Humanity and Chess

Dragon Slayer in China!!

2011-08-15T04:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Its been a wild last few months! I'm still in China, specifically the city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province. I had actually gotten to play a good amount of chess games with some other westerners that live in my dorm. There were three college students during summer term who had played club chess to some extent. Two of them would be in about the 1400 range and another in about the 1500-1600 range. I went a combined 10-3 against them in long, casual games.

I finally came across a local group of players though. I'm not sure if they are directly affiliated with the Chengdu Chess Club but I know several of the players are regulars there. They were playing outside of a small noodle shop about half a mile from my dorms. I showed interest and one of the younger boys asked me if I knew how to play. I said yes and that I enjoyed playing. I was disregarded by the older players as they were concentrating on their games. The boy told me about a casual tournament at People's Park and I said I'd like to check it out.

It was more like the Reno Chess Club Swiss tourneys but it was outside in the blistering heat! It was all for fun but there weren't any push overs. I think I was the weakest player there in fact. I got crushed in my first two games and was able to take advantage of a blunder in my third game to keep from castling queenside (0-0-0) = )

In the first game I had white and I got abused in a French Tarrasch by a player who was probably expert or higher, I couldn't ask much chess lingo as he spoke no English and my Chinese doesn't have that type of vocabulary yet. The second game I got crushed in a Queen's Indian Defense by a very strong player (no idea what to say for rating strength). The third game my ego was a little bruised and I faced off with a 9 year-old boy. He actually knew enough English to hold a pretty good conversation. Where are you from, what music do you like and so forth. He has a FIDE rating which he claimed 1849, I believe his name was Wang Peng, but not totally sure.

Anyways I was able to play my line in the dragon and he made some moves which are standard in other Dragon lines, that just don't work against the line I play and I got him into trouble quickly, and then he started making bad moves. 1 of 3 ain't good but I played above my head all day!

Game one victory!!

2011-03-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

Quick update for those that care. I dueled my way to a victory with the white pieces in round one of the Western Class Championships. My opponent sported a French Defense-Fort Knox variation. I took my time and felt good about the game. When my opponent(1717)resigned he refused to shake hands because he was disgusted with himself.

Kinda weird guy but whatever...I'm a happy camper!!

Here is the game:

Western Class Championships

2011-03-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

Just checked into the Renaissance Agoura Hills Hotel for the Western Class Championships. The hotel itself is very nice and the quality of the room is more than I could have expected at the Chess price that they offered!

I should have a game tonight in the B section. Hope this thing starts off ok...

The win that wasn't

2011-03-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

Blunderfest

2011-02-21T18:52:00.001-08:00

Everything with a beginning has an end...

2011-02-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

Well my eight-game unbeaten streak was snapped on Thursday night by Matt Herald. I was on the Black side of a French Advance and had created a great position and began moving too fast, not looking at my opponent's options and got into trouble resembling my trouble at the Far West Open last year.

8 Game Unbeaten Streak!

2011-02-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

A little Anthropology for ya...

2011-02-04T15:40:00.001-08:00

Neandertals and Endurance Running

Endurance running has been cited since the 1980’s as a possible explanation for the modern human body plan. Past studies have focused on the running abilities of species such as Homo ergaster and Homo sapiens, with little or no mention of other species or genera. Currently in press in the Journal of Human Evolution is a discussion of Neandertal running capabilities.

The authors observed the length of the calcaneal tuber of the foot, which correlates with how far the Achilles tendon will stretch during movement. For this study measurements were taken of both Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis. Species with short calcaneal tubers stretch their Achilles tendons to a greater degree, which is then returned in the form of elastic energy. Species with long tubers stretch the Achilles tendon less and therefore have a lower return of elastic energy.

White Line: Calcaneus tuber length. Red Line: Achilles tendon moment. Correlation between the two values. Photo from Raichlen et al.

Simply put, a species with shorter calcaneal tubers will use less energy when running. Anatomically modern humans have been found to have short tubers, while longer ones are found on Neandertal remains. According to the authors, this variation has significant behavioral implications.

Unlike modern humans, the storage of less elastic energy in Neandertals would have made running less efficient. However, Neandertals were not necessarily at a disadvantage in the colder climates they are often said to have inhabited. It is more likely that running over long distances would have been energetically costly to them, without having huge benefits.

Long distance running would prove beneficial in warmer climates where animals are prone to hyperventilate when chased. Modern humans would have benefitted from endurance running because it would have aided in capturing prey. The same model does not necessarily apply in colder climates. A runner could chase an animal all day in low temperatures and never have the animal succumb to heat stress or hyperventilation. It is for this reason argued that the ability to run long distances would not have been as evolutionarily valuable to Homo neanderthalensis.

Discussing endurance running provides fascinating insight into human evolution. While the ability to run long distances can be very revealing about evolutionary history, lack of endurance can be as well.

By Matt Magnani

Raichlen, D.A., Armstrong, H., Lieberman, D.E. (2011). “Calcaneus length determines running economy: Implications for endurance running performance in modern humans and Neandertals.” The Journal of Human Evolution. Article in Press.

6 game unbeaten streak

2011-01-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

4 in a row!

2011-01-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

Ok so in my last post I aid two in a row but I forgot that I won my last game at the Nevada State Championships so that makes 4 wins in a row. Anything to keep up the motivation. Here is my first round game of the Club Championship Qualifier against James Mann.

I missed an easy recapture in the opening that would have ensured a big advantage and then we both worked on positioning our pieces and pawns towards central clarity.

Two in a row

2011-01-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

This one will be short and sweet. I followed up last week's victory with another win as White against a Caro-Kahn defense/Classical variation. Aside from two bad moves my game was pretty solid and I was aware of what I was doing with my minor pieces, whether my moves were right or wrong I was at least debating mentally, the merits of a move and how it could make my knights and bishops good/bad.

I ended up purposefully creating a bad bishop to weaken the enemy king position in this game and it worked out well. Enjoy!

On a night like this...

2011-01-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

On Thursday I returned to action at the Reno Chess Club ad was able to swindle a victory from an utterly hopeless position. I had remembered several posts on the blog “Soapstone’s Studio” espousing the joys of a swindle, so while my position was becoming more and more hopeless I tried to think about; what if he messes up and I can take the game? I looked back over some of the blog entries and I kind of got inspired for a detective narrative.
So I hope you enjoy it, there are several homage’s to movies and books throughout. On a totally separate note, I so far really like Silman’s 4th edition of his classic How To Reassess Your Chess books.

