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 1 
 on: February 15, 2010, 06:49:43 PM 
Started by outsidepasser - Last post by Capablanca
Hello there. We'll be happy to have you over. We're playing a small unrated tournament, but many of us finish our games before time limit, so we'll be glad to play you.

There's a faster way to see your current rating. The USCF posts it online after the thournament is rated. Check

http://www.uschess.org/datapage/player-search.php

Just enter your name and that's it.


 2 
 on: February 15, 2010, 02:45:35 PM 
Started by outsidepasser - Last post by outsidepasser
Hi just ran across your forums while browsing indiana chess sites.May be coming through the bloomington area soon and thought i may be able to make a visit to your club.Im currently living in Peru,In 20 minutes north of kokomo.My uscf rating is right at 1900 as soon as my last tourney i played in gets rated,snail mail im guessing:(.But just dropping a line to say hey nice to meet everyone hope to see you soon.

 3 
 on: February 12, 2010, 06:05:59 PM 
Started by Capablanca - Last post by Capablanca
I had an opponent many years ago who would lean forward over the board to make his move, and then stay that way--the verb "loom" comes to mind--so that he actually cast a shadow over at least half of the board.  I don't think his behavior was meant to affect me.  It was just a habit he had developed.  But it did bug me.

Funny you mention that because I caught myself doing that at times when playing Mike last Tuesday. Fischer was known to do that also. I think it's part of a primal feeling of the attack that may be ingrained. In that game I noticed that I don't "loom" over the board constantly, but only at times. I also noticed at one point late in the game that I was bouncing my leg up and down. I guess it's all part of body language and that it gives away how we feel about the position. I don't make noises or say anything that I think would give away my feelings when playing, but I obviously give away some of my feelings about the position with body language. I always pay attention to my opponent's behavior and body language, and try to use that against him/her. I once played a teenage girl who was in a tough position and she flushed. She couldn't help it, but I knew she was very uncomfortable. There are things you simply can't hide.

 4 
 on: February 12, 2010, 04:58:20 PM 
Started by Capablanca - Last post by Capablanca
I have been accused of annoying behavoir while playing.  I have a habit of writing down my moves before making them over the board.  This is the way I have been doing it for almost forty years.  I don't know why this should annoy my opponents or why it is anyone else's business but I was surprised that one of my opponents complained to the tournament director about it.  Even more surprising was that the tournament director upheld his complaint and gave me a warning.

This happened in 2006 and there was a provision in the Official Rules of Chess that specifically stated that writing down the moves before making them over the board was acceptable.  I didn't know about it at the time and I tried to write down the moves after making the move at the board.  I won the game but my concentration was lost as I not only had to think about my move, I had to think about moving before writing it on the scoresheet.

This rule is totally arbitrary.  The reasoning is that it is forbidden to refer to notes while playing chess and by writing down the move, you are referring to seeing the move written on your scoresheet as a note.  (I've heard that writing commentary or even putting a question mark or an exclamation point after a move is forbidden under the rules.)  While I agree that the players shouldn't resort to books or outside notes, this is not what the kind of behavoir that a TD should enforce.

I call this the "Sore Loser" rule because I've never had anyone call me on it unless their position over the board was resignable.   Currently, the newest edition of the ORC says that you have to write down the move after making it at the board.  One of the reasons for the change is "to make the rule conform to FIDE."  I am not so sure that we should even worry about conforming to FIDE, an organization that awarded Karpov the title of World Champion in 1975, consistently ruled against Korchnoi in 1978, annulled the Kasparov-Karpov match in 1984-5, and played politics at every turn.

I agree with you. The rule is pretty stupid. The rule was conceived most likely after electronic gadgets for score-keeping came into the market. I'm thinking MonRoi. I think that with those players were able to input their move and see graphically the resulting position after that move. By applying the rule to all players, including those keeping score on paper, they just created this idiocy. The problem is that every TD must uphold the rules as spelled out in the USCF rulebook. Failing to do so can result in a TD losing his/her certification. TDs are advised by that rulebook to give a warning the first time, as it happened to you. I think most TDs think that rule is just crap and shouldn't be imposed on players that aren't using electronic devices. Actually, I would just rule out the use of any electronic device for score-keeping, but I guess MonRoi has too much clout over official chess organizations.

Your opponent was simply an idiot to invoke the rule and call the TD. Now that we'e talking about idiots summoning TDs unnecessarily, I remember a tournament game.

