Road to Recovery (progress report)
In addition, I have been reading a few Chess books. I finished Chess for Tigers in a couple of days, then I was on Bruce Pandolfinis' Visual Dictionary of Chess(?). I am now working on Lev Alburt's Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player and John Watson's Chess Strategies in Action. The last one is an intense read. I have barely put a dent into it.
I have been going through games of Legends, like Alekhine, Capablanca, and some Fischer. Last but not least, Openings. My study of Openings has been through playing games of the same
Opening - that way the idea and variations sink in without necessary booking up on Opening lines.
Oh, one more thing, I have been going through tutorials in ChessMaster 9000's classroom... I have started with the beginner tutorials (even though the material is very basic). My belief is that sometimes you forget the basics... like Rooks and Bishops need opening lines (Files/Ranks and diagonals, respectively) to be effective. So, it doesn't hurt to review.
I feel good about where I am headed.
I am playing a lot fewer games at Chess.com; I think I am better able to focus on each game. I look forward to playing in 2 tournaments in the next 2 weeks.
Self-discovery through loss
The losses were hard to take - but I later realized that such losses are an opportunity for self-discovery. I thought about why I play Chess and what I expect from it. I looked back at the times that I played really well and what I did in order to play well. I have even looked at my whole life, what am I spending most of my time doing? Am I sleeping enough? Where does Chess rank at this time? Where do I want to get, Chesswise? etc.
At this time, one thing is for certain. I need to play a lot better Chess. I will go back and read my writings on how to improve at Chess and try to practice what I preach.
How to improve at Chess (A collection of all my tips)
How to Improve at Chess: Tip # 14 - Study miniatures
First, they are fun, short and sweet. You play through them and in no time, you are done.
Second, you see where the losing moves come in; you can learn to avoid similar mistakes.
Third, you see where the winning moves come in; you can learn how to finish a game or win in similar positions.
Fourth, they are easy to remember. I have discussed the need to play from memory before. Miniatures are a sure way to do that. The easier a concept is to remember, the higher the chances that you will apply it in your own life.
Sacrifice Buffet! When the Doctor prescribes the wrong diet!
URS 1953 · Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer (B62) · 0-1
In this game, the master tactician, Mikhail Tal, gives up all there is to give, except for the King, Queen (and King's Rook, sort of). It's action, action and no "cuts"! When the King's Rook is about to be captured, the Doctor realizes that the wrong diet has been prescribed. Time to resign. Enjoy!
Things start to happen as early as move 8 when Tal plays 8.e5, sacrificing a pawn in the hope of messing up Black's pawn structure(?). Tal was never a positional player, so that is an unlikely reason. But if Black takes the pawn, then moves like 9.Qf3 attacking c6 and f6 are possible. Black meets Tal's tactics with his own.
8...Qa5! If White takes the Knight with his pawn, Q takes Bishop.
9.Bb5! (Exclamation for the unexpectedness of the move, as well as the excitement.)The moves aims to block the Queens path to the Bishop on g5 as well as open up the diagonal f3-a8.
9...cxb5 Black accepts the sacrificed Bishop with the knowledge that the blocked rank will be opened next move, with an attack on two pieces.
10.exf6 He gets the pawn. So far, things are going according to plan(?)
10...b4 Pigit resumes the attack on the Bishop on g5, the pawn is attacking the knight on c3.
11.Qf3 protecting neither piece! Attacking the Rook on a8.
11...Qe5! Pigit wants to block the path of the White Queen, which he could have done by immediately playing d5. However, that would block off the attack on the Bishop on g5. With this move, he is still attacking the Bishop, and he will block the diagonal next move.
12.Nd4(!) Only Tal could see such moves. Good or bad! The knight or the Bishop, one of them is a goner. How about playing 12.Nd2 when the Bishop is "defended" by the attack on the Rook? Not Tal! So he defends with an attack. Protecting the Bishop?
12...d5. Blocking the diagonal and attacking the Knight that is defending the Bishop.
(annotation to be continued)
How to Improve at Chess: Tip # 13 - Beat the Greatest Masters
Why would Fischer spend 20 minutes trying to find a solution to Morphy's move? One reason could be that he needed to know how he would respond if somebody played the Morphy moves (from rote) against him. Second, may be he was trying to beat Morphy! If you are going to be the greatest ever... you have to be able to respond to anything that may be thrown at you, by others, whether they are dead or alive ;-)
20 minutes trying to analyze one move and come up with a response to it! I guess just like life, you get out of Chess what you put in.
How long do you spend analyzing games of the masters? Do you just take their moves as the last word?
So there is a tip: Beat the greatest Masters at their own game!
Qxh7#: Still Too Early for Lessons You Think?
Qxh7#: Still Too Early for Lessons You Think?
The Sarratt Attack (J.H. Sarratt - NN)
On move 10. Black could have tried 10... Bxe4 to attack g2 and d5 (thus protecting c6). However, that is refuted by 11. Nxc7+ Kd7 12. dxc++ Kxc6 13. Qe2! (This threatens mate on b5 and attacks the Bishop on e4. May be the solutions is to give up the Queen for the Knight at some point.
Jacob Henry Sarratt vs NN
England 1818 · Queen Pawn Game: Sarratt Attack (D00) · 1-0
Robert James Fischer vs. Samuel Reshevsky (Annotated game #9)
1. e4
It's Fischer! What do you expect. His favorite opening move, "best by test". Opens for the Bishop, Queen, Knight, (and God forbid, King). Goes for the control of the center.
1... e5 Similarly, Black Opens with his King's pawn.
2. Nf3 Developing the Knight towards the center, clearing the bank rank for castling, and attacking the Black pawn.
2... Nc6 Developing a piece towards the center and protecting the pawn.
3. Bb5 Ruy Lopez. One of Fischer's specialties. Developing the Bishop. Attacking the defender of the pawn. He is ready to castle.
3... a6 Attacking the Bishop. Making him decide what he wants to do with the Bishop. Note that Black does not lose a pawn if White plays, BxN dxc6, Nxe5 because of ...Qd4.
4. Ba4 Gets away from the attack, still attacks the Knight on c6.
4... Nf6 Develops a piece towards the center, attacks the pawn on e4, and clears the back rank, preparing for castling himself.
5. O-O White castles, protecting the King and bringing the Rook into the game, leaving his pawn hanging. If Black takes the pawn, White can either play d4, or Re1 or Bxc6 in some order and he ends up with a long-lasting initiative.
5... Be7 Black goes for development instead of grabbing loose pawns. He is now ready to castle.
6. Re1 White protects his pawn. He is ready to take the Knight on c6 followed by taking the pawn on e5.
6... b5 Black closes the path of the Bishop to the Knight by attacking it with this pawn move.
7. Bb3 Bishop retreats, the focus of the attack will be along the new diagonal (unless the Bishop is taken out by moves like Na5 followed by Nxb3.) White exerts a lot of pressure on d5. This control builds up after Nc3 and the exchange of the d-pawn after d4.
7... O-O Protects the King and brings the Rook into the game.
8. c3 Preparing for d4 and also opening the way for the Bishop in case it is attacked by Na5.
8... d6 Opening for the Bishop on c8 (even though this blocks in the Bishop on e7), and also supports the pawn on e5. The Knight on c6 is free to go wherever Black wants without worrying about losing the pawn on e5. People have argued that it was bad strategy for Reshevsky to play the closed
9. h3 Prevents any piece from coming to g4 (especially the Bishop on c8). It may also be preparation for a move like g4 later on.
9... h6 Similarly, he prevents any piece from coming to g5. Gets ready for his own g5 later in the game.
10. d4 Going for the center. If Black exchanges pawns, White captures back with the c-pawn and has two central pawns. This move also opens the d2 square for the Bishop, Knight and Queen.
10... Re8 Bringing the Rook into play. Since the Bishop is closed in, it may be better to put in on f8 to help defend the King in case of an attack, and also allow the Rook to come into the game. The Rook defends the pawn on e5, but if Black initiates the exchange, (and the Bishop gets out of the way), you have the Knight on f6 and the Rook attacking the pawn on e4.