The rain was coming down hard as I walked down 4th street that night. I was down to my last dime and hoping that this business venture would be short and sweet. Things had been rough lately, jobs gone sour, informants with bad information; a few bullets may have even flown my way. I kept telling myself it was crazy being a P.I. but what else did I know how to do? Ah the hell with it, here’s the place.
I stepped into the Wrondel offices at a quarter to ten that night. The lighting was low and the lobby was quiet…too quiet. I walked up to the well-dressed receptionist “I’m looking for Mike Houser” I asked her, it came out almost as a whisper.
“I’m sorry sir, you will have to speak up”, she replied.
“I says, I’m looking for big Mike, Mike Houser”.
“Oh, third door on the right…stay to the right”, she said in a dismissive manner.
I heard this guy was a straight-shooter, Jersey boy. Rumors he did time in the Pen upstate, but he paid in cash and it wasn’t my policy to question the hands that fed me. I hesitated, and then pulled open the door.
“Ahh, I’ve been expecting you. I’ve heard allot about you. They say you used to do whatever it takes to solve a problem. In the Bronx they called you the Harrington Hammer,” the man said with a solid grin and an all-too penetrating stare.
“You’ve done your homework Mr. Houser. But that was a different life. Whiskey, women and rough-necking with my share of knuckle-heads has soured my palate to anything like the Bronx days,” I said calmly, wondering exactly what this man had in mind for me tonight.
“I’ll get to the point, as your time is as valuable as mind, no doubt. There’s a kid down on the eastside, goes by the name Matt Herald. He’s been outta the game for a spell, but he’s been cutting into my turf and I need you to do some recon for me. Take some pictures, eavesdrop some conversations. The word on the street is he may be talking a backdoor deal with the deputy mayor in an abandoned warehouse right by the Fisherman’s Whorf, tonight at midnight”.
“I trust you can still use those keen eyes and ears that have made you such a commodity in this…community,” he said.
I hesitated; I had a bad feeling about tonight. No moon in the sky, wet as a rainforest and I’m tracking a man I know nothing about. “This doesn’t smell right. It’s gonna cost you double, and I don’t take checks”, I finally answered.
“Deal!” he quickly quipped.
I shuttered a bit and left the office with a photo of my mark, and my wits.
I could smell the salt in the air as I approached the dark seaport. Wasn’t a soul in sight but I glanced a broken windowpane and a door slightly cracked open. This was the warehouse. I took a deep breath and stepped inside…
1 d4 e6 As I slowly moved through the opening of this creepy building I began to hear a man’s voice.
2 c4 Nf6 As I circled the voice, he came into view. He was yelling at a beautiful woman in a business suit. I took my position behind some steel-drum barrels in a dark corner.
3 Bg5 Bb4+ I took out my camera and began snapping photos. It sounded like the woman was being blackmailed and it now occurred to me, this was the deputy mayor.
4 Nc3 h6 5 Bxf6!? She spoke up and I clearly heard when she said “Mr. Herald if you think I’m going to make a deal with you, I’m afraid you’re wasting your time,” and as she finished speaking he slapped her across the face and laughed. 5…Qxf6 She slapped him back and began running in the direction of the door.
6 e3 Herald opened the door to his right and I spied several henchmen putting on black gloves and one sharpening a butcher knife.
6…c5 7 Nf3 I loaded my pistol without thinking and the men walked into the room.
7…0-0 8 Be2 cxd4 The two gloved men grabbed the woman and I threw a stone through a large window across the warehouse.
9 Qxd4 Herald drew his sidearm and cautiously investigated the noise.
9…Bxc3 I quickly kicked over one of the heavy steel barrels and it began rolling towards a thug holding the mayor, and it struck the man with a thud. I stealthily ran into some shadows in an adjacent corner. The man’s knee appeared to be injured and he was writing with pain on the damp concrete.
10 Bxc3 Qe7 Herald faced the woman, “You didn’t come alone did you?” He pointed the gun at her and she struggled fiercely, breaking the slippery hold of the remaining gloved thug.
11 c5!? Herald pulled the woman to the ground and shoved the steel drum over top of her, effectively ending her squirming for the time being.
11…Nc6 12 Qd6 Qf6?! 13 Nd4 The gloved thug lifted a Tommy Gun from the table and stood in the middle of the room ready for action.
13…Qg5 14 0-0 e5?! 15 Nb5 a6 16 Nc7 Ra7 17 Rab1 As my eyes began to adjust to the darkness I began to realize I was seriously outgunned and outmanned, and that it wasn’t as dark in here as I would have liked it to be. They were too close to the door for me to make an exit and I could see no possible way to fee the mayor.
17…Qe7 18 Rfd1 f5 19 Bc4+ Kh8 20 Qg6 Rf6 As I went to put away my camera, I accidently leaned to hard against the barrel and it went tumbling over! It landed with a thud. The Tommy gun started spraying his heat in my direction as I ducked behind my cover. Then the others were shooting off smaller caliber shots, I was pinned down, returning fire just to keep them at bay.
21 Qg3?! One of the perks slowly backed up and he was now right under a load of boxes hoisted by rope. I kept that in mind and focused my attention on the Tommy Gun.
21… Rf8 22 Rd6 Qd8? I leaned out and finally had a good shot at the Tommy Gun, but he was gone? I couldn’t see him, I was a sitting duck!
23 Rg6?? F4?! I began frantically shooting at the rope above the thug, I could barely see the line and was running low on ammo.
24 Qg4?? A stroke of utter luck from above. Herald slipped in the sludge-puddle and dropped his gun. It slid close to the woman.
24…d5! I rolled out into the open and now had all three villains in range and none could get off a clean shot at me.
25 Re6?? dxc4 All of a sudden the packages fell from their bindings and crushed the man, she had apparently gotten the weapon and shot the rope which I missed so many times.
26 Rd1 Qxc7 I lined up my shot and sent the Tommy gun flying into the air and it landed on the ground with a clank, a moment later its user fell with his last breath.
27 Rdd6 Bxe6 28 Qxe6 Qf7 I took out the final gloves henchman and we turned our gaze to the now solo Matt Herald.
29 Qh3 fxe3 30 Qxe3 Raa8 31 h3 Rad8 32 a4 Herald ran out of bullets and began throwing old railroad spikes and bits of heavy metal at us. He was determined to fight to the very end!
32…Rxd6 33 cxd6 Rd8 34 Qc5 Qd7 35 Qxc4 Qxd6 36 g3 Qd5 37 Qg4 Qd1+ He made one last attempt at the door and then fell in exhaustion, Hands in the air and disappointment on his face.
“You really had me sweating Herald. What were you thinking, messing around in my town?”
“I had you man, I had you,” he said with strength in his voice.
“That you did, and now you know what it’s like to be swindled.”
I tied him up and gave a call to big Mike. He’d want to talk to herald personally. I then turned to the deputy mayor, that was some nice shooting there ma’am. You can back me up anytime”, I said with a coy smile. I turned and walked away.
“Handsome stranger, you ever considered a career in politics?” she yelled after me.
“That business is too rough and dirty for a man like me, take care ma’am.
As the sun rose over the harbor I felt alive and I had won…

Sicilian Najdorf-English Attack

2010-12-17T21:21:00.000-08:00

Here is my second round game of the Nevada State Championships. I had the white pieces against young up and comer Oswaldo Rodriguez of Las Vegas. He parlayed a sharp line in the Sicilian Najdorf and as he floundered trying to achieve counter-play I was able to secure the victory.

Nevada Crusade

2010-09-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

On September 25th the Reno Chess Club began a crusade to return the Nevada State Championship trophy to its proper home in Reno. Battling the evil Las Vegas team, whom had guarded it viciously for 6 years.

In 1187 the German emperor frederick Barbarossa with Phillip 2nd of France set forth to finance and lead a "crusade" to retake the Holy Lands from Saladin and his various allies.

A year later the newly appointed king of England: Richard 1st "The Lion-Hearted" declared his allegiance to the endeavor-while much has been made of overriding religious sentiment in casual discussion of the Crusades- the true goal was Near-East riches, expanded trading routes, prestige and adventure.

Barbarossa drowned during the voyage to the Holy Lands and Phillip would fail to stay away from France long enough to support the cursading campaign to a victorious conclusion. These factors did however lead to Richard 1st engaging in heroic efforts, enabling the Latin kingdom to survive another century, but even he could not retake Jerusalem alone. He and Saladin eventually settled on an uneasy truce.

But before peace, there were gnarly and brutal military encounters...

The siege of Acre- August 28th 1189

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 A small Christian force lead by Guy de Lusignan boldly lay siege to Acre.

3 exd5 exd5-Instead of investing in a strategic charge Lusignan harasses Acre from a distance. Launching rotten animal carcasses and fire bales into the stronghold by way of trebuchet.

4c4 Bb4+ A siege engineer launches a fire bale with great precision and scores a direct hit on the Muslim's main granary!

5 Nc3 Bf5 6 Nf3 A patrol of Muslim cavalry has completed their tasks and returning to the city are shocked by a besieged battle scene. They bring news of an incoming naval blockade of ships from Pisan and Genoa.

6...Nf6 7 Bg5 The cavalry patrol flanks the exposed siege engines.

Qe7?! Lusignan abandons his trebuchets in fear that the charging horsemen are scouts from Saladin's army.

8 Be2 dxc4 9 0-0 0-0 10 Nd5! Having smashed Lusignan's long-range artillery brave Islamic warriors charge, spears pointed into the heart of the crusading infantry. They converge in a tight double-file formation and then spread out as they close in on the enemy troops. This causes a great panic, Lusignan's troops are now disoriented and communication is very difficult.

10...Qd6 11 Nxf6?! Thinking that this small Christian force comprises Europe's entire attack, the cavalry plunge into the heart of the crusader cavalry, leading to the loss of many horsemen for both sides.

11...gxf6 12 Bh6 Re8 13 Nh4 Bg6 14 Bxc4 Re4!? The spirits of the men are lifted as Phillip 2nd joins the battle!

15 Nxg6 hxg6 16 Qd3? Acre sends out lightly-armoured skirmishers to finish off the invading troops with their quick moving formations and projectile weaponry.

16...Qxd4! Richard 1st The Lion-Hearted enters the battle with an unseen crossbow barrage, followed by heavy cavalry charges!

