Persistence

 Five years and counting!

Climb 101 ELO, Recovery -- Reason to Be Proud, LiChess Accomplishment

Rub of this was not ELO increase, but done so by mostly only challenging superior players.  Thus, up 101 ELO at LiChess in four days--but only five more wins, than loses.

Yasser told me, in 2002, that he got really good playing above him, or was it his book, or both?  Lots of tactics, at Chesstempo.com.  Thanks to Richard for being my long term friend, and savvy provider.

-----------------------------------------------

Nov 12, played 19 Chess960 games:  6 wins, 0 draw, 02 loses, 1603, up 27

Nov 11, played 15 Chess960 games:  9 wins, 1 draw, 05 loses, 1576, up 41

Nov 10, played 17 Chess960 games:  9 wins, 0 draw, 08 loses, 1535, up 27

Nov 09, played 24 Chess960 games:  9 wins, 2 draw, 13 loses, 1508, up 06

----------------------------------

Nov 08, played 13 Chess960 games:  3 wins,1 draw, 9 loses, 1502, dn 22

Nov 07, played 14 Chess960 games:  3 wins, 0 draw,11 loses, 1524, dn 26

Nov 06, played 19 Chess960 games:  7 wins, 0 draw,12 loses, 1550, dn 15

Nov 05 1565.

33w, 3d, 28L

------------------- ------------------

For those so inclined, more about me generally as distinct from Chess:
David Korn, Special Projects.  I have been working since I was twelve or younger.  I am 65 now.

...

Monday 13 Nov, addendum

Addendum, as climb yet more, seeking 1700 as long term goal.  But before that, I need to be able to STAY between 1630 and 1650, previously eluded me.  Moreover, positively been to 1671 twice, near a year apart.  1680 was not attainable, nor even 1672.

Nov 14, played 01 Chess960 games: 1 wins, 0 draw, 00 loses, 1625, up 5

Nov 13, played 04 Chess960 games:  3 wins, 0 draw, 01 loses, 1620, up 17

37w, 3d, 29L
Up 123 in six days, to 1624 ELO.  Up 24.
----

Sunday 19 Nov, addendum 2

1626 ELO. Goal currently is, to get to 1630 to 50, and be stable there, then try to 1672 yet again, if not 1680.

Nov 20th played 01 Chess960 games: 1 wins, 0 draw, 00 loses, 1626, up 9

Nov 19th played 11 Chess960 games: 10 wins, 0 draw, 1 loses, 1619, up 37

Nov 18th played 34 Chess960 games: 15 wins, 0 draw, 19 loses, 1582, dn 20

Nov 17th played 10 Chess960 games: 10 wins, 0 draw, 08 loses, 1602, up 10

Nov 16th played 21 Chess960 games: 6 wins, 1 draw, 14 loses, 1592, dn 19

Nov 15th played 15 Chess960 games: 5 wins, 02 draw, 08 loses, 1611, dn 14

48w, 3d 50L

Up 2 in six days.  A real slugfest.  

Ninety-Six Percentile, at Chess.com Bllitz

 96.0% at Blitz, at Chess.com.  Very, very competitive:

1332 Bullet at Chess.com, 90.4%

Very hard work.  While 1334 is not much, believe you me, the bullet arena is ultra completive.  These, often young adults are VERY fast.  I am age 64 now.

-------------

Addendum, this was at 2/1--two minutes with one sec increment.  Some will say, what a waste, but really gets you to review hundreds of opening possibilists, and iron out your kinks.

The Intense Ardor of Chess Tempo, Tactics and Endings

For reasons, exogenous to chess, I am back here. For the last two years, I have been assiduous, at ChessTempo.com.

Richard has done a great job and encouraged me, and helped me, many times. I am variously anywhere from first to tenth in the world, out of 3,000 or so for tactics, and high rankings in endings. Benchmark is the best. Stunner. Amazing tool. Addicted to later!

Back to Chess After Two Year Hiatus

I am back to chess after two years away.  Not two years from blogging, where my main work has moved to David Korn, Special Projects, where I focus my broader, more peripatetic urges, but back to regular chess.  I am astonished how much I like lichess.org, a fantastically smart place, which I cannot recommend enough. 

Documentary on New Orleans chessmaster Jude Acers

Hi David, I thought you might be interested in the documentary I’m making about New Orleans chessmaster Jude Acers who has been playing $5 games in the French Quarter at his "World Chess Table" since 1981.

Here's a link to our Kickstarter campaign where you can learn more about Jude and our project and rewards. We have a video trailer of the project, where you can get a glimpse of what we've been able to accomplish and where the project is headed.

An anonymous benefactor in recent years has sent Jude to compete in the FIDE World Senior Chess Championship held annually in Europe and the documentary team has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise enough funds to join Acers in Croatia in November to cover Jude as he seeks to become the World Senior Chess Champion.

I'm writing to see if it would possible for you to write something about the project on your website or social media accounts to help inform the chess community about the project? We could then put a link to your website on the front page of our Kickstarter campaign so people could go and read your write up and check out your site.

Below are some brief details about Jude Acers, the chessmaster who is the subject of the documentary.

In 1964 a 20-year old Acers entertained a 21-year old Bobby Fischer in Baton Rouge in New Orleans (where he played Fischer to a draw at a simultaneous tournament), shortly after Fischer's 11-0 run at the U.S. Chess Championship; in 1968 Acers lived in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district and played pick-up basketball with The Doors and counted Janis Joplin among his acquaintances when he wasn't competing against top players at the Mechanics' Chess Club; Jude's 1970 win over U.S. Champion Walter Browne was voted a “Top Ten” theory game in the world for 1970 by a panel of six grandmasters and published in Chess Informant (Informator/Belgrade); Acers has been in the Guinness Book of World Records twice for simultaneous exhibitions and today Fodor’s 2013 New Orleans guidebook sends tourists right to Jude's table. Jude has also logged thousands of miles across the country via Greyhound bus giving chess exhibitions in prisons and malls. He's a great popularizer of the game.

We have already spent extensive time at Acers' table interviewing him at length when he's not playing and they're also developing storylines about people in Jude's orbit--a cast that looks remarkably like New Orleans.

I hope you give it a look and don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

Regards, Trey DeArk

Mo bile. 98 [phone]5 373 38 59
e 'male'. trey at treydeark dot 'calm'

Wild

Isn't this just wild?

Double click image to enlarge, Aronian-Nakamura, Sinquefield Cup Round Four.

Envision

Democracy School - Part I from CELDF on Vimeo.

Democracy School - Part VIII from CELDF on Vimeo.

Lot Going On

Enjoying The FIDE 2013 World Cup games, currently game two of Round Two.

How is this for a position that would be very hard to calculate:

 Double Click Image to Expand.

Wow

Geeks Gone Wild... a Lot of Nerdy and a Lot of Weird

No words are needed, said one reviewer, Michael Calore, Wired: "Geeks gone wild... a lot of nerdy and a lot of weird".

Computer Chess, Movie, Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2013, Official Trailer, Comedy Movie:


 and if you HAVE to have more, then here:

Chess Tactics Server, Is This the End?

Chess Tactics Server, has been down for the last day.  If anyone out there has knowledge of the situation, please let me know.

I fear more than a blip, but a real sea change, the very jeopardy of CTS, chess.emrald.net.

