Chess And Other Games

I think it is time for me to retire my chess books to a remote bookshelf.  I can't play worth a damn anymore.

When I was about 8-9, Mom taught me the rules of chess and played it with me.  She recognized that I was very good at board games and thought I needed a more open-ended and challenging one.  The idea of different pieces moving in different ways was a bit confusing at first, but I began to see the possibilty of flexibility.

I should mention that Mom's family seldom played board or card games  but Dad's family did.  And they played to kill.  "If you couldn't stand the heat, leave the table".  😈. And they didn't give much consideration to age either.  

Dad's family mostly played 2 card games.  One was Gin.  When we visited them, both Gramma and I were early risers.  So we would play Gin for a while until the rest got up and she had to start breakfast.  But she would kill me happily.  I was about 14 before I could make it a "close to fair" game.  

The other game is not well-known.  It was sort of a regional game from Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.  It is generally called "Cinch" and sometimes "Setback" and it is a rather lethal game.

The basics are that you get 9 cards (2 decks if required).  You bid a number of tricks you will take.  No suits like in Bridge and not always hearts like in that game.  The highest bidder names the suit.  Everyone tosses out the cards that aren't that suit.  And then you are dealt enough to make 6.

The bidder tosses out the first card.  Whoever takes a trick leads with the next round.  Whoever has the most tricks wins the round.  I don't recall how the scoring was done for a whole game, but I have my 'Rules According To Hoyle' marked up to reflect the version we played (it varies regionally).

I mentioned Gramma Cavebear was a lethal card-player.  She was also non-secretive.  Sometimes she would say "Oh I filled".  Meaning her 6 cards were all trumps.  We all knew we were doomed at that point.  

Dad and Gramma taught me the rules at 14, we played practice hands.  When I could follow the rules and be somewhat competitive, I was allowed at the adult table after dinner.  Some families had dessert after dinner; we played cards.

I eventually achieved average family skill.  I miss playing the game, but Gramma and Grampa eventually got older and less able to play.  And I went off to college.

Where I learned Hearts (and later, Spades).  I never understood Bridge.  Symbolic bidding (the Goren System and others completely baffled me.  I guess I think too directly.  But I was good at Hearts and Spades.  No real bidding.

But back to chess...  When Mom couldn't beat me at chess anymore, she turned me over to Dad.  I have no idea what his chess experience was, but he was better at it than Mom.  But after a year, he couldn't beat me at it either.  

I found that a neighbor kid my age also loved chess.  We played it obsessively!  His mom got so annoyed at our focus that she dragged us to a public swimming pool a few times.  Sure, we swam around a bit, but I had a pocket chess set and we played there too.

When I went to college, I found several people in my dorm who played.  By coincidence, one turned out to be the President of the college chess club.  We played equally.  I joined the club.  As a result, I joined the United States Chess Federation (USCF).  I never achieved any high ranking, but just having a ranking at all put me in about the top 10%.  

My friend the President had a bad accident one summer and returned "mentally damaged".  He left after 2 months.

Which left a gap.  The club had no President.  I became it.  That means a lot less than it may sound.  The President organizes club meetings, lays out chessboards and chess clocks, and puts everything away afterwards.  Really Good chessplayers are not interested in that.  There aren't really truly good chessplayers who can manage their own lives, never mind administrative club issues, LOL!

But I discovered a skill that the past couple of Presidents didn't have.  Members just showed up to play each other.  I researched how to arrange tournaments.  There are various ways but I won't bore you with that (unless you ask).

But the club membership doubled and better players started to attend.  I retired after 2 years, leaving a successful club behind.

For myself, I participated in several public USCF tournaments.  The games are divided among ratings.  They ranged from 1200-1399, 1400-1599, and so on to 2000.  Beyond 2000, you are Master.  I was about 1250.  Yeah, "bottom of the best".  

I won a trophy in the DC Open at my rating.  I won 5 of 6 games.  The best win was against a 1650 rated player using The Stonewall Defense (if you want to look it up).  It is routinely a White attack, but I used it as a Black Defense.  

And then, hot off my success, I participated in the Maryland Open.  And got "pantsed".  My 1st opponent pulled a Scholar's Mate on me!

White Queen to move.

I was so unbelievingly embarrassed!   The worst thing a chessplayer can experience is to be the first to leave the room in defeat.  And I didn't return...

I did get over it eventually.  Played postal chess for a decade (time to stop and think about moves) and computer chess for a decade.  But at 75, I've lost my skills at the game.  A simple computer chess game beats me.  It is time to just stop thinking about chess.  

So I don't need the books over the computer.  I'll save them for "old times sakes", but I'm not going to be playing anymore...

Writing

Have you ever written something that needed to be posted at a given time and it was just horrible?  And you just couldn't fix it?  Most of us have.

I wrote a poem for Dr Seuss Day over a week ago and it was just a mess!  The idea was good but I had too many topics in it.  Cat In The Hat, falling from the ladder, Alice In Wonderland, etc.  Too much on my mind, I suppose...

I sent it to a friend (Ann of Zoolatry) asking for some help.  It came back much improved.  Inspired by the improvements, I kept some and changed some.  I fixed some rhythmic mistakes, so it reads better.  It's better than it was.  You can read it HERE.

In the same way, on another site I visit (not a "writing" site) someone suggested writing a first chapter (no full story or conclusion required).  It required a set up for a story, an object someone could sit on, and a single line from another character.  

