blitz bug back

I played my cousin in a few games and did fine in the opening but then my blitz bug aka hope chess came back. I even caught him in the standard cambridge springs trap where your queen goes to a5+ then Qxg5 (bishop)... and then lost... hmmm.... empty threats and no plan... good job John! Ok so I am calm now... oh I also discovered that I hate 1.d4... I hate it with a passion. I just can't find anything a really want to play against it. Perhaps I need to stop my belly aching and just play something even if I don't like it. Kind of like the Caro-Kann... I started playing it cause I got fed up play the kings gambit and 4 knight game... did well with it and now I can't stop playing it... I have too much time invested... I wish I would have started playing 1. e4 d5... I kind of like that now... but I am going to stick with c6... As for black against d4... who knows... I guess I'll keep playing the budapest for now. but I need to have a plan against... 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 hmm... no budapest for you!!!! ok then I want to play kid maybee this is what I should just play is the kid... but if I am going to play that I might as well just take up the dutch lenigrad variation. why not the slav or semi-slav... maybee I should cambridge springs/semi-slav? Want to play darts badly but elbow still says NO...

Tendonitis not better chess thriving

Ok... I took a week off and started throwing... it didn't hurt when I started to throw again but the poping in my elbow was still there. After 15 minutes my elbow was burning again. So darts are on hold until at least April 11th when I have an appointment with an Orthopedic Surgion. Chess going well. Playing better blitz than ever and playchess is going well. End game study has improved awareness in the late middle game, recognizing the middle game is ending and end game principles are becoming more important... ie centralization of the king... passed pawns... etc.. I have begun the task of cataloging my opening choices... my last computer crash killed my bookup files for italian, french, and cambridge springs... I forgot how long they took me to create... I will start with italian and build in french and philidor with reference help. I will fill in my current play against caro-kahn, scandinavian I will omit modern, pirc & sicilian as I don't really have anything prepared against them although I have started playing something of my own against the modern and don't know how "book" it is. After that I will work with my chess mentor to look at my openings... and then work to find appropriate choices for the blanks that need to be filled it. After that I will flush out my response to 1.e4 ... which is the Caro-Kann ... and then work with my chess mentor to find a suitable way to play against 1. d4 I currently am playing the budapest and kings indian against 1.d4 ... I am interested in the Dutch and the kings indian. I like the feel of the KID... and perhaps the grunfeld would be more suitable to my play. BUT... as I play the Caro-kann perhaps playing a slav or semi-slav would be more in order... I figure it will take me another couple weeks to finish my opening documentation.

