Category: Personal Reflection Page 3 of 5

What the Pawn Sacrifice Poster Says About Chess Players

On June 12, 2015

In Famous Players, History, Movies, Personal Reflection, Reviews

I am one of those guys who spends most of his life wishing that he could go to film festivals to catch the latest and greatest independent films from across the globe. Instead of actually going to these festivals, however, I am most likely doomed to tracking the films that interest me as they spend years in distribution limbo awaiting a mainstream theatrical release. This has especially been the case with the movie Pawn Sacrifice, the upcoming biopic about the 1972 World Chess Championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. I remember hearing about it for the first time and was filled with excitement! That was over a year and a half ago, with Pawn Sacrifice just now preparing for its theatrical debut. In any case, I digress.

For most of the time that the public has been aware of the existence of the movie, the only real promotional material available for it was a publicity photo showing Tobey McGuire and Liev Schreiber in their respective roles as Fischer and Spassky. Of course, the initial reviews of the movie from the premier festival have not been great although these days it is impossible to trust most movie reviews, especially the ones coming from independent film festivals. Yet, I still held on to my hope until the official poster for the film was finally revealed.

The Mind of Robert J. Fischer

At first, it struck me as a fairly standard piece of modern poster art. Earth tones are all the rage in Hollywood’s digital arts factories. I guess that it is because faded browns and grays increase the audience’s sense of the character’s pain and struggles. I also like the subtle complexities of the picture. There is much for the audience to discern from the look on Bobby Fischer’s face and the chess notations coming out of his head. For the people who knew, played with, and experienced the real Bobby Fischer, the notations coming out of his mind represent the whole of who he was as a human being and as a chess player. Bobby lived his life only to play chess. When he played, he was the best that the world had ever seen, but the darkness of his dichotomous existential paradigm eventually took him from the game, and eventually…sanity itself.

Just a hint of emotional struggle…

I did not give the poster much thought until I started seeing the reactions from other chess players on Chess.com and on various Facebook chess groups. Where most people might decry a lack of creativity in Hollywood these days or the overemphasis on brown colors, but instead, chess players know exactly what is most important in life, and that is the accuracy of the chess!

You see, the chess notation coming out of Bobby’s head in the poster is historically inaccurate. Although Bobby might have annotated some of his games in algebraic notation (shown in the poster), it is a well known fact that he exclusively used descriptive notation when playing in tournaments. This might not seem like mich of a big deal to the casual observer, but to a chess community flustered and running out of patience with Hollywood’s inability to even set a board up correctly, it means everything in the world. I realized that I saw the commenta as petty and obnoxious mainly because I am a huge Bobby Fischer fan and I have been looking forward to the film for quite some time. However, after some introspection and examination of the poster, the trailer, and the comments from others within the chess community, I came to the conclusion that:

1) It is historically inaccurate.
2) It does not matter to 99% of the audience that will see the film.
3) It does not change the film at all.
4) It does matter to the remaining 1%, who are those of us that go to bed at night and solve tactical positions in our sleep.

I regret my initial impressions of the response to the poster in some sense. Yes, perhaps the complaints (if taken seriously) are a bit on the obnoxious side, but those comments represent the passion of a community that has dedicated itself to the game. For us, chess is not just a game…it is our game. At this point, I am willing to attribute the algebraic notation to simple human oversight since watching the trailer reveals that a key shot of the chessboard that actually reflects a position from the original tournament. Perhaps these small details will make up for the algebraic notation in the minds of most chess players, or perhaps it does not really matter at all. Even great historic films like Schindler’s List and Amadeus are filled with historical inaccuracies, but the small details did not effect the overall quality of the final product.

Despite the initial reviews, I am hopeful that Pawn Sacrifice will be an excellent re-telling of one of the Cold War’s defining moments. Tobey McGuire might be the best Bobby Fischer to ever hit the silver screen, or he might be the worst. The character of Bobby Fischer himself was so unique and so far off of the charts of what we would consider normal that I think it is practically impossible to find anyone who could play him in a way that truly expresses the torment he lived with.