17 Bxf7+?? For fear of death the commander of Acre "blinks" and in a moment of panic he sends his troops on an all-out attack, Richard is in his cross-hairs! A great battle ensues.

17...Kxf7 18 Qb5 Qb6?! 19 Qd5+ Re6 20 Be3 Qc6 21 Qb3 Na6?! Phillip's forces are uncoordinated and are proving to be of little help in this battle. The horses are spooked and their riders are uneasy.

22 Rac1 Qe8 23 Rc4 Be7 Richard regroups, calling out to his troops "Maintain formations, they wish to confuse you! draw on the strength of the True Cross! This shall be our finest hour!"

24 Qxb4 Rb8 25 Qf3 Rxb2! The gates of Acre have been breached by an English battering ram!

26 Qh3 The knights of Allah continue to pressure close to Richard. If they can kill the leader, victory will be theirs

26...Bf6 27 Qh7+ Bg7 28 Rg4 g5?? Richard's veteran bodyguards over pursue attacking forces and leave their king very vulnerable.

29 Qh3?? Acre's main division fails to exploit the tactical errors of the crusaders and fall back.

29...Rb4 30 Rxb4 Nxb4 Both sides are exhausted an begin to fight under the emerging moonlight, a chaste breeze saves many from heat-stroke.

31. Qg4 Bf8?! Phillip's last group of longbow men back up the royal position, no longer attacking the city.

32 h4!? The peasants and children are given knives and farming tools and forced to attack the vulnerable crusader kings.

32...Nd5 33 hxg5 Nxe3 34 fxe3 Bg7?! Phillip's men are close to deserting, they have had enough of this battle!

35 Rf3 Rxe3?? Lusignan's forces have breached the inner-courtyard but European leadership is under heavy duress.

36 gxf6 Re1+ 37 Kf3 Qe2+ 38 Kg3 Qe5+ 39 Kf2 Qe2+ 40 Kg3 All sides have paid heavily in this battle. Richard allows Muslims to retreat and abandon Acre as the Muslim forces stop just short of breaking through to him. He has taken the city, but at what cost? His victory may turn to defeat as Saladin's army is close and fully mobilized.

The blood that screams out from the now wet desert soil leaves Richard with his inner thoughts and justifications for this battle rattling around his skull. As he lay in bed, still in shock from the intensity of battle, he whispers to the shadows, or perhaps to God himself, "I wish not Saladin to be my Richard..."

First game back

2010-07-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

Lost-Season One-

2010-06-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

Nice to get away from Chess for a bit and now that I've had time to sit back and think about Lost, I wanted to write a bit about it. I had a pretty lengthy conversation with one of my best friends who was disappointed about not getting the answers he felt entitled to. Most of the questions he still had were actually already answered on the show (maybe not to his/or others satisfaction). I was hesitant to put time into actually going over any of the answers since I've never felt that revealing them was a strength to the show, having mystery and developing characters, along with using unorthodox storyboard techniques were always Lost's strengths.

So I thought I'd take a thoughtful look at the so-called Answers. Keep in mind that one of the main goals of the writers was always to leave lots of ambiguity for you and me to have opinions on the reality of the island and the characters.

We'll take a look at the questions posed in Season One, first, and see where it leads us. But as was so perfectly inserted in the episode "Across the Sea" the woman caring for the Man in Black and Jacob cuts off endless questions with "Every answer will lead to more questions"; which is true of any type of knowledge, and in that way one of the more profound insertions of Season six, but getting down to business. Lots of my info is pulled from a collaboration of sources with the Lostpedia has a guide.

Why did the plane crash? A good place to start. Not surprisingly, with everything going on with the plane crash and the new island struggles, the reason for the plane crashing was a bit of an after-thought until the force of the new show started to settle in.

On September 22, 2004, Desmond Hume, who had been maintaining the DHARMA Initiative's electromagnetic station on the Island for the past three years, failed to enter the Numbers into the computer in time after having accidentally killed Kelvin Inman. This resulted in a system failure and an electromagnetic buildup. Although Desmond eventually managed to reset the Swan's countdown, the electromagnetic force had been strong enough to pull down the plane and cause it to break apart in mid-air. Desmond wouldn't come to realize his role in the crash until more than two months later. We find all of this out in the episode "Live Together Die Alone, Part One"

More interesting is that Jacob led these people(and the plane along with them) to the island as "candidates" to replace him as a protector of the island. Jacob didn't pick happy people; he picked people who lived a "lost" existence.

What is the Smoke Monster and what is his nature/properties? We find out near the end of the series that the so-called Smoke Monster is an evil remnant of a not so evil twin brother of Jacob. I will discuss the “Man in Black” as separate as I can from the Smoke Monster, as I consider them different characters. The Monster’s powers include the ability to turn into a cloud of smoke and have quite a devastating effect on the material around him. He has also shown the ability (as early as episode one) to take the form of those that have died, e.g. Christian Sheppard, John Locke, Alex Rousseau and even Richard Alpert’s dead wife. He also has been shown to have the interesting ability to see into the pasts of people he has met.

I like to think that the Smoke Monster’s purpose is relative to whom perceives it. Since many characters seem to have come up with interesting ideas about what the monster is up to. For quite a while we are content with “the Others” point of view that the Monster is like a security system for the island. The Dharma initiative felt it was enough of a threat to create a system of sonic fences to control its movement. While it appears that Ben Linus can summon it by special technique in his small home in the Dharma camp he is quick to tell us that he thinks the Monster actually summons him.

Ben and Mr. Eko feel that the Monster is a judge of sorts and that when he approaches people it can weigh whether the person deserves to die, as explained by Mr. Eko in Season 3’s “The Cost of Living”.
The Smoke Monster wants to leave the island and will stop at nothing to escape.

Why are there Polar Bears on this tropical island? Starting in the episode “lockdown” we begin to understand that the Dharma initiative was testing exotic animals on the island, and actually modified them to be able to live in tropical climates. A fantastic teaser was shown in the episode “Confirmed Dead” where the Anthropologist Charlotte finds Polar Bear bones and collar with the insignia of the Hydra station. The Dharma folks used the Polar Bear to see what would happen when they spun the wheel, which indeed sends you to a spot in the Tunisian desert.

Who recorded the distress signal and why is it still repeating after 16 years? The distress signal which we are presented with in the pilot episodes was created by Danielle Rousseau, a young scientist whom wrecked, along with friends on the island. It kept playing because she never got rescued.
What is the Black Rock (mentioned in the distress signal)? The Black Rock was a slave ship from the 1800s which was piloted by Magnus Hanso (an ancestor of the Dharma founder) taking prisoners/slaves including Ricardo (Richard) Alpert. A large tidal wave launched it towards the island where it destroyed the huge statue and came to rest deep within the islands interior.

Who were the skeletons that Jack and Kate found in the caves? The skeletons which were found in the caves belonged to “the man in black” and the one called “mother”. She was the protector of the source before Jacob and was attempting, after murdering Jacob and the man in black’s mother (Claudia) to be there mother, raising one eventually to take over for her and protect the source.

The man in black was disillusioned after he found out all the lies she had told him and that she had killed his real mother, he choose to live with the other people who crashed with his mother, many years prior. The man in black wasn’t evil, he wanted truth and to be free to see the world. He began working with the other people and found a way to harness the source, the eventual wheel, mother became upset and killed all the people and ruined they’re project. He soon after stabs mother and physically dies by Jacob’s hand, creating the monster.

Jacob placed the bodies in the cave with the two stones.

What is the purpose of the cable that Said finds leading into the ocean? The cable, apparently lead from the dharma station “Flame” to other stations on the island. Sayid found a cable which lead to the “Looking Glass” station, which was an underwater station which helped guide the submarines and also served as a communications station.

Who are the Others? The term “the Others” in Lost typically refers to the people whom conspired to kill the members of the Dharma initiative and control most of the island, for most of the show. The Others initially consist of Richard Alpert and any other people who are lead to the island by Jacob. It then included Benjamin Linus who lead the slaughter of the Dharma folks.
They then use the resources of Dharma to continue the objectives set form by Jacob.
What are the “whispers”? The whispers which would sometimes be heard by people on the island was a remnant of those that died on the island and weren’t able to move on. An example I found in Lostpedia was Libby whom would appear and also whisper, but was able to get through and be part of the spiritual reunion at the end of the show.

