Chess endgame rook/bishop vs rook

A chess game between Carlsen and Svidler, where the endgame rook/bishop vs rook occured.

The method that Carlsen used for playing the endgame is called “slide and shuffle“.

The rook slides elegantly from one side of the board to the other, and then delivers (“shuffle”) a mate on the back rank.

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Blitz Chess

I was a bit surprised when I read that Grischuk was/is considered the best blitz player of the world in chess.

I’ve read that he has a very good understanding of the game; but then I saw recently him playing blitz on video against Carlsen and Kostenjuk. Against Carlsen he lost an endgame with 3 pawns up, and against A. Kostenjuk he got a mate in 24 moves.

I think: important is not only the thing itself but also the perspective of how a matter is seen… and sometimes one gets a wrong impression simply because one doesn’t have a comprehensive view.

Ideas for a new points system in chess

There are many proposals for a new points system in chess, so as to reward a win with a bonus. However, in chess, a draw is sometimes a logical outcome of a game.

Therefore, my proposal for a new system, is to give just a small bonus, so as to reflect that a win is sometimes very difficult to reach: for example, there are positions where a 3-4-5 sequence of only moves must be found, while all other natural moves lead to a draw. To find the win in those positions within a short period of time is a high achievement, when compared to a safe draw.

Proposal:
win: 2.50
draw: 1
loss: 0

The system would make sense, especially in close tournaments where everyone plays against each other.

a) Mathematically it is easy to calculate, so that no chess players should have problem with it. Calculations with 2.5  is not very different from calculations with 0.5 in the normal system in difficulty and outlook and may lead to very similar results outlook to what we know for now in tournaments.

b) Players who play sportive for a win would be rewarded, however not so much as to render a draw insignificant.

c) there is no difference for a win with white or black: system remains consistent.

Solid or Passive?

In chess, and sometimes in other fields of knowledge, there is a fine line between a solid position and a passive one. To be able to recognize which is which, is a sign of mastery.
Who knows, maybe sometimes it is virtually impossible to discern the difference in practical terms.

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Exceptions

Exceptions make the rules spicy.

Japanese Words – Basics

A link to a forum about basic words in Japanese:
Japanese Words – translated into German

okay I try to translate now:
Naisho Hana ~ the mysterious flower …

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Something to think about (the magic experiment)

We see a table and on it an empty cup. The cup is standing firm on the table, it doesn’t fall down.
Now, some of you may say, this is obvious, what is strange about it?

Okay, let me show you…..

The table, which appears so solid, is in fact only apparently so. In the olden days, philosophers like Demokrit and the early Buddhist monks thought that the perceived objects were made of atoms.
Atoms were the building blocks of matter and objects and they were indivisible.

However, modern science has proved, that the indivisible atoms are further divisible. The are made of protons, electrons, etc, and empty space. And the protons and electrons are not indivisible bricks; they are made of some kind of matter which sometimes can be only described as energy, whose properties remain mysterious, as they seem to appear and disappear out of nowhere.

The energy/matter is moving and merely observing it, can change its behavior. Actually, like an actor.

***

So, it’s kind of surprising that the cup stands on that rather illusory table. The table actually vibrates and moves all the time and theoretically it might just vanish from one moment to the other….

So, why doesn’t the empty cup fall down?
Answer: well, because the cup is an illusion too…