The Benefits of Working for a Bookseller #2

Check out this book I got for free at work!

It's a sci-fi novel which seems to be only peripherally about chess. But it's a cool thing, and I never would have known such a book existed!

Songs About Chess! #2

Here are a couple more popular songs that mention chess.

The first is Bob Dylan's "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", which makes a passing allusion to chess pieces in this verse:

"The cloak and dagger dangles

Madams light the candles

In ceremonies of the horsemen

Even the pawn must hold a grudge

Statues made of matchsticks

Crumble into one another

My love winks, she does not bother

She knows too much to argue or to judge"

Read more: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/love-minus-zero-no-limit#ixzz38zZXIiEK

It's a beautiful song and a beautiful lyric (I love the last two lines of that verse), from his fantastic 1965 LP "Bringing It All Back Home".

The next song is a very bizarre They Might Be Giants track from their self-titled 1986 debut. I think the song speaks for itself...

Thanks for reading! :)
Dan

Songs About Chess!

I am a huge music fan in addition to being a huge chess fan.  

I thought I'd post a couple of songs related to chess - the first is "Chess", a solo recording by Rivers Cuomo of Weezer.

The second is a song by They Might Be Giants called "Rest Awhile", which makes somewhat bizarre mention of Ruy Lopez.  He lived in the 1500s, and the opening that is his namesake (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5) is hugely popular all these centuries later.

The opening:

The song:

"Turn your fear into courage!"

I've been dabbling a bit studying go, a strategy board game hugely popular in Japan, China, Korea, etc. In go, you place stones and try to surround more territory than your opponent. Anyway, it's very different from chess, but similar in that both games take planning, calculation, and technique - and in that both are complex and wonderfully difficult. I recommend learning the rules and giving it a try, if for nothing else than a change of pace. :)

I'm also in the middle of a Japanese manga series about go, titled Hikaru No Go, which is the story of a boy named Hikaru and his journey as a go player.

The series is getting better as it progresses - I'm getting more and more invested in the characters.  And, interestingly, I've learned a lot about the psychology of competition and improving a skill - lessons that I can apply to my tournament chess play. Hikaru and Sai (Hikaru's go teacher and a ghost, but we won't get into that here...) are good teachers for people competing in any type of game/sport, not just go!

So, I thought I'd throw in a couple of sample pages to illustrate what I mean. The title of this blog entry ("Turn your fear into courage!") is also a quote from Sai in this part of the book.

Anyway, it could just be me, but the series is inspiring me to press on in my chess improvement and reach for new accomplishments and milestones!

"Win or lose, we like to play."

What do Raffi and hockey have to do with chess?

I just picked up a copy of Raffi's newest children's album, "Love Bug", and I've been having a lot of fun listening to it in my car.  Raffi's music may be for kids, but there is a depth and a message there that is universal.

Anyway, one of the songs is called "On Hockey Days", and is basically a song about how much Raffi loves hockey. But I love the simplicity of the lyrics:

"Win or lose, we like to play."

And I realized that this is what I hope can always be my attitude towards chess - because, if it ever stops being fun, it's difficult to improve, and any improvement wouldn't be all that exciting anyway without the joy of the game.

As Bobby Fischer said, "You can only get good at chess if you love the game."

So I strive to play for fun, not for wins and losses, and I expect this is a healthy attitude that will have the nice perk of bringing me more wins in the long run.

Custom-made chess bags!

I thought I'd share these custom-made chess bags, which were a gift a while back, featuring my Chess Classroom logo. I use them now to carry my chess pieces (and my go stones, actually, which gives me an idea for a future blog entry!).

My talented fiancé designed the logo, and the bags themselves were created and hand-made by my future mother-in-law.

Cool, huh? :)

The benefits of working for a bookseller.

I've been working part-time for an online bookseller, and one benefit is that a lot of used chess books find their way into my hands - for free!

The photo shown is only about half of what I've picked up from work in a couple of months. :)