Ask The Chess Master is Live

We have started a new website: Ask the Chessmaster
Now you can ask questions about chess, look up chess slang, solve problems and even view funny chess videos.

Ideas, suggestions, and questions are encouraged.

Peace.

Kenneth

Shapes in Chess

In chess, shapes and geometry play a big part in the game. In the following position, white can win a pawn by force starting with the next move. I will put the answer below the diagram so you can try to solve it; keep in mind that the word "triangle" is the clue.

In other chess news, Vladimir Kramnik won the world championship against Veselin Topalov. This match was soiled by the accusations of cheating leveled against Kramnik by Topalov after Kramnik went to the bathroom 60 times in one game. We will look at a game in a future column. To see the entire match, you can go to www.askthechessmaster.com.






The answer is Qa5+. The black queen attacks the white king and the pawn at e5.

Eliminating Mistakes

Winning is often achieved through the elimination of major mistakes. Even at the highest level, minor mistakes can be reduced but rarely eliminated completely.

What steps can we take to minimize the mistakes we make?

Since there are so many ways to reduce mistakes, we will focus on several key ones.

Be careful
This means examining pitfalls, looking at every angle, and determining the cause and effect of the move. While it also means not making inordinate risks, being careful does not necessarily mean eliminating risk all together.

Be thoughtful
By looking at the whole picture, many hazards and pitfalls will become apparent and can then be avoided. Reflection will often give you insight into your opponent's intentions and to your best options. You can then choose the right move, again taking into account all new information and being thoughtful to the specific attributes of the position faced.

Be fearless
Giving in to fear is often a mistake. Being fearful and being careful are not the same. When an opponent makes a bold move, it is often a mistake to be scared into passivity or into abdicating.

Be interactive
Most of the time a game involves two or more players who are trying to achieve their own aims. While at times your opponent's moves can be ignored, ignoring your opponent's aims and failing to intermingle preventive moves against their aims is one of the most common class of mistakes.

Be mindful
By being relaxed and aware of your own body, mind, and surroundings, and then equally mindful of the game, your opponent, and other important information can increase your chances for overall perception and reduce the opportunity for mistakes.

Be aggressive
By being aggressive, we can keep our opponent on the defensive and keep from being in a position to have to decide how to defend. Sometimes an aggressive play is called for. If you are reluctant to make aggressive moves, you may be routinely making the mistake of not making the best move.

Double-check
Redundancy is considered crucial in any quality-control system, so you should check each move twice and/or devise alternative or triangular methods for making sure you do not make an avoidable mistake.

Focus on your objective
By keeping an eye on your ultimate objective, many mistakes became obvious. Strategically, any play that does not further your goals has to be questioned.

Have a checklist
Knowing the key elements to check for in the game you are playing and then going through your mental checklist can greatly reduce the amount of strategic and tactical errors.

Sopranos Video Game Coming Soon (or I will break some knees)

Cast Members Lend Voice Talent and Likenesses for Videogame Re-creation of HBO's Award-Winning Series

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. (May 4, 2006) -- THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced its upcoming videogame based on HBO's critically acclaimed series The Sopranos. Currently under development, the game will evoke the atmosphere, action and conflicts that are the cornerstone of the hit show . . . The game is backed by key members of the all-star cast who will lend their voices and likenesses, including James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano. The Sopranos game is scheduled to release for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system this holiday season. . . .

"We're excited to work with HBO on creating a game that captures the spirit of the groundbreaking series - a modern classic that redefines the life of crime genre," said Kelly Flock, executive vice president, Worldwide Publishing, THQ.

Trying

Without trying, we cannot achieve anything. The announcers at basketball games often talk about one team “wanting it more" and of how the winning team tried harder and was rewarded for its effort. Players that "want it more" are chosen over similarly skilled players because their efforts often translate into victory.

Where is this going?

One of the main themes running throughout this blog is that trying is important and can help win games.

But let's consider that every proverb has an opposite proverb.

The same announcers will often say things like "She tried to hard" or "He wanted the game too badly." Bjork, the Icelandic singer, sang "You are trying to hard."

When I heard this, it rang true. I was playing a lot of games, trying to get ahead, trying to play perfectly, trying, trying, and trying some more. Trying is commendable, but it is not enough. Thinking and using your skills efficiently are important, as is having fun. Letting your play flow naturally is crucial to achieving the results you deserve.

