Mental wellness

Due to the Chess Pirate's mysterious travels, there's no CHESS CLUB session today.  Instead, here's a reminder to keep an eye on your mental wellness:

http://chessimprover.com/?p=4776

22 Jun 2012: Swindles !

Paul Morphy's birthday turned out to be one crazy day for Salem CHESS CLUB !

Due to the outrageous heat and humidity, CHESS CLUB went on another field trip, this time to a lavishly air-conditioned house in Swampscott.  On the way there, we found a horse !

We had to dust off the Chess Daddy's vintage Fidelity Phantom (akin to one of these) and use it as our chess set for the day !

Game 1: Gabridoodle - Chess Pirate, ½-½

This game began in the usual fashion and proceeded normally for a time.  The Gabridoodle had the Pirate on the run in a mild sort of way but then his game crumbled.  The decisive blow came at move 31 when she who constantly says, "No forking !" delivered a devastating knight fork, relieving the Gabridoodle of a rook.  His blunder of another rook later just added insult to injury. But in true CHESS CLUB fashion, he didn't give up.  He babbled about how it's hard to actually win a won position and how the Pirate might yet make a mistake.  The Chess Pirate seemingly had the game easily won, with two rooks against none and a criminally-minded passed pawn.  But then... An utterly shocking conclusion !  Stalemate !  An astonishing, unbelievable swindle !

Game 2: Chess Pirate - Chess Momma, 0-1

This game wasn't recorded and featured several irregularities, including the Gabridoodle engaging in acrobatics to save the Chess Pirate's notebook computer ("Save the martinis !," exclaimed the Chess Daddy).  We were delighted to have the Chess Momma join CHESS CLUB.  The Pirate was in command for a goodly portion of this game, but then the Chess Momma turned things around in a game perhaps qualifying as the second swindle of the day.  The Chess Momma will thus be in possession of The Shiny for at least three weeks (due to the Pirate's upcoming travels).

Bletchley Park documentary

We don't break German codes here at Salem CHESS CLUB, but nevertheless we might find this documentary about the World War II British codebreakers interesting.

http://chessimprover.com/?p=4697

Game at Gulu Gulu with a candidate member

This was a wild, crazy, and messy game held at the Salem Boardgames Meetup at Gulu Gulu.  This was not, repeat, not an exhibition game !  The Gabridoodle blundered away a queen in the early going but as usual, this setback was inspirational and he fought back with vigor.  The candidate member later fell victim to a discovered check that led to a sequence that did severe material and positional damage.  Indeed, the rest was mopping up.  In fairness to our candidate member, it should be noted that she played reasonably well for someone who was very much out of practice.

[candidate member] - Gabridoodle
Gulu Gulu Salem, MA, USA, 18.06.2012

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bg4 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.f3 Bh5 7.Bb3 Ke8 8.g4 h6 9.Ne6 Qd7 10.Nc3 Bf7 11.Ba4 Nc6 12.Nxf8 Rxf8 13.b3 g5 14.h4 Rh8 15.Ba3 gxh4 16.Qb1 Nd4?? 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7 18.b4 Nxf3+ 19.Ke2 Ng5 20.b5 h3 21.Rf1 Nxg4 22.Rg1 Bh5 23.Nd5 Rhf8 24.c4 Nf2+ 25.Ke1 Nf3+ 26.Ke2 Nxg1+ 27.Ke3 h2 28.Qxg1 hxg1Q 29.Rxg1 Nd1+ 30.Kd3 Nf2+ 31.Kc2 Nxe4 32.d3 Nc5 33.Rg5?? hxg5 34.Bxc5 dxc5 35.a4 g4 36.a5 g3 37.Kc3 g2 38.Kb3 g1Q 39.b6 axb6 40.axb6 Bd1+ 41.Kb2 c6 42.Nc7 Ra6 43.Nxa6 bxa6 44.b7 Rb8 45.Ka3 Rxb7 46.Ka2 Rb3 47.Ka1 Qf2 48.d4 Qb2# 0-1

15 Jun 2012: the perils of briskness

CHESS CLUB returned after a two week break.  The Gabridoodle brought his new chess kit, featuring: a roll-up board; nice, weighted plastic pieces; lesbian queens; a non-analog clock; and a carrying case.  The Chess Pirate was so flustered by the lesbian queens that she forgot that free promotion has been the universal rule since the 19th century.  We played only one, very brisk game -- the Pirate had some, let us say, shopping to do.

