This is, to borrow a phrase from Andrew Sullivan's blog, the view from my window right now.
My third-floor window. Apparently a street fair or block party of some sort. Right outside. The generator keeping that damn thing inflated is also making a racket. Lovely. Time to go to the park.
Open thread. Jibber-jabber.
or you could let out your "inner child"!!
A testament to the pursuit of excess plaguing American society...
Yah, seemed a bit much for a little block party, really. Kids had just as much fun on their scooters and going slowly down the street on a couple of ponies they rented.
I did meet two neighbors playing blitz, with a clock even, in the street. Pretty bad, but one used to play on the ICC and they both knew who Garry was. (Well, one cheated by being German.) I told them my kibitzing their game was a slight step down from covering Bilbao this morning on Chess.FM, but they didn't seem offended. I did find out from another kibitzer that the school we live across from just started offering chess on Fridays, so I can probably include them on my Recycling Revel rounds, sans postage.
Are the authorities just gonna let that hideous mouse-creature terrorize the neighbourhood? Can NOTHING stop him?
I think a needle would stop him, so he can't be that terrible. But the kids probably like him, even though some of them may end up with fractured skulls. I'm assuming he is a he and not a s/he. Nice nose, cool mask. Can't see the thing's tail. Looks like it is sitting in a spotted bagel. I wonder if it can talk?
Do Brooklyn kids think this guy is cute? Maybe reminds them of their parents.
You should all be ashamed , specially Mig .
Thanks to that monstrosity some parents were able to have sex that day .
There's a myth that without the Russian invasion of the 80s, US chess would be weak. It's not true. Here's how the Pre-80s Russian invasion Olympiad teams did: 74 3rd, 76 1rst, 78 3rd, 80 4th, 82 3rd, 84 3rd, and 86 3rd. That's 7 Olympiads in a row in the top 4 before the Russian emigres like Boris Gulko and Sergey Kudrin ever played for the US. The current US Champ Hikaru Nakamura has lived in the US since he was 2 years old.
These comments show that the Mouse Mutant is not being taken anywhere near seriously enough. Mig, call Homeland Security and HAVE IT KILLED. Nukes, anything, a little collateral damage is a small price to pay.
I think Onischuk fan may be hinting that the Masked Rat is part of the Russian invasion. I bet there are some Russian chess players hidden inside the Rat. Mig should challenge the Rat to a chess game in the street. If the Rat wins, then bring in the Boss.
For the prospect of Nanjing Super Tournament, Mr. Ye Jiangchuan said“it is difficult to predict the winner, but I still bullish on Topalov through the overall strength. It is not wonder for Topalov to occupy the first in the world ranking for a long-time, because he is an attacking player, he is full of fight, with various tricks of layout, more accurate counting degrees and high winning percentage during the tournament”.
Source: http://www.chess-pearlspring.com/www/chess_pk/2009/en/dsdt_mb_a39090824100294.htm
Don't you love those automatic translations ?
Watch out for those blitz players if they try to induce you to play some games "just for fun", then want to play $2 just to "make it interesting".
Hm. Why do you single out Gulko and Kudrin?
In the teams from 1978-1986 there were Lein, Alburt, Shamkovich, Dzindzichashvili, Dlugy.
Throughout the 80s there were 1-2 Soviet emigrants in the US teams.
The Russian-dominated teams came later, in the 90s with Kamsky, Yermolinsky, Shabalov, Kaidanov. They were the strongest US players available, so the teams would have been weaker without them. Nakamura is the first home-grown Top 20 player since Seirawan in 1990.
Coming in the top ten after the breakup of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia is probably more impressive than finishing in the top five before that time.
I'm sorry, Mig, but when a giant masked muscular rat inflates itself outside your window, the universe is trying to tell you something.
Heed this omen, and repent.
"Hm. Why do you single out Gulko and Kudrin? In the teams from 1978-1986 there were Lein, Alburt, Shamkovich, Dzindzichashvili, Dlugy. Throughout the 80s there were 1-2 Soviet emigrants in the US teams. The Russian-dominated teams came later, in the 90s with Kamsky, Yermolinsky, Shabalov, Kaidanov."
As I said in my post I was referring to the 80s invasion which included "Gulko and Kudrin" and "Kamsky, Yermolinsky, Shabalov, Kaidanov" and none of them played for the US before 88 when we had 7 top 4 finishes in a row!