In closing, try to play your best, make sure you have fun, and spend your energy on the game itself.

Win or Lose, the Choice Is Yours

As you walk into a tournament, it is amazing
how much you can tell as you observe the
other players. Often it is easy to spot the
top players simply by the way they hold
themselves; winners and losers both give off
evidence of how well they expect to do.

To be a "top player," you need to be
confident. Part of this confidence should
come from knowing that you are prepared, and
the rest from being committed to making good
decisions. To play well, it is important to
be confident and committed every time you
sit down and play. As noted Poker teacher
Mike Caro said, “It is okay to play your
best game all the time.”

Somehow the expectation of winning or losing
seems to affect the results of many games
and tournaments. Our minds will find ways to
follow through on our strategic visions and
on our expected results. Knowing this makes
it obvious that we must strive to program
our minds into believing that we will win
every time we play a game.

Considering all of the unique factors of the
game and of your opponent(s) is an important
part winning. Maybe there is some factor
that will help you prevail; maybe your
opponent is weak in an area you can exploit.
At any moment, any one of the winning habits
may win for you. What an exciting and
motivating reason to keep a winning mindset
and to stay observant!

Being rested, showered, fed (but not too
well fed), and exercised are all important
factors in being successful. World chess
champion Bobby Fisher walked several miles
from his hotel to the tournament site before
each game of his famous 1972 World
Championship match against Boris Spassky.

On closing, feel your best, play your best,
and expect to win, and success may come more
easily than you imagined.

Poker and Monopoly both Illegal IN South Carolina

Raided like a meth lab, their little poker tourney was.

Because card and dice games other than Parcheesi are illegal in South Carolina, Another South Carolina statute (not pertaining to this case) states that on the Sabbath, you are not allowed to play any game, not even in your own home, whether with cards or dice or not. That statute reads: “Whoever shall keep or suffer to be kept any gaming table or permit any game or games to be played in his house on the Sabbath day, on conviction thereof before any court having jurisdiction, shall be fined the sum of fifty dollars, to be sued for on behalf of, and to be recovered for use of, the State.”

Thanks to a recent card player article by Bob Ciaffone and the ruthless Poker Bust he describes
I have been made more aware of the absuridty of the laws making poker illegal. Most people dont need to worry about being busted for a home game, but don't publicize it since Poker is illegal most places. For the full text of Bob's article go to http://cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/showarticle.php?a_id=15142&m_id=65578

Peace

Pay to let someome else Play

Youth and others in China are being payed $250 a month to play various video games on-line for
players in the US too busy or to Lazy, to go through the lower levels and collect enough loot and points. While this is a bizzare twist in the history of gaming, it does make sense since the lower levels are not very challenging for many people, and challenge is one reason that people play games. For the full text of the article go to the www.newyorktimes.com website and do a search for "Ogre to Slay".

Trivial Pursuit Tips

Trivial Pursuit

Basic Rules

You roll the die and then answer questions based on the color of the square you land on. If the space is a “pie,” then you will get a “pie piece”of that color if you answer the question correctly. When you answer a question correctly, you get to roll again. When you answer incorrectly, you must remove a piece of your opponent’s clothing. The first one to get allsix pie pieces (or a hard-on) wins.

Tips

1. If you are otherwise unsure of the answer, always go with your first instinct.

2 Since you need pie pieces to win, always choose a pie space if you have a chance.

3. If you can’t land on a pie, try to land on a “roll again” space.

4. If you can’t land on a pie or a “roll again,” pick the color (subject) you are most comfortable with.

5. Don’t guess to quickly--think about any wording in the clue that might help

6. If you have no idea, the clue itself might be the answer (for instance, “Where are Dungarees made?” In Dungarees, India).

7. Make sure to gravitate to the part of the board where you have not gotten your pies.

8. If you don’t know the answer, think about alternate meanings of the question. For instance, a name may be the name of an animal instead of a human.

9. Read trivia from the 80's as this is when the game was invented. Geography is an easy study for quick improvment as their is a finite amount of questions here.

Avoid

1. Letting your opponent see the answer on the back of the card.

2. Talking yourself out of the right answer.

3. Sticking the pie pieces in the wheel the wrong way; they are very difficult to remove.

Quote

“Better to know lots of trivia than to be smart.”