Gabridoodle - Chess Pirate, 0-1
Time control: Fischer, 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move.

The Pirate was on the run almost from start to finish.  She fell into a nasty queen's side trap that cost her a rook.  However, she kept plugging away, making a number of choice comments (cataloged below).  Proving that it can be tough to actually win a winning position, The Gabridoodle made a couple of minor blunders and eventually lost due to time running out !

The catalog of choice remarks (all from the Pirate unless otherwise indicated):

Move 7: "Go ahead, play with The Shiny, [Gabridoodle].  It'll be mine soon."

Move 9: [in response to being taunted with the Cadbury rabbit sound] "Keep clucking over there, buddy !"

Move 12: The Gabridoodle says, "My rook is better than your rook."  The Pirate replies, "That's fabulous."

Move 17: "Tricky little bastard, aren't you ?  I'm just gonna have to suck it up."

Move 25: "Take my rook, you bastard !"

Move 27: "This game sucks.  I've got to get my fuckin' queen moving."

It's movie day at CHESS CLUB !

8 Jun 2012: no meeting and other business

Due to the Chess Pirate's mysterious subtropical travels, Salem CHESS CLUB had no Friday meeting this week.  By default, then, the Gabridoodle keeps The Shiny for another week !

On Monday the 18th, the Gabridoodle is hoping to have a game with a prospective member (we may have to unilaterally declare him a "member emeritus") at the Salem Boardgames Meetup event at Gulu Gulu.  If the game happens, it will not, I repeat not, be an exhibition game.

The Gabridoodle has just signed up with the Free Internet Chess Server (an on-line chess venue) as user gabridoodle.   BabasChess is a good, free, graphical interface for use at FICS, incidentally.  He's hoping to get the Chess Doctor, among others, interested in playing games on-line, so stay tuned !

At our next meeting, we'll be using the Gabridoodle's new chess kit.  It features nice weighted plastic pieces, a proper chess clock, and a roll-up vinyl board. The board is being subjected to a systematic program of off-gassing, so it will hopefully not be too smelly when it's put to use.

1 Jun 2012: the very first CHESS CLUB field trip !

The Chess Pirate overcame some inner turmoil and decided she was up for playing today.  Her excellent idea was to go on a field trip and play at Forest River Park (the Chess Visionary wasn't there but we did have a brief teleconference in which we informed her of our plan to buy a horse).

Yes, we forged our parents' signatures on the permission slip.  At CHESS CLUB, that's how we roll.

The game: Gabridoodle - Chess Pirate, 1-0

Having found a picnic table with a sweeping ocean view, we broke out the Mexican chess set and got to work.  The Pirate's crazed attack in the early going was actually quite successful, insofar as it got her a nice little lead in material (poisoned pawn and all).  At move 3, the Pirate violated a textbook principle by moving a major piece and boasted, "Faint heart never won fair lady."  Further taunting of the Gabridoodle came at move 7; this time a hearty "That's right, bitch !" greeted his sensible knight retreat.  Ignoring the taunting and not being panicked over the material deficit, the Gabridoodle began hatching a plan.  At move 14 he issued what turned out to be anything but an empty threat: "I'm gonna put you in a world of hurt."  The Gabridoodle's plan, using the power of check, gradually unfolded.  By move 27, the Pirate was reduced to saying, "Check and suck it !"  Her collapse then became more rapid and by move 34 she was ready to resign, remarking, "Ah, this game's boring."