CHESS BITS The Journal of the International Email Chess Club February 2001 IECC web Site http//www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Midfield/1264/ In This Issue Section 1 From The Editor's Desk by Steve Ryan Welcome to New Members by Dirk de Leeuw IECC's 5th Anniversary by Steve Ryan A Tribute to Kyle Evans by Robert MacPherson A Short Story by Scott Tortorice New Member Program by Steve Ryan Chessboard Chemical Formulas by Steve Ryan Coincidence? Or Not? by Steve Ryan Trivia Challenge Answers by Steve Ryan ------------- From The Editor's Desk by Steve Ryan Unfortunately, my group of volunteer contributors has dwindled somewhat of late, so I want to take this opportunity to remind you of the "Situations Available" for providing the journal with material of interest to our members. I welcome the following . Game scores (annotated or not) from IECC games or others of interest from outside the IECC. Please submit these games with complete PGN notation, if possible. If not, please include as much information as you can about the players, game dates, tournament type, ratings and anything else you might find in a "header", so I can put it into PGN format, or die in the attempt. MOST IMPORTANTLY - check your game scores for ambiguous/impossible/missing moves. I do NOT have the time to do this job myself. Any reader playing through a submitted game will, quite understandably, become upset when he comes across an error in the score preventing complete study (and usually at the crucial point as well). . Biographies (of yourself or some chess figure of note). . Chess history. . Humour. . Chess stories/anecdotes/news. . Short fiction. . Chess trivia. . Letters to the Editor. . Questions for the executive. . Just about anything else. Please send everything to me, Steve Ryan, (ryansc@granite.mb.ca). You may submit your material at any time. If it comes in too late for a particular edition, I will simply place it in the next. You may also contribute to the journal by "proofreading" game scores for the types of errors mentioned above. If you know how to use a PGN "reader", such as ectool, it will make your job a lot simpler. ----------------------------------- Welcome to New Members by Dirk de Leeuw The IECC welcomes the following 171 new members who have joined over the period 2000 October 15 - 2001 Jan 15 Piotr Adach, Poland; Kris Adams, USA; Kees Asscheman, Netherlands; Abhay Avachat, USA; Orazio Azzola, Italy; Bruce Bachman, USA; Zoltan Bakk, Hungary; Farit Balabaev, Kazakhstan; Sakthi Balan, India; Rico Baldinelli, USA; Dan Barnett, USA; Harold Bearce, USA; Tiago Beltraeo, Brazil; Oliver Bintcliffe, England; Gerardo Blanco, USA; Rufino Bocanegra, Spain; Tim Boldt, Canada; Maarten Boonekamp, France; Christophe Bousquet, France; Peter Bradbury, England; Gunnar Brogger, Denmark; Erik Broome, Sweden; Parrish Brown, USA; Alex Bubir, Ukraine; Shawn Buck, USA; Lenard Burgess, USA; Mauro Carvalho, Brazil; Tom Chandler, USA; Lim Chin, Australia; Olivier Coclet, France; Paul Cornett, N. Ireland; Hank Cox, USA; Eugenio Cuniali, Italy; Bryan De Caux, England; Seppe De Vreesse-Pieters, Belgium; Kevin Divine, S.Korea; Donovan Dockery, USA; Adam Dzwonkowski, Poland; Geoffery Edwards, Australia; Ian Elcoate, England; Carlos Espindola, Argentina; Carlino Esteban, Argentina; Kristian Evenson, Norway; Antonio Exojo, Spain; Sabah Fakhry, Eygpt; Ronaldo Fernandes, Brazil; Simon Field, England; Cyril Forget, France; Alex Foster, USA; Alex Frans, S.Africa; Matthew Friend. USA; Jim Froehlich, USA; Gameel Gamal, Eygpt; Sonny Garcia, Phillipines; Nathan Gilbert, USA; Jim Gillham, England; Luca Giusti, Italy; Florian Godebert, France; Joaquin Gomez-Galan, Spain; Elio Guerica, Italy; Ralf Gutfleisch, Germany; Pan H,,rdfeldt, Sweden; Alexander Hart, Sweden; Knut Heggem, Norway; Isabella Hoberg, Belgium; Roland Hoffler, USA; Gerald Hoffman, USA; Paul Homer, USA; Will Howard, USA; Armand Janssen, Netherlands; Dirk Johnson, USA; Daniel Johnson, USA; David Jones, USA; Paul Joslin, USA; Waldir Junior, Brazil; Theo Jurris, Netherlands; Solomon Kennedy, USA; Graham Kerr, Scotland; Fabian Klaudiusz, Poland; Jurgen Kohlhage, Germany; Vladimir Komarov, Russia; Anand Kumar, India; Erwin L'Ami, Netherlands; Barry Langston, USA; Pascal LeToulouse, France; Robert Lee, USA; Sam Leus, Belgium; Alberto Lixa, France; Jim Lodge, UK; Chris Lucangeli, USA; Antonio Maestro, Spain; Alan Massey, UK; Craig Meadowcraft, USA; Dave Mellor, UK; Lazar