Game Web site and other links

1.http://www.trivialpursuit.com/

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000096QKP/102-6284945-5861751

(“Lord of the Rings” trivial pursuit)

Quote of the Day

"We don't feel like we should lose"
Cleveland Cavaliers
Larry Hughes after Cleveland's 8th straight win.

Use Your Intuition

Ever get a gut feeling something just isn't quite right, and make a decision accordingly? Science is beginning to suggest those instincts may have roots deep in the brain.

Research in young volunteers points to some kind of "sixth sense" -- a mechanism in the brain that picks up on subtle clues, then sends out subconscious signals of trouble ahead.

The finding could help explain certain intuitive phenomena seen among humans. For example, in the recent Asian tsunami, aboriginal people sought out higher ground in the moments before the disaster, as did many wild animals. Could subtle changes in weather or the environment have warned them early on?

Just such an early warning system may exist in the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain area important in processing complex information, according to a report by psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis. Their findings appear in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Science.

In their experiments, the researchers challenged healthy young volunteers to a series of tricky visual tests aimed at setting up conflicting choices within the brain, explained Joshua Brown, a research associate in psychology who performed the study with Todd Braver, an associate professor of psychology.

During the experiments, the St. Louis team observed each participant's real-time brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

"We used a situation where we presented signals on a computer screen," Brown said. "If it was an arrow pointing left, they pushed the left button. If it pointed right, they pushed the right button."

But then the tricks began. First, the computer screen would occasionally show a larger arrow that required a participant to push a button other than the one just indicated by a first arrow. The time at which the second arrow was presented was gradually made longer, so that a participant was more likely to have pushed the wrong button.

Second, the arrow signals were preceded by colored dashes -- white for left, blue for right. The experiments were rigged so that participants eventually had an error rate of about 50 percent when shown a blue dash, but only 4 percent when shown a white dash.

While the volunteers weren't told of the rigging, "some of them had begun to figure it out, at least on a subconscious level," Brown said. As this dawning awareness emerged, the fMRI images showed increased activity in the anterior singulate cortex whenever the blue dash was flashed.

"The purpose was to see if the brain picked up on the blue color being associated with a large number of errors," Brown said. "It appears that this part of the brain is somehow figuring out things without you necessarily having to be consciously aware of it."

The report "has the potential of unifying different approaches to the anterior cingulate cortex," said William J. Gehring, associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. "Researchers have been looking at the response to errors people make and also the response to negative events. This is tying those two together."

Still, Gehring said, "this is the sort of thing where you need additional research. The report is not specific about what is going on, and how closely the response is tied to awareness."

Gehring and Brown agreed that the findings have potential applications to psychiatric practice, but they lie far in the future.

Abnormalities of the anterior cingulate cortex have been associated with a number of mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, Brown said.

"It's a little premature to say how this might help us treat individuals with mental illness," he said. "There's a lot we don't know about what goes wrong in mental illness. But if we understand how this works in healthy individuals, we will be in a better position to understand what goes wrong in mental illness."

Abnormal activity of the anterior cingular cortex has been linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder, Gehring said. "It's been shown that there is too much activity in this area. There is a general sense that things are going wrong, when actually they are not."

Winning and Losing

One thing about games is when we win we tend to think we are good and certainly that we played well, and when we lose we think we are bad or played bad.

My advice is stay confident even when losing but look to see what you did wrong or what your opponent did right.

When winning avoid overconfidence and try to see if in fact you played correctly, we can learn from winning as well as from losing, and winning is funner.

Bobby Fischer blames lack of booze for poor health in prison

Chess maestro Bobby Fischer has cited a lack of alcohol as one of the factors making him ill behind bars at the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.

"I can't get any alcohol in here, which I think is also bad for my health. I say that quite seriously. I think alcohol in moderation is very good for your body. Alcohol in moderation is very good for your health. It has a cleansing effect on your body, an antiseptic effect. It has many benefits. It's good for your heart and so on," Fischer told Radio DZRH in the Philippines in the second of two separate interviews given on New Year's Eve and Jan. 17 and listed on the Internet overnight. "They don't allow alcohol, but they allow cigarettes. And they give the people cigarettes, tax-free. So the people are smoking like chimneys in here."

