Almost had it

I spent the time tonight to put my first game from the tournament into Chess Assistant. When I finished, I went to save it. The computer had a fatal error. What luck. I decided it wasn't going to happen tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

Ed.

Chess Club Tournament

I finally got back to playing some tournament chess this past weekend.  It was an unrated event where the chess clubs from the area got together and played against each other in a swiss style event.  

For this event, a decision was made to allow 2 teams from New Hampshire to play.  I'm not sure why that was done, but chess is chess.  It was an impressive showing knowing how small many of the events have been over the past few years.  Our team ended in a tie for 1st place, winning on tiebreaks.  As for me, I was overall very happy with my results.  After not playing in an event since last September I really wasn't expecting much from my performance.  I did lose my last round game, but I felt like I played well the entire event.  I'm sure I was still a bit rusty, and my last round opponent was rated >2000, so maybe that means there's hope for me yet!

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Ed.

How about a game of chess?

And sometimes, they come back!  Stay tuned for some news this weekend.  The Western Mass Chess Club Championship is being held this weekend at Forbes Library.  That should be fun.  I'll admit I'm rustier than I'd like going into an event, but how can I not go?  Speaking of going... time to get to work.

Enjoy, Ed.

It's gonna be a long one

Very little to talk about yesterday.  When I finally got home it was about 8:30pm (work then guitar lesson) and I was really tired.  I played a game of chess and was in bed around 10:30.  No wow!  It was just one of those days.  Unfortunately I had some trouble sleeping last night.  I was up at 3:30, 4:30...  at 4:30 I thought I heard someone scream.  I called my brother, but he didn't hear anything.  When I finally got out of bed at around 6:30 I still didn't feel like I had a good nights sleep.  

I guess it's going to be a rough day.

Here's hoping yours isn't!

Ed.

Same Old Story

The hives have returned... not that they ever really left, but after going off my medication and going back to Claritin for a while, I was hoping it would keep up. Sadly, I missed a day and the result was pretty disastrous. I'm going to give it another day or two to see if it gets more manageable. Otherwise it's back to the doctor.

Aside from that, much of the same. Bowling is done for the summer and I'm still playing little chess and lots of wow. But at least I'm playing some chess. Tonight I just played a few blitz games. Not much to talk about. Some decent, some terrible.

So it goes.

Enjoy, Ed.

Through the joy and pain that living brings...

When I got home from work today I played WOW for a bit. I got my fishing skill on my priest to 375! If that doesn't sound exciting to you, I must admit, it's not. You sit at the computer and watch your fishing bobber... for up to 22 seconds per cast... and when it bobs, you right click on it. Rinse and repeat... a lot.

After that, I got bored pretty quick. I know - how come that wasn't boring? Anyhow, I decided to play a few games of chess. I saw an 1824 player looking for a game so I took up the match. Since my rating is only a little over 100 points higher, and as I keep saying, I'm rusty, I thought it would be a good match. Truth be told, I was a little nervous and excited about the game. I know, lame again. Anyway, here's the game in its entirety:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f3 O-O 8.Bc4 Qb6 9.Nd5 Nxd5 white resigns.

He must have been pretty upset at himself after that game, because I immediately got another match request from him. I took a chance and accepted. It took me a few seconds to convince myself, but if someone wants a rematch I usually try to give them one.

The 2nd game turned out to be a lot of fun. The first 12 moves I slowly built up a minor positional edge, then he blundered away a pawn by what was probably an oversight. I continued to build on the advantage and on move 29, being 2 pawns down and positionally busted, he resigned. I didn't get a rematch after that game.

Have a good one!

Ed.

Not even close

I haven't been playing as much WOW during the week lately. Usually, within about an hour, I'm done. Maybe it's a good thing. We'll see.

Tonight I did play 2 games of chess (G/15) against an opponent rated about 500 points lower than I. I had been playing against one of the computers on the ICC rated a little lower than me, so I thought it would be fun to play against another person. So I put the match command out there, and this is who I got. Anyway, the first game I won in 12 moves. Ouch. He matched me again right after so we played another game. 22 moves. I may be a bit rusty... but not 500 points rusty. Apparently not even close.

