viewThere was still a lot of chess to be played...
...on this board when White resigned in our game this morning, giving me the win with the Black army. But a win is a win and I'll gladly accept any that come my way.
This Correspondence Chess game played at the server-based lichess.org chess site began on 9th July when White opened with 1. e4 and it moved along at a pretty good pace until it ended with his resignation today, almost one month after it started. Checkmate was still far in our future, but my material advantage and his extremely exposed King left little doubt as to the eventual outcome.
The position of the pieces at game's end can be seen at the top of this blog post, and our complete move record is below:
1.e4 d6 2.d4 a6 3.d5 h6 4.Be2 e5 5.Bg4 Bxg4 6.f3 Bh5 7.Qe2 Nf6 8.g4 Bg6 9.Qg2 c6 10.Qh3 cxd5 11.g5 Nh5 12.gxh6 gxh6 13.Qg4 dxe4 14.Nc3 exf3 15.Qxf3 Qh4+ 16.Qf2 Qxf2+ 17.Kxf2 d5 18.Nge2 Bc5+ 19.Ke1 d4 20.Na4 Nd7 21.Nxc5 Nxc5 22.Ng3 Rc8 23.Nxh5 Bxh5 24.b4 Nd7 25.Rg1 Rxc2 26.a4 Nf6 27.Rb1 Rxh2 28.b5 Rg8 29.Rxg8+ Nxg8 30.Rb2 Rh1+ 31.Kd2 e4 0-1
And the adventure continues.
Published on 08 August 2020, ~12:30 CDT, this is my post number 54/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.
#100DaysToOffload #SeniorLiving #blog #RoscoeEllis #chess
by Roscoe
viewThis Sunday in July...
... as I review the week behind me, I'm satisfied with the amount of work I accomplished. Some days were longer and busier than I'd have liked, but I made it through them all without making any blunders and, to the best of my knowledge, without breaking anything and without irritating anyone important.
Chess-wise, I lost one game and won another. My current game load is 12 active correspondence games more or less equally spread among four different server based chess clubs. That seems to be a pretty good number for me given my current age, health and station in life. When I was younger I could comfortably carry two or three dozen games at a time while working full-time and involving myself in other activities. Damn! There's no way I could do that now.
The only disappointment this week has been the difficulty in keeping up with my reading. The compound cataracts and glaucoma in both eyes made it hard to do much reading at all. I'm tempted to go the audio book route. I've tried that before but for one reason or another never kept it up. Maybe this is a good time to give it a go again. Maybe.
The week ahead looks to be another busy one but I'm making a serious effort to move things along at a slower pace now. We'll see how that approach works.
And the adventure continues.
Published on 26 July 2020, ~21:45 CDT, this is my post number 48/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.
#100DaysToOffload #chess #SeniorLiving
by Roscoe
viewA Win with White
After two months and two days of correspondence chess play and 54 moves, Black resigned this game today giving me the win with the White pieces.
He was certainly right to do this. Depending on his next move I could capture his h-pawn with either my Rook or Bishop. Then it would be a simple matter of forcing checkmate after squeezing his King against an edge of the board with my remaining major pieces.
The screenshot above shows our board at game's end and the full move record is below.
- d4 d5 2. Nb1c3 e6 3. a3 c5 4. dxc5 Bf8xc5 5. e3 Ng8f6 6. Nc3a4 Bc5e7 7. g3 Bc8d7 8. Na4c3 Nb8c6 9. Ng1f3 a6 10. Bf1g2 O-O 11. O-O Qd8c7 12. Nf3d2 b5 13. b4 a5 14. Bc1b2 axb4 15. Nc3xb5 Qc7b8 16. a4 Nc6e5 17. Rf1e1 Bd7xb5 18. axb5 Ne5d7 19. e4 Qb8xb5 20. Nd2b3 Be7d6 21. exd5 exd5 22. Bg2f1 Qb5b6 23. Bb2d4 Qb6c7 24. Ra1xa8 Rf8xa8 25. Qd1c1 h5 26. h4 Nf6e4 27. Qc1e3 Qc7xc2 28. Re1e2 Qc2c7 29. Qe3d3 f5 30. Qd3c2 Qc7xc2 31. Re2xc2 Ra8a3 32. Nb3d2 Bd6xg3 33. fxg3 Ne4xg3 34. Bf1b5 Ng3e2 35. Bb5xe2 b3 36. Rc2c8 Nd7f8 37. Bd4c5 Ra3a2 38. Rc8xf8 Kg8h7 39. Bc5b4 b2 40. Rf8e8 Ra2a1 41. Kg1f2 g6 42. Be2d3 Kh7g7 43. Bb4c3 Kg7f7 44. Re8b8 Ra1a3 45. Nd2b1 d4 46. Bd3c4 Kf7g7 47. Nb1xa3 dxc3 48. Kf2e3 g5 49. hxg5 Kg7g6 50. Ke3f4 h4 51. Bc4d5 c2 52. Na3xc2 h3 53. Rb8xb2 h2 54. Nc2e3 1-0
I'm going to count the screenshot at the top of this post as a photograph and name it as an entry in my too often neglected Seven Two Project.
And the adventure continues.
Published on 24 July 2020, ~18:00 CDT, this is my post number 47/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.
