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Taking On the Traxler

by Subscriber HikaruShindo on Jul 15 2018 22:02 | 181 views | 2 edits | Last edit on Jul 15 2018 22:03

Hello everyone, and welcome to the only chess blog on the internet that speaks to clients on the phone about quantities and type of copier paper. As I mentioned several posts ago, I’ve been re-watching episodes of The Office, set in Pennsylvania, and there’s a scene where one of the main characters (Jim, played by John Krasinski) plays a game against one of the other office workers.

To make a long story short, if you google: (“wilkes-barre” “krasinski” “chess” ) the first result is the following delightful little minature:

Krasinski–Yakov Estrin Istra 1947
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 {Estrin, as usual, seeks to control the game, and countergambits a pawn.} 3. exd5 e4 4. d3 Nf6 {If 5. dxe4 now, Nxe4 is uncomfortable for white: Qh4 is an immediate threat, and the knight is positioned well.}...

Posted to Hikaru Junction

A Chess Coindence and 1813

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Jul 03 2018 21:18 | 2408 views | 2 edits | Last edit on Jul 04 2018 14:12


Hands up everyone who knows about Egerton Smith (1774-1842 ).
Title here

1. 32-33 47-45
2. 22 -24 58-14
Is Fool’s Mate.

rnb1kbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/6Pq/5P2/PPPPP2P/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

The Curse of the Electronic Chessboard

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Jun 13 2018 11:19 | 4508 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Jun 13 2018 11:26


Hello again and first question of the day is...What is this?
Title here

It is infact the mascot for the 2018 Chess Olympiad which is being held
in Batumi, Georgia from the 23rd of September to the 6th of October.
I have not been able to find out the turtles name. All I can find is ‘The Turtle.’

The dates are important because the World title match between Carlsen and...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

The ‘Game of the Century’

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on May 23 2018 14:39 | 4811 views | 1 edit | Last edit on May 24 2018 10:13


Title here

Title here

Title here

Title here

Yes I know and also my quote from these pages way back on my 60th
blog when I was complaining about writers copying from each other ...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Chess and the Indian Navy

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on May 11 2018 14:20 | 3872 views


Found in a 50p box at the ‘Homes for the Homeless’ Charity shop.
no title

The 50p is the actual change I got from the £1.00 I handed over.

A solid gold chess bracelet. Well not actually solid gold but when
I give it to my newest girlfriend, Bald Flo Jones, I will tell her it is.
{imgblock=/imgu/blog/1/b4u437199-1490275699.png}green pawns{/imgblock...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

The Milan Vidmar Trap

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Apr 22 2018 16:59 | 3895 views | 2 edits | Last edit on May 10 2018 12:33


OOPS!
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Apparently 100's of these were on sale at a tournament in Florida in 2002.
The position is correct, so are the names and the place.........but the price?
red pawns

Title here

At Hasting in 1926 Milan Vidmar (1885-1962) sprang a trap that with the...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Karpov was Jack the Ripper

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Apr 10 2018 00:22 | 4375 views | 3 edits | Last edit on Apr 10 2018 01:27


Title here

There is a moment in this film when Emma Prentiss (as played by
Jane Seymour) shows Inspector Frederick Abberline (as played by
Michael Caine) an artists impression of Jack the Ripper ( as played
by.....nobody really knows). She says she is selling the drawing to
The Stand Magazine but (and I’m sure most of you know this) the
grisly murders took place in London in 1888, the Strand Magazine...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Chess Junk and Russian Endings

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Mar 13 2018 12:57 | 8065 views


And this is how badly I am afflicted by the chess bug...
Title here

...I’m now buying broken china just because it has a chess theme.

My research, and here I remind my readers of my diligence in such matters,
took me to a small village in southern Italy called Polominto and it was here
I met with a one legged man called Luigi ‘He Who Hops’ who told me it wa...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Tournament: Part II

by Subscriber HikaruShindo on Mar 04 2018 05:39 | 1967 views

Hello all,

And welcome back to Hikaru Junction, the only chess blog on the internet that waves the flags that the robots made. Today we’ll be looking at the second half of the last tournament I played, in which I scored 0/3 due to some atrocious mistakes. Cheers to schadenfreude! After scoring 1/3, with a win and two draws, in the first half of the tournament, I was a little demoralized, but still took a positive attitude into the first game. I was wrong to do so, as it turned out.

Charles Hua–HikaruShindo Empire City Open 2017
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 {I played the opening as usual, developing my pieces in fairly standard fashion.} 5. d3 Be7 6. O-O b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 {The move weakens the d3 pawn– I generally prefer to only play c3-d4 as it’s more efficient if at...

Posted to Hikaru Junction

Tournament: Part I

by Subscriber HikaruShindo on Mar 01 2018 14:26 | 2164 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Mar 01 2018 19:48

Hello all–

Welcome to Hikaru Junction, the only chess blog on the internet with absolutely unimaginative titles. Today I thought I’d catch you all up on the last tournament I played in over the board, as a way of easing back into this blogging business. In any case, I last played at the Empire City Open in NYC, where I scored a rather pitiful 1/6. Hopefully my mistakes will prove instructive. Let’s get into it, then!

