All four editors at Quality Chess were playing this weekend.
Andrew Greet scored 2/2 in the 4NCL and John Shaw likewise in the Danish League. Jacob scored 1.5/2 and Colin mumbled his result and did not answer when asked a second time.
The 4NCL can be found at www.4NCL and the Danish League at http://www.divisionsskak.dk/holdarkiv/div1011/vis_rakke_tabel.asp?find=LIGA
Jacob’s win over IM Karsten Rasmussen bears good news for followers of the Tarrasch Defence:
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c5 3. c4 e6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Be2 Nc6 8. O-O
Bd6 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. b3 O-O 11. Bb2 Re8 12. Rc1 Ba7 13. Qd3 Bg4 14. Rfd1 Qe7
15. Na4? Ne4
Also winning was: 15… Nb4 16. Qb1 Bxe3!
16. a3 Nxf2 17.Kxf2 Bxe3+ 18. Kf1 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Qh4 20. Rc2 Qxh2 21. Ke2 Bd4+
0-1
Jacob has been working hard on his new book(Tarrasch) 🙂
By the way what is going on with King’s Gambit by John? Many people are waiting for this book.
We still plan to do this book, but we get caught up in other projects all the time…
I don’t play the King’s Gambit, so I could basically care less, but I envision a book coming out when I turn 50:
The King’s Gambit of 2010
(Copyright 2025 John Shaw) 🙂
@Patrick
Who knows what will happen, but as long as I spend all my time editing other people’s books, the KG will be liable to get nudged. However, I would bet on 2011 rather than 2025!?
One interesting (at least to an editor) language point: writing “I could care less” instead of “I couldn’t care less” strongly suggests you are American. The negative version apparently started in Britain, but somehow lost the “not” in the USA. Some people get over-excited about this development: the Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage apparently calls it “an ignorant debasement of the language”. Seems a little harsh.
Steve Pinker apparently argues the phrase ‘I could care less’ “is not illogical, it’s sarcastic.”
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001256.html
Does that makes John arrogant or just socially incompetent ;-). Or is it me?
Ain’t nothin’ gonna get accomplished by this chit chat. 😀
I disagree. We actually get some good ideas of the blog. Also it makes us feel more responsible to the readers, as we get the intimate feeling that they are real people worth caring about.
Neither; it’s definitely you.
Moron
Their office chat sounds exactly like mine, sans curse words. Though perhaps that’s just because digital is forever…
Actually, it is far more rude in the office, except for the 16 hours in the week Claire is in, where we all behave like angels. Really it is John who is an obnoxious twat, but don’t tell him I said so.
@John,
LOL, I guess I learned something, the difference between “English” and “American”. What we Americans speak isn’t really English. We just like to call it that! But you did hit the nail in the head. I am from near the east coast of the United States (North Carolina, specifically).
Also, technically, “American” is a dead language, like Latin. For a language not to be a dead language, it must do 2 things. One, it must change. Well, it does change. “DOH!” (A word used by the cartoon character Homer Simpson) was added to the American dictionary in the early 90s, as was “the f-word”, believe it or not (prior to that, it was considered slang, and most slang wasn’t in the American dictionary back then). Second, and this is what makes American a dead language, is that it must be the national language of at least 1 country. The United States doesn’t officially have a “National Language” (hence the “Freedom of Speech). Some will argue it’s “American English”, but really it’s not.
Also, just to make sure my prior comment (#3) isn’t misconstrued. The “2025” reference was a joke. I figured it would be done before then. I also didn’t intend to sound snobbish, or start this verbal war. It will probably be just as good a book as the others by Quality Chess. I just don’t intend to buy it myself as it wouldn’t really do me a whole lot of good. In reality, other than the Classical KGD (2…Bc5) as Black occasionally, which believe it or not, I probably get more often via White declining From’s Gambit than the traditional way, the KG doesn’t really appear in my repertoire at all.
@Patrick
Patrick,
I am delighted to know my linguistic detective work was accurate.
“American” as a dead language is interesting and a new idea for me. I am not sure the UK has an “official language” either. Obviously, it is de facto English, but there is no constitutionally defined official language (Wikipedia backs me up on this).
Also, your comment was indeed taken in the spirit it was intended. Jacob and I are just messing about on the internet, mainly for our own amusement.
GM Aagaard writing about the Tarrasch defense is fantastic news! As far as I remember the last book on Tarrasch was also written by him some 10 years ago. Hopefully this will build on the success of that book (one thing I do remember is that the book covered all the ways White tries to avoid the main line Tarrasch were addressed in full detail). Any news on a new publishing schedule? (We need a publishing schedule for the publishing schedule)
Jacob,
this news of a new Tarrasch book makes me very impatient!
I have studied by heart your previous book on Tarrasch, which I consider a masterpiece in the field of opening books. I’ll look forward to this, I hope earlier deviations for White will be covered, becuase the previous book was mainly devoted to the main line. will you advocate the exchange on d4 or the pawn to c4 in the main line?
oh I really can’t wait for this!
Quality Chess is the best!
Thank you for the nice worlds. The previous book was by no means as good as it could have been, and I don’t consider it a masterpiece. But hey, we did the best we could. Hopefully we got better with time :-).
We will cover sidelines.