Ultimately, any criticism of Pawn Sacrifice’s historical inaccuracies demonstrates that for those of us who live their lives in the world of chess, it will always be more than a game.

For some excellent analysis of the movie and some of the issues I discussed here, check out FM Mike Klein‘s awesome article on Chess.com. Pawn Sacrifice will be arriving in theaters this September. Check out the official trailer here.

Finally Making Progress?

By Commander Exorcist

On June 9, 2015

In Game Analysis, Personal Reflection

Yesterday, I shared my feelings on the recent cheating scandal involving WGM Miheala Sandu and the Women’s European Chess Championship. At one point in the post, I wanted to focus on the significant effect that a chess player’s mental status has on the outcome of a game. After WGM Sandu was subjected to the baseless assaults on her character, the effectiveness of her gameplay took a devastating turn for the worse. This is much the same for chess players of all skill levels and experience. Chess knowledge, experience, and preparation cannot make up for the psychological difficulties of poor concentration, stress, anxiety, and other negative effects on the human mind.

A perfect example of this in the amateur world would be the effect that work stress has had on my recent over-the-board success. On Chess.com there are several different time controls that a player can select. Among those are Bullet, Blitz, and Standard for live chess, and Standard and Chess960 for daily (or turn-based) chess. Although it is frowned upon by many chess teachers, I tend to play a lot of 5-minute blitz chess, mostly because my busy schedule rarely affords me the opportunity to sit down and play an extended series of 15-minute standard games. On May 16, 2014, I deleted my old Chess.com account and signed up for a new one using the username AmishHacker because it is something I have used extensively on other sites for decades. In any case, it was on that day that I achieved both my highest and lowest ratings in blitz chess: 1200 and 692 respectively. For what its worth, all players start out at 1200 and most of us fall down to a norm relatively quickly.

Since that time, my blitz rating has hovered between 750 and 900, but it reached a peak rating of 951 on October 26, 2014 before taking another freefall. For each of these ELO rises and falls, I am able to look back at specific life events that affected the way that I was playing.

In May of this year, my day job took a turn for the worse, which created an immense amount of stress and anxiety for me and for my family. The effects of this event are evident in the devastating ELO drop that occurred shortly thereafter. I played some of the worst chess games of my life in the span from May 20 to June 1. Simple tactical problems became monumental obstacles and no matter how much I studied games or practiced on a board at home or with Fritz, I kept coming up short. As a prime example, check out this little gem:

Sure, many people do not pay attention to their games at times and can make mistakes like this, but it had become so incredibly commonplace in that span of time that it certainly detracted from my desire to play chess, much less blog about it. Then, things started to change…

June 1 was the day that things really started turning around for me both in my professional life and on the chess board. Much of the chaos that had plagued my family’s life ended on that day and almost immediately, many of my chess games began to return to normal. Except that this time, things were going to be different. As of today, my blitz rating sits at 962, which is the highest it has been since May 26 of last year! Of course there are some games scattered across my record that are hopelessly lost positions won on time, but most of the games recently are legitimate wins that have given me a renewed sense of hope for the future. In addition, I am now only 7 games away from batting .500, which means I will have an equal number of wins and losses for the first time in my chess career.

With a starting ELO of 692 in May of 2014, an ELO in June of this year equates to a 39.8% increase over the past year! It may not seem like much to some people, but small advances like this are why I love playing chess! The work is hard, but it is thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding!

If you play regularly on Chess.com, perhaps you will take some time to hunt me down and challenge me to a game! Win or lose, every venture out onto the board is a chance to learn, explore, discover, and grow!

Coping with the Downfall

By Commander Exorcist

On May 6, 2015

In Personal Reflection

It has been awhile since I posted anything here, but do not fear because I have not abandoned the site. In between work and school, I have done what I can to remain active on Chess.com although I have struggled recently with a terrible losing streak. For example, this collection of games cost me almost 100 ELO points in Live Chess and some of the games really speak to the devastation that constant stress can cause on a player’s game, even though that stress and distraction does not seem to be at the forefront of the mind.

