Another Update

OK, I just realized that another month has gone by without me posting anything. I just have either been too tired or too unmotivated...my apologies!

Tomorrow is October 1st. It happens to be my best friend Gerald's birthday, but Rowen will also be 18 months old!

Rowen is simply amazing! He can just about run anywhere now without falling on his face (LOL)! His vocabulary has just about doubled this past month (in addition to "Ma-Ma" and "Da-Da" "Ro-Ro"/Grover and "Boo", he says "Owww" when he makes a boo-boo that is not so bad that it would make him cry, "Ball", "Open", "Yes", "Happy" and "Baby")...and he tries to kiss and hug everybody, including the little girls in his daycare (he is getting an early start, I guess)! He loves music! He was dancing to some boogie-woogie sort of country song over Muzak or something when we went out to dinner last night...but I am not afraid since he also bobs along to Dream Theater on the stereo at home!

I am basically completely healed from my experience with the Brown Recluse spider bite and subsequent cellulitis in my foot. The area of the spider bite still looks ugly, but is not still an exposed wound like so many bite victims you hear about. Unfotunately, the bite area will probably look like this for a long time, based on what I have heard about these kinds of spider bites.

My sister Beth and her husband Josh have both purchased a new house and sold their present one, all within a week or so of one another! Beth is finally moving out of the city of Atlanta proper and into the suburbs! The new house is in a neighborhood near Dunwoody, outside of the "Perimeter" area of Atlanta!

My mother Peggy is currently on a trip to Alberquerque, NM, with daylong side trips to the state capital of Santa Fe and to Taos. This is part of some king of organization for (single) women over age forty. At age fifty-seven and a widow, my mom certainly qualifies. She has a "roommate" for the trip, a recently-retired elementary school teacher, so they should get along very well. My mom is taking a one year sabbatical from teaching herself this year, and taking the time to spend more time with family (and her grandson, of course) and to experience new things. I think that this is really good for her, as she needs that time following the death of my dad Chuck nearly three years ago.

I am planning on playing in the 2005 Boris Kogan Memorial chess tournament in Atlanta in a month. I intend, beginning this weekend, to "train" for the tournament...that is, do nothing but tactical excersises and problems for at least an hour every evening if possible (and perhaps even more if time permits) until tournament time. The section I will be playing in is a little wider than normal as far as rating ranges are concerned, so it is a strong possibility that I face either my friend David Guild or my (semi) student Joseph Frady OTB ("over the board")...or maybe even both of them! In a Swiss System chess tournament like this, a lot depends on whether you win/lose/draw round by round to determine who your opponent will be in the next round, and whether you will play with the White or Black pieces. I will likely face the highest or near-highest rated player in the section for the first round, and will likely pull the Black pieces.
David has said he has been working on something that he plans to spring as a surprise OTB on me, but that sounds rather cryptic. I have played David a number of times OTB at the Chess Club in the past, and I have found that we have very similar playing styles. We also tend to favour the same type of openings. All of our games, regardless of result, have all seemed to be rather close and hard-fought affairs. This upcoming tournament may be the first time we meet OTB in real tournament conditions, and I imagine the stakes will be much higher, making this game a critical one for both of us should we meet OTB.

So far, I can say one thing about David's play - he is rather predictable when it comes to openings. As White, he almost universally plays a King's Indian Attack (KIA) setup. Although a bit slow, this is a solid and flexible opening for White, and is useful against just about anything Black would play in response, and I have in fact employed it on occasion myself. Even Bobby Fischer once said that the KIA was "his favourite". As Black, David favours "hypermodern" style openings like I do...against 1. e4 he plays the Pirc Defense (a favourite of mine, and my usual "second-string" opening against 1. e4) and against 1. d4 he plays the King's Indian Defense (KID). Structurally the two openings are similar, so it makes sense to employ them. I am a mainly an e4 player myself, and I am equally comfortable playing against the Pirc Defense as White as well as playing it as Black. I know most of the main opening variations well enough.

So what worries me is that David might have learned something new that I will not be prepared for, or some lind of novelty unknown to me within his favoured opening lines, either as White or against me as Black. That being said, I have to probably find a novelty or two of my own. This is probably the only opening preparation that I will do for this tournament. Opening knowledge is probably the one main thing I have as an advantage over David. I can play an unfamiliar line against him, or play a less common opening altogether that he is not at all familiar with; either plan will certainly spoil his own opening preparation that I am certain he has been doing. I have to decide on a plan and proceed with it soon so that I will feel prepared against David should we meet OTB at the tournament.

The FIDE (World Chess Federation) World Chess Championship is underway in San Luis, Argentina. Round-by-round news reports from official event commentator (and 1993 title challenger against Kasparov), English GM Nigel Short, can be seen at http://www.chessbase.com/. Round Three begins today, with event favourite Anand (India) and also Topalov (Bulgaria), current world Numbers 2 & 3 by rating (Kasparov may now be retired, but his rating is still active on the list for now) are tied in the lead after their tense 97-move fighting draw yesterday in Round Two. Although Anand is the favourite, at this level anyone could end up with the title. I am personally pulling for Alexander Morozevich (when he is hot, he is REALLY hot, and he has had a bit of a cold streak this past year, so he is overdue to heat things up) and Judit Polgar (I would love to see top woman chess player in thge world upset the men). It is hoped that the winner of this tournament, as FIDE champion, will face Classical Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik later next year in a match to reunify the World Champion title into one title, where FIDE can then begin a new, sensible, championship cycle again.Oddly enough, now that Kasparov is retired, things seem to be happening (including this tournament), so keep your fingers crossed!