Board Games

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    About.com: Board Games

  • Forbidden Island - Artwork Preview

    8 Feb 2010 | 10:19 pm
    C.B. Canga, the artist who worked with game publisher Gamewright and game designer Matt Leacock on the upcoming cooperative board game Forbidden Island, has posted some of his work online. The art is spectacular, making the island seem not only forbidden but also mysterious and dangerous.Forbidden Island - Artwork Preview originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 06:19:34.Permalink | Comment | Email this

  • Forbidden Island - Interview with Matt Leacock

    3 Feb 2010 | 10:59 pm
    Game designer Matt Leacock is on a streak. His cooperative board game Pandemic, in which players work together to eradicate four diseases, was my pick as the best board game of 2008. Leacock's 2009 release, Roll Through the Ages, is a brilliant dice game and it was my pick as the #2 board game of 2009. The next Leacock game scheduled to be published is Forbidden Island, another cooperative game -- but this one designed for family play. Forbidden Island is scheduled to be available from game publisher Gamewright in the spring of 2010. Learn more about Forbidden Island in this interview with…

  • Wizards' Star Wars License Ends in May

    31 Jan 2010 | 12:15 am
    Game publisher Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, has decided not to renew its Star Wars license, impacting both the Star Wars Miniatures game and the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. "After a lengthy evaluation, Wizards of the Coast has decided not to renew the Star Wars license with Lucasfilm," Greg Yahn, Wizards' director of marketing, said in a post on the company's discussion boards. "We've had a long and fantastic run, but with the economic downturn, we have made the tough decision to discontinue our Star Wars lines." The license officially ends in May this year, Yahn said.

  • Mystery Express - Coming from Days of Wonder

    27 Jan 2010 | 12:07 pm
    Mystery fans probably know the Orient Express railway best from Agatha Christie's classic Murder on the Orient Express, and that murerous theme is being picked up in a new deduction game, Mystery Express, scheduled to be available in April. Game publisher Days of Wonder says Mystery Express (designed by Antoine Bauza and Serge Laget) "reward(s) a logical and more precise approach to solving the crime." In the game, which is for 3 to 5 players, everyone boards the famous Orient Express in Paris just as a murder occurs. The rest of the trip -- all the way to Istanbul -- is all about determining…

  • Mr. Jack in New York - Interview

    24 Jan 2010 | 9:33 pm
    When I first played the deduction game Mr. Jack, I was instantly hooked. Mr. Jack is set in 1888 London as the police are trying to capture Jack the Ripper. One player is Jack, trying to escape from London; the other is a detective trying to deduce Jack's identity and capture him in time. In 2009, game designers Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc moved Jack across the Atlantic Ocean with the release of Mr. Jack in New York. Like the original, I enjoy this deduction game quite a bit. So much so, in fact, that it made my list of the best board games of 2009. Learn more in my intereview with…
 
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    Boardgame News

  • Board 2 Pieces February 9, 2010

    ted@bezier.com
    9 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am

  • W. Eric Martin: Lessons for Game Publishers – Practice Parallelism

    ted@bezier.com
    9 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am
    In early February 2010 I played the published version of Stefan Feld’s Macao for the first time, and while I found the game intriguing in the usual alea/Feld manner of not knowing how everything fits together on the first play and making somewhat random moves that may or may not pan out (see In the Year of the Dragon, Notre Dame, Rum & Pirates), the other players and I were confounded by card text that exhibited a common grammatical problem, namely non-parallelism. Parallelism, also known as parallel construction, is the practice of words, clauses and phrases agreeing with one…

  • The First Virtual Board and Card Game App for Apple’s iPad Will Be…

    ted@bezier.com
    9 Feb 2010 | 2:30 am
    Completely boring and predictable. Label Interactive, which specializes in branded games and “rich media advertising solutions,” has announced the release of GameTable – featuring chess, checkers, backgammon, poker, solitaire and other “classic” games – in March or April 2010, immediately following the release of the iPad itself. From the press release: “GameTable isn’t a typical video game,” explains Jeff Juliard, Label Interactive founder and president. “There is no ‘logic’ built in. GameTable simply provides gorgeous,…

  • More Details on Chocolatl, Coming from Quined and Huch & Friends

    ted@bezier.com
    8 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pm
    Dutch publisher Quined Games has released a few more details of Günter Burkhardt’s Chocolatl, which BGN first covered in December 2009. As a reminder, here’s a game description from the publisher: Quetzalcóatl: A game with the fascinating history of the Aztecs, the legend of Quetzalcóatl and of course Cacao: the fruit of the gods! Your goal: Make the greatest offerings to the gods – harvest the best Cacao, build onto the pyramids and earn points at six locations on the map. The player who brings the most valuable offerings to Quetzalcóatl (=Chocolatl) ends the game and is…

  • Truffle Scuffle & Penguin Soccer, New from Nestorgames

    ted@bezier.com
    8 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm
    Néstor Romeral Andrés has released a pair of new two-player games through nestorgames, which publishes games on an “as ordered” basis. The new games are: • Truffle Scuffle, by Micah Fuller – Two players each have a team of four hogs that they send scooting around the game board to collect truffles, but each player has only one hog to start with. On a turn, you move each of your hogs on the board to an adjacent tile and claim one truffle on each space, if any. Before moving, you can discard four truffles of the same color to add another of your hogs to the board. Collect a…
 
