weren't the suns supposed to save basketball?

i like the suns, i really do. i watched them play the spurs last night and they got beaten bad. i like run and gun basketball but they really need a big man in there, or at least to move Amare to the power forward. they got physically destroyed. which is fine if you're making shots, but the spurs got every shot they wanted. their style is good to beat 95% of the teams in the league, the problem is that once you get down to the final 4, you're playing that other 5%. even the run and gun sonics or the showtime lakers played defense. they gave up a ton of layups. and they didn't even go through duncan hardly. they just busted phoenix off the dribble...not a good showing by the suns. i hope miami wins. i wanna see the shaq v. duncan ;)

if i ever play 1.e4 again...

i've got a new line


Three Pawns Gambit

it's perfect for blitz..not sure how good it is OTB ;)

i must have been more patient in the 20th century...

i was surfing yesterday and i stumbled back upon IECG the first correspondence place i played. man i was patient...i was looking to get a record of my "first win" or something...in the 2 years i played there (not counting forfeits) i lost 48 games and drew 2. here are the two draws

[Event "QN.1999.0.00086"]
[Site "IECG"]
[Date "1999.10.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sadler, Craig"]
[Black "Bisplinghoff, Steffen"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E88"]
[WhiteElo "538"]
[BlackElo "684"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "1999.10.28"]
[Source "IECG"]
[SourceDate "2004.12.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 c6 8. Bd3 Nfd7
9. Qd2 Nc5 10. b4 Nxd3+ 11. Qxd3 c5 12. bxc5 dxc5 13. Bxc5 Re8 14. Nge2 Nd7 15.
Be3 Qa5 16. O-O Nc5 17. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 18. Kh1 f5 19. f4 b6 20. exf5 Bxf5 21. Ne4
Bxe4 22. Qxe4 exf4 23. Qxf4 Bxa1 24. Qf7+ Kh8 25. Rxa1 Rxe2 26. Rf1 Rae8
1/2-1/2

[Event "TE.1999.P.00101"]
[Site "IECG"]
[Date "1999.11.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Perez, Giorgio"]
[Black "Sadler, Craig"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E84"]
[WhiteElo "1903"]
[BlackElo "547"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "1999.11.01"]
[Source "IECG"]
[SourceDate "2004.12.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Nge2 a6 8. Qd2
Rb8 9. Bh6 b5 10. h4 e5 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. cxb5 axb5 13. h5 b4 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15.
exd5 Nxd4 16. hxg6 hxg6 17. Qh6+ Kf6 18. Qh4+ Kg7 19. Qh6+ 1/2-1/2

it was terrible how weak i was in most of the games...part of it was the way i "kept score". back in those days, i would keep sticky notes with the pieces written on in pencil basically in FEN. you can imagine how that would suck. i had no idea what a dark square was or a light square. some things you keep on playing somethings you don't. for instance, i played the RL back then and also the caro-irregularly, but i had some sort of fascination with the King's Indian which thankfully i gave up. in any case it was interesting...too bad i couldn't find my "first" win ;)

aaron clinton

so i was thinking about playing a match v. clinton since the o'shea match doesn't seem to be happening...i think it may be worth a go

C.Sadler		Clinton
1581	4-0	1340
1549	3½-½	1365
1525	3-1	1390
1509	2½-1½	1415
1493	2-2	1440
1477	1½-2½	1465
1461	1-3	1490
1445	½-3½	1515
1429	0-4	1540

so basically i need to score 2½-1½ which is very doable...i may give him a call, particularly since jane isn't around much on the weekends anymore..

subway stamps no more

this isn't chess related but i went to Subway for lunch today and apparently they aren't giving away stamps anymore. apparently employees were selling them on E-bay.

Here is an Article and all over the blog world

it's brutal. i grew up on that shit and i'm upset. all this insanity has caused me to think about playing 1.d4 e5...maybe not but there's some neat traps

1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Bf4 Qb4+ 5.Bd2 Qxb2 6.Bc3? Bb4! 7.Qd2? Bxc3 8.Qxc3 Qc1# 0-1

i dunno if i go to chess on wednesday maybe i'll give er a go ;)

luck favors the aggressor

i was thinking back to some of my more brilliant games (draw v. hugh morrison for example) and i recalled that luck favors the aggressor. i think i may go back to 1.e4. But C, i can hear you asking, aren't you afraid of the French, particularly the Winawer? not anymore

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qg4

luck favors the aggressor...there's an article on this line (or a line like it) in the NIC yearbook i have...also i bought a subscription to New In Chess...i'm a sucker...they sent me a pamphlet and ig ot it. jane got a job today at Sauble Beach and i hope she likes it...may gimme some more time for chess. which reminds me...there's a tournament in hamilton coming up soon....i'm thinking about unassing the king's gambit and 1.e4. we'll see

problems

so against 1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 i've bene playing 3.c3


Geller's system

it's worked pretty good. i'm worried there's a strong line against it, but it stunts the dark squared bishop and builds up a big center...now that i'm unofficially a 1.d4 player, it's the closest thing to a 1.e4 opening i get ;)

now here's the problem i have...it's with


Fischer's defense

to the Nimzo-Indian. The traditional 5.Bd3, 6.Nf3, 7.a3, 8.O-O etc. isn't very strong and i've been gettng my butt kicked. the strongest move is 5.Ne2 similar to the Reshevsky variation which I have played semi-successfully in the past. I may try the old Nge2, f3, e4 variation and who knows I may even try this as black, because i subscribe to the whole, if you can't beat em, join em theory of chess ;)

also i have convinced myself that after 1.d4 d5 2.e3 c5 an exchange is either a weak CK Exchange or a weak Slav Exchange depending on which pawn he takes back with (assuming 3.c3). armed with this knowledge, i may be able to go back and play 1.d4 d5 once again. stay tuned ;)

This is a picture of me at Pizza Hutt with Jane a couple of months ago...check out the crazy eyes ;)