11. Nbd2 Developing a piece, defending the pawn on e4 in case of the exchanges mentioned above, but also the Knight may be headed to f5 or h5 via f1 and g3.
11... Bf8 The Bishop has gone back to Open the file for the Rook. As mentioned earlier, it may also help defend the King.
12. Nf1 There is the Knight manouvre. Targets may be f5 and h5 if it goes to g3, or f5 and d5 if it ends up on e3. (Of course, going to e3 immediately would lose a pawn ;-))
12... Bd7 Developing the last piece. One would wonder why not go to b7 with the Bishop since that side is already open. This move has several ideas behind it. First is to avoid the Queen exchanges after dxe5 dxe4, when White can exchange
13. Ng3 So.. the Knight is headed towards f5 and h5. going to f5 would exchange Blacks only active Bishop. This move prevents Black from playing Nh5, in case he wants to play the f-pawn. Of course he can still do it by going to h7.
13... Na5 Attacking the Bishop, but most of all, opening the way for the c-pawn.
14. Bc2 Fischer loved his King Bishop. I cannot remember what Fischer-game Kasparov was analyzing. It was from his "My greatest predecessors" series, and he mentioned that he could only remember one game in which Fischer won with his dark-squared Bishop. So here he goes again, protecting his light-squared Bishop. Actually, this Bishop move is essential to conducting a Kingside attack (in the Ruy Lopez and other openings). It nicely works with the Queen to create threats of mate against the opposing King.
14... c5 White appears to be ready to launch a kingside attack, Black needs to attack the center and may be go for a Queenside attack himself.
15. b3 Black could have played b4 next move, and White could not meet it with c4 as the pawn could be captured by the Knight. So in a way, b3 enables c4 in case of ...b4. The move also prevents Nc4 when Black would attack the dark-squared Bishop if developed on b2 or e3. It appears White is giving himself the options of joining the attack through b2, or even going to a3 with the Bishop to attack the d6 pawn after pawn exchanges.
15... Nc6 The Knight returns to c6 after releasing the pawn. It adds pressure to d4 and adds protection to e5.
16. Be3 Developing the last minor piece. Adding support to the d4-square. x-ray attack to c5. Similar to Bd7, the Queen can come behind the Bishop and attack the h-pawn.
16... cxd4 Black decides to relieve the tension. I am not sure why. He accepts a backward pawn on d6. What else was there to play? But may be he sees that after cxd4, the Knight can go to b4 attacking the Bishop on c2... but the Bishop can just retreat to b1, followed by a3 and the Bishop goes back to c2 if need be.
17. cxd4 he has to take back the pawn.
17... Nb4 Knight attacks the Bishop on c2.
18. Bb1 The Bishop is needed for a Kingside attack. It is more powerful than the Knight that is attacking it, so why allow the exchange?
18... a5 Trying to liquidate the Queenside - may be something will come out of it. He is also opening a spot for the Knight to land if attacked. The Rook on a8 can then come to c8 without being blocked by the Knight.
19. a3 Attacking the Knight. He may also bring the a-Rook into the game via a2 to c2 or d2 or e2.
19... Na6 Knight retreats to a6, not c6, to avoid blocking the c-file. Black gets to the c-file quicker with his Rooks.
20. Bd3 The Bishop comes back into the game with an attack on the pawn. The White Queen can come to e2 to support the Bishop attack on the pawn. That's something to remember about Chess... it is always changing, you gain some you give some. Black had created a spot on a6 for the knight to land after being chased by a3, but in the process he removed the support for the b5 pawn. Now that pawn can become a weakness.
20... Qc7 Not sure about this move. I think Rc8 was better. May be Reshevsky 'feared" a4 which would have taken advantage of the Knight-wthout-support on a6. But that could be countered by Nb4. How about Qb8? to support the b5 pawn if it needs extra support. May be it is bad because the Queen no longer supports the a5 pawn?
21. Qe2 Fischer goes for the b-pawn. He also opens a way for the King's Rook to come to the Queenside for an attack there.
21... Qb7 Protecting the b-pawn. That could have been accomplished in one move by going to b8 instead of c7 earlier. May be he didn't want to block the connection between the Rooks?
22. Rad1 I am surprised by this move. I thought the Rook on e1 would come to c1, but that would start piece exchanges. This Rook move leaves the pawn on a3 without support. It is not yet attacked, but it can be attacked by the Bishop on f8 after pawn exchanges. The Rook indirectly attacks the Bishop on d7 when the file is clear.
22... g6 May be he is preparing for a push like h5
23. Qb2 Providing protection to the pawns, but mainly attacking the e5 square. White can win a pawn.
23... Qb8 Providing protection to e5. I guess I am vindicated; 20...Qb8 seems to have been a better move.
24. Bb1 Preparing to trade places with the Queen at a moment's notice: Queen in front supported by the Bishop behind it threatening a check(mate) - at some point in the future. I guess Fischer had seen that the Queen would end up on b8 leaving the Bishop on d7 supported by the Knight on f6. The Knight has no support.
24... Kh7 May be supporting the pawns and ...??? I don't know. All I can see is that now the g-pawn is "pinned". If the b1-h7 diagonal is blasted open, White moves like Nh5 would be possible. Now the f-pawn is not defended. Of course it is not attacked. But when you leave several pieces unsupported, something you treasure can leave the board without compensation.
25. dxe5 After so long, the pawns are exchanged. Why now? Because Fischer can benefit from the situation. See the next couple of moves.
25... dxe5 Black has to take back.
26. Nxe5 Temporarily sacrifices his Knight to gain a pawn. If [26...Qxe5 27.Bd4 followed by 28.Bxf6]
26... Rxe5 ??He has to take back or address the attack on the Bishop by the Knight and Rook. Does he have to take with the Rook? I think this is a blunder. I think better was 27...Qxe5 as explained above when Black would be down a pawn. Now he will be down the exchange plus a pawn.
27. Bf4 Of course. Fischer will now be up the exchange.
27... Qb7 [27...Bd6 28.Rxd6 Qxd6 29.BxR followed by 30.BxN would be bad for Black.] This is the thing about leaving pieces unprotected. If the Knight on f6 was protected by a pawn or Bishop, things would not be so bad. At the same time, you cannot have your Bishop that's attacked by a Rook supported by a Knight that can be easily attacked. If the Knight is chased away or captured, the Bishop is a goner.
28. Bxe5 White takes the Rook with an attack on the Knight on f6.
28... Ne8 Runs away from the attack.
29. Ne2 Shifting positions. The Knight is going to join the attack on the Black King. I thought White would want to move the Bishop from e5 so that the Bishop on b1 can join the attack after the pawn moves. May be it's slower than the moves played.
29... Nc5 "A Knight on the side of the board is a shame." - i guess removing it from the side of the board. Attacking e4 and b3. The Knight may also be shifting to the Kingside to protect his majesty.
30. Nf4 Not sure whether he is attacking g6 or he wants to go to d5 and then f6 to exchange one of the King's defenders. Moves like this are hard to deal with... you wonder where you opponent is headed. You react one way, he goes the other way! He also opens the file for the Rook to protect the pawn on e4.
30... b4 Trying to create something on the Queenside. A constant theme in Chess.
31. a4 Fischer say no to discussing the Queenside!
31... Bc6 Pressure on the e-pawn.
32. Nd5 Blocking the attack on e4. But may shift to the Kingside.
32... Nd7 Attacking the Bishop and strengthening the defense on f6.
33. Bd4 Running away from the attack and also preventing the Knight from coming to c5. The Bishop is controlling most of the landing squares for both Knights.
33... Ng7 Heading to e6 to attack the Bishop again?
34. Bd3 Headed to c4 to attack f7?
34... Ne6 Attacking the Bishop on d4.
35. Bc4 x-ray to f7.
35... Re8 Black appears to have consolidated his defenses.