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    The Game Ranch

  • It's been Ages

    susan@rozmiarek.info
    22 Jan 2010 | 5:42 pm
    Soccer practice started this week and it was my turn to take Kevin, so I missed our weekly gaming group. However, last week I was able to go and miraculously got to play an "older" game - Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery, while the hardcore Cult of the New members (I used to be one) struggled through some new game called Carson City at the other table. AoE III shares the honor of being my favorite worker placement game along with Pillars of the Earth. With both games, I feel the theme as I play, and both have just the right amount of luck to still allow me to pursue a strategy while…

  • A New Year (thank goodness)

    susan@rozmiarek.info
    16 Jan 2010 | 1:53 pm
    Well, I can't let Ed take over this blog completely with his Descent reports, so I better get with it and post something. My blogging dropped off significantly this past year. Frankly, it's been a pretty bad year, both personally and for gaming. Ed, the primary breadwinner of our household, spent almost the whole year unemployed. Not only did this take a huge bite out of our game buying budget, but it also meant that we weren't able to attend the gaming conventions that we normally do. We also spent much of the year unable to attend our regular gaming nights due to our son's soccer practice…

  • Descent Campaign 2 - Session 5

    susan@rozmiarek.info
    15 Jan 2010 | 10:40 am
    So, way back in the Dark Ages of 2009, I was reporting the progress of our second Descent: Road to Legend campaign. I seem to have "forgotten" to update the blog with our progress. Yeah, that seems like a good excuse. Anyway, I have actually posted the session reports over in the Road to Legend forums on BoardgameGeek, but if you don't follow those, you may not have seen them. You may be wondering about the adventures of our heroes, Nanok of the Blade, Landrec the Wise, Verikas the Dead and Grey Ker, as they struggle to stop the evil Sorcerer King from blotting out the sun and bringing on the…

  • Witch of Salem review

    susan@rozmiarek.info
    22 Oct 2009 | 9:43 am
    Witch of Salem is a cooperative game for 2 - 4 players that is based on stories by Wolfgang Hohlbein set in the world of H.P. Lovecraft's mythos. The designer is Michael Rieneck and it is published in an English edition by Mayfair Games. Players are helping Robert Craven, the powerful Witch of Salem, close the portals located around the city of Arkham and to banish the Great Old One imprisoned in the underwater city of R'lyeh. Opposing them are the evil magician Necron and hordes of evil creatures. The Goal The players win the game if they manage to close all the portals and banish the Great…

  • Roll Through the Ages and more Tales

    susan@rozmiarek.info
    20 Aug 2009 | 2:14 pm
    Well, we didn't get to go to game night this past week. Ed had to take our eldest to soccer practice and I got to go...grocery shopping. Yay. This full-time job gig is taking some getting used to. Oh Free Time, how I miss thee! Last week, though, I got to play Tales of Arabian Nights again. Once again, I really enjoyed it. This time, I fared miserably. In fact, my first character died after finding a door hidden in the sands. Upon descending, she found a woman imprisoned below and tried to save her. An e'freet (sp?) jumped out of hiding and tore me from limb to limb. Not exactly a pleasant…
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    Spiel : Boardgames in the UK

  • The World Cup Card Game 2010: Cameroon champions?

    Garry
    7 Feb 2010 | 4:34 am
    This week, I’d just got a copy of The World Cup Card Game 2010 which, unsurprisingly, is a card game version of the board game The World Cup Game, centred on the 2010 tournament. Designed by Shaun Derrick and published by Games for the World, it is simply a deck of cards and a two [...]

  • Pizza Box Football

    Garry
    3 Feb 2010 | 3:24 am
    With the Superbowl coming up this Sunday, it was time to dig out Pizza Box Football for my annual predict the score using the team sheets produced specifically for this game by On The Line Games. So, here’s a quick summary of what you can expect to happen in Superbowl XLIV. The first quarter started slowly [...]

  • Unplayed games - down to 88

    Garry
    1 Feb 2010 | 5:17 am
    January turned out to be a bit slow on the game playing front with me missing two of our Friday night sessions. This coupled with a few new games meant the unplayed total only reduced by one during the month: 4 new games acquired (World Without End, Municipium,Burger Joint and Say Anything); 5 games no longer unplayed (Corsari, Hansa Teutonica, World [...]

  • The World Cup Card Game

    Garry
    1 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am
    Shaun Derrick has just announced that a card game based on his popular World Cup Game system is now available to buy. The WCCG has 64 cards divided into 32 Team cards and 32 Action cards. Each group match is played individually but this takes seconds to resolve, then the KO stages are played in a [...]

  • World Without End

    Garry
    25 Jan 2010 | 7:41 am
    Played this follow-up to Pillars of the Earth with Chris yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. Working out the best way to generate points was interesting and the perm six from twelve actions each round was novel. Chris did the better job as he scored loads of points by building up his medical knowledge and [...]
 
