That’s right kids, my beloved NY Giants are the Superbowl Champions!  They pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Superbowl history to become world champs.  Now comes the long wait until training camp…only 183 more days to go

A little bit of bad news before we start.  The Patzer Boyz are out of the team 45 45 league for T36.  We don’t have all of the required games played and no one has signed up on the league homepage.  We will have to wait until T37 which by my calculations should start somewhere around April 15th.  We will have to wait to unleash our own brand of bad boy chess until then.

When we last left off, I was trying to express why I play chess and why I take it so seriously.  Bottom line is despite all of my efforts I find it the most challenging endeavor I have undertaken.  Granted it is only a hobby but one that has me completely obsesed.

So I basically “do it” because it is difficult and if baffles me despite my best efforts.  But the other part of my obsession is the beauty of chess.  Gorckat has the following quote on his blog;

“The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful. If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living.

 Jules Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) French mathematician.

I couldn’t agree with this more, this sums up the fascination with the game.  But in the final analysis what is chess?  Is it an art, or a science?  Botvinnik saw it as the latter, Tal the former.  Both were world champions, although Botvinnik had a few runs as champion, while Tal was champion for a year. 

Does this prove that it is a science?  If it is science how could the game give us champions with such different styles.  Karpov, Kasparov, Tal, Fischer, Petrosian, Alekhine, Capablanca, and now Annand.  Such diversity from one game!  If Chess were truly a sciene, then it seems that all world champions should be of a similar style.  But they are not. 

Now generally we pigeonhole world champs, or any strong GM or any player for that matter into two categories, either tactical or positional.  But where would you put some of the names I have listed above.  Would Fischer be a tactical or positional player?   Seirawan actually omitted Botvinnik from his strategy book because he felt that he belonged in a different category, a scientific player.  Now that really confuses things.

I gues what chess is depends on who is answering the question.  I think it is an art myself, but my approach to it is more scientific.  I guess you would say that I play positionally.  But that is just too narrow a description, and that’s coming from a guy who admittedly doesn’t know much about the game.

So how do world champions describe themselves.  Karpov was quoted as saying “What style?  I have no style.”  When asked to describe his playing style.  Yet he has been quoted (actually I’m paraphrashing, as I don’t have the quote in front of me) of saying that if there are two ways a game can proceed, one with attacking chances, but the resulting position is unclear, or another direction in which the path is clear, but with only the tiniest of advantages, he would take the latter every time.

Well that certainly speaks of a style to me.  So what gives?  Was he just being a dick when he said he had no style, or does he not see his choice as a choice at all, just merely the “truth” of chess.

For me the truth of chess is that it is something very personal, and can’t quite be defined by one or two words.  For this reason I think chess is an art and it has much in common with martial arts than anything else. 

This is done from time to time, comparing chess to another activity, especially sports.  But most sports are team activities, with many, many variables involved.  Not so much in chess or martial arts.

There are two similiarities:

FIRST:
In martial arts competition there is no randomness, most martial arts competitions are one on one affairs, like wrestling, you have to handle the opponent in front of you.  There really is no getting lucky.  I found it interesting that Josh Waitzkin turned to martial arts competition when he decided to give up chess.  I haven’t read his book, but I’m sure he compares the two a lot.

SECOND:
Martial arts are very personal.  Some people take it for self defense, some for sport, and some just for physical fitness.  Now there are many martial arts out there to choose from to satisfy your need.  I believe each one of us is drawn to chess for different reasons as well.  It might be the beauty of the game, but we all find different things beautiful about it.  I like a scientific endgame, but I also like crazy tactical positions.  Chessloser likes wild attacking play, but he seems to be studying some positional greats lately.  Chess is personal it means different things to different people. 

I believe that is what Karpov was expressing.  His play is not a matter of style merely the way that the game was meant to be played.  Asking him what style he uses is like asking a judo player what style of judo he practices.  Whatever assocaiation you belong to, once you are on the mat, you are just a judoka, there is no style you are just trying to beat your opponent.

