I had never heard of the answer-country, Nauru, which turns out to be a small Micronesian island with an unbelievably informative government website.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
olympics trivia
Which country has the fewest athletes competing in the London Olympics?
I had never heard of the answer-country, Nauru, which turns out to be a small Micronesian island with an unbelievably informative government website.
I had never heard of the answer-country, Nauru, which turns out to be a small Micronesian island with an unbelievably informative government website.
Friday, July 20, 2012
I love the DMV
So I lost my non-drivers licence. I went to a Counting Crows concert on Tuesday and wanted to bring as little as possible in my pockets, so I just had keys, my iphone, my non drivers license loose from my wallet. and of course I lost it.
I invented reasons not to go on Wednesday and Thursday (too hot) but on Friday, I went to the DMV on 34th st/Herald Square. As I stood in the introductory "information" line, where they direct you inside the cavernous room to the second, purpose-specific line, as I stood at least 7 twists away from the counter, only in that state of desparation did I think "maybe I can do this online?!"
I just ordered a replacement nondriver's license online in under 2 minutes for $8.
bravo, NY State government!
I invented reasons not to go on Wednesday and Thursday (too hot) but on Friday, I went to the DMV on 34th st/Herald Square. As I stood in the introductory "information" line, where they direct you inside the cavernous room to the second, purpose-specific line, as I stood at least 7 twists away from the counter, only in that state of desparation did I think "maybe I can do this online?!"
I just ordered a replacement nondriver's license online in under 2 minutes for $8.
bravo, NY State government!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
a very strange advance delegate motion
ADM 12-20(Jim Berry, OK)
Add to Article III, Section 8 the following:
The USCF will offer any person under the age of 13 a USCF life membership which will receive publications online only upon payment of $500. Explanation: Upon receipt of the $500, $400 will go to LMA and $100 will go to USCF operations. This member will have all of the rights and privileges of USCF membership except publications will be online only. The purpose of the ADM is to extend
scholastic tournament activity into chess players teenage years.
A life membership is $1,500 for adults and $750 for seniors.
7/23 -- To my confusion, most members of the scholastic committee are voting for this. I am not sure if they think:
a) Kids will stick with chess as teenagers if their parents buy them a life membership, and we will have more active members.
b) Kids will not stick with chess, and we will make a lot of money.
c) It takes until you are 31 for buying this to make economic sense anyway, so it's well-priced. But in this case, why are we charging adults $1,500 and seniors $750? Wouldn't it make more sense to have an ADM bringing all the prices into line? If I was an adult life member, I would be annoyed.
Add to Article III, Section 8 the following:
The USCF will offer any person under the age of 13 a USCF life membership which will receive publications online only upon payment of $500. Explanation: Upon receipt of the $500, $400 will go to LMA and $100 will go to USCF operations. This member will have all of the rights and privileges of USCF membership except publications will be online only. The purpose of the ADM is to extend
scholastic tournament activity into chess players teenage years.
A life membership is $1,500 for adults and $750 for seniors.
7/23 -- To my confusion, most members of the scholastic committee are voting for this. I am not sure if they think:
a) Kids will stick with chess as teenagers if their parents buy them a life membership, and we will have more active members.
b) Kids will not stick with chess, and we will make a lot of money.
c) It takes until you are 31 for buying this to make economic sense anyway, so it's well-priced. But in this case, why are we charging adults $1,500 and seniors $750? Wouldn't it make more sense to have an ADM bringing all the prices into line? If I was an adult life member, I would be annoyed.
we remodelled our bathroom! also I am right.
Also, the ultimate arbiter, Geurt Gijssen at Chesscafe, agrees with me that James Black's first round repairing at junior high nationals was weird (4th question).
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
chess teacher quiz!
Want to test your chess teacher skillz? See if you have what it takes!
Start by downloading the following chessbase file. (or pgn here)
In the first part, you have a collection of games, one but sometimes two from a player*, and you need to figure out what the player's main problem is. You can choose from:
looks only one move ahead
doesn't look at what opponent is going to do
doesn't develop pieces
doesn't castle
doesn't know typical opening traps
trades too much
makes pawn breaks too quickly
doesn't make pawn breaks
Not all weaknesses are used.
In the second part, labeled "Whose Opening is Better?" you have a few positions that an engine or theory calls equal, but which in scholastic chess strongly favor one side. Determine which side is winning and explain why.
it's for a teacher training I'm doing. thanks.
*especially notice Bryan Parra is the first and last game.
Start by downloading the following chessbase file. (or pgn here)
In the first part, you have a collection of games, one but sometimes two from a player*, and you need to figure out what the player's main problem is. You can choose from:
looks only one move ahead
doesn't look at what opponent is going to do
doesn't develop pieces
doesn't castle
doesn't know typical opening traps
trades too much
makes pawn breaks too quickly
doesn't make pawn breaks
Not all weaknesses are used.