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    The WAGSENING

  • The Thunder-business (Dominion x2, Thunderstone, Ra)

    agent easy
    5 Feb 2010 | 6:29 pm
    It was Shemp's pick, but Shemp did not pick. So, we brought games, and we played some of those. Three players again (me, Shemp and Kozure).DominionFirst up was Dominion, which I had never played before (although I've played Dominion:Intrigue a few times). When I had played the expansion, I was a little ambivalent... The games wants to be played quickly, but the cards were *just* complicated enough that I couldn't quite internalize what they all did or how they could be combined and still play fast. The result was that I just wasn't getting into it. The base game, on the other hand, is much…

  • Two is company (Steam x2, Mr. Jack x2, Carcassonne: The City)

    agent easy
    31 Jan 2010 | 5:33 pm
    We had an unusual two player session this week... just me and Shemp could make it. Other than wargames, my collection is fairly light on two player games, but we did get a chance to play a few games that don't often see the light of day.Steam: St. LuciaI bought this Bezier Games expansion map mostly for the single player side (which I like a lot). It's a bit strange because every single space gets a cube at the start of the game, and absolutely no coloured cities exist until somebody urbanizes. IT makes for a map that changes substantially between plays and is quite wide open with opportunity…

  • I sort dead people (Unpublished prototype, Small World)

    agent easy
    21 Jan 2010 | 9:07 pm
    It was Kozure's pick this week, and Bharmer came by so we were five. He asked that we try out a new game he's working on and we did. As usual, I was surprised at how good his demos are (both from the standpoint of production quality and design quality). For a game that was essentially untested until we played, it worked well. I don't want to say too much about the game in case it's secret, so I'll move onto the next game we played... Small World.I started out with Commando Trolls. I started out at the top of the board and spread out to the tops of the mountains there. Since trolls keep their…

  • Corn is red ! (Chaos in the Old World x2)

    agent easy
    16 Jan 2010 | 7:45 pm
    I'm often on the lookout for games that manage to blend the elegance of euro games with the thematic gameplay of american style games. Although I like the clever mechanics, the streamlined gameplay, etc of the euros there is also a part of me that likes the miniatures and cards and *fun* that the thematically superior american games offer. Unfortunately, I've tried lots of the themey games and have usually been disappointed. They are either too long, too random, too fiddly or they have too much downtime (even some I like, like Fury of Dracula, have these problems). Chaos in the Old World is a…

  • Buckets of Blood and Showers of... Other... Bodily... Fluids

    Kozure
    15 Jan 2010 | 6:31 am
    WARNING: This review contains concepts of a graphic nature which may be unsuitable for younger readers. It also contains unfettered waxing philosophical. Reader discretion advised.Chaos in the Old World, far from being a game about monkeys running the European Union (*rimshot*), is a area-influence / mild wargame with variable player powers, card-based spells / effects and an action point (in this case "power point") mechanic. Underneath the blood-spattered chrome, this is actually a pretty clever little game.I don't have time for a thorough review of mechanics and play - I'll leave that to…
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    Board Game Beast

  • Feb 9, Valerie Porter Scarlet Scandal

    8 Feb 2010 | 5:26 pm
    Want to get Valerie Porter: Scarlet Scandal FREE and LEGAL to keep forever? Download the FULL game when you open a trial Fun Tickets account! Yours to

  • Feb 8, Kung Fu Fighting game

    8 Feb 2010 | 12:24 pm
    Game: Kung Fu Fighting Game manufacturer: SlugFest Games Number of players: 2-6Quick verdict Kung Fu Fighting is fairly easy to pick up, more strategic

  • Feb 8, Create A Mall

    8 Feb 2010 | 11:57 am
    Want to get Create A Mall FREE and LEGAL to keep forever? Download the FULL game when you open a trial Fun Tickets account! Yours to keep even if you cancel.

  • Feb 7, Pageant Princess

    7 Feb 2010 | 7:10 am
    Want to get Pageant Princess FREE and LEGAL to keep forever? Click here, open a FREE trial Fun Tickets account and it's YOURS! Click for more info.***gamehousevideo.shtml***Game:

  • Feb 7, Hotel Dash

    7 Feb 2010 | 6:47 am
    Want to get Hotel Dash FREE and LEGAL to keep forever? Download the FULL game when you open a trial Fun Tickets account! Yours to keep even if you cancel.
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    ChessBase News

  • Pocket Fritz 4: More formats, more chances

    8 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm
    Pocket Fritz 4 supports the file formats CBH (ChessBase game database), CBV (ChessBase zipped game database) and CTG (ChessBase opening book or tree), which are familiar to users of other ChessBase products. This is an important qualitative and quantitative step that gives you access to a wide range of chess data, with unquestionable advantages introduced in this article.

  • Chernyshov wins Moscow Open 2010

    7 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm
    This event took place from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7, just before the 9th Aeroflot Open (Feb. 8–19) – which meant that many strong players were in the Russian capital to participate in both tournaments. Four players shared first in the Moscow Open, with 7.0/9 points. The winner was Konstantin Chernyshov on tie-break, with the decisive factor being that he had the most wins. Illustrated report.

  • Bisik-Bisik with Garry Kasparov – Part 3

    6 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm
    In the first part Garry talked about his growing up years and his collaboration with Magnus Carlsen. In part 2 he touched on the preparations made for his very first match against Karpov and the recent K-K anniversary exhibition match. In this third part Kasparov answered questions about “making a comeback”, his family, politics and a new variant of Fischer Random chess. Interview.

  • Sherlock Holmes chess

    5 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm
    A very original sequence happened in this Sicilian encounter from the recently finished festival in Wijk aan Zee. The black knight is attacked, but onto which square it should go now is only one question (A). The other interesting issue is: what was actually White's last (and best!) move (B), as a reaction in turn to which black move (C)? What do you think, Watson? The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a  larger version of the diagram.

  • Gibtel Masters – Adams wins in play-offs

    4 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm
    Nine players were tied for first after ten rounds, and four went into the tiebreaks. British GM Michael Adams eliminated first Jan Gustafsson of Germany in an Armageddon game, and then Francisco Vallejo (who had knocked out Indian GM Sandipan Chanda) to take overall victory at the Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar. There was a prominent visitor during the second half of the event. Final results.
 
