As a distraction from a particularly tedious task, I have now entered all the data I needed for a program intended to rate chess players of the distant past. My original intent was to rate players from about the death of Labourdonnais to the 1851 tournament, but I found myself widening the range, and now go from 1836 to 1863. This post will discuss general issues of historical rating; I will give...

"The Horny Goat" wrote in message ... Does anyone have any estimates on what a hard cover 1st edition of this book might be worth? We're not looking to sell it (at least not yet) but are looking to auction it at a major tournament in 2004. Any suggestions on where one might look? It's not new but fairly mint condition...

4-time Women's World Champion Susan Polgar has just won the 2003 US Open Blitz Championship with the score of 11-1. The tournament has 6 GMs (Ehlvest, Wojtkiewicz, Polgar, Browne, Sharavdorj & Blatny) and many other IMs, FMs, Senior Masters and Masters. This is one of the strongest US Open Blitz Championship in recent history. The only loss (by 1 second) she had was when she split 1-1 against...

I noticed that some people on Yahoo! Chess are using a program that will autoplay their moves. I am looking for such a program that will do this. Any suggestions?

Following a thread from last week I used this online rating calculator http://www.maskeret.com/mecca/elo_fide.htm with these values (from ICC) Your initial ELO 2619 Your K coefficient 10 Your score 7.5 Tournament Type R Your opponents ELO 2525 2495 2511 2589 2511 2381 2393 2432 2245 And it gave these results

1. The only right way to play the French Defense is to play 2....d5, then surrender your forces without a fight. Easy for you to say. But then, you don't have panzers rolling through your front yard, do you? Perhaps Germany would have demolished France, and we could all look back now and praise the brave men who bravely stood and died -- yes, ALL of them.

Better link http://www.chesshistory.com/ see the Critical Eye

Hi, There is a local chess club that meets every week and most of the players are much weaker than my playing strength. I have played every single player and can beat them in both blitz and long games with ease. I was wondering if it is a good idea to keep going to this club or if it in reality I am doing more hurt to my chess since all i am doing is playing much weaker players. Should I...

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 22:56:11 GMT, "Matt Nemmers" wrote: (And no, pity-votes and jokes don't count. And if you were drunk when you voted for him, that doesn't count either.) Would anyone who *seriously* voted for Sloan thinking he was a *serious* candidate like to hang a big matzah-ball out there and admit it on a public forum? And if so, would you care to...

What happens to chess scoresheets? Where are the ones from famous games? Can they be bought? Are any famous ones available online? Alan -- I would just like to add that since I began using Usenet in October 1979 this is definitely the most querulous thread I have been involved in.

Hi... I'll be in Munich next week so I was wondering, if there is a chess store I could visit there... please e-mail... Kann auch auf Deutsch sein... Danke... Gregor

Mark Houlsby (The Particularly Obtuse Twit) wrote: Briarroot You are being both rude and foolish. Nick's Lickspittle speaks! LMAO

In a recent tournament, where it explicitly stipulated that Digital Clocks must be set for Time Delay, there arose a couple of disputes involving clocks that did not have Time Delay correctly set. The cases involved clocks that were lent to them by 3rd parties, so it was impossible to assign culpability for incorrectly setting the clock to either of the players who were contesting the games. In...

http://www.nhpr.org/view_content/5042/ The story claims that 19 year old New Hampshire chessplayer Braden Bournival is making a lot of money sending out spam emails and selling penis enlargement pills. It also claims that he is associated with a Rhode Island man named Davis Wolfgang Hawke, who is described as a "chess champion" and "the founder and leader of neo-Nazi group called the Knights of...

Teimour Radjabov vs. Sam Sloan (Damiano Defense) I would pay to see that! Only I'd probably distract the players as I would not be able to stop laughing! -Scott

Radjabov is amazing! He wiped Kasparov off the board and now Anand! What a great way to start his chess career! http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1091 -Scott

Edward Winter's latest book, A Chess Omnibus, is entertaining, but is not the error-free tome one might expect from so demanding a personality. I have yet to finish the book, but positions are transposed as early as page 7, and a position is missing a piece on page 145. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Perhaps Winter should have his own house in order before attacking Kasparov's. -- Ian Burton

How does Jennifer Shahade pronounce her last name? -- Saildome

Issue #96 of Correspondence Chess News (CCN) has been released. In this issue: News By Grayling V. Hill Pages From a Life: The Notebook of Otto Hesse, Postal Chessplayer, Part II By Neil Brennen

GM Lubomir "Lubosh" Kavalek celebrates his 60th birthday on Saturday, August 9. The Washington Post chess columnist was one of the most active and successful tournament players during the 1970s. Among his tournament victories was winning the 1978 U.S. Championship. He tied for first in the 1972 and 1973 championships, but lost out in a playoff in the '72 tourney. I remember well his participation...