In the world of professional chess, the US World Championship is over, the Shamkir Chess 2015 tournament is over, but not a single article covering them has appeared here on Campfire Chess. That will change shortly since the site will be celebrating its 1-year anniversary this month. I also have a new downloads section in the works and the Spring-Summer issue of Campfire Chess Magazine is due out in June. There is a lot of great chess coverage and analysis on the way! Just waiting for the right moment to make the right moves…

Fawning Over The Chess.com App

By Commander Exorcist

On March 15, 2015

In Computer Chess, Personal Reflection, Reviews

Several months ago I wrote an article where I examined some of the best that iOS has to offer in the way of chess apps. One of those was the official app for Chess.com, where I spend much of my time reading and learning as much as I can about chess. At the time of that article, the Android app had spent quite a long time ahead of its iOS counterpart. Now, Apple users can rejoice because after months of beta testing, the official app has been updated to reflect changes that have been in the works for Chess.com for the past year.

The User Interface

First and foremost, the app’s user interface has been updated to take advantage of Apple’s gorgeous retina displays and includes some beautifully crisp themes to spice things up. The individual themes and the ability for the user to mix and match elements of each theme has been a major selling point for the Chess.com V3 project since it was announced over a year ago. Standards these days for presentation are quite high on mobile devices and it is apparent that Chess.com has taken this into account when implementing the user interface. When a user installs the new update, the default theme is used which is the traditional gray background and green/tan or brown/tan chessboard. I am partial to the default colors, so the opportunity to change the themes seems like something that I would rarely use.

In the previous app version, there were only a few navigation options available whether you were a free or a premium member of the site. These options were essentially limited to live chess, correspondence (online) chess, and video lessons. In this update, most of the functions available on the main website are now available to mobile users. This is a huge benefit for iOS users since the limitations of the app effectively eliminated many of the site’s premium features. Now, the app is set up to feature the same feature and navigation elements of the homecoming site redesign.

The navigation setup is very straightforward and makes accessing the massive database of features on Chess.com much more intuitive. All of the app features are stored on the left navigation bar. After selecting the desired function, the user is directed to a new screen where additional functions are available depending on the user’s subscription level and the function of the feature. Overall, the revamped user interface makes the official Chess.com app the most comprehensive and aesthetically pleasing chess apps on the App Store.

The Content

Content is one of the features that has made Chess.com once of the best and most popular chess sites on the web. Sure, the site boasts a census of eleven million members, but while many of those accounts are most likely zombie or abandoned accounts, something other than a place to play chess has to draw in the crowd. With the new app, these content elements are all made accessible to native iOS users. Video lessons by some of the world’s top Grandmasters are regularly posted as well as written lessons and weekly articles. The articles and puzzles are free while the video lessons are benefits of site membership.

When users first open the app they are greeted with a home screen that enables them to complete the daily puzzle and to engage in training lessons that represent their skill range. With a few short clicks, the user can access live or correspondence (online) chess. As games are completed, the site maintains an exceptional record of those games that can be converted into detailed statistical analysis reports for premium members.

The Chess

The chess interface on the new app is its most beautiful and fulfilling feature. AfteAfter all, playing chess is the whole reason that the app (and this blog) exists. In the redesigned app, the live chess board takes on the visual and auditory characteristics of whatever theme the user has selected in settings. For screenshot examples on this review, I decided to include shots of the default dark theme and the beautiful nature theme.

Chess can be played against the site’s online engine or live against players from all around the world. I prefer playing against human opponents since it is better practice for tournament play and also because the online engine has made some incredibly unrealistic moves and seems rather worthless at times. The app algorithm will select an opponent of comparable strength based on variables the can be customized by the user. Once a match is made, the user is taken to the main chess screen and the game begins. This is another area that Chess.com excels in general over other chess sites. The average time to obtain a suitable match for a game is extremely short compared to other chess websites. On sites like Playchess I have had to wait up to 2-3 minutes for the server to obtain an appropriate opponent, but rarely do I wait more than a few sections for one on Chess.com either using the web-based interface or the app itself.