Mikovic, Yugoslavia; Deryl Mitchell, USA; Guimar Mohlenbruch, Brazil; Guy Montforte, Germany; Robert Moreland, USA; Jeff Nagy, USA; Luis Natera, Venezuela; David Newth, Australia; Oleg Nielsen, Denmark; Warren Nyack, Canada; Murt O Connor, Ireland; Gheorghe Oancea, Rumania; Pablo Olmeda, Spain; Ola Omt'r, Sweden; Martin Ostermann, Germany; Johnny Owens, USA; Peter Pakowsky, USA; Morten Pedersen, Denmark; Ingemar Persson, Sweden; Andrzej Pliszka, Poland; Bozidar Ponomarev, Yugoslavia; Will Pridham, Canada; Matthew Quinn, England; Jeff Riegler, USA; Bert Rietsema, Netherlands; Ian Robinson, N.Ireland; Denis Rodin, Russia; Eduardo Rodrigues, Brazil; Greg Ross, USA; Calder Rossi, USA; Giovanni Rossi, France; Louis Rovegno, USA; David Rowe, USA; Oleg Rubinchik, USA; Kurtis Rumanas, Lithuania; Jay Ryan, USA; Gianluca Sanmartino, Italy; Selvi Sekak, Indonesia; Nikola Skoric, Croatia; Roman Smutek, Australia; Myron Solis, Philippines; Henry Southwell, England; Adam Stalilones, USA; Alex Stewart, Scotland; Roberto Suarez, Cuba; Mitchell Suzan, USA; Kevin Tan, Netherlands; Jesse Taylor, USA; Robert Tegi, Poland; Curtis Thetford, USA; David Thompson, Japan; Chris Timmerman, Belgium; Sean Turkington, Australia; Cristo Umanzor, El Salvador; Stephane Vaillancourt, Canada; Jacques Valota, France; Hein van der Wijk, Netherlands; Hugo van Duin, Netherlands; Kraig Van Houten, USA; Freddie Vanbiervliet, Belgium; Pablo Varas, Chile; Mike Varley, Turkey; Tyler Vogel, USA; Bruce Wallace, Scotland; Keith Watson, UK; Marian Waxman, USA; Chad Wells, USA; William Whalen, USA; John Whitworth, USA; Piet Wilde, S.Africa; Jacques Wille, Netherlands; Andrew Wolverson, UK; AJ Wright, Canada; Yuriy Yasukevitch, Russia; Andrzej Zawadka, Poland; Steve Zeik, USA; Rienk Zwaagstra, Netherlands. May each of you establish and enjoy a congenial relationship with all members of the IECC. May all of you strive to complete your games in time and without defaults. May you also always accord to, and receive from, your opponents the highest degree of courtesy, consideration and good fellowship. ----------------------------- IECC Celebrates 5th Anniversary by Steve Ryan Since Lisa Powell of Canada founded our club in 1995, that means the IECC's 5th anniversary took place sometime in 2000. I don't know if we can come any closer to a more precise date because Lisa's ill health does not permit her to contribute to this article. Unfortunately, we do not seem to have much information available on our first 5 years. It may exist somewhere, but until I find it, or someone sends it to me, I can only give you what I have dug up from examining the records as they exist on our web page. Perhaps most of our founding members have left the club for whatever reasons. Such things happen. Clubs like ours usually begin with an initial burst of enthusiasm, which tapers off as time passes. We need a continual influx of new volunteers to keep us up and running. Anyway, the best outline of the IECC's beginning comes from Lisa herself. The article below comes from "IECC Chess Bits and Pieces", Volume 1 Issue 1, March 1995 (so we have existed since at least then) "The Founder's Corner" by Lisa Powell "The idea that led to the start of the International Email Chess Group at the beginning of 1994 was inspired by restlessness, and the idea that there had to be a better way to play chess via email than by the proverbial slow drag of days and days for email messages via bulletin board systems (BBS's), with a central hub - New York or Toronto - as home base for member BBS's in a national or international system. The better way was, of course, playing email chess via Internet. First, within the contexts of various BBS network chess conferences; then, at the beginning of 1994, as an Internet Chess Club. Then WHAM! That almost started World War III in the Usenet's rec.games.chess conferences with, fortunately, more pro messages than the strident con messages. The nascent Internet Chess Club was renamed the International Email Chess Group (IECG); the flame war stopped; and IECG began to grow, from a dozen members to almost 900 by mid October, 1994. At that time, for various personal reasons, I relinquished the function of CEO/TD to Franz Hemmer, and suggested that I be "kicked upstairs" to Chairman Of The Board of IECG. In the business world that's not an empty title, as anyone who has occupied a rung on a corporate ladder well knows. But an Internet Chess organization is not at all like