Then I played in a 5-game tournament G/1 (Yes, game in 1-minute). I was one of the lower bullet rated players in the tournament (I'm not very good at playing that fast). I finished 2/5, so it wasn't terrible considering.

My back is much better tonight as well. Thankfully it slowly got better as the day went on. I was really dreading having something like that last for days or longer while it slowly worked it's way out.

I hope you're having a great week!

Ed.

Tweaked

I yawned this morning.  Usually, that wouldn't seem like such a bad thing.  Fairly normal, one might say.  But on this very morning, with that very yawn, I tweaked something in my back.  Not in a good way.  

And so another day begins...

Ed.

As we know it

Weekends continue to be far too busy.  The weeks not much better.  Bowling is now done for the summer!  So that will free up a bit of time.  Last night was our last Monday night of bowling.  How did I do?

Game 1:  222

Game 2:  191

Game 3: 227

Or something very much like that.

Have a great week,

Ed.

Things to come

Last night I went out to pick up some dinner.  I stopped at a bank machine in town... and tripped while getting back into my truck.  Not walking to or from my truck.  Getting back into my truck.  It was embarrassing.  Thankfully, I don't think anyone noticed.  I was only sore for a few minutes after.  

Aside from that, it was a really stressful night.  Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come.  Time to get a few more hours of sleep!

Enjoy the weekend!

Ed.

Bowling night

Tonight was bowling night. It was also the last night for the league until the fall. How did I do?

Game 1: 247
Game 2: 170
Game 3: 233

And chess continues as well. Slowly getting it back. One more month before the club championship. I'll be ready!

Ed.

By any other name

Some might call it just another day. But in a world of inifinite possibilities, isn't every day unique? As these things go, it's a matter of perspective.

I've been continuing to play a bit of chess. Not nearly enough yet, but enough for now. It is a beginning. My first game was a long one. It was only a g/25, but it went on and on for 80 something moves. It was against a computer on the ICC rated about 100 points lower than I. For this point in my progession, I thought it would be good for a challenge. It was. I'm quite certain that I was lost, though I managed to keep my pieces very active and create threats. Ultimately, I won. It was a great feeling after fighting for so long.

After that I decided to play a few blitz games (g/3) against one of the computers rated about 1000 points higher than me. After getting blown out of the water for 2 games in a row, I actually drew the 3rd. That was a lot of fun as well.

Until next time,

Ed.

Lucky Day

Tonight was bowling night.  One more week to go, then off for the summer!  I was feeling a bit lucky today, so you can imagine my surprise after my first game:

Game 1:  140

Ouch!  My average going into tonight was a 189, so I wasn't too pleased with that.  4 opens in the first 5 frames didn't help.  Games 2 and 3 made up for it though:

Game 2: 244

Game 3: 217

Don't ask me why.  When I got home I played a game of chess.  G/15.  I won!

And so passes another day.  Until next time,

Ed.

borked

Tonight was bowling night.  Another so-so night, I bowled somewhere around my average.  Unfortunately, as a team, we didn't do so well.  We took 1 point out of 4.  I believe the current slang for that is we got borked.  Today was certainly my day for getting borked.

This afternoon I was up in Gayle's office for a bit playing with her home-made stress ball.  What's that?  It's a balloon filled with flour.  Let me repeat that.  It's a balloon filled with flour.  More importantly, it's a balloon filled with flour that I'm playing with.  What could possibly go wrong?  Did I mention that I was wearing a dark grey shirt and black pants today?  I did learn something - I now know how to vaccuum myself.  I was going to go wash it off, but Gayle and Rae started laughing at me.  Apparently not a good idea.  Jim did offer to get me some newspaper.  

Maybe next time.

Ed.

Too hot to handle

So what's up with this weather?  It's april, and yesterday we saw a high in the mid to upper 80's?  Ouch.  My phone said 86, and when I got in my truck after work it was at 88.  Did I mention it's only april?  Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come.