36. Bf6 Take me if you can! Since Black was attacking the Bishop, White puts it where it would be "poisonous" to do so. [36...Nxf6 37.NxN+ Kh8 38.Nxe8+]
36... Nec5 Attacking the pawn on e4 with the support of the Rook.
37. Qc2 Protecting the attacked pawn.
37... Ne6 After forcing the Queen to move to c2, the Knight returns home.
38. Ba1 The Bishop would like to trade places with the Queen: Queen in front, Bishop behind it, threatening to mate!
38... Qa7 Had to play something without impacting the position negatively. Now the Bishop on c6 is not supported by anything. May be he is intending to play Bc5 to attack f2?
39. Kh1 White moves away from the pin. He is now ready to play f4 if need be to soften Black's position.
39... Bg7 Cancelling out the possibility of Bishop-Queen battery.
40. Bxg7 It appears forced. Simplification sometimes favors the losing side. Sometimes it favors the winning side. In this case, it is hard to tell. I would say, temporarily, it has favored Black as his Bishop was not doing much.
40... Nxg7 He has to take back. [If King takes, Queen can give check. Why waste time?]
41. Bb5 Double attack on the Bishop (by Bishop and Rook). Fischer is going to simplify further. Here he is not just simplifying for the sake of it. He is creating a passed pawn with the exchanges that ensue.
41... Bxb5 Black had no choice.
42. axb5 White has to take back.
42... Rb8 Attacking the isolated pawn.
43. Qc6 Protecting the pawn. Attacking the Knight with the support of the Rook (if the Knight moves from d5). Actually, White threatens to win a piece by taking the Knight with his Queen and then playing Nf6+ forking King and Queen.
43... Ne8 Defending the f6-square and any tricks associated with it.
44. e5 At long last, the e-pawn joins the attack.
44... Nf8 Defending against e6. He can go to e6 next move, blocking the file.
45. Nf6+ Exchanging more pieces. Eliminating one more defender.
45... Nxf6 Forced, otherwise he would lose a piece.
46. exf6 Has to take back. The Queen has to stay where she is to protect the pawn on b5.
46... Rb6 Attacking the Queen.
The game was adjourned. Reshevsky did not resume play. He lost because he did not show up. He made Fischer wait to win the game as long as Fischer had made him wait to start the game! Hope you enjoyed it!
Wisdom from the game of Chess
We know from playing Chess that a “check” is not a checkmate. It is just a bump in life. Take care of it, and the game continues. What other checks do we get in life, and what do we do about them? (It is for you to answer.)
We know from playing Chess that sometimes it just doesn’t rain, it pours. Your King may come under the most vicious of attacks, and when you address those attacks, the calm comes. What attacks have come into your life, and how have you handled them?
We know from Chess that it is not over until it’s over. If you think it’s over, that you are set or damned for life, you may be disappointed. If you give up too soon, you may be disheartened further by the realization that there was a creative way to resolve your game (position). If you celebrate too soon, the victory may be ripped from your hands. When in your life have you come to a point of giving up, what did you do? Do you celebrate too soon?
We know from playing Chess that there are up and downs, and we take them in our stride. We enjoy the journey. (There is no destination? May be each game is a journey and a destination.) Do you enjoy the journey of life?
We know from Chess that we have to focus on this game. Give this game all you have. In life, do you give each day all the attention it needs. Do you just focus on just this day and do the best you can on this particular day?
We know from Chess, that each move deserves all the attention; we cannot choose and pick when to pay attention. How about the tasks of this day? Do you give each one special attention, completing it to the best of your ability? As if the life of the day depended on it?
We know from Chess that we cannot just live for today, that we make preparations for the future: you develop your pieces well, you coordinate your pieces, you try to predict the future and act accordingly. In life, how strong is your foundation? Are you living this day as if it’s your last, trading the futures happiness for today’s?
We know from Chess that for most of us, to be good, we have to perspire a lot. In life, do we perspire to get where we want?
We know from Chess that we don’t create gems from nothing, that we build brilliancies move by move. What are our expectations of life? How are we building our dreams?
We know from Chess that we play to win, and we give our best and hope for a miracle win when we face a much higher rated player. In life, do we get up each morning with a winning attitude? Do we still hope for the miracle win when we face the seemingly insurmountable?
I am not saying Chess is life, or “life is like the game of chess”, but we can get a lot of Wisdom by meditating on the game of Chess.
Playing 21,900 games of Chess without knowing it!
Studying books, practicing sleep, consulting with a coaches and friends,… on how best to start off your day. Which side of the bed is it best to wake up on? How fast should you get out of bed? Is it better to read in bed first, or brush you teeth, wash you face, and then pray? May be watch tv? May be shower and leave the house as soon as possible? What to wear? Okay, you have found that out. Next:
You have left the bed, may be the house. Who should you talk to? How wide should you smile? How much should you complain? How much should you listen? How fast should you work? How nice should you be on the phone? What should you to do to get a better review? Should you hang on to this job? Should you eat out? What time should you go to bed? Should you see the Doctor? Okay, this has been resolved one way or the other? Next:
What will your legacy be? Should you have married those four? Are you happy? What are you good at? What proof is there that….? What are the fundamentals of life? What do you need to live an enjoyable life? Was it all worth it? Did you waste time? Do you need to analyze the past? Do you need to keep a record of my life? Should you just move on? What are the lessons learnt? If you were to choose, would you choose your life all over again? What would you change?
I cannot say that I have listed all the questions that people ask or the points at which a decision has to be made, for whatever reason. But it is not a bad list of ideas/questions at all - in my opinion. I think a lot of people ask at least 10 percent of these questions at some point in their life.
I wonder if there is a game in which one thinks about each move/decision in so much detail as is the case with Chess. I will not list the questions that will match the life questions above. But I can tell you this: the questions that are asked during a Chess game or before a game even starts, or after the game, or during one’s career are awfully similar to the life questions.
In a way, everybody plays a game of Chess without knowing it. If you live to be 70, and assuming that you started asking any of the questions above when you were 10 years old, then you will have asked any of those questions about 21,900 times (60 years times 365 days per year)! I look at life as a game of Chess. Each day, you play a game. You decide how what Opening you use, what the Middle game will be, and what the Ending will be. 21,900! That is a lot of games. How many of those do you think you won? How many of them did you enjoy? How many are memorable? How many you would rather forget? How many have you already played? How do you want them to go? What can you do to change the result?
The trick to excellence: “Do This and You Shall Live!”
This is a post that I wrote at my blog at chess.com - I am reproducing it here verbatim.
Well, today is Sunday and I went to Church after a couple of weeks of not going. The Readings had one major theme: You know everything that you need to be successful or to be a Godly person. However, you need to put what you know in action. Here are two of the readings:
Well, I must confess that I think about Chess in places that I shouldn’t! So I was thinking about how these two Readings are applicable to Life and Chess. In Chess, people are always looking for tips on how to improve, how to win quickly, how to play the opening better, how to think like a grandmaster, etc. However, if you asked a novice or somebody who has been playing the game for a couple of weeks what they can tell somebody about the game, or how they would go about teaching somebody Chess, you would be amazed by the knowledge that they have on how to play the game effectively!
What’s the conclusion from all this? We all (90% of us) know the same things that grandmasters know on how to play the game, how to improve, etc. We just have to put it in practice, move in move out!
So, there is a tip on how to improve at Chess: “Do this (this=what you already know) and you shall live” (live=get what you seek).
How to prepare for joblessness: Saving the third check for a rainy year!
Most people live paycheck to paycheck and fear the day when they will be laid off and they have to do without income coming in from their employer. I do not know the actual percentage, but from what I have read, it may be over fifty percent. Let’s assume that at least half of these people have been working for at least twenty-four years (because in places that I have worked, most of the workers are at least 45.) In the U.S. and most of the developed world, people start earning money in their teens. They get a regular job by the time they are twenty years old. If they go to college, they may be delayed a little and start a regular job at twenty-five. So they just have to be forty-nine years old to fit into the cohort I am describing - people who have worked for 24 years. (Assuming no lay-offs.)
