Supermemo
I've recently discovered Supermemo, a software program designed to aid in learning. It basically schedules repetitions for the material to be absorbed, according to an algorithm they say is optimal for learning. There is a whole lot of worth-to-read articles on learning on their website.

Unfortunately, the product is not free, but it has an evaluation version that I've found to be quite good for chess-position training. I have generated a set of .png images of the positions in "300 most important positions" and entered about 70 of those into Supermemo. It's great to have a program that can schedule for you the positions to review. Those that you don't remember well are scheduled frequently, those that you know with your eyes closed will pop up less often. I think it would be great for the de la Maza program...too bad it's quite tedious to enter images into Supermemo. Or maybe there is a way to automate it.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 10:17 AM 6 comments

 
Rating again
Having your games rated immediately is, I guess, one of the biggest benefits of online chess. You don't have to waith months to see your rating published somewhere. And, with some simple scripts, you can create statistics :)

So, my rating has been going up lately. I'm almost 1450 right now. Not that it would matter too much, since I'm quite sure another deep plunge is going to follow. But, I'm proud to have a draw (out of 5 games) against players rated between 1700-1800. That's a 10% score. Not really something to brag about, but for me, this is an achievement. BTW, ratings on FICS are typically much lower than the Elo or USCF ratings of the same player. So a 1700 rated player on FICS would have around 1850-1900 Elo. There is an ongoing survey on FICS for that, ran by SurveyBot.

I haven't, as for yet, played anybody between 1800-2000. And it turns out, players rated over 2000 are no match for me. Err...I'm no match for them, sorry. 3 games played, lost them all.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 10:09 AM 3 comments

 
Istratescu lost - rapid games to follow
He lost the last game, so the score is 2.5 - 1.5 in Karpov's favour. A score somewhat expected, but shadowed by Karpov's unsportsmanlike behaviour. He didn't honor his contract to appear on national television, he just cancelled it, because he was angry with his one and only loss. Like contracts mean nothing. All right, he's the great man, he can do anything, unlike us, mere mortals.

Now if Istratescu was Fischer, I guess he would start to complain about the poor lightning conditions, the chair, Karpov's hipnotizers (I would really love to find out whether that rumour was true, and Karpov indeed had them in the playing hall - or if it was just that, a rumour), the TV cameras and the contrast of the squares of the board. But I guess there were bowling alleys nearby, and I highly doubt that his hotel room had too nice a view. At least, we no longer have to search for Bobby, we know exactly where he is: Reykjavik.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 10:06 AM 0 comments

 
Now this is funny
In one of the pictures seen on this page, Fischer is walking in the airport holding a bottle of water, while Myioko Watai, his fiancee, is behind, pushing a cart stacked with luggages. I know the man has just escaped from prison, but shouldn't this be the other way round?
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 9:47 AM 0 comments

 
Karpov doesn't know how to lose
After losing yesterday's game to Istratescu, Karpov seems to have lost his temper. He cancelled all his appointments for the rest of the day (he was invited to national television and to several important newspapers), declaring that he has come to play chess, not to waste his time in other places. According to spectators, after the game, he was livid and analized the game for 40 more minutes with Andrei (Istratescu). They also had dinner together, and Karpov couldn't believe he lost, and was asking Andrei all the time what he would have done in different situations.

The night before, he had dinner in a traditional romanian restaurant, and he said that the folk music played there made him lose his focus. He really can't accept defeat and is looking for excuses.

According to newspapers, sources close to Karpov declared that he made lots of phone calls to Russia, to summon on his grandmaster staff. He has at least 12 grandmasters he is consulting with for today's game (the last of the match). They also said that he'll have hipnotizers in the playing hall, to take care of Andrei :) Now this is what I call will to win... I really didn't expect such behavior from Karpov. After all, this is an exhibition match, for charity - I don't know, maybe the games aren't even rated, so he won't lose any Elo points (but then again, I might be wrong)

We're looking forward to an exciting (or should I say, explozive) game today. The score is now tied, 1.5 -1.5
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 9:47 AM 0 comments

 
Ra(n)tings
My rating is starting to resemble a stock chart: mostly unpredictable, going up on a good day, and crashing on the next day. But the good news is I'm above my average rating now, in fact, for the first time (not counting the first few games) above the average rating of my opponents, too!

