Articles and Blog Posts on Solitaire Chess

I recently started trying my hand at playing Solitaire Chess - using Pandolfini's monthly column in Chess Life.

Out of curiosity, I searched and found a few links about playing solitaire chess for improvement.

Jeffrey Ashton / Panda Chess
Blue Devil Knight
Mark Weeks
The Path to Improvement (Atkins, Krieder) mentions solitaire chess

Get Better at Chess With Electric Shock?

Just read this article over at Wired: Electrical Brain Stimulation Helps People Learn Math Faster.

I wonder if this applies to chess as well.  "The new research goes a step farther by showing that electrical stimulation can also improve the ability to perform calculations ..."  Obviously the article is referring to math calculations ... but the brain is still calculating in chess; so maybe it's applicable.

Bloody Wednesday and '12-13 Game 25

So I've been humming along at ChessTempo ... doing about 20 blitz tactics a day.  But something changed this last Tuesday and Wednesday.  It may have been that I tried doing my tactics on my Galaxy Tab (smaller screen) while sitting on my comfortable couch ... as opposed doing them at my desk on my computer.

I switched back to the computer on Wednesday and it was horrific.  I dropped 70 rating points in one day.  It was crazy.  The next couple of days were gains, but I was still missing problem I should normally get.

Anyway, it might be awhile before I get back to what I think I should be at.

21. Rxf3?? Bg5

ChessAdmin and I have a good match-up going.  After our game today, we agreed about two games a month would be nice.

I think today was the 4th time we've played and he beat me again.  He's won 3 of the 4.

Today I shot myself in the foot ... didn't have my 'safety first' thinking cap on today.

But it was enjoyable and got me thinking a bit.

Comeback Draw

We went over to our good friends' home last night after all our kids were in bed.  We watched some March Madness, ate good food and talked.  The men played some chess and watched some good basketball games while the ladies worked on crafts.

My friend and I have played once before.  He won that game with a pawn advantage.  Last night's game should have been an easy win for him when I blundered my bishop.  Chalk it up to one of those times when I see something that really isn't there.  So being down, I decided to just play wildly and try to get some perpetual checks to see if I could get it to a draw.  And amazingly, I was able to pull it off.

I had the white pieces.

We weren't keeping a move-sheet, so I don't recall all the moves.  He had a knight on d7 ... he had not castled.  I was able to line my rooks and queen on the d column.  I took the knight with my rook, he retook with his rook, I then moved QxPe5+, he moved  Kf8, I retook with QxR on h8+, he went back with Ke7.  From there, I was able to give perpetual check with either Qb8+ or Qh8+.

It was a fun game and we both agreed we'd need to play a few more times over the next few weeks.

Lone Star Open 2013

I didn't do too well in the U1800 section of the Lone Star Open this year.  I faced some pretty stiff competition the first two games.  In the first game, I ended up losing by a pawn ... when the endgame came, I could not keep his extra pawn from queening.  In the second game, I simply dropped my queen and then resigned.  The third game should have been a loss too, but my opponent couldn't pull it off, so we drew.  Then the 4th game, today, was a fairly easy win against a much lower rated player than me.

So, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what chess does for me.

After a Pros vs. Cons analysis, I found that:
- I love chess as a pass-time
- I love the thrills and intensity it gives (when there are good games)
- I enjoy the challenge of thinking under pressure
- I love trying to find and solve tactics

- I don't like 4 hour games ... especially when I lose games that are really close.  In long games, I feel deprived ... even when I win games.
- In shorter games, I don't feel deprived so much
- In longer games, I see lots of things - but what drives me insane is trying to keep track of all the different lines ... I sometimes feel like I'm going crazy trying to keep it all together

There might be more pros and cons ... but I think I came to a realization this weekend: I don't like long games.  My limit seems to be about G/60.  G/30 5 feels like a good time control.

Another thing too ... I don't like tournament chess anymore.

Friday night's game was nuts ...

First,there was a wedding going on at the same time - across the hall.  They played bongo drums for about 30 minutes!  It was insane.  The TD let people who lost or drew that first round, re-enter for free.

Second, quite regularly, I try to chat with my opponent at the beginning of the game or afterwards in the skittles room.  More often than not, my opponent seems very anti-social and even sometimes rude.

Third, germs and kids and un-showered people, long finger-nails, body odor, coughing, sneezing, runny noses, tapping, wiggling and squirming, thumping, slurping, etc, etc

Fourth, driving long distances ... the Lone Star Open was actually close to where I live, so I really liked the location of this tournament, but most of the other ones around Houston are on the opposite side of town.

