4th of July Chess Improvement Blog Carnival!!

Happy 4th of July everyone and welcome to this month's Chess Improvement Blog Carnival.

Our theme this month is of course centered around the 4th of July. It is always important to remember what this holiday is really about! It is not just fireworks, a day off from work and burnt hot dogs. It is about a document and an idea that even today stands as a great treatise on mankind's capabilities and responsibilities. America doesn't always get things right (what country does?) but every time I read the Declaration of Independence I get a few goose bumps. So before we begin I would like to reprint the famous preamble to The Declaration of Independence. It means as much if not more in our current time:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinceshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Allright! On to the carnival and since it is the 4th of July we are going to call this a chess improvement CONGRESS.

Our first representative to the podium, hailing from the great state of Alaska is, Robert Pearson. He is interested in debating what effect computers may have on us patzers: http://rlpchessblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/tyler-cowen-computers-and-what-they.html

Our second speaker to the podium is, once again Mr. Pearson! Is this an attempt at a filibuster?? In this post Mr. Pearson would like to discuss and expand upon Nigel Davie's thoughts on pushing oneself past our comfort zones: http://rlpchessblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/out-of-comfort-zone-and-into-fire.html

Robert Pearson again? This is a filibuster!! Only this time Mr. Pearson is just taking the stand to introduce the stately Nigel Davies. Mr. Davies will be discussing the importance of sleep on our chess game: http://chessimprover.com/2011/06/18/why-sleep-is-important/

We now move onto the Final Moves blog at Chess.com, who have six points of order to discuss:

1) The first is a quiz, written by Son of Pearl, that helps one ascertain if they are obsessed with chess or not. (Is obsession a bad thing?): http://blog.chess.com/SonofPearl/are-you-obsessed-by-chess-take-the-quiz

2)Their second point of order is a very nice introduction to the dragon variation (just knowing what the dragon variation is might mean I am obsessed with chess!!): http://blog.chess.com/ZacWilson/the-hidden-dragon-part-1-an-introduction This was written by Zac Wilson.

3. In their third point of order the Final Moves crew gives us a beautiful introduction on the principles of opening play: http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-principles-of-the-opening Written by IM ACEChess!!

4. Final Moves contributor Philidor 5949 presents this interesting treatise on the definition of an advantage in chess: http://blog.chess.com/phillidor5949/epistemology-of-the-chess-advantage

5. Final Moves contributor Soler 97 writes this interesting look at objectivity versus subjectivity in chess (with a little help from GM Rowson): http://blog.chess.com/soler97/is-chess-a-logical-game

6. The Final Moves party concludes their presentation with this very cool look at game with 2 rooks versus a queen: http://blog.chess.com/ZacWilson/queen-versus-2-rooks-a-masters-challenge Written by Zac Wilson.


Now that the Final Moves crowd has finally yielded the floor we will move onto the following point of order from Mark Weeks. For those of you who don't know (and really you should) Mr. Weeks is the author of the great blog entitled, Chess For All Ages. His entry into our Chess Congress is a great list, complete with links, of his own most popular articles: http://chessforallages.blogspot.com/2011/06/improve-your-chess-game.html Thanks Mark!


Our resident Chess Historian, Blunder Prone, who is right now at the World Open in Philadelphia, (July 4th tie in!), presents his recent article on how he beat a candidate master! Go BP!! The article can be found here: http://blunderprone.blogspot.com/2011/06/into-lions-den-how-i-beat-candidate.html


Our well traveled chess blogger, Polly from Castling Queenside, presents the following point of order on the always tricky tactic of deflection: http://castlingqueenside.blogspot.com/2011/06/reflections-on-deflection.html

Longtime Chess Blogger Takchess discusses one of THE truisms in chess with his recent article on King Safety (and based on a few of my recent losses I need to reread his article!): http://takchesschess.blogspot.com/2011/06/nothing-is-more-important-that-king.html

And before we listen to our last two presenters at this month's Chess Improvement Congress, I would like to give a small tribute to some of the "founding fathers" of chess blogging. I highly encourage you to check out the following blogs and read through their journey! I have and it is always fascinating AND informative:

Man de la Maza: Here is his FIRST post- http://mandelamaza.blogspot.com/2004/09/oh-just-stop-reading-this-isnt-going.html#comments

Princess Errant: Check out this nice post on blundering-http://koorpret.blogspot.com/2005/03/blunderblunder.html

Sancho Pawnza: I believe this is his first post-http://sanchopawnza.blogspot.com/2004/10/day-1.html#comments

Nezha!: I again believe this is his first post-http://mrnezhmetdinov.blogspot.com/2005/02/first-steps.html#comments

And finally J'adoube: His intro post to his Circles training-http://j1mb3d3nbaugh.blogspot.com/2005/01/blogging-not-just-for-kids.html#comments


It is important to look at and pay attention to the ones who have come before us!! (this is true for Chess, Chess Blogging and of course life!)

Now our last two points of order for this month's chess congress-----


1. Empirical Rabbit continues his scientific probing of tactics study with this interesting breakdown of his recent experiments: http://empiricalrabbit.blogspot.com/2011/07/chp-experiment.html


2. HeinzK presents us with some thoughts on Fear and Loathing at the chess board (something I am sure we are all familiar with!): http://heinzk.blogspot.com/2011/06/fear-and-loathing-behind-chessboard.html#comments

If anyone submitted an article and they did not see it please contact me at my blog and I will add it as an edit. (there were apparently a few issues at the submission site)


And with that we conclude our July Chess Improvement (congress) Carnival. Takchess will be hosting next month's carnival on August 4th. Be on the look out for instructions on how to submit articles. And if you are interested in hosting a future Carnival please contact Blue Devil Knight at his Blog!

Thank you and have a great 4th of .....wait, what? Really? Why of course Mr. Franklin! Of course you can enter a late submission! You ARE Ben Franklin.

We have a late entry! Mr. Benjamin Franklin would like to submit the following link to his Morals of Chess, HERE! Most of you have probably read this but it is always worth reading again.

I will leave you with my favorite sentence from Mr. Franklin's treatise on chess:

And, lastly, we learn by chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable change , and that of persevering in the search of resources.

Amen Brother!