the corporate world. Hence, like many a displaced executive, I needed to get back into the swing of things. When my many chess friends urged me to come out of semi-retirement, I started the International Email Chess Club, with a different program, using many of the features that had proved popular in my various chess conferences of four BBS networks. Bottom line IECC will be kept smaller than IECG--very necessary so that it is possible to maintain closer, friendlier ties to all members than was possible in my former organization IECG; and to be able to come up with new ideas to add to IECC's menu of activities for our members". The Last 2-Gamer of the 20th Century, -OR- A Tribute to Kyle Evans! (past - IECC CEO - and present - Honorary VP) By Robert MacPherson I had the fortunate opportunity of playing the VERY LAST IECC 2-game match of the 20th century, with Kyle Evans! (M-3722) It was - QUITE AN EXPERIENCE! (You wouldn't believe it - and now I clearly see why it's called "the fun email chess club!") In Kyle's very own (quoted) words to me 1. The games were enjoyable 2. The old CEO made lots of boneheaded plays, including flamboyant sacrifices that got him nowhere 3. The old CEO was prone to fouling the board, not once, but seemingly every time one turned around He also said - "Feel free to "mention" these games in the Journal as the last of the millennium -- but DO NOT have them analyzed!" I sympathize with that well considered opinion - as - I wouldn't proudly display them as the best games of the Century, either. nb - The actual games (in PGN format) are available - FOR A PRICE - just send $50.00 to Kyle, or better yet, me! *grin* I can't really disagree with anything that Kyle said, but, I would like to add one, or two, other points Kyle is really QUITE an interesting guy! - apart from his email chess history - mainly - as the past IECC CEO 1) He is a STAGE actor - of some note - in his city of Austin Texas. (British accents, with a Texas drawl, are his speciality) 2) He is also a blooming DIRECTOR of stage plays. (I suppose that Hollywood will be making him large offers, soon?) 3) He has made many, many, sky-dives, including one where he broke his foot on the landing! *OUCH* 4) He even tried bungee-jumping - once, that's weird? (BUT NO! luckily, the rope didn't break - so he's still with us) 5) It is not even possible to imagine the endless hours of (intelligent) hard work that Kyle previously did for the IECC. In addition to rating all of the games for MANY years, he also developed the methods - still used today to rate games. In conclusion - I believe that all IECC members should say a prayer of thanks to Kyle Evans - for what he did for our club, and we could also recognize that he is still a really fun, and very interesting, person! (I certainly do.) Robert MacPherson, 2-Game/Trio TD Paved With Good Intentions by Scott Tortorice Jim Grason starred out the viewing portal of the Eternal Peace, a Sol Confederation diplomatic vessel, and sighed deeply. Just a few hundred yards out, the wreck of the Galatian warship slowly tumbled. Even a cursory inspection would reveal that it was the casualty of a battle as its once smooth hull was now pockmarked with numerous blackened blast points. How, Grason wondered, could such a loss of life come to pass? How could a war begin because of a chess game? This week began like so many others for Jim. As usual, the Eternal Peace was preparing to greet another arriving batch of alien dignitaries. As the junior diplomatic liaison, his chief purpose was to see that his guests of the Confederation had all they desired while staying aboard the ship of good will. It was a job he was quite good at, or, at least he believed he was until the Altarfian ambassador entered is room. That was when Grason learned about the concept of cultural contamination first hand. * * * The Altarfians were one of the more recent civilizations that the Sol Confederation had stumbled across in the depths of interstellar space. Early on, the Confederation learned that they were a very aloof civilization, desiring contact only on a very limited basis. However, it wasn't until much later that the Confederation knew why they were so aloof. Altarfians, it was discovered, was a race of beings that shunned violence in all forms, under almost all circumstances. This was such a strong belief that the Confederation had learned that they were not even defending themselves in a border dispute with a neighbor