These people should be able to live without a paycheck for 24 straight months! How? By the power of the third check. According to my calculation, people who are paid every two weeks get paid three times in one month twice a year. For example, there are a lot of people who will get a paycheck(1) in the first week of August 2007, they will get another paycheck(2) in the third week, and then get yet another paycheck(3) in the fifth week! This will happen again in January/February 2008. What do people do with this “paycheck windfall”? Spend it!
What if people put this paycheck away into money market account and didn’t touch it until they got laid off? Well, since you get these 3-checks-in-one-month twice a year, for every year that you work, you could have a month’s worth of paychecks put away. Thus, if you work for 24 years, you should be able to stay at least 2 years without getting a paycheck and still survive. At a minimum, I think you would be able to live the way you used to when you had just started working.
How about change in standard of living and cost of living?
Well, let’s assume you start off making $5 an hour before taxes. That is less than the Federal minimum wage. You work 80 hours per pay period, you get $400 before taxes. Your take home… let’s say for some reason it is only $300.00. You put this away in your first year of work and it is earning 5% interest compounded annually. My calculation is showing that your money will grow to $921.00 after 23 years (since we are assuming that you will be laid off after your 24th year of continuous work. Of course, I have not factored taxes into the equation, but I think that is a lot of money. I will posit that a person who made $300 a paycheck 24 years ago should be able to live on $921 today. In addition, one would have to start living frugally in order to accommodate the new reality: joblessness.
How about expenses that are incurred during the two week period in which you earn the money?
This question is saying: “I understand that I pay some of my bills, for example, rent or mortgage, car payment, utilities, etc, once a month. However, I eat every day, I drive my car to work each day, etc. How about these expenses? Am I not allowed to use some of that money in this paycheck? If I am allowed to use some of that money for these expenses, then your figures are off. First, I won’t save as much. Second, I won’t have as much to use in the future.”
Well, when I budget, I take into account expenses for the whole month, and these are covered by the two paychecks - the norm -regardless of whether a third paycheck will come or not. However, I will concede that you may eat a little bit into that paycheck, but just a little bit. We also have to consider that when you get laid off, you may not drive as much, or be forced to eat expensive (junk) food at work, or buy work clothes,… so your expenses may be lower! So this may take care of the difference between the exact figure required by the question and what my calculation is giving you.
When can you start?
Now. You have to think about it today. You have to make your decision to save that money today. Make sure that check does not find its way into your expenses, budgeted or otherwise.
Of course, you cannot spend all your income and put all your hopes on the third check, as an emergency fund. This would be foolish. There are other good personal financial management practices that you have to practice, click here for a good start.
(What does this have to do with Chess? Well, if you give a good Chess player a piece for no good reason, even if it’s a pawn, you have set him for life. For me, I treat Chess “freebies” as insurance against unforeseeables. The third-paycheck-in-one-month is like a free piece. An advantage you have to convert into a win.)
Chess and Music - Differences and Similarities
One of the things that makes me believe that there is God is the existence of music. I cannot claim to know much music, but when I see/hear a beautiful final product, it is amazing to consider that somebody conceived it from scratch, and that people can read whatever is written down and then come up with the right “coordination”, “tones”, “instruments” etc to turn the work into something as glorious as the music that people love. I saw this video at youtube and I started thinking about music and chess. A lot has been said about chess and music, for example, that “chess, like music, has the power to make men happy.” So what are the similarities and differences between the two?
Similarities:
1. They both require a lot of creativity.
2. Writing the music itself, (not playing it), is similar to Chess because it requires intellectual discipline and struggle.
3. Both require study.
4. For both, the earlier you begin the higher the chances that you will be better at it.
Differences:
1. Chess requires silence to focus. I am not sure if writing music requires silence 
(I need help here!)
2. Chess is competitive. There is an opponent in front of you that you want to defeat.
3. There is resistance to your creativity - this is related to 2. above. You may want to create something, but it will not happen if your opponent will not let you.
4. There is loss, pain and defeat in Chess. Music does not even come close.
I guess, in the end, chess has elements of sport that music does not have.
Here is a link that you may enjoy watching and listening to.
Does God answer sports prayers?
There were times when I knew things were beyond my control when I played sports/games, especially Chess. So I would go to Church to pray. Usually during Mass, I would make sure I confessed all my sins, and asked God to bestow his favor and grace upon me or my team so that we would win whatever game(s) we had. 
There were also times when I prayed during the game itself. Most of the time, my prayers were answered in the affirmative. I would then thank God quickly (as usual!) and move on to the next thing.
I was meditating on this, and I wondered, what if all these people that I competed against prayed too? Did they reach a conclusion that God does not answer (sports) prayers? Was I an exception? Of course, there were a couple of things that worked in my favor: I worked hard, I was somewhat good at basketball, soccer, and volleyball, and I was pretty good at Chess. How about the times I prayed for an exam to be easy enough for me to get an A? May be I was somewhat smart enough?! Anyway, let’s stick to sports.
Why would God answer my prayer and not the other guy’s? Is it because I have more faith? Why doesn’t He spread out the love? This guy wins today, the other wins tomorrow? Does He get involved? Why would He get involved in sports? For people who play any game, they usually end up saying: it’s only a game! So if it’s just a game, why would God be involved? How about people who play these games as professionals? It ceases to be a game, I believe. It is work. It is livelihood. Is it okay if they pray? Is it okay if God answers only those prayers by professionals? What if professionals of different teams are praying to win? Does He offer a draw (based on faith)? It must be tough to be God! May be not. I don’t know.
I believe God answered my sports prayers. I don’t know why He did it. I don’t believe He owes me an explanation. I am glad he answered my prayers the way He did; both when He said “No” and when He said “Yes”.
Will I pray again? Yes! For sports? Yes! Will answer my prayer? I don’t know!
What are your thoughts on God and sports prayers?
Declare your love! Tell the world about your passion!
What is it that you have spent most of your life doing? Is it practicing Medicine, Accounting, Chess, Politics, Law, Philosophy, …? Whatever it is, how do you tell the World that this is what I have spent my “life-energy” doing?
What is it that you feel so passionate about? That when you get up, you want to do it? When you are stressed out, you think about doing it? Is it reading a book? Is it playing Chess? Is it blogging? Is it taking care of patients? Is it tutoring or teaching?
I was thinking about this, and I know that the one thing I have spent a good chunk of my life doing, is playing, thinking, reading, studying, dreaming about, Chess. This game has been my love and my passion. That is why I write about it. That is why I look at life through its lenses. So I was wondering, how do I tell the world that I love this game, without being obnoxious about it? What kind of information do I give the world? My “Social”, my phone number, my home address, my work info, my website (infrequently) and my email address. Hmmmnnn! None of those, but the email address gives me a chance to tell the world what I am passionate about. If I could have my email address look something like me@chess.com - that would be great! Other chess players would love to get my email address looking like that! I would love to email and talk to people with an email address like that. So I went to www.chess.com and lucky enough, I could have an email address with that domain name. I started searching around to see if I could get an email address @Christ.com, @God.com, @Accounting.com, … no luck! My suggestion for people who own these domains is be to provide an webmail/email service for people who love God, Christ, Accounting, Medicine, etc. Imagine yourname@God.com! That would be awesome - as long as you are sure you live in God! So that is my little story. What is your love? Is youremail@yourpassion.com?
Hopefully, the service at yourpassion.com will be great. That you will be able to find tools of your trade, meet people that have similar likes to yours, or share your ideas with the world. I think it is a great thing to have - for people who think alike, whose experiences and desires and vocations and … are similar. It is like a country club or lions club for your passion. Online!