I have been increasingly concerned of late, taking very careful and deliberate note of the site finally having fallen below 2,000 users having an RD <= 100, that is to say regular users.

In so doing, besides drawing attention to that, which was long in coming, I thought that it was time to, of all things, establish a Yahoo user group towards putting the site on a more secure footing.  I estimate that not only I, but any of some fifty other persons could be expected to be reasonably found there who would have the necessary the technical or managerial capability to lead such an effort or initiative, nothing special, but only one person responded, chessisajedrez.  He said that he had limited time (as I do also), but threw his name in, if but only just only do so, and see what happens.

This is a most unfortunate break.  Since 2006 I can only recall only one other instance of an outage lasting more than an hour or few minutes, and that one was for a week or so.  In fact, it dates to the time of the establishment of this blog.

I have no magic bullets, no ready answers.  I do know how to go about enterprise, coordinate a discussion, help evangelize or communicate a process, but cannot do it alone.  I have ideas, but it will take more than one person.  Save the site, communicate with the owners, track down the owners in Germany, mirror or host the site somewhere else?  There ARE options.

Does anyone out there have any information as to what is going on?  Is this temporary, and to be fixed?  Or is this a permanent failure?  Please let me know.  David Korn reached at:
davidkorn dot specialprojects g 'male'. dot 'calm'.  Phone +253 214-4282 United States, Tacoma WA.


{
This video is inserted here, meant to highlight my comment, in reply back to BDK below.  There is a saying in the wild days of wild Zen Masters, 'We are all sinners and whores'.  What can I say?

If you offended by this video, look in the mirror, we are all Americans.  As Timothy McVeigh once said, of Oklahoma City bombing kind:

'I could no longer stomach working for the biggest bully on the planet', once a decorated and deeply committed soldier.  Right perception, wrong methods.

We have not improved.  Violence justified?  No, not hardly.  Reason to be deeply upset at what our society has become?  Yes.  Need for total outrage.

**
Some think having your phone number on the web is a risk.  No.  Like a blackbelt in aikido or karate, I am willing to stand with anyone, on the phone I feel safe, as in about ten seconds, I can see what is happening, make my decision, and detect what is coming at me.  This is a lot harder in email.  Live is easy.  Its called immediate apprehension.


**
I said upon becoming chess coach at a major high school, that my blog had to be buttoned down.  Well, its true.  But things evolve.  Even limits have limits!
}

Chess is Hard

I hope to blog more again this summer.

Coaching chess at Stadium High and Mason Middle School worked out great.  Plan to be back next fall.

Doing another circle at CT-Art 3.0.  Last one was 72 days, this one is 49 days.  Great stuff.

Finishing TASC2, CD trainer, part five, as we speak.

Playing daily at chess.com, non-rated.  I only play the Caro-Kann, Slav, and Torre, so when I tell you I only now play 1.e4 as White, 1...e5 in response, and the Nimzo Indian, to make myself totally uncomfortable, like a boxer only fighting with his other hand, I can tell you, it works.  Harsh.  Like what is called muscle confusion in extreme fitness.

Still hope to run the ultra marathon, but lost a lot of capability from November.  Gardening towards rent several times per week MUST take precedence.

In job market.

Love Tacoma.  Folks here are so nice.  I go running at the beach.  Life is not luxury, its hard, but there are a few graces.

Gluten and dairy free.  Wish I could go have a pizza.

Gave up my ICC membership after twelve years.  I made a serious complaint about a person, to the management, whom I know and who knows me, and totally disappointed in how they do things.  They have not heard the last of me, and it will probably occur here.

Yasser and I plan to see each other in August for an afternoon as is our custom, when he comes back home, and the few minutes we got to see each other at the US Open last summer, is just not enough, but he needed his energy for what he faced.  I duly note, I asked him if he'd watch me in the blitz tournament, and he did.  My god.  A total disaster for me.  Enlightenment is embodied in physicality.  You have to have the pieces in your hands, the feel, 5 0 at the board is not the web.

My mother died in Febuary.  Told my sister, be happy, plan a party with a lot of booze.  She was done, rest in piece now.   A tough old lady.

My cat died in May, now that hurt.  Fifteen years.  He was born when I turned forty, ten at my fifty.  But I found a good home for him, on a lake, in New Jersey, could not take him with me any more.  Thank you Shruti (Sanskrit, Veda's).

Glad to see Snowden giving the government a hard time.  Things have gotten far worse out there than is generally known.  We are at the end of the collapse of Easter Island.  We are toast.

Is this guy wrong?  Could be.  I just think disturbance is exactly what we need.  I love Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey.  Sister says to me:  'I think he is totally obnoxious'.  Told her, I totally agree.  That is what I like about him.  This idea, that you work for the Post Office for so many years, then get medical-dental for life????  Reality check.  The money is there, just a question of where it goes.  They were discussing whether to have a guard stationed every one-thousand feet on the border with Mexico.  The money that seems to be available, when they want it???

 And, for now, an embed that I just HAD to put up:

David, How Are You?

A kind reader asked me how I was doing.  Mostly very good, but you know how I am and how it goes with me, mixed is always in the mix. Report:

Moved to Tacoma successfully in mid-January. My expectations for here was of a grim, soulless place. How little do we know!  How little indeed do I know.  This proves the fundamental ignorance of life.  Not only did I have this view for many years, but vocalized it, but as recently as the fall with great force, having no idea that I would be here.  Rather Tacoma is beautiful, calm, and remarkably--just as my benefactors told me--it IS COMPLETELY AND UNEXPECTEDLY DIFFERENT than Seattle. People ARE SO NICE!

I started another cycle of CT-Art 3.0, but my otherwise svelte, swift, super fast Acer finally gave up the ghost. Once it started, it was great. It had severe power problems, start up problems from day one, minute one. Word to the wise: if you buy something that is brand new, not cheap, and is defective as you drive it the first time, use it the first time, meet him or her the first time, sleep there the first time, work there the first week or month, eat it the first time, get rid of it. Send it back.  I have tried so hard to be an accepting person, but this one I no longer wish to accept, and have learned to keep this way of seeing.  No.  As Nietzsche said in his Beyond Good and Evil:  'The wisest of all ages have all agreed:  "It is no good"'.

So I got rid of it, and started over, so am back at zero there. All, all my ChessBase files were backed up, except my TWIK's 885 to 919, which I cannot buy or download, reloading MegaBase 2011 (really a 2010, with a patch which they allow you to download off their server.  A real total mess), adding the subscriptions for 2011, added Corr 2011. 5.899M games. Today I downloaded (new) TWIK's 920-940, but alas, the old Week In Chess removed them. As is fair. Mark Crowther must eat. He will sell access in the next few weeks, $20.00 per year, not bad for ten years of free data, on my end...

I am gluten and dairy free again.



My host needs help dressing up their organic garden, organic and yard work, and no amount of hours can repay the support they gave me the in the last year++ and for the furnished and pantry filled condo for this year, and more, so I run there whenever I can. Let me know when to get there!  That is my position.  So this however squelches my ultr-marathon training.  Glad to help Robert and DJ, but bittersweet, when I wonder how my now being down about 12 lbs with an even more refined diet would allow me to run 30 miles instead of 19 or 20, or run 12 more vigorously?  Gratitude matters far more.  Running 'will be there when I come back'.

