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Javier

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Blog Entries posted by Javier

  1. Javier
    See that beauty above? It can reach peak speeds of more than 300 Km an hour. It's called "AVE", spanish for "Bird" and also an acronism meaning "Spanish High Speed" (Alta Velocidad Español). Today I travelled from Madrid to Zaragoza (350 km) in 75 minutes. I didn't even have time to take a short nap!
    But then again, isn't that what's happening all over the world? isn't everything going and happening a lot faster than it ever was? tranport, internet connections, food gets cooked in a matter of minutes in your microwave, marriages last months.... and what not!
    Yes, what not, even chess! Some masters no longer enjoy 5 minutes chess, they find it "too slow" for casual chess and are now taking on 1 minute chess, an absurd form of chess where just about anything can happen: an 1800 rated player can beat a 2700 GM, being a Queen down is fine provided you can use your mouse faster than your opponent, nothing wrong with blundering, chances are your opponent won't see it... the only thing which is missing is the dice!
     
    Here's a game I witnessed the other day on the playchess server between GM Winants (Belgium) and GM David Howell (UK) (yes, I know that annotating a 1 minute blitz game is just about the most ridiculous thing you can do, but isn't playing it more ridiculous still? Anyway, it's all done in good fun and the notes are not very deep at all!)
     
    GM Winants - GM David Howell [C28]
    1m + 0s, rated, 04.05.2007
     
    [pgn]
    1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nc3 Na5 5. f4 Nxc4 6. dxc4 Bb4 7. fxe5 Nxe4 8.
    Qg4 Nxc3 9. a3 {Apparently a novelty at the time. Only 9.Bd2 had been tried.}
    Ba5 10. Qxg7 Qh4+ 11. Kf1 Qxc4+ 12. Kf2 Bb6+ (12... Nd1+ $1) 13. Kf3 Qe4+ (
    13... Qf1+ $1 14. Kg3 Bf2+ 15. Kf4 (15. Kh3 d6+ $19) 15... Bxg1+ 16. Kg4 Qxg2+
    $19) 14. Kg3 Qe1+ 15. Kh3 d6+ 16. g4 Qf1+ $2 (16... Bxg4+ 17. Kxg4 h5+ 18. Kh3
    (18. Kg5 O-O-O $19) 18... Qf1+ 19. Kg3 Bf2+ $19) (16... Qxe5 {Even this is
    enough for a winning advantage.} 17. Qxe5+ dxe5 18. bxc3 Rg8 $19) 17. Kh4 Qf2+
    18. Kh5 Rf8 19. Bh6 {White has survived the worst!} Bxg4+ 20. Qxg4 f5 21. Qg7
    O-O-O 22. bxc3 Be3 23. Bxe3 Qxe3 24. Qg3 f4 25. Qxe3 fxe3 26. Ne2 Rf5+ 27. Kg4
    Rxe5 28. Kf3 Rg8 29. Rhg1 Rf8+ 30. Kg3 Rfe8 *
     
    [/pgn]
    And you'd NEVER believe white's next move. NEVER, EVER, EVER!!
     
     
     
     
    To tell the full story, most Masters and Grandmasters only play 3+1 fast chess, which is actually fairly close to a 5 minutes chess game, a reasonable speed and often you DO see some pretty good games.
  2. Javier

    Best move ever?

    By Javier,

    What's the best move you've ever seen?
     
    On my QF6 (that's not Queen to f6! ) flight from Singapore to Sydney this morning, I could not get any sleep and had to switch on my pocket pc to review some great endgame compositions. I then found the following beauty. What would you play here as white and, more importantly, why?
     


     
     
     
     
    btw, either Airfrance or Qantas have managed to lose my suitcase. I only have a pair of trousers and a shirt to wear now...
  3. Javier
    Maybe, just maybe I haven't forgotten how to play chess after all.
    Ok, here's a game I played on-line yesterday on the playchess server against a well known WGM. It's one of those 3 minutes games.
    The fun happens between moves 20 and 23.
     
