Excelsior by inches

Dave: 14
Chessica: 53
Stalemate: 2

Progress? Inch by inch.

Another tie

Dave: 12
Chessica: 48
Stalemate: 2

Another tie! Woot! Yes, Chessica pulled ahead a couple, but still....

B1 is like "How many have you won, Daddy?" and I told him. And he asked, "What about Chessica?" and I told him, and he said "You need to win a LOT more." and I said "I know."

Guh

Dave: 11
Chessica: 45
Stalemate: 1

Still inside the 5:1 ratio, so I've gained a bit of ground, although Chessica's been stomping me lately.

Getting better...

Dave: 9
Chessica: 37
Stalemate: 1

Oh, yeah. Sure, she picked up some games, but I smoked Chessica in three matches yesterday. I'm lean, I'm hungry. Okay, maybe not lean, but definitely hungry.

Stalemate

Dave: 6
Chessica: 31
Stalemate: 1

I fought Chessica to a tie game this morning, a stalemate. And even then, it was because we'd gone 70-something moves, and I think we could've gone another 100 moves. I had my King and a Rook, she had her King and a Bishop -- purely on points, I had the edge on her, which felt like a victory, given that Chessica had me on the ropes in the middle game, with something like seven Pawns all trying to get promoted to Queen. She managed to promote two to Queen, but I wasted both of them, and them methodically took down the other five Pawns until that endgame scenario, where we then fought across the board awhile, before I aced her Bishop with my Rook, and she aced my Rook with her King, leaving us King-to-King, which is a stalemate.

So, playing for a tie after a game I should've lost actually felt like a victory, and was pretty satisfying, given where I was in the middle game. Playing against a computer (which doesn't make mistakes), it's nice to be able to get around it and force the tie.

I'm strongest in the middle game, so I was pleased that I managed to play a solid endgame against overwhelming odds.

I checked Chessica's levels out, and I'm playing at Level 15, which sounds swell, although Chessica has something like 136 levels of play available, capable of beating 99% of chess players, like a rating of 2000. So, I've got a long, long way to go. When I first played Chessica at Level 1, I smoked it in like three moves, so Level 1 is for pikers; after that win, I cranked it up to 15 and that's where it's been since then. I won't up the level until I can up my wins enough to where I can consistently beat Chessica, so with the 5:1 ratio still holding, it'll be awhile, though today's stalemate was a promising development in our ongoing contention.

I'll fight to the bitter end, rather than taking a dive, even against a superior adversary -- "surrender" is a four-letter word to me. It always bugs me when I read matches where the other player resigns because they lose a key piece. Those wusses who resign because somebody nabbed their Queen? C'mon, deal with it. You fight until either you're dead, or the opponent's wasted. Win or die. Don't give me that resignation stuff. I think it's something to do with playing for points at the tournament level, like these guys don't want to lose points by fighting on or something like that. It has to be something like that, but if I'm beaten, I want to be actually defeated, rather than raising the white flag and saying "You win!"

But then, I'm from Rohan. Surrender is just so Gondorian, all milk-livered and whey-faced.

Bored, yet?

To quote Vizzini from A Princess Bride: "Wait til' I get going!"

Yeah...

Dave: 6
Chessica: 30

I won one this morning, although Chessica's 5 to 1 edge persists for the moment. Still, it was nice to have taken one, and decisively. The computer kind of lays down and dies when it's beaten, whereas I'll fight on to the bitter end, but then, Chessica's neither Scots nor Irish.

Tactical versus Positional

Dave: 5
Chessica: 26

Yeah, basically for every one of my wins, Chessica wins over five. For now, for now. I nearly won four more games, but Chessica flatly outplayed me at the endgame. The curious thing about the computer is that it'll roll over and play dead once you've got it -- you'll see it make moves where you're like "Huh??" and you realize it's the chess computer equivalent of desperation.

I'm a fighter, so I'll keep after it until I turn those numbers around. The challenge always with a chess computer is that it masters positional play -- perfect, set-piece play that creates a spiderweb on the board that's very difficult to crack. I'm not a positional player; I'm currently a sloppy tactical player, and always will be tactical, though I should eventually be able to diminish the slop. My hope is that I can work on my game and improve my tactics, and then turn things around, because I'm never going to be a positional type of player -- that style of play oppresses me (even though it is impressive to watch a good positional player create a marvelous trap on the board). So, all I can hope for is to be the best tactician I can be, because I'll never be a strategist.

The advantage of it is that you can "outwit" the computer once your tactics get good enough, or at least outmaneuver it on the board, despite its elegant positional tricks and traps. I'm amazed that this handheld chess computer is as good as it is, given that the last one I had was about the size of a dinner tray. Gotta love miniaturization. My favorite chess program was Chessmaster, which was on an old PC I had in the 90s. That thing was positively deadly -- any win against it was hard-fought, although Chessica's no slouch, obviously.

