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Well, I've been campaigning for "Best Group Manager of the Year" for many months now, but since Chesskween has thrown her hat into the mix, I haven't been able to post a single comment anywhere. I'd feel too guilty competing against her. So I'm switching my campaign to "Member of the Year" since it's the only other one that I'm in contention for (although I was a lot closer in the other one). Good Luck Jane. I'll tell people to vote for you. I hope you do the same for me. Click here to vote on Chess.com Site Trophies go to page 3 Please vote: Best Group Manager of the Year - Chesskween Most Enthusiastic Beginner of the Year - Melanerz Chess.com Member of the Year - Billium248 Thank You.

Here it is.

Saturday, I'll be playing in the Augusta (Maine) Fall Quads (follow link for more info http://chessmaine.net/chessmaine/2008/11/meca-augusta-series-fall-quads.html). I won't be online until later that evening. Wish me luck. This is my first live tourney since the Maine State Championship of 2000, so I'm a tad nervous. I hope I win at least one of my 3 games. I'll let you know how I do...Jake

Hi guys, we've been challenged to a vote chess match. The match should appear under the vote chess tab in group menuy shortly. This should be a lot of fun. Each of us votes on the best move. The move with the most votes is made.Good luck to all, may we team up and whip these guys!

The way I threw queens away one might think I was trying to stay under 1500 to enter these tournaments-- trust me not the case. However, there is a new <1500 starting called reg reg-- only three out of 12 joined when i last checked.

I hope I'm not the only one who does this. If I am, I feel more stupid then I already do. Here's the scenerio. It is your move. You easily notice that if you move piece A, your opponent will swoop down and snatch piece B either putting you in checkmate, or in a position which will lead to checkmate in a few moves. You tell yourself not to move piece A, survey the board for your best possible move, then move piece A not realizing what you have done until its your turn again and you see the banner saying So and So won by checkmate. How stupid is that? I truly believe the best way to improve your game is to play many games against people of all rankings and share those games with your friends allowing them to tell you what you did right, and what you did wrong. But how do you fix stupid? I saw it, knew I shouldn't move it, and then moved it! I think I'm going to drink a bottle of Capt'n Morgan's Rum and stick my head in the oven. Just kidding about the oven, but I think you can guess my frustration level. I guess the only thing to do is to continue to play and try not to be so stupid in the future....Jake

This was an interesting game that could have gone either way until Anda (playing black) threatened my Rook with her Queen. I noticed if I left the Rook trapped by the knight and allowing Anda to go for it, I would have her in checkmate in 3 moves. Fortunately for me, Anda didn't see the future checkmate, went after the Rook, and lost. I have been burned by this so many times that I get very paranoid when I see a piece dangling out in the open for me to take. I study the board, trying to foresee 2, 3, and sometimes 4 moves ahead to see what my opponent has up his/her sleeve before I take the piece. We all need to learn how to do that so our ranking can continue to grow. Here's the game

I have a lot to learn when it comes to end game strategy, but there are a few endings I study on a regular basis. One is when you have a rook and a king and your opponent has just a king. I have had people offer me a draw in such situations because they couldn't checkmate me (which I gladly accepted) and others blunder me into a stalemate. In the following game I found myself with the rook and king at the end of the game. My study of this end game situation lead to an easy checkmate. I share the game so everyone can see how to do such (as long as you don't use it against me!).....Jake

I have challenged the Learning Group to a team match. To see if they have accepted and join the match, go to group menu and click on the team match button. Good luck to all who join the match. May the Chess Army march on to victory!

Over the weekend I had someone (who will remain nameless) repeatedly offer a draw when the game looked as though they would lose. It bothers me when some one does that. Part of me wants to give them the draw and, if the game wasn't rated or their rating was higher than mine, be done with the game. The other part, the more sadistic part, wants to just wipe them off the board, delay the game's ending until they only have the King left and I have promoted as many pawns as I have to queens. I understand not liking to lose, I have lost more than 400 games and counting, but to deny someone a sure victory by offering a draw to me is a form of poor sportsmanship. I don't think the person offering the draw in those circumstances are true poor sportsmen, I doubt they would throw the chess pieces against the wall and stomp out of the room if we were sitting down to a real game, but it does bother me a little when they do that. If you know the game is lost and you don't want to continue with the game, resign. I have done that many times. Ask anyone who I've played. I have even offered draws when I truly believe the game will have no winner, but I've never asked, nor will I ever ask for a draw when I know I have lost the game. No one should. Now that I've got that off my chest, off to play some chess....Jake

If anyone has a friend you think would be great for our group, please ask if they would like to join us. The more members we have, the greater our knowledge. If they would like to join, send me a message with their name and I'll send them an invite. Also, I've been considering, as we grow larger, challenging other groups to team matches. Who would be interested in that. While typing this, the idea hit of putting together a group tournament once we hit 20 members. Again, anyone interested....Jake

How do you post a game?

Hi all. Bexterdogg brought it to me in this game. It was one of the most pressure filled games I have been in. It is also a game I should have lost, and probably would have if it wasn't for Bexterdogg making a blunder on move 12. Even then, I feel like Houdini. Take a look and tell both of us what you think. Bexterdogg decided to join our group and I know she will make a great member....Jake

JMack gave me good directions and since my brain isn't feeling too sharp for playing I though I would introduce myself. I'm a 65 year old middle school math teacher-- 8th grade math and algebra 1. Like a lot of things in my life I came to it late-- started teaching in my late 50's. My chess career is a pretty close parrallel. Again got interested in my late 50's. I spent longer then is healthy in grad school in econ in Austin Tx., and that kind of theoretical thinking makes chess books and opening theory very appealing. But what I should be doing are tactical exercises. I did recently purchase a program called CT-Art 3.0 for tactical training, and I find if I spend some frustrating time with it my game improves substantially. Unfortunately it's a lot like work, and I don't use it nearly as much as I should. For me the game is so much a matter of developing the vision, keeping myself from going with my first impulse and developing patience. Thanks to JMack for the invite, and hopefully I'll be useful contributor. Bruce (bruhudson)

Here is an opening I face so often when I play black that I should know what to do, but I don't. If any of you want me to squirm when we play, do this when you are white. Here is a diagram after white's 3rd move. At this point I get very confused and concerned. I'm afraid white will take my pawn with his bishop forcing me to take his bishop with my King preventing me from castling and putting my King out in the open. So I move my Bishop in front of the pawn. What normally happens is White takes my Bishop, I take his with my pawn, which leaves a horrible hole on my King side and a huge problem for the rest of my game. Below is a diagram of this mess. What should I do in this situation? Should I not offer to swap bishops, ignore the threat his bishop makes and just continue my planned open? Or, assuming I do as shown in the second diagram, protect the king as best as I can and then procede to make the necessary moves to castle Queen side? Any and all thoughts would be helpful. You know you have a problem when you go to bed at night, close your eyes, and all you can see is the first diagram's position....Jake