ARE YOU BLACK OR WHITE? A Chess Perspective On Race And Racism
It is not uncommon for non-Caucasian Chess players to say something like: “I am white”, “I was white and I lost!” or for Caucasian or non-African chess players to utter something like: “I am black”, “I was black and I won”. When we, Chess players, say it, we do not think about race. We are talking about the color of the Chess pieces that you play during a game.
In Chess, Black is considered to start off with a disadvantage since the player with the white pieces makes the first move.
In a way, White, (the player with the white pieces), determines how the game goes. If she is a good player, she usually has
the initiative (similar to having “the say” on how things go on the chess board). However, having the white pieces does not necessarily mean that you are going to win the game. In some aspects, it is a negative thing because of the pressure; it is assumed that since you are White, then you have to win the game. Black has ways to play the game such that the advantages of White’s first move are minimized or neutralized. Black usually hopes for equality. Of course, after equalizing, Black may try to play for a win. There are tons of games where Black has outplayed White. Unlike in Chess, where one person’s gain is another’s loss, life does not necessarily work that way; two people of different races can live together, work as a team, and both come out as winners. Thinking about the “color of the pieces” has made me address a couple of issues regarding race for both from the “victim” or the “oppressed” and the “aggressor” or “offender”.
WHAT CAN THE OPPRESSED DO TO IMPROVE THEIR WAY OF LIFE?
1. You have to do your best all the time or most of the time. You are playing the black pieces. You are not the one who gets the first move, compliment, raise, or whatever it is that is advantageous. Before the first move is made, people have assumed that you are going to lose the game or at best come out with a draw. You cannot just wish that they change their assumptions. In a way, you are supposed to prove that being black, or gray, or whatever pieces you have, deserve a chance, a second look, that you have abilities on the Chess board called Life.
2. You have to have a greater goal than just playing this one game of Chess. I have talked about having goals before. (Click here for one of the articles.) When your goal is beyond just going to work or paying the bills or surviving, you are more motivated to overcome whatever hurdles come your way. For example, you can go to a tournament with the goal of winning the tournament. This goal does not give you much room to drop points by drawing or losing as Black. Other people have gone to places just to change the culture. Or to let the people know that being Black does not mean you are carrying a gun or you are lazy or … it just means that God wanted a Black or Latino or mixed or whatever image of His face on earth. Thus, you do your best to accomplish your big goal; one of your missions in life.
3. You rise above the color of the pieces you are playing. Chess teaches you to forget everything else and focus on what is happening on the chess board once the game starts. Each time, you try to make your best move and improve your position. If you lose a pawn or a piece, you still play your best to the end. In life, people will do all sorts of things, say all sorts of things, but you have to rise above it all and play your best move, each time. (It sounds pretty hard, and it is, but you if can do it consciously for 32 months, it will become a habit. You will not have to think about it.)
4. Stay out of trouble. Very few players sacrifice pawns or pieces when playing Black. There is a lesson from Chess! If things do not seem to go your way right from the start, the least you can do is stay out of trouble. Everyone needs to meditate what that “trouble” is. Just to give some example, it can be trouble with the law, debt, anger, self-esteem, education, or other (life-)skills. What you are trying to do is avoid loss of control of your life. If you are arrested, you give up your life to whoever runs the system. If you are too angry you give up control to whoever is making you angry. It is no longer just an initiative; you are talking several initiatives or tempi. (Sorry, that is too much Chess, but I could not find a better way to put it.)
5. Count your blessings. When I play Black, every once in a while I stop and re-evaluate my position to see whether I have met my expectations “so far”. Usually, I feel better because I have not been swept off the board by White! I look at ways to improve my position if it is at all possible. I think in life you have to do the same thing. If you want to really see how well-off you are, you can consider how it would have been 200 years ago or may be 35 years ago. Where would you be? Or What if you were born in a different country where there is no hope for bettering yourself? What if in addition to the current disadvantage, you also had … (you can fill in the blank - whatever would make your life horrible!) The point is to make yourself realize that you may have it bad, but other people have it worse. Hopefully, the appreciation of your position will make you think about ways to maintain or improve it.
6. Focus on the good people. This is similar to 5. above, but the difference is that here I am referring to people, specifically. There are people that, regardless of what you do, they will do their best to bring you down. There are also nice people out there; people who are just nice, regardless of who you are or what you have done. I find that focusing your attention on the good people does help. You avoid the negativity, and at the same time you learn the art of being nice to people regardless of who they are, or what their skin color is.
7. Accept that you cannot change the world. In Chess, there will always be people who hate playing Black, who are scared of playing Black, or who think that because you are playing White, you win, regardless of the results/proof to the contrary. What can you do about these people? Not much. After you have done your best, there is nothing more to do. So the same goes for life. You cannot preach to people that being this color is good or bad if they firmly believe otherwise. They may have reason to. It is their “prerogative”. Once you accept people regardless of their belief systems or how they treat you, you experience a sense of relief. You no longer carry the burden of proof. You know the truth and that’s what sets you free.
8. Know people at a deeper level. At first, I thought that I should keep this for my section on the “oppressor”, but I saw that this also applies to the “oppressed”. When you know somebody beyond the “professional” interaction, you understand his biases, prejudices or whatever it is better. You can explain some of the behavior. Sometimes it is not personal. It is not directed at you. In addition, when you know a person deep enough, you do not judge him by what is showing on the surface. You have inside information; more information with which to make your decision.
9. Learn new things, skills, etc about the other group. In Chess, it does not matter whether the piece is Black or White, it moves the same way. All Bishops move diagonally, all Knights move the L way. So when you are playing Chess as Black, you do the same things that White does: opening for your pieces, castling to protect your King, etc. These improve your chances of enjoying the game and hopefully winning. In life, because of social status and other issues, people do not have experiences of the other side. By learning knew skills, cultures, languages, etc, you increase your chances of understanding what the other side is doing. You become more competent dealing with the other side. You minimize misconceptions and prejudices born of ignorance.
10. Know and live your rights. There is nothing worse than being entitled to fair treatment and not getting it. I cannot imagine a Chess player with the Black pieces letting white make 2 consecutive moves before he makes his move(s)! If Chess players cannot let it happen, why should you? Knowing your rights does not only mean that you know what you should/can get, but you also know what you should not expect to get.
I am sure there is a lot of literature out there dealing with issues of race and racism. I guess a bonus point is: KNOW AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ABOUT RACE ISSUES. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Armed with knowledge and social intelligence, you should be able to navigate the race waters successfully.
WHAT CAN AN OPPRESSOR DO TO IMPROVE THEIR OWN LIFE?
Why do people oppress other people? This is the question that the oppressor needs to answer on his own. He knows best why he thinks he is superior, why people who are different from him are inferior, why he has to act like the game is won before any pieces have been moved. Once this question is answered, he will have to look at it and see if it is something that he needs to continue doing for the rest of his life, or he can effect changes that will benefit people different from him that he comes in contact with.
A few suggestions:
1. Give people a chance to prove themselves. Sometimes that is all it takes for you to change your mind. If you win against Black all the time, all it takes is several games where the guy playing Black is very good and you see it over the board, that being Black is not a handicap, like you once believed.
2. Forget the colors of the pieces; just play your best move! In Chess, that is what you do. You know you are White. You think about if for a while, probably before the game starts, but once the game is going, you “forget” about the colors of the pieces. You forget that you made the “first move” because you are White. Similarly, when you forget about the skin color, and you let the people be themselves you achieve several things. First, you let the people be themselves, and usually, people do their best when they are not stressed out about having to do this extra work just because they are different. They just do the job, whether it is programming, designing, preparing for a case, presenting a case, sweeping, or learning new things. Second, the people feel accepted for who they are. I cannot explain how powerful this is. It is powerful in love, in religion, and I believe it is powerful in other areas, including work.
