Category: Blog Updates Page 2 of 4

A Future for Campfire Chess?

Campfire Chess is coming up on its three-year anniversary later this year, which is excellent when you consider how quickly blogs come and go across the internet. It seems even better in the chess world where it seems like blogs pop up everywhere and die within months or sit idle for years. Since I started writing this blog in 2014, much has happened to promote the blog and to threaten its very existence. Before I go on, I thought it would be neat to break down some blog stats:

General Blog Statistics

  • Campfire Chess Age (today): 32 months.
  • Average “age” of Top 100 Technorati Blogs: 33.8 months
  • Median Figure: 28.8 months
  • Source: ProBlogger
  • Campfire Chess Posts: 249
  • Campfire Chess “unique” visitors: 22,500
  • Campfire Chess “unique” visitor countries: 27
  • Campfire Chess “top” post:
  • #1 – Downloads page
  • #2 – The Sad State of Chess on Mac

On an average, Campfire Chess receives about as many daily visits as a strip mall comic book store, which is pretty awesome and goes beyond anything I had in mind when I started writing here three years ago. So, where do we go now?

I had high hopes for 2017 but they were quickly destroyed by a series of unfortunate events. There is a high probability that my family and I will be relocating out of Texas in the coming months, which has put a significant strain on all of us. The subsequent stress and turmoil has reduced my chess playing from frequent (70-80% of my free time) to less than 10% of the time. In fact, my anxiety has peaked to a point where it is difficult to properly set up a board, let alone play a comprehensive game. That has caused me to consider putting Campfire Chess on hiatus for awhile until I am able to get myself together, so that is option one.

The second option is to modify the content of Campfire Chess slightly to use it as an outlet for dealing with my anxiety and document my attempts to get back into chess. When I started taking chess seriously in 2014 it was very relaxing and enjoyable. I still enjoy it and believe that it might be an effective means of coping with the stress of everyday life. So, that is option two.

In all honesty, it is likely that Campfire Chess will continue as it has been although with a reduced frequency in posting. I will post whenever I can but I am not going to be able to post as frequently about tournaments or other events as I would like until I am able to regain some of my grounding. That could happen tomorrow or it could happen next year. Suffice to say that regardless, Campfire Chess will soon be packing up its mobile device and a few chess boards as it relocates (temporarily) from the sand and sun of South Texas for the oasis of Seoul, South Korea.

Stay tuned, campers…

Happy New Year (and new logo)

Happy New Year, Campers!

We are ten days into the new year and while Campfire Chess has been silent since Christmas, I have been working hard behind the scenes. I am proud to announce that after months of design, re-design, and more re-design that the new site logo and title design is online! The new logo is simpler which makes it easier to print on marketing materials and merchandise. Look for the new design to slowly replace the old flame and wood logo/icon set throughout the coming weeks.

Changing the logo is also symbolic in that it signifies the changing of one era to a new era. Campfire Chess has changed primary chess websites from Chess.com to lichess.org (more on that in a later post) and my day job is changing, which I hope will afford me more time to write and play chess than my current job. In all, I look forward to a promising 2017 on and off the board.

And Jake, I haven’t forgotten you…sending you a move shortly. :)

Merry Christmas To All!

Merry Christmas, campers! The Campfire Chess HQ is awash in the yuletide spirit even though we will not be blessed with snow-covered grounds this year. From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

> Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” – Matthew 2:1-8 (ESV)

And finally, in the tradition of the festive spirit of the holiday I present you with proof that Santa is real. After all, he has a game in the database at Chessgames.com!

A huge thanks to everyone who supported Campfire Chess throughout 2016. I am looking forward to a bright and productive 2017! See you all next year!

Repairing the Downloads Page

The downloads page has always been an important part of Campfire Chess, but it recently fell into an unfortunate state of disrepair. I knew that it needed some work but was unprepared for the level at which I had allowed it to deteriorate over time. It was not until I received a message from a reader on Chess.com asking me to fix one of the links for a PGN book collection that I realized how bad things had gotten. Fortunately, action has been taken…

Every element of the downloads page has been re-coded to ensure that the links are accurate and that the information is presented clearly on desktop and mobile devices. I have also finally released a photo project I have been working on for awhile called Drug of Choice which is presented as a wallpaper option for a multitude of devices. The image also appears in the featured image header for this entry.

I have plans to add new material to the downloads page very soon and will post updates on the Campfire Chess Twitter and Facebook feeds when that happens. Enjoy!

Lonely these days, but not abandoned…

Lately, it may seem as though I have abandoned the site considering that there have only been three (not including this one) posts during the month of August. I have not abandon the site, nor have I abandoned chess. Instead, life happens and things have been relentlessly busy for me and my family. There is a bright light at the end of the tunnel around the first part of September, so I hope to be back to regular writing at that time. In the meantime, I will continue to be sparse around here and around the chess community.

