Geneticist taking a break with some Online Chess

I could not help but reflect on the controversial work of a China Man geneticist named Dr. He Jiankui after beating somebody named Gene Doctor at ICC.  Not sure if the guy I beat is actually a doctor or just a big fan of the movie, but White actually wins after Black promotes his g2 pawn to a Queen if Black is careless where he places his Monarch after Nd7 check. Just a fascinating position!!! Note that Nd7 is a discovered check which also supports the Queening f8 square!!

The Guangdong doctor tried to modify genes to make the FrankenBabies immune to AIDS. The Chinese recognize this a illegal. No surprise this doctor wanted to become a proxy God after hanging out with the radical liberals in Berkeley California!!

Blockading with Queen is quite Alright!!

I still vividly remember the clamoring middle aged gentleman speaking defiantly that a Queen is NOT A GOOD BLOCKADER while shopping at a Goichberg book store in Las Vegas(Bill Hook can verify). USA chess player Augusta must have known this loud mouth because he refused to play Qd6 blocking the advance, and discovered check, of White's d5 pawn.

Even International Master Arthur van de Oudeweetering seems to occasionally spread this dogma. Denis Khismatullin, a strong player, also seems to believe that not to blockade with the Lady is an absolute truth. 

I think both of these chess talents know there are concrete cases where Queen Blockading is a tactical necessity, BUT they still need to be careful about the language they use when teaching chess or annotating their games!!

Queen to d6 is the best move in the diagrammed position for the reason that White does not have any Horses left on the board!! Black is even a little better after the CORRECT BITCH BLOCKADING MOVE.

An invasive Steed Saves the Day

I figured out why the guy my YouTube account defaults to is so damn popular:

1. He does not babble on while playing out the opening moves like some chess commentators do who pretend to know what the best move is.
2. The dude has the most tranquilizing, soothing voice I have heard.
3. He provides just a dollop of history as he quickly gets to the critical positions of the chess masterpieces he presents 

I wonder what Antonio Radic would think about the following position where Black is down the  exchange with an exposed and apparently vulnerable King. Czech Republic jugadore Nadateho must have believed the game was his after playing the instinctive Qd6 check. 

However, it is White who has to be careful and could easily lose with a careless misstep after Black moves his Monarch to the "safe square" h5. A key feature of the position is White's inactive f1 Rook viz a viz Black's hyperactive Horse! White's error was to ingest Black pawns at the expense of not activating his his f1 Rook. Rowson would certainly scold White for not having intimate cozy conversation with his phlegmatic Tower. White also unnecessarily weakened the f3 square providing a simple goal for the Black Knight. White can draw but has to acquiesce to a perpetual check which is hard to do psychologically when you had been winning the entire game.

Long live Agadmator and his lucrative passive income stream. 3.2 million subscribers to his channel and counting!!

Kuwait Player goes for too much out of Opening

Being patient enough to wait for the latent potential of King's Indian Bishop to be liberated was one of the favorite ideas of New Mexico chess talent Silas Perry. I had the pleasure of meeting Silas in Albuquerque during a National Guard deployment around a decade ago. 

Like many eccentric chess players, he has resisted attempts at communication, but that is OK since he helped me gain over 200 USCF rating points without knowing it! I did not want to admit it due to my extremely competitive spirit, but the four or five games I lost to the dude forced me to  retool my game!!

He and GM Kraai highly advocate taking paper notes in a real notebook and analyzing why one sometimes makes stupid moves at critical times in the game. 

One of Perry's favorite sayings was this guy should not be able to get away with "this attack". He won a game against Amarillo Master Simms when he felt the Texan had overreached. The game you see above where Kuwait player unexpected launched a suspicious attack reminded me of the sage advice of Silas. 

White's b2 Bishop is just oozing some latent potential  as the second player's "attack" has created an uncountable number of weak squares around his Monarch. This is sometimes OK in the Dutch Defense but not in this case as White mopped the mess up quite handily with an Ne1-Nd3 repositioning of his f3 horse which was being attacked by overextended g4 pawn

I know why you let me go

Rowland Roderick plays chess online and is one evocative musician. The title of one of his songs, Television is all I need, is patently false. I think Rowland also needs chess whether he is willing to admit it or not.😼 Also his non lyrical piece Soft Snowfall is tranquilizing and good for what ails me!

