I apologize for the lack of entries lately.

On August 1st, we will be returning to live in Des Moines, Iowa, permanently.

I have been overseas (this time) since April of 1987, and a lot of things have happened in those 20+ years.

I should be up and running within a couple of weeks of our departure date, so perhaps I will start making entries again soon. Till then, good luck to you, and I wish you only the best for your future endeavors!

John

You couldn't tell it by the frequency of my postings here, but April has been an extremely busy month for me.

I turned 51 on Fool's Day. Sometimes I feel like I am still 21, and sometimes I feel like I am 70 already. But, that's life.

I have been putting in 10-12 hour days adding stuff to the store, trying to add new designs every day. Here are some of the latest designs (but not all of them). Be sure to click on the smaller image located here in order to get a full sized image in a pop-up window - the one here is just a large thumbnail:



I think that some of them are quite good, but I guess I will find out if anyone orders anything... :)

Have also added many tournament books and other books to the book section, and these are always much work to do to get into shape. It seems like no one is doing correspondence chess tournament books anymore. I have decided to continue the old tradition of doing them whenever I can. The basic format is all the games, in ECO Opening classification order, in Figurine Algebraic Notation, a correct crosstable, and correct tournament information. So far, I have been underwhelmed by the response to these, but I suppose they may catch on with time. Probably the basic reason why no one does these any more is that there are so many tournaments taking place all of the time! And, of course, everyone uses electronic databases nowadays. Still, there is something about holding a printed and bound book in your hands. There are a couple dozen of these tournament books in the store right now. I will try and keep up with these as best as I can - as correspondence chess history deserves at least this much effort...

Been also working on a TCCMB "sandbox" forum - experimental forum - since February. Lots of detail web-head work involved in this, too. I wonder if it will catch on with the community, once it is offered to play with...

Anyway, that is what I have been up to. I hope that whatever you have been doing in your life has been as rewarding to you as some of my stuff has been rewarding to me!

Greetings from the hilltop in Hessen.

Hello everyone.

I am very pleased to announce the publication of Correspondence Chess-player's Notebook 2 at CafePress.



From the Synopsis:

497 large, 8 1/2 x 11 inch (21.59x27.94 cm) pages. A working notebook for the active correspondence chess-player. Blank game score sheets for 200 games (up to 75 moves for each game). Detailed administrative section incorporated into the score sheets. A notes section (90+ pages) for writing notes on your games, with each notes page having 3 blank chess diagrams and plenty of room for your notes. The back cover contains the ICCF Numeric Notation Grid, for easy reference for your postal or email games. All of your game information is preserved in this bound notebook - which makes it easier to heavily analyze after the game and also keep track of your completed games. The Wire-O binding ensures that your notebook will always lie flat, and be easier to use. If your organization or tournament requires that a copy of the completed game score be sent to the tournament director, you merely have to copy or scan your completed game score from this notebook. You will cut down on clerical errors and blunders by using this reasonably-priced and easy-to-use system. If you are an active player, you will want to buy several of these... Designed for cc-players by a cc-player!

If this one does as well as the original Correspondence Chess-player's Notebook did (it is also still available at our online store), I will be extremely happy.

I used to think that I was one of the few players left who were extremely careful about their bookkeeping, and note-taking, in their correspondence chess games. I was mistaken, judging by the numbers of customers we have had for the first version of the notebook.

The second version of the notebook has double the game capacity of the original (200 game capacity now), and still retains the possibility of using extensive notes - over 90 analysis pages are available to facilitate study and research in ongoing games.

Here is the direct link to the book page at the store:

Book Link

Thanks for stopping by!

John

Hi Everyone:

I have been spending the last few days updating the CORRESPONDENCECHESS.COM online store - adding new products and rearranging things to make it more appealing and easier to navigate. I will be making further additions and changes in the next couple of weeks. Why not stop by if you get the chance?

In our store, you can find thousands of neat products relating to chess and correspondence chess, ancient numismatics, military books and prints, and many other interesting items. International orders welcome. We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express - also check cards (debit cards), as long as they are connected with one of these major credit card companies. SECURE online ordering and your satisfaction is always guaranteed - 30 day return privilege. To order by phone, just call the number listed at the top of our store page.