    White: Woman GM (I'd rather not tell her name)
    Black: Javier Gil
     
    [pgn]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 Re8 8. Qc2 Nbd7 9. Nf3 Nf8 10. h3 c6 11. Bf4 a5 12. O-O Ng6 13. Bh2 Bd6 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. a3 Qe7 16. Rab1 Ne4 17. b4 f5 18. Rfe1 Nh4 19. Ne5 Qg5 20. Bf1 Rxe5 21. dxe5 Nf3+ 22. Kh1 Qg3 23. gxf3 Nxf2+ 24. Qxf2 Qxf2 25. Bg2 f4 26. e4 d4 27. Ne2 axb4 28. Nxf4 Qh4 29. Nd3 Rxa3 30. Nxb4 Bxh3 31. Rb2 Qxe1+ 0-1[/pgn]
     
    Hmm... if only I could do that regularly in Stardard time controls tournaments!
  4. Javier
    My free electronic book, "Learn chess Or Call Me An Idiot!!" has reached the first spot in the free ebooks billboard: Check it out here!.
    Brought up in a catholic culture, I've been programmed to behave modestly, but life's so short and there are so few things to cellebrate sometimes... what the hell, I'm happy!
  5. Javier
    Qantas found my suitcase back (it was somewhere between Singapore and Paris!) which means that I can finally wear a different shirt!
    So, what's that got to do with chess? why, can't you see it? it's got EVERYTHING to do with chess! now that I got my suitcase back my mood has improved and I can concentrate on chess again. See?
    Anyway, the following endgame position is one of those where you can tell that there just has to be something... yes, something but WHAT?
     
    White to play and win...
     

     
     
     
  6. Javier
    After tonight's Eropean Champions' League final between Milan and Liverpool, held in Athens, and which the Italian won (2-1) I will not mention the word "soccer" again for a long time.
     
    It's Rugby League for me now. Go WARRIORS!!!!!!
     

     
    National Rugby League of Australia Website.
  7. Javier
    That picture above is my Nokia6600. I've always used Nokia phones. Anyway, last week I started getting messages from people in my contact list, they said things like:
     
    "What??"
    "What do you mean??"
    "?"
     
    etc.
     
    After some research, I found that I had lost all the credit in my prepaid account (only 20$, lucky I'm not on a contract!). Anyway, to cut a long story short, my phone had a virus and, "on its own" initiative, was sending multimedia messages to everyone in my contact list (including people overseas!). Needless to say I wasn't sending those messages myself, it was my bloody phone!! 9which, by the way, were being sent 24 hours a day, nost just during the day time!.)
     
    I went to a vodaphone office and they actually offered me to repair my phone for a "friendly" fee of 80 bucks . After some more googling, I found a site with the key codes to hard-reset a Nokia6600 for... 0 bucks. The virus is gone.
    How did I catch it? I haven't got a clue, but basically, you should never accept multimedia messages, period.
    So, why am I telling you this story? well, if you were in my contact list, please be aware that I didn't send that sms, blame it on my Nokia 6600!!
  8. Javier

    Now, that's ugly!

    By Javier,

    I tried to find the ugliest move ever played in one of my games, but couldn't find any ugly moves, I wonder why? and then I remembered a position I saw during my Singapore-Sydney flight... Look at the position of white's King, I mean, it's so UGLY, isn't it?
     
    However, it's white to play and draw! If you can't find the answer, slide your mouse over the black line.
     
     
     
     
    That wasn't so ugly, was it? True, but look at this now:
     

     
    The dog above has won the "ugliest dog in the world" award for the second year in a row. Watch the full video here.
  9. Javier
    I took this quiz today, and this is the disappointing result that I got. Now you know absolutely everything there is to know about my thinking style, so don't use it against me if we ever play each other, ok?

