Odd thoughts

I got cussed out last night...we're talking serious profanity and I was accused of using an engine. It happened on Yahoo in a 10 minute game I won. Seriously, I thought that even in 5 and 10 minute games the idea is before you play a move you should think about what you are doing.  On Playchess I got cussed out in German in a 10 minute + 10 seconds a move when I won and had about a minute and a half left. My opponent had about 15 minutes! Maybe if he would have spent more than 10 seconds on a move he might have done better. But maybe I'm wrong about this. Maybe the idea is not to win the game but to see how many moves you can play before you lose or in the case of bonus time, maybe the goal is to finish with more time than you started with. You know, "I started with 10 minutes and finished with 14. Maybe I can break 15 minutes. Heck, I could break 20 minutes if it wasn't for those engine users who keep refuting my Fish Gambit in under 20 moves."

I read a post on one server site where people were howling like wounded monkeys about engine use on the site. One person said he suspects everyone on the site rated over 2000 is using an engine. He is an idiot. And I don't mean that because he's not a very good chess player because chess ability and intelligence are two different things. I mean he's an arrogant idiot. First of all players rated in the 2000's are, in the overall scheme of things, not really very good players; they make a lot of errors. Second, I might be the best player on my block, maybe even in the whole town, but I'm not so stupid as to think that makes me one of the best chess players on any site I play on and every time I lose it was to an engine. A lot of players are just plain better than me.

Reminds me of the time I was playing at a small chess club while in the military. Some snotty kid who was visiting a relative on the base showed up and asked to play me a game. I beat him easily a couple of quick games and he said I must be a very good player. I told him no, I wasn't and that's when he said, "You must be because where I come from I haredly ever lose." My answer was, "Really? Around here I hardly ever win." He kept badgering me to play, but he was so bad I didn't want to so I finally told him I preferred to play somebody good and that shut him up.

There are links to ads on these pages now. What that means is that if you buy a book or somethng by linking to it from this site, I get paid. I am not doing this to make money. Considering the number of readers this Blog has and the fact everybody has their favorite vendors I don't expect people who buy books and equipment to do so through through this Blog.  It's done as a matter of convenience for readers and/or because I believe in the product or site. So far I think my Adsense account is up to 50 cents. Big deal. So, if I link to something here it's just because I think it's a good value or beneficial to improving one's chess. I'm not selling anything. Well, technically I am, but not really. What's the purpose of this Blog? As I stated in the very beginning...to amuse myself. Just look at the comments and the number of hits if you don't believe me.