I added a tutorial titled Count the Developing Moves to my page on Improve Your Game. This is a useful technique for evaluating the progress of both players in the opening.
'It used a RFID Board to detect the position of the pieces.'
Chess Playing Robot © Flickr user whosdadog under Creative Commons.
Tags: Maker Faire 2010 (more++): www.makerfaire.com
What can you expect to find in Top eBay Chess Items by Price? Once in a while you find an unusual item like the Grandmaster Medal featured in the previous post. Most often you find chess sets of all descriptions, followed in frequency by rare books, followed by chess computers and chess clocks.
For this post I decided to feature the clock pictured in the following image. It received 13 bids and sold for GBP 585.00 ('approximately US $838.71', according to eBay.
The title said, 'Chess Clock Antique German Mechanism H.A.C. Wurttenberg', and the description read,
H.A.C Chess Clock • Elegant Classical Chess Clock. • Clock mechanism was made in Wurttenberg, Germany, then assembled by W.E. Tanner, Red Hill, Surrey, London. • Both clocks work and keep good accurate time. All original workings and hands etc. Workings visible as designed from viewing front of clock faces. Clocks encased in wooden surrounding frame with slight damage to both top front corners. The measurements of wooden frame / encasement stand is :- 26 cms long x 17 cms high x 8 cms wide. Each clock is 10.5 cms in diameter. Bevel edged glass faces are in excellent condition.
According to Google, 'HAC' stands for Hamburg American Clock Company, Wurttemberg, Germany. The search also led me to a Picasa page, Chess Clocks (www.dorland-chess.com), full of photos of handsome mechanical clocks.
A few months ago, the chessexpress blog posted a piece titled My policy on comments, an often overlooked aspect of blogging. The post addressed three policy points:-
The chessexpress answers were 'Yes', 'No', and 'No'. At that time my answers were 'No', 'No', and 'Yes', although I had never given the questions any real thought.
Re anonymous comments, I see no need to allow this. Many people who leave comments use a nickname or a pseudonym which makes it impossible for me or for any casual visitor to identify them. Although there is a profile attached to each identity, there is an option to hide it from view by others. These capabilities mean that all commenters can hide behind a mask of anonymity if they wish.
Re moderated comments, until recently I had never had enough comments requiring deletion to make moderation necessary. My daily routine ensures that, if necessary, a comment is deleted maximum 24 hours after it is posted.
Re deleting comments, I wouldn't leave an unsightly comment on my blog any more than I would leave garbage or other crap on the sidewalk in front of my house. On top of being unsightly, there is always a risk that a blog visitor might slip and be hurt if the comment happens to lead to some sort of malware.
Lately I've been getting more unsightly comments, to the point where I have to delete one or two daily. While I don't mind doing this, especially since it takes less than a minute, it means that the junk will accumulate anytime I am offline for an extended period of time, like on vacation.
For this reason, I've decided to moderate comments. I apologize in advance to anyone whose legitimate comment sits on the moderation queue longer than it should. I value all real comments, even those that are negative, and always read them attentively. Without comments, blogging wouldn't offer half the pleasure that it does.
What's every writer's least favorite job? I imagine it's proofreading. For reasons I explained last year in Every Move Explained - Proofreading!, the Every Move Explained series is particularly prone to errors. I reviewed the most recent games...
...and discovered that the quality ranged from embarrassingly bad to surprisingly acceptable. The worst errors are writing 'White' when I mean 'Black', and vice versa. How is an automated proofreader ever going to catch that? While I was looking at the latest batch of games, I noticed some stylistic differences with earlier games in the series...
...Have these been proofread? When I make the styles consistent, I'll read them all again.
This legendary series of TV programs was one of the best chess series ever aired in English. I once saw it while on a business trip to London and was amazed by the quality.
TV Chess - Karpov vs Spassky - Fide World Cup 1982 1st Leg (1/3) (9:13) • 'An experiment in the 1980's showing chess on television in the style of the BBC "Mastergame" series, with players own comments added to the game.'
Both Karpov and Spassky explain their moves in terms that a club player can understand; presented by Jeremy James and Bill Hartston. Game 2: TV Chess - Spassky vs Karpov - Fide World Cup 1982 2nd Leg (1/3).
As a coda to World Championship Opening Preparation - Summary, or perhaps as the start of a new column '1x' in that post (i.e. the decade beginning 2010), a pair of recent articles from Chessbase.com featured Anand discussing his preparation from the just-finished match with Topalov: Anand's helpers in Sofia, Part One and Part Two. Also worth mentioning are related posts from two respected news blogs -- Carlsen, Giri, Kasparov and Kramnik all helped Anand (Chessvibes.com) and Anand was First in Seconds (Chessninja.com) -- spiced with comments from knowledgeable fans.
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