I hope he does not mind me disclosing his handle velvetfog ,if for no other reason, to find a path to his wonderful music via the link in his finger notes which also reveal the gentle philosopher in his core!

Swing Low Sweet Chariot my brother chess devotee. 

Chess Netiquette

Scotland chess player pantsaretrapped let his time expire in this totally hopeless lost position arising in a blitz game at ICC. Gentlemen resign rather than doing this. Maybe he is upset that countryman and pugilist  Conner Macgregor is retiring too early? 

The Scot did not disconnect and forfeit, as many angry defeated players do, he merely patiently waited for his time to run out. 

KingsEnemy from Chicago writes at length about etiquette and cheating among chess players. Jerry Nash, performs the more noble task, of being sure K-5 kids and students learn how to be good sports at an early age. He induces proper behavior by awarding merit badges, to borrow from Boy Scout custom, at an age where tiny circular pieces of fabric still have moral value.

Ben Finegold was involved in some alleged breech of etiquette which he handled like the lover of the game he is! East Side Christian School Chess Club has clearly posted guidelines and rules on what constitutes excellent sportsmanship over the board and ONLINE!

Influence of Book Reviews on Book Sales

I was overjoyed to learn that John Watson has secured stable employment with the United States Chess Federation. The French Defense advocate in a great writer and commentator regarding chess history and theory, recently espousing the profound work of GM Davorin Kuljasevic which seeks to eradicate the materialism malady which afflicts weaker club players. 

Also his full time position with the USCF should provide much needed health care benefits. I recall long ago John being ill and seeking contributions from other chess players to defray exorbitantly high health care costs. This was around a decade ago and medical care is even more through the roof nowadays!!

Watson got "beyond material" in his Advances since Nimzovitch magnum opus, so his review/assessment of Kuljasevic's new work should help sell many copies for the Croatian writing talent.  I wonder if it is possible to track John's influence on the gross proceeds for the much awaited book? 

Outpost Creation as it Relates to pawn structure

It has been awhile, but I seem to remember Icelandic chess talent Agust Karlsson giving a lecture at Exeter Chess Club on the topic of establishing strong outposts for Knights in particular. One of the more secretive United Kingdom club members defined an outpost to be any fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh rank square that could not be attacked by enemy pawn.

In the following position, Egypt player player mary-wagih19, had played in a desultory(A Bisquier favorite term, he even told me once word originated from acrobat during a delay between rounds at a Goichberg tournament at Casino in Las Vegas) sequence of opening moves leaving his Queen side pieces uncoordinated with no hope of rapid development(a very difficult concept to define according to IM John Watson and GM Rowson)

So would you take the Queen on c5 with Rook or Pawn? The answer is easy if you think in terms of outpost creation! Any decision in chess has an attendant price which in this case would be a weakened Black pawn structure with the compensation being outposts at b6 and d6 squares. This harmonizes with Horse hopping to c4 to occupy either dark square. 

The stockfish software "believes" the pawn recapture is correct and I doubt children's chess teacher Amanda Mateer would disagree!

Back Rank Clearance Tactical Motif

Not sure if back rank clearance is common parlance, but perhaps a glance at the diagrammed position will define it by picture. 

It is well known that hanging (en prise pieces) are the origin of any tactical sequence. Combine that with King safety and it is not difficult to see why Bishop to the g4 square initiates the fireworks against knightjouster5 during a blitz game at the internet chess club. BTW GM Jesse Kraai believes online chess along with the COVID-19 might irreversibly damage the long time control aspect of our beloved Royal Game. He and Greg Shahade are extreme adversaries in the short versus long time control paradigm shift!! Kraai's pithy and incisive column in Chess Life should win multiple awards!

Back to the diagram. White's hanging Queen at c2 and rook at a1 fully justify the "hanging attack" Bg4. Work through the variations. IT IS STUNNING!!

I am certain Saint Louis chess club commentator Jonathan Schrantz would include this in one of his instructional videos.