Chess mania...
I've been an on-again, off-again chessplayer for over 30 years (at least
that's how long I've been a member of the US Chess Federation). In the photo, I'm the one with the beard
playing against a baseball-capped opponent at the U.S. Amateur Team Championship
(South) held in Jacksonville in 1986. I'm on what should be the losing side of an endgame (somehow, I won).
My current OTB rating is in the 1600s, and my postal rating is 1782, which places me somewhere around the 85-th
percentile of players who take the game seriously enough to play rated chess. These days, I spend most of my
time playing real-time chess via the Internet Chess Club,
with an occasional e-mail game played via the IECG or privately.
In the Spotlight...
The following is an effort with the sharp Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. Here, Black employs the relatively
rare 5. ... Bxe4 variation of the Vienna Defense to the gambit.
- It isn't every lifetime you manage to draw against a former World Champion in the course of a simultaneous exhibition, but I managed to do so in 1984, against GM Boris Spassky. Recently, in the course of a move (as in when one changes residence :^), I ran across the scoresheet of that game, and thereby am able to present a highlight of my chess career: the Spassky game.
- But did I tell you that Spassky was my second draw against a GM in a simultaneous exhibition? A decade earlier, I drew against Edmar Mednis. Check it out.
- Back in the early 70s, when I worked in Russia, I played a game against a woman master. A fond memory, even if I did lose the game...and an interesting excercise in finding the win I threw away.
- The most exciting game I ever lost...
Chess links
-
The World's Most Active Chess Club
A great opportunity for rated play in a variety of formats, including blitz, odds games, kriegspiel, bughouse, and loser's chess (where the one left with a lone King wins)! There are frequent simultaneous exhibitions and lectures, a huge reference database, as well as transcripts of important events (such as the 6-hour marathon ICC session that examined - and found - a drawing resource for Kasparov in his second-round resignation in the 1997 match that he lost against IBM's Deep Blue). ICC offers a free, 7-day trial membership. -
The International Email Chess Group
Offers free membership, once you successfully complete a two-game match that demonstrates your knowledge of the basics of e-mail chess. IECG is an all-volunteer group; there are no entry fees. Good correspondence chess for anyone with a computer and a modem. -
University of Pittsburgh Chess Club
In addition to all the usual stuff you'd expect about Pennsylvania Chess, there's also access to USCF and FIDE ratings lists and probably the best chess-related ftp site on the Internet. -
Houston Chess Magazine
Okay, so Houston isn't exactly one of the top ten "chess" cities in the world, but the local scene is ably represented on this page. -
Tom's published 80 issues of BDG World from 1983 to 1998, catering to the Blackmar Gemeinde, a community of devotees of this sharp gambit. If you like your chess rough-and-tumble, stop by Tom's place. -
John Mongle's chess page
Headed with a quote from Vladimir Nabokov's The Defense ("...for what else exists in the world besides chess?"), John's chess page is a jumpoff point for a number of neat items, including "featured games," BDG games, comments on correspondence chess, various links, a quick guide to chess notation, software reviews, and his IECG column. A fun place to visit. - Andres Valverde's home page (chess section) Andres is the author of ECTOOL, a nifty Windows 95 shareware utility for keeping track of your correspondence (and especially e-mail) chess games. While you're visiting, check out the rest of Andres' page; there's a killer list of wine-related links!
-
Chess Space
Bills itself as "the premiere chess index on the Internet." Not a bad place to visit for links, especially since a recent overhaul. -
Chess Pages
Brought to you by Rudolf Steinkellner, Jr. A less comprehensive list of links, but more bang for the buck, in my opinion. A good site.
(If the above date is a hundred years or so off, your browser's Java interpreter isn't current.)
© 1998-2000 by Alex Lane. Send mail to: alex@galexi.com.Home | Who am I? | PalmPilot | Chess | PGP public key | Code & tips | Bookmarks