Thursday, September 29, 2005

kansas city

so i just finished my open port course from Cerner and got 96% woo-hoo! the $3000+ US they spent sending me here, feeding me, etc. was allegedly worth it ;)

last night i went to a great japanese place. they had one of those grills where they cooked the food right on your table. there were 7 of us at this table. me, this girl from my class, two older people and three girls. man those three girls were like sex in the city. they were talking about having sex with all these guys and how some basketball player emailed her with a picture of herself and he was "well hung". i laughed. anyways the food was really good. i had salmon, which was a bit of a stretch. the girl i went with she had calamari. if i ever come back to KC and go there (which is a possibility, i'm going back in november) i'll try the calamari. afterwards he flicked shrimp at us and we had to try and catch it like trained seals. me and the girl i was with (she was chinese i don't even know her name, Yung maybe?) were the only two not to catch. i don't know if that means i have class, or i just have bad coordination ;)

i have decided to try the Adorjan gambit



i think the gambit's sound...look at the development advantage i have. in any case, i'm gonna try it.

i started up a refutor code on ICC the other day and i whupped up kirk good last night ;)

The season premiere of Smallville is on tonight and i am decidedly excited. me and Anderson are going to watch them once i get my Starchoice set up. i'm fired up. tomorrow i'm going back home, get there 1:30AM and then i move in with the jane that day. should be an interesting couple of months ;)

lata

Monday, September 26, 2005

one of my life goals is complete

well more like one of my chess goals. a number of years ago i read a quote from korchnoi that said something like this (paraphrasing) "Playing the Sicilian is like attacking your tag team partner with a chair". today, in Kansas City, Missoura, i found the book that came from and actually own it. i did paraphrase

Geller v. Korchnoi 1960

1.e4 Nf6

It is generally thought that the sharpest and most active defense to 1.e4 is the Sicilian. However, is there not a resemblence between the Sicilian defender and the wrestler who begins the fight before he has climbed into the ring?

That fabulous quote from Korchnoi has rekindled my spirit to play chess, and more correctly, the Sicilian. I'm as big a fan of wrassling as anyone I know, and if i was a wrassler i would attack my opponent before he climbed into the ring. so hence i will play the Sicilian until i die.

thank you Viktor Lvovich

Monday, September 19, 2005

another book down the drain...

i should really go to a town with a decent library. i just finished Tony Miles' "It's Only Me". Good book, interesting. I have a couple of choices for what to complete now...the Polgar book, the Kramnik book, Fire on Board, there's a Kasparov book. I have a couple of PDFs from Eric Schiller that I should look at. Maybe I'll just pack

last week i was in baltimore and i had a chance to go play a simul (and meet) Pascal Charbonneau but unfortunately, the cab was $40 and the training was a little more involved than i would have liked. oh well, allegedly the canadian open will be in kitchener this year so maybe i'll meet him there ;)

i played inthe kitchener active two weekends ago and my spirit was broke by an 8 year old in the first round who beat me in 15 moves. grr..

me and jane are moving in together in a couple of weeks...

i have a new favorite song

Stage Door

i know i can't hide
this fear inside
still my friends understand
things have
worked out
much as you have said
ain't no mystery
what i need
understanding and you're sweet sympathy
a steel string guitar and a little weed
and someone to keep me company
someone to keep me company

down the alley through the stage door
sometimes i wonder
just what i
what i do it for

down the alley through the stage door
sometimes i wonder
just what i
what i do it for

ain't no mystery
what i need
some understanding
and your sweet sympathy
a steel string guitar and a little weed
and someone to keep me company
someone to keep me company

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

it's a go for November 27th...

i'll post a link when it's available

5 rounds, $5

jane and kirk both did really well today...jane was surprised i think :) i'm glad for her...i felt nervous for her, i can't imagine how *she* felt ;)

nerves

man am i nervous for Kirk and Jane. they're both starting teaching today. jane said she couldn't sleep and honestly i wasn't much better ;)

Monday, September 05, 2005

Friday, September 02, 2005

Active Tournament - November 27th

I think I'm gonna organize an Active tournament in Owen Sound, November 27th. i'm gonna go down sunday probably and confirm, but the idea is $5 EF, $3 going to rating fees, the other two going to buying a book for the Owen Sound Public Library. Should be fun.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

wait a tick...

so i may have just figured something out...i like 1.Nf3 but i don't necessarily like the QGD, so why not 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 d5 3.Bg5. i've always had a tough time playing against it...although 3. ...Ne4 is stronger than in tromp proper i believe because the bishop is already guarded by the knight. i'll consider it

the funk of 40,000 years

so i've been playing through Tony Miles' "It's Only Me" and I'm starting to become a fan of the "English Defense" 1.c4 b6 particularly in his game v. Olafsson which started 1.c4 b6 2.Nc3 e6 3.d4 Bb4 4.e3 Bb7 5.Nge2 f5 which is an improvement over the nimzo i think. i may give it a go...i'm influenced by the books i'm reading (i'm the highly suggestable type) and i think Miles is a good person to get influenced by...he's so strong inthe middlegame and endgame. i'm at all all-time high at ICC while i'm reading this, i'm not sure that's a coincedence. the last time i read a good middlegame book, it was Zurich 1953 by Bronstein and my play improved, if not my rating. i'm not sure whether i'm gonna do Kramnik : LIfe and Games or My System next...i've been holding off on My System, but I think i'm gonna do it.