I am now the chess coach at a very highly regarded High School here, on a volunteer basis.  And in a most beautiful setting, in a near castle overlooking the Puget Sound.  Easy to figure out that one!  Alas, Grandmaster Seirawan, who went to school in our state, even wrote a letter of recommendation to the High School Principal. If that were not enough, the best MAN AT HIS WEDDING went to this same school, some forty miles from Seattle.  Small world. Yaz is of course number one in the state, never mind top ten USA. Eric Tangborne also graduated there, who is yet another close friend of Yassers, who is number two in state. So the stars lined up. I am serious. I am committed.  My dream is high.  I am at the zero line.  The same usual mix of great confidence, and need for great humility.

I cannot and will not erase my social media of the last eight years, but not only at the high school, but at the middle school four blocks, five minutes walk from my house similarly volunteer, also on a serious basis. So my wild man days or preternatural inclination to acerbity writing on the web are over. I am in the public. No cursing, no special images, no wild videos. I can say that, can I not? I am not kidding. I have first and foremost, to make sure kids are safe, so this blog is hereby in the lines.  This goes for any teacher, or anyone else part of a school.



My new PC arrived two days ago, a quad, 12 GB of RAM. Fast.  The Fritz 11 SE which comes with ChessBase 11 is fast. Yes. Why of course, do I own Rybka. Before there was a Houdini or it was as yet seen as best, the latter was an is more than strong enough for any club player.  But this time I did not load it. Too darn slow. Its evals are unique, and I am eager to try it with all this extra ram, but it can wait.

I played a ton of Chess960 when I got here. An opponent was so unsportsmanlike, I ranted to the staff, sent five emails to the President, Ruy Mura, told them this man needs to apologize to me, or I am probably going to ask to terminate my account immediately, and a refund for balance. They wrote me back. You know how it goes. You don't read what you are not ready for, so save it, for when you have emotional energy for it. I have not read it, but will. Sad. I have standards, and I am not done talking about this. Trust me on this. * * * Big companies always talk about conduct, and zero tolerance, but we all know it is a myth.

Its like someone said recently, CEO's all talk about standards, as along as it is for someone else.  I am not mad at Ruy, who is always good to me, but the way this is, is poor.  I am not done talking about this.  Chess.com does not allow it.  Why should ICC.  I once heard Yermolinsky say something, comparing Magnus to well known behavior of Tiger Woods, worse than you can say.  I copied it, reported it.  Nothing done.  Yermo?  Great comentator?  YES!!!  Among the best.  So they instrumentalize it, turning a blind eye to decency, in the name of revenue.  This is already way too great an insert, in my new modus operandi of 'clean', but I do plan to stay me.  Right message, less upset, more calm.

My otherwise nice condo has water, mold damage. The carefully orchestrated plan was to remediate in just a few days, is now planned for weeks, so I am again staying at ExtendedStay, paid by my beloved host.

[

More of video, hard to find best full version, so here is another anchor:



]

Weather here remarkably uniform.  We surrounded on three side by a arm of the ocean.  Seattle has this same weather, the Puget Sound has this, its one of the major reasons we are here, along with access to cultural diversity, alpine, marine, and tucked as far in a corner of the USA as can be, as far from LA, and New York, and Miami as can be and not be in another country.  But Tacoma as far as weather goes exaggurates that.  We are in a heat sink.  Indeed, high and low tides here, can change from -3.0 to +13.5', or 5.2 meters!  Or about -1 to +11 or 12' in a normal cycle, or 3.7 meters.  This is not the Bay of Fundy, but plenty of it.

Currently still trying to finish TASC 2 or Steppenmethodde, Fifth part. I am almost done. Plan to be back to CTS.  This is a good program.

No USCF rated games. Richard at ChessTempo kindly gifted me a premium membership to CT, but have not as yet dug into it as deeply as I can, and plan to. One things I know, from my 800 tries in the last year, standard, is there is no single place on the web in chess which is smarter. ChessBomb is pretty good too. Thank you Richard.  BTW, CT can be called CT-Art to-go.  Can I get that to-do?  In a box.  A 'doggie bag'.  Whatever that is.

The sum of Chess.com, ICC, Playchess, ChessCube now = 25k games at a time, on weekends. Try adding Russia, Turkey, Germany, Spain, India, China, places out of view. Not quite the reputed 600 players, cited by Agon, but plenty.

Magnus. I am sad for Vlad. He is a most respectable player. But chess moves on. Chess will derive a gigantic benefit from Carlsen-Anand Nov 2013, such as not seen since Reykavik with Fischer-Spassky 1973. I really need to instead say Vlad's loss is tragic, since the word for Lev is also sad, and don't want to say it twice. I am glad for Carlsen. He will be ready.



Click lower R to expand image, views well at YouTube directly.

Attitude. Magnus was raised by his dad Heinrich to be modest, affable, humble, soft spoken. We see a new Magnus now, a bit of attitude, or a lot of it. I do not begrudge it, he must grow. I had tons of attitude at age 32, and at 55 am totally, 100% different, he earned a chance to explore the dipole.

But one thing is for sure. He is re-balancing, probably overcompensating, but gosh, he must fight not most of them, not just the best, but the entire world. Lets watch.  Try fighting the entire world, taking it on.  Just try it some time.  You, too, might have to have attitude, or if you didn't have one, grow one.

More latter. I am here. I am very active. I am very creative. I need however, to marshal my energy.

Warmly, dk

Over The Top

Right now, I have Murray vs. J. Chardy in the Men's Quarter Finals of the Australian Open in the lower left of my computer, then decided to put on Bloomberg TV after checking S&P and NASDAQ overnight futures, but then decided to switch from the live feed at Bloomberg to the video on NYU Professor Nouriel Roubini's, AKA Dr. Doom.

My man Roubini, basically says our fiscal and monetary course is totally fucked, leading to sure breakdown.  Right on bro!

Of course, this is after an ICC chess960 game, currently waiting for my next game in the queu. In classical homeopathy, this is called being overstimulated as a symptom. Go figure.

Before the snapshot, I have blogger there, too :).  Busy man.......

Double click image above to enlarge view!

Moving Again, Back to Washinton State. Totally Unexpected.

Its a shame to have suddenly gone into pause mode, at this blog, after such a sustained period of activity, but unlike a year or two or so back, when I hardly blogged, this pause should not be too long. This blog continues. As I said before, I have more posts on CT-Art 3.0 and the haloed seven circles, already in the works to done, but want calm respite to edit and add a bit. I am moving to Tacoma, to an incredible living situation.

My sponsors DJ and RS bought a condo, with the first intention of my living there, in further support. It faces a greenbelt, directly if I might say, and hardly half a mile from the nascent ocean, the fragrant Puget Sound. My ice axe and crampons are ready, will get the snowshoes out of storage, and find new job.

I depart for Tacoma Wednesday, leaving Xerox Services on the best of terms, for our major web-travel client.  All my managers and senior managers said five times each, you can come back any time.  They all call me Mr.  Korn.  No shit, honest.  Some events occurred, and David took on Goliath, cannot tell of it yet.  But I got results for two or three hundred persons, real impact.  Believe you me.