3. Know people at a deeper level. Once you know a person deeply, you never treat them the same. It is the reason why most people treat their family members differently from non-family member, for better or for worse. This is just because you know your family well. Hopefully, you know and remember good things! It is the same for people of a different color. If you know that they had a troubled background or they grew up poor, or they didn’t go to school til they will 10 years old, or that they have a family member who is not doing well, or … you change the way you look at them. This is called a paradigm shift. You no longer label them slow, angry, unteachable, or ‘Black’ - whatever that means to you. Their actions make sense. Instead of treating the symptom, if any, you treat the source. You see how you can help so that both of you benefit in the end.
4. Accept that you cannot change the world. You cannot expect too much when it comes to social issues as they are very complicated. All you can do is your best, one person at a time, one situation at a time. Sometimes it will not work out, but you cannot take it personally. After you have done your best, there is nothing more to do. You play your best move or game all over again. After all, Life is a game of Chess.
5. Know your rights and duties. Similar to the “oppressed”, this will help you know if you are doing the bare minimum or you are being taken advantage of. Hopefully, you will exceed the expectations, while making sure that people are not taking advantage of you by playing the race trump card.
BONUS POINT: Again, knowledge is power. Knowledge plus social intelligence should help you navigate the race waters successfully.
THE POWER OF PRAYER
When I played Chess, there were times when my knowledge and skill could not get me into or out of certain positions. Guess what I did? I PRAYED! I have always had so much faith in God. Similarly, here, I would suggest that before you make a move on all that is written here and elsewhere, you pray about it, and as you make your moves, you pray about it, and whether you are successful in effecting positive changes in the racial dynamics, you pray again. I believe that we are all created in the image of God. As such our treatment of each other should reflect the Creator’s Character. Need I say more?
Any comments, experiences, ideas and suggestions regarding race issues will be greatly appreciated.
How Far Can You See?
How far can you see? This a question of TIME not distance. In Chess, how far you see is determined by the number of sequential moves you can see. I will give my definition of time in life as it relates to the number of moves in Chess.
1. Seeing nothing at all. This is when you just do whatever comes your way. You don’t know what you are doing. You don’t know what’s coming next. This is the worst. It would be similar to a Chess player who just pushes wood. No thought whatsoever behind it.
2. Seeing the the next action or two. This is when you do something, and have an idea of what you will do next if things work out a certain way. For example, “I will study instead of going shopping. If I don’t spend this money I will save it for whatever.” In Chess it would be similar to making a move with a follow-up idea in mind - if your opponent complies.
3. Seeing the next three or more actions. This is when you do something and you know where you will be after the next couple of things are done. Say you have a meeting where you are going to give a presentation. You know that you have to prepare for it. Somebody has to type it up or create a presentation. You need several hours of undisturbed time to draft, compile, bump-if-off some people etc. I hope you can already see that when you start seeing further out, you start working in reverse. There is the big goal out there and you are working backwards to accomplish it. That is the ideal way of doing it. In Chess, it could be something like a checkmate in 3 moves. You envision where your pieces should be to get to checkmate. Then you see how your pieces can get there.
Sometimes seeing three, four or even five moves in Chess is not enough; but for the most part, the more you train yourself to look at a move and then go forward a couple of moves after that, the better you get. Of course, you just don’t look at one move. You look at several moves/options. In essence you may see a total of 15 to 30 moves. Some of them may criss-cross. Not all of them are valid or useful. With time you learn to eliminate some things.
The farther you see, the more likely you are to deal with things before they become a crisis. The farther you see, the easier it is to come up with goals and milestones so that you can monitor your progress. Finally, meeting the goals YOU SET will give you a sense of achievement and control over your life.
How To Think Fast - 10 Tips
1. Build a critical mass of knowledge. You have to have a sound base from which ideas or thoughts will come. This base of knowledge has to be built before you are required to think fast.
2. Be prepared. If you are going to show (off) your speed of thought, you have to be prepared before the time of reckoning comes. This is different from building critical mass above. The preparation can be done by reviewing bodies of knowledge, or you could guess/think about what the potential questions may be and try to answer them quickly.
3. Practice thinking fast. The brain has to be trained to think fast. In Chess, this is accomplished by playing practice speed or blitz games. In real life, you can do this by reading very quickly, reviewing quickly, answering testlets quickly. Practice makes perfect. This is different from preparation above. Preparation is getting ready for something. Practice is just doing it to form a habit.
4. Be honest. It takes longer when you fake it than when you tell the truth. It is easier to rattle off something that you truly know than something that doesn’t exist. In addition to thinking fast you would have to create it if you are making it up.
5. Practice lateral thinking or getting out of the box. If you stick to old ways of thinking you may find that when you hit a mental block, you are not be able to get over it. The solution may be to go around or over it instead of through.
6. Commit to thinking fast. You have to commit yourself to thinking fast. It is an endeavor that requires discipline. You cannot do it some of the time. Or you wake up one morning and you decide to give it a shot and expect to do well. Commitment may require some life changes.
7. Time yourself. How long did it take you to solve a puzzle, to explain yourself, to solve a problem at work, or to complete a testlet in an exam? FAST has an element of time in it.
8. Use your experience. Analyze your thought process afterwards. This is similar to analyzing a Chess game that you recorded. From here you see some patterns that you can tweak accordingly.
9. YOU should DO IT! You cannot read any more. No more tips. No more wasting time. No more how-to’s.
10. Remember it’s only a game! I have noticed that it is easier for me to think more efficiently, more accurately, and clearer when I am relaxed. When I tell myself that it is just a Chess game. Life outside Chess is not different. Find something that can calm you down if stressing is blocking your thought process.
Bonus point: SMART fast thinking goals. SMART = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
What are you giving up your life for? (Parallels between Life and Chess# 4)
“Life energy” is a term or concept that is introduced in (Chapter 2 of) Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. Simply put, when we spend time for something (money, for example) we give up time to do it. The effort and time spent is life energy. So if you are spending spending time - past, present and future - unwisely, you are wasting your life away.
My definition of time:
Past time: Time that you cannot claim because it’s gone. The only way to show something for it is what from what you currently ‘own’ from your past efforts.
Present time: The now. It will be gone before you know it, and you will know whether you wasted it or not when you need to show what you have from the past at a future point in time.
Future time: It is yet to come. However, you can decide now how you want to live/spend that time.
Parallel#4 is to analyze how you spend your money/time. When you play (competitive) Chess, you record your moves. Serious players go home and play through the recorded game. They can then tell if they missed an opportunity to win more quickly. If there are some mistakes that they made and they should learn from and not repeat. This is an example of analyzing the past time in the present time to affect the future time.
Analyzing your expenses will show you how you are spending money. This money is what you gave up your life for (at work). Whatever you buy with that money is worth your life. Now, THINK: what are you giving up your life for?
Parallels between Life and Chess#3: THINK before you do it!
In Parallels between Chess and Life I referred to this parallel as count to 32 before you spend your money or before you touch the piece you want to move. The 32 is nothing special. That is the number of pieces on the Chess board at the beginning of the game. Counting to 32 should also take some time. If you rush to counting to 32, what’s the rush? You better have a good reason! If you ju”Life energy” is a term or concept that is introduced in (Chapter 2 of) Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. Simply put, when we spend time for something (money, for example) we give up time to do it. The effort and time spent is life energy. So if you are spending spending time - past, present and future - unwisely, you are wasting your life away.st count and make it to 32 - you will probably carry out the decision you made before you started counting. It is a waste of time whether the decision was good or bad. The idea is to THINK before you do whatever you want to do. Should you spend now? Can it wait? Why are you buying it? Are there better alternatives? Could I put this money to better use? (In chess language: what good is this move to my position? Is there a better move? What is my opponent trying to do?)
Hopefully, your answers to the questions above are not yes or no. That will not do you much good. You have to continue and give yourself a good reason for doing or not doing whatever you wanted to do. Otherwise your commitment to the decision will be short-term. For example, if I want to spend money on a book, but before I do it, I ask myself: Do I need to do this? Can I put this money to a better use? I may answer yes to the first question and the second question… and follow up with ‘what better use’? Pay my rent. Building up a savings account for times of emergency. Then I wont regret buying the book. Ever! Or I may find that the book is necessary for a class that I am taking… I cannot share a book with anybody. Yes, it is necessary to get this book. In that case, I will never regret buying the book.