    Your Dominant Thinking Style: Modifying
     

     
    Super logical and rational, you consider every fact available to you.
    You don't make rash decisions and are rarely moved by emotion.
     
    You prefer what's known and proven - to the new and untested.
    You tend to ground those around you and add stability.
     
    What's Your Thinking Style?
     
    http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourthinkingstylequiz/

     
    And talking about thinking style, what if I told you that no matter what you think about the following position, "you're probably wrong!" Take a look and try to guess the result after some calculation. White to play and...
     

     
  10. Javier

    Shirov's out!

    By Javier,

    Ok, Shirov is out of the WC Cycle after drawing his last game against Aronian. It was a rather depressing game. I'm not sure if Shirov had any seconds during this match, but his opening choice was really quite a bad one (once again). I mean, just look at the position after black's 16th move. It doesn't matter whether it's book or not, it's just a really sad position for a player with such an imagination. Watch:
     

    Shirov,A (2699) - Aronian,L (2759) [C88]
    WCh Candidates Finals Elista RUS (6), 12.06.2007
     
    [pgn] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.d3 d6 9.c3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.Nbd2 Nc6 12.Nf1 Re8 13.a3 h6 14.b4 Be6 15.Ng3 d5 16.exd5 Qxd5 17.Be3 Rac8 18.Nd2 Nb8 19.Nge4 Nbd7 20.Bb3 Qxd3 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Qf3 cxb4 23.axb4 Nxe4 24.Nxe4 Nf6 25.Nxf6+ Bxf6 26.Rxa6 Qxc3 27.Rb1 ½-½ [/pgn]
     
    I know it's still early, but I really want to forget this WC cycle already
    Some people drink alcohol when they wish to forget. There's an alternative, however: endgame studies!
    Ok, this is one which I saw the other day and I liked. White's position seems absolutely desperate. Not only is he the exchange down, he seems to be losing a Knight as well.
    Can white get a draw out of this? Well, if this is an endgame study, you're probaby thinking that he can. But what if this was one of those endgame studies with an error in it? Or am I saying all this to confuse you? Who cares! would you be able to save this ending or not, that's the question!
     

     
     
     
  11. Javier
    Since it has been clearly proven that it's extremely difficult to organize what is supposed to be the most important competition of the year in this country (Australia), perhaps we should ask New Zealand to organize it for us. Call it the "Championship of Australia and New Zealand" or something. What do you think? I trust New Zealanders when it comes to organizing national events...
    If they refuse, there's also Samoa Island, Papua New Guinea and other countries in the region. It would definitely give the event a tourist appeal, something which Australian Chess players seem to need when taking part in chess competitions nowadays, given the low numbers of people taking part in previous years.
     
    On more serious matters, here's an interesting endgame composition by Prokes. And I call it interesting because it's completely wrong!
    Your task is a double one: Find Proke's original composition (white to play and draw) and then find why it is wrong! (white's actually completely lost)
     

     
     
  12. Javier

    Cloverfield

    By Javier,

    This looks promising! "A giant monster movie that is shot using home video cameras from the point of view of people who are experiencing an attack on New York City."

    And this is what an IMDB reader had to say about it:


    I saw the preview when i went to go see the new transformers movie (best movie I've ever laid eyes on) i saw the preview and the first thing i thought was GODZILLA. the sound the "creature" makes sounds very similar to the original Godzilla. I own Nearly all the Japanese movies (yeah I'm a nut) but this would really excite me if it was. any one else get the Godzilla vibe? Hopefully IF thats what it is they won't mess it up like that last American Godzilla movie. It was good but didn't hold true to its roots, at all. Either way whether this is the big Thunder Lizard or not this movie seems very interesting and i can't wait to see the final product. i really like the perspective they plan to use to tell the story. anyways keep an eye on this one its gonna be a winner.
     