Tendonitis but here is some chess stuff

Tendonitis in my elbow has forced me to take at least a weak off of darts... DOH! it is killing me not to throw. I got killed yesterday in the Caro-Kann advance variation and I went and looked up the line figured out where I went wrong and then also looked through a game db at a bunch of examples in similar lines... --------my game --------------- [Event "?"] [Site "Pogo"] [Date "2005.03.21"] [Round "?"] [White "GRAMOLIN"] [Black "John_Sobolewski"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c3 Nd7 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. Nf3 Be7 8. O-O Qb6 9. b3 c5 10. Be3 cxd4 11. cxd4 O-O-O 12. Nbd2 f6 13. a4 Nf8 14. a5 Qa6 15. Qxa6 bxa6 16. Rab1 Ng6 17. b4 fxe5 18. dxe5 Rd7 19. b5 axb5 20. Rxb5 Rb7 21. Rc1+ Kb8 22. Rcb1 Rxb5 23. Rxb5+ Ka8 24. a6 Bd8 25. Rb7 Bb6 26. Bxb6 axb6 27. Rxb6 Nf4 28. g3 Nd3 29. Rxe6 Nh6 30. Re7 Nf5 31. Rd7 Re8 32. Rxd5 Nc1 33. e6 g6 34. g4 Ne2+ 35. Kf1 Ne7 36. Rd6 Nf4 37. Nc4 Nc8 38. Rd7 Nxe6 39. Rxh7 Nc5 40. Rg7 Nxa6 41. Rxg6 Na7 42. Rxa6 1-0 ---------------- Example games --------------------------------- [Event "?"] [Site "New York -"] [Date "1946.??.??"] [Round "57"] [White "Adams"] [Black "Kramer"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B12/06"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 e6 6. Ne2 c5 7. c3 Ne7 8. Qb5+ Qd7 9. Qxc5 Nf5 10. Qa5 b6 0-1 [Event "?"] [Site "Tbilisi"] [Date "1944.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Gamrekeli"] [Black "Petrosian Tigran V"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B12/06"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 e6 6. Nf3 Qa5+ 7. Bd2 Qa6 8. Nc3 Ne7 9. O-O Nf5 10. a3 h5 11. b4 Qxd3 12. cxd3 Be7 13. Na4 g5 14. Bxg5 Bxg5 15. Nxg5 Nxd4 16. Nc5 b6 17. Na4 Nd7 18. f4 Rg8 19. Nh3 Ke7 20. Ra2 a5 21. Rfa1 Ra6 22. Kf2 Rga8 23. Ng1 b5 24. Nc3 Nb3 25. Rb1 axb4 26. Nxb5 cxb5 27. Rxb3 Rxa3 28. Rbxa3 bxa3 29. Ne2 Nc5 30. Nd4 Nxd3+ 31. Ke3 Nb4 32. Ra1 a2 33. Kd2 Rc8 34. Nxb5 Rc2+ 35. Ke3 Rxg2 0-1 [Event "?"] [Site "London"] [Date "1922.??.??"] [Round "11"] [White "Atkins Henry"] [Black "Capablanca Jose R"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B12/06"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 e6 6. Ne2 Qb6 7. O-O Qa6 8. Qd1 c5 9. c3 Nc6 10. Nd2 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qd3 12. Nb3 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Nge7 14. Bd2 a5 15. Rac1 b6 16. a4 Kd7 17. Nc3 Na7 18. Kf1 Nec6 19. Ke2 Rc8 20. Be1 Be7 21. Nb1 f5 22. exf6 Bxf6 23. Bc3 Nb4 24. Bd2 Nac6 25. Be3 Na2 26. Rc2 Rc7 27. Na3 Rhc8 28. Rcd2 Na7 29. Rd3 Nb4 30. R3d2 Rc6 31. Rb1 Be7 32. Ra1 Bd6 33. h3 R6c7 34. Rad1 Na2 35. Ra1 Bxa3 36. Rxa2 Bb4 37. Rd1 Rc4 38. Rc1 Nc6 39. Rxc4 dxc4 40. Nd2 Bxd2 41. Kxd2 Kd6 42. Kc3 Kd5 43. Ra1 g6 44. f3 Rb8 45. Ra3 b5 46. axb5 Rxb5 47. Bf2 Nb4 48. b3 cxb3 49. Kxb3 Nc6+ 50. Kc3 Rb1 51. Ra4 Rc1+ 52. Kd2 Rc4 53. Ra1 a4 54. Ra3 Na7 55. Ra1 Nb5 56. Rb1 Kc6 57. Kd3 Rc3+ 58. Kd2 Rb3 59. Rc1+ Kb7 60. Rc2 a3 61. Bg3 Nxd4 62. Rc7+ Kb6 63. Rc4 Kb5 64. Rc8 Nc6 65. Ra8 Rb2+ 66. Ke3 Rxg2 67. Bf2 Nb4 0-1 [Event "?"] [Site "New York "] [Date "1927.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Nimzovitch A"] [Black "Capablanca J"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B12/06"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 e6 6. Nc3 Qb6 7. Nge2 c5 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. O-O Ne7 10. Na4 Qc6 11. Nxc5 Qxc5 12. Be3 Qc7 13. f4 Nf5 14. c3 Nc6 15. Rad1 g6 16. g4 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 h5 18. g5 O-O 19. Nd4 Qb6 20. Rf2 Rfc8 21. a3 Rc7 22. Rd3 Na5 23. Re2 Re8 24. Kg2 Nc6 25. Red2 Rec8 26. Re2 Ne7 27. Red2 Rc4 28. Qh3 Kg7 29. Rf2 a5 30. Re2 Nf5 31. Nxf5+ gxf5 32. Qf3 Kg6 33. Red2 Re4 34. Rd4 Rc4 35. Qf2 Qb5 36. Kg3 Rcxd4 37. cxd4 Qc4 38. Kg2 b5 39. Kg1 b4 40. axb4 axb4 41. Kg2 Qc1 42. Kg3 Qh1 43. Rd3 Re1 44. Rf3 Rd1 45. b3 Rc1 46. Re3 Rf1 0-1 [Event "?"] [Site "USA cr"] [Date "1952.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Ludwig A"] [Black "Spence J"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B12/06"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 e6 6. f4 Qb6 7. Ne2 c5 8. c3 Nc6 9. g4 g6 10. f5 gxf5 11. gxf5 cxd4 12. fxe6 fxe6 13. cxd4 Nge7 14. b3 Nf5 15. Bb2 Bh6 16. Nd2 Nb4 17. Qf3 Nc2+ 18. Kd1 Rc8 19. Qh5+ Ke7 20. Ng3 Nfe3+ 21. Ke2 Qb5+ 22. Kf2 Rhf8+ 23. Nf3 Rxf3+ 0-1