I write short stories sometimes, so I figured all I had to do was drop the ending, make sure someone sat on something, and add a comment from someone else.  But I used a short story written before and reworked it.  Nothing said it had to be new.  But it had been included in a group "vanity press" book, so I decided that was improper.  And I couldn't come up with a new plot.  So I'm not submitting it.

I used to play chess a lot.  When I was younger, I could up with complicated attacks using spaces just vacated by a previous move.  Those are harder to detect.  About 10 years ago, I discovered I couldn't organize attacks any more.  Creativity was failing me.  I could defend well, and defense is important.  But at some point you actually have to checkmate the opponent to get a win.  A great defense usually leads to a draw.  I don't play to get a draw.

Getting older sucks...

Some Random Thoughts...

As I review my posts, I noticed something I have failed to mention.  I have been oddly temperature-sensitive since the accident.  I have normally kept the house at 72F daytime and drop it to 68 at night (having a heated waterbed has some benefits).  And in daytime at 72, in Winter just I usually wear light slacks and flannel shirts (cuffs rolled up).

Since the accident, I've felt cold.  I expect that is because I haven't been as active but it may be some reaction to healing as well.  I had to bump the temperature up to 74F night and day and even then, sometimes wear a sweater in daytime.  I should have remembered to ask my Dr about that.

Also, I notice that, even drinking about a gallon of water per day (yes, I fill an actual gallon jug), I often feel dehydrated.  I initially blamed the meds, but I'm not on any anymore.  What's causing that?  It's not like I spend the day eating bread or crackers...

It's funny how the accident stopped all my projects in mid-work.  I was in the basement and noticed one that I started THAT DAY!  Because I seldom drive far or often, my old Toyota car battery tended to get discharged.  So a few years ago, I bought a "battery-minder".  It is a smart version of a trickle-charger.  Starts and stops when needed and you can leave it plugged in.  

It kept the old 2005 Toyota running and I noticed the new Subaru was slower to start too.  My fault for not driving much (joke - I couldn't drive at ALL for almost a month).  The Toyota dealer said "well drive 15 minutes every couple of days".  But I don't.  So I have the battery-minder.  But you can't just slam the hood on the wires.  It has to come through the grill.

Guess what?  The cable doesn't reach the battery in the Subaru.  But it came with 2 different cables.  SO, I cut them to splice them together for enough length.  Now, you have to understand that, as willing (and usually successful) as I am at SIMPLE repairs, electrical tape is the bane of my existence (next to 2-stroke gasoline engines like on chain saws).  The stuff sticks to ME like flypaper and I can't get it wrapped neatly around wire splices.

But I had a bottle of "liquid rubber" and was applying it THAT DAY before I heard Laz yelling for help.  It is still there today.  I suspect it is "well-set" by now, LOL!  I feel up to completing that repair now and feeding the cable back through the grill to the battery.

NOW, I'll attack it with electric tape.  It is probably safe from shorts now with all that stuff on it. LOL!

And I won't have to worry about draining the battery again on lots of short errands...

Plus, maybe my best chess game ever against a computer!  If you follow this sort of thing:  I'm White.

A double-rook sacrifice...  I NEEDED a game like that!  LOL...

I continue to feel and walk better.  I'm still stiff when I first get up in the morning or have been sitting too long, but that goes away more quickly lately.  The stairs are easier and I can now carry things AND go up and down almost normally.  

I took the last of the prescription-strength 600mg Ibuprophen today, which is OK.  I think I can get along with an over-the-counter 200mg one 2x  a day.  I dislike taking meds; there is always SOME level of side-effects or consequences if you take them too long.

Chess

I used to play chess very well.  When I was 12, I beat my Dad at it, and he never played me again.  I found a neighbor kid who also played and we had great games.

Wen I went to Univ of MD, it turned out the President of the Chess Club was 2 rooms away.  We played for hours.  I got pulled into the rated chess world.  When my friend the President was in an accident and became permanently (how do I say this) "not himself anymore", I took over.

Not that I was ever going to challenge Bobby Fisher, but I got a trophy or 2. 

Years later, I learned that some of the people on a discussion board also played chess (better than I did) and we formed an online team.  We did great.  I organized and they played.  I played some and won most games.

But there suddenly came a day when I couldn't play worth a damn.  I could defend perfectly well, but I couldn't arrange an attack at all.  I had just lost that. 

I quit the team and passed on the leadership to an other.

But I kept trying to rediscover the attack with books and chess apps.  I couldn't.  And AFAIK I didn't have a stroke. 

So I have been playing the chess app on my mac while waiting for things to process or download.  And I discovered that if the app was set to thinking 3 moves ahead, I could never win.  But if it was set to 2 moves ahead, I won every time.

I'm a 2.5 player, LOL!

There was a day when I thought I was still creative at things like chess, and I was.  And then, one day snuck up on me and whispered "you aren't anymore" and proved it.  I have some old written recorded games from years ago.  I replayed them. I don't even know what I was thinking in those attacks, but they worked wonderfully. 

Getting older sucks!

I don't feel dumber, but I have proof.  Dad lived here with me for 2 years, and went from slightly confused to totally demented.  One thing you can learn from aged parents is what to expect...  Well, at least if I follow his path, I have 20 years to go before that. 

Unless CoVid19 gets me.

I'm a downer today, sorry.

Cavebear

A Visual Joke...

I was sent this, and I cracked up.