On a sidenote, my average rating moves too slowly. Maybe I should change it into a running average... last 50 games running average.

These statistics were a good idea. Now I have some more motivation to improve. That thin blue line can have an amazing influence on my morale.

It's too early to say yet, but it seems that I play best against stronger opposition. I had an idea this is what's going on, now the numbers back me up, too.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 5:43 PM 2 comments

 
Chess board signed by Karpov: for 600$
The board Karpov and Istratescu are playing on is for sale. Current bid is at about $600.A sensory board like that normally costs around $450-$500. But this one will be signed by Karpov and will come with a certificate of authenticity.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 12:33 PM 1 comments

 
Istratescu - Karpov: 1/2-1/2
First game was a draw. Istratescu had the white pieces. It's interesting that the match is getting constant media attention, something chess wasn't entitled to in Romania in the past 10 years. Of course, there were a few blunders on tv, like simply calling Karpov "a chessplayer"...I mean, come on, he's one of the greatest of all time, and they call him like that. Another tv station went into the other extreme: they presented GM Karpov playing against Istratescu, a chessplayer...like he wasn't a GM, too, and second best in our country. But whatever...good that chess is in focus, even if only for a week.

Lots of VIP's present at the opening. President Basescu made the first move for Istratescu, d4, after requesting " a moment to think about the move" :) A Queen Gambit declined, Lasker variation. A 34-move draw, that doesn't seem to be one of those "GM draws". But hey, what do I know, and then again, it's just an exhibition match. After the match, the sensory board they're playing on will be sold, and the money used to sponsor chess clubs for children in Romania.

http://www.chess-romania.ro/eveniment/indexen.html
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 10:16 AM 1 comments

 
FICS statistics
I have always missed some detailed statistics for games played on FICS. Ever since playing on Playchess.com. That's because they have a very nice graphical interface, and detailed statistics. But for 29 euros a year, they'd better call it Paychess.com.

So, I was busy all weekend doing my own statistics for FICS. It all started with an article by Ed Collins, "Why I don't pay for internet chess", which is BTW a very interesting read. He said there that he doesn't see a reason why people would want to email themselves the games played on the server. And then I thought: why, of course there is a reason: I play on different computers (at least 3) and it's cumbersome to merge 3 different databases with games, if I use Babaschess's autosave feature. I'm better off having FICS send me my games by email, and then I have all of them in the same place, regardless where I play the games.

So now FICS is gmailing my games, and I wrote som Python scripts to retrieve the games from there, and generate some statistics, which I've put online here.

A few remarks: I've always known I suck at chess, now I know exactly how much. And if I manage to fully automate the process, and write the part of the script that uploads the statistics, and schedule it to run, say, every midnight, then I can track my progress (well, it's regress, to be more precise) without any effort.

My rating is going south fast - 72% of the time. But that's not the greatest of the problems. It seems I'm not getting to play strong players on FICS. On Playchess, if I accepted a 1800+ rated player's seek, he / she didnt abort on the first move. On FICS, this happens a lot. It's like having the door slammed right in front of you. As my statistics show it, the highest rated player I played was 1607.

Oh, and I'm sure playing without increment 60% of the time is a recipe for disaster. Oh well. But it's addictive.

(There are some issues with generating the statistics when stored / resumed / resigning stored games come into play, I'll have to figure those out. In the meantime, I just hope that little blue line will one day start to go upwards, too...)

