114th Minnesota Open Chess Tournament begins tonight

In less than 6 hours, at 7 p.m. tonight, approximately 200 chess players will gather for the Warren Stenberg Minnesota Open chess tournament. This is Minnesota's premier chess event.

This will be my fourth time playing. I played in 2003, 2005, and 2006. Tonight I will be playing in the U1700 Reserve section. As my rating is towards the lower end of the section (it is published at 1391 currently but should be about 1430 once my last event is calculated), I have no expectations towards winning my section. However, I will play every game as well as possible. Tonight is the warmup, tomorrow is the grind with three rounds for most of us. Fortunately I played in the Minnesota Class Championship in December, which also featured three rounds on Saturday. (Two previous posts are here and here.)

Details of the event can be found here.

I will report next week.

Tags: Minnesota, chess

Love and salad

Yesterday I made another trip to the Seward Co-op to purchase ingredients for dinner. We had a quiet night at home planned, which I wanted to start out right.

After looking through Epicurious for some recipes that include steak, I found Grilled Steak with Arugula and Shaved Parmesan. As we are both part Italian, I knew this was the one to make. (It has plenty of garlic! Yum!)

Americone Dream Ice Cream

The AP reports that a new Ben & Jerry's flavor of ice cream has been named after pretend-o-pundit Stephen Colbert. It is called "Americone Dream."

Tags: Stephen Colbert, Ben & Jerry's

Discussions of the USCF on Susan Polgar's blog

I read Susan Polgar's blog at least three or four times every week. It is a great blog with analysis of some of the latest GM games, some chess puzzles, and discussions of issues pertaining to chess.

In the last week, she has posted two articles that I think are important and critical. One asks what is important to the future of the USCF, while a second post is a discussion by FM Paul Truong regarding the relationship between the ICC and USCF. There are some good comments from the readers on these issues.

Regardless of the answer, I think it is necessary to approach these problems from both a strategic and customer-service viewpoint. That is, does a particular course of action make sense to what the USCF is trying to achieve, and does that action help improve the customer experience and relationship? To me, the answer to at least one of these questions needs to be "Yes," with the hope that the USCF concentrates on actions that can answer both questions positively.

Tags: chess, USCF

Yet more on The Omnivore's Dilemma

Melissa and I have made more progress through The Omnivore's Dilemma. I'm in a part of the book which discusses Polyface, a farm in Virginia, in great detail. I cannot count the ways that I am impressed with what I have read!

Tags: Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, sustainability

My round six game

This was a well played game by my opponent. He played the Four Pawn Attack variation of the King's Indian. I hadn't played against before, and I commented to him afterwards that the attack has major fangs on it. It seemed like an opening which needed precise play by Black to equalize.

After getting smoked so badly, I reviewed a couple of games this weekend from two of my chess books. Both indicated that indeed, careful play was needed by Black. My seventh move should have been e6.

However, it wasn't. Instead, our game looked like this:

Round Six of the TCCL: Tal Tales v Knights of Kroll

On Friday night we played our sixth round at the Twin Cities Chess League. The matchups for each board were as follows:

Kelly v Gary N
Gary K v Me
John v Henry K
Ron J v Blaine

Gary K is the captain of The Knights of Kroll. So, we had captain v captain on board two. It was a brutal and quick game which left me checkmated on the 23rd move.

Blaine was the next victim, who was a piece behind relatively early. He played on valiantly, but Ron was victorious in that game.

Now Kelly and John had two very interesting games. Kelly was playing the White side of a Sicilian, and I cannot remember the opening that John had against Henry. However, I had hope because of how well our two remaining players were executing their plans that we might get two wins to draw out the match.

John's game finished ahead of Kelly's. He had a good attack against Henry's king. Most of his pieces were aiming in that direction, while Henry kept up a good counterattack. Henry played a move that would have forced John to back up the Rook that was now under attack, or...

