiled,kaput.

But I will be back. There is much to learn and much to do for me and you no matter what the conditions are like as of the present.

The Cycle Of Chess

>Where we are going remains to be seen.