In short, playing chess on the new Chess.com app is a wonderful experience. The new themes add long overdue customizable options to the program and allow users to take greater control over the aesthetics of their chess experience.

Not All Moonlight and Roses

Unfortunately, not everything about the Chess.com app on iOS is as elegant and worthwhile as the live chess and articles. As with any software package there are some inherent flaws that make the experience unpleasant and sometimes completely useless. In the case of the new app, the only area that I found to be essentially worthless were the chess video lectures when used on a retina iPad or iPad Mini. Although Chess.com has updated the app to take advantage of retina display technology, the videos are still rendered in low-resolution and are immensely blurry, which makes them almost impossible to follow during the lectures. Perhaps the designers could have alleviated some of these problems by creating a display page similar to what is used on the main Chess.com web interface to encapsulate the videos and reduce their size. The full-sized, low-resolution videos are downright horrible and take away significantly from the learning experience.

The bottom line with the new app is that Chess.com has done an excellent job of finally bringing its iOS mobile software product in line with its Android app and upcoming site redesign. The app itself is free to download and requires a Chess.com account, which is also free. I am definitely looking forward to more innovation as Chess.com’s designers design and implement new features in the future.

More screenshots…

Wiped Across the Board

By Commander Exorcist

On March 7, 2015

In Personal Reflection

For some reason the European Individual Chess Championship in Jerusalem has been one of the most boring chess tournaments I have watched in quite a while. In fact, I have avoided some of the rounds completely because there is just something about the tournament that causes me to drift into dreamland. Perhaps it is good that this tournament came about when it did because so much came to a head in the last few weeks that has keep me relentlessly tied down to commitments away from the chessboard and this blog. Fortunately over the past few days I have found time and energy to restart my chess work and to begin working on new content, but I was shocked to see the devastation I faced on the board.

The first example comes from a Chess.com live chess game in which I played with a blitz rating of 851, but looked more like someone who had just discovered his dad’s chessboard hidden in a dusty closet. The moves in this game are atrocious and show that there is still much work to do.

This one hurt badly:

Things have not been all doom and gloom, however. The chess gods eventually took pity on me these last few weeks and delivered some gems like this one:

I was shocked to see what a short amount of time away from the board could do to my concentration and psychological chess development. In addition, this personal stumbling block and the lack of engaging international tournaments during this time probably contributed to the reduced posting here on Campfire Chess. The only thing I can say is that it looks like there is still an incredibly long way to go.

Beat the Losing Streak

By Commander Exorcist

On January 25, 2015

In Personal Reflection, Tournaments

This has been a rough few weeks for me in online and correspondence chess. I recently matched my live chess losing streak of eight games in standard time control (15|10), which was incredibly disappointing given that I had improved so much over the past year. In the heat of the losing streak, I decided to see if there were any tips or tricks available on Chess.com in the forums or available on any blogs. Suffice to say that I found a number of interesting posts about losing streaks and many of them contain a wide variety of answers and suggestions to help players beat a losing streak and to get back on their game. Considering that my standard time control losing streak is ongoing, but my blitz (5 min) losing streak is over, I have decided to examine some common techniques from the chess and mental health worlds to help players that might be experiencing a prolonged losing streak.

What Causes Losing Streaks?