race, the Galatians. They seemed to be such a noble society that the Confederation immediately dispatched the Eternal Peace to arrange a meeting and attempt to end the conflict with the Galatians. At least that was the plan as Jim left his quarters to attend to the needs of his Altarfian guests. As Jim shuffled down the main corridor that extended down the length of the Eternal Peace, he was lost in his usual morning thoughts concerning what needed to be done for whom. It was during this reverie that he noticed the distinct figure of an Altarfian leaning against a bulkhead. Long gray face, tall in stature, clothed in the distinctive flowing red gown with a gold belt cinching a narrow waist, the Altarfian was clearly in some type of distress. Jim hurried to his side. "May I be of some assistance?" asked Grason. The Altarfian glanced down at Grason, betraying no emotion. "That is very kind of you," answered the deep alien with well-practiced English. "I seem to be experiencing some difficulty becoming acclimated to your human environment. Ours is not so...thin," sputtered the emissary between ragged breaths. "Please, my quarters are just a few feet away. You can come inside until you catch your breath," stated Jim. The Altarfian considered his invitation for a moment, nodded assent, and motioned Jim to lead the way. The Altarfian entered Jim's quarters and quickly descended upon nearest chair, clearly relieved that he could rest for a few moments to gather his breath. As Jim watched, the alien began to glance around the room taking in all he could about its furnishings. All in all, the room was quite unremarkable. A computer work station along one wall, a selection of old-fashioned bound books along another. A bunk lined the nearest wall, while in the center of the room stood a small table with two chairs. On that table was a fairly typical chess board with pieces. The Altarfian was clearly fascinated as he did not divert his attention from it for some time. "Can I get you anything," inquired Jim. The Altarfian shook his head no in a very slow and deliberate Altarfian way. Jim considered how next to proceed. Should he call someone? The Altarfian didn't seem particularly concerned about his failure to reach his destination, wherever that was, and his breathing seemed under control. Jim figured that he might as well make some small talk and learn all he could about the mysterious race until the alien decided to leave or call for assistance from a subordinate. "Ah, I see you are interested in my chess set," Jim observed. "It is a nice one. I picked it up on the Ceres outpost base...." The Altarfian cut him off. "Chess set? What is a chess set?" asked the alien with a voice that seemed to emanate from deep within his chest. Jim considered how to answer that. "Well, ah," Jim stammered, "I guess the simplest answer is that it is the parts used to play a very ancient game." The Altarfian considered this for a few moments. "What type of game?" Jim laughed a little. "That is a good question. Some chess players consider it a game of skill, others a game of creative art. I personally consider it one of the best wargames ever invented." As soon as the words left his mouth, Jim regretted saying them. He forgot who he was speaking to! Jim's face flushed red as he mentally battered himself for discussing war with an advocate of peace! "Wargame? Do humans play at war?" asked the Altarfian, hiding any trace of revulsion that he, no doubt, felt deep down. "Well, ah, that is....yes. I must be honest with you. Yes, we play at war. But I assure you that it is not as bad as it sounds," added Jim. Of course, he instantly regretted his words since this statement sounded as ridiculous as it actually was. Jim was at a loss about how to extricate himself from this fine mess of his making. The Altarfian tilted his head to one side and seemed to study Jim with a new found interest. "You seem embarrassed by your answer." Jim grabbed the chair that was next to the table and sat opposite the alien. "Well, I guess I am. You see, we humans can be a warlike race at times. Of course, we are trying to eliminate this component of our species. But it has proved more difficult than we thought." After a slight pause, Jim added "Maybe you can show us how to better embrace peace." "I see. Unfortunately, we Altarfians can tell you little about the art of peace. At least, little that would be useful to humans. You see, we just decided to stop the