ChessFanatic

For Chess fans and fanatics alike

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

10. Rapid Improvement for Adults
Mike de la Maza

I just picked up this book in the library by accident. I think this is what I have been missing all along.
I have read 50 pages, and boy he makes a lot of sense!

Read a review of his books (at chess cafe)
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review328.pdf

Read his article, 400 points in 400 days...(once a very very popular download at chesscafe.com)

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles148.pdf
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles150.pdf

Sunday, July 27, 2003

9. John Henderson's Columns

can be found here.

Thursday, July 24, 2003

8. A PGN converter tool

I read about this in MIG's chesscafe column and am passing it on...

a tiny tool to translate text notation into various languages. Its results are much like those of a macro I once had for Word. You can download it for free here: http://www.code.gr/chess-converter/

Friday, July 18, 2003

7. I had forgotten about this site:
Chessdb.com


According to the blurb that made its way into my mailbox
Just to be sure, go through the following list of features of the website:

- over 100 000 chess games in PGN format ready for view in your browser
- over 3 500 chess puzzles which can be watched interactively on your screen
- over 600 hyperlinks to other chess websites
- over 1 200 PGN file downloads sorted by year and event
- over 2 000 opening variants, that can be viewed

Thursday, July 17, 2003

6. Pickings from Mig's Ninja Boards

If you hung a pawn, but your opponent didn't see it, did you really hang a pawn?
Someone referenced chessoutpost.com. I wonder what that site is all about?

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

5. Worked on understanding/remembering Caro-kann. I am tempted to create a Web Quiz, which guys like me can take to refresh our Caro knowledge.

Now, if only I can figure out how to start scoring, and possibly timing as well, I could develop a veritable BarnetCC like Quiz.
4. Dan Heisman's Novice Nook

An absolute must read for all chess amateurs. I am reading his Fistful of Lessons today.
He describes a common mistake: The Quiscence Error. When the player stops analyzing thinking that the position is quiet.

  • Don’t stop kicking a man when he is down or, to put it more politely, When both Kings are exposed and the heavy pieces are still on the board, the initiative (or attack) is often worth everything – so you usually should keep checking (or capturing) if you can.

  • Tuesday, July 15, 2003

    3.
    Have been listening to Bill Paschell's Annotated Games regularly. They are WONDERFUL!

    Also was listening to Pete Tamburro's AntiSicilian, and he highly recommends these two books:
    1. The Mammoth Book of Chess
    2. Gary Lane's Opening Ideas or system.

    Saturday, July 12, 2003

    2.

    Was listening to the commentary this morning on Chess.FM.

    Eliot made a remark that made me laugh.
    He was commenting on some moves by Gelfand, (playing against Judit) and he said that's Expansion without Resolution. And then he added, kind of like Representation without Taxation.

    Tuesday, July 08, 2003

    I have split this bloglet off, so that all chess related stuff can be here without interfering with all the other stuff in the regular blog.
    This will help me find the chess links quickly. Also, will serve as a kind of a chess journal.