Some of you might be thinking: If I knew what caused my losing streak, I would be able to fix it! This is an understandable question and response, especially considering the nature of the chess community. Chess players tend to be analytical and prefer to exist in a paradigm of rational thinking and logical processes. So when a player becomes mired in a streak of horrific games, he or she tends to look not only for the cause of their own losing streak, but to look at the greater philosophical or cognitive reasoning for extended chess losses. The first thing to understand about losing streaks in any sport or activity is that there is no single underlying universal force that creates these losing scenarios. There are no chess gods that have plagued me with an online chess losing streak nor does the phases of the Moon have anything to do with a losing streak. Losing streaks occur primarily because the person engaged in the activity is suffering from the effects of one of these items:

Fatigue: This is the most common theme I have encountered in both the chess and mental health worlds that leads to performance degradation. Sleep hygiene is critical to maintaining proper focus when playing chess. Ensure that your sleep area is clean and free of nighttime distractions. A full eight hours of sleep is recommended for best performance, especially as we get older. I had no problem staying up all night, working a full eight hour shift, and then feeling okay to play games or hang out when I was in my early twenties, but time takes its toll on our bodies and we must modify our lifestyle regimens to compensate for decreased energy and stamina. In fact, fatigue tends to be the contributing factor to the other elements in this list.
Distraction: The world these days moves incredibly fast. In the Campfire Chess studio, I have an iMac with three monitors, two laptops, and an iPad Air. Each of these devices allows me to connect simultaneously to a variety of websites and multimedia services. In theory, I should be able to get more done in less time, but typically it is the other way around. This is especially true with chess. It does not help to play live online chess with a desire to win and advance your rating when you are also playing YouTUBE videos, possibly a movie, and have multiple screens and other distractions at your disposal.
Poor Equipment: I have seen countless artistic photos with players playing on chess sets made of cardboard or old car parts and they are often playing in the snow, rain, or whatever elements can be added to the scenario to make it more dramatic. The reality is that chess is not much different from professional baseball or other sports when it comes to the effects that poor equipment can have on a player’s outcome. Get yourself a quality chess set and practice with real people OTB (over the board)!
Lack of Skill: Let’s face it, sometimes people just suck at chess. Most of the time, I suck at chess. That is why I started Campfire Chess and why I continue to work at it today: I want to get better!

Losing Streaks at All Skill Levels

Baku GM Teimour Radjabov became the youngest Grandmaster in the world at the time when he turned 14 years old in 2001. He is well known for his 2003 victory against long-time World Champion Garry Kasparov:

An impressive victory to be sure, but GM Radjabov would not be a subject of this post if it were not for what occurred some years later in the 2013 World Championship Candidates tournament and the most recent FIDE Grand Prix tournaments in Baku and Tashkent. In the 2013 World Championship Candidates tournament, GM Radjabov earned last place in the tournament with 4/14, losing half of his games, and shedding 30 rating points in a single tournament. In the 2012-2013 Grand Prix event in Zug, he was last again with 4.5/11 and eventually withdrew from the Grand Prix events.

Ending a Losing Streak

Much of what I have read about losing streaks comes from amateur players such as myself who are struggling to improve their chess. These players begin losing 4-5 games in a row online and flock to the Chess.com forums to seek out answers to their problems. Sometimes they find support and advice while other times they find score and ridicule. Sometimes they deserve it; sometimes they do not. There are some pieces of advice, such as utilizing the right training materials, that are specific to players with certain ELO ratings. However, there are some universal methods that can help a player to beat the streak and get back to winning at chess:

Don’t Panic: By far, this is the most important piece of advice that a chess player could ever receive. Do not allow yourself to be pulled into the dangerous spiral of panic and self-doubt when faced with a losing streak. As mentioned above, even Grandmasters lose games, but a loss in chess is always an opportunity to learn and grow. Take each loss with confidence that there is a message on the board to be collected, analyzed, and applied for future chess success.
Take a Break: On the Chess.com forums, higher rated players are always encouraging lower-rated players to play more games and to keep trying when they face a losing streak. Sometimes this works and sometimes it does not. I have found that the best way to beat a streak is to take a break from the activity and give yourself time to recover. This will allow the mind and body to regenerate and for you to approach chess from a refreshed perspective.
Slow Down: One of the beautiful aspects of chess is that it can be played in a variety of ways. There are passive players and there are aggressive players. Sometimes new players win a few games and gain enough confidence to begin playing more aggressively. This aggressiveness can lead to mistakes and losses. It is important for new and growing players to slow down and remain focused. I prefer to avoid playing blitz games and focus more on standard (15 min or 30 min) chess because blitz can damage your chess by causing poor habits and reducing attention span.
Analyze!: For the chess player, this one is a no-brainer. Skip ChessBase and chess engines. Instead, sit down with a printout of your losses and analyze them on a real chessboard. This will allow you to experience the loss in a new way and to try out different patterns and variations before proceeding. Pay attention to patterns and lines that appear regularly in your games. Do they work or do they lead to trouble? Take time to perform this analysis and do not rush through it. Thorough and comprehensive analysis is one of the keys to improving in chess.

There are countless suggestions out there to help people overcome losing streaks of all kinds. The link in the first paragraph to the Chess.com forums is just a small taste of the hopes for chess players to conquer their losing streaks and return to chess victory. These four items are not cure-alls, but they will certainly do more good for your game than harm. Chess is the ultimate mind sport and players must do what they can to maintain a healthy and focused body and mind.

Exploring the Master Class – Bobby Fischer

By Commander Exorcist

On January 18, 2015

In ChessBase, Computer Chess, Famous Players, History, Literature, Personal Reflection, Reviews

Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen hold much higher ELO ratings and have won more World Championships than he ever did, but Bobby Fischer is still considered one of the greatest chess players in history. This is due in large part to his absolute domination of the chess world and his single-handed defeat of the Soviet chess machine in 1972. Some of us, who grew up hearing the stories of Bobby and watching the world as the Cold War came to an end attribute the fall of the Soviet Union to cultural icons such as Bobby Fischer and Rocky Balboa to winning the war more than politics or diplomacy. Bobby’s victory that year in Iceland was as much a Cold War event as the Cuban Missile Crisis because the honor and intellectual supremacy of each nation. These days, you would be hard-pressed to find a hobby or club-level chess player that has not studied Bobby’s games and game theory. His depth of knowledge on openings and his talent in the endgame remain legendary among the world’s top players. His book My 60 Memorable Games (download games: PGN | ChessBase) is a staple in most chess player’s libraries.

To take things to the next level, ChessBase has a special DVD called Master Class: Bobby Fischer. Featuring five hours of video instruction from world-class chess players such as GM Dorian Rogozenco, GM Mihail Marin, IM Oliver Reeh, and GM Karsten Mueller. The DVD covers almost ever aspect of Fischer’s games including extensive insight on opening preparations, tactics, strategy, and deep analysis of his endgame. As with all ChessBase DVDs, the course is interactive with a responsive chessboard and notation to keep the viewer engrossed in the world of Bobby Fischer’s chess. The tactics on the DVD are presented as interactive puzzles that provide responsive feedback to help sharpen your game and bring Fischer’s games to life.

The Good

There is a lot to love about this DVD. ChessBase has long been a pioneer in developing interactive software and the integration with the ChessBase database software or the reader software is excellent. I use ChessBase 12 for my analysis and DVD play, but the free ChessBase Reader software will allow anyone with a windows computer to use Master Class: Bobby Fischer without having to own the full ChessBase Software.

The instruction on the DVD is first-rate. There is a wealth of information ranging from the cross tables and tournament information to a full biographical history on Bobby Fischer. All of this comes together to bring the user a comprehensive picture of Bobby Fischer as a man and as a chess player. In addition to the training, there is an exclusive database included with the software that holds all of Bobby Fischer’s games along with many additional cross tables and annotations. Perhaps one of my favorite features in the software are the trees. Fischer’s games as black and white have been divided into two book trees that can be reviewed and analyzed using the ChessBase software. This is a valuable resource for someone wanting to explore the themes in Bobby’s games.