    <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Z13Vaoi6U"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Z13Vaoi6U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
    Ok, science fiction doesn't interest you? how about horror?
    Here's a short horror story, played at the playchess server. I have changed the names, both players are strong GMs, ratings are blitz ratings at playchess.

    Player A (3174) - Player B (3184) [E53]
    3m + 1s, rated, 22.04.2007

    [pgn]1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.cxd5 exd5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nf6 7.Nf3 c5 8.e3 0-0 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.h3 Qa5 11.Bd2 c4 12.Bc2 Ne4 13.Qc1 Re8 14.0-0 Bf5 15.Nh4 Bd7 16.f3 Ng3 17.e4 Ne2+ 0-1[/pgn]
     
  13. Javier
    Australia is playing against Japan in a crucial match which will decide who gets into the semifinals of the Asian Cup.
    Soccer is BIG in this country. Yes, sure.
    Let me check the TV guide for today:
     
    2 p.m, channel 10, AFL, Collingwood vs Essendon.
    7:30 p.m. channel 10 AFL: West Coast vs Sydney.
    10:00 p.m. SBS, Tour de France!
    11:00 p.m. Netball!
    11:25 p.m, channel 9: Golf!
    Midnight, channel 10: Motor racing! wow!
     
    Where's the soccer game? ah? PayTV, that's where it is! Anyway, shame on all these CEOs who run TV channels in Australia.
  14. Javier
    Short's visit to Montreal has become a nightmare. After 7 rounds, he's on just one point.
    In this game, he self pinned his knight with 17.Ng6??, a move which soon resulted in one of the shortest defeats in his whole career.
     
    [pgn]Short,N (2683) - Harikrishna,P (2664) [C01]
    8th It Montreal CAN (2), 20.07.2007
     
    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3 Nf6 6.d4 d5 7.Bd3 Bd6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 h6 10.Nc3 c6 11.Re1 Re8 12.Rxe8+ Nxe8 13.Ne5 Nd7 14.Bf4 Nf8 15.Qh5 Be6 16.Rb1 f6 17.Ng6 {??} Bf7 18.Bxd6 Nxd6 19.g4 Ne4 0-1[/pgn]
     
    What's happening to Nigel? it seems that it all has to do with some really awful teeth problems. I believe the story, but I wonder if the fact that Nigel has been playing too much blitz on the playchess server lately has added a certain superficiality to his play. I see him on-line just about everyday.
     
    Then again, I also see Harikrishna. HOWEVER, there could be a pattern here, and if you don't believe me, watch some of the mistakes he's making also:

     
    [pgn]Harikrishna,P (2664) - Charbonneau,P (2503) [D37]
    8th It Montreal CAN (7), 26.07.2007
     
    1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 Bb4+ 11.Nd2 Nc6 12.0-0 d4 13.e4 f5 14.a3 Ba5 15.b4 fxe4 16.Bxe4 Rxf4 17.bxa5 Nxa5 18.Qc2 h6 19.Rfe1 Bg4 20.f3 Bh5 21.Rac1 Rf8 22.Qc5 Bf7 23.Qf5 g6 24.Qf4 h5 25.Qg3 d3 26.Bxg6?? [unbelieveable! 26.Kh1 is correct. The move played in the game drops a piece for nothing. ] 26...Qb6+ 27.Kf1 Qxg6 28.Qh4 Nb3 29.Nxb3 Bxb3 30.Rc5 Rf5 31.Rxf5 Qxf5 32.Qg3+ Kh8 33.Qd6 Bf7 34.Qd4+ Kh7 35.Re5 Qg6 36.g4 hxg4 37.Re4 Be6 38.Rf4 Kg8? [38...Rc8! wins quickly] 39.Ke1 Qg5 40.Qe3 Re8?? [shocking! now white wins blacks Queen. Ok, it was the last move in the time control and Charbonneau was probably in time trouble.] 41.Rf8+ Kxf8 42.Qxg5 gxf3 ½-½
     
    [/pgn]
     
    The final position is drawish, although I'm sure both players had had enough blunders for the day.
  15. Javier

    Is it really Kasparov?