Comments, email are welcome.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 12:27 AM 2 comments

 
No increment
Playing without increment is fun, but I don't really see why I should play like that anymore. Beside the fact that I lose loads of points, sometimes it doesn't even resemble the game we call 'chess'.'Blunderfest' would be a more appropriate name. It makes me remember a saying, that patzers and masters don't play the same game, it just happens that the rules are the same...
Funny, after playing a dozen or so games without increment, a 2 12 game seems _long_ to me...I guess I should really take on standard now. Playing long games is one advice of Heisman I didn't quite follow until now.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 10:00 AM 0 comments

 
Playing on FICS
I usually play with increments. This Fischer invention is great. I mean, there is nothing more annoying then having two queens and a rook against the opponent's bare king and not having the time to actually mate him. Not that this happens to me too often... But anyway, I tend to avoid no-increment games. However, a couple of days ago, I accidentally discovered the "gm" command on FICS. I think I was looking for GM's....and suddenly, lots of challenges started to flow in. Turned out, "gm" is the "getgame manual" command...it's better than "getgame", because you can hand-pick a challenge and not let the system get one for you automatically. I was having some fun yesterday with that command...playing but non-increment games. The result: a whole hour of pure fun, and the loss of about 30 rating points. Normally, I'd be really upset for this...but it doesn't really matter. I can get them back, no big deal.

There is one interesting thing, though: I tend to lose 10-12 points at a time,when I lose, and only win 5-6 points when I win. I guess I 'm not too confident and only play below my rating. It would be nice to see some statistics. I really liked on Playchess.com that they provide very interesting charts, broken down to rating categories. What I learned from there: I tend to play better against better opposition.

Babaschess has a plugin SDK. Maybe somebody will develop some plugins for us to have some nice statistics on FICS, too. That's one thing I miss on the server.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 10:12 AM 3 comments

 
So many books...so little time
I've grown up in a country where chess books are a rarity. I could count on my fingers all the chess books I've seen in bookshops during my 25 years of existance. And I guess I'd need only one hand...

Fortunately there are libraries, having a few chess books one can read, and sometimes one has also aquintaces fortunate enough to have some decades-old chess-books inherited from their grandparents.That's the situation around here. Or, should I say, would've been, unless there was Amazon.

For me at least, Amazon changed all that. I now have a dozen or so chess books, all but 2 purchased online from amazon.com. So here is my top-list:

1. The Art of Checkmate. The only chess book I've ever read cover to cover. Every single bit of information. And let me say that it was well worth it. The book covers every typical mate one is likely to encounter in a game, with examples and quizzes after each chapter. Fun to read, and a confidence booster.It is in descriptive notation, but that won't stop any serios chess afficionado.

2. Logical Chess Move by Move. This is going to be the second book I read cover to cover. Basically, the book is nothing else but a collection of 33 games, annotated to the blood. Chernev made a really good work here, particularly for patzers like me. I am fully confident that even after finishing this book, I'll still remain a patzer, but at least I'll have a better insight into the game. I already have, after studying as little as the first 7 games.

3. Art of Attack in Chess. Another classic. The chapter about mating patterns and focal points had me. However, I didn't have the patience to read through all the chapters. Maybe with a computer in front of me, to replay the moves, I'll once finish this book to.

I have, however, a fond memory of the chapter called "The Classic Bishop Sacrifice". I was once hanging around in Chessclub (yeah, I did have an account there for a year, but didn't renew it...FICS is about the same, and it saves me $49 a year) and there was this guy who challenged me for an unrated game. Without even looking at his rating, I accepted, and there followed a straightforward, humbling and completely humiliating defeat for me. I never had a chance. Bishop sacrifice at h7, knight check, the queen comes into play, and I knew I was lost. As a sore loser that I am, I told him afterwards something along the lines "Well,you know, I also read Vukovic's book but didn't see this coming". Turned out the guy was a 15 year old russian IM from Moscow. And he never read Vukovic's book.In fact, he hasn't even heard about it. He just proceeded to checkmate me exactly like the book described.

The moral is: if you're not a 15 year old russian IM from Moscow, you need this book. If for nothing else, then at least you can brag with your chess vocabulary and assign fancy names to ways of losing.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 12:14 PM 2 comments

 
Karpov playing in Romania
I've just read that between 20-26 March, Anatoly Karpov is going to play a match against romanian GM Andrei Istratescu in Bucharest. Fide.com reports a rating of 2617 for Mr. Istratescu, his national rank is 2 (after Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu, Elo 2673, world no. 31) and in the world ranking he's in the Top 100, more precisely nr. 92.