The Bad

Because of the diverse nature of the chess world, I try to give as much leeway as possible when reviewing a product. Therefore, many things that others may call annoyances or problems with a piece of software, book, or DVD, can often be attributed to a simple cultural, language, or other variation. In Master Class: Bobby Fischer, the only drawback I could find comes in the form of the opening analysis with GM Dorian Rogozenco. Although that part of the DVD is supposed to be an in-depth look at Bobby Fischer’s openings, GM Rogozenco skips most of the moves and proceeds directly to where the opening transitions more into the middle game. He does comment on the fast moves in these game reviews by stating that these are easy moves and that they have been made hundreds of times, but dismissing many of these opening moves, regardless of how mundane it may seem, does devalue the lesson in some respects. Bobby Fischer was a master of chess openings and I believe that more attention should have been paid to why he chose to play certain openings and opening variations.

Back to Class

Master Class: Bobby Fischer is an excellent product for anyone interested in chess history, the story of Bobby Fischer’s games and his life, or a person looking to expand their knowledge and skill at chess. This five hour DVD includes some invaluable knowledge and insight into Bobby’s thinking that could possibly change the way that you view and play the game of kings.

OffMyChess.com Yearbook Now Available!

By Commander Exorcist

On January 1, 2015

In Personal Reflection, Reviews

When I began writing this blog back in May of 2014, I promised myself that I wanted it to be something simple…merely a way for me to share my chess experiences, thoughts, and passions. I have developed a significant obsession for the game over the past year or so and I am excited to announce that the first major publication from this site is now available for free download! The OffMyChess.com Yearbook 2014 is the culmination of a monumental solo-effort to compile the “greatest hits” from this site throughout the last year. There are several articles reprinted from the blog in PDF format creating an exceptional collection format.

What you will find in the yearbook:

God and Chess
Movie Review: Life of a King
Magnus Carlsen: The World Champion Reigns
Is Chess Losing Public Appeal?
Product reviews including Chessmate, Plycounter, and various chess boards.

Additionally, the yearbook contains 30 games annotated by myself for the OMC Weekend Review. This compilation features the news, stories, and articles from twenty weeks of OMC Weekend Review and have been revised with new annotations and diagrams to explain key moves and positions. Finally, the Yearbook is also available in ChessBase format and includes annotated copies of each game from the PDF document.

The OffMyChess.com Yearbook has been a labor of love since June of last year when I began publishing the weekly updates. It is my goal to expand on that practice through 2015 and continue to collect games that I believe are instructive and representative of the challenges that people face when undertaking a monumental task such as learning to play good chess. In the meantime, head over to the Publications page to get the PDF and ChessBase database files to enjoy the inaugural edition of OffMyChess.com Yearbook 2014!

Bobby Fischer Live – Avoid at All Cost!

By Commander Exorcist

On December 14, 2014

In Famous Players, Personal Reflection, Reviews

As a kid, I can remember that Searching for Bobby Fischer was one of my first real introductions to the world of competitive chess. As I watched the film during our school’s chess club, I wondered throughout the film what most people already knew: Where is this Bobby Fischer guy? I knew that he was considered the greatest chess player of all time and that he had been missing for decades, but it was difficult at the time for me to realize the metaphorical elements of the movie’s title. These days, it seems as though many directors are jumping on the bandwagon to create movies and documentaries about the now-deceased recluse. Pawn Sacrifice debuted recently to decent reviews as well as the excellent HBO documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World, which arrived on the scene a few years ago.

As a huge Bobby Fischer fan, I have read as many books and articles that I could find on him and have digested countless minutia about his life, his personality, and his incredible chess games. However, I was surprised to find a movie on Amazon.com called Bobby Fischer Live, which appeared to be a biopic about his life from early childhood up to his escape from Japanese authorities to refuge in Iceland. Bobby Fischer Live stars Damian Chapa as Bobby and includes a cast of actors you may never recognize again.