View Larger Map
Click Blue, Lower L to expand map

Xerox offered a convenient transfer. All my managers to upper level district here helped me. Thank you. I respect those around me mightily, but do plan to have a thing or two to say about them--Xerox proper in the media. Its Janus faced. Great love and kindness from all persons, and a superstructure that does real harm to society. It is forbidden on the web to talk like this, as far as leaving in peace, but you don't know to what I will speak.  I have a stronger word for it, but will leave to the major network.

I plan to call Anderson Cooper on CNN, and try to start high up. There is a lot of serious chess in Washington State, on paper near double Portland, but given proximity to a gigantic pool of talent, from Microsoft, Google divisions, Intel, Amazon, Starbux, Boeing, tons of 2000 to 2400 ELO's trickling down to class B. I have to parse the stats, but at a glance, yes. I was training for the ultramarathon, when I got a terrible bronchitus, are variety of this major domestic flu.

I will be back. It kept going and going and going, with no end in sight for four our five weeks, so starving it out of me, gluten, daily, and free of even minor beer. Love to you all. The people of Portland are fantastic, there is so much love here, notably Tigard, Beaverton, Forest Park, Hillsdale, Lake Oswego. Portland proper is a bit raw, but thats life. Ok. Here goes. dk

Such a lovely man.  Such a fantastically great attitude! See immediate below!

PS Video at immediate post, is automated, so simple page down to hit pause, or wait for the short interlude, before playing below.

Peak Hours Of Internet Chess Play, on the Web

Double Click Image to Enlarge

Quickly. Lots of work tonight. There was a question on chessPublishing.com as to volume of play, at specific hours at FICS. Deductively, here is the data. Got to work. Bye, dk

Click here to Spreadsheet, indicated above.

BTW:
To replay above.  Amazing

Magnus Carlsen on beating Garry Kasparov's rating record

I am starting to feel like I am short changing my blog by recently reporting more about chess grandmasters, than my own results, intentions, and process.  At the same time, what Carlsen has done recently and has accomplished is amazing.

And his attitude is so good.  Here is going to be the last one of its kind for awhile.  Here note how he says that he has a lot more to learn, and wants to improve further.  That is why he is the best.  Who among the top four or five go out publicly and say they plan to improve?

Note video at 5:35 mark.

400 Points in 4,000 Days: Not so rapid chess improvement for the adult class player: A five-year program (Update)

A few minutes ago, I just finish ALL 1,209 of the CT-Art 3.0 problems. What a beast. I will be writing about this extensively in the next few weeks. Quickly. No edits or rereading. Here it is, in the raw:

Double Click Image to Enlarge

That my attained rating there of 2597 has no real signficance to others, nor is to suggest this reflects my OBP strength does not need comment.  But what does matter, is that the last time I tried this cycle AND the time before that, I found it very, very hard to get past 2250 and 2300.  I can see more now, calculate a lot better.  Relative to me.  That is what matters here, worth noting.  Study helps.  Hard work helps.  Refusing to quit helps.  It sinks in, believe me it does.  I can see it.

I will be moving in a tad over four weeks, so will do my best to share as I promise. Its not so much that there is so much packing--after a serious liquidation cum storage blitzkrieg in Seattle two years ago, this will not be a problem--as prep. Lists of places to submit job applications, drop by and make appropriate in person introductions. All that. Just want to go up there very integrated. The folks who are furnishing the condo are VERY high level, and its not that there are strings attached--there are not--but, rather, want to be in sympatico.

A three hour run at Forest Park tomorrow, I cannot wait to get out there, carb loading last two nights, a glass of wine (or two) now--tiny pours, but still...

Had a serious call from Dubai Friday night. Hotel very, very upset. I stayed 90 minutes after my shift ended, to help them. I basically took a very, very irate customer--supplier-partner, ready to blast us, and with good reason, and left him feeling, as was honestly true, that I would spare no effort to help them. Called Lodging Support at our parent company, and talked to two persons.  All great persons.

You all know my acerbic side in blogging, but in the day to day work world, I like to be the nice guy with customers and coworkers.  It gives me comfort.  I get to forget me.  Those of you in Customer Service know what it is all about.  You either like it, or you don't...

]
Always Planning.  More like a sketch of possible performance benchmarks WITH results, than raw results.  I am a spreadsheet maven, and sketch with it.  The main L column is the actual daily work.  I cannot help but be this way.  Sh_t.  I am half German.  What, with a name like Korn.  Mit ya plan, ya!

Double Click Image to Enlarge

]

...What mattered is, is that our customer knew finally someone cared, and drilled into the bottom, 'here is the name to call, here is their number, their email, here is my full name (in call centers you are told not to, I am just David at HHL--acronym for my area, not telling who or what it is--and here are my hours').

If I could have given him my mobile, without getting into trouble I would do that. 'Yes. If I were in your situation, I would be VERY, very upset, too'. Well, it felt good. I truly love customer service. I am able to subordinate my ego, which is far more comfort than you can ever know, and stand for my customers. I am in on-line travel, at least now :).

Our RETAIL customers are NOT my customers, but our supplier customers are. I tell them, 'I am here to help you. You are my customer. This will be easy'. That I almost did a project for The White House need not be said, but believe me, whatever this sovereignty saw in me, I bring it with me, wherever I go.

OK. More soon. dk

Formula For Getting to 2860

Getting to 2800++ is not hard to do.  In fact, Magnus Carlsen recently showed us how easy this to do.  Just follow these steps:

March your Wht K up to the 6th rank.  If you cannot do that, 5th rank is adequate.

In so doing, scatter yours and opponents pawns around the board, preferably with no apparent pattern.  Notice the word apparent.

When possible, relate these pawn structures around a mind boggling dance of simple R, B, & N endgames.

If step one does not work, try for the 4th rank is OK.

Reverse process when playing the black side.

Do not exhaust yourself in opening theory.  Of course, have a prodigious memory where you use lots of that also, just don't fixate on it.  Create lots of imbalance and uncertainty.  In a Lasker like way, 2nd rate moves are OK, just pose little problems sequenced on end which ultimately start to turn into intractable ones.

Trade off major pieces.  Go for an endgame whenever possible.  Use superior stamina,  combined with a relentless will to win, to push and push subtle nuances Karpov like, till the opponent breaks.  Instal Ken Thompson's entire Six Piece Tablebases into your head [1].

And when you are in equality, start to create the feeling that if the game is forced to go on, or is it, your opponent will begin to expect that you will force the issue by not seeking a draw, so that he is intimidated into thinking that sooner or latter they could be at risk by cracking.  What, he's already seen it near countless times in the last year.

This is history in the making.



[1] 'Lunch With Magnus', a wonderful article from the Financial Times, linked here.  If this does not amuse, nothing will.

My God! When Two Giants Meets...

Carlsen is making a historic breakout. This video shows the beauty of his mind.

Click image to expand.

Also, here is a video of Kramnik discussing his game with Luke McShane. Now this guy is a real chess genius. It is not for nothing that some, including Kasparov, I think it was, said that Kramnik had the deepest understanding of chess, of All persons. Just listen to this guy. The ease with which he calls forth what he had thought. This is not just thinking, but a brilliant replay. And this is just what he had time to tell us. He does this for four or five hours, not half an hour. A thousands and tens of thousands of thoughts and assessments:


Kramnik is a truly beautiful mind. He once said that he loved to joke back and forth with Aronian with sarcastic quips (not in an unkind way). You can here him respond to Nigel Shorts quip, as to whether he had ever heard of the concept of Rook's worth five, and Knights three, at the 17:00 mark, at 17:30. Can start this segment at 16:40. Outrageous. He is so sharp and quick to come back. His humor is well known, and he shows it here.