    By Javier,

    There's a misterious account on the playchess server which has everyone wondering: is it Kasparov?
    He uses the nick "Raffael" and nobody knows for sure who it is. Well, maybe some of the people at chessbase do know, but they're not telling:
    Oh yes, Garry has a nick called "Garry Kasparov", which he uses for special events. Whether he has a second account he uses to play regular games on the Playchess server? Now that will have to be kept a secret.
    Yasser Seirawan has said: "Everyone is saying that he is Kasparov, but I really don't know".
     
    Other people claim he's Kramnik and others still say he's Svidler.
     
    Here's a game that he played a few minutes ago. Judge for yourself.:
     
    Heimi92 (2969) - Raffael (3316) [b80]
    4m + 1s, rated, 11.08.2007

    [pgn]1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 Bd7 8.0-0 Be7 9.Be3 0-0 10.f4 a6 11.Kh1 Rc8 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.g4 b5 14.g5 Nd7 15.a3 Nb6 16.Qg4 Nc4 17.Bc1 d5 18.exd5 exd5 19.b3 d4 20.bxc4 dxc3 21.Bxc6 Rxc6 22.cxb5 axb5 23.Be3 Ra6 24.f5 Qa8+ 25.Kg1 Re8 26.Bd4 Bf8 27.Rab1 Re4 0-1[/pgn]
  16. Javier
    One would expect that with the advance of the internet, buying quality software would become easier. In my experience, it is actually the other way around!
    Choosing good software is surprisingly becoming very time consuming and there's simply too much information to look for. There are literally hundreds of sites with reviews, and it's very hard to tell whether the people who wrote those reviews have any connection with the company who creates the software or they're just home users who have tried the product and are being completely honest.
    This week I had the need to buy a back up program, and I wanted to get a good one with, apart from all the standards features, at least one other one which I consider essential: incremental/differential back-ups (some people actually quote them as being the same thing but apparently they're not!. I still don't know what the difference is, but basically when you make a back up, if you use the incremental feature, the next back up will only copy the files that have changed, thus saving time and space).
    Anyway, I spent endless minutes with very little success. Finally I came across this great site:
     
    http://software.toptenreviews.com/
     
    What's so good about it? Look what they do with their reviews:
     

     
    Now, I know that this is probably very unfair on some software developers who are releasing some truly excellent software which is never released there, and I'm not even sure what topten reviews gets out of all this, I fear they do get some comission everytime a user hits one of the links to buy software from their site. But guess what? nothing is free in life, and these guys are providing a good service and it's a chaos out there when it comes to choosing software so at least these guys are trying to add a bit of order to this chaos.
     
    Tucows? maybe I'm doing something wrong, but have they removed the option to select software according to best ratings? because I think they have! What a waste!
     
    Anyway, don't blame me, I just wanted a good back up program...
  17. Javier

    Who are the thieves??

    By Javier,

    A couple of weeks ago I got my jacket stolen. It was a great leather and wool jacket.
    Not only did the thief get my jacket, he got my mp3 player as well. I'm not sure what he's going to do with it though, as it was purchased overseas and the recharger is not sold in Australia.
    Anyway, last week I decided that I would get a Sony voice recorder with a basic mp3 player and FM tuner. Here's the beauty:


     
    I looked it up at Sony's site and it sells in Australia for 199 Australian Dollars + shipping.
    Too expensive!
     
    I used shopbot.com.au to find better prices, and the best I could get was something like 160 + shipping.
     
    So I went to Amazon. The price was less than half!!
     
    HOWEVER, and don't ask me why, amazon does not ship electronics to Australia.
     
    I did some more research. I found technoweb (based in the US also), with a really fantastic price and international delivery. BUT, although the price was good, the shipping expenses were actually more the product itself!! what a joke!
     