bloodshed." Jim was flabbergasted! How do you just decide to 'stop the bloodshed'? "I don't understand. Are you saying that your entire planet just gave up on war? Just," Jim snapped his fingers, "like that?" "Well, yes. You see, our race was also very warlike. Many destructive wars raged across the face of my planet for eons. That is, until Jaman arrived some three hundred years ago" "Who was Ja...Jaman?" inquired Jim. "A powerful leader?" The Altarfian made a slurping sound, his alien version of a human laughter. "No. Jaman was a great scientist who had studied war for many years. After years of research, he concluded that war was just too risky for any advanced society to contemplate. Too much could go wrong. Too much risk." The Altarfian seemed to be struggling to find the right words. "To much uncertainty. He proved this last idea with mathematics." Jim had often heard about the mathematical talents of the Altarfians. But to use math to prove the folly of war? That's a strange idea. "And your people accepted his logic without argument?" The Altarfian again tilted his head to one side. "How can you argue with math?" Jim couldn't suppress a smile. "I don't think that would work with we humans. We are to fond of war to abandon it because of some mathematical proof!" "Even if the evidence is undeniable?" "Especially if the evidence is undeniable! You see, we humans, despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, are just not ready to eliminate warfare as one of our tools of diplomacy. It is just too useful." The Altarfian suddenly stood. For a moment, Jim thought he had committed some unforgivable faux pas. He quickly had visions of tomorrow's NEWS-NET REPORT reading 'Minor Bureaucrat Scuttles Intersolar Diplomatic Mission!' Fortunately, the Altarfian just glided over to the cabin's viewport and contemplated the stars for a moment before asking "How can you use a tool that is unpredictable?" Now it was Jim's turn to stand. As he formulated his thoughts, he paced back and forth, furrowing his brow as he did so. Finally Jim stopped his pacing and met the eyes of the alien. "I guess we just practice at it." Judging by the alien's blank expression, he figured his answer needed a bit more explanation. "Humans have been playing at war since the beginning of recorded time." This statement seemed to interest the Altarfian as he left the view portal and retook his seat at the table. Jim continued. "You see, we, too, have always instinctively understood that warfare is just too dangerous to engage in haphazardly. Therefore, we have been playing at war, what we call 'wargaming,' for a very long time." The alien shifted in his seat somewhat before venturing forth with a question. "Just how do you do this? How do you wargame?" "Many ways," replied Jim. "Sometimes wargaming can take the form of a mock battle, with men and women going through the actual motions of combat, but without any harm coming to the participants. Other times, we create simulations, computer or otherwise, to abstractly represent a war, although this form of wargaming is mostly used to sharpen our planning and prepare us mentally for combat." A thought suddenly struck Jim. "Don't your people have wargames as well?" The Altarfian blinked his large eyes and replied "My people...frown on such artificial activities. Since we have determined that even our best simulations are woefully inadequate to deal with the actual complexities of warfare, we have decided that such artificial battles have little value. Surely your people realize this as well?" "We do. But we are not so quick to dismiss wargaming. While it is true that no wargame can accurately simulate an actual battle, they can be used to selectively highlight certain aspects of warfare. Strategy and tactics, for example." Jim waved at the chess board between them. "Take chess as an example. It is one of our oldest wargames. While it is true that the details of chess do not accurately represent the elements of modern battles, the generalities of the game do. For example, take the concept of a skewer. In chess, this means that an attacking piece can exploit the position of two defending pieces." Jim quickly set up a hypothetical position in which a white bishop is skewering the black king to its queen. "In this position, the black king, the most valuable piece in the black army, must move to avoid the attack by the white bishop. However, when it does so it will subject the black army's