"RSHaas" wrote in message
...
"Actually, he got a belly full of lead near Bougainville on April 18,
1943."
(thewiz)
===============
Yes, the famous P-38 ambush of WWII. Thomas Landpheir of Lousiana is
credited with shooting down Yamamoto's plane, but many claim it was
Landphier's
wingman who performed the deed.

RSHaas


Never! Never! Never leave your wingman.

The guy that said that, Never was in a dogfight.

Tom Klem

"Mike Murray" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 22:10:04 -0800, "Tom Klem"
wrote:

Fischer had a lot less competition. In fact, isn't it really true that
the
gentlemen mentioned below are pretty much all that was in the GM category
for him to play at the tournaments 'back in the day'?

What?

Domestic: Benko, Rossolimo, Evans, Bisguier, most of 'em near their
peak of strength.

Foreign: Keres, Bronstein, Gligorich, Korchnoi, Najdorf, Larsen,
Geller, Portisch, Taimanov, Hort, Ivkov, many more

The world is literally crawling with GMs now, compared to that time
period.
At 14 Fischer
was playing Tal, Byrne, Petrosian, Botvinnik, Reshevsky. Yikes


Isn't it true that there are approximately three to one the number of GMs
today compared with 'back in Fischer's day'?

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 21:40:16 -0500, "Angelo DePalma"
wrote:


I can confirm this bit of World Chess Trivia. The winner was indeed Win Moe.
Second was Win Larry. Win Curly and Win Shemp were tied for 3-4.



"Sam Sloan" wrote

The tournament was won by Win Moe, a Burmese National now living in
the USA.

Sam Sloan

I never make jokes about a person's name. Win Moe is a real person.
He has a USCF rating about 2300. I think he lives in Minnesota. I
think he played in the last World Open. Now, his name is something
like Win Moe Trun An.

Sam Sloan

"RSHaas" wrote in message
...

Gee, in just a few years he'll be able to play the role of a Japanese
soldier
in the war movies. They'll show him playing Go around the campfire while
commando Booz sneaks up with a K-bar in his teeth.

These days I prefer a K-rat to a K-bar.

StanB

On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 12:46:55 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:


I never make jokes about a person's name. Win Moe is a real person.
He has a USCF rating about 2300. I think he lives in Minnesota. I
think he played in the last World Open. Now, his name is something
like Win Moe Trun An.

Sam Sloan

But you were the joker about your son - where nobody would give a
****!

"Kevin L. Bachler" wrote
I thought these examples may help.

Think of the strengths of players and the rating system as a balance scale. We
are trying to put enough points on the scale to balance it against the strength
(instead of weight) of the players.

In this sense, it is vaguely like double-entry accounting. The goal is to have
the strength (assets) equal the points (liability & shareholders equity).

With these analogies in mind, consider the following examples. Again, these
clearly show that players leaving the pool do not cause deflation or inflation.
It is the improvement or "worsening" of players that does this.

+++++

Example I:

Player Strength Rating
====== ======== ======
A 1500 1500
B 1600 1600
C 1700 1700
D 1800 1800
----- ==== ====
Total 6600 6600


The system is balanced. No inflation, and no deflation.


Example II:

One player leaves:

Player Strength Rating
====== ======== ======
A 1500 1500
B 1600 1600
D 1800 1800
----- ==== ====
Total 4900 4900

BOTH the aggregate strength of the system AND the aggregate rating of the system
declined. But the system is balanced. No deflation.


Example III:

One player improves, and in unrated games goes from beating players his strength
50% of the time, to beating them 75% of the time, but this player plays no rated
games:

Player Strength Rating
====== ======== ======
A 1700 1500
B 1600 1600
C 1700 1700
D 1800 1800
----- ==== ====
Total 6800 6600


The aggregate strength now exceeds the aggregate rating. So the system is
deflated. It happened because one player improved.


Example IV:

One player improves, and in unrated games goes from beating players his strength
50% of the time, to beating them 75% of the time, but this player plays several
rated games against the pool:

Player Strength Rating
====== ======== ======
A 1700 1725
B 1600 1525
C 1700 1625
D 1800 1725
----- ==== ====
Total 6800 6600

Again, the system is deflated, even though player A is over-rated. Several
players are deflated because their points went to player A.


Example V:

Same as example IV, but add bonus points to correct the system:

Player Strength Rating
====== ======== ======
A 1700 1700
B 1600 1600
C 1700 1700
D 1800 1800
----- ==== ====
Total 6800 6800

The bonus points flow to the underrated players (like a vacuum!) to correct
their ratings.