Karpov is listed as world no. 29 with a rating of 2674 . So I guess Nisipeanu would've been a much closer match. But never underestimate the underdog! :)

The match will be commented by GM Dorian Rogozenko, known for his Chessbase Trainig CD's as well as occasional lectures on playchess.com
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 12:24 PM 0 comments

 
Want to become a Knight?
A Knight Errant, that is. A follower of Michael de la Maza, if you please. Let's suppose you've read through the Knight Errant's blogs, have read the two de la Maza articles (part 1 and part 2) and decided that, unlike me, you're able and willing to devote time, effort and brain sweat to this program, and become a ravenous chess-wolf, with frightening tactics-knowledge under your belt. However, one single detail scares you: this program, and all its variants are based on CT-ART 3.0, which is commercial software, and you can't afford it. No problem. You can do it without investing a single penny. Or cent. Just time and effort.

Here is what you should do: get Scid, or any other pgn reader that you like. Now, you need some good tactics exercises, for free. The Ossimitz game collection has some very good pgn files ready to be downloaded. I recommend the 300 most important positions. Ok, there are only 300 and not thousands, as CT-ART has, but that's enough for a start. And you may find some other tactic-focused game collections there. Have a look around.

And, if you're willing to invest some more time, there's even more you can get. Go to the DBGames collection page. It has an incredibly large collection of games from books, and there is a section devoted to tactics. Lots of positions to use and peruse. However, the files are all password protected and they'll only send you the password if you contribute: that is, find (or get) a book that is not in their collection, enter the games and positions in pgn, send them the collection, and you'll get access to hundreds of games and positions. For about 2 weeks of not-so-hard work, it's worth it, in my opinion. And besides, you'll need the determination if you're going to follow the training program. It's good for warming-up.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 10:48 AM 0 comments

 
The title
No, I don't have a title.No GM, no IM, FM, not even NM (I wish!). Well, in fact, if I think about it, it might be eng. Not that it would matter, since this post is not about my title. It's about my blog's title. Because I've just discovered there was an error in it. It's not "_to_ a distant paradise", it's "_for_ a distant paradise"! How could I make such a mistake?? (BTW, did I mention I was a perfectionist? I am)

Where does the title come from? In case you didn't guess it by now, it's...
from a Vanessa Mae album, "A Poet's Quest (For A Distant Paradise)"
(select the line above with your mouse to reveal answer)
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 9:52 AM 0 comments

 
Welcome Boylston Chess Club Weblog readers!
Boy, was I surprised to discover someone else discovered me! But hey, welcome, and have a nice stay.

Now regarding my not being a Knights Errant candidate...well, you guessed it, not for now. But not because I don't recognize the merits of such a system. I also read the Michael de la Maza articles, thought about it, decided it's certainly going to help my rating, and then decided it's too much work, and I don't have the time and the dedication required.Oh, did I mention I'm not only a patzer, but a lazy patzer, too? No? I'm sure you discovered it by now.

However, I have great respect for those who are able to stick to that program, and I certainly don't want to play a rated game against any of them on FICS. Unrated, you're all welcome :) Just kidding...don't care that much about rating, and facing stronger opposition always makes me play stronger, too. Too bad I lose.

The reason the Michael de la Maza program won't work for me right now is the fact that I don't play real chess[txt] (an article by ... who else...Dan Heisman). I used to play "flip-coin" chess (oh, and guess what .. I still do, occasionally), and recently upgraded to "hope" chess. So, unless I become a "real chess" player, I don't have a chance. What is the reason for pulling out a nice tactic, winning a piece, if I hang my queen afterwards? Believe me, it happend to me. Not once.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 9:28 AM 1 comments

 
Edgar Allan Poe's advice on chess
"in nine cases out of ten it is the more concentrative rather than the more acute player who conquers"(The Murders In The Rue Morgue)

Simple, isn't it? Just pay more attention, concentrate more to avoid oversight, and you're done. If only I could follow this advice, I'm sure my rating would soar. Into the 1500's, that is.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 11:26 AM 4 comments

 
Happy Birthday FICS!
Well, it seems that on Friday, FICS turned 10! Now, in the digital era, that's a fine age to reach for my favourite chess-playing site. It was nice to have you around, FICS, I'll dedicate the next cup of champagne to your future...