next most valuable piece, the queen, to destruction. While in modern warfare, there are no ships or tanks that resemble the pieces on the board, the concept of a skewer does occur." Jim sat back in a chair and thought for a moment. "For example, during the Solar Wars when Prince Waz-a-Been was forced to retreat his command ship from the Battle of Epsilon Three. He did manage to save himself. Unfortunately, in the process, he destroyed the bulk of his Third fleet when they were left without an effective commander to guide their movements. Understand?" The Altarfian tilted his head to the side again. "I think I do. Interesting. Could you explain some more?" he inquired. "Better, could you teach me how to play chess?" "Well, sure." Jim was delighted! He loved to teach his favorite game to new players. Now he was going to get to teach an bona fide alien! He was going to introduce a whole new aspect of culture to an alien society. It was a dream come true! So Jim taught, and the Altarfian learned. They played game after game, with Jim winning them all. At times, this made him feel guilty, so Jim was always careful to explain the mistakes both sides made so that the Altarfian could improve his play. He also always tried to tie their games into actual military history lessons, to better impart the concept of wargaming. After what must have been a couple of hours of chess, Jim began wrapping up his final lesson as he finally grew weary of the whole process. "So you see, I won by preventing the bulk of your forces from advancing in the center, while I directed my forces to assault your poorly defended flanks. I managed this by employing a strategy known as a "Benoni" opening. It worked quite well if I do say so myself." Jim sat back, stretched, and allowed a smug expression to creep across his face. "Ven...Venoni?" The alien seemed to grimace as he attempted to add this new word to his vocabulary. Jim nodded approval at the close approximation of the chess grandmaster's name uttered by the alien. "I see. Very interesting." The Altarfian suddenly shot a look at Jim. "I have enjoyed this time we have spent together. However, I fear I must be going. It is late and I must return to my duties." The alien stood. "I understand. I must confess that I have been a little remiss in the duty department myself." Jim stood and smiled. "I have enjoyed our games. Perhaps we can play again sometime?" "Perhaps. I would like that. Hopefully we will have more time in the future." With that, the Altarfian left Jim's quarters. * * * * Now Jim found himself contemplating the fact that he may have been responsible for widening an already vicious war. Just a few days after his meeting with the Altarfian, the Galatians found themselves reeling from a completely unprecedented and unexpected assault by newly armed Altarfian deep space commerce vessels. Could he have actually been responsible for making warriors out of pacifists? Did he contaminate an entire culture? Did he infect a pure civilization with the pernicious virus of warfare? As he glanced at the free falling remains of the Galatian warship, he thought it was decidedly possible. But, then again, was it that easy to contaminate another culture? Would years of tradition and dogma simply give way to any new, radical idea that came its way? Jim found it hard to believe it would. After all, the Altarfians were practicing pacifism for many, many years. No, it would be very unlikely that a mere handful of chess games would change all that! In fact, the more he thought about it, the more silly he felt! He loved to discuss chess and military history, but very much doubted that his discussions were so compelling as to radically change the thinking of an entire planetary government! Doubly so when one would have to assume he did so via a mid-level alien bureaucrat such as himself! Finally, such an assault must have been in the works for some time. As an amateur military historian, Jim knew that it would not be the first time that a seemingly peaceful culture launched a surprise attack. No, he was not to blame. Jim chuckled to himself and then sighed with relief. As Jim cast one last look at the wreck of the vessel floating outside the view port. As he turned to leave, a junior ensign was hurrying down the corridor towards Jim with what appeared to be a communique clutched in his hand. Jim beamed a friendly smile at the harried junior officer and asked if that communique contained some news