Something about the heat just drains me.  I was totally dragging as the day went on yesterday.  Today shouldn't be quite so bad.  And it's bowling night!

Enjoy the day,

Ed.

The first rule of chess

I played in a G/15 tournament last night on the ICC.  It was an elimination tournament with 8 players, so if you lose, you're out!  The first round went well.  I played someone lower rated than I and slowly ground it out.  The 2nd round I got to play someone a bit stronger than that, but still about 200 points lower than I.  I was mated on about move 6.  That's not rust, it's stupid!

The first rule of chess:  Don't be stupid!

Maybe next time,

Ed.

The name of the game

I was tired today. After a long weekend of WOW raiding, sometimes you just need a break! I got home tonight and spend a little while on doing some daily quests, but then I just had to get off. I really didn't feel like doing anything in the game. So what did I do? Chess!

I joined the 9pm bullet tournament. 9 rounds, game in 1 minute!!! I finished with 4 out of 9. Not too bad really. Considering my bullet rating isn't so high, I was happy with that score. And a few of the games I also had winning positions but ran out of time. After that I played a bit more. Chess is one of those games that I enjoy playing, but it seems like I can't take more than an hour or so a night.

Someone had asked what books I had purchased. The first one was "Paul Morphy, A Modern Perspective" by Valeri Beim. I've really just started it, but it's an interesting read. He had an incredible memory. He was fluent in many languages and many believe had a photographic memory. I haven't gone over any of the games yet, just read some of the text. So a ways to go.

I also picked up the IV and V volume of Garry Kasparov's My Great Predecessors where he talks about Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov and an endgame book by Jeremy Silman.

Alright, I need to get an early sleep tonight! Tomorrow is another day.

Ed.

Just a glimpse

In addition to the usual weekend wow overload, I stopped at the chess club Saturday night.  I didn't actually play, just talked for a few.  As for wow, it was overall a good weekend:

Our 1st kara group saw a new boss.

Our 2nd kara group did I 3.5 hour clear of Karazhan.

We downed High King Maulgar in Gruul's Lair.

We downed the 1st 3 bosses in Zul'Aman.

I also continue my road to chess improvement.  June is the deadline.

All good stuff.  

I have the night off from bowling tonight.  That probably means a little bit of chess and a lot of wow.  But for now, I've got to get going.  For those of you that have the day off, enjoy!  For the rest of us, we do the best we can!

Hope you had a great weekend.

E.d

Lame is the name of the game

Tonight was bowling night. We got done a little early because both teams were missing a player. For me, it was an average night and I wasn't overly excited about it. But we did take 3 points out of 4. So overall, not bad. I believe our team is in 3rd place.

After that I stopped to grab something to eat and headed home. My plan was to play a bit of chess and then do some W.O.W. daily quests. So I got home, booted up the computer, and got on to the Internet Chess Club. For some reason, I decided to dive into the G/15 tonight. Maybe because I was eating dinner so I figured it would be a good way to eat and play. I sent out the match request and was paired against a 1638 rated player. That's about 300 points lower than my current rating, but with rust and all, I was happy that it should be a good game.

As these things go, my opponent was taking a little bit longer than I to move. After move 6 he had about 12 minutes left on his clock to my 14 minutes. After my 7th move he seemed to go into a deep think. So I took the opportunity to start opening my new chess books! Yes, they arrived at my doorstep today. Woot! Some new light reading before bed.

Time slowly past and I started thinking he was just going to let his time run out to annoy me. Why? Because when you're playing someone rated higher than you, you don't think that long on move 7! So I found myself hoping that I didn't get disconnected from the Internet. I have my options set on the ICC so that if they have the same setting, a disconnect is an automatic forfeit.

In the end, his clock ran out and I won on time. Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, lame! 16 minutes of my life I'll never get back. I gained a few rating points - like those are deserved right now!

Until next time,

Ed.

The Tin Man

I ordered some new chess books from Amazon.com this week.  In case you're wondering, the last time I ordered chess books from Amazon was on December 17th... of 2003!  Since I was probably at my chess peak in 2006, I think we can safely deduce that those chess books didn't directly impact my playing strength.  