I was a clear piece up right out of the early middlegame. The guy just kept playing while I kept up the pressure. Lots of pawns were on the board and at least two minor pieces plus queens on each side, plus we were playing with my Chronos and a 5 second delay. My opponent was on time pressure with only two minutes on his clock in a SD time control and he suddenly told me: "Stop the clock". I looked at him bewildered while he raised his hand to summon the TD. Since it was he who decided to summon the TD, it was obviously he who should stop the clock by the rules. I just ignored his command, made my move, and hit the clock. The TD came over and this guy claimed a draw by insufficient losing chances, which can't be called with a 5 sec delay. Seeing that I had ignored his command, now he was in the funny and pathetic situation of discussing his claim and making moves. I covered my ears to muffle his chat with the TD, and after the TD dismissed his claim and an extremely pathetic position on the board with a few seconds left, he resigned. That's the worst case I've faced of a sore looser.

It later dawned on me that he may have not known how to stop the Chronos. Had he asked me to stop the clock because he didn't know how, I would have done that for him. That's why I always explain to my opponent before the round starts how to stop the Chronos if he needs to when I play in a tournament. I also ask my opponent to explain to me how to stop his clock if we're using his equipment.

 5 
 on: February 11, 2010, 08:05:38 PM 
Started by Capablanca - Last post by dpresicci
I have been accused of annoying behavoir while playing.  I have a habit of writing down my moves before making them over the board.  This is the way I have been doing it for almost forty years.  I don't know why this should annoy my opponents or why it is anyone else's business but I was surprised that one of my opponents complained to the tournament director about it.  Even more surprising was that the tournament director upheld his complaint and gave me a warning.

This happened in 2006 and there was a provision in the Official Rules of Chess that specifically stated that writing down the moves before making them over the board was acceptable.  I didn't know about it at the time and I tried to write down the moves after making the move at the board.  I won the game but my concentration was lost as I not only had to think about my move, I had to think about moving before writing it on the scoresheet.

This rule is totally arbitrary.  The reasoning is that it is forbidden to refer to notes while playing chess and by writing down the move, you are referring to seeing the move written on your scoresheet as a note.  (I've heard that writing commentary or even putting a question mark or an exclamation point after a move is forbidden under the rules.)  While I agree that the players shouldn't resort to books or outside notes, this is not what the kind of behavoir that a TD should enforce.

I call this the "Sore Loser" rule because I've never had anyone call me on it unless their position over the board was resignable.   Currently, the newest edition of the ORC says that you have to write down the move after making it at the board.  One of the r
easons for the change is "to make the rule conform to FIDE."  I am not so sure that we should even worry about conforming to FIDE, an organization that awarded Karpov the title of World Champion in 1975, consistently ruled against Korchnoi in 1978, annulled the Kasparov-Karpov match in 1984-5, and played politics at every turn.

 6 
 on: February 07, 2010, 08:19:29 AM 
Started by Z. Lasker - Last post by Capablanca
The maximum set strength is 2400, but I'm not sure how strong Shredder really is in comparison to other programs, especially running on the iphone processor.
Wow! 2400 seems way too strong for such a device. The iPhone processing speed is about 400 mhz. I guess the device can pipe most of that power to the app, but still sounds like a rating in ideal conditions. It would be interesting to set up a match between that app and others made for portable devices like Fritz for Windows mobile, Chess Tiger, etc. I bet they all suck at endgames since endgame hash tables are probably left out. Anyway, it sounds like you got yourself a nice app that would give most of us a run for their money. My guess is that under normal conditions the program plays at 2000-2200 strength, which is an expert strength and nothing to sneeze at.

 7 
 on: February 05, 2010, 04:28:22 PM 
Started by Capablanca - Last post by Lasker

I really do think most annoying behavior - like that cited by John(Pillsbury)- is done unconsciously by players. If you just observe chess players in the heat of competition you'll often notice some tic or idiosyncrasy displayed by a player. Most of the time  it's just the result of pressure during the game. I know when I first started out, I used to make this chucking sound from down in my throat. It was just a nervous tic, but some of my opponent's must have thought I had Tourette's. I knew another player who would start bouncing his leg up and down and patting his thigh at the same time, another constantly sniffed, and yet another that I found looking at me every time I looked up from the board (that was actually kind of creepy). C'est la vie, chess players will be chess players.

 8 
 on: February 04, 2010, 01:15:25 PM 
Started by Lasker - Last post by Garry Kasparov
I am all about a tournament as well. It does the soul good to keep that competitve edge.

Sincerely,
Fred B.

 9 
 on: February 03, 2010, 04:52:45 PM 
Started by Murali - Last post by Capablanca
It was great to meet you, Murali. Don't lose heart. The more you play, the better you'll get. Also, your opponent is a strong player, so you shouldn't feel bad. Keep coming to our meetings and play against as many different players as you can. I'll see you next Tuesday.  Smiley

 10 
 on: February 03, 2010, 09:05:00 AM 
Started by Murali - Last post by Murali
Thank you so much for the warm welcome yesterday.  I enjoyed the three games (though I was beaten in all of them). 

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