Well, folks, this one goes to the away team. However, it was very well played and I gave Mary a well-deserved congratulation on her victory. There were no significant blunders and the only material advantage was a single pawn through much of the game. No-one wants to win a game on errors and this one was strictly strategy and tactics. It was played down to a rook, a knight, and three pawns each so the first one to bring a pawn home would take it. I was damn close but she turned it around brilliantly and after that it was all over.
Mary wasn't having any of it but I told her I have believed for quite some time that chess is almost a direct match for the computational / deductive aspect of IQ. In other words, assuming equal knowledge of the logic of the game, the smartest person will win. That we appear to have roughly the same IQ, in my view, is predictive of equally matched games in the future. (Don't think for a moment that I think this aspect of IQ is the only measure of it as it will tell you nothing of why some people are brilliant artists, why some people seem to be inherently lucky, etc.)
Mary and I talk quite easily with each other but, as my ol' Dad loved to say, friends are people who don't have to say anything to each other and we rarely talk at all during the game. I notice also that neither of us has a wrinkled brow in stern concentration but rather there's a relaxed but intense focus on the game. These games play out too. The games will go between one and two hours but it's all very good as neither of us gets tense waiting for the other to move.
Assuming I'm white, I'll play close to a book game on a King's Pawn opening with some mild variations. Mary plays quite a radical game with her pawns in a way that I consider reckless but the results speak for themselves.
Laughing Gecko, I regretfully report that I did not annotate the game but I do want to make a habit of carrying a pocket-size notebook about with me (definitely NOT a computer) and hopefully I will get that going soon.
Cadillac Man, I know you'd like a shot at the title and of course I'll introduce you to Mary if you come to Greece for a visit. Don't take that to mean I'm giving away the title just yet as we'll slug this out until there's no point in keeping score. Hopefully that won't happen any time soon!
Lotho, I don't know if you enjoy the game anymore but I hadn't played or even given it any particular thought in quite a few years yet I'm hugely entertained and challenged by it now. Hopefully you will be able to come out and visit as well and we'll have a game if you like.
This is the latest report on the playoff in the Great Greek Chess Tournament and this match took place in Katakolo (pronounced kah-TAH-koh-loh). The standing is now 4-2 with the home team (i.e. me) back down to a two-game deficit.
Unrelated side note: I followed her to Katakolo on my scooter and the ride back was one major thrill as the scoot doesn't tolerate a wet road at all. It has a tendency to wander and it's particularly bad when it's wet.) Harry said when he brought it to me that he's looking for a replacement for the front tire due to the length of time it had been idle and possibly flat. The problem may be compounded by inflation as I checked it and the tire is hard as a brick. I don't know the recommended inflation but it seems it would be a good thing to learn.
I won't say I was scared ... oh yes I will (laughs). This was definitely a ride in stay cool or take a slide on the low side. ('Going off the low slide' is when the bike slides out from underneath you. 'Going off on the high side' is when you get all smashed-up. Speed doesn't matter a whole lot to how smashed-up you get as, in the worst one, I was doing, tops, about 35 mph / 56 kph.)
Mary wasn't having any of it but I told her I have believed for quite some time that chess is almost a direct match for the computational / deductive aspect of IQ. In other words, assuming equal knowledge of the logic of the game, the smartest person will win. That we appear to have roughly the same IQ, in my view, is predictive of equally matched games in the future. (Don't think for a moment that I think this aspect of IQ is the only measure of it as it will tell you nothing of why some people are brilliant artists, why some people seem to be inherently lucky, etc.)
Mary and I talk quite easily with each other but, as my ol' Dad loved to say, friends are people who don't have to say anything to each other and we rarely talk at all during the game. I notice also that neither of us has a wrinkled brow in stern concentration but rather there's a relaxed but intense focus on the game. These games play out too. The games will go between one and two hours but it's all very good as neither of us gets tense waiting for the other to move.
Assuming I'm white, I'll play close to a book game on a King's Pawn opening with some mild variations. Mary plays quite a radical game with her pawns in a way that I consider reckless but the results speak for themselves.
Laughing Gecko, I regretfully report that I did not annotate the game but I do want to make a habit of carrying a pocket-size notebook about with me (definitely NOT a computer) and hopefully I will get that going soon.
Cadillac Man, I know you'd like a shot at the title and of course I'll introduce you to Mary if you come to Greece for a visit. Don't take that to mean I'm giving away the title just yet as we'll slug this out until there's no point in keeping score. Hopefully that won't happen any time soon!
Lotho, I don't know if you enjoy the game anymore but I hadn't played or even given it any particular thought in quite a few years yet I'm hugely entertained and challenged by it now. Hopefully you will be able to come out and visit as well and we'll have a game if you like.
This is the latest report on the playoff in the Great Greek Chess Tournament and this match took place in Katakolo (pronounced kah-TAH-koh-loh). The standing is now 4-2 with the home team (i.e. me) back down to a two-game deficit.
Unrelated side note: I followed her to Katakolo on my scooter and the ride back was one major thrill as the scoot doesn't tolerate a wet road at all. It has a tendency to wander and it's particularly bad when it's wet.) Harry said when he brought it to me that he's looking for a replacement for the front tire due to the length of time it had been idle and possibly flat. The problem may be compounded by inflation as I checked it and the tire is hard as a brick. I don't know the recommended inflation but it seems it would be a good thing to learn.
I won't say I was scared ... oh yes I will (laughs). This was definitely a ride in stay cool or take a slide on the low side. ('Going off the low slide' is when the bike slides out from underneath you. 'Going off on the high side' is when you get all smashed-up. Speed doesn't matter a whole lot to how smashed-up you get as, in the worst one, I was doing, tops, about 35 mph / 56 kph.)
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