Checkers is solved!

Checkers has apparently been solved. A computer will play perfectly, and win or draw every game.

Chess has been solved for at least any five pieces on the board, maybe even six.

But 32 pieces? Not in our lifetime.

Server error on Internet Chess Club

The server on the Internet Chess Club doesn't realize when a game is a draw or not in a very obscure situation.

I had a game where it was King and Bishop versus King and Bishop - those were the only pieces on the board. The Bishops were on opposite colored squares. The ICC server declared this a draw -- however, this is only an automatic draw if the bishops are on the same colored squares.

For instance, consider the problem here -- white to move. Black has very foolishly played Bxb8 (instead of Kxb8, it doesn't matter what was on b8), and now White plays Bg2#.

Of course, if we were playing on ICC, the server would stop the game after Bxb8 and say it was an automatic draw.

Chess clip on CBS News

Great video on two scholastic chess players in Brownsville, Texas -- both named Fernando. See it here. The tournament they were playing in is the Texas Scholastic Championship.

Oh, and you will also be convinced how much you would LOVE making Tylenol.

New Jersey Futurity International

This weekend and early next week, and international chess tournament will take place in New Jersey, the New Jersey Futurity International.

Four GMs, three IMs, one FM, and two NMs will participate. Details are on the New Jersey Knockouts blog.

A Nice Game

For some reason, I thought this was an especially nice chess game. Congrats to the winner, Dimitrov, who at 2254, was rated 221 points less than his/her opponent!

For replayable game, click here.

(In the position, it is White to play after Black's 29... Rf8)

Picasso as Criminal Image Profiler

Random thought of today: Can you imagine what would have happened if Pablo Picasso was a criminal image profiler (i.e., the person who draws sketches of criminals from descriptions)?

Hmmm....

The Lama Rocks

I saw this picture of Telo Tulku Rinpoche, the Sajin Lama of Kalmykia, whom the Dalai Lama recognized as the reincarnation of a Buddhist saint, Telo Rinpoche. He is ostensibly saying "ROCK AND ROLL" after attending a concert by the Russian musician Boris Grebenshchikov.

It gave me a heightened feeling of cognitive dissonance. Originally from Chessbase.

Josh Waitzkin and The Art of Learning

Josh Waitzkin discusses himself, and his new book, The Art of Learning, in this 10 minute video clip. You can watch the video here.

I had the pleasure of meeting Josh at my son's chess tournament last weekend. What a warm, gracious, and caring human being. He's also a very good public speaker.

I'm also reading his book, The Art of Learning. I am about 2/3 of the way through it, and it is an interesting read. He's trying to coalesce his understanding of how he got to be so good in both chess and Push Hands Tai Chi. I'll provide a comprehensive review in a week or so.

Slate article on scholastic chess

There's a new article in Slate about scholastic chess, which you can read here. It slogs through the typical "state of scholastic chess today" and makes the point (not new, but certainly interesting) that chess has moved its image from its image as being populated by nerdy, obsessive loners, and moving more into the mainstream. That movement is not a natural evolution, but by the emergence of Fischer in the early 1970s, and a certain movie in the early 1990s (see below!).

On a related note, there is a scholastic chess tournament at Princeton Day School this Saturday, May 5th. While these tournaments at PDS are a monthly occurrence, this one is notable because the tournament organizer (Bonnie Waitzkin) has enlisted her son Josh Waitzkin (yes, the same kid depicted in Searching for Bobby Fischer) to speak and sign autographs prior to the tournament. Josh Waitzkin gave up competitive chess several years ago, and then went ahead, trained, and became the world champion of "push-hands" Tai Chi. His drive and determination are pretty impressive.

Major Storm Next Week

Major storm next week in the Northeast.

"A major spring Nor'easter with the capability of causing damage equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane may develop Sunday off the U.S. East Coast. A storm system currently crossing the Pacific coast near British Columbia is expected to dive southeastward across the U.S... we have the potential for a very serious flooding event. If the worst case scenarios of the models come true, the Tax Day Storm of 2007 could cause extensive moderate to severe coastal flooding, costing hundreds of millions of dollars. The areas at highest risk appear to be New Jersey, New York (especially New York City), Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts."

Read the rest here.

Now we will see if the waterproofing in our basement actually works.

