When I moved from Indiana to South Texas twenty years ago I was struggling (yeah, right) to get and keep my body weight down in the 220's. It was pretty consistently in the low to mid 230's then and I did not like that at all.
During the intervening years from then to now the weight increased slowly but steadily until it peaked at 255 lbs. Every time it got up into the 250s I'd begin trying more seriously to lose some until the body weight dropped down into the mid-240s, which I mistakenly considered my “normal.” And I held onto that mindset until as recently as this past December.
This morning the bathroom scales registered 232 lbs. after several days of moving steadily down through the 230s. And I'm feeling so much better! So after twenty years here in San Antonio I'm finally twenty pounds down.
If (when!) I drop another twenty pounds I'll be the same size as when I moved from Bloomington to Indianapolis. And another 10 or 15 pounds beyond that I'll be back to the man I used to be when I was zipping around in a UPS package car.
Earlier today my opponent playing the Black pieces resigned this game, giving me the victory with my White army. He was certainly right to resign when he did. After my Bishop captured his Knight at 27.Bxc4 he was left with only a Rook against my Rook and Queen.
Our board at game's end is shown above, and our moce record below:
... that just as my chess-Friday ended by winning a cc game with a combination checkmate involving Knight, Queen, pawns, and a Rook, my chess-Saturday should end similarly.
The two games were played against different opponents, in different tournaments hosted by different chess clubs, but still... In the Saturday night checkmate it is my Rook that making the primary attack, but the Queen, Knight, and pawns all play their parts by sealing off any possible flight squares to which the Black King could try to escape.
The board at the end of the Saturday night game is pictured above, and its move record is below:
In my Saturday morning mail was a notice that I'd won another correspondence chess club tournament game.
After my Black Queen captured his White Queen at 24...Qxd4 White resigned from our game giving me the victory by default. He was right to do this. After losing his Queen he had only one major piece left in his army, that lonely Rook on the f1 square. My Black army, on the other hand, had five major pieces including my Queen, the Bishop pair, and a Knight. With my overwhelming material advantage, checkmating his King was inevitable.
Our board at game's end is pictured above, and our move record below:
Tonight I won this correspondence chess game with a Knight-pawn-Queen-Rook combination checkmate. My c6-Knight is the attacking piece. Black has nothing that can capture that Knight, and every possible flight square to which his King might try to escape is covered by that Knight, or by the pawns on the 4th rank, or by my White Queen, or by my a1-Rook. So... checkmate
The position of pieces at games end is pictured above, and our full move record is below:
My opponent playing the White pieces simply let her clock run out in this Corrrespondence Chess game yesterday without making a move, giving me a win with Black by default. We were playing with the very relaxed time control of 5 days per move, so she had plenty of time to politely resign if she wanted to. But, nooo... she just silently walked away.
At least we'd made enough moves so this counts as a real game, and I do get credit for the win, so there is that.
The final position of the pieces is above, and our complete, but very short move record is below:
Email this morning brought notification that I'd won another Correspondence Chess game as my opponent playing White resigned, giving me the win by default..
My 14...Nxf3+, forking White's King, his Queen, and his Rook does look rather dramatic on the face of it. White's next move, of course would have been to capture that attacking Knight with his g-pawn.
But then I could have put his King in check again with another fork attack, my Black Bishop taking his f-pawn, the Bishop there being defended by my Knight at g4. After he moved his King to safety I'd have traded that Bishop for his e1-Rook.
This was my first time playing this particular opponent, and I'm rather surprised that he resigned the game to me when he did. Some guys are really attached to their Rooks, and losing one feels almost like losing a Queen to them. Perhaps he's one of those. Who knows?
At any rate, our board at game's end is pictured above and our full move record is below.
I FINALLY won this Correspondence Chess game that seemed to drag on forever. Black simply would not give up even when he had no chance of winning. He was probably hoping to force a stalemate if I failed to manage my pawns and Rook properly. But... that was not to be.
My checkmate was finally delivered with my 53rd move this afternoon.. Position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our full move record below:
All day long I've been tracking a shipment on its way to me. Using the live map tracking feature that UPS provides I've been able to follow the package car carrying my box.
And soon... soon it will be here. According to the map it's almost here... almost.
Resting my legs after a workout on the stepper machine.
Resting my eyes after focusing on a computer screen for over an hour as I worked on the day's correspondence chess games.
Resting my mind after spending time on news sites loaded with lies, half-baked opinions, and immature threats.
Resting by sitting in my room with the lights dimmed, listening to the radio call of this afternoon's Bears / Saints game broadcast by Westwood One Sports Radio over Roku's SiriusXM Channel.