I noticed the same thing when the UFC competitions were just starting up abotu 11 years ago.  All the arguing I had heard for years from various folks I had meant didn’t amount to anything.  A Tae-Kwon-Do guy’s roundhouse kick looked like a Kenpo Karate guy’s roundhouse kick, once you’re in the shit, “style” elements like pivoting on the ball of your foot vs. the heel of your foot go out the door.

SO WHAT?!?

What does this all mean anyway?

Well for one I think we’ve been given some bad advice folks.

Here are some of the things I’ve been told and what I’ve read by advanced players.

Pick a chess “hero” someone whom you admire.  That way it will be easier for you to get a repertoire.  Just follow what your hero plays. 

Study the endgames first.

Do the Circles! (see Samuraipawn’s page for info on this)

Play over grandmaster games.

Now I shouldn’t have said that the advice we have been given is bad.  Maybe just not right for us, or quite possibly not right for us now.  And invairably I will have pissed some people off with them thinking I’m slamming on their method of studying.  That is not my intent, but what I like about chess is that it is personal and for me it is a kind of self expression, so why would I want to adopt someone else’s repertoire?  Wouldn’t that make my expression false?  I mean if you come up with a repertoire on your own that matches a great player then fine, but just adopting someone else’s.  I think that really sucks!

Besides there is a problem with almost any world champion you could choose.  I know you don’t have to choose a world champ, but I’m using them as examples because everyone reading this should be familiar with them.  Alekhine played some dodgy stuff in his time.  Opening theory was nowhere near as developed back in Steinitz’s day than it is today.  Karpov’s is very solid, but if you don’t have is positional understanding you will see your +.16 position whittle down to nothing really quick.  Kasparov, well the problem there is that he played everything at one point or another.

What I’m saying is that we should be personalizing our chess experience and not try to monkey what someone else has done before.  It is good to gain and from what someone else has done before you, but that should be the begining of your journey of self discovery, not the ending.

Experiment with different study methods.  I have something that works for me now, but I had to try a few things out first.  I’m also not married to this method, I will adjust it and change it over time, just like my repetoire.  What I’m playing today may or may not be different than what I play when I reach 1800.  And yes Hildagard I will be reaching 1800.  I’m just not deluded about when this may happen.  I don’t know when it will, but I can almost assure you it won’t be this year.

We get frustrated because we don’t see big rating jumps.  Well, what have we done different?  For that matter should we see big ratings jumps?  I think a year should be the smallest unit of time when it comes to measuring chess improvement. 

Bottom line is, be the next you, not the next Kasparov, Fischer, or Tal. 

Done for now, more madness next week.

Well things have been quiet here at Patzer’s corner lately.  First holiday stuff was sucking up my time, then the computer died and a host of other real life things happened.  Well I’m back and ready to rock and roll.  First off you will notice a new look to the site.  New year, new look!  I will be updating the header once I get a suitable picture to put up there. 

Now chessloser can rest easy as my 8 part epic post that he alluded to in the comments a few posts ago has finally started.  I don’t know why but apparently he has convinced himself that I know what I’m talking about.  Admittedly from time to time a nugget of truth may slip out but I assure it is completely accidental and random.  Whatever I have said or done to earn his trust I am grateful, for I am flattered that he visits here often and always has such nice words to say about me.

Ok, no more bullshitting on to the post.

As previously mentioned things have been pretty quiet here at the corner lately, but not so much in my head.  If I am not playing chess, I am studying it, if I am not studying it, I am thinking about playing, if I’m not doing that, I am thinking about studying it.  There is very rarely a second that chess is not on my mind. 

Of course this begs one to ask the question “WHY!”  Why do I spend so much time obessing about a game?  I have come to the sad conclusion that I don’t have a hobby, I have an obession.  Although not completely unhealthy, it is a little odd, a grown man in his mid thirties spending so much time on a game. 

I shuffle myself off to tournaments on early Saturday mornings with so much hope.  I play primarily against children who are young enough to be mine, and get my feelings hurt.  At the end of the ordeal I have played poorly, spent an entire saturday playing lousy chess, and have nothing to show for it other than being exhausted; ridiculous considering I’ve been sitting all day.  To top things off I have paid for this privilige!