he might find interesting. "We are finally starting to get some decent intelligence about how the Altarfians beat the Galatian fleet," answered the boyish ensign, pleased he could pause for a few moments before hurrying along his way. "Oh, that should be interesting reading! No doubt, the Altarfians locked up the center, and hit them in the flanks!" laughed Jim, mocking his own earlier hubris. The ensign was suddenly wide-eyed with surprise. "Well, yes sir, they did. How did you know? The Altarfians are calling it their, ah," the ensign quickly glanced down at the communique, "Venoni plan, whatever the heck that is!" With that, the ensign again was off on his errand, leaving an ashen faced diplomatic liaison in his wake. END Copyright (c) 2001 By Scott Tortorice. All rights reserved. Editor's Note In keeping with the Benoni theme above, I asked Scott to submit one of his games with a Benoni opening if he had one. Scott played the Benoni below against an "electronic opponent" and managed to beat the insidious hunk of silicon. [Event "Private Match"] [Date "2001.01.07"] [White "S.D. Tortorice"] [Black "Jonesie"] [Result "1-0"] 1.d4 Nf6 2c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.e4 Bg7 8.Be2 O-O 9.O-O Re8 10.Be3 Qd7 11.Bd3 Qf5 12.Nb5 Bd7 13.Nc7 Rd8 14.Nxa8 Qh5 15.Be2 Be8 16.Ne5 Qxe5 17.Rb1 Qxe4 18.Bxc5 dxc5 19.Rc1 Qxd5 20.Qxd5 Rxd5 21.Rfd1 Re5 22.Nc7 Rxe2 23.Nxe8 Nxe8 24.g3 Bxb2 25.Rxc5 Re6 26.Rc8 h6 27.Rxb8 Kh7 28.Rxb7 Kg8 29.Rxb2 g5 30.a4 f5 31.a5 Rc6 32.Ra2 Rc8 33.a6 Rb8 34.Rd7 Rb3 35.Rxa7 Rb4 36.Rd7 f4 37.gxf4 Re4 38.a7 Kf8 39.a8=Q Re1+ 40.Kg2 Kg8 41.Ra1 Re2 42.Kf1 Kf8 43.Kxe2 gxf4 44.Rd8 Kf7 45.Ra6 Nf6 46.Qa7+ Kg6 47.Rg8+ Kh5 48.Rxf6 f3+ 49.Kxf3 Kh4 50.Qa4+ Kh5 51.Qg4# 1-0 ------------------------ Personal Experiences With The New Member Program By Steve Ryan I participate in the IECC's New Member Program (NMP) as a volunteer Guide. As of 2001 January 01, the NMP organizers have seen fit to entrust me with the care and feeding of 71 prospective new members. Of that number, 42 have eventually graduated, representing a 59% "success rate". I don't know how that compares to other guides, but it probably comes close to the "average" across the whole program. Participating in the NMP gives you a different perspective on chess. Your attitude of "invincibility" regarding things (like algebraic notation) for which you believe that you know every answer to every possible question, does not survive long when you encounter the seemingly limitless ability of trainees to ask "something you never thought of before". It provides a bit of stimulus and "keeps you on your toes". The vast majority of my "dropouts" simply did not respond to any of my messages. I suspect they mostly made "impulse decisions" to join a chess club. After finding out that it requires a bit of effort, they lose interest rapidly. Given the quirks of human nature, they also take the path of least resistance by ignoring the messages instead of going to all the time and trouble to bounce it back saying they don't want to participate. I give them 3 days from my initial message before sending a repeat. The ax falls after another 3 days of silence. Even then though, they get a last warning of impending doom from the NMP officials before getting dropped. Some do indicate they have lost interest/will return later and to them I say thank you for your courtesy. I believe I have had only one trainee who has dropped out with his program "in progress". Most of the successful ones complete it without much trouble. Time keeping seems to give people the most problems. Those joining who already belong to other clubs have to adapt to the IECC "rolling" system of 30 days for the last 10 moves. They invariably have never heard of it before, having become accustomed to the 10 (or whatever) moves in 30 (or whatever) days with extra time carried forward. I don't know the reason behind the IECC system. When my trainees ask why, I have to plead ignorance. Can someone enlighten me? Chuck (The Chopper) Smith and Dirk (The Destroyer) de Leeuw head up the NMP aided and abetted by a large roster of volunteer guides. I'd like to hear from some of the other guides and compare experiences. Salutations also to STEVE TOTH, my first trainee, who ventured out to battle the IECC hordes with a rating of 1300. I don't know what rating you have now Steve, but I hope it has gone up. As one of MY grads, I expect no less. Chessboard Chemical Formulas by Steve Ryan As a retired