One last tip - do the thinking before you go to the store!
Parallel 2: Track every cent you earn/spend//Bishop, King, Pawn… Where art thou?
I remember playing Chess with Kajani K. years ago and there were times when I got tired of waiting for him to play his move. It was not because he was “slow” because when a Chess clock was introduced, he would play at lightning speed! It was almost never possible to beat Kajani when playing a game that was timed (with a chess clock). One time, out of boredom, I decided to study his face! I looked at his nose, hair, … and finally eyes. There! All over the place. Then they would stop for a while… and I would stop looking at him to “see” what he was looking at. The eyes would start looking all over the board again… It took me a long time to realize that Kajani was not just wasting time. He was searching, hunting, quizzing moves out. I can say that of all amateurs that I have played with, he was the most professional. The person who tried to find the soul of Chess - the best move or moves at any one time. I later adopted this approach. I think I am a fairly quick player, but I try to look at everything before I make my move - most of the time!
What does this have to do with life - more specifically, money? I realized later on, that not knowing where every bit of my money went was like not knowing where my pieces were when playing Chess. What’s the point of playing the game in the first place? How can you win if you don’t know where every piece on the board is, and if it is not on the board, what happened to it?! Similarly, I told myself to track every cent I earned or spent. For me, money is Chess. Tracking everything helped me see patterns in my expenditure. Oh, I just gave up my queen for nothing! (That’s how I think when I make an unnecessary expenditure - of course, sometimes it’s a pawn, and I don’t sweat it too much - until I miss the pawn…)
My two pawns. How do you think when you play chess or spend money? (What a loaded question!)
My 101 Goals in 1001 Days (Parallels between Life and Chess #11: Goal Setting)
I assume that everybody knows the importance of goal setting in life- if not in life (outside Chess), then at least in Chess. Way back when I used to play in (local) tournaments regularly, I would decide in advance what my goals were. My goal would either be to win the tournament (almost invariably the goal), or be in the top x, to be guaranteed prize money, or just to have fun. The last one almost meant I would watch, help with organizing and play casual games. The goals helped me to focus when I was playing. Every move I made was driving me towards my goal of winning the tournament. A time came when the money didn’t matter, but the reputation did. In life, I set goals, even though I don’t always follow through. That is the one thing I am changing. That every goal is written down for a reason and it has to be attained if I can help it. Below is my list of 101 goals to be accomplished in the next 1001 days.
This is not an original idea. I believe I first saw it at Get Rich Slowly. Actually, I started my list several weeks ago. I haven’t decided what I will do for every goal that I don’t attain at the end of the 1001 days. I guess as I become more technically sophisticated, I will add a counter to see how much time is remaining, and something against each goal to show whether the goal has been attained or not. I do not believe I will write about why I/you need to have goals. I will probably include links in the near future:
These goals are meaningful to ME. Some of them are not original at all.
Here come my goals:
1. Change so that MKX and I are happier… (no details here!)
2. Call family at least once a week.
3. Forgive and forget past hurts.
4. Pass CPA exams within the next year.
5. Read the Bible cover to cover.
6. Get married.
7. Speed up my reading (need to come up with wpm here…)
8. Speed up my typing (need to come up with wpm here…)
9. Keep in touch with all my friends at least once a month. Will do a list and check mark when done.
10. Save $AE,000.00 (Strive for $E00.00/month - I have the figures!) 
11. Drink water as the only beverage for 52 weeks.
12. Devote 1 month to each of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”
13. Get up (Out of Bed) at 6am or earlier at least 5 days a week.
14. Get rid of physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual clutter in my life. I will start with the physical, and then move to the other aspects.
15. Get FICO score >=GE0 (I know the credit score I am shooting for…)
16. Buy a house.
17. Visit family.
18. Spend a day at an aquarium.
19. Go to Las Vegas.
20. Go to Grand Canyon.
21. Go to Yellowstone National Park(?).
22. Write my Mission Statement.
23. Dance (Slow Dance) once a month.
24. Cook for more than 10 people.
25. Go on a “family trip” with my friends.
26. Be/Live Clean (physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally.)
27. Help 10 people reach their goals.
28. Work as volunteer.
29. Play blindfold simultaneous Chess.
30. Learn about meditation and meditate for 15 minutes every day for 30 days.
31. Do 75 sit-ups in one go. (Believe it or not, I am not even close here!)
32. Read an Economics book from cover to cover.
33. Read a Statistics book from cover to cover.
34. Practice keyboarding (music) once a week for 52 weeks – one hour per session.
35. Spend one week without watching TV.
36. Read world news at BBC everyday.
37. Say the rosary for 60 days straight.
38. Get to work by 7 a.m. every day for one month.
39. Clean up dishes before going to bed for 60 days straight.
40. Use only 1 light bulb at a time for 1 month. (Only light that’s on will be the one in the room/area I am working in.)
41. Take stuff that I don’t use to Salvation Army or the Red Cross.
42. Buy a new DVD player for my family.
43. Send money to cousins.
44. Eat healthier//Buy food from Trader Joe’s or Global Foods or Farmer’s Markets.
45. Go through VCR’s to see what’s on them and get rid of what I will never watch again//Related to clutter goal.
46. Run for 30 minutes every day for 1 month.
47. Shoot and make 25 straight free-throws (basketball).
48. Spend no more than 10 minutes per day doing personal stuff at work.
49. Stay 15 days straight without complaining or saying something negative.
50. Memorize the beatitudes.
51. Memorize the Apostle’s Creed and 5 other Catholic Prayers.
52. Go to church every Sunday for 6 months.
53. Clear desk at work. Only work should be what’s in my in-basket.
54. Don’t carry work home for 3 months.
55. Take food to work for 1 month.
56. Watch over 25 movies from the library.
57. Go to the library at least once a week.
58. Buy a new computer (preferably laptop) from non-work sources or non-emergency fund sources.
59. Track every cent that I spend/earn for 3 months.
60. Balance check book at least once a week.
61. Get a nice gift for friends/family who are getting married.
62. Avoid late fees (Library, Bank, etc.) and tickets (traffic) for 1 year.
63. Review my goals at least once a day.
64. Keep learning about going green (saving the Earth). Keep a list of things I can do and adopt what I can.
65. Learn about 401K, Index Funds, Vanguard 500, etc. Keep learning about financial stuff.
66. Repair seal for my car’s windshield.
67. Remove stains on car seats… May be buy seat covers.
68. Get car window fixed (power button not working… NOW YOU KNOW WHAT SHAPE MY CAR IS IN!!)
69. Get a license plate put at the rear of the car.
70. Invest in some fund/Vanguard 500 per simple dollar. Need to read how this works first.
71. Find real wage rate//Life Energy spend on items etc. per “Your Life or Your Money”.
72. Think/Act positively.
73. Sell items on ebay.
74. Find mentors (Trent is one of them).
75. Blog my life so far.
76. Review daily goals:
a) Leave Clean
b) Pray
c) Balance check book
d) Track expenses
e) Speed read self-development book (1 chapter)
f) CPA test prep
g) CPA study
h) CPA Audio
i) Clean/Organize home for at least 15 minutes
j) Meditate
k) Evaluate day
l) Plan next day
m) Thou hast to write for blog
77. Eliminate procrastination
78. Reflect on what it means to be made in the image of God. How do I reflect the character of God in life. (idea from 101 ways to make a difference today.)
79. Analyze Bobby Fischer’s games. (Fischer move by move).
80. Start a blog /// Get my own domain.
81. Learn HTML and other stuff in order to better manage my website and writing.
More to come
82. Finish Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life. (Goal added 6.11.07)
More to come…
83. Revisit my life and come up with at least 50 things that happened to me that I didn’t deserve. Things that I would call luck or whatever. Meditate on these and hopefully be humbled by the experience. (Goal added 6.12.07)
More to come…
84. Be a CHUCK (Goal added 6/12/07)
More to come…
Do you have goals to share? How are you doing? What has been your motivating factor/factors?
