A couple of days ago I finished my last game in the BCC Championship. I have to say that although my results were poor (1 win, 2 draws, and 7 losses), it was a great learning experience. It's nice to have gotten my feet wet a little bit so that when I'm ready to try again, I won't feel so nervous.

I am now more determined than ever to improve my game! For the past few days I've been absorbed in my chess books. I know that I need to work on improving my tactics, but I seem to gravitate towards learning the openings. What I think I need to do most is analyze my recent losses and try and correct my mistakes.

There will be a tournament soon in Pattaya with over 30 Grandmasters participating and Kai asked me if I wanted to volunteer to help with some of the work that needs to be done. It sounds like fun! I'm going to try and go, at least for a couple of days.

I decided to just quit drinking beer, or any alcohol for that matter. I wouldn't say that I have a problem with drinking, but doing so is against the rules in Buddhism and I am trying to abide by these rules. I figure that it's not really that big of a sacrifice to make. I don't need alcohol. One of the goals in Buddhism is to have a clear mind, and this is much easier when you're not drinking. I think I am capable of sticking to it. Wish me luck!

Since I've had a little break from school, I've been spending a lot of my free time learning about chess. I was watching a tutorial video the other day, and the instructor demonstrated his ideas on homemade chess diagram. I had mentioned to Jane that I would love to have something like that, and she suggested that I make one, so of course I agreed to it. As it turned out, she did almost all of the work because she is much more precise with the scissors than I am. It didn't cost that much to make; we found an inexpensive magnetic white board and some little magnets for the pieces at an office supply store. Thanks for your help Jane! I know I could have done it by myself, but it would have taken me five times longer to do, and it wouldn't have looked half as nice.




Why would I want something like this? Well, it's fun to set up puzzles and leave them there until you can figure them out. Sometimes before we go to bed, Jane and I compete, trying to solve mate in two problems the quickest (she usually wins!). The idea is to become more familiar with the fundamental patterns of chess, whether they involve checkmating or basic tactical ideas. I just bought this huge book titled Chess- 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar, father of the famous Grandmasters Judith and Susan Polgar. He had this theory that genius could be created and went about trying to prove this by teaching his daughters chess when they were young. Both Judith and Susan went on to be very strong Grandmasters, so it seems that he was really on to something!



The book is full of puzzles and the answers, mostly involving checkmates. It's nice to know that when you are trying to figure these problems out, there is a definite solution. The answer is there, waiting to be found. This is a luxury you don't have when you're playing a real game of chess! There have been many times when I've had positions that were similar, but I had no idea if I could force a checkmate. I figure that with enough practice, I will improve on my calculation skills and become a stronger player. If I ever get too frustrated because a problem seems too difficult, I can always check the answer in the back of the book.

Hopefully, after a lot of practice with these puzzles, the patterns will become easier for me to recognize when I'm playing chess. At the very least, this book offers some interesting challenges, which can be a lot of fun to solve- maybe you could liken them to sudoku or crossword puzzles. As long as it's fun, I think it's a worthwhile hobby to pursue.

For parents, I think that making something like this would be a nice way to bond with your kids. Watch out though, you might discover that they quickly surpass you!

As I had mentioned in my previous entry, I've been really getting into chess lately. I googled "Bangkok chess club" online and found that there is a place where chess fiends meet to duke it out on the chess board, and I've been going as often as I can. The guy who organizes it, Kai, is a really cool guy. He's always willing to offer instruction to beginners like myself, and also has a great sense of humor while playing- at least with me, and when he's in a winning position! He encouraged me to participate in a tournament that would actually give me an official FIDE rating. I was reluctant to do so because I am still very much a beginner and I didn't think that I would be able to really compete well, and also I would have liked to had a chance to study some things more before I really try to compete. I talked with Jane about it, and she said that I should do it anyways. I decided to play in it because even if I lose every game (which so far has been the case), it will be a good experience for me and give me an opportunity to prepare myself for future tournaments.

In my first game I had the white pieces and decided to go with an opening I knew very little about, but that I am extremely interested in. It's called the King's Indian Attack, or KIA for short. I was really nervous (probably because it was my first tournament game) and I left a crucial pawn under protected. My opponent, a seventeen year old Thai guy named Piyapon whose rating was over 1700 (which is quite a bit higher than I imagine mine to be), seized his chance and took the very important e5 pawn. From there my position deteriorated quickly. I panicked and made some other bad moves, trying to gain some kind of initiative, but they were not carefully thought out, and eventually he was able to win from a material advantage. I resigned the game, seeing that it was only a matter of time that he would advance his pawns to promotion and find an easy checkmate.

I learned a lot from that game; I suppose that you probably learn more from your losses than your successes. First of all, I knew how important it was to control that important central e5 pawn, but somehow I had let it slip my mind for one move. Also, I learned that I have to not make impulsive decisions like that when I panic. One more thing I learned from this was that it was unwise for me to go into an opening I did not understand very well. I thought that maybe I would find some inspiration at the board, but in hindsight I think it would have been much better for me to play an opening that I had more experience in.

