Haven't posted anything for almost a week, and right now it's only 9:30 local time and I'm ready to fall asleep; sheeeeesh, that's ridiculous.
Anyway, I have done some pretty good training this week, and no blitz. I'll make some time tomorrow to do an actual post with all the pent-up material.
4 comments:
no blitz for a week?!?!? damn, you are hard like woodpecker lips...
Hi Robert, as you can see, I am consolidating, but actually it's much more than that...
I have begun a very ambitious project...
I am going through all of my chess books, one by one and my favorite "stuff" is making it to the blog, so as to create a very lengthy "study session." Naturally, there will be tactics, endgames, games, game extracts, personal successes, etc and much less talk about myself.
I have started with the "Encyclopaedia of Chess Middlegames/Sahovski Informator and am going through all of the tactics in this book. The first tactic I'm concentrating on is the "Double Attack." Favorites from the book and according to my "Aesthetic Sense" will be chosen only. Naturally, any other chess player would have different favorites.
Ernie has been awesome as I deleted the "Pale Rider" site without considering the consequences. Ernie promptly stepped in and made sure the new site was on the "blog list."
As you know, I am into mixing the "old" and the "new" and so I do some things the old fashioned way and some things in a totally modern way.
As soon as you are not too busy, I will need your help to add some modern nuances to the site.
When I am done, the reader will be able to not only get a glimpse as to how I often study this game of chess, but also if they follow each and every blog topic, they will--like myself have completed a "study session" that covers all or nearly all possible topics.
When I am through with my choices in the "Double Attack", I will move onto the next topic, which is the "Discovered Check."
To keep my readers entertained, I will often include some sort of lesson on Astronomy or failing that some pertinent information.
If any of my books doesn't "cut it", I will donate them to the club or to lesser players and perhaps they can benefit from them. But in the meantime, I am making a serious effort to trim the fat in my chess library!
I have made two entries already, but have moved at a snail's pace since the idea was conceived.
However, readers who liked my "Best Games" blog or the "Pale Rider" blog will not have lost anything as when the time comes, I will be posting my best games and a new "Pale Rider" section within the confines of the blog "Shoemaker's Hidden Library."
When I am done, the reader will probably have the distinct feeling of having studied alongside me on many topics, which is the best I can do with the time I have and it's never so easy to get together with others to study anyway.
I was not really happy with any of my blogs before, because I felt there wasn't enough "direction" and was aimlessly wondering about and to make matters worse, I had little time to devote to important topics and so just limited myself to a few words on the openings I played and a few scant comments on my successes and failures. But that was never the intended direction I wanted.
I simply had no time to do otherwise, but yet I had this idea in mind and was just waiting for the break between semesters.
So now everyone knows what is going on with me and to Kevin Gafni, who is making a lot snappy judgments without first obtaining the facts, I will say this: "You do not know me well enough to make any sort of judgment, nor do you have any idea of the responsibilities I have that require lots of time outside this game.
In fact, you are still single. I pity you in that respect. But when you do finally get married, you are in for a rude awakening: Your time will not always be your own because you will have others who immediately depend on you taking responsibility and not just entirely concentrating on one game."
I deleted his pathetic comment along with my site (because I was changing direction) so as to reveal what I could do when there was some time available and a direction in mind.
I want to also have a "feature" section where I will feature a game from many of the players in the club, when they are at their best, of course. This is going to require me paying a little more attention to the games of others and to step away from the board--my own game from time to time. But I feel this will be beneficial to me since I hardly ever step away from the board and this "habit" in many ways gives my mind too much time to "wonder about" during a game, where if I stepped away occasionally, I would be probably be more refreshed when coming back to the board. I use to have this habit in San Diego, I do not know what has happened that changed it over the years. But now, I will return to that good habit.
The new blog will probably not concentrate on openings too much, unless I want to say something about a particular line. I like to keep my Opening Repertoire kind of secret, but I may alter this as well so as to have my "Study Session" as complete as possible.
See you soon when you get time...
Shoemaker - I had no intention of passing judgment as I try not to pass any judgment on others. I was attempting to offer constructive criticism, it seemed like you were too concerned with your openings and not concerned with the actual games. As far as your comments directed towards me, allow me to reply:
You do not know me well enough to make any sort of judgment, nor do you have any idea of the responsibilities I have that require lots of time outside this game.
If my comment came across as a condescending or judgmental, I sincerely apologize. I had no intention of attacking you or your play. Of course I am not aware of your life outside of chess just as you are not aware of mine.
In fact, you are still single. I pity you in that respect.
No need for pity, I am 22, I have plenty of time to start a family. Right now I am single and will remain so for probably the next 5-7 years while I develop my career.
But when you do finally get married, you are in for a rude awakening: Your time will not always be your own because you will have others who immediately depend on you taking responsibility and not just entirely concentrating on one game.
If you think that I just sit in a room all day by myself and study chess then you are quite mistaken. In my last job I was required to work 60-100 hours a week and I was helping manage a company with over 200 employees. I switched jobs over personal reasons but I still work a 40 hour week and I have multiple hobbies outside of chess.
I hope there are no hard feelings over this because I didn't mean to provoke any reaction other than strong moves over the board. I think rivalries are fun and maybe I have been a little overzealous but it was strictly in the interest of competition, I have a lot of respect for all of the players of the Reno Chess Club. There are not many people out there who can fit chess in and I think just trying to improve your chess while balancing life is commendable. Plus, if there was no club, where would I play?
I think your idea is pretty cool and if you put time into it it should be a very useful blog.
Hi Kevin, you're "writing voice" is not exactly appealing and that was the cause for the mix-up. But I have no ill feelings towards you at the present time.
I just wanted to call to your attention that if I concentrated on the early parts of the game in my former blog, it was because I had little time to talk about anything else.
In fact, I hate to talk about my own opening play because I prefer to keep my repertoire somewhat secret, at least as much as it is possible considering that the stronger players are always watching each other more closely than say, the lower-rateds.
2008 promises to be very interesting for the upper-board players.
Have fun in London and sooner or later we will meet over the board. I have to say, that although you talk a big game lately, I am not convinced you can defeat either Bill Case or myself in a match.
In fact, as Black against me; you're choice of a Semi-Slav would be rather dubious, but that's only my opinion and my opinion isn't all encompassing (though I wish it were).
I am rather confident that Shoemaker, Case and Gafni will be among the qualifiers in the upcoming matches for the club championship though I cannot predict a winner.
See you there!
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