Keep checking back here regularly because although I am not writing regular posts at the moment, I am working on some of the behind-the-scenes technologies that run the site. Specifically, I am working to completely redesign the downloads page with new wallpapers, game collections, and other goodies. That stuff should go live this weekend or next.

Play on!

Performing a Hard Reset

I have learned over the years that it is not uncommon for me to take on more than I am capable of handling. This is one of the reasons that I selected chess in 2014 as a focus of my blogging and hobby interest. Yet, even in the confines of the chess world I came to realize over the past few months that Campfire Chess has slowly evolved into a monster that was difficult to maintain and had certain content areas in which updates were almost two years overdue. Additionally, the sense of personal commitment to chess and documentation of my game had also changed. Some of this was largely due to a series of setbacks that damaged my confidence in playing and writing about the game.

In an attempt to counteract that problem I decided to essentially hit the reset button here on the blog. The first part of that reset was to eliminate outdated and unnecessary elements of the site. The Reading List and Links were the first victims of the purge. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that I updated the Reading List once in the entire 2015 calendar year, which goes to show that it was nothing more than a novelty page (content fodder) designed to take up space on the menu bar. The Links were cumbersome to manage and, in my opinion, provided no value added to the site because they are most likely bookmarked and easily accessible to people who need or use them on a regular basis. A few other noticeable changes are in effect as well:

  • Social Media: The Facebook page has been closed due to low engagement. Twitter has been much more successful in reaching the chess community. The Instagram page remains open, but will not be updated regularly and is no longer linked from the main blog.
  • Main Blog: The thumbnail advertisements have been removed, although they might return in the future if I can find a way to make them integrate seamlessly with the new background color. Additionally, the navigation bar contains a refined menu that allows easy access to key topics, such as Downloads and Product Reviews. Finally, the experiment with the customized ChessBase PGN viewer is over. I have opted to continue using the traditional embedded chessboard to improve the site’s load time and to eliminate reliance on external sources for rendering chessboards. To demonstrate, here the famous Paul Morphy Opera Game.

Two Years Around the Campfire

I set down at my computer one night in Ohio two years ago to start a blog called Off My Chess where I had intended to spend a little bit of time documenting my efforts to improve at chess. Since then, the website transitioned to a new server, then changed names, and has continued to roar along supporting the spread of chess to local, national, and international audiences. Since its inception, Campfire Chess has hosted audiences from 20 different countries including war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan. I have profiled several great players, analyzed countless games, and published several digital magazines under the Campfire and OMC names.

stargate

Time to do some fishing… (Credit: Stargate SG-1/MGM)

Now, two years later, instead of looking deep into the future at what lies ahead, I want to take some time to reflect on where Campfire Chess is at this very moment. Is it where I had intended? Considering that the blog itself was never intended to be more than a personal record of my chess journey, I think that things are going much better than I had anticipated when I began.

With that in mind, I have decided to take a sabbatical from chess writing and focus on my studies for the month of May. I will be back in June to resume writing, but now it is time to celebrate the two-year milestone with some much needed rest and relaxation.

Until then…peace, w.s.

Feels Good to Be Back!

Wow! What a demanding few weeks this has been! I thought that I would struggle not to write or work on the blog during my self-imposed exile, but that turned out to be much easier than I expected given the amount of work I had to do for school and for my everyday job. Yet, I am happy to say that things are starting to wind down and I am ready to get back into writing regularly here on Campfire Chess. To start out for now, I would like to point everyone to the updated downloads page where there are many new wallpaper sizes for some of the older wallpapers and a brand new wallpaper featuring the Campfire Chess logo and a beautiful, misty forest background.

campwall

I am working on fixing some display problems with the site as well as eliminating the clutter that has gathered on the server over the last two years to make the campfire experience much more streamlined. There are also some exciting new projects on the horizon, so keep those chess pieces moving!

w.s.

Taking a Break

I have decided to take about 2-4 weeks off from writing here on Campfire Chess or even playing chess online. Part of it is to give myself a chance to relax, rest, and recover, but mostly it is because I am starting the final courses for my Masters of Divinity at Liberty University today and need to focus my energies on finishing those requirements. The amazing Tata Steel Chess Tournament is currently underway and I will be following it closely, but the best place to get tournament updates and general chess information for now is Chessbase or The Week in Chess.

See you all in a few weeks!

Happy New Year!

Wow! That went by quickly! 2015 is now a memory and we look ahead to peace, prosperity, and more chess in 2016! From the Campfire Chess family to yours: Happy New Year!

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