What do the “numbers” mean? This is one of the more complex and debated issues so I will try to leave this simple so as to allow people to form their own opinion. The numbers do represent values of the Vanzetti Equation, which was released as a canonical experience in between seasons of Lost called “The Lost Experience”. There were in fact little details, especially with the numbers, and some higher ups in Dharma which the Lost experience provided extra info.

Many Lost fans aren’t really aware of “The lost Experience” so aren’t especially pleased to know that there is quite a bit of canonic info outside of the actual syndicated show.

As far as the show goes we know that the numbers represent different degrees which Jacob must turn his wheel to view the candidates, in his lighthouse. The whole idea of the Dharma initiative was actually to alter the numbers of the Vanzetti Equation, to change the course of the earth’s ultimate destruction.

What is the significance of the Hatch? The fascination of the Hatch was a spectacular part of the show. The hatch is where the release of electro-magnetism occurred and using the computer to type in “the numbers” one was supposed to stop a large build-up of E.M. The very popular character Desmond Hume was left in charge of this task.

A very popular storyline revolves around whether the button pushing is real or a social experiment, and several characters disagree, often violently on what is the truth.

What is the explanation for the so-called Hurley Bird? This was never answered and actually when the question was posed to a producer of the show he declined to talk about this bird’s significance. For those that don’t remember, a huge bird flew by twice and says Hurley (even in the sub-titles). The resulting silence and lack of explanation has lead to intelligent speculation including the idea of “Altjira” an Australian Aboriginal God of the dreamworld, which just so happens to be a huge green bird! Interestingly, if you remove the l and the t you get ajira, which is the name of an Indian airline which the “Oceanic Six” take to get back to the island.

Well that’s at least a good starting point. Those were a lot of the main questions from the first season (and many of them lasted deep into the series). Hopefully it can lead to some ideas on the show for people and I plan on listing some more ideas for other seasons, more for me than anyone else. I kind of enjoy going through the episodes and trying to figure stuff out.

Far West Open Round 5....10 move than I lose

2010-05-17T17:32:00.000-07:00

I don't often drop a piece. In fact there have only been a handful of games in my chess career where i drop a piece, and this was one of them. On board one, the final day of the tournament with a chance for 1st place and some decent cash I went and blew the game inexplicably. Since the game is pretty short and pretty much all book till I lose I've added a bit of info on the opening choices for both sides. Enjoy.

French Advance (or) another win to keep me interested...

2010-04-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

Here is my round one victory from the Far West Open. I started this tourney off pretty strong with 3.5/4 and then fell apart on day three when everything was on the line. This was a pretty straight-forward game against a French-Advance variation. My opponent made a few inaccuracies in the opening and I was able to exploit them and slowly improve my advantage.

Enjoy the game!

Bloody Sicilian

2010-04-25T22:47:00.001-07:00

Here is another recent game in mind which has some resemblance to my last blog post. This was a second round victory for me at the recent Far West Open. I have white this time and I face a Sicilian defense. I get a pretty good lead in development, flounder for a little bit and then finally capitalize on my opponent's errors. Maybe posting a few of these wins of late can pep my ego back for playing over the board games, either way hope you enjoy the game and any questions or suggestions are welcome.

Maybe I'll show some games...

2010-04-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

I was going to display a long grinding win I achieved against Soltani but it appears that I've botched the score sheet. So here is my game the next week against Harry Chrysanthou.

I won this game rather quickly, but it may hold some value nonetheless.

The end of the road...

2010-04-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Well chess, I've come to a dead-end with you. I get much more agony from my blunder-prone loses than I do joy from my wins. Although I learn new skills I am still continuing to make the same mistakes that better players just don't make. Setting my ego aside I'm now pretty sure that I don't have the concentration abilities that others have. No matter whether I know how to play a position, opening or ending, I continue to not pay attention, play to fast and blow my games. I started off this tournament well winning my first three...but then I blew a clear win and didn't see a free piece in round four settling for a draw. Round five I am on board one with a shot to take first place and I proceeded to lose in about ten minutes...I won a pawn, then gave up a piece in amateur fashion. Game six I got into a losing position, fought hard and found a draw, then allowed a simple fork.

I beat a guy in the third round who has won over 10 million dollars playing poker professionally. Which made me realize that I'm not where I want to be in life, others are playing this game as a leisure, it mostly feels like a chore for me now.

Thanks for everyone who helped me get better but I think I'm done...

How to lose a tourney in ten minutes...

2010-04-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

Spend two days fighting hard and playing decent chess only to throw it away with a careless move on board one with the tournament on the line. Sometimes I don't know why I play this game...

Harrington v. Arteaga -learning Rybka

2010-03-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this game without my comments or analysis because i've been working with the Rybka Aquarium software and learning how to do some different things with it. I took this game which was pretty even throughout and ended in a draw. I then let Rybka do the analysis. He provided his own branches and opening variations which could have been played and gives an approximate evaluation of the position. He also gives his own ?! and ? where he feels appropriate.

This was a Ruy Lopez-Steinitz defense. An opening that is solid for black but not so many winning chances when white plays safe, as I did. I thought it would be interesting to just post the Rybka analysis which will usually help me in my own search but in this case, since its new to me let's take alook at a purely mechanical view of the game. Once again, NONE of this analysis is by a human. Nor did I interfere or cut and paste in any way, this is a full Rybka study.

Suprised

2010-03-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

I'm suprised to have received several phone calls about my last post. Concerned players that didn't wanna see me miss out on playing, even though they respected my reasoning. I guess it's to my overall benefit to play the games that are remaining on my schedule. I'm not that consistant and over the board play is most-likely to help that. I still think that this whole process is unjust but I guess I need to let the people in power do what they want. Little guys like us never have a say in things like this anyway...

??

2010-03-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

So I think I'm done with this tournament for the Club Championship Qualification. Apparently one of the members of my qualification group, who also happens to be the Club President is being seeded into the finals without having to play a single game! The format which we all have been following consisted of two fairly-evenly matched groups where the top four scores for each group would move onto the next round.

One member has been sick and missed his first six or seven matches. He assured us that he would make them up (like anyone of us would have to do in his situation) "even if he has to play 7 games in 7 nights" I believe those were his words. I have now found out that he doesn't in fact have to play any of these games and he is being seeded into the finals. As a rule, the club has generally seeded the previous reno club champion into the finals, this would be Edwin Straver whom is in fact already seeded into the finals.

On top of this injustice, our group now will only get three members into the next round instead of the prescribed four. Someone whom played a good tournament is going to left out simply because one member is getting special treatment.

Chess is supposed to be fun and the tournaments should be fair as possible. I rarely get involved with the politics of the club but this is one case where influence is giving an unfair advantage to another member, in full contrast to the prescribed rules which we all accepted when we set aside our thrusday nights for this tournament.

I'm not blaming anyone for this mishap, I just can't conscientiously continue playing when the rules are so blatently being manipulated to the advantage of the select. This will probably(paradoxically) turn me into the bad guy, so be it...

Rybka Aquarium

2010-02-21T19:19:00.000-08:00

If anyone out there has the Aquarium interface for Rybka please let me know. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make opening trees and databases. Any help would be greatly appeciated.

Club Championship Qualifier: Round 3 or "Drunken Boxing"

2010-02-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

My thrid round game in the Reno Club championship Qualifier was against Vern Young.He has recently become A class and has a chess teaching business with youth players in the area.He has a blog as well which can be accessed at http://vernonryoung.wordpress.com/

Weve now played three times with an even score of +1-1=1.With the school semester starting the same week of this tournament I have had very little time and energy to try any sort of preparation for my opponents so I decieded to play the Closed Sicilian this night.I have a basic understanding of the ideas and knew it could present for a positional and if I was lucky tactical oppourtunity.

I must say though, I made many mistakes in this game by not using my clock wisely.After 15 moves I had used only 28 minutes and my opponent had used about 53. Enjoy the blunderfest!

Chris Harrington 1600 v. Vern young 1912

Just blew a won game against an expert...

2010-02-05T01:11:00.000-08:00

The game will be posted along with my third round game as soon as I get a chance.Probably later this week.Just know for now that I was in a worse position,played an exchange sacrifice,and caught him playing a failed tactic,but then didn't bring it home.Needless to say I'm happy to have fought hard and have had a good four games, but this sucks to be so close and fail...