John

I am teaching myself BASIC using Just BASIC v1.01, and this is a program I threw together in a couple of days...

ChessWords (ver. 1.0)

Minimum Operating System: WIN 95 or Above (WIN32).

Download:

ChessWords can be downloaded at this link. The self-extracting installation file is about 1.2 MBs in size and requires about 4.8 MBs of space on your hard drive. The program makes no changes to your registry and is self contained. You can specify the directory to which it is installed. Once installation is complete, you just go there and double-click on the program icon to play the game.

This is a "guess the chess word" game, similar to hangman, but without the hangman. Simple, yet challenging. Can you guess all 50 chess words without losing the game?

p.s. Thanks to Wim and Franklin for playtesting...

Forgive this rambling entry, my friends.

I was intrigued when I learned about Chess Boxing. There was something manly about the whole endeavor. You could be weak in one area and kick behind in the other.

Chess Boxing Link

"I coulda been a contenda." It has basically nothing to do with Chess as a game/sport/endeavor, but I can imagine that some folks would enjoy dorky chessplayers getting beat to a pulp by a semi-professional boxer, or, whatever.

The latest craze is Freestyle Chess. This is basically where you play in a tournament where you can receive any assistance you wish to receive, and can pay for.

Freestyle Chess - Where Anything Goes

This is a formula tailor-made for those with too much time on their hands, or those who are wealthy and have run out of other toys/activities to play around with.

Trying to speculate on the natural progression of such endeavors leaves one with some interesting concepts to ponder on.

My first idea would be something called "Chess Implantation." The kicker on this one would be that you could use any assistance you wanted, but programs and engines would have to be implanted in your body. If you desired to have a permanent edge in your tournaments and games, you would be undergoing constant implant operations, to keep up with things. Think about it. If it is that important to you, you would do it. And, proudly display the scars and tell stories about the surgeries you went through. It could be exciting on TV, too.

The next idea I have is "Chess Murder." This one involves no outside assistance, or implants. It does involve TV coverage. You see, the winner of the tournament gets to kill the losers (numbers and identities to be drawn by lot) live, so that everyone can watch. The problem with this idea is getting people to sign the release waivers ahead of time, but perhaps some smart guy lawyer could figure this out. You would have to offer significant cash prizes (as well as hefty insurance policies) for people to enter tournaments, but, hey, just think of the kind of audience you could draw.

Yup, Chess opens a lot of doors, and brings with it opportunities...

I have recently taken a break from international play. From 1998 to the early part of 2006, I was averaging dozens of serious international games (mostly ICCF) per year. After awhile, I started to burn out on it, and found myself drawing too many games, and losing interest in many of my games.

Since we are returning to Iowa permanently in August of this year, I thought it might be fun to play in last year's Iowa Championship. It was played under USCF correspondence chess rules. There was a preliminary and a final. In the preliminary, I managed to score 6/6, but not without extreme effort in one game against ten-year old Gage Edgar, an unrated, but very talented player with a bright future!

In the finals, which started in September of last year, I managed to score 7/8 (+6 =2) to win the Championship (which is still ongoing). My bad habit of putting games which I consider to be not that interesting on the back burner and concentrating on the games with possibilities would account for the two draws, combined with excellent play on the part of my opponents, of course.

What was really neat about this tournament was that I was able to play several Winawer French games, with both Black and White. I had stopped playing the Winawer a couple of years ago because of some lines I researched, from the White perspective, that bring into serious question the soundness of the entire positional (read poisoned-pawn) approach for Black in the Winawer. In serious international play, most players with the White pieces understand the right methods for creating immediate, serious problems for Black in the Winawer Poisoned Pawn lines...

The following game was my last to finish, and illustrates what I am getting at with this discussion. It begins with the key to the puzzle, which is the retrograde-like Knight move back to e2 on move 14. This move solves many problems that White traditionally has in this line. A search of quality games from any database will prove the high success rate for White using this methodology. The game is also somewhat interesting in that White embarks on an unusual King walk after castling queenside, the aim of which is to exert pressure and pin down Black's pieces.

Download PGN file.