Parallel between Life and Chess #1: Make more than you spend//Play with stronger players
I love(d) Chess dearly and one of the things that helped my strength rise exponentially was playing with stronger players. I had faith in my ability to learn how my opponents were playing and changes to make in order to adjust and fare better. What do you gain from strong players? It depends. They may be strong because they have played the game for a long time and they just “know” what to do to win. By playing with them frequently, you have the advantage of seeing “things” that they keep doing. Sound opening, eyes darting all over the board looking for opportunities to create something or see weak areas to attack, taking a second to see an opponent’s move etc. That is just one of the reasons an opponent may be strong. That is not my reason for writing these thoughts. I think the weaker player benefits from the net (positive) difference between him and his opponent. This net difference reminded me of another important factor when playing chess for a living and for living to play chess. The former, you play chess to be able to pay your bills. The latter you work somewhere to be able to pay your expenses including Chess. Anyway, can you create a net positive difference in the way you spend the money you make either way? Personal financial advisers recommend that you spend less than you make. (I said, make more than you spend… it is not quite the same thing, but you end up with the net positive difference either way.) That is the way to improve your life, at least financially.
Some of the things that are obvious to us on the Chessboard are not that obvious in life.
How did you learn to manage your finances better? What was your route to improving at Chess? What do you agree/disagree with in this piece?
Chess Greats as Mentors in Life
Early on in life, as much as I wanted to be the World Chess Champion some day, I knew that a lot of things would have to go my way for it to happen. What if I didn’t make it to GrandMaster? Or International Master? Or Master? What would I be if I didn’t have anything to show for my efforts at the chessboard? What if I could not support myself with Chess? That was always depressing because it took me a long time to figure out what I was good at. Even today, I still have my doubts. Whether my accounting knowledge is good enough? If I become a CPA, will I be just another CPA? What impact will I have on kids’ life? etc.
Despite the doubts, I kept playing Chess, and because I loved the game, I read about other Chess players, especially the greats. I saw that we (Chess players) have great Engineers, Architects, Mathematians, Physicists, Musicians, Ph.D s, M.D.s etc - the list goes on. The people who love chess go on to do other things. Life isn’t just about Chess. I can’t believe I said that because Chess was my everything at one point. I still think that I will get back to it some day. I have talked about the chess greats, but there are a million other people whom we do not read about their chess accomplishments but they are or were very good, but they went on to do other things without losing their love for the game.
While writing this piece I decided to research and come up with a comprehensive list of Chess players and what they did for a living in addition to playing Chess. Luckily, I found a nice piece written by Leopold Lacrimosa at Chessville
What I am trying to say is that I looked at all these people, and told myself that I had to have a back up plan to Chess. I had to work hard at school - I had to make sure that I was good enough to make it in college and graduate school. I had to develop the skills that are needed to survive in the work place. Just in case. Here I am not yet a World Chess Champion, but I am paying my bills and looking forward to a brighter day every day/night.
Who were/are your mentors? Were you ever at crossroads between chess and life? What did you do?
Bobby Fischer - Robert James Fischer
Fischer for beginners - Analysis of Bobby Fischer’s games
I will try to analyze Bobby Fischer’s game- any that I can lay my hands on. It will do it in the style of Irving Chernev’s Logical Chess My work will emulate that classic…
My analysis will not be too detailed because…
First, I do not have the time to analyze Fischer’s games in depth. (Do I have the talent? We will see…)
Second, I will not be using a computer to do the analysis, because I don’t want to.
Third, it is a challenge for me to go through the games, and try to figure out what was happening. Usually when I play through GrandMaster games, I don’t have the patience to analyze the position before seeing the next move. This will force me to see what I missed, way back when.
Fourth, I hope my kids - when they come into existence - and when they take up chess some day, they can have an idea of what kind of things to look for when they are thinking at the chess board.
Lastly, it is my way of training/practicing for when I return to Chess.
Like everything else I write here, this is not to be construed as advice of any sort. It is just another chess player’s take on things. Feel free to write comments or suggestions on the games I pick. I would prefer that computers not be used to find moves and hence comments/suggestions.
I will get the games from Chessgames
I will be picking a game a week. That’s the best I can do I think. In a year, there will be 52 games to go through… and in 10 years, over 500 games! Amazing what time can do!
Parallels between Life and Chess# 10: Patience
In Chess, once you make your move, you wait for your opponent to reply (if you are playing White; of course, if you are playing Black, you start off waiting!)
In life, we generally don’t want to wait for the other person to say what they want to say or do what they want to do so that we can have our turn. We think, or at least I do think, that I can do it quicker and better, only if it was my turn. I am not very patient. I have never been. However, I am analytical - a subject for another day - and this has helped me observe that Chess forces me to be patient when I am playing the game. To wait til it’s my turn.
There have been times during the game when I thought I had seen every move, only to realize that I had not seen it all… when my opponent makes her move. Then I wish I had used the time I walked away from the board or thought “how slow”… to think about my response to the move. I know life is not a game. For some people, chess is not a game either!
I think the patience that Chess demands, from waiting to make your move, to waiting for the round to finish before you can play the next game at a tournament, can be applied to life outside Chess. May be cut out the wanting to win attitude for now.
Back to life: since I am training myself to be more adept at managing my finances, I have to learn to wait for the year end to before reap the fruits of my savings or investments. To have the patience to see the fruits of what I have learnt so far. Not very exciting or easy but worth it.
How patient are you? Did Chess or some other game have anything to do with it? What are your ways/tricks of “forcing” yourself to be patient when you play Chess and/or away from a Chessboard?
Chess is my life too!
I first saw and played the game when I was thirteen. One of my ‘trainers’ was a bully and thought I was lying that I had never played the game. I didn’t know why at the time, but I later realized I was better than most beginners he had encountered. I later became the high school champion, a few years later, university champion, national champion, and then won a few tournaments. When I was younger, I thought that if I had been born in the US, I would play chess professionally… Now that I had a chance to live there, life took over and I became an accountant! Along the way, chess has taught me the value of study, practice, incremental advantages, money, love, and many other life lessons. It is my way of saying thanks to the game that financially supported me at one time, and also “loved” me. It is a game that has made me who I am whether I am loud or introverted, calculating or intuitive, a failure or success. It is my founding block. As I keep writing, I will give more examples that will show the impact this game has had on me.
I have just remembered something that cannot wait til next time. My best friend, Zenga. I was about 17 years old and I went to the library to look for a chess book called, “Exchanging to Win in the End Game”. I had used read the book months earlier and it had a significant impact on me. The library had less than 10 books on Chess and that was one of the best books they had. I looked and searched the earlier that I expected to find the book and I couldn’t find it. I looked at the shelves surrounding that area - still no “Exchanging to Win in the End Game”. I was walking out and I see this guy with the book in his hand. I couldn’t jump in because it was not my turn yet… Was he returning it? Was he renewing it? The person in front of me left and I couldn’t refrain myself any longer. I asked him if he was returning it. He was like, you can take it if you want it! The sweetest words ever! He asked me if I played Chess, I said yes. He asked me where I was going. I told him I was going to my mom’s work place to get some money for something… we could go together if he didn’t mind. We went, run a few errands together, talked non-stop - he later told me, I had mentioned about wanting to be the Chess World Champion! (Wink, Wink!) We went to my place, played blitz and he told me I was very good. I thought he was very good. At least, up to that time, he was the fastest, toughest player I had played. I think. He gave me directions to his place, two buses away. We met and played chess at least twice a week for a long time. He is someone I have always looked up to. I just had to let you know that Chess gave me a best friend. We last met in 2000, but have kept in touch, sort of. I can’t wait to meet his wife, kid, and of course, him - to sit across the board again - and play a game one more time.
What impact has chess or any other game that you love(d) had on you?