Club Championship Qualifier Round 2

2010-02-03T01:27:00.000-08:00

My second round game in the Reno Club championship Qualifier ended in a lose.Aside from that I was pleased with most of my play and the ideas I had, as well as my opponents ideas that I was able to read.I out played him a bit in the opening and reached a pretty nice position with black, defended pretty accurately against a scavenging queen and then inexplicably drop a pawn and with it the game.Hope you enjoy the game!
George Fischer 1907 v. Chris Harrington 1600

the Dragonslayer returns

2010-01-17T01:22:00.001-08:00

The knight smelt the burning aroma from a good deal away from the scene of battle.The dragon had been spotted several days prior by several townsfolk.The knight was sent with the specific mission of bringing back the corpse of the great beast.

He wasn't by any means a veteran but then again this wasn't the first dragon to meet his blade.He knew absolutely nothing else about this beast.Sizes and color varied in the different accounts but the general feeling was a mid-sized monster with decent skill at destroying the men that had come to challenge it.

The smell of the smoke eminating from the beast's nostrils allowed the knight to prepare himself mentally for battle.As he stepped out into the clearing he saw the beast lumbering out of the entrance of a large cavern.The knight drew his sword and charged the dragon.The dragon was immediately in the air and they circled each other as the beast swooped and eventually touched down in the clearing.The kinght saw the glistening purple scales and the large talons and became focused on the struggle that was taking place.It was him or the beast.This wasn't going to end in anything but death.

The knight began swinging his sabre very skillfully at the dragon.The dragon began backing up and trying desperately to dodge the sharp, cold metal.He was knocked back and began tumbling back and the knight took up a very aggressive stance.

The dragon then unexpectantly charged the knight.The knight was suprised, from this distance it wasn't so difficult to avoid any attack from the dragon and continue his assault.In fact the knight allowed a blow to glance off his armoured shoulder to allow himself to get closer to the dragon's underbelly.

The knight took the chance he was given and delivered punishing blows to the dragon.The beast was taking great punishment and soon vanquished in a manner unspeakable for this vernacular.

Chris Harrington 1600 vs. Ryan Van Reken 1738

Round 5 of the western States Open-French fight!

2009-11-04T01:44:00.000-08:00

This was the only game I won in the B-Section of the Western States Open. It went back and forth and I got to work a bit on my French defense.

Richard Martin 1658 vs. Chris Harrington 1600

Fertile battle grounds in the French Tarrasch or my sixth round game of the Western States Open

2009-10-29T01:26:00.000-07:00

I know I said that I would post my third round game next but I actually was pretty interested to go over this game. That's one of the most important part of looking over your game is to actually be motivated and this one intrigued me by what i might find. The distinguished gentleman in the above picture is Tarrasch himself. Old school chess master whom this line of the French gets its name.

One of the things that was interesting in the opening of this game is that we both knew the ideas pretty well. I think both of us were in book theory for 12 moves, I was sublimely aware of the book moves for 15 moves. Which brings me to a point I wanted to make. There is an interesting dogma in chess that I hear alot, "they" say you shouldn't study opening play/lines. As i've looked over more and more chess games i've found that this is simply bad advice. The only thing you shouldn't do in regard to openings is rote memorization, other than that openings have really enhanced my game in several ways.

First, I can choose openings based on style of play, pawn structure, piece strength, etc. The games might not always follow and allow for this but in general you can have some say in dictating what type of game you get into.

Secondly, by going over the opening you get a feel for different ideas in similar positions from the game you have studied, which is the same thing you are trying to do when going over middlegame and tactics, endgame, etc.

Thridly, you will get into the same or near to the same position in many of your games. This helps you develop a sense for taking an advantage when an opponent makes a subpar move.

Fourthly, you don't have to waste so much thinking time/clock time on the first few moves of the game.Therefore extending the time you can spend on the moves from the point of unknown position to the next time control.

Here is the game = )

Chris Harrington 1600 vs. John Locke 1729

Western States Open Round 1

2009-10-26T23:38:00.000-07:00

My first game of the western States Open. This was also my first time playing in a class B tournament. Even though my score was so poor (+1 -4), I enjoyed several of the games this weekend.

Greg Sarafian 1723 vs. Chris Harrington 1600
Nimzo-Indian 4.f3 variation

After the game I wasn't upset by the loss. I had taken my time and played hard. I just couldn't quite come up with many good moves in the middle game.

My second game was a disaster based on moving fast like I was playing blitz or something.I threw away a good advantage with white and got mated quickly. I wont be analyzing it because my in-game effort was so lazy. Round three will be coming next!

Western States Open

2009-10-21T02:02:00.000-07:00

Strongly considering playing in the Western States Open this weekend...

Chess on the road...

2009-09-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

I was recently out of town and on a lazy day of sipping on lemonade and enjoying the end of summer I was able to travel to the Orange County chess club and picked up a sidegame outside on their outside patio. It was a nice afternoon game with a player named Javier Bolognia. He was an older gentleman whom also was in town visiting from somewhere in Europe, I think Portugal.

Anyway I was very eager to get a game against someone new, he said he didn't have a chess rating but played people of FIDE 2000 and could hold his own. This immediately got my attention and I was eager to play! I told him I wasn't very good and that I would try to give him a good game.

I had the white pieces and I had a fantastic performance...well I'll let you see for yourself!

One of my better games. I was excited for a new opponent, I believe he played a bit passive in the opening and underestimated my attack. Still I was able to find lots of good moves without a big blunder.

GM Games

2009-09-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been looking over some GM level games, in fact quite a few of them and trying absorb a bit from the moves. I've been going over Fischer's games as well as Botvinnik from Kasparov's "My Great Predessors" series.

In that vein I have been trying to create a disipline and with any luck, a love of deeper analysis. For now I only have the patientce to look at several games in a short period of time. I'm hoping that I begin to enjoy looking at the sub-lines and other ideas presented in the annontation. For now I don't look at many of them. Reason being that as I look at the long tangent line I don't really understand what is going on enough to get a whole lot out of it.

I am especially interested in looking at games that are played in similar openings to my own repertoire since they tend to have ideas that may come up in my own contests, as well as leading to similar middle and endgames.

One thing that has stood out in Bobby Fischer's games seems to be his sublime understanding of the position in comparison to all of his competition. It seems that even when his opponent gets a good initiative or advantage on him he is able to flip the game around and take control.

Well just a few quick thoughts, and I am really considering playing in the Far West Open!

Book Review: Remotely Global-Village Modernity In West Africa

2009-08-11T00:49:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the Anthropology vein of this blog I wanted to briefly review the ethnography "Remotely Global" by Dr.Charles Piot. For those of you who aren't Anthro nerds an ethnography is basically a written account of a researcher's field work along with research from other sources and conclusions derived from deductive logic.

Charles Piot is pretty well known in cultural anthro circles, he's a big shot prof. at Duke actually. He is most-well known for his African research, although he dabbles with African-American studies and is a pretty well known leftist.

Anyway the subject matter is the Kabre people of northern Togo. Piot wraps his thesis around the idea that the U.S. State Dept. as well as previous anthropologists have stereotyped African villages and that colonial as well as postcolonial influences have had as much effect on the Kabre people as anything indigenous.

When I began reading this book I had the distinct feeling that Dr. Piot was trying to hard to grind out a place for himself in this discussion. Basically straw-maning many previous researchers while at the same time setting up his own research to seem as real and relevant as possible. I will complain that he "beat a dead-horse" with his attack against early Functional/Structural theory, since the ideas during the 1930s-1960s were in their developmental phase and much thought has been put in to adjust these ideas. He also seemed to give a bit too much attribute in this book to Marxism, which in fact his a part of his own political baggage and not directly all that relevant to the study of the Kabre people.

Ok now to the parts I found intellectually interesting. Piot writes about the Kabre "Gift Economy" which in essence he says gift-giving in the Kabre community is "always a type of moral inquiry,an interrogation of the other". Gift-giving in this community is a form of control and creates indebtedness in the reciever. Therefore making him subserviant in some regard.Its important to give gifts when meeting strangers since one doesn't know how they will respond this is a good way to gauge their character and intentions by waiting for the response or reciprocation.

Their ideas of "Person" is interesting as well. For example the idea that when a child is born into a family it is considered a stranger until the family can figure out which ancestor or dead relative has been reincarnated. Children in fact are considered androgynous, it is only through initiation rituals that children become"incomplete" or gendered. They become a boy or a girl officially after they have been initiated into that phase of life.

