Chess at Facebook

Happy New Year Everyone! Begin this year by honing your chess skills (or picking up your game again) right in the heart of your favorite social networking site, Facebook. What, you don't know there is chess in Facebook? Well, I wouldn't have known myself if I didn't get curious enough one day to check what will come out if I type "chess" in Facebook's Search. Unlike most games that at least advertise itself in the sidebars, the developers either thinks demand isn't there and decided there's no way they can drum it up or maybe thought you would look for it if you really want it. In both cases, the full potential of the application didn't get to be utilized.

But enough with the whining. As it is, there's a correspondence-type chess is in Facebook and it's being run by Chess.com. Time controls available are 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14 days per turn, with no time increments. Meaning, you have to move within the specified time allotted or you forfeit the game (if your opponent choose to claim it). You can, however, see if your opponent is online and so sit out the game, with the board refreshing everytime a move is made. You can either challenge your friends in Facebook, or play with other people outside of your contacts by either making or accepting Open Challenges. In addition, you can also play real-time against a computer opponent. Resources to help you improve your game are also available.

Having chess in Facebook can allow more of your friends to at least try out the game, with none of the intimidating feeling of playing in a dedicated chess site. It also helps that they can play the game while going about their usual Facebook routine. So, give it a try! We might even see each other across the board in one of the Open Challenges.
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Kasparov vs. Karpov 25th Anniversary Match

This match is significant, even symbolic, for several reasons. For one, it shows how chess has gone down in popularity after these so many years. Yahoo! didn't even consider it worthy of an article, featuring it only as several pictures in its Yahoo! In Photos section. Next, Googling the event will land you in several regional internet news agency like this one, not really big at all considering the event. Well, Chess.com actually featured it in its site (click on the pic, which is also from the site). But even so, its article as well as those of other sites that cared enough to feature it casts an atmosphere of chess not being able to live up to its potential to become truly popular, then and much more now.

What does the future holds for chess? Will it be relegated to the ranks of classics, held in high esteem, but never really something worth of wide coverage and exposure? Will somebody in the future be able to crack the code to bring it back (if it ever was) into the mainstream, embraced as the ultimate among intellectual games, and considered as equal with its counterparts in the physical arena?

We can only hope. Read More......

StarCraft II going beta!

Now, what has this got to do with chess? Well, if your regular OTB meetings experience a decline in attendance especially in the teens bracket, you may have a suspect here. Or this is simply just one of those things that one can get excited with side by side with chess.

Blizzard is set to give beta test accounts a few weeks from now. You can find the full mechanics on how to get one on their FAQ site (click pic to get there).

After all this long time of anticipation, I already got myself confused about what this new StarCraft is going to be about. But given my experience with the original StarCraft, it's understandable why the excitement hasn't abated still. This is one of those games that you hardly think would disappoint. You have to hand it to Blizzard to maintain the excitement of the followers of this game after all this time. Quality does pay big time.

Excuse me while I try to get myself a beta account...

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War of the Machines

No, it's not another movie review. This is about games that computers play. You read that right. The International Computer Games Association (click pic to get to the site) started out as the International Computer Chess Association, which holds regular championship events for computer vs. computer matches. It has been renamed in 2002 as ICGA, and now caters to other computer games and game artificial intelligence. It hosts the World Computer Chess Championship, as well as the Computer Olympiad. ICGA fosters relationships with the fields of Computer Science, Commerce, and Game organizations throughout the world.

There's something awkwardly eerie when you consider more closely the idea of two programs, slugging it out on a game of chess, checkers, or backgammon. It also has deeper repercussions than one would normally consider at first. What computer developers will learn from developing these programs can have day-to-day applications. As I see it, a computer vs. computer game will fete the developers ability to develop a better database of moves and a means to evaluate the best possible move in the shortest possible time. And since the human mind is arguably the best computer still, what if you design these game computers the way we are designed, providing them a sort of "freedom" that will allow them to "discover" new tactics and plans. Do we have a Sonny or a VICKI (from I, Robot) in the making?

Check out ICGA today! Read More......

Chess, Music, and Martial Arts

Good things comes in threes. And what chess federations stand for is no exception. The Hip-Hop Chess Federation goes by the same trilogy of ideals. One look at their website (click pic for the link) will quickly give you the impression they are reputable enough that they gather considerable attention in major news outfits. And I really like the logo. It says a great deal about fusing chess and hip-hop. But I sure wish they have some correspondence or live chess game area in their website so people could have a hands-on playing with them.

I say, whatever gets people in the game and get them out of a not-so-good alternative, I am all for it!
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Harry Potter: The (In)Complete Position

I find it really professional and classy for a film company to actually consult for the services of an International Master of chess in preparing for a chess position or scene in a movie. Especially one where the moves can become the subject of much scrutiny long after the movie has been replaced in the theatres and the DVD copies have been neatly filed in the cabinets at home. But then again, it doesn't speak so well if you have to go to great lengths to secure such service and then have to eliminate most of the moves anyway to satisfy some practical considerations. Click on the image above to have Jerry Silman himself recount the entire experience to you.

More chess in movies here. Read More......

Chess Tactics Server

Like Chess Tempo which I featured earlier, Chess Tactics Server is also an interactive site to hone your chess skills especially in the middlegame. For each position that you are presented with, you are subsequently rated and the next problem shown will be within the range of your perceived strength. The problems have time limits in which to make the correct move.

Interactive chess sites like this takes time for one to be able to assess how useful, user-friendly, and informative they are. You are welcome to provide feedback on your experiences with the site, as well as letting us know of other similar sites that you frequent. For me, the site has been an enjoyable way to spend one's free time, though I really don't have inkling on how good are the exercises.

Keep pushing, woodpusher!

Learn more about Chess Variants! Click HERE!

Improve your correspondence chess! Click HERE! Read More......