Pax Magnus

Double Click Image to enlarge [1]

Carlsen hit 2855.7, a full clear 51 points down to Aronian whom he beat today in good fashion in London.  It is only fitting that this occurred with Big Bad Vlad back over 2800.  Great times for chess.  How far will Magnus get to, how far will he go?  Whatever it is, he is clearly taking chess to a whole new level right now.  That this has occurred two games in a row through his tenacity if not great cleavorness in endings cannot figure in a small way into his hegemony [2].


[1] Showing the top of my browser here, in this image cannot be an accident.  If you are not using Google's Chrome Browser, the best thing on the web, then you are missing out.  Do you know, that I could go to Iceland or Brazil, maybe even China if they let us go so far, and my bookmarks will be waiting for me?  This is so valuable to me.  I have EVERYTHING THERE.  My whole life [3].

[2] I am not sure what it means to say Pax Magnus.  But the interlude is to suggest not so much that he has been at war with everyone, but quite the contrary, after a long period of climbing, he sits on Mount Olympus, if but for a day or a week, a year, or an entire era.  We cannot know.  But in its own funny way, I feel a sense of peace from this.  I know some of you will understand:

'Pax Romana, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Extent of the Roman Empire under Augustus. 

'Pax Romana (Latin for "Roman peace") was the long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military force experienced by the Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Since it was established by Caesar Augustus it is sometimes called Pax Augusta. Its span was about 207 years (27 BC to 180 AD). 

'Origins of the term
The Pax Romana began with the accession of Augustus in 27 BC, which marked the end of the Roman Republic and its final civil wars, and lasted until 180 AD at the death of Marcus Aurelius. The Latin word pax, most often translated "peace," also means "treaty" or "accord." The Roman legal system, which forms the basis of many Western court systems today, unified the administration of justice in the courts throughout the provinces. 

'The Legions patrolled the borders with success, and though there were still many foreign wars, the internal empire was free from major invasion, piracy, or social disorder on any grand scale. The empire, wracked with civil war for the last century of the Republic and for years following the Pax Romana, was largely free of large-scale power disputes. Only the year 69 AD, the so-called 'Year of the Four Emperors' following the fall of Nero and the Julio-Claudian line, interrupted nearly 200 years of civil order. Even this was only a minor hiccup in comparison to other eras. The arts and architecture flourished as well, along with commerce and the economy.'

[3] Some say, 'Do I want Google to know that much about me???' Well, they already know it all. Who cares. There is nothing to get from me. If I like women with body hair (I do), who the fu_k cares? I hope she likes chess and looks me up.

ChessBase Light or Euclid (Part Two)

Things come in fads, and in the late 80's writer Stewart Wilde was one of them.  He focused on empowerment, manifestation, and did so with the wry, cleaver mark of a man who made himself out of nothing with not a small dose of street smarts.

What makes the mark of a fad?  At the time his books-- each and every one of them--seemed essential to read.  At the time they helped me a lot, but would never read them again and quite confident he is no longer topical, if not nearly forgotten now as far as best selling goes.

Very much like Dr. Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra [1], and most particularly, Carlos Castinada, the work was very good, and as promised to inspire, was both very effective and worthwhile.  Dyer knew how to incent the baby steps of self realization, Chopra early on was very clear about the approach to treating the temple of our body with respect, and Castinada guided the way to showing how mundane life was within arms reach of real magic.  OK.

But what each and every one of them did was try to turn this into a money machine.  Lets be clear.  Making money is OK.  But they had other roles, and spoke to things from those roles, until they supplanted message making as and end in itself into a business--to the point of over-saturating the marketplace, diluting early, very primary work.


Now, lets be clear.  I am not saying this about ChessBase.  Quite the contrary.  They have come a very long ways from the clunky little nascent windows driven environment of version six, to the svelt and sophisticated tools of taking the Cloud to your chess desktop, allowing one to take raw chess data and compare and categorize games according to history, results, pawn structure, and motif.  Good for ChessBase, and staying in business and handily deserve they do.  Back to heuristics, before we get back to chess.

Despite Wild's loosing his imprimatur, this does not mean that he didn't say a lot of very wise things.  The most memorable on was:  'The trick about money is having some', well neigh the title of a book.

What this means is that you can talk all you want about investment selection, growth, asset classes, and diversification, but you just plain need money to start out.  And if you don't, getting it is the first step, whereby no amount of manipulation or magical thinking can create large energy out of little to no energy.

So the first step is to have your games recorded, and it is to that, to which our next post, Part Three turns.  After that, we will discuss where to do it and how.  And most of all--and I say this as a veteret ChessBase user--this means knowing what other alternatives exist, some while not as sophisticated are a lot cheaper.  I don't recommend that route, but I will need to show you other options.

[1] How very far he got off track.  His first book, Return of the Rishi was written by a practicing physician, steeped in the work of Ayurveda [2].  He went from the focus of medicine with messaging, to messaging with medicine.  At some point, given enough Oprah and Dr. Phil the message gets sadly cheapened.  Tapes, trainings, meetings, credentialing, consultations.  A real fu_kign money machine which becomes the focus of attention.

[2] Sanskrit: आयुर्वेद; Āyurveda, "the knowledge for long life"

ChessBase Light: Ad--Toward, Addition To, At, Near. You Must. You Simply Must (Part I)

If you are an aspiring, serious chess player, and not using ChessBase, then you are missing out. Big time.

You can do no better than to dive headfirst into getting familiar with ChessBase by downloading ChessBase Light 2009. It is free and it is very, very good.  It is NOT dated.  Lets be clear--this is not a limited time offer, a thirty day trial, or a deeply disabled version of chessBase. In actual fact, IT IS CHESSBASE. Trust me on this. I know exactly. I have had multiple students download, explore, and use this. It is fantastic, works very, very well, and is actually pretty easy.  It was integral to our work.

Here is the link, to Download ChessBase Light 2009.  Like a very special fishing hole, known to few if any but to you or a few locals in the know, as handed down over time, you would be very, very hard pressed to find this link without either great tenacity and resourcefulness in trying to find it, or knowing where and how.

Lets be clear.  ChessBase has an easily found toggle for downloads--downloading various versions of chessBase and other programs, for a fee, or patches or service packs for earlier versions.  But the link is not shown at the list of available downloads.  But IF you scroll down a short ways on the slider bar, you will find it, sure enough--the selection for downloading chessBase Light.

Double-click image to enlarge

They don't just make it hard to find, but to my eyes, darn right hidden.  I expect the day to come that this will be removed, but their clear expectation is that if you use this, you will buy it.  Fair enough.

What the difference between chessBase proper, and the light version, it must be natural to ask?  Well, as far as features goes, not a lot.  Then how can it be free?  One thing--they make it so that you cannot create files in chessBase, cannot modify them.  There are a few little tricks around this, but this is very far from our purpose.  If you like it, then buy it.  This will get you started.

Try being in Medieval Europe without Latin in the world of learning.  Try not knowing French in sixteenth century Europe.  Try living in South America without Portugise.  Try doing business far and wide in 2012 without English.  Same here.  ChessBase is the lingua franca of chess as it is.  Forget ChessDB, WinBoard, or SCID.  Crap.  Anyone, and I do mean anyone who says it serves their purposes is either stupid or cheap, or stupid AND cheap.