He could sac that Rook for two pawns(!!!), which he did! I was thinking that move had lots of potential, and John took advantage of all the open lines of force once he did away with those two Pawns. The mobility of John's remaining pieces more than compensated for the loss of material. John got in a number of good forks which left Henry with little choice but to eventually resign the game.

So, it was now up to Kelly. He had a great attack against Gary's Kingside. He exchanged a Rook for a defending Bishop which allowed mobility for his advanced Knight. As they trudged through the middlegame, they ended up playing to a draw in a complicated endgame with less than a minute remaining for each of them.

So, we lost the match 1.5-2.5, leaving us with a score of 2.5 for the season with one match remaining next month. See the Minnesota Chess website for a preview of next month's deciding battles.

Tags: Twin Cities Chess League, chess

Round Six of the TCCL is tomorrow

Tomorrow we will be playing the Knights of Kroll in round six. As we had a strong result last month, I am thinking we can win tomorrow.

Tags: Twin Cities Chess League, chess

The economics of eating, part II

I have been writing a few posts on eating and its implications. (1) (2) So this morning I went to the Seward Co-op to buy some grass-fed beef. They had a few different varieties available from Thousand Hills Cattle Company, but because of the price, I purchased the ground beef at $5.99/lb. (One of the cuts of steak was $17.99/lb. Perhaps another day on that one.)

It is but a small purchasing choice. But the cashier told me that the meat was very good, so I look forward to making a delicious meal for my family tonight, along with organic tomatoes and avocados to serve on the burgers.

The economics of eating

I was reading Dara Moskowitz's latest article for the City Pages, Then There Were None, which laments the closing of Auriga, the last of a number of fine restaurants that have closed their doors.

Although I never made it to Auriga, I feel bad that this highly praised restaurant closed. It sounds like this is one of many that valued their food, their employees, and the quality of what went into the meals they served their guests.

As a family with a toddler, we do not go out to such places very often. Our son is a good eater and enjoys a wide variety of food, but we reserve going out to places on the high end when it is just the two of us. (For example, Melissa and I had a rare date on Saturday night, which included going to Nami.)

Her article contained some of the thematic elements of The Omnivore's Dilemma, including the price of food. Much of what we eat as American's is heavily processed food which is inexpensive because of the subsidies paid to the companies to keep food cheap. Unfortunately, like the coffee business, it is the small farmer who often gets screwed and does not get a fair wage for his or her product.

Where this impacts us as eaters is that it is far cheaper to eat at places that buy that artificially cheap and commodified food instead of being able for us to dine at establishments that want to improve both biodiversity and the food experience with choosiness about their ingredients.

I thought Dara's article to be a thought provoking one, which I recommend to people who are interested in fine dining or who want to understand some of the economics of operating a restaurant.

Tags: Twin Cities, dining, restaurants

Particle's coming back in April!!!

I've been checking out the Particle site sporadically, and today I find that they will be touring again, including a stop at the Cabooze on April 12.

That is all!

More on the Omnivore's Dilemma

I'm following up on my previous post on Michael Pollan's wonderful book. I've read through a few more chapters of the book, including the chapter on how cattle are fed corn to fatten them up. (As I closed the book for the day yesterday afternoon, I played a recording of The Dead's Unbroken Chain from a show I went to a few years ago. I am also looking at the second page of Alex Grey's 2007 calendar, which features the work Gaia. One theme of this painting is the interconnectedness of all life.)

A large amount of domestic beef is now fed corn, which is difficult for the animals to properly digest, as they have not evolved to eat it. Rather, they naturally have a diet of grasses.

So, as I prepare to make some steak for dinner tonight, I am thinking about my role in this web of life. I talked with Melissa about my thoughts on how I want to go shopping at the local co-op for beef because then we will be paying the true cost for grass-fed, free-range, and hopefully organic beef. I think we will end up eating it less, but at least when we do, we will have considered the economic, and more importantly, the environment costs of this food that we enjoy. (I do not think I would go back to being a vegetarian, which I had been in my early 20's. However, I want to make better choices for our family that reflect our values.)

