liberal_60

In Pattern Recognition, Cayce quotes Eisenhower as saying, "“it’s more the way it is now than it’s ever been” (Gibson 2003: 180)—

I can't remember the title or author, but I read a very funny novel, probably more than 10 years ago. Two guys create a new television show and their star turns out to be a prima donna. The star has her hand cut off near the end.

The books-on tape version it was read by George Guidall.

The author also wrote for the Maude show on Television.

Any help with the title or author would be appreciated. Thanks.

Assuming their is no immediately available tactical shot that wins material, how does one seek to gain or retain the initiative in the middle game? My coach recently said that I should consider this question because I need to improve this area of my game. My outline of ideas is below. Additions or other constructive criticisms are welcome.

1. Look for forcing moves that create an advantage in mobility, space, time, and/or pawn structure.

2. Look for double threats that create an advantage in mobility, space, time, and/or pawn structure.

3. Identify weaknesses your opponent's position and freeze them in place.

4. If a piece or pawn of yours are under attack, seek to respond in the following order:

a) counter-attack by moving the piece or pawn under attack;

b) counter-attack with a different piece or pawn;

c) move the piece or pawn to safety;

d) defend the piece or pawn;

e) interpose another piece or pawn to block the attacker.

5. Don't overlook the possibility of sacrificing a piece or an exchange.

Cheers. Thanks in advance.

I am having a friendly argument trying to convince a young class B chess player that he should be proficient at reading the old style descriptive notation because there are some noteworthy books that are not available in modern algebraic notation. Here is a partial list of such books.

Regardless of whether you agree with my side of the argument-- what do you think are the best books that are not available in Algebraic notation? In this context, they can be best for instruction, study, novelty, or simply a pleasure to read:

Here is my list so far, in no particular order--

Pawn Power, by Hans Kmoch

Last Lectures, The Chess Legacy of Jose Raoul Capablanca by Capablanca

The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Chernev

One Hundred Selective Games by Botvinnik

200 Open Games by Bronstein

The Chess Sacrifice by Vukovic

Fischer-- Spassky & Fischer's 1971 Candidate Matches from the Soviet Point of View

San Antonio 1972 by Bent Larsen and David Levy

Tal's Best Games of Chess by Clarke

My Best Games of Chess by Smyslov

My Best Chess Career by Capablanca

Chess Catechism by Larry Evans

Chess Master vs. Chess Master by Euwe

It's a personal list, so you may disagree with some or all of the books, but please let me know if you have additions to suggest, or if you know of Algebraic editions for some on my list already. Thanks.

Here are some nominations. Listed by alphabetical order by the author's name. beginner, intermediate, and advanced are all mixed together here. What are your favorites?

Alburt- Chess Training Pocket Book I and II

Averbakh- Chess Tactics for Advanced Players

Bain- Chess Tactics for Students

Dvoretsky- Secrets of Chess Tactics

Littlewood- Chess Tactics

Meyer & Mueller The Magic of Chess Tactics

Minev- Mastering Tactical Ideas

Neishtadt- Improve Your Chess Tactics

Neischtadt- Queen Sacrifice

Palatnik & Alburt Chess Tactis for the Tournament Player

Polgar L.- Chess 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games

Plogar S.- Chess Tactics for Champions

Reinfeld- 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations

Reinfeld- 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate

Tal-"Tal's Winning Chess Combinations updated as 1000 Checkmate Combinations by Khenkin

Speelman- Chess Puzzle Book

Weteschnick- Chess Tactics from Scratch

There are many untranslated inexpensive Russian language chess books on eBay. Some titles look very interesting. I wonder if the game scores can be understood by someone who has no knowledge of Russian. Has anyone with no knowledge of Russian tried it? Or do you know of web sites where the score sheets for the games are written in Russian so I can see what they look like?

Fischer learned enough Russian to read certain books that had not been translated at that time. I make no claim to being anything like that. I am just curious.

If there was an FAQ of chess questions this would be near the top of the list. Many people here have a favorite. This is a chance to make a case for your book of choice. I am nominating books that I know people have recommended, but of course you can choose another.

In this context I am defining "Novice" to mean a player who knows the rules and does not routinely accidentally lose pieces because they are left unguarded when under attack, but does not have a USCF or other national over-the-board classification higher than Class C.

Nominations in alphabetical order by author.

Alburt, Lev - Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters, Book 1: Fundamentals of the Game

Bronstein, David - The Modern Chess Self-Tutor

Chernev, Irving - Logical Chess Move by Move

Heisman, Dan - A Guide to Chess Improvement: The Best of Novice Nook

Lasker, Emanuel - Manual of Chess

Nimzovich, Aron - My System

Pandolfini, Bruce - Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess

Purdy, C.J.S - The Chess Gospel According to John; or others

Reinfeld, Fred -- Complete Chess Course; or others

Seirawan, Yasser - Winning Chess, Openings; or others in the series

Silman, Jeremy - The Amateur's Mind

Tarrasch, Siegbert - The Game of Chess

I will state my preference when i select the best answer from among those who explain their choice.