All of this leaves me with playing shorter, more frequent chess games on-line.  I might still play an OTB when I have a free weekend, but I don't think I'll miss it much if I can't make it to an OTB.  I think I'm pretty content with finding 30 5 and 60 5 games on-line ... playing them in my comfortable, quiet and clean home.

February Update

Lest I lose all momentum, I wanted to check-in on the blog and just mention that life is busy right now and when life gets busy, chess gets put on hold.

But hopefully the busyness will end soon and I can focus a bit more on trying to actually play.  I have been keeping up my tactics on ChessTempo.  I'm not sure I'll hit my goal of 620 problems this month.  I'm 100 short right now with two days left.

I'm 12 games behind in my goal to play 52 games this year.  I've not been able to get to the computer in time to find long games Tuesdays and Thursday nights ... there have been so many football practices, band concerts, science projects, scout activities that have caused me to be late getting home ... and then I've got to help get the kids to bed.  But, as I said, hopefully things will simmer down and I'll be able to log onto FICS at 6pm (FICS time) to find a 60 5 game.  In the mean time, if any of my readers want to schedule a Saturday or Sunday game with me, please let me know - post a comment or shoot me an email at rockyrook at hotmail.

Also - I'm thinking I might leverage Chess At Work (Red Hot Pawn) to play more games and have those games count toward my 52-game goal.  So if you play CC on that site, let me know and we can play there too.

The Lone Star Open is coming up in a few weeks and I plan to play in the U1800 section.  Let me know if any of you will be playing in that tournament.

FSC 13.1.17

Well, we had at least one person show up for FSC tonight: Jabarii, who I've played a couple of times, but have yet to beat.  I was in the middle of a game when he showed up.

If ever you want to join the club, just log onto FICS Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 18:30 server time (6:30pm Pacific time).  You can find the FSC in channel 111.  Ping me if you do log on at that time.

I was able to get a 60 5 game in tonight.  There's really not much to see or analyze in this game.  My opponent dropped a few pieces early on and later resigned on move 24.  Full game here.

FSC 13.1.15

No FSC tonight for me ... we had visitors that stayed a bit late and I have a very early meeting tomorrow, so I'm going to bed early.

But I wanted to keep the FSC updates going so as to get in the habit.

I should be able to fish for a 60 5 game Thursday night.

FSC 13.1.10

No pings or messages from anyone for FSC tonight.  I did get a 60 5 in ... if you can call it that.  I resigned 16 or so moves in.  I was Black and got off to a terrible start.  I moved all my pieces to the wrong places.  There was a bit of a blitz-bug in me too.  I'm not even going to bother to annotate this one.  Here's the ugly game if you're curious.

As always, ping me if you ever want to play.  I'll usually be on FICS Tuesdays and Thursdays from 16:30 server time.  And I can always schedule a weekend game.

25,000 Blitz Tactics on ChessTempo

• 25,000 attempts
• 18,059 correct
• 6941 failed
• 72.24% correct
• 1710.9 (with an RD of 34.39)
• 483/1210 is my active rank ... better than 60.13% of the active population

next update at 30,000

FICS Standard Chess Club

One of my resolutions this year, with regards to chess, is to simply play more.  A few years ago, I set up the FICS Standard Club (FSC) which is a virtual weekly chess club held on FICS from 18:30-22:00 FICS time (Pacific time) every Tuesday and Thursday evening ... check out the site here.

Some people have shown interest.  So in order to help it pick up steam, I'm trying to be more committed to showing up regularly.  We "meet" in channel 111 if ever you want to stop by.

I tried fishing for a 60 5 game tonight, but no bites.

Someone, however, did challenge me to a 15 0, so I obliged.

Here is a neat little tactic that won me the game ... can you spot it?

Black to move and win

'12-13: Game 14

My 14th game in the 2012-2013 52-game quest is from the Double-My-Egg-Nog 60 5 Tourney.

Before I begin, if you haven't visited and read Path to Chess Mastery, then I highly encourage you to do so.  ChessAdmin has some really good posts over there.  In fact, I have read over a few of his posts repeatedly. I'm taking to heart his post entitled "Game Analysis for Improvement in Play".  I really need to spend more time internalizing my games (after, of course, I begin playing lots more games!)  And so, I intend to practice analyzing my games much more than I have before.