This is a picture from my parent's 30th anniversary party a couple of weeks ago...it was good times. I got some books from a guy over the Internet today "Kramnik : My Life and Games" and some theoretical book on the Nimzo. The Nimzo book isn't very interesting (theory and game fragments v. full games) but the Kramnik book looks good, if a little light on analysis. But it should be good.

Saturday, August 27, 2005

concert

i went with jane to go see Blue Rodeo and El Torpedo. El Torpedo put on a good show, lots of energy and Blue Rodeo was more rocking than i thought they'd be. They were at the Molson Ampitheatre at the Ontario Place. I had never been there, but it was a great venue. i'm hoping to go back next summer.

in a chess-related issue, jane mentioned that she may take me and kirk up to kitchener on september 10th for the active tournament, so now i've got to decide what to play ;)

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

debugging

i love debugging...for real

got to debug for the first time at my new job

Friday, August 19, 2005

transposition

after 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 Nf6 3.d4 i could always play 3. ...d6 and go into the philidor (or just play the philidor in the first place). interesting, maybe i can play 1.e4 e5 after all ;)

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

"why'd i have to come to a shithole like this?"

well it's been a while since i've said anything so here it is

on saturday night, the superstars of World Wrestling Entertainment came to Owen Sound, and me and Kirk went, as his graduation gift. i really enjoyed myself. we were in the third row where the real retards were ;) i wish i would've brought a camera...could've got some good shots.

somebody crappy v. simon dean

it was a terrible match, looked fake, the crowd got on simon dean pretty hard. the crappy guy won

super crazy and psychosis v. hardcore holly and some ham and egger

super crazy and psychosis won by cheating...the crowd got behind bob holly it was alright

mr. anderson v. scotty too hotty

best match of the night, in my opinion. scotty too hotty flipped the other guy the bird and mr. anderson yelled out "it's a family show". quite funny. scotty did the worm but still got punked in the end. i cheered, everyone else booed it was a good match.

juventud guerraro v. funaki v. nunzio*CRUISERWEIGHT BELT*

not as high-flying as i would have liked. juvy went over the top rope, but nunzio eventually won with outside interference.

MNM v. Animal and Heidenreich *TAG BELT*

first of all it was cool. MNM came out with a second diva with even bigger boobs than the normal one. very nice. heidenreich came out with a mohawk just like animal...it was kinda cool. they beat up heidenreich, tagged in animal, he did like one move, held him up for the LOD finish and heidenreich came off the top rope. i think they've performed that match 100 times ;)

Orlando Jordon v. Booker T (dq) *US CHAMPIONSHIP* which turned into Orlando Jordon and Christian v. Booker T and Rey Mysterio

they were fighting, orlando was being a pussy, booker was beating on him. he was just about to do a spinneroonie when christian came in and intefered, then rey came in and saved him, and rey grabs the mic and is like "i'm not stevie ray (his partner from WCW) but do you want to tag and beat up these guys?" it was a normal mysterio match where he 619ed and then did the west coast pop. those springboard moves look *really* dangerous when you're 3 rows away, i'll tell you. good match. i stood up when rey rey was walking around slapping fives and he is not even as tall as my shoulder.

Randy Orton v. Batista

Orton comes out and he says he's in a bad mood. mostly because he's in a shithole like owen sound. crowd gets all over him. batista isn't as big as i expected him to be actually. the crowd wasn't really into it. spinebuster, one, two, three.

i don't think they'll be back for another ten years or so, the arena was *maybe* 2/3rds full. this was the second year in a row they came to owen sound, i'm guessing there was a better turnout the first time. there were a bunch of retards in our section. the one guy almost got into a fight with randy orton, the security had to give him the boot. it was a good time all around.

me and jane are going to move in together. we're going to look at a house tonight possibly. wish me luck.

Diablo reset so me and kirk have been playing quite a bit...he's developing a nice case of the "Diablo claw" from clicking the mouse so much...quite exciting.

i have a new job!