UPDATE: The waterproofing did not work. The outflow of the pump was going into the sewer, which I understand is either illegal or severely frowned upon. Of course, everyone else's pumps were also going into the sewer, so the sewer got full, and the water went where it could -- up through the slop sink and onto the floor of the basement. Six inches of water later, we came up with another system of getting it out. They fixed the pump system so now it drains into the street, as it should. What a mess.

Want to Play Anand?

The Internet Chess Club is hosting a simultaneous exhibition with Vishwanathan Anand, the world's top-rated chess player, on April 21. It is to raise money for Vidya Sagar, "a non-profit organization that strives for inclusion of children with autism and cerebral palsy". They are auctioning 15 seats in the simul on eBay.

You read more about the simul here.

Critical Positions

Dan Heisman, a chess teacher from Philadelphia, writes a great column for Chess Cafe called "Novice Nook". It is not always for novices, but can benefit any player. He has a great column this month -- it is about how to recognize "critical" positions in a game. Once you recognize a critical position, you should spend more time on it, because its... uh... critical.

Anyway, the link will go away in a few weeks, but you can read the article now, here.

New Jersey Knockouts

The United States Chess League (USCL) will be starting its third season in the fall. It is an online league - all games are played over the internet on the Internet Chess Club.

One of the two new expansion teams is the New Jersey Knockouts (NJKO). I have volunteered to write for the team. Stay tuned for updates!

Brad Delp: A Lonely Soul

Apparently, sources report that Brad Delp's suicide note called himself a "lonely soul".

These days, there are so many things about public figures that we just do not know. One's public face rarely matches one's inner life. This seems to be the case with Brad.

RIP, Brad Delp of Boston

Brad Delp, lead singer of the amazing band Boston, died today. You can read about it here. He was 55.

As many of you know, I was and am a Boston devotee, a member of the fan email list since 1997. I attended the fan-email-list get-together, "Bostock", in the summer of 1998, driving all the way from New York City to Mt. Gilead, Ohio (about 550 miles, I think). I met a lot of fun people there - people who were just as (and many of them more) fanatical about Boston than I was. I can't imagine how this news might hit some of them. I think mostly about Becky Asbury, who hosted the party that weekend; I had never met anyone who was so utterly devoted to a band, and who spoke many times that Boston had pulled her through the bad times. I met her again at a Boston concert in 2003, and she was friendly and remembered me. My thoughts are with you, Becky. Boston can pull you through again.

I never had the opportunity to meet Brad, but from all accounts, he was an exceptionally warm and accessible person. Boston's official website just changed tonight, to a single sentence, "We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll."

My condolences to your family and friends and all the fans around the world who loved your voice and music.

Rest in peace, Brad.

UPDATE 15 Mar 2007

Brad's death was a suicide. What a tragic and shocking turn of events. He apparently left two notes, for his fiancee and family, and killed himself through carbon monoxide.

Killer Asteroids

According to this story, NASA doesn't have the cash to track killer asteroids. It's only a billion dollars. Will we regret not spending it?

The King and Pawn Endgame, Part II

In the post a couple of days ago (access it here), I presented a king and pawn endgame. It was determined that white must draw the ending - white cannot win. In that diagram, I played 1. h5 and instead of taking on h5 (i.e., 1... gxh5) and then eating the rook pawn (and ultimately drawing), my opponent pushed the pawn, leaving the position diagrammed here. The only reason, the my opponent must have pushed the pawn was that s/he knew I had about 12 seconds on the clock, and would probably lose on time.

Given this new position, with White to move, now what is the outcome?

King's Gambit: Kasparov Variation

Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and likely the best chess player to have ever lived, retired from chess in 2005. Since then, he has spent time trying his hand at Russian politics. He is not a big fan of Putin, and back in April 2005, was bashed over the head with a chess board. Its not clear why someone did it, but it happened.

Yesterday, he led a protest in St. Petersburg. A bold gambit from Garry K. Read about it here.

Another Pawn Ending

Here's another pawn ending from a 5-minute game I played on ICC today. I ran out of time, and I had about 15 seconds left at this point. It is white to move. Can white win or is it a draw? Post any comments.

Is this Life's Instruction Manual?

A book he wanted to get. Given the way I play, it shouldn't be too hard.