Chess Training - 4

I have won another game by resignation - but under duress! This was my most recent game with Shira. She resigned - I didn't even realize it until tonight, duh, since once again the email notification from redhotpawn.com was not working. Damn! I was somewhat pleased with how this game was progressing and thought I had good battling chances. I thought Shira and I would be in for further battle and I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately for my training (selfish Jan), Shira is super-busy right now getting ready for the November 15, 2009 class with the kids at SOS Childrens Village of Illinois in Chicago for her Computer Labs for Kids Foundation, in addition to performing her current work assignment for her employer. Shira was distracted, not playing her best, and just didn't have the time to play this game. So - this was a cheap victory for me. [Event "Challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2009.10.29"] [EndDate "2009.11.10"] [Round "?"] [White "shira"] [Black "Shakerjan"] [WhiteRating "1385"] [BlackRating "1167"] [WhiteELO "1385"] [BlackELO "1167"][Result "0-1"] [GameId "6842016"] 1. d4 d5 2. Ng1f3 Nb8c6 3. Bc1g5 Bc8f5 4. c3 Qd8d7 5. e3 O-O-O 6. Bf1b5 f6 7. Bg5f4 g5 8. Bf4g3 h6 9. Nb1d2 e6 10. O-O h5 11. h4 g4 12. Nf3e1 Ng8e7 13. Qd1e2 Ne7g6 14. e4 dxe4 15. Nd2xe4 Bf8e7 16. Ne1d3 e5 17. dxe5 Qd7e6 18. Bb5xc6 Qe6xc6 19. Rf1e1 Qc6xe4 20. Qe2xe4 Bf5xe4 21. exf6 Be7xf6 0-1 You know, I prayed recently for some chess victories - but I didn't expect victories this way. My new coach, Brian Wall, defaulted on TWO games we were playing at chessgames.com when he went for a long weekend visit out of state and missed the three-day time limit on moves. Great, just great! Now my rating is grossly inflated at chessgames.com and no doubt next Anand will be looking me up as a sparring partner. Ha! So, B and I arranged last night via email to play a new game. Except - before I had a chance to challenge him when I got home from work this evening (I don't make it a habit to play chess online while I'm working), he challenged me to not one, but TWO games. This time, I'm black in both games. At least the first time around I was white in one of our games. I could have rejected one or both of the challenges to play, but I accepted both. A sucker (me) is born every minute. So, I challenged B to a game where I would be white, except I didn't press the right button or something, so I now have no idea what color I'll end up being (three guesses - BLACK!) LOL!

Chess Training - 3

Hold on to your hats, folks. I won my very first game at Redhotpawn.com: [Event "Challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2009.10.19"] [EndDate "2009.11.07"] [Round "?"] [White "fullhouse"] [Black "Shakerjan"] (That's me) [WhiteRating "998"] [BlackRating "1135"] [WhiteELO "998"] [BlackELO "1135"] [Result "0-1"][ GameId "6810993"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bf1b5 c6 3. Bb5c4 Ng8f6 4. d3 Bf8e7 5. Nb1c3 O-O 6. Ng1f3 d5 7. exd5 cxd5 8. Bc4b5 Nb8c6 9. O-O d4 10. Nc3e2 a6 11. Bb5a4 Nf6g4 12. c3 Be7c5 13. cxd4 Nc6xd4 14. Bc1e3 Ng4xe3 15. fxe3 Nd4xf3 16. Kg1f2 Nf3xh2 17. Rf1h1 Qd8f6 18. Kf2e1 Nh2g4 19. d4 Qf6f2 20. Ke1d2 Bc5b4 21. Kd2c1 Qf2xe3 22. Kc1c2 Bc8f5 23. Qd1d3 Qe3xd3 24. Kc2c1 Qd3d2 0-1

Chess Training - 2

I asked and Brian answered - LM Brian Wall, whom I first met online many moons ago! Brian seems to be all over the place - he's at Facebook, he's at My Space, he's a chess coach, an author of books teaching people (like me) how to play chess (I did order Learn How to Play Chess Like an Animal cuz I loved the name so much) a dad, a chum, just an all around good guy. We are now engaged in two online chess games so he can assess my skills (ahem). They will be finished in due course. In the meantime, my two games at redhotpawn are going apace. I'm playing with Shira -- that games look to devolve into a shoot-out at the O-K Corral (a/k/a the middle of the board) which WILL commence after my latest move, whew! Things are tense, folks, tense. My second game is - well, I'm not sure, but I think I may have a checkmate in sight. If this turns out to be true, this would be my very first victory at that playing venue, and the first win in a long long long time playing online. We'll see.

Eric Moskow Takes Up the Challenge!

A few weeks ago, I read a post at Mig’s blog by Dr. Eric Moskow, where he was writing about his efforts to gain a patron’s spot in the recently-concluded U.S. Chess Championship ("Men’s"): "actually the truth is, I offered 10k now, 10k gurnatee (sic) next year, best efforts to secure a great site and large long term committment (sic) moving forward. In the event susan wins and works with me, I am committed to make that stick and play in person next year. I vow to have 1-2 im norms (earned) by then. …" Posted by: eric moskow at May 15, 2007 21:46 At Susan Polgar’s blog a few days ago she reported that Dr. Moskow reiterated to her and Paul Truong his desire to take a year off, basically, from his other activities, and just concentrate on achieving an IM title. SP has offered to assist Dr. Moskow in his training during the next year. I believe that Dr. Moskow has the will to succeed and the "fire" inside to do the grind necessary to achieve that next level in his chess playing. But it will take much hard work and total dedication. He is a husband, a father of four, a medical doctor, a businessman, a religious man devoted to his community and to the doing of good for others. He is a busy man! He will have to make many sacrifices during the next year to devote himself entirely to his intent and training. I don’t think his "age" has anything to do with achieving his goal – it’s all these other obligations (such as raising a family, making a living, etc.) that, typically, children don’t have to deal with, that may do him in, so to speak. When one is an adult and has so many responsibilities and obligations, it takes a lot of "selfishness" to concentrate on just doing those things (lots of purposeful studying and training and practice) that are necessary in order to take one's chess playing to the next level. Dr. Moskow does not strike me as a selfish person - obviously he is not, so this task he has set for himself may be more difficult that he can begin to imagine. It is much easier for children, who do not have the cares and responsibilities of adults, to achieve sometimes mind-boggling success in chess, because they have the luxury of being selfish and totally self-focused upon achieving their goals. Can Dr. Moskow focus on chess to the exclusion of these other areas of his life? Now that the "experiment" and stated goal has been publicized at Susan Polgar’s popular blog, people from all over the world will be following Dr. Moskow’s progress. Wow – talk about living life in a fishbowl for the next 12 months! See my prior post about David Shenk’s intriguing research, which I think is related to Dr. Moskow’s quest. Perhaps Dr. Moskow was intrigued by Shenk’s research as well, and perhaps he was inspired by the recently published book by former chess star IM Josh Waitzkin "The Art of Learning" which, based upon reviews I’ve read, is a very interesting book. Good luck, Dr. Moskow.