#100DaysToOffload #chess #SevenTwoProject
by Roscoe
viewIt took me two months and a day, but...
... I finally caught the White King in a Rook-Rook-pawn combination checkmate on my 36th black move of this server-based correspondence chess game.
The picture above shows our board as seen from my Black side of the (virtual) table after the final move. And the full game record is below:
1. e4 d6 2. Bc4 e6 3. Bf1 Nf6 4. Bc4 Nxe4 5. d3 Ng5 6. Qg4 Be7 7. Qe2 O-O 8. Qe3 d5 9. Qd2 dxc4 10. dxc4 Bc5 11. h4 Ne4 12. Qe2 Bxf2+ 13. Kf1 Ng3+ 14. Kxf2 Nxh1+ 15. Ke3 Ng3 16. Qg4 Nf5+ 17. Kf4 g6 18. h5 Nh6 19. Qe2 Qd4+ 20. Qe4 Qxe4+ 21. Kxe4 c5 22. Bxh6 Rd8 23. Bg5 Rd4+ 24. Ke3 Rg4 25. Nf3 Nd7 26. h6 Rxg2 27. Nbd2 b6 28. b3 e5 29. Ne4 Ba6 30. Nf6+ Nxf6 31. Bxf6 Re8 32. Nxe5 Rh2 33. Ke4 Bb7+ 34. Kf4 Rxh6 35. Ng4 Re4+ 36. Kg5 Rh5# 0-1
We were playing with a five-days-per move clock (I DO like that time control) and neither one of us were ever in any kind of time trouble.
And the adventure continues.
Published on 08 July 2020, this is my post number 43/100/365 of the https://100daystooffload.com blogging challenge.
#100DaysToOffload #chess
by Roscoe
viewNow THIS is the win I expected yesterday
06 May 2020 ~ 17:00
After a flurry of moves earlier today during which I took Black's Rook, Queen, and a pawn protecting his Knight we found ourselves with the board pictured above. And Black resigned with his 49th move. That was sensible on his part, my checkmate of his King was only two moves away.
In other news, all is peaceful and calm here in the Roscoe-verse. An episode of Classic Dr. Who is on the front room TV as I wait for Wheel Of Fortune to broadcast on a local CBS Station. Sylvia and I love to watch that show together.
Most likely she'll want to find a movie to watch after Wheel and I'll retire to the home office to continue monitoring the situation in the Philippines. And another good day will come to its end.
And the adventure continues.
I’m publishing this as day 12 of my 100 Days To Offload. You can join in this blogging challenge yourself by visiting https://100daystooffload.com.
#100DaysToOffload #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewNot the win I was expecting, but...
05 May 2020 ~ 13:30
... I'll certainly take it. Pictured above is the position of pieces on the board when my opponent playing White resigned our Correspondence Chess (CC) game earlier today, giving me the win with Black. No, checkmate wasn't threatened. But given my material and positional advantage, I'd probably get there eventually.
When I saw the notice from our chess club that one of my opponents had resigned, I expected it to be another game. I've got an even stronger position in one of my others. My opponent there might be waiting for a checkmate. We'll see.
In other happy news I was delighted this morning to see how easily my new little Chromebook recognized my printer and printed from it. It was an exercise in frustration and futility when I tried to print years ago from a much earlier model Chromebook.
And now, the adventure continues.
I’m publishing this as day 11 of my 100 Days To Offload. You can join in this blogging challenge yourself by visiting https://100daystooffload.com.
#100DaysToOffload #SeniorLiving #chess #computers
by Roscoe
viewA quiet Friday in the Roscoe-verse (100 Days... my day7)
01 May 2020 ~ 16:20
Very little new in the Roscoe-verse to report today, which doesn't disappoint me to say.
The yardman came and did his usual efficient job. He arrived promptly, did his work quickly and as quietly as possible and was happy to leave with fifty dollars. I consider that money well spent.
Does changing the calendar pages in my paper planner from April to May count as a chore? I may need it to make my daily allotment of three chores completed.
The server-based correspondence chess games went well today. I'm only a few moves away from checkmating an opponent in one of them. With my Queen, Knight, Bishop and a Rook all bearing down on his King, it's only a matter of time. Heh.
So... no complaints from this old boy.
And the adventure continues.
I am participating in a blogging challenge called #100DaysToOffload. This is my day 7/100. Check out https://100daystooffload.com for more info.
#SeniorLiving #chores #chess
by Roscoe
viewMore chess? Why not?
21 March ~ 09:00
This Saturday in the Roscoe-verse starts like most others: old Westerns are playing quietly on the TV in my room while the rest of the house sleeps, the mug on the table in front of me is about to be refilled with coffee, and weekend plans are being made.
When she returned from a shopping trip last night she told me to be careful when walking out in the front yard, she'd just found two piles of dog poop. Sure enough, when I took the trash out this morning that's what I found. And I found a pile of cat poop on the other side of the yard; I saw a neighborhood cat deliver it yesterday evening. Yuck! So I'll be out front with the poop-scooper in a few minutes.
In happier news I've added added one more active CC game to those I currently have in play. As the China-virus isolation project continues it seems I'll have more time to work on my games. And rather than using my chess time as a casual diversion, I'll have time to study the games more seriously. Who knows, I might even be able to boost my active rating.
#SeniorLiving #chess #chores
by Roscoe