Can you at least explain how it's a legal move?

lol

Weekend of April 2. Columbia (Mo.) Open or meet my nephew from California for the first time when my sister flies in?

He'll be 3.5 months old then and it'll be the first time my 18-month-old son interacts with a baby.

On the other hand, I *really* want to play some chess and might not have another chance for awhile.

PS the only one who got the important Qxf3 idea imo

Comments on this position?

yup looks winning, just get that king into the game. also good potential to harass the knight with the bishops + king

I traded into the endgame thinking it was winning then convinced myself otherwise and accepted a draw. Smooth.

If you want a fun e4-e5 gambit try the elephant gambit. e4 e5 Nf3 d5!

It's actually nowhere near as bad as it seems like it 'must be'. Statistically black actually scores better with it than he does playing the standard Nc6, although there are obviously more reasons than objective strength for that.

A critical point is 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd Bd6!

I think it certainly must be more sound than stuff like the smith morra or BDG at least.

If you're in an endgame, and you don't have much losing chances (like Black in the above diagram) you should play on.

You *could* win and you may well just learn something from playing it out.

I just analyzed the position and it's definitely a fun ending to play around with. Black activates the king and combines an attack on either g3/g2 and wins.

This game makes me want to kick a puppy:

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=41603

I spent like 15 minutes trying to make 26. ... Bf5+ work, and it just didn't quite. But the comp says it did. *puppykick!*

26.. Bf5+

The White King can't step back to the 3rd rank b/c of your queen and he can't step to d5 b/c of the c6 pawn. The White King also can't step to d4/e5 because White has pieces there.

26.. Bf5+ and White's ONLY moves are 27. gxf5 and 27. Kf4.

If 27. gxf5 just 27.. gxf5+

Here White has ONLY one move and it's 28. Kf4. He's on a dark square, and look you have a dark square bishop. 28.. Bh6#. Okay that was easy enough.

If 27. Kf4 then also 27.. Bh6+. Now White's reply is forced (i.e. really easy to calculate), 28. g5 and you now have 28.. Qh4+. Okay that's not that hard in itself to see.

You can basically stop your calculation here and play 26.. Bf5+ with confidence. It's the best move from a practical standpoint, gets another piece in the game, and you know he can't take it or he gets mated.

After 28.. Qh4+ there is 29. Kf3 Bxg5 and White's king is basically naked so Black has an advantage.

You didn't have to calculate 26.. Bf5+ out to mate or something super duper clear. You should have been able to see that it was a better move than your alternative of 26.. Bxe5 and 27.. Bxg4 which isn't forcing and allows a counter-attack along the D-file.

Also, don't kick a puppy. If anything, go outside and punch a penguin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1Sr0GO9xhM&t=1m7s

I missed gxf5+ as a response. I was calculating everything based on gxf5 Qxf5+.

I won't kick a puppy. I guess.

How did you miss it? It's one of two viable options.

If a King is naked, and you have two different checks. At least look at both of them, would be pretty good advice.

*sigh* I'm sitting here doing several hours of training a day, and "consider all your possible checks" comes somewhere between "this is how the horsey moves" and "bishops are worth 3" in the beginners' guidelines, and I still can't get that right.

I was going to turn that into a larger rant, but that youtube video has me laughing too hard and I don't think I could match it.

I used to play the Elephant all the time ... and still play the Blackmar-Diemer fairly often. Its an interesting opening for sure, though I suspect I got myself into more trouble than I needed to as I preferred the lines with f5 (where its playable) before playing Nf6 ... but that's just me.

Of course the line with 3...e4 rather than 3...Bd6 was the 'old' main line & is weaker than Bd6 IMO. I suspect a lot of the early victories against it would have been in that line.

<3's