whats funny is he didnt even really answer your question

lol pyramidscheme

To answer the question:

Host roles:

In a podcast if there are two hosts there are roles.

They could be co-hosts.

Also, one could be the main host with the other host being second in command.

Also one could be a host, and another could be a guest host.

This is not that hard to figure out..

eh hes from Philadelphia, ya just expect it.

True that PS

I'd say this belongs in the LC thread. Any USCL players here?

have any of you tried the crazyhouse variant of chess? Its awesome. If you capture a piece, you can choose to place that piece wherever you want instead of moving on your turn, including placing a piece that checkmates. Its tactically crazy, and adds a huge twist to the game.

Why does the computer say black is better here? Score -0.42

Is that possible?

Looks like black is a piece up with completed development and there's no way for white to checkmate him

In that position Bh4 looks really really annoying if h3 doesn't work which it does not seem to. I'd guess before o-o-o white was much better though.

If it's White to play in the position above, Bxh6 either wins the piece back (Kxh6 Qxg4) or starts a nasty attack (gxh6 Bf7+). Don't know what will happen if it's Black to play though.

Btw, the guy who finished second in EPT San Remo is a Finnish chess player, I think his ELO rating is about 2300. Yay for us.

Finished my first set of problems on CT-Art just did the easiest ones took an hour and fifty minutes.

haha @ elo

Lol. Awesome. You're somewhere between crushing world champions and losing to random move generators.

Nice job though!

His ELO test result was 2227

so that's not losing to random move generators OR crushing world champions.

That's about master level.

JoshK - Not sure if you intentionally chose to do problems sorted by tactical motif, but I personally find sorting them by difficulty is more helpful. Also, doing the Practice instead of Test gave me more options or problems or something like that. I can't find my CT-ART disc right now, but I think these all were options when you create an account user name. You might try out some different features and see which way you like best.



I may be getting levelled here, but CT-ART tells EVERYONE they're 2200+. That's a little hyperbole, but not by much. That "ELO" is just a score in the game, really no different than % correct.

You are getting leveled.

A fun story about Kasparov as rabble-rouser:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/wo...7kasparov.html

Chess newb here. I've played casually for years, but have never ever really studied the game very seriously. I do play pretty seriously at times though, compensating for my lack of studying with decent situational assessments and some half-decent visualization of variations.

Anyways, I just played a game where I blundered pretty badly at the beginning, but was lucky enough to have my opponent blunder and put me at a small piece advantage. But I blundered again near the endgame, although I was lucky enough to force a draw when I realized my clock was running real low. I was looking for some advice for someone like me who has a very good grip on the basics and dynamics of chess, but none of the "booksmarts" of the game.

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.04.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "troycm"]
[Black "chessfandan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1237P"]
[BlackElo "1452"]
[ECO "B06"]
[TimeControl "900"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 b6 4. Be3 Bb7 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bd3 d5 7. exd5 exd5 8.
Ne5 Ne7 9. Bg5 f6 10. Bb5+ c6 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Bxc6+ Nbxc6 13. Be3 O-O 14.
Qf3 a6 15. a3 f5 16. b4 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 Nxd4 18. Qd3 Nec6 19. O-O Qf6 20. Nxd5
Qe5 21. Nxb6 Ne2+ 22. Kh1 Rae8 23. Nd7 Qe4 24. Nxf8 Qxd3 25. cxd3 Rxf8 26.
Rfe1 Ncd4 27. f3 g5 28. h3 g4 29. hxg4 Ng3+ 30. Kg1 Nc2 31. Kf2 f4 32. Reb1
Nxa1 33. Rxa1 Re8 34. Ra2 Re3 35. d4 Rd3 36. a4 Rxd4 37. b5 axb5 38. axb5 Rb4
39. Ra8+ Kg7 40. Rb8 Nh1+ 41. Ke2 Ng3+ 42. Kd3 Rb2 43. b6 Rxg2 44. Kc3 Ne2+
45. Kb3 Nd4+ 46. Kc3 Nxf3 47. b7 Ne5 48. Rc8 Rg3+ 49. Kc2 Rg2+ 50. Kc3 Rg3+
51. Kd4 Rb3 52. b8=Q Rxb8 53. Rxb8 Nxg4 54. Ke4 f3 55. Kxf3 h5 56. Rb4 Ne5+
57. Kg3 Kg6 58. Re4 Nf7 59. Kh4 Kf5 60. Re7 Kg6 61. Rxf7 Kxf7 62. Kxh5
{Neither player has mating material} 1/2-1/2

tcm, you just need to focus on studying tactics. All the 'book training' in the world won't help you one bit if you walk into a fork. Tactics are useful not for just learning tactics, but also improving your board vision.

Walks into a Fork..



Ouch!

I love the Botvinnik semi-slav. I think it's so interesting that it's considered such an overanalyzed mega theoretical variation yet as early as move 14 there are already major seemingly unexplored paths (14. dxc5) in the main line. I only have two games between strong players in that line and white has scored 75% with one ridiculously brutal and quick win over a 2400.

It really makes me want to play it as black as well, but I don't like the fact that white can force some really mind numbing variations like the semi-slav exchange. At least with the nimzo indian white is forced to enter interesting positions regardless of whether or not he wants to.

Hi Dire,

In Shirov's first "Fire on Board", he has a chapter devoted to his games in the Botvinnik Semi-Slav. Obviously very dated by now, but I imagine you'd still find it interesting stuff.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. h3 b5 6. c5 Bf5 7. g4 Be4 8. Bg2 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 e5 10. dxe5 Nfd7 11. Nxd5 cxd5 12. Qxd5 Ra7 13. c6 Bb4+ 14. Kf1 +-

Is that not amazing. Sacrificing a piece planning to trade queens without any mate or way to win more material anywhere near in the future. But black is just completely paralyzed and white wins without problems after 14. .. Nb6 15. Qxd8+. I suppose the fact that white gets 3 pawns kind of takes away some of the beauty, but the material balance has little to do with the value of the sacrifice.

Ah yeah! I loved Fire on Board. It's actually been quite some time since I read it. I should probably pick it up again. I wonder how it would read this time around as my skill level has also changed significantly since when I first read it.

in that lie u posted dire cant white then play Be3pinning the knight?

Yip! And black is just so incredibly paralyzed.