Once I eventually turn around my string of defeats, I'll eventually up the level of the computer to force me to work that much harder, figuring it's got to be good for the brain. I haven't played chess like this since the 90s, so it's fun to get back into it, even to realize that I'm out of practice, and Chessica is currently making me its chess-bitch.

Gruh.

Dave: 4
Chessica: 11

F-f-f-f-rickin' cold

I went to Target this morning to get some jumbo Rubbermaid containers for the Christmas tree (yeah, still up; hey, it's not February, yet), and I got a few other things. It was amazingly cold outside -- the car reluctantly started; glad I got a new battery last year (or the year before? Can't remember). Still, the car was like "Say what?" when I turned it on. It was so cold, the liquid crystal display on the stereo was slow to respond. Spousette wiped out her liquid crystal watch yesterday, when it got exposed to the cold weather -- the thing just went blank. Maybe the cold leached the power from it, or something. No idea. She's the Luddite's Luddite -- the body count has kept piling up (her old iPod, then my iPod, two printers, and now a wristwatch I'd gotten her for her birthday).

Speaking of tech and Luddites...

Chessica: 7
Dave: 3

Sigh. Still, the matches have been good, even though Chessica keeps winning. I'm out of practice, so this'll help my aging neurons.

I bought a few others needed things at Target, then piled it in the tubs I'd bought, and then carted that indoors. I was out early enough, and it was cold enough, that I managed to get our good parking spot back, which never happens when I set out on a weekend jaunt.

So very glad to have tomorrow off. I really need that.

Checkmate

I played my chess computer this morning, barely managed to beat it. It's a Sharper Image portable chess computer, something I wanted for Christmas, something to keep my brain sharp. I used to play chess a lot as a kid and a teen, although I wasn't a stellar player. I thought it would be a good thing to get back into to help my aging brain.

The chess computer calls itself "Chessica" -- I love that. As it stands...

Dave 2
Chessica 1

She almost had me this morning, but I managed to beat her in the endgame. There are many different levels of difficulty in the program. I think she's slightly better than I am in the current configuration, which isn't saying much, since I'm very out of practice. I was sweating while playing, so that must be a good sign, forcing my brain to work.

Oddly enough, I saw that Bobby Fischer has died.

Tomorrow is only a day away

Tomorrow's gonna be a crazy day, Poppets.

First, we get to meet Herr Direktor in the morning, and we're encouraged to show up (no doubt to create the illusion that we're not a Potemkin Department -- they should've given us cardboard cutouts of people to bring to fill out the ranks -- hell, some of those cutouts would be better editors than some of my coworkers).

Then, around 12:30 I'm going to a bar near Bizarroworld with Cookie, Crabcakes, and Miss Manners -- the first two wanted to snag a beer to herald the end of summer, so I was like "Awrighty!" We'll see what kind of scoopage, if any, I can get from C&C. Always good to know Production folks.

And THEN, around 5:00 and 5:30, the Lunch Bunch (or most of it, members-in-good-standing) will be gathering at another bar/restaurant for some socializing. It should be Homegrrl, Shallot, the Plebe, and me -- possibility that Leona may turn up for a drink-and-run, but we'll see if she does.

Anyway, it's going to be a busy day. And Wankmaster is turning up around 10:30 for a meeting with Leona and Cherry and others -- that SOB (haha) better not show up at the 12:30 outing, but I figure he won't. If he does, I'll be like "Hey, Shitmonkey. I knew you'd be back."

Daddy's gonna be one busy fella tomorrow -- that's way more social than I usually am in one day, Heaven help me.

Lunch Bunchin'

Got together with Shallot, Homegirl, and the Plebe at Hackney's. Twas a good time, although people seemed tired, those of us who work for a living, that is!

Hackney's had decent bar food, although the Old Fashioned I'd ordered wasn't as good as the others I've had. Their Manhattans were better, and I had three of them, got a mild buzz; I'd already had a one-drink headstart on everybody else since I'd gotten there about 15 minutes earlier.

The Plebe is apparently getting married in mid-August. That was the big bombshell of the evening, delivered to Shallot and me while Homegirl was in the restroom. Smooth as ever, Plebe! I guess he and the She-Plebe had been engaged for some time, with a dog as the token of their engagement, instead of an engagement ring, by her design. They're getting married in Osh-Kosh, and Shallot and Homegirl laughed about crashing his wedding. It certainly would be surreal, no doubt, given the aura of absurdity that surrounds the Plebe wherever he goes.

Shallot and I rode the train home, which was uneventful, just chit-chatting. I was pretty tired by then. They've been doing movie filming in our neighborhood all week, dunno what movie they're doing it for.

Speaking of movies, B2 broke the DVD player! The little scamp had yanked the door of the player out, and I couldn't get it working again. Fortunately, such players are dirt-cheap these days, so I ordered another one, which should hopefully reach us by next week, fingers crossed.

I think the Lunch Bunch refugees should do a seasonal dinner -- Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring. That might be cool, and would be easy to remember. I'm sure the Plebe would fink out on 90% of those, but it would be fun. We just did Summer, so Fall would be next, like sometime during September - November. No muss, no fuss.