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ccmcacollister play-chess-online.com chess 3/19/2006 02:57:22 play online chess	Subject: '7 Deadly Sins' of Chess ! Message: If you had to create your own '7 Deadly Sins' of Chess play ...What would they be? I mentioned elsewhere that I thought two of the worst were 1) laziness {espec in analysis} {theoretical unpreparedness too} & 2) wishful thinking {hoping for errors, & unjustified trappiness for egs.} What else now ... lets see. 3) overconfidence {especially believing you have seen "a move further" when it is your opponent who has!} 4) overlooking checks or captures 5) Shallowness, espec combinative...not reviewing combinations 'from both ends', reviewing BEYOND all captures, and looking for zwishenzugs as well. 6) Fear ... of opponents rating for eg, letting him get away with risks unwarranted. [Tho certainly caution & respect of opponents abilities are virtues! Just not to excess] 7) Believing everything you read ... especially analysis of GM's who are still playing tournaments competitively, can be a very shakey proposition :) imo. [Also annotations by former postal Chess masters who've done it blindfold or only spent 5 minutes total, should fall in this catagory. And I'll call THAT a FACT. Trust me on that one! :)) ] *** Thats pretty much the first 7 things I could think of . Maybe I've ot it wrong or forgotten more important ones. But its a start. So what would yours be? Perhaps differrent for Corr Chess than OTB ? I'd like to know what others think about it. To approach the 7 worst ways to play? *** Regards, Craig A.C. }8-)
ccmcacollister play-chess-online.com chess 3/19/2006 03:03:11 play online chess	AND #8 ... Message: Eating BBQ ribs, at a $300 wooden set !
cascadejames play-chess-online.com chess 3/19/2006 08:27:16 play online chess	or #8 1/2 Message: Leaving a wooden piece where a puppy can reach it.
paranoidyoshi play-chess-online.com chess 3/19/2006 10:18:54 play online chess	#9 Message: Stacking the pieces. I know I used to do this, but it really annoys me... someone did it at the CalChess Scholastic Championships and it distracted me. I still won, but it's annoying.
bucklehead play-chess-online.com chess 3/19/2006 10:45:57 play online chess	Some thoughts Message: PRIDE: The fact that your opponent is rated 200 points below you is no excuse for not doing your homework. GREED: Automatically ruling out all sacrifices, no matter how forlorn your bishops are. LUST: You put shopping for daily necessities on hold in order to save for a DGT electronic chessboard ( -> www.dgtprojects.com ) or those spiffy mammoth-ivory pieces (-> www.houseofstaunton.com ). ENVY: Spending so much time admiring the active posting of your opponent's pieces that you fail to develop your own. GLUTTONY: Uncritically taking every piece offered to you by your opponent. BURP! excuse me, did you say "mate"? SLOTH: You play a game or two a month, you never crack a book, you never annotate your own games...and you complain that your rating never improves. ANGER: Just because you lost a 12-mover to a thirteen-year-old kid doesn't mean you should bean him with your quadruple-weighted rook. Use the queen--it's pointier.
ccmcacollister play-chess-online.com chess 3/19/2006 16:32:34 play online chess	paranoidyoshi ... Message: In that case, you are fortunate you were not playing Chess in USCF during the 80's since one issue of Chess Life from that time featured an article on .... YES, STACKING CHESS PIECES. Indeed not just an article,it was the Cover Feature, yet. Times were hard back then chessfriend ... Somehow us oldtimers survived that however, and made sure that it has Never Happened Again ... So that now the Chess world is a better, and safer place for our children, and our children's children ... !
ironbutterfly play-chess-online.com chess 3/19/2006 17:15:40 play online chess	my top two ..... Message: 1. moving too fast! 2. not seeing the whole board (and so missing pieces en prise or mate coming). 3. see #1 4. see #2 5. etc., etc.