Fischer, in detention while he fights on a series of fronts to avoid being returned to the U.S. where he faces trial as a sanctions breaker for playing chess, occasionally sounded weary and admitted feeling under the weather.

"I'm very dizzy. I've been very dizzy the last two months. I'm very dizzy now as I'm talking to you," he said as he opened the second interview listed on the Internet overnight.

He blamed his state on the air conditioning at the detention center, which he said is noisy, but left inmates unbearably cold if turned off. He also repeated complaints he has made about the center's close proximity to Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, scene of Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident in 1999 and a series of minor mishaps at various times since.

At other times, Fischer seemed almost jovial, noting that he was the oldest of the roughly 500 male and female inmates at the center. He noted that he is free to make phone calls and is occasionally let out of his cell upon request.

Once, Fischer even broke in to a raspy voiced rendition of the 1965 Barry McGuire hit "Eve of Destruction," silencing the unnamed female DJ when she tried to ask him a question mid-song.

"Let me finish. This is cute," Fischer said before going on to finish the song from 40 years ago. Fischer's efforts may not win him a Grammy, but his recollection of the lyrics was word perfect, suggesting he retains the phenomenal memory for which he was famous in his heyday.

Fischer also drew comparisons between his case - arrested in July last year by officials at Narita Airport for using what they claimed was a revoked U.S. passport - and that of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had no trouble making a trip to Japan without even bringing a passport when he was still just a movie star back in 1998.

"Schwarzenegger came to Japan without a passport. Period. And they didn't throw him into jail. They didn't deport him back to the U.S. They didn't even threaten him. Nothing. But me, I came into the country with a perfectly valid passport and they've thrown me into prison now for over six months. The difference between me and Schwarzenegger is Schwarzenegger is a Jew ass-kisser and I'm not," he said before the announcer and Filipino grandmaster Eugene Torre asked him another question as they did many times when Fischer appeared likely to make inflammatory comments.

Nonetheless, Fischer still criticized the land of his birth, which once hailed him as a Cold War hero following his defeat of then Soviet Boris Spassky to become World Chess Champion in 1972.

"It's very dangerous in general to make any agreement with the U.S. Because if you don't keep your part they come after you. But if they don't keep their part, so what, they just laugh at it. 'Who are you to tell the U.S. what to do?'" he said. "The world is in a terrible situation with all these nuclear power plants, nuclear bombs, pollution, wars, land mines everywhere. The U.S. should set a good example and destroy all its nuclear weapons. Unilaterally."

Fischer, however, saved his most intense criticisms for U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

"This Bush is very inconsistent in his policies. He's a liar, he's a crook. One thing he's very consistent about - he wants to kill or imprison all his enemies. That he's very consistent on and the U.S. is very consistent on," Fischer said.

Later, Fischer would slam Japan, too.

"This country is completely corrupt. Koizumi is a war criminal. He should be hung," Fischer said before Torre and the announcer quickly piped up to stop him from saying anything further.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that a parliamentary committee in Iceland talked about giving Fischer citizenship, with one lawmaker predicting he would get it.

Gurun Ogumundsdottir, a member of the parliamentary panel discussing a petition to grant Fischer Icelandic citizenship, said the chess champion would probably get his wish.

"Usually these things are settled with unanimous vote, but in this case a majority might suffice, and it seems to me the majority is in favor of granting citizenship," Ogumundsdottir told the AP.

Iceland, scene of Fischer's triumph over Spassky 33 years ago, offered Fischer residency last month, expressing a willingness to accept him even without a passport. However, the Justice Ministry has refused to let Fischer leave Japan, even though it is fighting a court case with him over a deportation order issued last August.

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has admitted talking to Japan and Iceland about Fischer. Iceland has reportedly refused a U.S. government request to rescind its offer of help to Fischer. (By Ryann Connell, Mainichi Daily News, Jan. 29, 2005)

Chess Tip of the Day

In chess you must defend your king.

If you lose your king you lose the game.

Always keep a piece near your king, or if your opponent has three or more pieces
near your king, keep two pieces near your king.

Try to keep pawns around your king as well.

Good Luck not being mated.

Game Junkie Part One

As a chess master I played thousands of hours of chess, now as a poker player I am well on the way. Why what leads me to this? Have I learned anything useful?

For the answers to these and other questions.

Stay tuned.