Sadly, I continue to hold the title of the "Tin Man" of Chess.  The rust continues to be apparent.  You know the saying "It's going to get worse before t gets better"?  Thankfully, it's not going to get any worse!  The biggest piece is time management, and that should come back fairly quickly.

Tomorrow is still a day away, so why not give today a shot!

Ed.

A terrible thing to waste

My mind is not half empty, nor is it half full.  It's all empty.

And thus begins the journey of another day.

Ed.

The rest is up to you

I took the long way back to my car after work. It was nice out and I felt like a bit of a walk. It was only an extra minute or two, but it was worth it. Some days, it really is the simple things.

Today I give to you the world and everything that goes with it. The rest is up to you.

Until tomorrow,

Ed.

Sims 3

The Sims 3 is due to be released in 2009.  I used to love that game.  I'd get addicted for a weekend, get tired of it, and try it again a few months later.  Ah well, a ways to go yet.

Ed.

A little bit of that

Yikes! My chess game is rusty. I played some bullet chess tonight. I actually played in a 1-minute tournament when I got home from bowling. It was 9 rounds, and I got a 1 point bye since I joined late. My final score? 1.5! Ouch. After that I decided to play a 3-minute game. Ouch again. I played reasonably, but my time management was horrible. So it's not all bad.

Bowling was good. How good? Well, I didn't get 3 200 games, but it was close:

Game 1: 224
Game 2: 194
Game 3: 247

On the lane right next to us one of the guys started with 9, then struck out. 279. Ouch! Only 3 more weeks on Thursday nights. Mondays I think we go until mid-may.

Hope you enjoyed your monday!

Ed.

Deliver us not

One of my W.O.W. accounts expired.  Oh the temptation to not renew it.  I'm going to though, right away.  That's just the way it is.

For now at least.

Ed.

Just another post

Do you ever take a moment at the end of the day for quiet contemplation?  Stop right now.  Don't think about anything...

How was it?

If you weren't able to do it, what can I say.  Stop living in fast forward!  

Finally at around 10pm tonight I...  renewed one of my ICC accounts and played a few games of chess.  How was it?  Rusty, but I wouldn't say terrible.  There's still hope.  Unfortunately I still don't like losing.  But I get lots of practice at it, so maybe some day it won't be so bad.  After all these years, odds are it will always be bad.

W.O.W. this weekend was a bit like drilling a screw into the wall... only missing the wall and somehow getting it into your head instead.  There were some high points, so overall I'm not unhappy about it.  But damn does it drive you crazy.  

Hope you had a great weekend!

Ed.

The sound of Saturday

It sounds nice outside this morning.  Can you hear it?  I know, the sky is dreary and grey.  It looks like it's going to be another rainy day.  Still, it sounds nice.

For every day, there is a beginning.

Welcome to Saturday.

Ed.

or something like it

It might sound sad, but I'm looking forward to going to work today much more than I'm looking forward to the weekend.  I'm really not looking forward to the weekend.  Why?  Wow!  It continues to be a struggle to coordinate all the people for the weekend raids.  Even more so now that the nicer weather is upon us.  

Tom called me this week to ask me about playing in the club tournament in June.  Practice.  I must get back to chess.  

I also read this morning that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King has gone into closed alpha testing.  It sounds like that will be a definite release later this year.  

Enjoy your Friday,

Ed.

Back to good

Today we're going to see 69 degrees.  Wow!  What ever happened to giving us a while to get from 50-70?  Right now it's really nice out.  I think it's in the high 40's.  Beautiful early morning coolness.  I kept my window open a bit last night.  It was great!  As for me, feeling much better today.  Look out world.

Have a good one,

Ed.

Another night it's gonna be a long one...

The agony continues.  I'm not sure why, but it seems much worse from late evening to mid-morning.  I went to bed around 11 tonight... at least I thought I did.  I woke back up at around midnight.  At first I thought it was my alarm clock.  It was making that almost clicking sound that it makes right before it goes off.  Constantly.  

