Left Over Turkey Sandwiches

Even the dogs are tired of turkey!

There was one ladder game tonight with Ernie and Gelvic fighting down to a draw; no changes to the ladder. (It was rated and I have the $.50 Johnny.)

Bob K., Kerry, and myself played several Game 10's. Johnny was out with what may be the flu. Dave threw out his back moving to Cave City. Not much else to report.

Don't forget that next week is the "Remember Pearl Harbor Closed".

Sign Of The Day

Going "by the book" does not always work. If it did we wouldn't need a Supreme Court to interpret the rules/laws of our land. Sometimes you need to apply "common sense" to a situation...so what do you do when you have a house full of kids playing chess and the Ice Cream Truck arrives...?

It may not be in the Rule Book; but it should be...at least now we have a precedent for future situations on a hot, humid day. A big "tip of the hat" to Mr. Dillard!

White Rabbit

Darren dropped by El Tapatio's this morning and revealed that Ron Burnett was not the only KY Open entrant to forget which time zone he was in. Apparently Darren made the same error last Sunday and did not purposely withdraw; rather he returned home when he realized he was running an hour behind. I can see how that can happen when you work in one time zone and live in another; I guess that's why Dave Brock refers to Eastern Standard Time as "fast time".

Also playing to Mariachi Music this morning was James Whiddon, Steff Clayton, Jerry Weldin, and Angel Reyes. Angel came anxious to play and had at least one game with everyone present except me. Get your games in with Angel while you can; he will be going to the field soon for training.

If we can get a minimum of 4 players to commit to play rated games we can play in our regular Tuesday Night meeting room at ECTC.

Who's Afraid of a Ground Hog Shadow?

Bob failed to report that Steff presented him with a unique "Chess Blanket" to ward off the next cold spell. So to answer the question of "Who's afraid of a ground hog shadow?" .... it isn't Bob!

New "Patent Pending" Chess Ring Tone

While browsing thru the 2009/8 issue of NEW IN CHESS I came across a picture with the following caption: "The shortest game but one of the event. Alexander Delchev has played 1.d4, but before his opponent Stuart Conquest had time to reply, the Bulgarian's mobile phone rang, whereupon the game was declared lost for him."

My brain works "outside the cage" and this was no exception; in short order it conceived the following idea. Instead of using a pop song for a ring tone; simply record your own voice saying; "Considering the even position on the board and the onset of what may be the highly contagious N1H1 Virus, I hereby propose a draw." Pregnant wife in delivery or dying grandparent messages could also be used. This gives you time to mute your phone and avoid a forfeit! Of course you could just turn off your cell phone.

Later in the same issue there is a picture of Karpov conducting a simul while talking on his cell phone! Rude to say the least.

Oh, the "but one" game mentioned in the caption was a forfeit awarded because a Czech GM was a "few seconds" late and was not present when the arbiter started his clock.

And no, I don't think Darren placed any calls to Britain's opponents during the Novi Sad team competition.