I have been thinking lately that to come to grips with this “hobby” it would help to start at the beginning.  Chessloser has an outstanding post here which captures my early flirtations with the game far more eloquently than I could hope to myself.  Once you are done reading that come back…

So time for some personal digging…

I have mentioned before that I was a Nuclear operator in the Navy.  This training was very difficult.  Especially for me, since I had dodged Calculus in H.S. and stopped my science education at chemistry, seeing no need for physics (hey, when the hell are you going to use all of that shit anyway?).  Needless to say Navy Nuclear Power School was not fun times for me.  I struggled… ALOT.  40 hours of class a week and since I was a rock I studied for another 35 hours a week, for 6 months.  All of that effort got me a whopping 2.88 average!  WOOHOO, I was actually a few steps from mediocre, but I made it.

See there were 24 guys in my boot camp company that were all supposed to be nukes.  I say supposed because after the two years of training only 6 of us made it to the fleet as nukes.  Not exactly a stellar attrition rate. 

But I got to the fleet and became an excellent mechanic (mechanic is Navy jargon for a nuclear grade plumber).  I could bore you with awards and stuff but let’s just take my word for it. What I learned from this long adventure that almost anything is possible with enough hard work, and dedication.  I have always had a good capacity for learning, but I’ve never been one to just “get” things; at least in science and math, I have to work for it.

Well fine at least I see where the stubbornness comes in.  My experiences as a young man have taught me not to quit.  So, at least that part of the equation is taken care of.  Why despite having my feelings hurt time and again by little kids, I keep coming back for more and more punishment.

But why chess?  What drew me to this game in the first place?  Why didn’t I take up poker, or backgammon, or jacks?  This isn’t quite as simple. 

I like science and due to my career choice, logic and reasoning played a large role in my everyday duties.  There isn’t much room for creativity in an engineroom, there is a certain way to do things, and things get done. 

Chess at it’s surface seems simple.  Two armies square off, armies of equal strength, on a level playing field, they operate by the same rules.  The only difference is that since one side moves first, it has a slight advantage.  So by that logic if any army has claim to win every time or at least a right to win it should be white.  White moves first so s/he should be able to dictate the early flow of the struggle. Simple enough right? 

Ah, but as we all know it’s not that simple…There are general principles that guide play, but no steadfast rules.  Apparently it is not knowing the rules that is difficult, it’s knowing when to ignore them that is hard. 

And this is where the obsession comes in.  I am a smart guy, maybe not the smartest in the room when it comes math but I can hold my own.  I know that when I put a lot of effort into something I am rewarded.  But this chess is a different beast altogether.  I study, I improve a little, then I suffer a big setback, then I study some more, make marginal gains, then slip again.  What the hell is going on here?

And that ladies and gentlemen is the whole point.  I don’t know what the hell is going on.  This simple game, seemingly ruled by logic and calculation is far more than what it seems.   

This is what hooked me in the first place.  No matter how much I learn it only highlights how little I know.  It seems that I should have been rewarded with a much higher rating by this time.  I should be competing for national championships and tearing up hotel rooms with chessloser as the Hardcore Bad Boyz of Chess (HBBC), with a bevvy of exotic chics clammoring to get onto our tour bus. (Yes, we would have a tour bus, and of course there would be much drinking and frivolity and other nefarious acts taking place on said bus)  But instead my rating is firmly planted at 1380.  I am a “strong” class D player.  By my reckoning once again a few steps from being mediocre. 

But it is this ludicrous learning curve, the seemingly endless possibilites that has me hooked.  The game seems scientific, but it can’t be, there are just too many posibilities, too many permutations, too many ways to get the “correct” answer to be a science.  I’m telling you Physics isn’t this frikin’ hard.

The endless possibilities has me hooked, I have a fever and the only prescription is …more cowbell! Chess!

Then I get to thinking that this may be the reason many of you out there obsess about the game as well.  Above average intellegence, success at things you work at, yet you don’t quite get the same results with chess. 

We all blog or lurk blogs as a sort of support group.  A bunch of sad twisted addicts not necessarily interested in going to rehab or getting clean, just searching out some rationaliztion that what we are doing is not so out of the ordinary.  In this way we see that others are suffering just as we are and that maybe, it’s ok. 

