I, Captain - I Report

The first few posts after the "revival" of this blog has been mostly teasers of what's to come in future posts. And I hoped that it helped to provide a sense of anticipation. For my part, it has helped to sharpen the focus of what I will be doing and blogging about in the next few weeks and months. But before I proceed any further, I think it's only proper that I look back to a memorable event that transpired last year.


Sometime February 2007, Austin, the webmaster of schemingmind.com, informed me that someone anonymously gave me a one year full membership in the site. As I have mentioned before, the full membership carries with it several benefits that I was really excited to utilize. These included the capability to create teams and mini-tournaments; join more than one team; and play unlimited number of games.


The very first day of being a full member, I was able to create a national team (Team Philippines) and had a couple of recruits to join me. Likewise, I created a couple of mini-tournaments to cater to varying levels of expertise of players in the game, of which I happily joined a couple. It felt good not to be limited by the maximum game quota, but in the back of my mind I have to be careful not to overextend myself. This is a topic I discussed also in my series Discipline in Correspondence Chess (please check the sidebar for the link).


Sad to say (in a way), real life beckons and just a few months after, I had been too busy to even play games at the site. Not that I mind, when the cause is the anticipation of my second child. However, I have a responsibility not to let such generosity go to waste. I arranged with Austin for the transfer of my full membership and team captainship to a teammate that I fully trust will be able to handle the activities of the team.

More than a year after, I am glad to report that Team Philippines has at least maintained its initial number of members before I became "inactive". There are some that simply no longer returned, but their places were filled up with new blood. For my part when I was able to get back on track (it's a girl!), I did my best to attract new members into the team by challenging my countrymen that just registered in the site, and so establish contact with them. More than half of them responded to my invitation to join Team Philippines.

So, for that generous soul that gave me (and my teammate) the opportunity to enjoy a full membership at Schemingmind, thank you very much. I hope you are able to see that it did not get spent for nought. May your tribe increase! Read More......

Chess Variants: An Introduction

Like a good song that has been around for quite some time, the popular form of chess as we know it is bound to have its own sets of "remakes" and "versions". It can even be argued that the chess we have right now is actually a derivation of an older form of the game. Current practice, however, does not actually make a distinction between whether a "variant" was a predecessor of the modern form of chess or was derived from it.

Some variants were conceived to solve a problem. It is said that Fischer Random or Chess960 is actually an attempt to remove the "advantage" of those who have mastered opening theory, thereby providing a game of chess that is intended to be more challenging and at the same time friendly for those new to the game. Others were popularized out of nostalgia, especially for those kinds that were perceived to be the predecessor of modern chess. Still others came about as a byproduct of the imagination and fun-lovingness of its creators. Some variants actually goes to elaborate lengths that a new set of somewhat complicated rules had emerged.

Of course, none of these innovations are not without its fault, especially for one who have a deep appreciation of chess in its natural form. And I have to say, having played a few of them, they aren't easy! It takes a whole lot of mental conditioning and immersion to be able to even play the games well. But if my experience are any indication, knowing a couple of these variants are a fun way to appreciate chess in its fullness, as well as take a respite from the usual lines.

As the number of these variants far exceed my ability (and interest) to know each one well enough to write about it, I will soon be featuring a couple of players who are avid fans of the variants they have chosen to play. Instead of the usual "Here are the rules, the pros and cons, and you can go on now" kind of writing, the writers will take you down on a journey, from how they first got introduced to their variants, and how they came to love it and stick with it (or hate it, if that's the case). I hope their experiences will entice you to dip your toes into these new rivers, as I have done lately. As this is intended to be a regular feature, I will be adding links in this post regarding variants as I feature them. Check them out:

• Suicide/Suicide 960 - a fun way to lose!
• Chess960/Fischer Random - no more opening lines!
• Shatranj - did this game started it all?

Read More......

Discipline in Correspondence Chess

One of the series I ran in this blog discusses on the factors that affect one's games in correspondence chess and how to manage and master it to be able to improve one's performance. I will be revisiting the series, perhaps making some edits or even rewriting major parts to incorporate my additional experiences and lessons learned. I will also be polishing it up so it will be easy to link parts of the series to each other. You may want to participate by taking some time out to peruse the series and leave some comments on its quality, and maybe some suggestions on how to improve it. For now, the sidebar link of the same title as this entry will take you to the first article of the series, which will also contain links to the succeeding parts.

Do check it out! Thanks Read More......

David and Goliath

I started and finished some games a few weeks before I made this entry. Somewhere along the way, I got the impression that I will get more playing with players rated higher than me. For one, the Glicko formula used in Schemingmind to compute ratings actually encourages one to challenge stronger players, since the impact on your ratings losing against someone higher than you is much less than if you lose to someone with similar or lower rating than yours. Which is just quite logical. Also, there is the opportunity of learning from those who are better rated, which in most cases would mean those that play better than you. Especially in the Glicko system, where one's reliability of rating is reflected in the RD or Rating Deviation, which goes down after so many games, indicating increased reliability of the rating, having been tested several times. Which I should hasten to add, RD increases again once you start playing or finishing fewer games in a given period. (I hope I gave enough hint for you to check out Glicko for yourself)

I said "opportunity", since the ability of learning from a game still rests with the individual. It takes discipline to be able to distill the lessons from a game, as well as understanding the basis for a set of opening moves. Learning the lessons can be affected by a number of factors, which I discuss extensively in my Discipline in Correspondence Chess series (see sidebar for the link).

So, game on! Read More......

Back in the Habit

It has been a while since I last made a post here. I had since transferred the captainship of Team Philippines (see immediate previous entry), and been away from the boards. Actually, I have been "away" from the boards even while I am still playing, proverbially just "making the moves", which evidently showed in how my rating snowballed down the hill. But now, I have picked up the game again, with enough interest to even write about it again. So, welcome to the new life of All About Chess! Read More......