In a related story, my university's newspaper has an article from a writer who is a vegan.

Tags: Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, corn, diet

Rook sac for pawn leading to double bishop checkmate

Browsing through some classic games previously, I had seen this checkmate. I love this one between Alekhine and Vasic.

I was thrilled that I was able to execute a similar mate against my opponent in a match on Chessworld.

For 24 fans

I found this gent's review of the current season of 24.

Season Premier (Episodes One Through Four)

Episode Five

Episode Six

The Omnivore's Dilemma

Melissa and I have begun reading Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. After I finished the second chapter, I had a few thoughts regarding the role of fertilizer in the production of corn and the role of corn in the production of fuel energy.

Pollan discusses the Haber-Bosch process that is used to convert nitrogen and hydrogen to ammonia. This is a high-energy process that requires fossil fuels to produce ammonia-based fertilizers. I am not sure what percentage of corn in the United States requires fertilizers, as farmers also grow corn by alternating fields with nitrogen-fixing crops, such as soybeans or alfalfa.

So, food for thought: So, what is the overall benefit of ethanol production when large amounts of fossil fuels are used to provide the necessary nitrogen for the plants?

I am very glad that what does not become food will become fuel. However, I think Pollan did a good job of highlighting the energy intensiveness of the production of corn.

Tags: Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, corn, ethanol

Some chess items, including a Jeremy Silman review

Minnesota native and IM, John Bartholomew, has just started a chess blog, Johnny B's Chess Connection. Please check it out.

Beep...plunk...scritch. On Saturday morning I heard the sounds of the chess clocks, chess pieces, and students quietly notating their games at a local scholastic tournament run by Alex Adams. This may be an event I run next Winter, so I got a good preview. The coaches and junior high students are serious, and they had many good games. I hope Alex posts a copy of one of the games which featured two players locked in duel checkmating attacks. I was quite impressed with that game!

Finally, it looks like quite a few people have found my blog through searching for Jeremy Silman's Silman's Complete Endgame Course. Since I have read through the first four sections, I'll give a review here.

First of all, I will state my perspective as a reviewer. I started reading Silman's Reassess Your Chess books a few years ago when I started playing rated chess. I found the pair of Reassess books helpful in orienting chess as a book about planning and imbalances. (When I started playing rated chess, I thought I would have to memorize many opening lines. Silman helped me appreciated what chess was really about.)

As I prepare for the Minnesota Open next month as a competitor in the Reserve (U1700) section, I think the Complete Endgame Course will be quite helpful for me. I just crossed back into class C territory. I started reading this book last week, and it is organized into sections of knowledge based on rating.

So far I covered Endgames for Beginner (Unrated-999) as well as Endgames for Classes E, D, and C. (I'll be rereading through the Class C material, as well as study the Class B material in preparation for my opponents at the 1600+ range.) What I found through this reading is indeed a guide of what material is helpful at each of these rating levels.

When I have run tournaments for some beginner students, I will often see one player overwhelming the other in material, but not know how to finish off the game simply and painlessly. I will see random moves by the materially-stronger player which lack direction and coordination. Any student who is at this level will find what they need to easily complete the checkmating tasks expected of them at the <1000 level.

The next two sections cover opposition first at the elementary level and then at a more sophisticated level. This is crucial to understanding how to flex the muscle of the King at the end of the game. This is combined with some King and Pawn endings and a few other elementary endings that are common and easy to understand.

Finally, I read all the material for the class C level. Much of this is new to me (such as the Bishop and Rook-Pawn endgame and the Queen vs King and Pawn.) I had some familiarity with the Lucena and Philidor Positions common in Rook vs Rook and Pawn endings, but rereading this material here helped solidify this knowledge. I plan to commit this to memory so that I do not have to struggle through well-known endgame problems.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone serious about improving their chess who needs to improve their endgame. Silman's writing is clear and witty. There are a sufficient number of examples and diagrams included to illustrate his points.