Mario Guevara-Rodriguez–HikaruShindo Empire City Open 2017
1. c4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. e3 b6 {Since White hasn’t fianchettoed his bishop, Black can control the light squares.} 5. Be2 Be7 {b4 is a better location, since it discourages d4.} 6. O-O O-O 7. d4 d6 8. Qc2 {White prepares to push the e-pawn.} Bb7 {Black finally fianchettoes, preventing the advance.} 9....

Posted to Hikaru Junction

Chess with Tal, Nana and Frodo

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Feb 15 2018 00:46 | 8460 views | 3 edits | Last edit on Mar 04 2018 03:09


This is Frodo from one of the many L.O.T.R. Chess sets
Title here

Which gives me a great excuse to show the Frodo Game.

If any of you are coaching kids or just wanting a game to show
to your merry men down at the club then this is it. It's a classic. ...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Chess Coincidences and ChessTraps

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Jan 22 2018 14:11 | 6851 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Feb 13 2018 09:02


Title here

answer at the bottom of this page.
green pawns

Meanwhile....from the U.K. Metro last week we read:

Police in Oslo said they received several emergency calls
on Monday evening from residents who had hears screaming...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Chess Blitz Tricks and the RHP Hall of Doom

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Jan 03 2018 10:57 | 6583 views | 2 edits | Last edit on Jan 08 2018 20:19


Title here

Chess wise 2017 ended on a controversial note which had everyone in a lather.

Introducing to these pages the Russian chess player Ernesto Inarkiev
Title here

The 32 year old, named Ernesto after the Argentinean revolutionary
(and also a chess player) Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, was involved in a...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

RHP 2017 Chess Christmas Quiz

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Dec 11 2017 12:25 | 6823 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Dec 11 2017 12:26


Every year I promise myself I’ll do something different and spend
11½ months trying to figure out what. No joy, so once again........
Title here

You will be asked to find the winning and sometimes the losing move
We will start off by pulling a Christmas cracker and reading the joke.

(1) Getyourhandoutofmypocket - willysan RHP 2017 (Black to play...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Australian Beer and Chess

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Nov 21 2017 13:49 | 8705 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Nov 21 2017 15:46


I’ve never been to Australia but I just know I’d like it out there.

I’ve never yet met an Australian lad I did not trust, like and get on
with. An Australian Red Hot Pawn member sent me this picture.
Title here

I requested more information and was duly sent this
photograph of the above picture in it’s natural setting....

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Paul Morphy in a 'B' Horror Movie

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Nov 01 2017 17:34 | 12151 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Nov 19 2017 13:04


Hands up all those think this is the greatest film ever.
Title here

OK. Hands up all those who think this film is pretty good.

OK Hands up all those who think this film is totally naff.

OK. you did not like it and most of you have probably never seen it....

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Chess Books....and Hitler

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Oct 18 2017 13:39 | 8293 views


Title here

Folkstone is an English coastal town in the county of Kent
I do not have a picture of Folkstone. Here is Winston Williams....
Title here

...holding up the Folkstone Chess Club’s ‘Pickles’ Trophy.

(Pickles was the name of the dog who found the stolen Worl...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Chess: 'The Winning Way' (sometimes)

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Oct 11 2017 22:04 | 5508 views


Magnus Carlsen won the recent Isle of Man tournament with a
score of 7½ pts from 9 games. Winning sic and drawing three

Here is Magnus with his silver trophy and membership voucher.
Title here

Of course it’s a fine state of affairs when our current World Champion does
not know the rules of our noble game but that, apparently, is the case here...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Chess World Cup 2017 we have a winner

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Sep 27 2017 18:51 | 6785 views | 4 edits | Last edit on Nov 28 2017 16:06


Title here

red pawns

The 2017 Chess World Cup has finished. Lev Aronian won it.
Title here

I thought we would take a look at some incidents and some games.

The sponsor had the board around the wrong way...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Short Draws in the World Cup

by Subscriber HikaruShindo on Sep 10 2017 20:04 | 6903 views

Hello everyone, and welcome to Hikaru Junction, the only chess blog on the internet that wakes up every evening with a big smile on its face. I recently responded to a question in the discussion thread for the last blog: 174075, which made me consider the way I evaluate short draws, especially in a knockout format. This blog, we’ll be looking at several of the very short draws from the World Cup.

As I mentioned in that thread, my criteria for determining whether a short draw is merely annoying, or detrimental to the tournament, include the reasoning for the draw. To identify some of the "best" and "worst" short draws in the World Cup, I’ve taken each draw under 20 moves and applied the following method:

If the higher-rated player is Black, and thus both players (rather than, in th...