I think it is, (hey what the hell did you think I would say?) but I have come to the conclustion that before I get any better or regain some sense of sanity I have to define what this game is to me, even if its in very loose parameters.   

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Chapter 2 will follow soon.  However there is a slight problem.  The little piece of paper I originally jotted my notes down on is well…not around.  This is not good considering that it is approximately 3″x4″, and it could literally be anywhere (I’d appreciate it if you would check your sofa cushions if its not too much of an impostion)  CL if you don’t mind could you send me the post titles we went over that day in the ICC chat?  I know the title for 3 and I know what I want to talk about in 4 but #2 escapes me now…

Anyway kids, time for sleep, maybe the rest will come to me in a dream.

Guys we’ve got to get busy playing our standard games.  So far only SamuraiPawn and I are even eligilble to play in the next league.  Make sure you go to the team 45 45 league homepage, read the rules and get a password and mark yourself as willing to play in T-35.  The deadline for team registrations is Jan 15th.  It’s alright if you just play a bunch of G15, as long as it’s standard.

My computer died :(  I built it seven long years ago and it finally had had enough.  I’m begining to think that witnessing all of that bad chess did it in.  At any rate, I should be up and running in a few days.  The new computer’s VGA port doesn’t seem to want to play nicely so I’ll be working on that.

For the Patzer Boyz, it looks like the new league opens up Jan 29th.  So get your games in and get a standardized non-provisional rating.  Don’t sweat it if it’s low.  First and foremost we want to have fun.  Preferably by beating our opponents silly and hurting their feelings….But we want to have fun. 

I should be able to post by the weekend.  Right now I’m at work and I should be well…working.

Confession time kids…

I love Christmas.  Despite all of the commercialization, and all the stress that this time of year can bring, I still love it.  Nevermind that local drugstores and retailers have had Chrismas decorations up since late October, completely bypassing Halloween and Thanksgiving altogether.  I must admit to giving in a little to all to hoopla, as I have been listening to Christmas Carrols for the last week an a half in my CD player.  (see I’m keeping it real, I don’t have an ipod or mp3 player yet).  I still love this time of year.  This is a time of year that many cultures hold dear and it is one of the few things that univerally draws people together. 

So to acknowledge this special time, I’ve changed the blog presentation until after the holidays are over.  I know it’s kind of cheesy but I’m a sucker for the season.  I’ll get to serious posting again on Monday.  For now I have some studying to do…

PS.  And if Atomic Patzer doesn’t have any objections it looks like the team name will be Patzer Boyz.

Ok so now it looks like my lifelong dream of having an online chess team is finally going to become a reality.  Ok so really I’ve been thinking about it for the last two weeks or so but whatever…  Right now the team is going to include these titans of chess

 Wang - current rating 1444

Atomic Patzer - current rating ?

Peteydaddy - current rating ?

Chessaholic - current rating ?

We have room for 2 more. Ghost has said that he might join, so I have that to look forward to and I would really like to have 6 team members, but we can roll with 4.  Now the biggest issue is….what to call ourselves.  I suck at this sort of thing, so I’m hoping you nice folks can help us out.  We need something that is cool, hardcore and definitely shows that we are badboys of chess!  Please help.  Give me some names now!  Badboys don’t say please…and make it snappy!  I don’t have all day.

SAF - This is not the post I told you about.

Hey folks AtomicPatzer is down for the Team45 45 league! Now let’s see with me and AP that makes…ummm let me see…TWO! Yes we have two team members for the league. Problem is we need 4 total and I’d be more comfortable with 5. That way if someone can’t play in a given week we have an alternate to step up. Just give me a shout. I’d like it to be an active team, exchange e-mails once or twice a week to discuss strategies and plans for the upcoming game. Here’s the link to the page again.

Don’t worry about your rating I’m thinking this will be either an U1600 or possibly an U1400 team.  Some long time control games will cure what ails you.  At least I think it will.

Don’t be shy now…

OK first things first.