Tags: chess, chess blogs, endgames

My win against Norm...

In case you did not get to my game against Norm from the review of the Thursday Knighter I on the Chess Castle of Minnesota blog, it may look a little weird that I was able to win being three pawns down.

The key was time pressure! Sometimes there is not enough time in a game to solve the problems and win. In my case, I was holding out for a draw, but won.

Joe v Norm, Round 4

Keeping my mind sharp!

Today has been a productive day. I posted for two positions earlier, then I headed out to Barnes & Noble for lunch and to browse for some books. My parents got me a gift card for Christmas, and it felt like a good day to look around.

I came home with three purchases. I got into sudoku a year ago at the Minnesota Class Chess Championship. I purchased Kakuro Presented by Will Shortz. I also picked up Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame Course. (I've benefited from Silman's Reassess Your Chess series, and since I am concentrating on my endgame, I thought this book would be very helpful!)

Finally, I purchased The Omnivore's Dilemma. I heard this interview with Michael Pollan on NPR last year, and Melissa and I watched this interview on Colbert. It should be a book that we will both enjoy.

A partial review of DSO...

...since I did not stay the entire time. (This had nothing to do with the music.)

I went to see DSO for the first time last night. I got to the Cabooze shortly after 8, so I didn't have a long wait before I got inside. I walked up to the stage and noticed a few things. There was one drummer, so I knew this was going to be from the period in which Mickey took a break from the band. (Here is a timeline.) This would make the show somewhere between 1971 and 1974.

I hung out with a couple of friends. One pointed out there were four microphones, so Lisa would be singing Donna Godchaux's part. This narrowed it down, and l guessed 1972 or 1973.

I am not an expert on these things, but my perusal of DeadBase did help me a bit with the identification of last night's setlist. Both the number of songs and some of the song selection verified that it was from this time period.

The show started out with:

Promised Land, He's Gone.

That was definitely early Dead, because by the time I started seeing them in the mid-80's, He's Gone was a second set song.

It continued

Box of Rain, Wave That Flag

(The lyrics were different than U.S. Blues, as it was an earlier version.)

By this time, one of my friends talked with a friend who had access to Deadbase, so he knew what show it was. I guessed February or March 1973.

The rest of the set went

Mexicali Blues, Bird Song, Beat It On Down The Line, Loose Lucy, Me and Bobby McGee, Stella Blue (!!!), El Paso, They Love Each Other, and Playin' In the Band (I'll give that another !!!)

The other friend I was hanging with had heard the show before, and he figured it was the St. Paul Auditorium show from February 17, 1973, which it was.

The band was quite good. The gents playing Bobby and Jerry's roles had very good voices reminiscent of the originals. They jammed well together, which is especially obvious in songs like Bird Song and Playin'.

I wish I had stayed through the remainder of the show, but that is how it goes sometimes. Either way, I am glad that I went, and I would definitely see DSO again.

Here is the info from DSO's site:

Show #1,347 - Wed, Jan 24, 2007 at Cabooze, Minneapolis, MN
Performing 2/17/1973 Auditorium, St. Paul, MN
1:Promised, He's Gone, L. L. Rain, Box Of Rain, Wave That Flag, Mexicali, Bird Song, BIODTL, Loose Lucy, Bobby McGee, Stella Blue, El Paso, TLEO, Playin
2:Truckin, Row Jimmy, Big River, You Ain't Woman Enough, H. C. Sunshine> China Cat> I Know You Rider, Around, NFA> GDTRFB> NFA, Saturday Night
Encore: Casey Jones
Filler: Race Is On*
with special guest Dan Klepinger - One drummer (Rob) - *with Dino on drums

Tags: Dark Star Orchestra, DSO, Grateful Dead, music, music review