In the second part, labeled "Whose Opening is Better?" you have a few positions that an engine or theory calls equal, but which in scholastic chess strongly favor one side. Determine which side is winning and explain why.
it's for a teacher training I'm doing. thanks.
*especially notice Bryan Parra is the first and last game.
Monday, June 25, 2012
I bike 25 miles and take some photos
unrelated photos:
a Photosynth picture of the National Mall
which looks a bit like this (regular photo) from Chicago
Sunday, June 17, 2012
I forgot to be happy about it earlier
I realized something I forgot to be psyched about last month: Rachel Maddow liked my photos enough to use them on her show.
Also, I have a new project for the world open: I'm going to go for a few days, not play (maybe play a side event), and track the success rate of different openings in the under sections. Any predictions? I'm betting on the Dutch and the Colle Zuckertort/Torre/London in Under 1400s.
Also, I have a new project for the world open: I'm going to go for a few days, not play (maybe play a side event), and track the success rate of different openings in the under sections. Any predictions? I'm betting on the Dutch and the Colle Zuckertort/Torre/London in Under 1400s.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
good reads and the Knights
I spend 90% of my time now reading newsy magazine articles, and 90% of that time reading Democracy in America. Here are some of my favorites from last month:
Nanny Dearest on Bloomberg's ban of sugary soda. After some thought, I am totally in favor of this. People seem obssessed with viewing every public policy question through the lens of freedom. Is a lack of freedom really your biggest problem? I see this as government regulating big business to preserve our health, and I applaud it just like I applaud rules about fracking or trans fats or poisonous additives in baby formula. Thank you, Mayor Bloomberg.
I'll Ask the Questions Here on reporting and blogging
The Best Rapper in Germany -- an old Chuck Klosterman essay on rap. Klosterman just took over the NY Times' Ethicist column. I'm a big fan of him in general (The Great American Stasis) but mostly for his original thoughts-- not so sure he will be as good when the material is other-generated.
In other news, I'm taking over from Irina Krush as manager of the New York Knights! Do not be surprised if we withdraw from the Eastern Division and move to the Western three hours before the first round. :)
Nanny Dearest on Bloomberg's ban of sugary soda. After some thought, I am totally in favor of this. People seem obssessed with viewing every public policy question through the lens of freedom. Is a lack of freedom really your biggest problem? I see this as government regulating big business to preserve our health, and I applaud it just like I applaud rules about fracking or trans fats or poisonous additives in baby formula. Thank you, Mayor Bloomberg.
I'll Ask the Questions Here on reporting and blogging
The Best Rapper in Germany -- an old Chuck Klosterman essay on rap. Klosterman just took over the NY Times' Ethicist column. I'm a big fan of him in general (The Great American Stasis) but mostly for his original thoughts-- not so sure he will be as good when the material is other-generated.
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| The Tutu Project |
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| wearable plants, from a website of innovative business ideas |
In other news, I'm taking over from Irina Krush as manager of the New York Knights! Do not be surprised if we withdraw from the Eastern Division and move to the Western three hours before the first round. :)
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
The student I am most proud of
When the kids won the high school, that was obviously the greatest achievement of my life. Then it was fun at the junior high with so many kids, but hard for it to measure up in importance, in some sense. But what made it an amazing weekend was one special and surprising performance.
William started chess at the beginning of sixth grade, and he was very bad. He was so bad he lost his first 21 rated games. He came every weekend, and he lost and lost and lost. He also played really fast. I liked him because he reminded me a bit of myself at his age: nervous and clumsy and not comfortable in his own skin. He came to chess club every single day. He always tried his hardest; some days he would cry with frustration when he lost. ("I tried my absolute hardest against Anthony, but I still always lose.")
His mother didn't want him to go to nationals; both years she had to be talked into it.
William was in my homeroom this year. He had seven classes a week with me and continued coming to chess club every day. I used Jeff Coakley's "Winning Chess Strategy" as a textbook in his class; William didn't just do the reading each week, he memorized it. I could put up any position from the book on the smartboard and his hand would go up instantly ("I know this; it's mate in seven!").
Even so, he struggled. His rating broke 1100 and he was overjoyed; chess club applauded him. It sank back down below 1000 and he started asking to study every day in chess club-- partly to improve but also because he was afraid to play and lose more .
William started chess at the beginning of sixth grade, and he was very bad. He was so bad he lost his first 21 rated games. He came every weekend, and he lost and lost and lost. He also played really fast. I liked him because he reminded me a bit of myself at his age: nervous and clumsy and not comfortable in his own skin. He came to chess club every single day. He always tried his hardest; some days he would cry with frustration when he lost. ("I tried my absolute hardest against Anthony, but I still always lose.")