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    Confessions of a chess novice

  • Katar on the social dimension of chess improvement

    Blue Devil Knight
    28 Jan 2010 | 9:55 am
    In response to my previous post, which has lots of good comments, the following from Katar triggered a bunch of thoughts:Environment is a big factor. If one has chess-playing friends it will speed up one's progress...Somehow internet friends do not seem to have this effect, as far as i can tell. But i'll tell you this: I met a few cool guys at the club, they happened to be mostly around 1600 or

  • Innate, acquired, or both?

    Blue Devil Knight
    25 Jan 2010 | 1:24 pm
    The comments at my previous post were again excellent. Pretty much you guys are now writing my blog for me.Anonymous said the following, which struck a nerve with me:Some of us need to face the fact that we have no natural chess ability. From his rapid rating increase from the beginning it is obvious to me that MDLM had natural ability. Book smarts does not equate to natural ability in chess or

  • Thanks, Robinson

    Blue Devil Knight
    21 Jan 2010 | 10:11 am
    Useful analysis of MDLM from previous post comment section:I think one thing that is often overlooked in Michael de la Maza's success is the high number of rated games he played over a relatively short period of time. I've read many, many of the past Knights Errant posts and I don't find a lot of comments about the number of rated, slow games being played as part of their improvement programs. (

  • Reminds me of the good old days

    Blue Devil Knight
    11 Jan 2010 | 10:29 am
    Remember when everyone was doing the Circles? Remember the sometimes crazy heated discussions of them? How many problems per circle? How many circles? What software to use? That was fun.Loomis provides a good reminder.I need to think more about the circles, where I stand on the de la Maza methods. I started the juices flowing in a comment at Loomis' blog. Chesstiger brought up one of the

  • Where is the mad man?

    Blue Devil Knight
    14 Dec 2009 | 9:10 pm
    From a commenter on my previous post:I liked your blog when you were a crazy obsessed mad man.Yes, I admit my best chess writing accompanied an almost neurotic obsession with the game. Sorry folks that person is taking a back seat for a little while. Luckily Blunderprone and Temposchlucker are blogging a lot right now, and a lot of other great stuff is out there. But I have to admit it breaks my
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    About.com: Chess

  • Kasparov Rules Out Comeback

    8 Feb 2010 | 4:49 am
    In a recent interview over at ChessBase, former World Champion Garry Kasparov ruled out the possibility of a serious comeback to chess, saying that his life is now on a different path. However, he does feel connected to the world of chess through Magnus Carlsen, and mentioned feeling the same sense of nervousness and tension again when following the games of his young protege. Kasparov also covered a wide range of other topics, including his past in chess, his role in Russian politics, and his feelings on Chess960. He had an interesting idea when it comes to Fischer Random Chess: pick a…

  • Carlsen Hangs On For Corus Title

    31 Jan 2010 | 8:41 am
    It wasn't pretty, but Magnus Carlsen added another notch to his belt by hanging on to win the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Carlsen found himself in a difficult (perhaps even losing) position against Fabiano Caruana in the final round, but Caruana couldn't find a way to win, allowing Carlsen to draw. Combined with draws by Vladimir Kramnik and Alexei Shirov, Carlsen's 8.5/13 score left him a half-point ahead of his nearest competitors. The only decisive game in the final round came from Hikaru Nakamura, who scored a victory over Sergey Tiviakov to claim a share of 4th place. Along…

  • Kramnik Beats Carlsen, Joins Shirov in First

    26 Jan 2010 | 8:31 am
    After a slow start, Vladimir Kramnik has crawled back to join Alexei Shirov in first place at the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee with a 6.5/9 score. Kramnik culminated his comeback by repaying Carlsen -- who beat Kramnik with the black pieces in London last month -- with a thrilling win from the black side in round nine. Carlsen had joked on Facebook that he would "crush Kramnik like a bug,", which in most other sports would be considered "bulletin board material." Somehow, I doubt Kramnik gained extra motivation from a status update, but it did add a little buzz to the game. Carlsen's loss…

  • New US Championship Format Promises Exciting Finish

    24 Jan 2010 | 11:40 am
    The 2010 US Chess Championship will debut a new format, but continue to use most of the structure from last year's event, as well as keeping the same venue: the beautiful Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The tournament is still a 24-player Swiss system event. The biggest change will be seen at the tail end of the tournament, where a unique idea will be tried for (I believe) the first time. The idea is similar to one I recall hearing Greg Shahade propose last year -- not surprising, since he is the rules adviser to the event -- in which the first seven rounds would be played as…

  • Fire On Board: Shirov 4/4 at Corus

    20 Jan 2010 | 5:46 am
    Talk about a hot start: Alexei Shirov is a perfect 4/4 in Wijk aan Zee, giving him a full point edge over the field at the Corus tournament. Shirov got opponent Jan Smeets into a mess of time trouble that Smeets could not work himself out of, and after a blunder on move 33, the game was soon over. There's a three-man chase group lined up a point behind Shirov, waiting for the leader to falter. Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Vassily Ivanchuk all have three points, with Carlsen and Nakamura set to face off in round five. Shirov has Black against Loek Van Wely in the next round, which will…
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    Boylston Chess Club Weblog

  • Amateur Team East

    Robert Oresick
    5 Feb 2010 | 6:38 am
    Please Comment if you are trying to hook up for playing, traveling, or rooming.Thank YouMike Griffin 02/05/2010.