My next game was again with the white pieces. I have actually been focusing lot more on black openings lately, so I was not quite as ready to open with white, but it was alright. I decided to go for the Queen's gambit, an opening with tons of history that I just love to play, though it can be challenging for me. My opponent, Abner, chose to accept the gambit and take my c4 pawn. I had previously lost some online games to people who used this defense, and so I had checked out some of white's possible replies, and prepared myself for this important possibility. He later made some mistakes in trying to keep his advanced pawn, and I was able to take advantage of this and develop my pieces while putting enormous pressure on his queen side. I was so stoked that I had made it through the opening with an advantage, but made a miscalculation and lost an exchange. Instead of attacking right away as I had done, I should have simply castled. If I had done this, I would have been able to keep the initiative and keep the pressure on. I really thought I had this one in the bag though, and my overconfidence was a factor that affected some careless moves that I made. He was able to take advantage of a pin that I had walked right into. Oblivious to his threat, he then attacked my pinned rook. At that point I realized he had me beat. I could not believe that I would have let myself get into such a bad position when my position had so much potential from a successful opening! After the game he acknowledged some of his early mistakes and told me that he thought he had lost. Later, another player who was in a higher rating class than us, commented on a crucial mistake I made and gave me some advice on how to deal with similar situations in the future. So yes, I lost the game, but I don't think I will forget the lessons learned from this game, so once again, I feel very happy to have decided to play.

I may have a new game on Tuesday, and I feel like I'm a little better prepared this time. The priority of all of this is to have fun, and to have a hobby that constantly challenges me and helps me to improve my concentration and analytical abilities. If I improve my rating, that's great, but it's not the reason I'm playing chess. If playing chess ceases to be fun for me, I think it's time to give it a rest. That hasn't been the case, even with my losses. There are times that I get discouraged by repeated losses, and feel like I'm in a slump, but at the same time it seems that it's during those times it seems that I learn the most because it forces me to look at what I did in the game that caused the loss, and then to work on improving it.

Recently I've gotten back into playing chess. It's a lot of fun and helps me to concentrate. As I get older, my memory seems to be getting worse and worse, so I'm hoping that something like chess might keep it active. My grandfather had a pretty bad case of Alzheimer's and/or dementia (still not exactly sure what the difference is) and I'm afraid that I might be susceptible to it in my later years. From what I've read, chess is supposed to help prevent it.

I'm not that great of a player really. I don't expect to become a grandmaster or anything like that, but I would like to be able to hold my own against a strong player. It does get pretty complicated though, and there are times I'm not sure what direction I should be moving in. I think that to achieve some of my goals in chess I'll have to do a fair amount of studying. I am lucky to have technology on my side, and there are lots of good chess tutorials available that can help you in all aspects of the game.

Thailand has it's own version of chess called mak look, but it's rules are slightly different. I've been reading about the history of the game, and it seems like the rules for Thai chess are closer to the original chess than the international version has become, but I think that this newer version is more fun. One big difference is the queen. She is far more powerful in chess than in mak look. Still, I would like to learn mak look so I can put up a fight against the motorcycle taxi drivers down the street. I played them once and was thoroughly beaten!

It might seem strange that someone who is against war as I am would be so interested in a game that has been traditionally associated with it. I don't think it has to represent war from a military standpoint. It is a battle of ideas, and is bloodless (unless your opponent is a really sore loser). It is all about making good decisions. I really don't think of the pieces in terms of symbolizing things like the military, soldiers, etc., but I think of them more as abstract mathematical ideas. Each piece has a value that is constantly changing. More than anything, it is about trying to outfox your opponent. I think that it's possible to be against war and still love this game. I'm really curious if there are others who feel this way about it too....any comments about this are of course welcomed!

Life for me has been really busy lately and quite stressful at times, but overall things are very good. Sometimes I'm really worn out trying to keep up with all of my responsibilities, but I'm doing it somehow.

I finally decided to do it. I recently bought a new keyboard and stuck a bunch of stickers over the standard QWERT keyboard layout, configuring it to Dvorák right hand. I tried out the standard Dvorák configuration at first, but wasn't too keen on having the s where my pinky was. That's why I opted for the right handed alternative. I'm not used to it yet and writing only these few short sentences has been quite a task, but I figure that once I learn it I'll be able to type faster than I do now. You probably won't be seeing many blog entries from me in the next few months!


Heh, it's now about a week later. Dvorak right hand is even worse. According to my brother Chad, the standard Dvorak is where it's at. I'll just have to get used to typing the S with my pinky. I tell you though, trying to switch over is frustrating. I've already learned the standard way, but it feels really clumsy, so I've gotta make the switch eventually. Why not now?

I've got this free typing trainer that seems pretty good. We'll see how it goes!