Well, this is the beginning of a lot more to say.  I am at step one in this sharing.  All I want to do is help.  It is time.  I have thought about this for years.  YEARS.

[
PS, I finished Part II of my Four-Hundred Points in Four-Thousand days series, but Google ate the revisions.  That was about ten days ago, as I got to problem1,039 at CT-Art 3.0.  But now I am set to finish the whole darn thing, so will rework the part I lost, not massive, but an emotional investment.  Most of it was already written.  I will publish in a few days, so stay posted!  Tonight, I am at problem 1,174, out of the entire 1,209 so waiting won't help.  I started Part III, and there will be a Part IV.  Lots to say in parts two and three, not biographically, but more of the whats and wherefores.

That's one thing.  Secondly, the next part on this ChessBase Light post (Part II), will take you past why you need it and what it means, as I intend here, to discuss what you do with it, and how  This part is the real important part.  Stay posted.
]  

ChessBase 9 or 11: Para--Pro, Besides, Next to, Near, With, Any of These Words Work.

I have been feeling guilty about my last post.  But I also stand by it.  So now let me take the other side, so that I do not take unwary readers by surprise.  I don't always but usually do like to provoke.  But I love chessBase, consider it to be a necessarily if not MOST worthwhile investment for serious and aspiring chess players.

If I say less now, and have said less in the past, it is like two old friends taking a long drive in silence.  Or a short drive might be a better analogy.  They decide not to talk, knowing that it must be a gigantic conversation.  Maybe not a difficult one, but once started cannot stop.

I have a LOT, a very lot to say about chessBase, and over many years evolved my own ways of organizing the material, my games, the work in progress.  This day will come.  When I will talk.  I am very, very particular as to how I do it.  To me, it is Zen chess work.  It is heuristical art.



The day to day mechanics of chessBase, despite what some think, is relatively easy.  Does it take some getting used to?  Of course.  Some very odd quirks?  Of course.  Germanic circumlocutions if you will....

The harder part is not how to use it or use it well, but how to organize the vast forestt--reference games, our own games, studies, openings, current GM games, problems, tactics, files.  I love chessBase.  I really want to make videos on it, but how much time does a man have?

I eat very, very well.  I am actually interviewing with the top organic grocer in Tacoma Washington.  I make all my own food.  I run three to four hours on Saturdays, and it takes me two days to prepare, two to recover, sometimes three.  I study chess, have my blog, my work on sustainability.  All that.  I am very directed in my tactical study, running, diet.



The Elvis of Asia.  Serious.  ... He is the Michael Jackson of Asia.  Only near 1B hits, 3M comments.  This cannot be just a fad.  It is art.   That he is a genuinely real, nice person who has worked to create his art, cannot hurt.  Lovely interview here.  If I were gay I would track him down and ask him out.  Not that he is gay.  Just a lovely man....

Love to you all.  So let me close by saying that I worship upon the alter of chessBase.  Daily.

PS:  I have prepared my second article for ChessCafe (published on in early April).  I plan to submit, but need to work on it more.  I have all the source data, my own measures, like alchemy, comparing ICC to PlayChess to Chess.com, and a bit of chessCube.  So much to do.  The limitation is NOT mental, but as my guru Joy always said, 'Enlightenment is always embodied in physicality'.  So here.  It is the limitation of fingers, typing, revision, typing, mental energy, will, time, choices.

ChessBase 12: Argumentum--Contra, Against, Doubt, Worry

I had no idea there was a ChessBase 12 coming out. If I had the time and energy, I would verily DEMAND that chessBase make me a beta user. But what the fu_k?  When you are not surprised that you are surprised is hardly a surprise.  New Obama.  New Windows, New Macs?  New ideology, new economics?  WTF?

I do not use the term expert lightly. I am NOT a chess expert. But I am, quite assuredly a chessBase expert, having used it every day for seven years, probably ten years+ of use. I know all of it. Every single corner of it. I know how to do stuff that I do not know how to do.

And chessBase 11 was a major fu_k up. I used ChessBase Version Nine for six years, starting in 2005. Broken save functions. History for interupted saved games messed up, drag and drop within the 'fixed sort order' rubric WAS VERY messed up, crashing, replacing games messed up. But version nine was completely stable. Foolproof. Zero problems. But we hear of improvements, read ring the cash registered. Jesus!

Need I say that a former world junior chess champion, latter ranked eleventh in the world was it, asked me five or six years ago to send him ALL his GAMES with the former World Chess Champions in chessBase, read Karpov, Tal, Kasparov, for his book about his games with them?   Is this a fool, a total fool who asked me for help???  He beat Kasparov several times, and Karpov as well.  Dugh!

And asking him, a year latter, 'Did I miss any of them?' 'No, you got em all'. That simple. God strike me dead if I lie.


Well, lets see what chessBase gmB or whatever it was, gmH created. I have my doubts. Think Internet Explorer Eight then Nine, after Seven, which did lots of things neither of those did, total crap. Just crap.  I am afraid.  I hear of improvements.  Give me a stiff drink.  Not gazpacho but Gestapo.  Oh my god.

I am utterly filled with hyperbole, but I earned it.  What did they say of Nietzsche?  He was obviously a very agitated but alert mind, at a pivotal time of change.  'Let them eat cake'.

Some consider me to be a very disturbing person.  Well if only I tried not to.

The Grab Bag: Recent Comments at CTS

I should tidy this up.  But what the F.  Who has time or energy?   I am busy with finishing this cycle of CT-Art 3.0, and in view of going back to blitz to test how much of the last seven weeks of this study has helped result in seeing more in chess, have in the last day or two gone back to CTS, aka as Chess Tactics Server.  It is the sh_t! [No time here.  Quickly.  Version four has problems.  Be sure to get 3.0].

The skill had gone fast, but I am also very confident that this does not mean that I lost it.  Slow calculation, standard as it were, is not the same as blitz, but at least from where I live, from where I stand, the one is connected to the other.  Blitz feeds real chess, and real chess feeds blitz.  Blitz is not food.  It is fuel.  You have to do a lot of it to get the raw experience, and the more you do it, the more you see.  Comments below more than share my peripatetic thoughts.

Its Saturday, tomorrow promises to be the second nice day in three weeks.  Some hate the weather here.  I am among those who love it.  The rain holds me in its gentle arms, bathing my sorrow, washing my heartache.  But now that I am clearly defined as training for my first 30 mile run, but next year, and I need to put the miles in, and every two weeks need to do something big.  And this is always best in the forest.  That day is tomorrow.  Those sort of runs can happen in horrid mud, but its good to be able to see where you are going, even if the mud is still there.  OK, here goes:


Date From Message

2012, Nov 24 dktransform Play blitz all the time? Sure. But then the skills start to plateau. Most of all, fatigue sets in. 3 min chess day after day can be stressful, at least if you are doing it for real, that is to say, not 'for kicks', but full on, urgent, each and every game, for real, life or death, get a peak all time rating. Then you know--relative to yourself--repeat, to yourself--you are on form. Then you need to refresh and retrain. Train all the time? Sure. But then you run into lack of practical application, making comfort a value greater than struggle. But if you are not doing tons of training, it is not fruitful. Then you don't have muscle building but 'routine maintenance'.