Annotated by the player himself. For example, one of the classics like:

Botvinnik - "One Hundred Selected Games"

Bronstein - "200 Open Games"

Tarrasch- "Three Hundred Chess Games"

Fischer- "My 60 Memorable Games"

or something newer and more exotic like

Shirov- "Fire on Board"

In other words what is your favorite book that covers a specific multiple game match between two players, often but not always for the world championship. Personally I prefer those written with comments by the players in the match. For example: A classic like Steinitz - Lasker 1894 by Lasker, Steinitz, and others, or Tal - Botvinnik 1960 by Mikhail Tal.

What are your favorites? I asked a similar question about tournament books a couple of week ago and got some excellent answers from Alec and Callum that pointed me toward some books I did not know about. I have high hopes for some interesting answers to this one also.

I enjoy tournament books, that is, books with all the games that were played in a specific historic tournament, such as "Hastings 1895." I particularly like those annotated by the players in the tournament, or their contemporaries. These books are not necessarily the best learning tools for beginners, but they are usually fun and of historic interest. And that is the point for me.

Some old books are available online at Google books. For example the Sixth American Chess Congress of 1891 in New York, annotations by then World Champion W. Steinitz.

http://books.google.com/ebooks/reader?id=CCnQAAAAM...

Do you have a tournament book that you would recommend for the fun of playing through the games and reading the annotations??

I am getting a little bored answering the same questions about chess over and over. Questions like:

How do I get better?

What do I win easily?

What chess books are good?

I don't see a reason to continue this exercise, so unless someone can give me a good reason, I am going to stop answering routine questions and look only for interesting ones.

Reasons anyone?

My wife is a great player, but she is 5' 6" tall, which I think is taller than Pat. ALL of the players on the show seem to be his height or shorter. Is it an unwritten rule that the contestant must be shorter than Pat? Is she wasting her time going to the audition?

A blog by D.R. Tucker called "Confessions of a Climate Change Convert."

I confess I know nothing about D.R. Tucker. The only source I have is what he says about himself. Was he a genuine contrarian? A conservative? I don't know, but the blog is interesting.

What's going on here? Why is Google interested. Is someone giving them grants too?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/18/idUS1810...

I remember a video of a boy carrying a teddy bear around while playing a simultaneous exhibition chess match in Europe. Does anyone have a link?

In other words I am looking for the math function[s] that quantifies the effect of changes in greenhouse gas concentrations on heat retained. Some kind of integral I am guessing since each time some of the heat is reflected off the earth's surface some of the energy is temporarily captured by the gas, then some of it is emitted back toward the earth, where some is reflected again, and so on until the energy approaches a limit of zero. You would need to add those instances up, and so it sounds like an integral function to me. But I am thinking that someone else has already worked this out.

If I have the wrong paradigm please feel free to let me know. But if you just want to claim that there is no global warming, I suggest you save the band width and try to fool someone else.

This study from Univ. of Colorado seems to indicate that it is,

http://dirwww.colorado.edu/news/r/9059018f4606597f...

Quote from the University press release.

"The team believes that the rapid warming of the Arctic and recent decrease in Arctic sea ice extent are tied to the enhanced heat transfer from the North Atlantic Ocean, said Spielhagen. According to CU-Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center, the total loss of Arctic sea ice extent from 1979 to 2009 was an area larger than the state of Alaska, and some scientists there believe the Arctic will become ice-free during the summers within the next several decades."

What is the significance of this flow?

Perhaps these two graphs are related to this change.

http://psc.apl.washington.edu/ArcticSeaiceVolume/i...

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_im...

Texas files again to block EPA carbon rules in state

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7000H9201101...

The US Supreme Court recently ruled that the EPA can regulate CO2. Does the Texas Attorney General not recognize the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, or does he think that this lawsuit will be good for his political future in Texas?

"The strongest La Nina weather event in nearly half a century, resulting in heavy rains and flooding which has damaged crops and flooded mines in Australia and Asia, may be at its peak, the Australian weather bureau said."

" 'Long-range models surveyed by the bureau suggest that this La Nina event may be at its peak and will persist through the southern hemisphere summer,' the Bureau of Meteorology said in its weekly tropical climate note on Tuesday."

"La Nina conditions continue to dominate across the tropical Pacific. All climate indicators...remain above La Nina thresholds," it said."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=l...

Google Ngram charts the frequency with which words and phrases are used over time. After looking at this graph, could anyone ever again have the nerve to claim that use of the phrase "global warming" was recently changed to "climate change" as part of a vast conspiracy?

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=global+...