2006 Iowa Correspondence Email Ch Final, 2006-2007
USCF Email
White: John Knudsen (2356)
Black: Steve Patterson (1943)
Winawer French - C18

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qc7 7. Qg4 Ne7 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 cxd4 10. Ne2 Nbc6 11. f4 Bd7 12. Qd3 dxc3 13. Nxc3 a6 14. Ne2



14...O-O-O 15. Bd2 Nf5 16. h3 Nce7 17. g4 Bb5 18. Qc3 Qxc3 19. Nxc3 Bc6 20. Ne2 d4 21. Rh2 Nh4 22. O-O-O d3 23. Nc3 Bf3 24. Re1 dxc2 25. Re3 Bc6 26. Rf2 Kb8 27. Kxc2 Rd7 28. Rd3 Rc7 29. Kb2 Rgc8 30. Be3 Nd5 31. Bc5 Bb5 32. Rxd5 exd5 33. Bd6 Bc6 34. Ne2 Ka7 35. Bxc7 Rxc7 36. Nd4 Re7 37. Kc3 Kb6 38. Bd3 a5 39. Rb2+ Kc5 40. Nb3+ Kb6 41. Kd4 Nf3+ 42. Ke3 Nh4 43. Kf2 Ng6 44. Kg3 a4 45. d4+ Kc5 46. Nf5 Rc7 47. Rc2+ Kb6 48. Nd6 Nh8 49. Kh4 Rd7 50. Kg5 d4 51. Rc4 Rd8 52. Rxd4



1-0.

The Knight on e2 was a critical element in White's strategy throughout the game, and one of the keys to victory.

The 2007 Championship preliminaries are underway right now, and I must soon decide whether I want to play in the 2007 final. I guess it will depend on how the move back to Des Moines goes in August.

Interestingly enough, at this moment I have absolutely no pending correspondence chess games, whether serious or casual, on my plate. It is a strange situation to be in, and it has been at least ten years since I had no games pending!

As a chess player, I sometimes get burned out playing chess. Perhaps the same is true of you.

For the past several days, in my spare time, I have been playing around with a new web site where you can play Interactive Fiction (IF) games online with your browser.

Here is the link if you would like to check it out. There are already many games up there now, and I will be adding more as time allows. No need for any software - as long as you have java on your computer (and enabled), it should work okay. The ZPlet interpreter makes it possible to run Inform games online without too much difficulty or loss of features from the original game.

Chess players can relax and use a different part of their brain with interactive fiction. Once you figure out how easy, in general, the interface is to use, you can enjoy the games.

I am presently working on my own game to place on the site, but that is a story for another day...

As most of you know already, we are busy getting ready to return to the States in August. It is a real pain in the neck getting rid of everything, and then starting over. It is amazing to us how much junk we have accumulated over the years.

We are looking at it as an adventure, really. In ancient times, community members would often gather together and burn all their stuff periodically. We are not burning all of our stuff, of course, but selling what we can.

Last Thursday was cheap listing day for Germany, so today was an eBay day for us. And, all in all, it has been a decent day so far, and we expect it to continue that way until everything that we listed is gone. Then we have to package and ship it, then ---, well, perhaps you know the routine already.

Entries will be sparse the next couple of days while we are busy getting rid of our stuff. May your stuff be with you always, until you decide to get rid of it...

Correspondence chess players are not the only ones who have been known to take a drink from time to time. I wonder if the guy making this coin was having a bad day, or what? Kind of hard to tell dozens of centuries later... Check out this seriously messed-up roman imperial coin from my collection, and the description below it.

Constans I, 337-350 AD, AE4, 15mm, Unknown Mint, doublestruck on both sides, with considerable rotation of the flan between the two strikes. Obverse: CONST-ANS AVG, pearl-diademed bust right. The "ONST" below the bust is from "CONST" of the first strike. From the second strike only "NST" survive of the same letters, at 9 -10 o'clock. Note the two pearls at the ends of the wreath ties surviving from both strikes, one almost hitting the second upright of the "N", the second some distance below the first upright of that letter. Just above the "T" from the first strike a bit of the back of the emperor's head with lines indicating his hair can also be seen.  Reverse: GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS, two soldiers, helmeted, standing, looking at one another, reversed spear in outer hand, inner hand on shield resting on ground; between them, one standard. A double-struck "ITVS" from the legend extends into the exergue. 

Thanks to Curtis Clay and Jeremy Wallace from the FORVM Discussion Board for their help in attributing this coin.