Can you believe it, Los Angeles at Golden State this Saturday has playoff implications, insofar as the team that wins that game shall be #8 in the standings. The Sparks have won eight of nine, and seem to have kicked that ridiculous habit of taking off one quarter per game. I’ve missed most of Los Angeles’ turnaround. I’m not as close to finishing this book of my chess teacher’s teachings as I thought, and time is running out. I’m either dying or fading fast, and I won’t be able to put this book together in a mad rush — I …
Author: friscodelrosario
Playing the right way
Basketball coaches often talk about “playing the right way”. Execute sound fundamentals as an individual, cooperatively create and use space as a teammate, be heard and be polite, play hard and play clean, and so on. Winning is swell, but it really oughta take a back seat to playing the right way (in real life and beer commercials, winning is what matters most, which is a societal flaw). Chess is the same way, but the difference is that most chess coaches think teaching kids to play the right way is drilling them in master practice. Master practice is the right …
Los Altos library sale
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is one of the very few beginner’s books that’s evergreen and excellent, so it kinda sucked to find it at a library sale for $1, because that means it’s not in the library.There’s a cool solo RPG system Wretched and Alone, in which you are, well, wretched and alone in various settings. Draw cards from a standard deck to find what’s trying to kill you that day, deal with it, and journal it. It’s optional though suggested that the player have a Jenga set (or something like that) nearby to represent the character’s gradual (or sudden) …
Did every old-timer get 30 years younger on International Chess Day, or was it just me
July 20 is International Chess Day, so I entered a marathon 5 3 tournament on lichess (rather than do the housecleaning for which I set the weekend aside). Against a 22-year-old Brazilian CM, I played like I was 30 again:
Laurence Faust, please pick up the white courtesy telephone
LeBron’s in the news because at least one team would rather wait for his Lakers contract to end than acquire him now. I scrolled through LeBron’s basketball-reference page, trying to find some way to summarize what the chap has accomplished. He has four spots of gold ink, signifying the all-time career leader in that metric. LeBron has four. Kareem has four. Michael has one. Wilt has five. Perhaps LeBron figures with another 80 or 200 more games, he can tack on another spot of gold ink — from *this* era. The bb-ref algorithm for figuring one’s Hall of …
Bought, for $111
Bob Long was a chess publisher who knew what club-level players needed to read. One of the smartest things he ever did was to buy the rights to Cecil Purdy’s work. Purdy was the best chess teacher for students and average players. There are really two levels of chess teacher: The teachers who turn masters into grandmasters, and bad players into good players. Chessplayers are delusional halfwits who think they need the books written by the first type of teacher, when what they actually need is the material written by the second. Cecil John Seddon Purdy was the best of …
Two immortal performing artists and one chess teacher
There’s a comedian named Al Lubel. He talked about enjoying the sound of his own name. So he repeated it: “Al Lubel. Al Lubel. Al Lubel. Al Lubel. Al Lubel.” He’d do this for minutes. Then he demonstrated a sense for the right time to say: “Isn’t it funny that the more I say it, the more you wonder ‘who is this guy?’.” I think that’s one of the funniest things I ever heard, partly because when he broke to say “Isn’t it funny that the more I say it”, I was thinking “what the fuck, how long will he …
There’s a homecourt advantage in San Francisco, for some reason
The old Boston Garden was said to harbor an invisible leprechaun who assisted the Celtics in mysterious ways. Which I think is more likely than the crowd’s energy having anything to do with the home team’s performance. Personally, I think basketball games should do without those people. Two teams, a crew of officials, game staff, media who don’t ask trite questions. The Golden State Valkyries won their third straight at home, 88-77 vs. Indiana on Thursday. In coach Natalie Nakase’s pregame conference, she said the team was eager to resume playing at the Chase Center, where the sellout crowds serve …
The worst seat in the Chase Center tonight for Fever at Valkyries is $176
At the open house for Valkyries season ticket buyers, I asked to see the worst seat in the Chase Center, just in case it was the only one I could afford. For tonight’s game vs. Indiana, the worst seat in the house is going for $176. For Sunday’s game vs. Connecticut, it’s $65. After Golden State beat Las Vegas, Los Angeles (at Los Angeles), and Seattle, their 3-game winning streak was the longest in the league. By winning their 5th game, the Valkyries outdid (in 10 games) what Chicago did in their inaugural season (4-30 in 2008). GS forward Kayla …
Los Angeles 93 Dallas 79
I’m relieved by Los Angeles’ win at Dallas Friday. Basketball coaches and chessplayers know the feeling when losses are devastating, while wins are just a relief. I’m glad Coach Roberts, who’s already fired on the Internet, didn’t lose a fourth game in a row. Internet sports forums are immeasurably worse than sports talk radio was, back in my day. Sports talk radio are screened by radio staff. If they get on the air, they can be flushed by a host who’s heard enough. Instead, it’s Dallas coach Koclanes who’s getting double secret fired on the Internet, though some think Koclanes …