Of course this survey is very brief the book itself is highly theoretical and dry at times but at the same time very interesting and thought-provoking.

I recommend this ethnography to anyone interested in cultural anthropology.

Phatic responses

2009-08-08T23:46:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Anthropology examines things that we all identify with. This is quite often the case with Linguistics. Language being a fundamental attribute of humanity, its study sometimes brings to light aspects of our own behavior that we may or may not have been aware of.

For example, often we take part in general pleasantries when coming into contact with other people. Some of these interactions are particularly interesting, I wanted to talk briefly about so-called "Phatic responses".

Two men are passing each other in the hall at their place of employement...

Speaker A:"Hey, how are you?"

Speaker B:"What's up?"

Both walk away contented.

This is an example of Phatic responses. These responses are not considered literal speech and don't expect to be answered as such. Although one can use the same language to ask a response-oriented question. The hearer usually can figure out the difference using pragmatic deduction based on context and other nuances. These "automatic" devices in some ways are utilized at the base level to acknowledge the existence of another person and to conform to accepted norms of Functionalism.
In other words you are performing a social duty which subconciously you feel obligated.

I was reading some of Bronisław Malinowski's very early work on this subject and I thought I'd test the reaction of those around me whom I took literally all their Phatic responses. The results were interesting.

In terms of those that lived with me I saw the least amount of action. These seemed to be the most-likely group to either ignore or naturally adhere to the flow of me taking their responses literally.

When I took this to my co-workers I got a slightly different reaction. In fact two of my three co-workers were thrown slightly off-guard by my three to four sentence responses to their simple "How are you?" and "What's up?" In fact the look on their faces showed confusion and the present of thinking as opposed to the mindless pleasantries.

Strangers who were friendly enough to ask a phatic question when I made eye contact walking by almost always responded with smiles and suprised giggles.

To wrap this up it is apparent to me that phatic responses are an accepted funtion of our language interactions and when an individual responses to them literally it leads to off-balanced and unprepared interaction.

Class Champ. Match Round 3 White works the ending!

2009-07-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Hello! I'm happy to report that I came through with a victory in the third round of my match to break a two draw tie. If I win or draw on thursday I defend my title = p
If I lose we play a two game playoff. I played well enough this game. I missed several tactics but converted an even ending into a crushing mate.

Chris Harrington vs. Ricardo Arteaga

Class Championship Round Two Ateaga vs.Harrington

2009-07-20T00:05:00.000-07:00

Round two ended in another draw. We will have two games to prove the class championship. This game was played at a fast pace with both players spending very little time analysing variations. As a consequence both of us made critical errors. I equalized quickly and then ended up giving white a game winning advantage in the ending, then white blundered it away.Here is the game

Ricardo Arteaga vs. Chris Harrington

Brazil's Pirahas

2009-07-14T01:34:00.000-07:00

"In the end, not a single one could count to ten."

One of the hottest debate in Linguistics(a major field in Anthropology) today is the research involving the Pirahas people of Brazil. Maybe I can relay the disputes. First of all these people don't use subordinate clauses.

Instead of saying, "When I have finished eating, I would like to speak with you," the Pirahãs say, "I finish eating, I speak with you." Even famed linguist Noam Chomsky has had trouble believing that this is the only language without S.C.

Here is a quote from a recent article:"The debate amongst linguists about the absence of all numbers in the Pirahã language broke out after Peter Gordon, a psycholinguist at New York's Columbia University, visited the Pirahãs and tested their mathematical abilities. For example, they were asked to repeat patterns created with between one and 10 small batteries. Or they were to remember whether Gordon had placed three or eight nuts in a can.

The results, published in Science magazine, were astonishing. The Pirahãs simply don't get the concept of numbers. His study, Gordon says, shows that "a people without terms for numbers doesn't develop the ability to determine exact numbers."

Psycholinguist Peter Gorden: Are we only capable of creating thoughts for which words exist?
His findings have brought new life to a controversial theory by linguist Benjamin Whorf, who died in 1941. Under Whorf's theory, people are only capable of constructing thoughts for which they possess actual words. In other words: Because they have no words for numbers, they can't even begin to understand the concept of numbers and arithmetic."

This interests me since i've put quite a bit of time exploring the theories of the so-called "cultural turn" which basically suggests that words and symbols can't give access to direct experience, but merely highlight the complexity of meaning. Since these people have little symbolism to express concrete numerical value they have a hard time conceptualizing them.

It seems that this culture has a sort of "live for the now" personality that has had a deep effect on their language. Very little abstract thought communicated or the use of numbers or ideas of the past leads one to live in the moment.

These people aren't isolated from other natives and mix regularly. They are as modern and intelligent as any other modern population.

Class Championship match finals Game 1

2009-07-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

I played the white side of another Ruy Lopez in my first game of a championship match with Rick Arteaga. The game ended in a draw. I had a winning advantage as soon as the dubious 3...f6?! was played but slowly allowed him to equalize. here is the game:

Chris Harrington vs. Rick Arteaga

Speed Chess-Queen's Indian

2009-07-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

I know I should make a better habit of taking my time to find the best moves, but this thursday I had a bye and ended up playing a sidegame against Wesley Situ. Last time I played wesley I mated him pretty quickly and this game wasn't all that challenging. Although I do see he is improving and starting to use his time effectively.

I think I used about 18 minutes for the whole game. I could have found a few better moves but for the most part I equalized quickly as black then built a steady advantage till Wesley made a critical error. I'm not going into great depth in the anaylsis since I didn't go into much depth of thought in the game.

Wesley Situ vs. Chris Harrington

unrated side game Ruy Lopez Bird Defense

2009-07-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

Well I had the luck of meet a visitor from Atlanta, in town for the Reno Bowling tournament who claimed to be a USCF chess player rated around 1810. We ended up playing a unrated side game with a Game in two hour time control. I had white and he ran into a trap which is part of my repertoire in the Ruy Lopez. the game became complicated and I almost gave it back to him. Here's the game:

Round 6:Chris Harrington vs. Mike Filipas

2009-06-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

You gotta crawl before you can walk?

2009-06-21T00:44:00.000-07:00

This is a catchphrase that is apparently looking less and less true through the research of anthropologists.Especially after reading over in Scientific American's latest issue featuring the work of Anthropologist David tracer of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Many indigenous people never teach their children to crawl and for apparent good reason. Outside of the modern Western world sanitation is always a great concern and putting a child face-first onto the ground is a good way to catch diahrea from dirt on the hands as well as getting things in the child's mouth which don't brlong there.

In fact not crawling seems to have no negative effect. Peoples from New Guinea, Indonesia, Mali and Paraguay don't allow crawling. Yet our children's psychologists have built up a mountain of so-called science based on crawling, even though this research as well as a myriad of others working in the field seems to show that this is another close-minded view of human development.

I recommend picking uo this issue of Scientific American. There were many good articles.

Class Championship Round 5

2009-06-19T00:46:00.000-07:00

The Evaluation of Material Imbalances: Part One

2009-06-16T00:14:00.000-07:00

I've been really interested lately with the relative value of pieces and pawns given the position and how to know when their values fluctuate. With this in mind I was quite interested to read about IM Larry Kaufman's research here http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Articles/evaluation_of_material_imbalance.htm

Briefly to give you an idea what interested me was the sheer magnitude of the research as well as using the computer to provide relative precision in the evaluation of chess positions.

The research shows that the rook pawn for example (that red-header step-child of foot soldiers) is worth roughly 15% less then his fellows. Making it typically advantageous to "promote him" to a knight-pawn whenever the chance to capture may occur. Other than this minor difference the pawns tend to hold the same value from their starting squares.

The value of the Bishop pair is refined to be in almost all cases worth an extra half pawn. The reasoning isn't completely certain but it seems that the bishop pair is superior to the knight-pair as well as a bishop and knight possibly for their lack of redundancy. Often times the inferior pairings will control the same squares limiting their overall effect on the board in most cases. the bishop pair never cross each other's path therefore maximizing their board presence.

Furthermore his research suggests that if you have the bishop pair and your opponent's one bishop is a "bad bishop" you have a FULL pawn compensation. To me this is quite important information and very revealing!

Book review: Standard Chess Openings

2009-06-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

I got this and several other books for free several years ago and was interested in checking out what looked to be the biggest chess book in existence. All of the Standard Chess openings! Wow this would be lots of fun to read was my initial idea. How would this stand up in comparison to NCO and other big opening omnibus?