I tried to ignore it for a bit.  Then I realized that it was warm.  Not a good sign.  Finally the clicking got to me enough that I got out of bed to listen.  The clock was quiet.  That figures.  Source of the clicking:  unknown.  So I go back to bed and take off some covers.  Maybe that will help.  It helps for a minute, but then I get an upset stomach.  You know what that means...

It's going to be a long night.

I hope yours goes better!

Ed.

The Stomach Thing

There must be something going around.  My stomach has been terrible since Sunday night.  I managed to work just about a full day at work today... thanks to bowling night!  And I did bowl.  I don't remember the exact scores, but the were 200+, 200+, 190+ and I ended with a 607 series.  About half way through the last game the stomach pains started.  Hopefully it doesn't last too long.

I need to get my taxes done tomorrow.  As usual, I can't find a thing.  Everyone tells me not to wait until the last minute.  After all these years, I think it's a given.  

Here's to tomorrow!

Ed.

Stress Relief?

I saw an article today that starts like this:

A new study of computer gamers has found that a session in front of World of Warcraft can make players less stressed and more calm.. 

Excuse me?  I can only come to one conclusion myself.  Noobs.  The computer gamers they chose had to be a bunch of noobs.  

Enjoy the week!

Ed.

Better than the last?

I hurt my back yesterday.  I don't know how I did it, but I'm pretty sure that it's real and not imaginary.  I'm eyeing that bottle of advil with much affection.  Ok, I have to leave really early (for me) today.  Getting up at 6am isn't my normal thing.  

And so another day begins...

Maybe this one will be better than the last.

Have a good one.

Ed.

I will

Uncertainty and the great unknown.  Isn't that both the pride and sorry of the life we lead.  Once again we have come to the season of change.  Will this one be better than the last?  I hope so.  Small changes are the victories for which I currently aspire.  Victory may be but a state of mind, yet it is that state of mind for which I seek.  

Looking back I would have done a lot of things different, but to do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing.  But tomorrow, most certainly, I will.

Until then,

Ed.

Game of my life

It was just your average, everyday blitz game of chess. A game in 3 minutes. I decided to play against a computer rated 2805 on the ICC. I thought it would be good practice, because I haven't been playing chess much since September. In the end, I drew the game. It was a won endgame, but I had no time. So I just focused on taking all his pieces so that I'd at least be guaranteed the draw. When my time ran out, his clock was at about .2 seconds.

[Event "ICC 3 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2008.01.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Boman"]
[Black "QueenMaxima"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ICCResult "White ran out of time and Black has no material to mate"]
[WhiteElo "1483"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[Opening "Queen's pawn game"]
[ECO "A46"]
[NIC "QP.05"]
[Time "20:13:32"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. Be2 Be7 6. Nbd2 Nc6 7. c3 Nh5 8.Bg3 h6 9. Qc2 a5 10. a3 Nxg3 11. hxg3 O-O 12. O-O-O Re8 13. Rh3 Qc8 14. Rdh1Qb8 15. e4 a4 16. e5 Qa7 17. Nf1 d6 18. exd6 cxd6 19. Qd2 Na5 20. Kb1 Nb321. Qf4 Bc8 22. Rxh6 gxh6 23. Qxh6 Nd2+ 24. N1xd2 Bh4 25. Rxh4 f5 26. Qh8+Kf7 27. Rh7+ Kg6 28. Rxa7 Rxh8 29. Rxa8 Rh1+ 30. Kc2 Bb7 31. Rb8 Rh7 32.Nh4+ Kf6 33. Bf3 Bxf3 34. Ndxf3 b5 35. Rxb5 Ra7 36. Nd2 d5 37. Ndf3 Ke7 38.Ne5 Kf6 39. Nhf3 Kg7 40. Ng5 Re7 41. Rb6 Kf6 42. Ngf3 Rg7 43. Ra6 Rh7 44.Rxa4 Rg7 45. Ra6 Re7 46. b4 Re8 47. Ra7 Re7 48. Rxe7 Kxe7 49. a4 Kd6 50. b5Kc7 51. a5 Kb7 52. Ng5 Kc8 53. Nxe6 Kb7 54. Ng7 f4 55. gxf4 Kb8 56. Nf5 Kc757. Ne3 Kb7 58. Nxd5 Kb8 59. Kb3 Kb7 60. Kb4 Kb8 61. c4 Kc8 62. c5 Kd8 63.a6 Ke8 64. b6 Kf8 65. Kb5 Kg7 66. c6 Kg8 67. b7 Kf8 68. c7 Kg8 69. Ng6 Kg770. Nf6 Kxg6 71. Ne8 Kh7 72. Nd6 Kh6 73. Nf5+ Kg6 74. Ne7+ Kf7{White ran out of time and Black has no material to mate}1/2-1/2