luckypawn play-chess-online.com chess 3/19/2006 17:27:42 play online chess	Decorating? Message: Playing moves that will make the game fancier (playing the third en passant of the game; adding a bishop to the diagonal of rooks, bishops, and knights) without thoroughly inspecting other moves, which, although they are more dull and unoriginal, would give you a bigger advantage. I once made the mistake of playing an en passant, only to have the satisfaction of having played my first game with two en passants...only to finish the game with a draw...and the en passant was not the best move I had had.
ccmcacollister play-chess-online.com chess 3/19/2006 21:24:10 play online chess	luckypawn ... Great Example of a Temptation ! Message: Yes. I understand that temptation myself. One time had to resist a temptation to put four doubled pawn upon the e-file, instead of only 3, just for the oddity of it. For me that is difficult to do since my interest is primarily in the aspect of artistry of the game moreso than winning in particular. (Personally I prefer a really well played draw, or sometimes even to see an opponent play a spectacularly brilliant game, providing that my resistance has been excellent as well ) *** Once I did get to play something I never thought I would have however. In my Draw with Alex Dunne in the 8th USCCC I got to send an IF move which if he accepted is, late into the endgame, would make the position an exact mirror of black vs WT piece and pawn placements. A mirror where HE would actually get the first move then, which would break the symmetry, and THAT stangely enough would give ME the winning chances instead of him. And that is very unusual as well that the pieces be so well placed that the one having to Move first takes the disadvantage! Unfortunately for me, he did decline to accept the Conditional move that would have created the Mirrored R+3P's each ending. And I was the one having to fight for the Draw to be gained. However, such is only appropriate I have to feel, when you opponent outrates you by 150 points :) Such is Life on the Chess board. It was nice tho to have the possibility at least appear in the notes. *** After thinking that Mirror would have been a one of a time thing however, here at GK it seems I would have yet another chance at the same but in the opening this time. In my game here with coyotefan there existed a lot of chances to try to go into such positions, being a Ruy Lopez line with Nc3 by WT, rather than the more common lines with pawn to c3. This time around, already having a "mirror" under my Chess belt, it was not so difficult to resist trying those lines. Also the fact that they looked very much drawish from early on in the game. And not desired as WT. *** }8-) HAS anyone else had a Mirror position, or nearly so? Or have you also done some "decorating" in your games, anyone. IF so, and you can give a copy of the game too, let's start a thread to SHOW some DECORATED games ! I assure you that I appreciate a nice piece of Chess Art ! ... and would love to see such games here!! That is what makes it worth the candle for me. How about You, luckypawn ? Got anything Decorated to present? * * * * * * * * * PS// Actually when I say mirror ... IT is not that our pawns were facing off vs each other. Rather a case where if you looked at one position, then spun the board around, then you would seen the same position with just the colors changed. Such as pawns being on a3,b4,c5 one way then upon h6,g5,f4 the other side, and even the two Kings and each players Rook were placed identically against the opp's attempted pawn advances. Such as Kf3 and Kc6 as examples. I'll try to dig out the game to show. It was also a great example of R+P's ending that utilitzed almost every type of Rook maneuver or finesse I've ever seen; in the game or avoided in the notes.
paranoidyoshi play-chess-online.com chess 3/20/2006 16:02:23 play online chess	bucklehead Message: nice... you did a nice job using the actual sins.
luckypawn play-chess-online.com chess 3/20/2006 16:54:53 play online chess	ccmcacollister Message: I can't think of anything particular right now...even if I did, it wouldn't be as impressive as a symmetrical board, where the disadvantage would lay just in breaking it...very interesting indeed....chess is so amazing. I will look into my games; I've certainly had interesting ones, I just can't remember any certain design or pattern that occured...for now, I'll just post an example of a rooks/bishops/knights diagonal I had in a recent game...even though it might be common...it was on move 11 before the castling,board #4753287
johnrowell play-chess-online.com chess 3/23/2006 00:57:00 play online chess	What about the 7 deadly sins of Chess? Message: - Waiting until the last moment to make moves in a lost game (hoping for a timeout?) - Using a computer (how do you know when somebody is doing this?) - Offering a draw in a lost position - Hiding on-line status??? (Lots of people do this, but why?) - Conditional moves? (This is not a sin for me) - Use of Books on Openings? (a dubious one, as GK rules allow it) - Postponing games because too busy?