None of the players you listed first "Lein, Alburt, Shamkovich, Dzindzichashvili, Dlugy" immigrated in the 80s.
The 86 Olympiad team which finished 3rd included Seirawan, Christiansen, Kavalek, Fedorowicz, De Firmian, and 2nd Reserve IM Dlugy. The only Russian is 2nd Reserve IM Dlugy who did not immigrate in the 80s.
Dlugy was an IM then, but he is a GM now.
Remember 1989-90 U.S. Chess Co-Champion IM Stuart Rachels, IM Vivek Rao who beat Kamsky in 91, and 1997 World Junior Champion GM Tal Shaked. You don't hear much about them anymore.
"However, his first, and what ultimately proved to be his only, chance in the World Chess Championship cycle ended with a disappointing 14th place (10/23) in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal."
I'm not asking for research, but if anyone knows why Larry Evans under performed at this tourney off the top of your head, I'd love to hear it. The Evans gambit was NOT named after him, but it is:
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Bc5
4. b4
Even if a native American team did well about 30 years ago, this has little relevance for the current situation. But of course the USA are by far not the only western team that, to various degrees, relies on immigrants from ex-Soviet or other countries. Israel (if defined as "western" for the sake of argument) is another extreme example. I think England is the only strong western country that never had any immigrants on the Olympiad team (and proudly says so). At the last Olympiad, the Netherlands also had a young home-grown team performing well (seeded 20th, finishing 12th with all five players gaining some ELO points) - but Tiviakov and Sokolov didn't play due to lack of sponsor money.
Will the American situation change in the foreseeable future? 5-10 years from now, will there be a team with Nakamura, Hess, Robson, (two more names to be filled in)? I kinda doubt it.
"Will the American situation change in the foreseeable future? 5-10 years from now, will there be a team with Nakamura, Hess, Robson, (two more names to be filled in)? I kinda doubt it."
It may not be in the next 10 years, but I don't. The top Americans born after 83 are Nakamura, Hess, Friedel, Lenderman, and Robson.
"The top Americans born after 83 are Nakamura, Hess, Friedel, Lenderman, and Robson."
Good, but not good enough.
"Good, but not good enough."
We're talking about kids from 15 to 23 whose average rating of 2586 is only going to improve and is higher than the average of the top 10 in #18 Romania. Vinay Bhat 2474 recently came in 4th at the 10th Montreal International Chess festival with a 2662 performance level. The 12 players included Bacrot 2721, Onischuk 2699, Naiditsch 2697, Moiseenko 2682, and Tiviakov 2674 who are top 57 in the world. Perhaps players rated below 2600 can compete. ;)
Couple minor points:
Dlugy though not born in US counts as homegrown: if memory serves, he emigrated here when his age was in single digits and his strength was 2000 or lower.
GM Partick Wolff is another homegrown product of the '80s who gave up chess.
While I'm usually sympathetic to Onischuk fan's points (about how others here so often overlook that US grew some strong players on its own), in this instance I don't quite understand. What's the difference which decade various ex-Soviets emigrated during? The players Bartleby mentioned - Lein, Shamkovich, Dzindzhi and Alburt (but not Dlugy) - were clearly important factors on the US Olympiad teams of the late 70s and 80s. Since the basic point here is whether the US grew its own strong teams/players or not, I see no logic in dismissing those particular names because they arrived here "before 88," or whenever.
Luke was just being his usual provocative self with that last post.
I think he's said elsewhere he considers Nakamura already past his prime (or something like that).
As for the others, all but Friedel are improving quite rapidly; Hess is still in high school and Robson only just entered high school. No one who even pretended to be serious would write them off at this point, their potential is obviously unknowable given their young age (plus the fact their achivements to date have come in spite of living in a culture that offers such limited opportunities to face strong competition regularly. I'm reminded of the phenomenon of Mecking in the 1960s.)
I don't know if Friedel is improving or not, but 7th place at the US Champ either tied or ahead of guys like Shulman (finished 6th on tiebreaker) , Ibragimov, Christiansen, Ehlvest, Kaidanov, Benjamin, and Shabalov is pretty good.
"I think he's said elsewhere he considers Nakamura already past his prime (or something like that)."