Last night I decided to play another couple of games before bed. This time, the computer was 2572.

[Event "ICC 3 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2008.01.29"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Boman"]
[Black "OliPow"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ICCResult "Game drawn by repetition"]
[WhiteElo "1549"]
[BlackElo "2572"]
[Opening "Queen's bishop game"]
[ECO "D02"]
[NIC "QP.06"]
[Time "23:52:46"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 h6 4. e3 g5 5. Bg3 Bf5 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 Nc6 8.c3 e6 9. Nbd2 g4 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. Bxe5 c6 12. h3 gxh3 13. Rxh3 Rg8 14. Bxf6Qxf6 15. g3 a5 16. a3 a4 17. Qe2 Kd7 18. Qf3 Qg6 19. Qh5 b5 20. Qxg6 fxg621. Ke2 h5 22. Rg1 Rg7 23. g4 hxg4 24. Rxg4 Be7 25. Nf3 Bf6 26. Rhg3 Rag827. Nh4 g5 28. Nf3 Kc7 29. Kd3 Kb6 30. Ke2 Kb7 31. Kd3 Ka8 32. Ke2 Ka7 33.Kd3 Be7 34. Ne5 Kb7 35. Nf3 Rf8 36. Ke2 Rgf7 37. Rh3 Bd8 38. Rhg3 Rf5 39.Rh3 Be7 40. Rh7 Rxf3 41. Rxe7+ Ka6 42. Rg2 R8f6 43. Rg7 Kb6 44. R7xg5 Ka645. Rg6 Rxf2+ 46. Rxf2 Rxg6 47. Ke1 Rh6 48. Ke2 Kb6 49. Rf7 Rh1 50. Rf1 Rxf151. Kxf1 c5 52. Kf2 Kc6 53. Kf3 c4 54. Kf4 Kd7 55. e4 dxe4 56. Kxe4 Kd6 57.Kf4 Kd5 58. Ke3 e5 59. dxe5 Kxe5 60. Kf3 Kf5 61. Ke3 Ke6 62. Ke4 Kd6 63. Kd4Kc6 64. Ke5 Kc5 65. Ke6 Kc6 66. Ke5 Kc5 67. Ke6 Kc6 68. Ke5{Game drawn by repetition}1/2-1/2

Maybe it's just dumb lucky - but regardless I've been very happy with the results.

And now, it's time to get ready for work.

I hope all is well!

Ed.

Bowling

It's odd, but I feel like I'm bowling better this year.  I'd rather be playing wow, but on Monday nights I bowl.  How did I do this week?

Game 1:  215

Game 2: 247

Game 3: 209

Some days, it just feels right!

Have a great week.

Ed.

The Chess Club

I stopped by the chess club briefly this weekend.  Though I haven't been playing much chess lately, I ended up playing 3 games against Paul Sarrazin.  Final Score:  2.5-.5

I'd tell you all about how our guild downed Prince in World of Warcraft this weekend.  But, chances are, you don't really care.  Plus, I have to get going to work.  Otherwise I'd probably do it anyway.  We tried out Zul'Aman, but being our first time in there it wasn't pretty.  Fun though.

By the way Sean, if you're still out there, Paul says hi!

Enjoy the week.

Ed.