Some very nice folks have added me to their blogrolls, and I feel compelled to do the same, especially seeing as they are really good blogs.

First we have liquideggproduct.  He has a hillarious blog, it is not always about chess, in fact now that I think of it, it’s rarely about chess, but he’s got a great sense of humor and a blog mascot!  How cool is that? Nevermind that the mascot is a little homicidal  HE’S GOT A MASCOT, FOR HIS BLOG!  so that makes him cool, nuff said.

Next we have Samurai Chess.  A seriously good blog and one that I just started reading.  He’s also the Knights new Secretary King AND  He’s a Dutch advocate!  I have started dabbling in the Dutch to combat those “other” queen pawn openings and although I’ve had mixed success, I really enjoy the Dutch.

Last but not least is Chess Adventures by Gorckat.  His blog is new and he said my blog might be his favorite new blog!  OK nobody tell him I suck.  He’s new, and bound to think I’m cool for a little bit.

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So last time I said that I would post my Team 45 45 league game.  Well problem is I’ve played two since then and I lost them both!  With white!  I have a feeling I’m going to get kicked out of the team soon for sucking!  I wanted to put a call out to all of my blog readers that play on ICC.   If you are interested I’d like to start a 45 45 league team made up of bloggers!  I’d like to get 6 players that way you don’t have to play every week if you have obligations (who doesn’t).  The basic format can be found here.  It should answer any questons.  Basically you play 3 teams in your quad twice.  Four games per round.  Let me know, either e-mail me or just post your interest here.  Anyway I’m not linking to the games because they were terrible.

On to stuff I will do…. I wanted to talk about some comments that have been made on some older and not older posts.

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Grumpy old men, Eroding Grinch Skillz, and miscellaneous musings… (continued)

Ghost!  Thanks for stopping by, I hope you find something here that helps you and at the very least entertains you :)  You are right by the way it is a war game, a game of wills and I should just get over it and beat the little kids senseless.  I mean in a chess way, not physically beating little kids, that would obviously not be cool.

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Chess is Dead

Poweshaker - You just affirmed some disturbing things for me at the high levels of chess.  Thanks for the warning, but for the moment I don’t have to worry about these things happening to me as I doubt I’ll ever make it to 2000, let alone master level.  My rant wasn’t so much about tournament chess as it was professional chess.  If it is all so figured out then will professional chess die?  If it does, then tournament chess for mortals might go away as well, that would suck, but I’m hoping that doesn’t happen.  Thanks for stopping by

Chris - I don’t know, learning more stuff?  It seems like alot of work, plus where do you play it?

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Tactics vs. Strategy, where does one end and one begin???

Francis W. Porretto - Yes the game rocked!  And so you know I will be visiting your blog soon.  We have much to discuss

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Now I have spoken in the past about Chess Exam and Training Guide by Igor Khmelnitsky, a book I highly recommend.  I took the test in January of this year and here were my results.

My overall rating was 1434.

Standard Positions (endgames) 1110

Endgames 1340

Tactics 1374

Defense 1388

Sacrifice 1463

Counterattack 1465

Attack 1502

Middlegame 1506

Recognizing Threats 1530

Strategy 1617

Openings 1830

Calculation 1930

Now I’m a smart fellow but not very wise, at least sometimes.  I ask you what would you do with this information?  Well I can tell you what I did.  I worked on my Endgames and tactics.  Smart huh?  This plan was so brilliant that my rating today is 1380 or 64 points lower than my tested rating.  All told it’s not too bad, I mean it is my first year of playing a lot of competitive chess and I’m not too far off.  The thing is as I look at the database of my games I realized I wasn’t playing to my strengths!

AHA!  See that is what a wise man person (sorry Polly)  would have done.  Work on his/her weaknesses but play to their strengths.  And so begins my epic tale…I will lay out for you what I have discovered about myself and chess and why I’ve been waxing so philosophical lately.  I’m not quite sure how long this will take but it will probably have me occupied into the new year.  Hopefully it will have you interested as well. 

Thanks, and I’ll post again in a few days.