"On behalf of ..., we are pleased to offer you one year temporary employment as an Interface System Analyst at the Owen Sound site. This position will be effective August 7, 2005 to August 5, 2006.

Your salary in this position will be $53,843 which represents Grade 6 - Step 1. Your vacation and benefits will remain the same"


I am SOOOOOO happy. it is programming their database. there's a lot of training, so i won't actually be able to touch a keyboard until november or so. i finished my first set of training last week, mid september i have to go to Baltimore then two trips to Kansas City. i'll have to get more comfy flying.

anyways i'm almost off to work...oh yeah, i'm gonna play in the September Active in Kitchener as well.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

one night in ... budapest?

i'm thinking about trying the budapest gambit as black...mostly to see how to play v. it as white. i want to play 1.d4 but want to allow the Nimzo. i have no problem playing 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3. we'll see how it goes...i haven't played anything dodgy in quite a while ;)

Monday, August 01, 2005

3½-1½

i played a quick 6 game match today with kirk and beat him 3½-1½

game 1 - white - Nimzo-Indian 1.d4 nf6 2.c4 e6 3.nc3 bb4 4.qc2 c5 5.a3? cxd4 and it got ugly and i lost
game 2 - black - Queen's Indian - Petrosian System and i won
game 3 - white - Slav Exchange - draw
game 4 - black - Sicilian miniature 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be2 Nc6 7.Be3 Nge7 8.O-O Nxd4 9.Bxd4 Nc6 10.f4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Bc5 0-1
game 5 - white - White - Benoni 1.d4 c5 2.d5 e5 etc. and i won

didn't even try the bird once. i have this sick fascination that i am good on both sides of the nimzo, but in reality i am not that good. it's interesting how people are like that...i feel the same way about the dragon and the king's gambit as well ;)

Saturday, July 30, 2005

will the match ever finish?

me and chris were supposed to play games 3 and 4 tomorrow, but that's not gonna happen. i'm going to ottawa next weekend so it won't happen then either...grrr

i was reading through Winning with the Sicilian by Mark Taimanov and trying to play the Kan/Paulsen/Taimanov Sicilian. It's very interesting, i like the opening and i'm learning alot. There's also a new tabiya for me



it's interesting, i'm gonna play a bunch of games v. kirk with both sides. the idea is that with 1.e4 c5 2.nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 Qc7 7.O-O Nf6 8.Be3 Bb4 there is a hole on b6, so the move 9.Na4?! tries to take advantage of that. It's an interesting line and an idea I can use as White.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

the cure

i've been on a rule "the cure" kick lately, and i'm curious why no right wing band has done a cover of killing an arab lately. probably not in the original intention of the song, but in the post 9/11 united states, it would almost be a folk song.

Note : in no way am i anti-arab, nor right wing, but i was just thinking that this mornign

Thursday, July 21, 2005

another one bites the dust...

this time is was Purdy's Fine Art of Chess Annotation by Cecil Purdy the first world correspondence chess champion. It is a fabulous book and I highly recommend it. one funny thing, out of the 120 games listed, there is a repeat

[Event "AUS-FRA m"]
[Site "Australia"]
[Date "1946.06.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Renaud, Georges"]
[Black "Green, Martin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E62"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "1946.06.29"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.01"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. g3 d6 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. O-O e5 8. d5
Ne7 9. e4 Nh5 10. h3 Bd7 11. Kh2 f5 12. exf5 gxf5 13. Ng5 Nf6 14. Bd2 a6 15.
Rb1 Ng6 16. b4 Qe7 17. Qe2 Rae8 18. Nf3 h5 19. Ng1 h4 20. Rbc1 e4 21. Qe3 Ne5
22. Qe2 Nd3 23. Rb1 Qe5 24. f4 hxg3+ 25. Kxg3 Qd4 26. Nd1 Qxc4 0-1

he must have liked it ;)

the curse

i love the new audioslave album...here's the last song off it

"the curse"

help me i don't know what i'm doing
help me before i fall to ruin
and if i'm blind
i will lead you on
come follow me now
before our time is gone

and as your laughing at this fool tonight
let me rid myself of any line that i might use to trip you up
and as i'm howling at the moonlight
don't you kid yourself i will be luck
never be your curse
never be your curse

help me i don't know what i'm saying
sometimes this tongue can be betraying
and if i'm wrong
is that such a crime
and if you want
you can set my words to right

as you're laughing at this fool tonight
let me rid myself of any line that i might use to trip you up
as i'm howling at the moonlight
don't you kid yourself i will be luck

and if your eyes forget to well
and if your lies forget to tell
and if our paths forget to cross
it doesn't mean you're lost

so if you're laughing at this fool tonight
let me rid myself of any line that i might use to trip you up
as i'm howling at the moonlight
don't you kid yourself even at my worst
i won't be your curse