Modern Warfare 2

My Gamertag on Xbox Live is "RT Solo"...............................let's play!

The Return

Hello, my friends!

Thanks to changed circumstances in my life, such as finally graduating college and beginning my career, I finally have the time and desire to re-enter the study of chess, the game of kings.

So, look forward to more excited posts when I "discover" great opening lines and need to share my experiences. Not to mention more posts of my latest games and excessive pawn moves! What a joyful time awaits us all.

Chess is not like riding a bike...the many long months that have passed since I last played have reduced what little knowledge I had previously acquired to near nothingness. BUT, perhaps chess is like playing an instrument: after a while your skill may disappear, but when you pick that instrument back up and begin to play again...your skill builds back up at an incredibly amplified pace!

Let's hope it's so. I'll see you on the battlefield!

A New Blog

I started this other blog which is just about my life...it has quite a bit more adult content in it, though. If you'd like the link, just let me know. :-)

Todd

Life

Well, I resigned in my correspondence games. It is unfortunate, but I just don't have the time to keep up at a pace that's fair for my competitor. Anyway, the summer of chess was fun for me and I am looking forward to graduating college this May and having time once again to enjoy the game.

If you want to stop by and say hi I'll be checking my Christianity blog more often than this one.

Todd

My Current Correspondence Games

During my hiatus I will be posting my very slow correspondence games in case any of you guys or gals would like to follow along and comment about the games (without giving hints as to what move I should play next). I currently have two games going: one as white and one as black. We have been going at a pace of about 1-2 moves per week. I will update the pictures and annotation as the games progress. Enjoy! :-)

As White:

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.e3 c5 4.d5 (I was also considering 4.dxc5 Bxc5 5.Nf3 but felt like it gave Black too much control in the center) 4...exd5 5.cxd5 g6 6.Nc3

As Black:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 (I was considering 3...Nf6 4.Nc3 but I would rather put the question to White's Bishop now instead of later.) 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 d6

Have Been, Will Be

Hey people...just wanted to let everyone know that since school has started again I have had virtually no time to make any sort of interesting posts, besides my quick rant about professionals drawing in chess.

I haven't picked up any of my new chess books or played on FICS for the past couple weeks and probably won't be able to regularly until December since this semester is vital to learning what I need to know as a Respiratory Therapist.

So anyway, I just felt compelled to write SOMETHING. So that's that.

Draws for Money??

Draws to ensure yourself a cut of the prize money seems contrary to the spirit of the game.

Man vs. Machine Tourney

Since I am currently a little too sucky to be able to participate in other blogosphere tournaments, I have decided to do my own mini-tourney! The participants: myself, Fritz, and Chessmaster!

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Naturally, the computers will be dumbed down a little. I'll put Fritz in "Friend Mode" and I don't recall the exact method of adjusting Chessmaster's strength. I may just choose one of its pre-programmed computer opponent profiles with a rating of around 1200+.
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I'll have to think about the exact format of the tournament, but it will probably be something like everyone plays each opponent twice and whoever has the most total wins will be MvM Champion. So, yes, I will be making Fritz and Chessmaster battle it out with each other while severely handicapped.

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More to come on my next post!

Problem to Solve

White to move. How did White win?

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This is another problem from the book "Chess Tactics" by Paul Littlewood. Hopefully I won't get sued for copyright infringement! It is a position from Reilly-Alexander, Hastings 1931.

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Back to FICS, back to getting my butt kicked!

White to move and not screw up his position. What's the best continuation for White?

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Well, as you'll see below, I did in fact screw up my position. The position looked so tactically rich that I figured there must be a way to win a piece...there must! I felt rushed. I was in absolutely no time trouble, but I just didn't want to sit there and evaluate for a couple minutes to try and find an absolute tactic to win a piece. I have this feeling that I'm wasting a bunch of time if I have to sit and evaluate in the middle of a game for more than a few seconds. So, with a few seconds of evaluation and a really vague plan, I winged it. Played a sacrifice that I thought might win me a piece.

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Did I miss a response to my tactic? OF COURSE!! That's what happens when you evaluate an interesting position for only a few seconds! Well, needless to say it went downhill from there and was over pretty quickly.

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Oh well. Here's the game:

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ToddvsIronRanger20080812.pgn

It's embarassing, but, if I don't show my suckage to everyone then I'll never get any good advice about improving, or encouragement.

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