  • The Future of Chess

    Robert Oresick
    4 Feb 2010 | 6:42 am
    High Park Toboggan Runs, 1914. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1244, Item 441A." As a kid I remember a similar photo of Franklin Park Golf Course with a man-made wooden ramp.I think it's time to discuss the future of chess, given all this conversation about chess players migrating to poker and children being attracted to internet games. Forty plus years ago those who wanted to play a serious thought game for recreation had to physically relocate themselves to a chess or bridge club. Before the 60's television was in its infancy and again people had to go to theaters and symphonies for…

  • Esserman-Simpson earns Game of the Year 3rd place

    Rihel
    2 Feb 2010 | 9:22 am
    In the US Chessleague award season, Boston Blitz and Boylston Chess Club regular/board member IM Marc Esserman was recently awarded 3rd place Game of the Year for his miniature masterpiece against Ron Simpson. Ignored in the regular season voting, the strong 3rd place finish in the year-end vote is sweet vindication for Marc, and affirmation of Blitz fan sentiment after watching this gem.The dismantling of Simpson's position out of the opening is frightening-- a casual examination by this 2000 rated commentator can't even pinpoint Black's fatal error. Click here for the game and here for the…

  • Chess Players are Migrating to the Online Poker World

    Robert Oresick
    1 Feb 2010 | 7:08 am
    Gary Kasparov recently stated that he believes that since computers have become more adept at beating human chess players many have since turned to poker as it still remains unbeaten by computers.Online PR News – 31-January-2010 – While it may seem strange for elite players of the highly cerebral game of chess to take up a seemingly low brow game like poker, the two games aren’t as dissimilar as one might think. While, at first glance poker is a seemingly simple game to learn and understand, the truth is that to become a successful player one must first learn more advanced theories and…

  • Chess: the Ultimate Brain Game

    Robert Oresick
    26 Jan 2010 | 2:11 pm
    While reading and watching Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman I realized it was that years of being a salesman had wired Willy Loman's mind to view things a certain way. In life imitates art once again, my life experiences have been bolstered by modern psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and biology that indicates the same thing: you are what you do. People who invest significant time being involved with chess are improving their thinking and analytical powers just like a body builder strengthens their muscles by lifting weights. Reinforcing this idea is David Shenk's book The Immortal Game -…
 
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    Dana Blogs Chess

  • New for your chess bookshelf …

    admin
    8 Feb 2010 | 10:16 pm
    Coincidentally, two books that I contributed to (in a very very small way) have either just appeared or are about to appear. The first of them is Improve Your Chess at Any Age by Andy Hortillosa, published by Everyman Chess, which is an elaboration of the anti-blundering system that he wrote about in his column at www.chessville.com. As Andy reminded me in a comment here a few days ago, the title of the book was actually my suggestion! I want to congratulate him on seeing the book through to completion and getting it published. Lots of people say they want to write books (me included), but…

  • No more excuses!

    admin
    31 Jan 2010 | 5:34 pm
    The Bay Area has been blessed with three large open tournaments in the first two months of the year. In January we had the New Year’s Open in Santa Clara, won by Sam Shankland, and the Golden State Open in Concord, won by Alex Lenderman. The latter tournament was especially exciting, because it was the first foray by mega-TD Bill Goichberg into northern California. So the prize fund was much larger than we usually see in these parts — $40,000 guaranteed, with $2867 for first. Not surprisingly, all that dough enticed some players we seldom see. Walter Browne, who mostly plays poker…

  • Women who kick (pawn) butt

    admin
    28 Jan 2010 | 9:49 am
    Okay, it’s a little bit off topic, but I have to mention something I saw on TV this weekend. Last weekend, a bowler named Kelly Kulick won the Professional Bowlers’ Association Tournament of Champions, which made her the first woman ever to win a “men’s” professional bowling tournament. She didn’t just win, she dominated. Against a 12-time male champion, Chris Barnes, she won 265-195. (In bowling, 300 is a perfect score. A score of 265 is much closer to perfect than it looks — Kulick threw strikes on 10 out of 12 balls, missing only on the fifth one…

  • A voice from the past

    admin
    21 Jan 2010 | 10:23 pm
    A few days ago I got a very interesting and pleasant surprise, a comment on my blog from a player I used to know back in North Carolina. His name is Rich Jackson, and he was responding to this post where I analyzed a game we played in the 1987 state championship. The game in question was a memorable one for both of us. We both had 3-1 scores, and the winner of the game would have an excellent shot at winning the title of North Carolina champion. As you can see from the post above, we got to an endgame that was just about as drawn as could possibly be, but he messed it up due to intense time…

  • New class, Jeff Sarwer interview, etc.

    admin
    9 Jan 2010 | 11:47 am
    Happy new year! I can’t believe that a week has already gone by and I haven’t watered my blog yet this year. (You know, blogs need care and watering, just like plants …) As I result I have lots of little odds and ends to write about. My main news is that I am going to start a new chess class at a local elementary school, the Santa Cruz Gardens School. It will be a six-week class, starting January 22. This will be a new experiment for me. Although I have run the Aptos Library chess club for 13 years, with a similar age range of kids (from about 6 to 12), I have never done it…
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    Chess.com

  • terror

    9 Feb 2010 | 6:21 am
    So, the religious leader of Iran is saying he will "shock the western world" tommorow. I wonder what he will try to do?

  • Round 2: Summer Swiss.

