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                 Last Edited on 4 February 2009 - New update coming soon. I haven't had a whole lot of time lately 8 October 2009. I try to keep good links up. If one goes out suddenly, I apologize ahead of time.

MRO and the HiRise JPEG2000 files are cool!!! I cropped this image from the Kasei Vallis file that I downloaded from JPL. It looks like an Ice crater to me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's sweet to finally reached 2200. This is near my peak. Hopefully I can maintain it.

I have a decent record for playing better players than I am. Similar to rodog, I don't shrink from a fight. Games will be completed - I don't time-out.
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All that space exploration stuff maybe cool; but chess is a passion of mine too. I won't hide the fact that I am good...very good. "I'm on a quest to do my best" and that means learning too. In other words, I'm not just here for the kill.
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Ken’s Chess proverb: The quality of play is not determined by the length of the game, but rather by how much you enjoy it.

The move that you make is not nearly as important as the move you threaten.

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The best musician of all time...

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Tactical training is imperative. There are plenty of sites that dedicate themselves to training such techniques. ====================================================================================================

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Our team is holding a tournament among friends. Write a message to me and tell me what you think. gameknot.com
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My favorite quote is by Richard Feynman when discussing the accuracy of theoretical physics and observed natural laws: "...but we never are right; we can only be sure that we're wrong."

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For team matches 5 to 7 day games are OK. Currently, I will only accept direct challenges from those either on my team for training purposes or those who have ratings within 50-75 points of mine. I have automatic rejection set unless 4 or 5 days per move. I won't play a 14 day move game.
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Lower rated team members are encouraged to send me a message, if you want to play me. This will give you a chance to play at a higher level of chess without the risk (we can play unrated and in private). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I used to play just about any opening. There are only a few openings that I'm uncomfortable with. And I'm not about to tell you which ones they are. Traditional, nontraditional, unorthodox, or force-a-dox...it makes no never mind to me. (That's Texas lingo translated as "I'm good" and have an ego concerning chess about as wide and deep as the Grand Canyon) Lately, I've had to eliminate some of the openings that I used to think were OK. Edit January 2009: I maybe adding one soon that I used to think was poor -- some might consider trash. I may have found a playable line that is of interest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Early in chess history, serious players did everything they could to gain an advantage at the board (they may try this today when the judges are not looking; but usually now we get an advantage through mental preparation instead). They didn't have tournaments like there are these days. Players would invite each other to their homes to play a friendly game. The host of the game would often set up the board with the sun at his back so that his opponent had to stare into the Sun while playing. This blinded his guest and made it more likely that his opponent would drop a piece.

I've incorporated this idea into my avatar. Each time you play a move against me, I hope you stare into my avatar. ;-) You might notice that it gets somewhat blinding--it is a very beautiful sunset with the sun reflecting off the water of the bay at South Padre Island. It's too bad you cannot see a bigger image of it. It really is an awesome photo. You'll just have to get closer to the screen and look into it to see exactly what I mean.

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I don't know whether the link above will come back again. Apparently there is some sort of copyright war happening over this song. Several different companies keep on making claims to it. They cannot all be valid claims. Perhaps all of them are bogus. But YouTube keeps taking them down because of those claims...even those versions known to be in public domain. Perhaps they want to error on the side of caution. I cannot promise that this link will remain for very long.

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Some people don't like country. That's OK. Here is a special treat for those that like acid or grunge rock. I found a replacement link!

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Even if you don't like grunge, you should still enjoy this 1st link. It's a classic.

and here is the original...

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As you can see, they are very similar! I'll meet you in the mosh pit.

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Have any of you ever dreamed 'chess'? If not, then you're not hardcore yet.
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I can hold my own. **** I've identified several areas where I need improvement. I'm still working on my game, but progress seems slow right now. I had a lot of trouble reaching that magic 2200 rating! I'll be happy just to maintain it.
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This isn't a famous quote that I know of, but it should be:

"French Defense Players ARE crazy, and Winawer-Poison Pawn players are the craziest of all! They are to be strenuously avoided during a full moon."
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Just for your information, I also play Pente--although I haven't done so anytime recently. I prefer chess. The following story is absolutely true.

Years ago, I played and beat the World Champion Pente player. We were matched together for a game at a quick chess tournament. He was impressed with my chess ability and asked whether I played Pente. After the Chess Tournament was over, we played a series of Pente games.

Neither he nor the 6 or 7 witnesses to this event could believe that I won in a fair match, not just a single game. To celebrate they took me to a bar afterwards and got me drunk. The former World Champion challenged me to another match at the bar. He won his World Championship back. I was unofficially the World Champion Pente player for a couple of hours!!! ...at least according to the people that witnessed it.

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