Then you have to go and retest. The cycle repeats. Play lots of blitz, go back and run your games in chessBase, not for deep Fritz as it were, but to see where you have habitual bad opening habits and constructs. You determine to eradicate them, at least the way I do it, go into chessBase and if you have narrowed down your repertoire, you get to repeat. Getting to repeat, you get to see what you do that does not work. Better players punish you. You do deeper work, then do tactics, then blitz. Do it all, then play standard chess. See how good you are, and prepare for punishment. But you get to experience yourself, in relationship to others.

2012, Nov 24 dktransform OK. Nothing to brag of here. Just report on recent effort, as but one example of how one more CTS person goes about his or her efforts. First bad form. Hard to do 85% at 1600, 1500 level. So last day or two, retooling. Now that I can do 1f/138s= 139t @ 99.3% for 1100 elo level. Now I step up to 1300. Once I can do those around 97/98%, then I go back to 1500 level problems. Once I can do those at 91% and push up into the mid 1500's, then it is time to play blitz again. It takes time, but you get back in shape. First and foremost, by consistent success. 1100 is really not so completely easy. Easy? Yes. But perfectly? Not so easy. About 63% of those are 1300/1400 level. The issue is not difficulty. The issue is determination to correct thinking. Not most of the time. But each and every time.

2012, Nov 23 dktransform Hello CTS friends and associates, and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are in an America or American.... OK: 'How quickly it goes!' I've been busy at CT-Art 3.0 and just about finished the entire cycle. Great stuff. But it is also another world. I am ramping up here again, really, really starting to hunger for blitz, not for stimulation as such alone, but to start feeding my brain lots of chess to see how much I have absorbed in the last five or six weeks. I certainly know not to loose all this hard work, by total loss of confidence, by playing blitz, and having a rating sink like a stone as I resync my brain to faster board evaluation. As such, I am doing what I have always done, and found to work, and that is work hard, and steadily, and in size at CTS till I can do lots of problems accurately.

But also as always, starting back, you find that you cannot just will yourself into form. It was hard to do 70 or 80% at > = 1600 level with 1500 level problems, and I can assure you, since I cannot easily do 1100 level problems at 95%, it means my form is way off. CTS is a skill like anything else, and you just don't show up, and voila! It takes time. I will get it back, but until I can get back to a 91% run rate, and steadily and consistently, there will be no blitz for me. Its running laps, hill work, the gym, sit ups. Then when the work outs are good, and consistently, then the fight or the track or cross country match. That time is not now! Warmly, dk

2012, Nov 19 dktransform Good. Even better: 'Learning How to Learn: Bateson'sDolphins. One of the best stories about learning how to learn comes from anthropologist Gregory Bateson In his book, "Steps to the Ecology of Mind". In these collected stories, Bateson describes how he saw dolphins working it out for themselves in a dolphinarium. On the first day of a new routine, the dolphins were taught a new trick. If they performed it correctly, they were rewarded with a fish. The next day, when they performed the trick, no fish were given. Fish were only given when a new trick was mastered. This continued for two weeks. Then on the fourteenth day, the dolphins performed four new tricks they hadn't been shown before but had learnt by themselves. The dolphins had learnt that learning, not tricks, is what gets rewarded. It's precisely this skill that we all need to learn for our own personal effectiveness at work.'

2012, Nov 16 chessisajedrez 'If you were to visit a chess tournament and watch a grandmaster in action, you would be able to observe a surprising range of emotions. Sometimes, in apparently simple positions, the grandmaster might lapse into lengthy periods of concentration, where ten minutes or more might be spent on a move. At other times the moves will come very quickly, even in complicated positions. You might even be shocked if the grandmaster suddenly wins the game with a lengthy and brilliant mating sacrifice – after thinking for just a few seconds. Clearly the analytical process is not always directly related to how complicated the position is on the surface. The reason for this is pattern recognition.

If the grandmaster can recall similar positions encountered in the past, the same themes and concepts might be applicable to the game in hand. This makes it much easier and quicker to analyze a position. It especially applies to the most basic attacking formations around the enemy king. Once a known motif is spotted, the moves of the potential combination are analyzed to check that it does indeed work in the particular position on the board. It is clear then that chess analysis is a mixture of calculation of individual moves and pattern recognition'. – Murray Chandler, How to Beat Your Dad at Chess [dk:  Quoted here.  Great book.  He is part of the Emms, Nunn, Burgess nexus at Gambit Publications, UK]

2012, Nov 16 e4e5f4 Do you want to get better results on this site? Read and use "Thinking fast and slow" from Daniel Kahneman.

2012, Nov 15 chessisajedrez @dktransform - "Soilent Green is Coca Cola!"

2012, Nov 15 dktransform Soylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Charlton Heston and, in his final film, Edward G. Robinson. The film overlays the police procedural and science fiction genres as it depicts the investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution, overpopulation, depleted resources, poverty, dying oceans, and a hot climate due to the greenhouse effect. Much of the population survives on processed food rations, including "soylent green". The film, which is loosely based upon the 1966 science fiction novel Make Room! Make Room!, by Harry Harrison, won the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film in 1973.

2012, Nov 15 dktransform Friends and loved ones at CTS, lets not rot our bodies and brains while we try to build our mental acuity here. Worth the while. Love to all of you, David Korn PS, now at problem 1,063 at CT-Art 3.0. This stuff is the sh_t! I will finish it this time, in about 65 days this time, then 47, then 23, then 11, then plan to make the move to 1800 blitz, up one notch, then from nascent 1700 USCF to 1800+ (OK, not quite, but I refused like 97 draws in my recent games, lost when thinking i was even, even when i thought i was winning, all of them! try this: https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1284

2012, Nov 13 dktransform nice to see you. i am here twice a day, always enjoy the notes. currently, after four attempts at the seven circles, each time getting stuck at problems six hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred, biting through with deep, very deep commitment. drafted a xls schedule. discipline was not and is not the issue. these are hard problems, some mind bending. 'click, click' and too fast, might as well not call it standard tactics, but my old hobgobblen of 'guessing'. this time i am biting hard. on problem 1,049, and on my way to 1209. i do this at waking, before work, now, and before bed. i was going to stop at level six, problem 1,039, my aim of weeks, and repeat that circle first in 40 days again recently, then 28, 14, and seven.

i do not do it the same as michael de Mazla, but similar. i decided two days ago not to go back, subverting my irrevocable plan to finish at 31 dec 2012, but now the whole thing, then repeat ALL of it. no blitz, no chessBase, just john emms ultimate chess puzzle book in bed. this is it. it is now time. leaving portland, going back to washington state, to work on sustainability, a 28th amendment to the american constitution, into law. so first finish CT-Art 3.0, prefatory to lots of USCF games back in WA state (not much here, and not ready, and way overpriced here, tournaments anyway), and nascent to that, will play lots of blitz, and before that, lots of CTS. I will be back, and believe me, my RD will not >100. i am awake.

2012, Nov 04 dktransform i have been eating pretty much having a full mean every hour for the last six hours, now constantly. when i did a guided climb of Glacier Peak in 2000, i had a large pizza two days before leaving for dinner, a large pizza for lunch the next day, and a large pizza for dinner. only 12,000 feet vertical in 1.5 days, carrying sixty pounds. the body needs deep fuel reserves, but water matters FAR more. i just got back from the trailhead,here in a far different place, driving 38 miles total, just to drop 0.8 gallons of water at the 9.7 mile mark off a access road along the way, to be ready to drink up, tank up, and have water for the trip back. in the forest, divine! then i am starving for two days after, cannot stop eating :-).