Well I'm sorry to say it but this book is a big let down. First this guy (Eric Shiller)is a PHD yet his published book has so many spelling errors I was shocked. I mean even chess blogs written hastily have less mistakes. For example: on page 240 we get this classic sentence, "The Sozin Variation appears in several Sicilian Defenses, including the Najdort, Sahevening and Classical Variations."

Has anyone heard of the Najdort? or Sahevening? Did you mean Najdorf and Scheveningen?

In his intro game to the Semi-Slav the analysis is very poor. 23...d4! The move is actually a mistake and leads to a quick loss for black.

Many of the openings have only one game to show them off, this would be fine but sometimes the one game he uses is a pointless early deviation which shows little about the opening.

Shiller defines a Standard Opening as "...any opening which an active chessplayer might reasonably expect to encounter frequently(Shiller 14)".

Ok so then he includes the "Elephant Gambit" 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5. Has anyone ever encountered this line in a rated game? this line is weak and the game to highlight it happens to be a telegraph match from 1954 where black gets crushed.

Questionable is the inclusion of the so-called "King Walk Variation" [A59] if you are interested which in Mega Database 2009 out of over 4 MILLION games had a whole 500 or so games with this line. Not exactly standard.

The Janowski Indian which you may never face in your lifetime 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Bf5 which again has hardly any games in the Mega database.

These are but a small sample of many mistakes in this book. I do have to give the author credit for attempting to annotate this many games from all kinds of openings. It must have taken lots of time and effort.

overall I rate this as a 1/5 as far as chess books are concerned.

Book Review: Dangerous weapons The Nimzo-Indian

2009-06-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

The Nimzo-Indian is my favorite defense to 1.d4 and I am slowly building up a reliable repertoire with this system. I like Black's chances in the middlegame and feel like it is a strong fighting defense. I have had quite a bit of fun reading through the "Dangerous weapons" series and have actually used several of their lines in rated games. Some of them have actually been assimilated into my personal favorites.

Now since I've yet to take up 1.d4 in my own games there are only 8 out of 17 sections that actually apply to my current situation. But, truth be told, I found most of these lines to be worth trying or at least considering.

Chapter 13 entitled "going Dutch" is written by John Emms and appeals to me for several reasons. The first being the after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 black has pretty comfortable opening chances. 4.Nf3 is not a very aggressive move and black can use that idea to get a bit frisky. The idea is after 4...Ne4!? This line was actually played by Karpov against Kasparov in a championship match. Since the knight has been placed on f3 white no longer has the normal development Nge2 or the pawn push f3, these points help black to create his own threats right out the gate.

I like this line because it gives black a straight-forward plan...go after the doubled c-pawns and try to mix things up positionally with an early f5.

Its no suprise why I like chapters 5 and 6, they are both written by Richard Palliser whom i've come to enjoy as a chess writer for his easy to understand and logical advise in the openings.

Chapter 5 is entitled "The Romanishin Gambit" after 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 c5!? 7.dxc5 d4 black should obtain a big center and a lead in development. This gambit is slightly worse for black but seems to give realistic pressure on White's position for a nice lasting initiative. I would use this line without hesitation if confronted in a big tournament with the option. I feel in practice this line is hard to deal with and could easily result in a big advantage for black.

Overall this book gives some fun lines for black and after reading through the ideas for white it seems to give him some new ideas to work with as well. I would say this book is for players over 1700 in general. Or people that plan to face strong opponents, since you are very unlikely to get an opportunity to play one of these lines.

If you play 1.d4 or if you use the Nimzo-Indian I would recommend this book as a change of pace or a fun gambit guide. Rating 4/5.

Book Review: Play The Ruy Lopez

2009-06-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I have been reading and evaluating this book for quite a while now and have come to the conclusion that this is the most complete and satisfying opening repertoire guide I have come across.

Andrew Greet has made in this book one of the most comprehensive and accessible manual to play the Ruy Lopez.

One of the most interesting features of the book is that he has used a subvariation as his "mainline". the move 5.Qe2 also known as the Worral System is his remedy to the maddening theory of the Spanish game.

At first I was skeptical since it ins't all that common. But after a look through Mega Database 2009 it has become quite popular in the last few years with GMs. the foreword is written by GM Nigel Short, in which he gives edification to Greet as well as the Worral. Showing how he used the system and similar lines to beat Karpov in a bigtime match. Not going to the extreme to say that it was the lines which were strong, but that they were solid and that the impression they made lead to mistakes by Karpov.

The most amazing thing about this book is the devotion to early alternatives. Anyone whom has ever purchased an openings book has come across the often spotty coverage of alternative lines. Greet gives us 120 pages of "third move alternatives for black"!! Then another 65 pages for fourth move alternatives!!With a solid 120 pages dedicated to the so-called mainlines.

This is an excellent resource for those wanting to play the Ruy Lopez and looking for preparation and improvement in many different lines of this opening.

What I was especially impressed with was his seemingly unbiased point of view even though this is obviously from White's point of view. Giving much respect to sublines like the Cozio and the Bird.

An interesting example of Greet's creative ideas and breakage with typical Lopez recommendations is his recommendations against the "Classical Variation" 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 the recommendation of 4.Nxe5!? is interesting and not at all bad, although not very well tested. After the best reply 4...Nxe5 5.d4 leads to complications which will be interesting for White, especially if he has preparation on the unfavorable replies.

Overall I think this book is well-written and the ideas are easy to understand. there is a mountain of information and variations but I didn't feel overwhelmed and, in fact quite enjoyed going through the lines. In conclusion I feel like this book can prepare anyone to play the Ruy Lopez and give in a 5/5 rating for a fantastic chess book!

Reno Class Championships Round 3

2009-06-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

Round Three had me paired as White vs Bob Bennett. A friendly guy and interesting player whom I've played several times in the past. Our last encounter had me on the winning side of a French Tarrasch and I was interested in playing the same line to get some more work in against the isolated d-pawn.

Leading up to this tournament my goal was to use more of my clock and to spend more time looking for good moves. Unfortunately I again raced through the game and missed many oppourtunities. I'm a knucklehead sometimes! My opponent made a few dubious moves in the opening and I had a comfortable winning advantage by move fourteen. Then I proceeded to try and get tactical...while spending zero time working out the calculations. Its funny how easy it seems after the fact but I just need to take my time.

Needless to say my threat backfired and I was getting crushed. Fortunately my opponent returned the favor and let me fork some big pieces and get a wicked attack on his bare king.

Chris Harrington 1596 vs. Bob Bennett 1500

Round Two Reno Class Championships

2009-06-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

This was round two of the Reno Class Championships and I really wanted a win with Black since I had already had a painful draw in round one. I knew my opponent preferred a slow buildup with White and tended to trade towards a draw offer. I ended up playing a Queen's Indian Defense, an opening I'm still not that comfortable with but in this game I never felt like I was under any pressure from White as he played for a passive yet equal position.

I was really hyped for the rare four knights ending we ran into. It was later pointed out from another player (Drunknknight) that I shouldn't have won as easily as I did. It's true.

I was happy with the result and its also nice to play a game without any serious blunders. I have white next week against Bob Bennett and I will again be playing all out for the full point.

Far West Open Accelerated Dragon-Maroczy Bind

2009-05-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

This win got me to Board one in the final round of a big tournament recently. I was happy with my results from the Far West Open since I hadn't played any rated games in six months. This game was against a chap named Robert Rettenmaier. I played the White pieces and we got into a Hyper Accelerated Dragon. I choose to play the Maroczy Bind and we developed very naturally until the Queen came out to a5 and I began working on Nd5 tactics.

Needless to say he fell into the trap and I was able to win the ending. Although I gave back many chances for equality and missed a five move pattern which picks off a rook. It was still a good win for me and gave me confidence that i could win my section in the evening!

Sexual Selection

2009-05-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

I will be posting some games as soon as I settle on a PGN viewer which I wont struggle to understand. In the meantime i've been reading alot of Darwin lately, specifically his under-represented work "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex"

Charles Darwin had a hard time buying the idea that the differences in human ethnic groups could be accounted for strictly through natural selection. His research is often over-looked for fears of backlash on the motivations of the research. Darwin even made sure to be careful how he approached the subject, but in the end realized that scientific solutions to unanswered questions were paramount to the advance of evolutionary theory.

