getting ready to drink the kool-aid

most everyone who browses the chessblogs knows about michael de la maza, his book, rapid chess improvement, and his articles "400 points in 400 days", parts one and two.. there is a legion of disciples and devotees who have followed and implemented his program in part or in whole, or some sort of variant which seems to be inspired by this method.. those that have influenced me in my decision to implement some sort of program are chessforblood, j'adoube, bluedevilknight, temposchlucker, nezha, and a recent addition to the fray, GM-grandemerda.. interesting with GM-grandemerda is that he is from brasil.. while i am cuban-american, i live not to far from him, about 12 hours away, we both live in the northeast of brasil, albeit different states.. there are more "knights errant" around the web, but those that i mention are the ones i visit and see updated on a regular basis, if i missed someone i apologize.. heres the program i have fashioned.. i plan to do the chessvision drills described in part one, the concentric-capture drill and the knight moves for a month.. at the same time i will do a "mini" part two.. i will be using bruce pandolfini's "chessercises" which contains 200 drills, in various tactics, mates, pins, skewers, etc, and i use the example in the article using a 8-4-2-1 cycle, 25 exercises in 8 days, then 50 in 4, 100 in 2, and finally all 200 in one day.. at this point i feel i would be better prepared to start the "full" version of the program with the 1000 exercises recommended in the article..i'd like to give a big shout out and thanks to patrick of chessforblood which provided the link where i found the tactics exercises.. this site here provides 3000 drills.. for my foray into this program i decided on the easy levels I, II, and III, medium I, II, III, IV, V, hard I, and advanced I.. i will be balancing work (general manager of a soccer team and and the junior teams), family, and chess into this mix, and as most of those who started this program can attest its not an easy climb.. i will pass along how my progress is going..

Cuba's Bruzon Goes to Semifinals of Mexican Chess Tournament

Cuba's Bruzon Goes to Semifinals of Mexican Chess Tournament
By Maryla García Santos

Merida, México, Dec 20, (P26).- Cuban Grand Master Lazaro Bruzon has taken another step in his aspirations to keep the title of the Carlos Torres Repetto in Memoriam chess tournament after defeating Germany's GM Alexander Graf.

Bruzon had to play hard in the match against Graf. The Cuban player lost the first game playing with black pieces but he won the second, and so they played 15-minutes games. Playing with whites, Bruzon beat Graf in 35 moves.

As he was totally recovered, the Cuban youth imposed his playing style in the definitive match, winning both 15-minute games. Such result permitted the tournament's defending champion to advance to the semifinal round, which is played today. This time he will face US Jaan Ehlvest.

Ehlvest eliminated Mexico's International Master Manuel Leon Hoyos, after drawing with him in the morning and winning in the afternoon in 53 moves.

The other Cuban that is taking part in this competition, GM Frank de la Paz, got a remarkable result by defeating the Netherlands number one player: GM Serguei Tiviakov.

More on the Crazy Chess Killer

I KILLED 61, CHESS NUT TELLS COPS

A MAN dubbed the Crazy Chess Killer has confessed to murdering 61 people in a six-year killing spree.

Alexander Pichushkin, 32, was arrested just three short of his alleged target of 64 - one for each square on a chess board.

Most victims were elderly men and many bodies are unaccounted for.

Police said: "He implies his killings were somehow linked to moves in a chess game. As yet we don't understand the pattern."

Pichushkin told detectives "I'm a great fan of chess" - and then handed them a notebook containing a sketched chess board with the date, time and victims filled in the squares.

He says he killed people who moaned about their problems. Pichushkin, from Moscow, has been charged with 49 murders.

i love my wife

i got my Christmas present early this year.. i live in brasil, and my bosses wife came down for the holidays.. my wife puts up with my chess craze, shes even learning the game.. she sat down to surf the web, find info and found a chess wallet.. she showed it to me and said she wanted to give it to me for Christmas.. who am i to complain..

Kasparov in the gossip column

Chess champ making move on Island

By Jose Lambiet

Palm Beach Post Columnist

Friday, December 15, 2006

The cash to fuel Russian President Vladimir Putin's political demise could come by way of Palm Beach.

The diminutive ex-KGB agent's arch enemy, former chess superstar Garry Kasparov, has set up his world headquarters on the tony island. He's getting ready to start fund-raising stateside for his oust-Putin cause and possible run for the presidency.

From a hole-in-the-wall office on the second floor of a Peruvian Avenue commercial building, Kasparov's longtime agent, Owen Williams, tells Page Two he has set up a nonprofit, Freedom for a Democratic Russia, and is launching an English-language Web site to disseminate stories about how crooked the current Russian regime is.

Kasparov's 1984 world championship match against Anatoly Karpov became legendary, but he quit chess nearly two years ago for politics. Now Kasparov, 43, who has been in Palm Beach four times in recent years, has gotten so deep under Putin's skin that he expects to be arrested at an anti-Putin demonstration Saturday in Moscow, Williams said.

Police looking for "subversive literature" raided Kasparov's Moscow office Wednesday.

"I'm transitioning from running Garry's businesses to helping with his campaign," said Williams, 74. "He's made a modest fortune ($10 million) from chess, but politics are expensive."

With some Putin opponents turning up poisoned these days, other tenants in the Palm Beach building have grown wary. Some said they've seen guys in dark suits and government cars hanging out, but FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said Thursday she couldn't confirm they were G-men.

Williams recently had his phones equipped with scramblers and his computers equipped with spy-proof firewalls.

"At my age, I'm not worried about polonium or spies," Williams said.

Russian Crazy Chess Killer

yesterday i posted a bit about madness and mental illness.. fellow blogger nezha asked why the sudden interest.. no reason really, but out of the blue i see this:

Russian 'Crazy Chess Killer' charged

Friday Dec 15 15:12 AEDT

A Russian man dubbed the Crazy Chess Killer has been charged with 49 murders but failed to achieve his goal of 64 - one for each square on a chess board.

Investigators say Alexander Pichushkin has confessed to murdering 62 people during a six-year killing spree.

But they have only been able to charge him with 49 counts of murder because Pichushkin can't say where the rest of the bodies are.

He allegedly told police soon after his arrest in June that he planned to kill one person for every square on a chess board, but regretfully added there were a few "vacant" squares, and that he'd not fulfilled his goal.

Most of the victims were elderly men, with 14 bodies - including that of a co-worker Marina Moskaleva - found in the same Moscow park.

Pichushkin had worked at the same grocery store with Moskaleva and it was the discovery of her body on June 14 that led to his arrest.

Moskaleva had left her son a note with Pichushkin's number on it before she was found dead.

When questioned, Pichushkin boastfully told police he had killed not just her but 61 others.

The murders Pichushkin described stretched across various parks and other locations across the city, starting in 2000.

With little in the way of age, gender or career linking the victims, investigators say the only pattern they have established in the deaths is that they were caused by a blow to the head.

Alexander Kshevitsky, a Russian federal investigations official, said medical experts would decide whether Pichushkin was sane enough to stand trial.

He said many bodies remained unaccounted for.

"In a few cases, there aren't victims, but missing people," Kshevitsky said.

Dr. Chess has arrived

as i said in this post i was surfing the web for info on chess and mental illness and came up with another interesting blog.. this one is by a doctor who covers all sorts of topics but chess has popped up in his posts a few times.. take a look..