Posted to Hikaru Junction

Three World Cup Brackets

by Subscriber HikaruShindo on Sep 06 2017 13:54 | 7026 views

Hello everyone, and welcome to Hikaru Junction, the only chess blog on the internet whose castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand.

Today, I’ll be previewing each matchup in the second round of the world cup for the first three sections of the bracket, some more in-depth, some less so. I’ll cover several more tomorrow, and try to finish the day afterwards. Let’s get started, as I’m writing this between the tiebreaks finishing and the next game starting one day later. A final note: I’ll be listing players in the following format: Player(seed, pre-tournament rating.)

Section One

Magnus Carlsen (1, 2822) vs Aleksey Dreev (64, 2648)
This appears to be an easy win for the World Champion given the large rating disparity between the two players. Dreev has previously com...

Posted to Hikaru Junction

RHP mentioned in a non-chess book.

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Aug 30 2017 19:15 | 5477 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Aug 30 2017 19:17


A few weeks back we look at a cock-up regarding a chess stamp with the wrong picture.
Look at this set of four chess stamps from Sierra Leone. Who is that on the top left stamp
Title here

Answer at the bottom of the page.
red pawns

Recently I had a reason to be going through this book.....
{imgblock=/imgu/blog/1/b4u437199-1504118227.png}Title here{/imgblock...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Help from all RHP players needed!

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Aug 09 2017 17:46 | 6445 views | 3 edits | Last edit on Aug 09 2017 18:16


This book published in 1964....
Title here

...starts most of it’s chapters with a chess rule or saying.

I’ve selected a handful and the quest is to find out which book
Len Deighton used when he wrote the book. Can anyone help? ...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Blitz vs Standard Chess with Radars

by Subscriber HikaruShindo on Aug 08 2017 23:31 | 2819 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Aug 08 2017 23:33

Hello, and welcome to Hikaru Junction, the only chess blog on the internet whose author supports a team in the twelfth tier of English football. Today we’ll be examining the differences between blitz and regular chess using my new favorite analysis tool, the radar graph.

To accomplish that aim, I’ve done radars for three players from one tournament: the 2009 Tal Memorial, a round-robin also with nine rounds, similar to the Norway Blitz tournament. (Vladimir Kramnik (6/9,) Magnus Carlsen (5.5/9,) and Viswanathan Anand (5/9.))

Let’s now take a representative player from the Norway Chess blitz tournament. For a decent representative we want someone who had a good tournament, as we would expect the results to be generally better in longer chess than in blitz chess. However, we don’t w...

Posted to Hikaru Junction

Preliminary Chess Radars

by Subscriber HikaruShindo on Jul 19 2017 19:04 | 6015 views | 3 edits | Last edit on Jul 21 2017 19:12

Hello everyone,

welcome to Hikaru Junction, the only chess blog on the internet with an opinion on white chocolate. (1. disgusting, 2. not chocolate)

I've made a new chess visualization comparing players to each other in the same tournament. (Here, specifically, the Norway Chess blitz tournament this year.)

The categories measured:
Point % (from possible points...

Posted to Hikaru Junction

The Great Chess Stamp Scandal

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Jul 14 2017 15:39 | 7479 views | 5 edits | Last edit on Nov 28 2017 16:25


Where to begin this one....Best I think to start of with the book.
Title here

I’ll quickly cover old ground which I’m sure 99% of the planet know.

Fleming uses a chess game in the book It has been established it is this
game Reshevsky - Botvinnik Moscow 1955. I’ll give that game in full at the end. ...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

A Chess Jacket and the Salvio Trap

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Jun 29 2017 10:03 | 8706 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Jun 29 2017 12:44


Look at them, these are our chess elite...
Title here

....and they have been made to wear dull unimaginative jackets.

My Auntie Ethel, the one who disguised herself as a man in WWII
so she could fly Lancaster Bombers, always said; “Never complain
about anything, just improve it. ” I have a new jacket design in mind....

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

Playing Chess With The Devil.

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on Jun 14 2017 15:27 | 8218 views | 8 edits | Last edit on Jun 17 2017 12:24


Good evening. Tonight I want to tell you an extraordinary story.

Never mind how it all started. Let’s just say I was in the wrong place at
the wrong time and ended up having to play the Devil at chess for my soul.

We got to this position with Black (the Devil) to play.. ...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

‘Chess Combinations and Traps in the Opening.’ .

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on May 31 2017 18:51 | 9435 views


And apparently....
Title here

Title here

Title here

Title here

Title here

{imgblock=/imgu/blog/1/b4u437199-1490275699.png}green pawns{/imgblock...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

The Great Chess Mystery...

by Subscriber greenpawn34 on May 15 2017 14:29 | 8661 views


...or this piece could be called how to write a chess blog (Part I)

First of all grab an old copy of one of these...
Title here

....BCM July 1979. (that is J. J. Löwenthal on the cover.)

Look in the ‘Quotes & Queries’ edited by D.J. Morgan...

Posted to The Planet Greenpawn

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