chemical technologist, it occurred to me that the algebraic notation can, with a bit of "poetic license", represent some chemical formulas as well as moves on the board. Consider the abbreviations for the pieces (some of them anyway) and you come up with N (Nitrogen), B (Boron), K (Potassium - from the Latin "Kalium") and even though the pawns don't have a designation, P stands for Phosphorous. You can also use the square the pawn sits on, so if you have a pawn on a "h" square, for example, the h stands for Hydrogen. Poetic license comes into play a bit here since chemical formulas use capital letters and chess coordinates do not. The Queens and Rooks get left out I'm afraid, since none of the naturally occurring elements has a Q or R for a symbol (though Q stands for "charge" in electrochemical reactions). So what other chemical magic can you come up with? Who cares? you say. Nobody really. I'm just producing a bit of whimsy here, and yes, I do have better things to do with my time but bear with me as I have a "contest" in mind. Digging a little deeper, and ignoring the issue of capital letters, you come up with things like the h1 square, which stands for "Atomic Hydrogen" (rarely found in nature) and the h2 square or "Molecular Hydrogen" (the usual form of this gas). Going one step further you get h3, or Tritium, the radioactive form of hydrogen. If you have not turned to something else by now, consider a "chess move" like Nh3, or ammonia (properly, NH3 with the 3 as a subscript). The chemists among you will get the idea here. It doesn't take much more effort to produce Nh4+ (NH4+) or the "ammonium" radical for the chess move N to h4, check. Anyway, my contest. It will interest only those with a background in chemistry and who also have as much time to waste on nonsense of this sort as do I. Who can produce the most complex chemical formula (or reaction) using chessboard algebraic notation? Your prize? Nothing at all except I will publish your research in the next edition of "Chess Bits". Any takers? Not likely. ------------------ Coincidence? Or Not? By Steve Ryan We all know the algebraic notation system; the letters a - h (the first 8 letters in the English alphabet) designating the files, and the numerals 1 - 8 designating the ranks. It all fits quiite neatly and logically with the fact that a chess board has 8 squares along each axis. Nonetheless, I have never understood the rationale for the Numeric System, if one exists, and have always taken it at face value. For those not familiar with it, each square has a "numeric coordinate" starting at 11 for the a1 square and going in sequence across the first rank 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81. The second rank starts off with 12 (a2) and goes 22, 32, 42 --- 82 (h2) and so forth up and across the board. But why those particular numbers? If you know the reason, by the way, please inform your editor so I can share it with the rest of our members in the next journal, but consider the following - the a-file numeric coordinates all begin with 1 (11, 12, 13 etc) , with A the FIRST letter in the English alphabet. The b-file coordinates all start with 2 (21, 22, 23 etc.), with B the SECOND letter in the English alphabet. It goes on in this manner across the board. - the numeric coordinates for the diagonalss also follow English alphabetical order. Look at the a1 - h8 diagonal. The d4 square has the coordinate 44, with d the 4th letter in the English alphabet. The shorter diagonals also follow the English alphabet if you "split" the number of the numeric coordinate. The e1 - h4 diagonal (51, 62, 73, 84) has 5, 6, 7 & 8 (E, F, G, H) as the first numeral in the coordinate, and 1, 2, 3, 4 (A, B, C, D) as the second numeral. Which came first, the algebraic or numeric system? Do we have a coincidence here or a deliberate plan by whichever "mastermind" developed the numeric system? I suspect the latter and wish to congratulate this person on his/her insight. Some rationale for establishing the numeric coordinates as we have them today must exist. If you know the real one, please let me know. Otherwise, the one above will do for now. --------------------- Trivia Challenge Answers to the last edition's quiz 1. David Glew 2. Steve Ryan 3. 64 4. Qh4 Mate 5. 1.e4 c5 6. Efim Bogolubov 7. Professional Chess Player's Association 8. Yasser Seirawan 9. Gary Kasparov 10.Wilhelm Steintz 11.Efim Bogolubov 12.Jose Capablanca END Next Journal Edition May 2001