http://www.thechessmill.com Ramblings and ruminations on chess in Milwaukee and SE Wisconsin, the USA and the World Sun, 07 Feb 2010 05:41:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [I was reorganizing my shelves, thinning out my collection, and I ran across the following piece, from Badger Chess (Nov/Dec 1994). The words aren't mine, but I wish they were.] An angry mother asked the directors of the Wisconsin Junior Championship why lower rated players had to play higher rated players ... http://www.thechessmill.com/2010/02/07/chess-and-life/ Sacrifices in chess are the "nuclear weapons" of the game. Think about it: When an atomic bomb is exploded, matter is converted to energy, according to the famous formula in the title above, and the newly-created energy is released on the real-world target. In chess, the sacrifice converts material (the "matter" ... http://www.thechessmill.com/2010/01/25/emc2/ I gave a lecture at the club a while ago about Rudolf Spielmann, chessplayer from the early 20th century who, flawed as he was, has always been a role model for me. (In fact, when you consider that the two biggest influences on my chess style have been Spielmann and ... http://www.thechessmill.com/2010/01/25/spielmanns-legacy/ I'm wondering how important it is to keep the old comments. The new setup I'm thinking of will be using a completely different commenting system, one which I don't believe will accept the old comments. As I see it, I have two choices: I can include the old comments with ... http://www.thechessmill.com/2010/01/25/question/ Thought it was about time again I talked about the future of this ragged collection of recycled electrons. There will be change coming, that I can guarantee. Just what it will be is why we're sitting here, now. First, while I remain interested in, and committed to uncovering and writing about, ... http://www.thechessmill.com/2009/09/02/the-future-of-the-chessmill/ Today we begin a series on pawn endgames. It's an attempt to start with the complete and utter basics of the subject: A single pawn is enough to win the game. It's true. The lowliest soldier on the board is enough to win the game, if you understand how. Do you? Are ... http://www.thechessmill.com/2009/09/02/pawn-endgames-first-installment/ Shereshevsky, in his maladroitly-titled book "The Soviet Chess Conveyor", advises the student to study the classics. This is advice with which I heartily concur. It's only when he goes on to make an exception for all but a very few masters before Botvinnik I have the timerity to disagree with the ... http://www.thechessmill.com/2009/08/13/studying-the-old-masters/ "The importance of opening theory is grossly overestimated. Obviously, the knowledge of opening moves comes in handy when setting up a chess game, but this knowledge alone does not bring universal happiness. After this, you still have to play chess, and for that, other things will crop up." ~ Herman ... http://www.thechessmill.com/2009/08/06/on-the-importance-of-opening-theory/ A 1977 game between Duchess and Kaissa at the World Computer Chess Championship proves the value of memorizing checkmate patterns. Late in the game the following position was reached (Duchess was White): Kaissa, playing Black, ignored the obvious 1. … Kg7, and instead played the seeming blunder, 1. … Re8. This puzzled ... http://www.thechessmill.com/2009/07/27/computers-play-the-darnedest-things/ "Alas, there are very few chessplayers who train. The majority of them merely process information." ~ Mark Dvoretsky http://www.thechessmill.com/2009/04/03/174/