His mother didn't want him to go to nationals; both years she had to be talked into it.
William was in my homeroom this year. He had seven classes a week with me and continued coming to chess club every day. I used Jeff Coakley's "Winning Chess Strategy" as a textbook in his class; William didn't just do the reading each week, he memorized it. I could put up any position from the book on the smartboard and his hand would go up instantly ("I know this; it's mate in seven!").
Even so, he struggled. His rating broke 1100 and he was overjoyed; chess club applauded him. It sank back down below 1000 and he started asking to study every day in chess club-- partly to improve but also because he was afraid to play and lose more .
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I looked at all seven of his games at nationals. He was losing most of his games, but he never stops trying, and he saved a lot of positions that Fritz calls -10. Round six was a good example: Yu,William - Antino Diaz,Alejandro Junior High Nationals, Rd 6 1.d4 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.Bd3 Nc6 4.f4 Bg4 5.Nf3 Ne4 6.0-0 Qd7 7.Nbd2 Nxd2 8.Bxd2 e6 9.Qe1 Bd6 10.Ne5 Bxe5 11.fxe5 0-0-0 12.a4 Rdf8 13.b4 f6 14.b5 Nb8 15.a5 c6 16.b6 a6 17.Bb4 Rf7 18.Bd6 h5 19.Rf4 g5 20.Rf2 fxe5 21.Rxf7 Qxf7 22.dxe5 h4 23.Bxb8 Kxb8 24.Ra2 h3 25.c3 hxg2 26.Rf2 Qh5 27.Rxg2 Bf3 28.Be2 g4 29.Bxf3 gxf3 30.Rd2 Rg8+ 31.Kh1 Qxe5 32.Rf2 Qh5 33.Qd1  33...Rf8 (33....Rg2 is very winning) 34.e4 Kc8 35.exd5 Qxd5 36.Qxd5 cxd5 37.h3 e5 38.Kh2 e4 39.Kg3 Kd7 40.h4 Rg8+ 41.Kf4 Ke6 42.Ke3 Kf5 43.Rh2 Kg4 44.h5 Rh8 45.h6 Rh7 46.Rd2 Rxh6 47.Rxd5 Rf6 48.Kxe4 f2 49.Rd1 Re6+ 50.Kd5 Re1
51.Rd4+ Kg3 52.Rd3+ Kg2 53.Rd2 Kg1 54.Rxf2 Kxf2 55.Kd6 Rc1 56.Kc7 Rxc3+ 57.Kxb7 Ke3 58.Kxa6 Rc6 59.Kb7 Rf6 60.a6 Rf7+ 61.Kc8 Rf8+ 62.Kd7 Kd4 63.b7 Kd5 64.a7 Rf7+ 65.Kc8 Rf8+ 66.Kc7 Rf7+ 67.Kd8 Rf8+ 68.Ke7 Kc6 69.a8Q Rxa8 70.bxa8Q+ Kb6 71.Kd6 Kb5 72.Qa7 Kb4 73.Qa6 Kb3 74.Qa5 Kc4 75.Qc5+ Kd3 76.Ke5 Kd2 77.Ke4 Ke2 78.Qh5+ Kd2 79.Qh2+ Ke1 80.Ke3 1-0 William described the game in a post-nationals reflection: "... I remember playing round six, the most intense round I had played at nationals. It was the endgame and my opponent was about to queen. I was in a difficult choice: sacrifice or trade rooks. I chose to sacrifice my rook. After that, it was a rook and two pawns vs. two pawns. There was a problem for my opponent, though. His pawns were locked up and couldn't move. I then thought of a plan against this weakness. I chose to go after the pawns. I started after the pawns. Surprisingly, my plan worked. He was unable to catch up and lost two of his pawns. Soon, it was only two pawns vs. a rook. I knew I had to be careful now. I knew if I made a mistake it would cost me the entire game. I played brutally. I remember when everyone was standing near me watching me play this endgame almost no one could win. I played until I queened and my opponent had to sacrifice his rook for my queen. I retook and queened again. Soon it was all clear. I had won the game. I played until my opponent had resigned. I sighed in relief. This was one of the hardest endgames I had ever won. I showed the game to Ms. Spiegel, which she was very impressed with how well I had played the endgame. After this I won the last round. I remember telling everyone the good news. Everyone was impressed and I was getting complimented. I remember this was one of my best moments. When Mr. Galvin had told everyone who had the best performance, everyone clapped when they were told about my performance. After the announcements, we all went to the awards ceremony. When my name was called, I ran up on stage, proud of myself. I knew all this hard work all year really paid off, and holding my trophy felt like a good thing." William tied for first in the Under 1250 Section with 6/7. I've never been so proud of or happy for a student.
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