In this game, there were a few themes, but two stood out in my mind: analyzing a position to quiescence and king safety.

double my egg nog to start in january

it looks like we have 4 to play now; but we won't start until after the new year

RockyRook
ChessAdmin
Timmmmm
RobertPearson

here's the schedule ... let me know if you see any errors (white v. black)

round 1
rockyrook v rlp
chessadmin v timmmmm

round 2
rlp v chessadmin (1-0)
timmmmm v rockyrook

round 3
rockyrook v chessadmin (1-0)
timmmmm v rlp

round 4
rlp v rockyrook
timmmmm v chessadmin

round 5
chessadmin v rlp
rockyrook v timmmmm

round 6
chessadmin v rockyrook (tentative jan 26)
rlp v timmmmm

go ahead and begin scheduling your games.

Still Need One More ...

We're still looking for one more for the double-my-egg-nog tourney.

Let me know (by December 20) if you want to play.

ChessAdmin and Timmmmm have both signed up.

2012 Double My Egg Nog FICS Tourney

We still need one more for the "Double My Egg Nog" tourney: a double round robin chess tourney on FICS.

Dates
December 16 - January 1

Format
60 5 on FICS

Qualification
FICS standard rating between 1500-1700 or around Class C/B USCF rating

Prize
$10 amazon gift card

Post a comment and then email me if you want to play (rockyrook at hotmail).  First three are in; but we may need an extra in case, so let me know if you want to be on stand-by too.

2012 Round Turkey Pairings & Results

Congratulations to ChessAdmin for winning the 2012 Round Turkey!

Round 1 - should be finished by Nov 21

Rocky v Timmmmm (1-0) link to game here.

tomgtro v ChessAdmin (1-0) link to game here.

Round 2- should be finished by Nov 23

ChessAdmin v Rocky (1-0) link to game here.

Timmmmm v tomgtro (1-0) link to game here.

Round 3 - should be finished by Nov 25

tomgtro v Rocky (0-1) link to game here

Timmmmm v ChessAdmin (0-1) link to game here.

Standings
ChessAdmin 2.0
RockyRook 2.0
Timmmmm 1.0
tomgtro 1.0

* format: white v black

Other Logistics

If you would send me your email address at rockyrook at hotmail, I will pass along to everyone else, so you can schedule your games via email.  Also, let me know your FICS handle when you send me your address.

Always offer times in FICS time zone - this makes negotiations easier.  Feel free to schedule your games immediately.

I'll provide updates and links to this post.

Feel free to post questions or suggestions in the comments.

Have fun!

Chess64

Looks like the Chess Pistols have returned; this time named Chess64.

I've updated my side-bar.

Need One More for Round Turkey Chess Quad

We had four, but one dropped out at the last minute to close the deal on his new home.

So, we're back to three.

Anyone else out there who wants to play?

Details:
- Round Turkey (i.e Robin) style (4 players)
- Starts November 18/19; ends November 24/25
- About 1 game every two days
- 60 5 format
- All games on FICS
- Looking for someone 1500-1700 (standard) rating
- Winner to receive at least $10 Amazon gift card (possibly $20)

Let me know in the comments section if you want to join.

Round Turkey Chess Tournament? (on FICS)

Out of curiosity - how many of you, dear readers, would be interested in a either:

1. a 4-week (one game a week) chess tournament; every week of November, starting the week of November 4 and have all 4 games completed by November 30.

2. or perhaps a week-long tournament during the Thanksgiving holiday - November 20-23

It would have to be 4 players to accommodate either 4 weeks or 4 days.  Everyone plays everyone else (round robin style, although I'm calling it round turkey :-))  I'd propose a G 60 format ... or maybe a 60 5 format.

Participants would have to play all the other players in the given period of time.

Any takers?  I'd only need 3.

And to give some extra incentive, I'll offer a $10 gift card (to Starbucks or to Amazon or something like that) for the winner.

I'd want the tournament to be somewhat competitive - don't want any grandmasters or beginners playing, so the bottom cut-off rating would be 1500 and the top cut-off rating ... let's say 1700 (using FICS standard rating).

If I get a lot of responses, I'll take the first 3 who meet the criteria.

image source: NBC:SNL

'12-13 Game 10 and MAJOR slump

Well, with less distractions, I still managed to go down a rook in my 2nd game with "Eric."  With my losing streak at two (along with a few other losses (rated blitz) games in Chessmaster) my rating has dropped  ... so much so that the top of the allowable personalities for me to play is "Lacey" who is 1309.

I've been in a major slump on ChessTempo too.  For the first time this year and for the first time in a long, long time, I've been struggling to get out of the 1630's and 1640s (blitz level tactics).  Usually I will drop down to the 1640's and 50's but then I'll pop right back up to the 1660's and higher.  But this week has been an absolute struggle.  I'm missing 1400, 1500 rated problems and even the occasional 1300 problem!

I don't know what's going on, but this is brutal.