Colle Queen's Gambit Declined French

To heck with long term purity. Lets get down and dirty with quick success.

Let the purists rage that I should take months to teach them endings and tactics and never restrict their growth by doing such a horrible thing as teaching openings.

Bullocks!

We only play once a week. We only have an hour. We are ordinary kids who probably will not go on to play competitive tournament chess as adults.

I will teach them the fastest cleanest way to win right now. I call Cecil Purdy as my witness. Let them learn one simple opening that will get them into the middle game and then play on from there.  Colle as white, Queen's Gambit Declined and French as Black. Over and Done.

Let the other schools do better. We will do the best we can with who we are and what we have right now.

Of course I wish I had time and they had the inclination to master endings they would be lucky to reach.

But what they need is tactical vision!

And as for the opening, think about football. Even pe-wee league has a few basic plans. Just because it is not a pro-set does not mean they can do without some organization. Openings are our Football plays. We cannot continue to pretend they don't matter.

Let purist snobs lift their noses and sneer. I hope our kids push their kids off the board.

Gesu Chess 2012

I love volunteering as a coach for the Gesu Chess club. Almost everyone who is in the club this year already has a year of experience.

The room is more difficult than last year. Last year I could go in early and set up the room. This year I rush in with the students as school ends. Last year I could set up the desks into an order that simulated a tournament. This year the desks are in a more clustered configuration suitable for small groups, but not ideal for chess. Last year I had access to the white boards where I could put chess quotes, piece valuations, and game scripts up. This year there is no space.

But I have dreams! These are wonderful children. They learn. They are stronger than they were last year.

I think that I can facilitate some order into the chaos, by initiating an internal tournament.

Part of the joy of chess comes from winning games. Part of the joy is the pleasure of mastery that grows with study. Part of the joy is participation in chess culture which transcends time and space. And part is the camaraderie of fellow chess players.

I dream happy dreams for our kids.

Been Busy

I have been fairly busy in my life apart from chess.

Even so I dream of playing one game a day on Chess.com, or is it 365 chess.com. And I want to continue the exercises on the tactics server.

But it is hot. People have died. I have projects with deadlines.

I really don't expect to come up for air till the second week of August.

Kiss me Caissa.

Foolish Virgin!

In the New Testament, Jesus reportedly tells a story of ten wise virgins and ten foolish virgins. In the tale the women are waiting for the bridegroom. He is delayed and half of them do not have enough oil for their lamps. The wise ones cannot share, so the foolish virgins have to go find more oil. While they are gone the bridegroom comes. The party begins without the 10 foolish virgins. And they cannot get in. They are left out in the cold.

 :wise virgins 

  : foolish virgins

Now the Revised Caissa Version

One day Casisa spoke thus, There was once a tournament with twenty chess players. They all were deeply prepared for their first ten moves. They were even deeply prepared for twenty moves. But the game dragged on and the pieces diminished greatly upon the face of the board. And lo the endgame had come. The foolish chess players had neglected their endings and cried out to the wise ones, "Help us! Share some of your endgame knowledge with us." But the wise ones replied, "There is no time for that now." And behold the tournament ended and the trophies were handed out, and applause was given upon the bright raised stage. But none of the foolish players were there to be seen. They were sitting in the outer darkness of the audience wailing and gnashing their teeth.

Have mercy on me Caissa. I am a sinner. My Kaufman and Cox are warm and worn, while my Silman's Complete Endgame course, my Dvoretsky, My Karsten Laprecht lie cold and nearly virginal.

 Kiss me Caissa. Kiss me anyway.

The Vacillator!

 Onward minnions! The super villian subpatzer "Vacillator" plays all the openings at once! Mu ha ha ha ha. Not only will you not know what he is doing, even he will not know what he is doing!

But he is no Taimanov, thinking for a half hour before making his first move. He is no Nakamura taking 30 seconds in blitz in a well known variation of the Slav Geller Gambit.

No he is the subpatzer! Ringleader of the evil ring of evil. Tremble (with joy) before his onslaught!

But he is well rounded!

Like Sysyphus Mark II, (Johnathan Glover) he wants to roll the whole stone of opening theory up the hill.
 Except where he gets stoned by theory.

An inch deep and a mile wide.

Kiss me Caissa!

Onward Subpatzers!

Notes from the Vacillator...

I am dreaming of playing the French Rubinstein and Queen's Gambit Declined Lasker Variation as my Chess Opening foundation. The reason is their wonderful expandibility. I am taking my cues from Vatko Kovacevic.

Today I scripted Chapter 13 of Vitugov's The French Defense Reloaded  into Bookup and on to paper. (I want a hard copy of my own script.) Then I used Bookup's training function and practiced it.

I like that training a single chapter does not take to long. Furthermore this goes more with Bent Larsen's idea to learn one thing really well, before learning more.

This goes against my mile wide and inch deep habits as an openings vacillator.

"One day at a time" says the opening junky.

Here is a candle for Rubinstein.


God bless you Akiba.

Kiss me Caissa!

Caissa Does Not Lie

Ramblings of the Subpatzer...

One of the strtengths of chess is that the truth of chess strength is evident.

Talk is nothing. I can call something the King's Indian Defense. I can blather on about ranks, files, and color complexes. I can claim an advantage by posessing the two Bishops. I can use terms like Philidor's or Lucena's position. But it only means I am literate, not strong.

I can own great equipment and have hundreds of chess books. That does not make me strong.

I can know great chess players. If I had breakfast with Carlson, lunch with Aronian, and dinner with Anand, it would not make me a strong chess player.

Only good moves matter.

So when I overlooked my Queen en-pris, it is not a problem with the French defense. It is a problem with me.

Caissa will not flatter me. Instead she flattens me.

And I have no one to blame but myself!

Kiss me Caissa!