Natural selection runs into problems as an all-encompassing solution to human variation.If it could in fact explain the most basic of racial differences:skin color, and eye color, hair, we should in fact see that trait eventually in other parts of the world with similar environmental conditions. Scientists could then come to a conclusion on say... the advantage of blue eyes, as opposed to competing eye colors.

The run of the mill explanation is that skin color is largely influenced by the rays of the sun. In fact it is true that if those with light-skin stay in the sun too long they will increase their chances of skin cancer. Therefore it makes "obvious" sense that this is the main reason for skin variation in the equatorial regions where sunlight is at its maximum strength.

But truth be told skin cancer causes very few deaths, even when light-skinned peoples are exposed to the sun for extended periods. As the author Jared Diamond puts it "As agents of natural selection, they have an utterly trivial impact compared to infectious diseases of childhood (the Third Chimpanzee 114)". I wont get into the ideas associated with vitamin D deficientcies and over-absorbtion, just know that the theory runs a similar vein with little natural selection measures to back it up.

The deepest objection revolves around the idea that the connection between dark-skin and sunny environments is very inconsistent. Another J.D. example revolves around the fact that natives of tasmania have very dark skin even though they live in an area with very little sun light. Even in equatorial South American you don't get any dark skin attributes resembling sub-saharan African skin tones.

The objection to this complain is the time factor. Some have suggested that there hasn't been enough time for these traits to take hold. If that is the case then how do we account for blonde haired, blue-eyed Scandinavians? They have only been able to populate these northern areas for about 9,000 years. That is since the pirmafrost receeded and we start finding human remains. Why is it that we find such diverse variation in Scandinavians so quickly? the answer seems to be posed by Darwin.

Sexual Selection

Here is a quick peek at what others have said in regards to S.S.

Charles Darwin conjectured that the male beard, as well as the relative hairlessness of humans compared to nearly all other mammals, are results of sexual selection. He reasoned that since, compared to males, the bodies of females are more nearly hairless, hairlessness is one of the atypical cases due to its selection by males at a remote prehistoric time, when males had overwhelming selective power, and that it nonetheless affected males due to genetic correlation between the sexes. He also hypothesized that sexual selection could also be what had differentiated between different human races, as he did not believe that natural selection provided a satisfactory answer.

Geoffrey Miller, drawing on some of Darwin's largely neglected ideas about human behavior, has hypothesized that many human behaviors not clearly tied to survival benefits, such as humor, music, visual art, verbal creativity, and some forms of altruism, are courtship adaptations that have been favored through sexual selection. In that view, many human artefacts could be considered subject to sexual selection as part of the extended phenotype, for instance clothing that enhance sexually selected traits.

Some hypotheses about the evolution of the human brain argue that it is a sexually selected trait, as it would not confer enough fitness in itself relative to its high maintenance costs (a quarter to a fifth of the energy and oxygen consumed by a human).Related to this is vocabulary, where humans, on average, know far more words than are necessary for communication. Miller (2000) has proposed that this apparent redundancy is due to individuals using vocabulary to demonstrate their intelligence, and consequently their “fitness”, to potential mates. This has been tested experimentally and it appears that males do make greater use of lower frequency (more unusual) words when in a romantic mindset compared to a non-romantic mindset, meaning that vocabulary is likely to be used as a sexual display (Rosenberg & Tunney, 2008).

The evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has speculated that the loss of the penis bone in humans, when it is present in other primates, may be due to sexual selection by females looking for an honest advertisement of good health in prospective mates. Since a human erection relies on a hydraulic pumping system, erection failure is a sensitive early warning of certain kinds of physical and mental ill health.

The photo of this Japanese "blonde" is interesting as individuals have been able through cosmetic techniques to aquire traits for Sexual Selection. The Japanese being on an isolated island for 1,000s of years lack the genetic diversity that many ethnic groups hold. Differentiation is now able to be enhanced by hair dyes, color contact lenses and a large assortment of easily accessible methods to stand out and attract a mate.

In the past this wasn't the case. Humans were able to select traits of which specific groups found to be attractive and then cultivated those traits within the population.

I will go into more detail at a future time. This is a primer for more advanced discussion on this and other topics.

My next post may be strictly Chess based!

A Different Approach

2009-05-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this will last but I had the urge to blog again. this time it will be a bit different. The demise of my former blog was more a testament to the futility of my computer skills. I prefer to show my games through a PGn viewer but have too much trouble getting them to post. Therefore I would rarely post and lost interest.

This time around I will be looking for the easiest version of game viewer and try to figure it out. This might end up being more about my ideas on issues or subjects of Anthropology and related topics than Chess. But let's see how things shape up. I view Chess as being interesting and quite daunting. I've become relatively proficient without much practice and have recently been working a bit harder and putting in some more time on the game.

In the end though it remains a game to me, not all that important, but fun to write about! I find myself more interested in learning about Social Stratification, Political Leadership and Warfare(from a scientific point of view) as well as the often misunderstood ideas of Sexual Selection.

My Chess game is something in my life that i can attempt to monitor and improve while having fun along the way. In recent news I came out of a six month hybernation to compete in the Far West Open and played on board one in the last round of my section. Took home 3rd place out of thirty some-odd people, felt like my game was solid for my rating and I'm now moving forward.

When I have White I have always played 1E4. These openings tend to favor the type of positions which I enjoy playing. I'm currently seeking to improve my middlegame strategy and mindset as well as improving my clock management skills. Two areas I feel are lacking in my game. My endgame is solid for my level and my Opening knowledge surpasses pretty much everyone in my class.

That's my Chess story in a nutshell.

There are very few people that understand what goes on in my head. If I tell people some of my ideas briefly they typically disagree or more often reject them out of hand when they conflict with societal norms which they have accepted as fact. i understand this for I too succumb to the conformity associated with the social contract between people in proximity of one another.

When I started studying American Pragmatism I was really interested with the ideas of so-called pragmatic ideology. William James interested me most, I loved the way he viewed philosophy and the material world in general. "give me an idea I can ride" he would say, which was so important to my absurd quest for clarification.

As I enhanced my study of ideas I came to assimilate a bizarre mix of existentialist as well as pragmatic religious ideas of identity. As I tried to get inside the mind of some of the World's most explosive thinkers it really enriched my own sense of individual subjectivity. In other words I began to be more aware of my own sense of agency.

I have yet to really meet anyone that would agree with me on many issues. I prefer to let the ideas of the mobs repel me. Most "other" Christians tend to find my feelings on the Divine to be irreconcilible with the accepted canon. This tends to humble me for I can see that their sense of identity is tied closer to established norms than say an experience with the sublime elements of existence.

Atheists tend to become frustrated with my firm acceptance of evolutionary tenets and a complimentary love for the Creator. How can someone cross these seemingly polar lines and straddle the fence. chris you're trying to have your cake and eat it too" or something to that sentiment.

How can you be so attracted to the writing of Camus but at the same time find such value in the Bible? The answer to that question is lengthy and not all that clear in reality. the thing to keep in mind is that as we seek to define the borders of "things" whether it be ideology, race, class, etc. We have this troublesome grey area. Unavoidable ambiguity will exist to some degree whenever a line is drawn and a classification is made.

Scholars that have embraced the now ubiquitous ideas of "The Cultural Turn" navigate the waters of direct experience in a more holistic and refined methodology then that of their predecessors. Scholars in the Post-Modern world realize that Language and symbols are unable to give us access to direct experience. They can only reveal the complexity devoted to Meaning.

All of this is well and good, but the question remains, is anyone still reading? if not I don't blame you. Would sound like ramblings for the most part. Much of this needs a proper introduction and isn't done justice with a few quick paragraphs. My point was simply to think outloud a bit. Let you get an idea of Chris and his mind.

Of course its not all intellectual self-awareness that I contemplate. I get out and have a great time! Love to meet cute girls as much as the next guy. Enjoy the simple pleasures in life, a laugh, a drink,a song I can dance to, friends I can be immature with, the typical stereotype guy, in many regards. Introductions are difficult, especially when you aren't sure whom is listening.

We can talk about Chess again! In fact, next thursday at the Reno Chess Club we begin the annual Class Championships. I wasn't going to play because I have been pretty content the last few weeks working on my game with my coach and on my own. But it should be fun and keep me sharp. I should probably be playing in Class B. But there is only one other B player at the club and wasn't really interesting with a six week match with him. So being rated like 1590 something currently I will seek to defend my title in Class C.

I think that's good for now. let's see how this blog idea pans out.

until next time