    9 Feb 2010 | 5:49 am
    Hey guys,  This is my game from this week from my local chess tournament. I managed to win this. However, at move 14 i made an inaccurate move which should have led to equality, but my opponent blundered and ended up getting mated. :)  Please ...

  • 2010-02-09 - Spangledstar - Muetdhiver - 0.5/0.5

    9 Feb 2010 | 5:43 am
    Hello everyone,I present my first game here. I took a lot of fun to play and I want to share the analysis of the game with my opponent.I know that I have a winning final position but I prefer offer a draw, ensuring a good start with Blacks on ches...

  • A mysterious game

    9 Feb 2010 | 5:31 am
    Hello everybody, today I want to share another loss of mine. Let's start with the opening. My opponent was rated about 200 point lower than me. It was our 2nd encounter. He already won with black against me, because I didn't play too well in the ...

  • My best game

    9 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am
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    Robert Pearson's Chess Blog

  • Physiological and Psychological Studies Applied to Chess

    3 Feb 2010 | 9:09 pm
    Fit for Combat:  Maximum Strength AKA Old Man StrengthExcerpt:THE STRENGTH CURVEIn his book Extreme Fear, Jeff Wise discusses the effect of the brain’s reaction to stimuli on strength and athletic performance.Wise cites the research by Vladimir Zatsiorsky on three different types of strength--Absolute, Maximal and Competitive Maximum.Absolute Strength is the total mechanical strength of a person, the force a person should be able to apply.According to Zatsiorsky’s research humans can rarely apply all that force.  A novice weight lifter can apply 65%, an experience athlete can…

  • Strip Chess

    2 Feb 2010 | 9:42 pm
    Based on Google results, rare but not extremely rare:(original image)(h/t Althouse)

  • Chess Amateurs, Chess Pros, When and If the Twain Shall Meet

    1 Feb 2010 | 11:19 pm
    Mark Weeks of Chess for All Ages kindly posts a thoughtful and extended answer, Do You Care About Today's GMs? to my previous post on this question.  In the comments to Mark's post Michael Goeller, the most excellent Kenilworthian recalls his take on the question, Chess Amateurism, from a couple of years ago.Mark also makes a point in his post about the openings being "exhausted" at some point in the next 10-20 years. He is becoming more and more interested in chess960 as a result.  I figure that even when chess (not just the opening) is "solved" in the way checkers is now solved,…

  • Bob Dobbs Teaches Chess: On the Vital and Universal Principle of Slack

    26 Jan 2010 | 11:41 pm
    You may have noticed my new profile pic.  This is of course not my public visage but my "true" face:If it strikes a chord of recognition, congratulations!If not, you need to read Le Wik's take on the Church of the SubGenius.  Whatever you do, do not click on this link direct to heaven on Earth, for you are not ready.  Believe me, don't click on this link.What does this have to do with chess, you ask?  Merely everything.  Wikipedia's tame description of slack does not do this important topic justice.  Think about it--the only reason you can get a glove on and off…

  • Do You Care About Today's Grandmaster Games and Tournaments?

    18 Jan 2010 | 5:03 pm
    Over at IM Mark Ginsburg's blog I was moved to comment on his post The New Chess, "When young grandmasters whip out crazy theory backed by millions of pre-game CPU cycles."Just as a personal impression and certainly not from some scientific poll, I think this kind of chess has led to some loss of interest by today's amateurs in current grandmaster games.  I commented in part:My impression reading the chess proletariat’s blogs and talking to U-1800s at tournaments and clubs is that a lot of them just don’t care that much about GM chess these days. Sure, they look at the Corus results…
 
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    Polgar Chess Daily News and Info

  • FIDE World Club Cup

    9 Feb 2010 | 6:28 am
    FIDE World Club CupMonday, 08 February 2010 09:07FIDE announces that the first World Club Cup will be held from July 11th to 20th in Dubai, UAE. There are two competitions for Open and Women's teams. Please download the Regulations for Open / Women.Chess news from Susan Polgar

  • A secure future

    9 Feb 2010 | 6:03 am
    A secure futureGreat news from Gibraltar as the future of this fine event, the 2010 edition of which was recently completed, has been secured for another three years.By Malcolm PeinPublished: 11:30AM GMT 09 Feb 2010After eight years of fantastic support including the establishment of a state of the art live game commentary system, Gibtelecom will pass the mantle of primary sponsor to the insurance company Tradewise. In addition, Stewart Reuben, after seven successful years, will retire as tournament director and the British Champion Stuart Conquest will take over.The Gibraltar tournament has…

  • The next Filipino Grandmaster

    9 Feb 2010 | 5:56 am
    Barcenilla to get GM title next monthabs-cbnNEWS.com 02/09/2010 7:58 PMMANILA, Philippines – Rogelio "Banjo" Barcenilla has something to cheer about next month.National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. said the Arizona-based Barcenilla will finally get his "long overdue" grandmaster title next month."Maa-award na din ang GM (grandmaster) title ni Banjo next month," said Pichay, who has seen the 5 Filipinos securing GM title during the his past 3 years as NCFP president. The list includes Wesley So, Darwin Laylo, Jayson Gonzales, John Paul…

  • 10 Azerbaijani compete in Aeroflot Open

    9 Feb 2010 | 5:33 am
    10 Azerbaijani chess players compete in Aeroflot Open festival in MoscowTue 09 February 2010 13:11 GMTThe biggest chess tournament Aeroflot Open starts in Moscow today.According to News.Az, it will involve 10 Azerbaijani representatives. The main contest A1 will involve Rauf Mammadov and Eltaj Safarli.Ulvi Bajarani and Vasif Durarbeyli will partake in contest A2, Ilgar Bajarani, Shahriyar Hasanov and Gulnar Mammadova in contest B, Fidan Aghasiyeva, Tamerlan Bunyadov and Nurlan Shabanov in contest C.The prize fund of the main contest equals EUR70,000 with the winner to get 21,000. The festival…