Where was I?
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Oh yeah grumpy old men.
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Anyway my biggest concern from this experience is that I hope to God that I don’t turn into one of these guys.  You know in my 60’s rating stuck at 1300 or so and having arguments with adolescents at local weekend chess tournaments.  It seems like a shitty way to spend your golden years.

Blunderprone will often talk about being a grinch. (by the way I don’t do well on transitional stuff) He has no mercy when playing the kids because he knows as I know that if you let them they will beat you senseless at a game, take your lunch money and mock you as you make the walk of shame out of the tournament.  No I’m not making this up.

I have begun to embrace the ways of Blunderprone.  I have no mercy on the kids. Do’t get me wrong I don’t make them cry, nor do I argue with them at all.  When I’m playing them though, I will take every opportunity to crush them.  I’d been doing rather well with this, no little girls have beaten me recently and at least this part of my chess humiliation seems to be behind me.

I’m playing one of the younger kids at this tournament.  I made one mistake against him in the opening a few months ago in a 3. Bb5 Sicilian line and he hurt my feelings pretty bad.  I got my “revenge” (in quotations because it wasn’t a vindictive act, I just won the game) a few touneys ago.  The first game is here, my get even game is here.

Well now we’re onto the rubber match.  This is the position after move 15)…Ne5 I have black.

Well I played this with the idea of either trading my knight for his bishop or at least making his bishop less active, being that my white bishop pretty much sucks.  He plays 16. Bf4. I thought he might do this but it is a bad move.  I play 16)… Nxf3+ getting myself out of the pin and breaking up his kingside pawn cover, so now I’m feeling pretty good.  Because now after 17) gxf3 not only can I deactivate his other bishop with 17)…e5 this move also allows me to activate my once lousy bishop on c8.  All good

The next couple of moves are 1 Bg3, Bh3 19) Re1, h5

Now I’m just trying to win the bishop and put pressure on his kingside.  He knew the situation is getting serious, so he thought about the next move for about 8 minutes before playing 20) Qd7?? This was a real blunder.  I then play 20) …Bxd7 winning his queen outright.

Then the kid just puts his head in his hands and does the ole *heavy sigh* He looked and sounded so dejected.  And now I feel like a total ass clown.  I have ruined his day and I have no idea if his parents are these weirdo overactive types who are going to berate the kid for dropping his queen.

I know that I should be happy for the win and my Grinch skillz (the z at the end shows that I’m hip and more from the street by the way) should not allow me to feel any remorse, but I just can’t do it.  I feel lousy.  DAMN these cute 8 year olds! They make me so angry.  They piss me off when they beat me and then they make me feel like a heel when I beat them.  Where’s the justice? This is very uncool.

Apparently I shouldn’t have felt too bad, I dropped my last game of the tourney to the grumpy dude and left feeling worse for the whole experience.

As for miscellaneous musings…

Well some of it is actually kind of deep.  I have been going through a philosophical stage.  I keep thinking of style.  Opening books will tell you stuff like pick openings that suit your style.  Or they say things like this variation is good if your strengths are positional more than tactical.  Who the hell are they talking about anyway?  I mean dude, my rating is in the 1300’s I’m not even a class C player yet.  What do I know about style?  I still get conflicted feelings when I win a game.  How am I supposed to know what my style is?

Thing is I think I (and possibly others) are going about it wrong.  I think the whole style thing is a misnomer, but i have yet to coalesce my feelings into something that’s suitable for posting yet.  But I am working on it as well as a openig prep post. 

Well I’m off, I have a team 45 45 league game in the afternoon.  I will probably post about it because they save the games on the webpage so I can link to it and won’t have to do anything extra to post the game here.  So win lose or draw I’ll probably be talking about this game, because it will be easy to do so

I also will drop by da club (see that I used da instead of the, I’m so cool its ridiculous) tonight and blitz for awhile.  Just some light hearted merriment  stuff (light hearted and merriment just don’t sound very street or hip) before the monthly tournament tomorrow.  Which I am feeling oddly optimistic about. 

Well thanks for reading this and have a good weekend.

PS  those of you who have responded to “Chess is Dead”  I’ll respond to your responses nest week.  I also have to add a few sites to my blogroll.