ccmcacollister play-chess-online.com chess 3/23/2006 19:59:37 play online chess	Nice ... :) Message: Great game there luckypawn. I thought it was nice and as artsy as anything! :) Also like the symetry that appeared in the 'sweet 16' squares of the center, from each B3 square to the next.
paranoidyoshi play-chess-online.com chess 3/26/2006 07:40:08 play online chess	johnrowell Message: I'd replace postponing games, which is in my mind not a sin, with having 120 games open. How can anyone concentrate? The conditional moves is a sin which is too tempting for me to pass up ;)
mattdw play-chess-online.com chess 3/26/2006 09:01:10 play online chess	Message: Postponing games isn't a sin at all! It's just flexibility offered by the site for those unpredictable situations where other factors in our lives take precedent...or when we go on holiday. :P My contribution to the deadly sins is posting your notes in the comment box rather than the notes box. :)
johnrowell play-chess-online.com chess 3/26/2006 10:19:54 play online chess	Posting notes in comment box Message: I've done that too.... fortunately realized in time. Postponing is certainly not a sin, I didn't mean that, but it is annoying if somebody does it saying they are busy, but at the same time they've just joined a tournament or challenged you.
mattdw play-chess-online.com chess 3/26/2006 10:33:55 play online chess	I agree with that :) Message: I agree that it could be a bit annoying if someone challenges you then postpones immediately! It's probably not so bad in a tournament if everyone has games going though.
ionadowman play-chess-online.com chess 3/29/2006 02:29:34 play online chess	In another life... Message: I've come to the conclusion that the original sin was not Adam and Eve's lust, nor was it their disobedience to God. It was vanity. All 7 of the 'deadly sins' are subsumed in this single failing. Check out Milton's 'Paradise Lost' or The Grimms' 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'. "Playing to the gallery" is one of its chessic manifestations... I might have included 'wrath' as one of the 7 deadly sins of chess, but 'wrath' has always worked for me. Concentrates the mind wonderfully. But it always needed an exogenous cause. My opponent had to piss me off. Didn't happen nearly often enough... Damn.
ionadowman play-chess-online.com chess 3/30/2006 00:52:19 play online chess	Checking back... Message: ...through this thread, I noticed ccmcacollister's remarks on 'decorated games'. 'Decorating' games (I do like Craig's coinage here) is obviously symptomatic of the sin of vanity. We all did it as beginners: promoting several pawns against a lone King to see how many queens we could get ... or knights... The wages of sin were, of course, inadvertent stalemates. Zigzagging the pawns on light or dark squares - then wondering why we couldn't make any progress. My gig was to play with the Q-side pieces only, leaving the K-side untouched for as long as possible. Hey, ho, happy days... I think it was in Chernev's 'Bright Side of Chess' that featured games with interestingly decorative positions such as the Knights lined along a long diagonal (c3, d4, e5,f6), performing a species of quadrille to alter the order of colours, or to occupy the centre 4 squares. But these arose from the demands of the game. These days my sense of aesthetics tends towards the dynamic (interaction) rather than the static (pictorial). That symmetric endgame Craig mentions seems to have contained elements of both! Cheers, Ion
ccmcacollister play-chess-online.com chess 4/12/2006 19:15:54 play online chess	ionadowman Message: Thanks! But to give credit where due ... it was actuall luckypawn that coined decorating in the 'topic' line of his post. I just rant, er ran with it. [and that was accidental typo so it must be very fruedian or something?! :)
ionadowman play-chess-online.com chess 4/13/2006 15:00:31 play online chess	Quite right, Craig... Message: ...I had forgotten, or didn't go far enough back in this thread. As for the typo ... what - or ought that be 'who' - did you have in mind??? Cheers, Ion

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