  • Vote and you can win a prize

    9 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am
    Dear Friends,Turkish Chess Federation has prepared 11 different logos for 2012 World Chess Olympiad. 7 of them selected and a webpage prepared for a world voting contest. Which logo do you want in Istanbul Olympiad? Vote now and win a prize!Please write your name, surname and e-mail address to win prize.Prizes:3 DGT 2010 Electronic Chess clock (All world is elligible)3 Silverscach electronic chess clock (All world is elligible)10 professional tournament chess set (All world is elligible)20 chess books (Only for Turkey)Voting PageVoting will end on the 31st March 2010Ali Nihat YAZICIPresident…
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    The Closet Grandmaster

  • Cherny... Who?

    8 Feb 2010 | 5:16 am
    I've never heard of this bloke, but GM Konstantin Chernyshov of Russia has just won the Moscow Open. The Asian region, though, can claim their hero in Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem, who finished 3rd on tiebreak. Here's one of Liem's wins, beating the Indian Sasikiran.Moscow Open 2010 - Section ALe Quang LiemSasikiran, K.D861. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Qc7 11. Rb1 Bd7 12. Bd3 Rfd8 13. h3 e6 14. Bg5 Re8 15. Qc1 cxd4 16. cxd4 Qd6 17. Rxb7 Rab8 18. Rxb8 Rxb8 19. Qc5 Qxc5 20. dxc5 h6 21. Be3 Rb2 22. Rd1 Nb4 23. Bc4…

  • Musashino Chess Club

    7 Feb 2010 | 1:13 am
    Finally moved into an apartment this weekend. It's in the neighbourhood of Kichijoji. I'm already liking this place. It has the flavour of Paddington, in Sydney, or St Kilda, in Melbourne. Just like those suburbs Down Under, Kichijoji is hip and happening. My kinda town.But the best bit, I think, is that there's a local chess club! It's the Musashino Chess Club and I found it thanks to this website (ran by a Japanese bloke with an American accent).

  • Computers and Chess Strategy

    4 Feb 2010 | 10:45 pm
    An interesting post in Tech Republic:Some chess players are deeply into technology; others, not so much. Many of today’s young champions are in their teens and twenties. They are “digital natives” — part of the generation that grew up with computers. They tend to be comfortable with using high-tech aids to help them prepare for games and hone their tactics and techniques. Many of the players at the top layers hire someone else to handle the data analysis and assist them in planning strategies — after all, two heads are always better than one, and it helps to have different…

  • Chess Now Videos

    4 Feb 2010 | 2:24 pm
    This just cracked me up. The Chess Now series has been going on now for about 3 years and are already up to there 62nd episode. But it's the first one that's a true classic, I reckon.

  • Russia Bound So

    4 Feb 2010 | 2:52 am
    Coming up next: Aeroflot 2010! Backing up just after his excellent fourth place finish last week in Corus 'B' is GM Wesley So who, I'm sure, will give his many fans yet more sleepless nights. I just hope that he actually scores a few more wins than draws. Joining the Pinoy number one is compatriot, GM Darwin Laylo.
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    Backgammon News

  • Online Backgammon Qualifiers for Nordic Open

    2 Feb 2010 | 6:14 am
    The online skill games network GameAccount is running qualifiers for the Nordic Open backgammon tournament, to be held on 2010 Easter Weekend in Copenhagen. GameAccount Nordic Open qualifiers have begun on January 25 and will continue until March 22, a week before the opening of the 22nd Nordic Open...

  • Online Backgammon News January 2010

    13 Jan 2010 | 7:34 am
    The online backgammon platform Dice Arena is running qualifiers for the WSOB Shootout, the final round of the World Series of Backgammon Season III to take place on February 6-7, 2009 at the Adam Street Club in London. The qualifiers for the cheap (€55) seats will take place every night at 20:0...

  • Backgammon and 99 More Games on Nintendo DS

    28 Dec 2009 | 6:37 am
    Backgammon is one of the 100 All Time Favorites, a new collection of classic games for multi and single player use developed by the Indian branch of Ubisoft for Nintendo DS. Other games include cards classics such as poker and solitaire, board games like chess and checkers and variety of puzzles. Th...

  • Online Backgammon News December 2009

    7 Dec 2009 | 1:23 am
    Intralot, normally focusing on lotteries and sports betting, is planning to take over online backgammon too. The Greek company has acquired 35% of the American CyberArts, which provides poker, backgammon, and casino games platforms to several gaming sites around Europe. This acquisition is only the ...

  • Online Backgammon News

    7 Dec 2009 | 12:06 am
    ...
 
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    Backgammon.co.uk

  • Backgammon East & Past

    8 Feb 2010 | 4:08 am
    Did you know that every number in backgammon - the checkers, the board and even the dice - have symbolic meaning? The 30 checkers represent the days in the month The black and white of the checkers symbolize night and day The four quadrants on the backgammon board stand for the four seasons ...