    Finally, I came across www.frys.com, also based in the US. The price was excellent and shipping expenses VERY REASONABLE. So, I've actually purchased the voice recorder I was after for half the price I would have had to pay in Australia.
    (I did check customs.gov.au to make sure about import taxes and stuff, and everything is ok as the imported goods are for personal use and below the 1000$ mark).
     
    Now, isn't this a strange world we live in? Buying something thousands of miles away, paying for this product's airfare and everything , it's actually HALF the price than buying it here?? Who are the real thieves in this story, the ones who stole my jacket or the ones who try to sell me this voice recorder for 200$?
  18. Javier
    Regional duel at Malaysia.
    Gary seemed well prepared and he got the advantage at around move 23 and never let it run away. Possible improvements for black? There are at least two, check the game:
     
    [site “Kuala Lumpur MAS”]
    [Date “2007.08.22″]
    [Round “6.7″]
    [White “IM Lane, Gary W”]
    [black “GM Chandler, Murray”]
    [Result “1-0″]
    [WhiteElo “2412″]
    [blackElo “2540″]

     
    [pgn]
    1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Be7 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Qg4 Nf6 9.Qxg7 Rg8 10.Qh6 Ne5 11.f3 b5 12.Nc3 Bb7 13.Qe3 Qc7 14.a3 Rg6 15.Ne2 Bd6 16.Nf4 Nxd3 17.cxd3 Bxf4 18.Qxf4 Qc2 19.Nd2 Qxd3 20.Rf2 d6 21.Nf1 e5 22.Qh4 Qb3 [22...Qd1!? Javier: A very interesting paralyzing move. 23.b4 (23.Rd2? Qxf3) 23...Rc8 24.Bb2 Qb3 Javier: And black has achieved something very important as he has prevented the white Bishop from getting to g5.;
    22...Rc8 Javier: This is actually very amusing also. 23.Bg5 Rc2! Javier: Very imaginative. The point now is that if white takes the Rook on c2, then his Bishop on g5 will be pinned, as there will be a mate threat on g2. But taking the knight is met by the surprising: 24.Bxf6 Qd4! Javier: And it turns out that white can't defend his Bishop, as his queen is overloaded and the Bishop has nowhere to go. 25.Bh8 is met by 25...Rh6! 26.Qg3 Rg6 with a draw. ] 23.Bg5 Qe6 24.Rc1 Kd7 25.Rfc2 Ne8 26.Ng3 Rc8 27.Rxc8 Bxc8 28.Bd2 Bb7 29.Ba5 Qf6 30.Qxh7 d5 31.Qh3+ Qe6 32.Qh4 Qf6 33.Qxf6 Rxf6 34.exd5 Bxd5 35.Re1 Re6 36.Bc3 f6 37.Nf5 Nd6 38.Nxd6 Rxd6 39.h4 Ke6 40.Kf2 Rd7 41.g4 Bb7 42.Re3 Kf7 43.Kg3 Rd1 44.h5 Rg1+ 45.Kf2 Rd1 46.Kg2 Bc6 47.Kg3 Bb7 48.Kf2 Bc6 49.Ke2 Rh1 50.Kf2 Ra1 51.g5 Rh1 52.gxf6 Rxh5 53.Bxe5 Kg6 54.f4 Bd5 55.Rg3+ Kf5 56.Ke3 a5 57.Kd4 Bc4 58.Rg7 Rh8 59.Rg5+ Ke6 60.f5+ Kf7 61.Rg7+ Kf8 62.Bd6+ Ke8 63.Re7+ Kd8 64.Bc7+ Kc8 65.f7 Line
    [/pgn]
  19. Javier
    White to play and checkmate in 10 moves, BUT, with 2 conditions:
     
    a] No pawn moves allowed.
    b] It must be a knight mate!
     

     
    Your chess engine doesn't help? tough luck! use your brain instead!
     
    Solution:
     
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