Ladies and gentlemen:

I have it on good authority that Marlana (my dear, sweet wife) plans to get me an incredibly nice chess set for Father's Day. (The board on this one will be cherry wood, reclaimed from an old barn. I have another set I got years ago for Christmas that is green and white alabaster; unfortunately, just recently I knocked over the green bishops and they're now decapitated.)

Once it arrives, I plan to start a thread in Not Very Magical, Still . . . with an opening move (I get to be white: it's my chess set). I'll expect LobowolfXXX to play black: he's an incredibly talented chess player. I further expect him to critique my play; it will be rusty (read: lousy) at the start, but will improve.

Now you know.

Let the betting begin. I'd put the opening odds at LobowolfXXX, 20:1 against, S2000magician at 1:20 against. And I'm probably overestimating my chances.

Cool.

I will have a dollar on Lobo - if you promise to take a dive.

"Incredibly talented" is a big stretch, but I did misspend more than my share of teenage hours on chess.

Pretty sure you're in the 99th percentile, globally.

Certainly just knowing what the 99th percentile is puts one in the 90th percentile globally in general right?

(Nobody fact check that. It was a joke.)

Two questions -

1. How will you choose for color?

And

2. Can I get "winners"?

It's my chess board, so I get to be white.


You'll have to ask Lobo as you'll be playing him.

Personally, I think that it's a great idea.

Perhaps we can enlist help from Salguod Nairb to get pictures of the board after each move, the better to keep the spectators enthralled.

Despite our squabbles this is one of few groups I'd trust not to seek outside help, human or otherwise.

This is a great idea Bill. Very old school.

He really shouldn't have brought this up so far in advance of the holiday. How am I supposed to sleep, wondering what his first move will be?

Aren't there only like 20 possible moves to open?

It isn't until your move that it gets real confusing.

Yup, 20 possibilities...

O-O-O

That was my devious plan since, no offence, I'm rooting for Bill.

Now you'll be so sleep deprived you might hang a rook.

It wouldn't be the first!

Bill, remember the advice from Joseph Blackburne: "Whiskey stimulates the imagination--but eating a big meal before the game is equivalent to giving knight odds."

For those interested in chess, an old acquaintance of mine (we both played in the U.S. Junior Open in 1986, among other things) maintains a good chess-related blog. www.thechessmind.net

Acceptable?

Perfect!

Will we be able to update the board, or will you do the honors?

I will do it, embedding doesn't work to well here.

You make your moves and I will quote you and post the appropriate image.

If you get ahead of me, I'll catch up with all moves/images in a single post.

Oh, I'm not super smart in chess move terms so a B1 to C3 would be most appreciated.