Nope. You're wrong again. I challenge you to find where I said Nakamura was already past his prime.
You need to be accurate, not so sloppy and wrong all the time.
At this occasion, I tend to agree with Luke that the players we (myself and Onischuk fan adding two more names) mentioned are "not good enough" yet, with the obvious exception of Nakamura. But of course the three-letter-word 'yet' is relevant, they are likely to improve further over the coming years ... .
Will they become 'good enough'? Good enough what for? To make it on the Olympiad team (i.e. being stronger than any of the immigrants)? For the team to have a realistic chance of finishing in the top10 or better? I still kinda doubt it (both), but I may be proven wrong in the future.
Singling out Robert Hess: He is strong, but not in the top20 of world juniors. To put some salt in (possible) American wounds: Caruana is certainly strong enough now - to make it on the next, probably already on the last Olympiad team. He found his own answer to what flyonthewall correctly pointed out: "living in a culture that offers such limited opportunities to face strong competition regularly" ... .
So, as everyone can see, flyonthewall posts an untruth, he gets caught, he gets challenged and runs away and starts posting in another thread like nothing happened. In a few days, he hopes everyone will forget that he got caught.
"Caruana is certainly strong enough now - to make it on the next, probably already on the last Olympiad team. He found his own answer to what flyonthewall correctly pointed out: "living in a culture that offers such limited opportunities to face strong competition regularly"
Except for Russia, I think this would be the best Olympiad team in the world! ;)
1 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2772 10 1990
2 Karjakin, Sergey g UKR 2722 13 1990
3 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2718 31 1990
4 Wang, Hao g CHN 2690 0 1989
5 Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2662 17 1992 ;)
Always a pleasure doing business with you, Luke.
By the way - what happened? Did you run out of GMs to diss? Seems bit downmarket to refocus your energies on lording it over lil' ol' me....
c'mon, fly,
Even a serial gm-disser and all-around nuisance is entitled to have you put up or shut up. Why not do one or the other and get on to the next critical topic? GM head sizes has been covered. Maybe some other body part.
Ok, that's it. Just be careful.
Why? Careful in what way?
Who are you?
Somebody who's tired of your incessant trolling, and general behaviour indicative of a mental age of 5. If you want to pick juvenile fights and have private conversations, don't post on somebody else's blog read by the general public. Whether its your completely pointless abuse of legends of the game ("lube-job"), empty threats indicative of a serious mental illness ("Ok, that's it. Just be careful.") your risible illustration of the idiom "pot calling the kettle black" ("Why are you so rude"), or your ludicrous criticism of GM moves made in time trouble, pretty much every single comment you make is designed to get some attention to your sad pathetic self. Why not admit your problem and get some professional help? It may make your life much better.
d_tal, you need to go away for a vacation. You seem to be bent way out of shape. I'm sorry if I had anything to do with it. A vacation would do you good. If not, I'll leave you alone as long as you don't act like a jerk. Same for me, ok?
Although I've never actually observed it, I would think that continued penis-thwacking would end up injurious to both parties.
Just saying.
CO
Thwack: for those who don't know,it's what the thwain wuns on.
A public blog is not a place for requesting people to ignore asinine comments. I sincerely believe you are not well. The sooner you get the help you need, the better. Trolling and feeding off the consequent put downs may help you assuage the symptoms of whatever mental illness you have in the short term, but it is not a solution.
Anand - Karpov rapid match in October? First Kasparov, then Anand. Is Karpov going to become a human punching bag? I hope not, but it may happen. He has a 10% chance against Kasparov, and even less vs. Anand.
Mark Crowther vs Mig. Who wins?
David Navara played a similar(?) series of matches against stronger opponents and lost most, if not all of them. In that case (early stage of one's career), it's a learning experience - and makes his name more widely known.
None of this applies to Karpov. It may well be for the benefit of chess as a whole (those matches are likely to have high exposure, even in mainstream media), and for the benefit of Karpov's purse [not that he needs it ...].
Chessdom has the most funny comment on the Anand-Karpov match: "the rapid games will be a good practice for Anand in case of a tiebreak in the World Chess Championship 2010 match with Topalov". Among other things, this may have applied to events as World vs. Azerbaijan and the Mainz rapid, but the forthcoming exhibition match ... huh?