And it seems it wasn't total blackout for the weekend for Fics...they were having some issues with the DNS and their new IP, so maybe it was just me having problems connecting. Anyway, I can now connect and play my game.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 10:06 AM 0 comments

 
Chess-less weekend
The FICS server is relocating, and I wasn't able to connect yesterday. No luck today, either. They are going to stay black for the rest of the weekend. Too bad.

Anyway, I'm showing the signs of addiction, I guess I behave exactly like some drug-addict unable to get his fix (umm, FICS, that is). At least I have email chess. By the way, there are plenty of email-chess servers, I'm playing here, at E4EC. It's a hungarian email server, but it has full english support, and most players are speaking english.

I just remembered that I forgot to take my daily dose of Chernev yesterday. Game no. 6 of "Logical Chess" was due, and I missed it. Ok, so I need to analyse two games today. But I guess I'll like it. It's good reading. Unless I'm extremely tired, it's almost as good as reading Poe.

Oh, and the last New Scientist issue for February has also arrived yesterday evening. Maybe this won't be such a bad weekend after all.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 10:13 AM 0 comments

 
Is it worth doing tactics exercises?
Of course it is, I hear you saying. After all, this is what the masters recommend for class players. There are articles, even books praising the allmighty tactics on board. It's spectacular, it's blood-pressure and adrenaline raising, it's all a player needs to do to achieve mastery. Right? Wrong.

I've been plowing my way through the 300 most important chess positions for some time now. I can do most of those (at least 80%) in a few seconds, just looking at the position. I've also done a lot of exercises from CT-ART.Most intermediate level tactics quizzes don't seem to be a problem for me. And yet, my rating doesn't seem to reflect it. Why?

That's because tactics is not the panacea of all the chess hardships a patzer encounters on his or her way to mastery. First of all, there is nobody telling you at the board, that there is a beautiful tactic waiting for you to discover it, and the time you invest into finding it will pay generous dividends. Especially in blitz, when your time is limited, you're bound to let these occasions pass by. And as Caissa has a weird sense of humour, I bet you'll discover the tactic right after you made your move and let that really good move elude you forever.

Well, to be honest, there are the seeds of tactical destruction [pdf] one should look for. Recognizing them isn't so hard, after you get used to them a bit.But how to steer the game into positions where these seeds make themselves visible? Now, this is what separates boys from men, this is where master's show their wizardry.

In this regard, I decided I'll adopt another course for my chess study, and that includes, besides doing tactics problems, the following:

1. Studying the games in "Logical Chess - Move by move", from Chernev. One of the best books ever written on chess, in many expert's opinion. It takes 33 games played by masters, and patiently explains every single move from every game. Why did the master play that move, and not another.
I'm sure this will help my game, provided I'll have the patience required to finish this book.One game a day, it'll take me 33 days. A month's effort.

2. Play through the collection of Paul Morphy's games. Fischer used to do that, when he was in his teens. I'd sure like to have a look into his notes...

3. Save my FICS games and have a look at them. This might not be as helpful, though. I predict that the only lesson I could learn from this is: "don't hang your pieces". Oh well, and perhaps: "don't move to fast". But it might be worth a try.
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 6:20 PM 0 comments

 
Advice
Dan Heisman's articles on chesscafe.com are great, but if there are only a few ideas one remembers from his writings, then those should be the following:

1. For every move you consider, look at your opponent's checks, captures and threats.
2. Always use all the time you have (i.e. don't move too fast, only to lose with plenty of time on your clock)
- posted by Időbeosztás-guru @ 3:05 PM 0 comments