When I played this movie on Friday night, I was excited to sit back and experience the life of Bobby Fischer. However, that joy immediately disintegrated into uncertainty and panic when within the first few seconds of the film, Bobby’s mother Regina is shown taking her newborn child to an Adaption Agency to give him away. I cannot remember the last time that I witnessed a spelling error in the opening credits of a film…even from low budget and independent local films. For me, this set the tone for the rest of the film because my obsessive-compulsive senses immediately peaked and I wanted to see what other problems existed in this film. I will not even get into the violations of chess law and the history of Bobby’s style that exist in this film, but I will say that he is shown constantly using the Queen’s pawn opening of 1.d4, which was not his preferred method of starting a game.

Re-creating Bobby’s famous introduction to the world.

Bobby Fischer Live is a word-for-word recreation of famous interviews, press conferences, and the memories of his closest friends and chess players. The scenes are recreated perhaps as best as they could be given the apparently low budget of the film, but the middle-aged Chapa certainly does not have the charisma or the physical presence to portray an accurate portrait of Bobby Fischer. It is obvious that Chapa is doing his best to project Fischer’s violent anti-semitism, but it falls way flat of the real thing. The scenes involving the 1972 World Chess Championship were so incredibly amateurish and appeared to have been shot in a cheesy hotel ballroom, where the two champions battled it out against each other at a borrowed kitchen table on the same level as the audience. Furthermore, Boris Spassky’s wig in those scenes were most likely borrowed from the closet of an Elvis impersonator. The director made a feeble attempt to show the hostility between Spassky and Moscow as he refused the Kremlin’s calls to abandon the match for the sake of his reputation, but the conflict lacks any substance or depth. As Bobby grows beyond the 1972 championship, his famous rant against the United States after the 9/11 attacks is re-created and there are some segments of the film that take place in a Japanese detention center as he awaits extradition to the United States for violation of the U.S. embargo on Yugoslavia in 1992.

Chess films tend to have a certain level of professionalism because the creators of these films understand that chess players can be very picky about the details, but I tend to allow a wide latitude for creative interpretation in books and film. Incorrect chess board setups and wrong moves permeate Hollywood films, but the level of amateur development in this film is disgraceful to chess and to the memory of Bobby Fischer. Watching this film feels like the director and the actors read a book about Bobby Fischer one time, decided he was interesting, and decided to make a movie. I have a hard time believing that anyone involved with this movie truly understood the depth of Bobby’s genius and his inner struggles, because there is no struggle, no substance, and no reason to watch this blundering piece of garbage.

OMC Weekend Review (Volume 1, Issue 16)

By Commander Exorcist

On November 30, 2014

In Personal Reflection

Thanksgiving is now a memory and we turn our attention to the next big holiday, Christmas! I have to admit that I am not one to go all-out in celebrating Christmas, but there is a significant amount of nostalgia associated with the holiday that I enjoy. Furthermore, it is a wonderful time to indulge with the children and go back to a simpler time when the worst thing I had to worry about was my early bedtime. As Christmas approaches, my university studies are winding down for the end of the year. Seminary work typically ends in the middle of December and resumes in January, so there will (fortunately) be some extra time to complete the OMC Yearbook as well as finish some books I am reading and spend more time with the family.

In the world of chess, the Qatar Masters Series is dominating headlines this week and there are live streams available on a multitude of sites including Chessbase and Chess.com. For me, giving up blitz chess has been a godsend like nothing I could have ever imagined. I have been playing a series of correspondence (turn-based) chess games and have been playing well into the Class E and D categories! My best win came recently against a 1400 ELO player, which is something I never would have fathomed when I began this site earlier in the year.

Today I want to show you a correspondence game I played over about a week’s timespan. I am convinced that this game could have been finished much quicker than it was, but my opponent chose to wait for 20-22 of the 24 hours allowed for each move whenever he was placed in a precarious situation. This became more of an issue as we entered the final stages of the endgame. In the end, I think that this is an exceptional little game and demonstrates how far I really have come over the last few months in my knowledge and execution of chess theory and practice.