****

Think of it as weighing plants.

You put 4 plants on a scale. You put weights on the other side equal to the
weight of the plants.

If you take off a plan AND its weights, it is clear that the scale is still
balanced -- i.e. there is no inflation and deflation.

But if you leave all the plants there, AND THEY GROW and get heavier (stronger),
but you don't change the weights, the scale becomes unbalanced -- there are
fewer weights (points) than the actual weight of the plants (strength) and so
the system is DEFLATED.

Kevin L. Bachler


How and why can you take away from Player A (in Ex # V)?

On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 02:51:24 -0800, "Tom Klem"
wrote:

Fischer had a lot less competition. In fact, isn't it really true that
the
gentlemen mentioned below are pretty much all that was in the GM category
for him to play at the tournaments 'back in the day'?

What?

Domestic: Benko, Rossolimo, Evans, Bisguier, most of 'em near their
peak of strength.

Foreign: Keres, Bronstein, Gligorich, Korchnoi, Najdorf, Larsen,
Geller, Portisch, Taimanov, Hort, Ivkov, many more

The world is literally crawling with GMs now, compared to that time
period.
At 14 Fischer
was playing Tal, Byrne, Petrosian, Botvinnik, Reshevsky. Yikes

Isn't it true that there are approximately three to one the number of GMs
today compared with 'back in Fischer's day'?

You're probably right. One might argue "inflation" or perhaps the
general level of activity and strength, world-wide, has risen, and in
the US, the strength at the top end has risen because of the influx of
foreign-born players.

But, Fischer tended to play in the stronger tournaments after age 15
anyway. So he fought the cream.

If by competition you mean other 13 year olds who qualified to play in the
US Championship, then I agree. However, his "competition" from that age
onward consisted almost exclusively of world-class players. Lots of other 13
year olds didn't rise to the occasion!





"Tom Klem" wrote

Fischer had a lot less competition. In fact, isn't it really true that the
gentlemen mentioned below are pretty much all that was in the GM category
for him to play at the tournaments 'back in the day'?

The world is literally crawling with GMs now, compared to that time
period.

Tom Klem



"Angelo DePalma" wrote in message
...


Nakamura, at age 16, is barely a third-tier GM. In the DePalma system
first
tier is about 2700, then 2625, then 2550, then below that are guys
who
get invited to the Greater St. Alphonzo's Open in Mauritania. At 14
Fischer
was playing Tal, Byrne, Petrosian, Botvinnik, Reshevsky. Yikes

It would be great if Hikaru joined the second tier or first tier by age
20,
but 2700 status seems highly unlikely for a guy who plays mostly other
third-tier GMs, equivalent IMs, and the likes of me in World Open side
games.

Christiansen was #17 in the world at his peak and has beaten Karpov. I
think
Browne was around #25 and Seirawan somewhere around there. But that was
long
ago.

Angelo


"Tom Klem" wrote in message
news:4fkLb.61150$BQ5.1511@fed1read03...

"RSHaas" wrote in message
...
"Our last home grown world-class GMs were Larry Christiansen, Walter
Browne,
and Yasser Seirawan. That was back in the freaking '70s, before you
were
born!
All are well past their prime. (adp)
==============
The '70's would be pre-scholastic chess era. Nowadays the USA
leads
the
world in players rated 500 and below.

RSHaas

What about Hikaru Nakamura?

Tom Klem

Yeah, so what? It doesn't matter who's around you, it matters who you play.
Fishcer played very, very strong players almost exclusively from age 13
onward. I can tell you from first-hand experience that you can't say that
for Nakamura.

"Tom Klem" wrote

Isn't it true that there are approximately three to one the number of GMs
today compared with 'back in Fischer's day'?

Lighten up, Sam. You're suffering from WASP disease with PC complications.

My grandmother taught me that there is almost no name that can't be made fun
of. She had nicknames, based on given names or surnames, for almost everyone
she knew. She was helped by the fact that she knew about seventeen words of
English. Some English names are pretty funny when they're transliterated
into Italian. Johann Sebastian Bach, for example, was "bacala" (a codfish we
eat on Christmas eve, slang for "nincompoop").

Win Moe...I wish I could, but right now for the past month or so I have been
Win Less.

Angelo

"Sam Sloan" wrote

I never make jokes about a person's name. Win Moe is a real person.
He has a USCF rating about 2300. I think he lives in Minnesota. I
think he played in the last World Open. Now, his name is something
like Win Moe Trun An.

Sam Sloan