2012, Nov 04 dktransform larry kaufman smart motherF'r! http://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/Kaufman+Test

2012, Nov 04 dktransform http://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/Bratko-Kopec+Test i do not program chess engines, just from wide anecdotal chess reading...

2012, Nov 04 dktransform yes. some of the old guard have a cc of a pgn of the complete CTS problems, when there were 23k of them, the last seven years. to the operators credit, they added an additional 14k problems, but let it be reminded that on one has ever or does complain about the scope of prior. it is just that much better to have more. ways to improve the site and user experience? why yes, of course, but duly appreciated all the same. a matter of what is present, not what is absent.

please write me at davidkorn.specialprojects@gmail.com, and I can send. the illustrious ginger baker, who i believe still lives in france (an american, and to my surprise, a man not a woman... by the name only would have thought not). i am preparing to run 22 miles to tomorrow, so if don't send it then will the next day. massive eating is real work :-). second, you can get pgn's of the two reinfeld books as well as, what is it called, the Brako or Bradko problems for testing engines here, which should be plenty. good luck:

2012, Oct 29 dktransform does anyone here, please, have any direct experience with the many variations of Renko's various tactics courses, CD's. to me, it is hard to tell. CTS, CT-Art 3.0, Reinfeld, Polgar's Chess Middlegames--4,158 Positions, TASC or Steppenmethod, at some point, become no more or no less, you do the work, there are no magic tricks. at the same time, if you aim too high, i kind of ruins better work for latter. you do not so much calculate or delve into the problems as memorize them, as my Zen Master Dae Soen Sa Nim called 'Number One Bad!'.

you do CT Art 3.0 too slowly, you just start to suffocate. do it too fast, its click, click, this is not memorization, but time calculating, with direct feedback. that said, its like the man said, 'so many girls, so little time'. so here. begs the question, what does Renko have that others do not? i duly note, the guy on paper seems like the real deal, a person of respectable intentions, effort, imprimatur. blessings, david korn portland oregon

2012, Oct 29 dktransform hello friends. i continue to work hard, very, very hard at CT-Art 3.0, this time, doing the real, full on, full-bore seven circles. not as de la Mazla described it, but in my own way, but more like what he did, than not. i plan to write about it, and already did, in a small way, and have drafted parts II, III, IV, V. just to let you folks know, i continue to read comments, always nice to see new blood. i wish that i could respond to the many astute, worthwhile, smart comments. briefly, thanks to you, Chessisajedrez, always nice to see your most worthwhile, astute comments. always.

i plan to be back here, but not right now. to me, CTS is chicken and egg--if i train for standard, i don't need it. if i am playing a lot of blitz, then it is the gold standard for training. chessTempo, of course. a great place. nothing bad to say about it, lots that is good. and yes, its free, despite what some say. that guy Richard is one smart motherF. that it is visually attractive, to my eyes, counts for a lot. smart is the word for him, his work, that place. i maintain, you don't go to CTS to learn tactics, but to practice them, duly on the clock. see you all latter, warmly, dk 2012

2012, Oct 20 dktransform last blog post is a draft, discovery writing. i make no appologies. been busy also doing seven circles at CT-Art, currently doing about 25 per days around problem 600, a real tough road. more latter, see ya, dk: http://dk-transformation.blogspot.com/ . http://dk-transformation.blogspot.com/2012/10/sustainability-draft-work-in-progress.html . i have given up fear in the current economy, and i dont care.

2012, Oct 20 dktransform sorry. speaking of accurate, not my typing. i just got off work, am dead brain tired. but you get the idea. you can view things in different ways. obama and romney alike, think that increasing GDP for the USA 4% annually for the next six years is accomplishing economic gain. economic gain, instead, would be taking first two percent, then four, then six percent of all GDP for the next three years, devoted to sustainable energy, sustainable life, while DECREASING GDP 2% a year for the next three years. for example, get every highschool kid, to work three times a week, ninety minutes at a time, going around with a glad bag and work gloves, and clean up roads and rivers.

but no, child labor laws and strict things about safety, toxicity, barrier protection prevents it. we pay unemployment, and the concrete exists, the men exists, the skills exist, the needs exist, but no, there is no money to retool america or rebuild roads, but rich civil servants and police have rich pension, congressional pages have smart phones. yea. so no, 74% at 200k is not progress, it is waking sleep.

2012, Oct 20 dktransform there are others who have done more, and or better than me. but let it be duly noted, going 70k at 91% is equal to the effort of 200k at 74%. it takes a LOT longer to do the problems, more tension, more going back, more time. at 74% you fly through the work. just try 1,000 each way, time it, and compare. see how you feel. even the difference between 90% and 95% is light years. one in twenty five wrong is not 62.5% harder, than one in gen wrong. it is exponentially harder.

if you are doing 98.5%, as i did for almost two years along the way here, that means if you get one wrong in fifty, you have to do the next hundred in a row to get back to parity. if you are doing one in twenty, and get one wrong in ten, you then have to do the next one wrong in forty to get back to parity. this takes great effort. same analogy. 74% at 200k can alternately be said to be gigantic evidence of someone in a hurry insuring the same mistakes keep getting repeated, not a badge of honor. chess is learning, chess is thinking, not gambling.

Indignant

Look at Boris Gelfand.  He always has the slightly irritated look of a man who is forced to tolerate meeting with an IRS (US Internal Revenue Service agent--taxes!) half his age, who is officiating with out of bounds authority.  He has to be polite but knows its all stupid.

Svidler always looks like a guy who just got out of a mathematics final exam, where he knew all the answers, and found it easy.  The guy who always got tops grades without studying, and dated the best girls.

I love them both.  Amazing men.  Gelfand is a rock.  Svidler is the true, urbane man of the world.

Given proper opportunity, I would kiss the girl left of them--Press officer Anastasiya Karlovich, or ask her at the very least to give me a show, taking her top off.  That she also knows chess or has a sweet Russian accent in the complete certainty that a man can always be expected to behave as a man does not hurt.  She knows who she is, and is strong enough not to have to demonstrate it, knowing she holds power.  How erotic.

Live video feed here, but probably not active after the match (two more games continue during this postmortem).

Double click image to expand.

Calculators Versus Wizards

Notice how much time, here in Round Two of the FIDE Grand-Prix in Tashkent:

Kamsky 39:53 minutes to Karjakin 1:01
Svider 1:19 to Gelfand 21:41 minutes
Leko 0:25 minutes to Mamedyarov 1:16.

Double click image to expand view

A mix of feelings and perceptions, including deep caution, brilliant depth, over carefullness, certain to go down in flames for time trouble, pressured by rapid players--Gelfand just 21 moves, Leko 22 moves.  This is headed for trouble.  Hardly needs a mention.

But what does matter, is how each and every man demonstrates his character (Women's WCC here, faster control, so does not bear comparison at this time).

These players grind and grind and grind.  They hardly get out of the chair.  I totally respect that.  Takes guts.  Takes stamina.  Takes strength.  Takes will.  Takes balls.