  • BIBA Jarvis Trophy 2010

    4 Feb 2010 | 11:00 am
    When: 5-7 February, 2010 Where: Barceló Daventry Hotel Sedgemoor Way Daventry Northamptonshire NN11 The 2010 Jarvis Trophy opens BIBA race for the Grand Prix and UK Finals event. Tournament Format: Swiss (six 11-point matches) ...

  • The Backgammon Master and the Computer

    31 Jan 2010 | 2:55 am
    Instead of a computer that thought and played chess backgammon like a human, with human creativity and intuition, they got one that played like a machine. The above quote was taken from a long review written by Garry Kasparov about the book Chess Metaphors: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Mind...

  • WSOB Shootout 2009

    26 Jan 2010 | 4:39 am
    When: 6-7 February, 2010 starting on Friday at 17:00 Where: Adam Street Club 9 Adam Street London WC2N 6AA After many delays, the World Series of Backgammon season III comes to its end in what plans to be a grand finale of at least $480,000 prize pool, and $150,000 guaranteed prize to the cha...

  • Goodbye Backgammon Hello Go

    6 Jan 2010 | 2:21 am
    In his farewell post, Baconlog says goodbye to backgammon and chess, games he has been playing professionally for several decades, and welcomes go, the only game that has not been spoiled by computers yet. He has been playing backgammon professionally since the 1970s, when the development of neural ...
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    aka Pastor Guy

  • The First "Dime" of 2010

    Mark (aka pastor guy)
    6 Feb 2010 | 8:06 am
    February is "work on the Five & Dime Report" Month... there are more folks this (over 300) which should yield some great results but also mean I've got a lot of data compiling to do. In my own gaming life, I've managed to reach my first "dime" (game played 10+ times) in 2010 by the end of January: Gelini Nightlife Don't be ashamed if you haven't heard of it - it was simply a BGG conversation about Essen games that brought it to my attention when Joe "Burger Joint" Huber & Dale "Dominion evangelist" Yu both strongly recommended that I pick up a copy. I arrived in mid-January and…

  • Late Night + Too Much Sugar + Haba = FUN

    Mark (aka pastor guy)
    4 Feb 2010 | 2:42 pm

  • Forbidden Island

    Mark (aka pastor guy)
    24 Jan 2010 | 8:29 pm
    How cool is this? A cooperative family game by Matt Leacock - the designer who created Pandemic and Roll Through the Ages - produced by Gamewright, a company with a much longer reach into the mass market than Z-Man or FRED. And you've got to admit, the preview is pretty neat. More information to come following NY Toy Fair...

  • Spielbox in English?!

    Mark (aka pastor guy)
    20 Jan 2010 | 1:19 pm
    Just passing this important information along... We are considering producing an English version of spielbox magazine. We would like to know your opinion: if you d be potentially interested in an English edition of spielbox, please send an e-mail with the subject yes to vote@nostheide.de. (Your mail address will*not* be used for any other purpose than this survey.) Of course you can answer directly to me too. Best regards Barbara Nostheide

  • Permission To Speak Freely

    Mark (aka pastor guy)
    19 Jan 2010 | 10:22 am
    Anne Jackson is not related to me... as far as I know. (There are a LOT of Jacksons wandering around the good ol' US of A.) But she's a writer/speaker of amazing wisdom & grace... and her latest project is worth checking out. Click on the graphic to find out more.
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    Zimbio Board Game News

  • The Settlers of Catan

    1 Feb 2010 | 8:52 am
    One of the most successful games of all time, Settlers of Catan is a trading and building game set in the mythical world of Catan. Players roll dice to determine which resources are generated each round and then must strategically trade those resources with other players to get what they need to build their settlements, cities, and roads. With multiple ways to gain victory points and a board that changes in every play, Settlers of Catan is a game that can be played hundreds of different ways. The base of a hugely successful franchise, with multiple engaging expansions, Settlers is the core…

  • PDC World Championship Darts 2009 Wii

    31 Jan 2010 | 3:56 pm
    PDC 2009 has a more intuitive system, where every gesture is more accurate. The screen feedback is provided at the point of interest and darts weights are taken into account. With many pro darts players including Phil Taylor, Raymond Von Barnveld and Peter Manley available in game.For ages 3 years and over. - All Wii games Price:£29.39

  • PDC World Championship Darts 2008 | 600Mb Pc Game

    30 Jan 2010 | 2:22 am
    suggested system requirements:Pentium 4 2 GHz, 512 MB RAM, graphic card 128 MB (GeForce 6600 or better), 1 GB HDD, Windows 98 SE/Me/2000 SP3/XP SP2.More.....CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PDC World Championship Darts 2008 Pc Game

  • Your How-To 'WATCH LIVE PDC World Darts Championship 2009/2010,29.1.2010' is now live on Howcast!

    29 Jan 2010 | 1:46 am
    Keep this email out of your spam filter. Add noreply@howcast.com to your safe sender list or address book. Hello mooncer, Congratulations, your new How-To is now live on Howcast! Check it out: Click to View: WATCH LIVE PDC World Darts Championship 2009/2010,29.1.2010 added January 29, 2010 http://jarju8.blogspot.com/2010/01/watch-live-pdc-world-darts-championship.html Be sure that your How-To has clearly written steps and "You Will Need" items to make it easy for people to learn. It's always easier to show people, so if you have a video, you can add it to your How-To at any time from the edit…

  • Beyond Binary named Lord of Catan

    23 Jan 2010 | 1:04 pm
    TAGS: catan | fried | proves | CNET's Ina Fried proves herself an ungracious guest and a poor reporter, winning a "Settlers of Catan" board game tournament she showed up to cover.
 
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