Dart Software

Ok... I have been working on my throw with the stuff I learned from watching that Dart Championship on TV. I haven't been keeping track just mostly working on form. I don't like to play practice rounds or keep score while working on my technique... because I want to focus on the technique not the results... Also my brother and I have started creating a piece of software to allow you to play cricket over the internet... You actually play at your board but the software handles the scoring and communicating results over the internet... That way if we want to play a quick game we don't have to drive... :-) Not sure if I will GPL the software of try to sell it...

Darts on TV

Some dart championship was on fox yesterday. I taped it and watched it. Here are my observations:

• Most grips didn't have thumb (tip) under but to the side. Perhaps my grip is viable
• Some strokes didn't have a draw back? Heck, Hank Arron batted with his left hand on top at one point (not professional).
• Throwing motion was more like a pushing motion than a thow. The motion starting forward had little elbow movement but after the arm reached perpendicular with the floor the elbow was coming up.
• The hand was pointing at the board as the follow through... not moving towards the floor or finishing
• 3 dart ave around 80-100
• check out % very high

Dart Practice log (Great Day)

I went out with my brother the other day (thurs) after my long practice session and we cleaned up. We were playing for beers and we were up 3 (actually 4 they said after the game... oh.. I didn't think we were playing for anything yet they asked us to play for a beer???). I ended up playing this other guy and went 1-1 in cricket and 1-1 in 301 double in double out. I had perhaps my best practice day ever... it is pretty clear I really need to work on 18 and 16. I hit triples like crazy on 15 why not 16? The times are off because I scored on paper... because the wife was using my computer. I loaded them in later.

Date Time MPR 3/12/2005 23:52:53 2.11 3/12/2005 23:52:00 2.36 RuSyS 2004

Day of Homage to the Great Kasparov

Kasparaov annouced his retirement from competitive chess. I want to feel sad as the loss to the chess community is great. I don't want to feel sad because he was a great champion and he has lost his desire so rather than continue in mediocrity (for him that is still pretty darn good) he will gracefully exit. To the great Kasparov I tip my hat... thank you for your contributions to chess... http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/linares2005/r15.html

Darts

I have been practicing since October when I got my own board. I began to work on my throw. I found some practice records and : Singles cricket Date Marks per turn 10-12-2004 1.041 10-12-2004 1.291 10-20-2004 1.3 10-20-2004 1.18 10-20-2004 1.43 11-20-2004 0.95 11-20-2004 1.47 So... I have been working pretty hard on my throw and release. I found a peice of software called dartpro. Here are my stats from dartpro from the last 2 days... you can see I have improved....

Date Time MPR 3/10/2005 14:12:54 1.78 3/10/2005 14:03:37 2.17 3/9/2005 20:03:03 1.86 3/9/2005 19:56:07 1.53 RuSyS 2004

Poker update

Not playing nearly as much as I was. I started playing at pokerstars. I was playing mostly 1 cent / 2 cent No Limit Holdem. I turned a dollar into 21. I'll probably play some more but I am just not interested. I'll probably want to play again soon. Perhaps it is the lack of beer (which I gave up for lent).

Chess update

Doing well with chess and playchess.de. I won my first tourney a bit back. I found a guy rated much higher than me to be my chess mentor. I am playing better. Rob started playing again.