Several days ago this notice appeared on the USCF website:
“USCF & Internet Chess Club Join Forces to Provide Online Rated Chess!
The Internet Chess Club (ICC) and the United States Chess Federation (USCF) are delighted to announce the start of USCF online rated tournaments on the ICC. Bonus: 20% off ICC memberships for USCF members!” (http://www.uschess.org/content/view/12816/772/)
Wow, what a “bonus.” How about playing on one of the plethora of places where you can play FREE?
Today a new thread appeared on the forum under “All Things Chess”:
“New form of cheating on PlayChess.com ??”
by MikeMurray on Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:22 am #285620
“The last few days, I’ve experienced what appears to be a new cheating technique on PlayChess.com. What happens is my time seems to simply evaporate and I lose on time the instant my opponent moves. These are rated games. The last occurrence, with a huge material advantage on the board, I had about 25 seconds left and had a “premove” set up. My opponent thought for about 30 seconds, moved, and bingo, I instantly lost on time. This has happened more than once. The first couple of times (with different opponents), I thought I’d simply zoned out and not noticed my opponent’s move. But this last time, I was clearly focused and paying attention.
Anybody else experience this or something similar?
By the way, my premove did execute on the board, so I technically lost on time when it was my opponent’s move!”
A short time later Mike Nolan weighed in, as he does often, with:
by nolan on Mon Oct 06, 2014 12:07 pm #285622
“This doesn’t sounds so much like a way of cheating as a poorly designed or buggy playing interface.”
Next up was Hal Terrie:
by Hal Terrie on Mon Oct 06, 2014 12:14 pm #285623
“This kind of thing is frequently caused by lag. If you have a slow connection to the server your moves (and the replies of your opponent) will not be transmitted right away but meanwhile the server is still counting down your clock. This can result in the sudden disappearance of time as you have described.”
— Hal Terrie
Mr. Murray answered:
Postby MikeMurray on Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:52 pm #285629
“In the past, the server seemed to be able to account for lag. I’m wondering if some other applications I’m running on my PC might #### this up. I had Skype up, as well as gDrive, couple of browser windows and the usual antivirus.”
Hal took another turn with:
by Hal Terrie on Mon Oct 06, 2014 2:12 pm #285631
“I don’t think it’s related to other applications. I have had the exact thing you describe happen to me – I try to move instantly but 30 seconds or a minute just vanish. I have had this happen on both ICC and Chess.com. Some servers have an internal test for lag and won’t let you start a game if your connection is too slow but I don’t think it always works.r
I get broadband internet from Comcast and there’s a tendency to think it’s very fast. However, when overall usage is very high (for example, in late afternoon when all the kids are getting home from school and simultaneously logging on), I have sometimes found my connection slowing to a crawl. It’s not just the chess servers, web pages take forever to load too. All I can do is just log off and come back later. Sometimes, if I try logging in instead using an alternate ISP (I have a wireless laptop card from Verizon), the problem vanishes.”
— Hal Terrie
(http://www.uschess.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=20621&sid=70db42d2bdfc049f1cc046fd44d6b0a0)
I had a problem trying to listen to music from the Hearts of Space (https://www.hos.com/). When the music stopped a message appeared onscreen, “Your internet connection is too slow. You must be in the US, which means your 20th century low-speed internet, unlike the twenty-first century ultra high-speed connection in most other advanced countries, like Japan and South Korea, for example, runs circles around your antiquated, obsolete, low-speed internet, while you pay exponentially more for infinitely less service.” Or something like that…
I was talking with a gentleman from another country in a coffee shop just the other day as his frustration mounted. “I cannot believe how slow the internet is here! It takes me many minutes longer to do my work! In my country all I have to do is THINK about where I’m surfing next and the page will appear ten seconds BEFORE I realize that’s where I wanted to go!”
I told him to have another cuppa joe while he waited. “Good idea,” he said.
This game was played in the 13th Bergamo Open July 19:
Giulio Lagumina (2337) – Gerhard Spiesburger (2102)
13th Bergamo Open 2014.07.19
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qe5+ 4. Be2 Bg4 5. d4 Bxe2 6. Ngxe2 Qh5 7. Bf4 c6 8. Qd3 Nf6 9. O-O-O e6 10. Be5 Nbd7 11. f4 O-O-O 12. Ng3 Qg6 13. Qf3 Be7 14. Kb1 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Nd5 16. Nce4 f5 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Nc5 Be7 19. Nd3 Rhf8 20. Ne4 Qh6 21. g3 g5 22. c4 Nc7 23. Qe3 gxf4 24. Qxa7 Qg6 25. Rhe1 f3 26. Ka1 Rxd3 27. Rxd3 f2 28. Nxf2 Rxf2 29. Qxf2 Qxd3 30. a3 Qxc4 31. Qf7 Kd7 32. Qxh7 b5 33. Qe4 Qb3 34. Re3 Qd1+ 35. Ka2 Qh5 36. h4 b4 37. axb4 Qb5 38. Kb3 Nd5 39. Qxe6+ Kc7 40. Qe5+ Kb7 41. Rf3 Qxb4+ 42. Kc2 Qc5+ 43. Kd1 Qg1+ 44. Ke2 Bb4 45. Rf7+ Ka6 46. Rf1 Qg2+ 47. Rf2 Qg1 48. Rf1 Qg2+ 49. Rf2 Qg1 1/2-1/2
The standard move is 4…c6. After reading an article about the move in Chess Monthly I tried 3…Qe5+ at the House and it caused me Pain. My Knights were developed in reverse order and I was punished. My opponent played d5 and opened my position like a can of sardines. As you can imagine, after an early round knockout I was not in the best of moods when the Legendary Georgia Ironman asked, “What’s the name of that opening?” I replied, “The Patzer.” A big grin came over Tim’s face as he said, “There’s a reason.”
The name of the article was “The Patzer.” Most would have passed it over after skimming, but I was drawn to the move; more so to the position after 4 Be2 c6 5 d4 Qc7.
I do not think “The Patzer” is a good name for this opening because it is the the name of another, discredited opening which begins, 1e4 e5 2 Qh5 (http://www.killegarchess.com/forum/3-chess-openings/1206-re-the-patzers-opening-wayward-queen-attackparham-attack.html). There are those who teach this opening to youngsters as part of their curriculum and when the little Spud defeats his opponent in four moves tell the parent it is proof that their “Spud” has learned how to play chess and has the potential to become a “champion.” This is a disservice to the Royal game. It also begs the question of why anyone who cannot defend against “The Patzer” is playing in an organized chess tournament. Granted, IM Boris Kogan said, “One can play any opening.” but he also said, when I opened with 1 g4 against him and reminded him of what he said earlier, “But not that opening.” Playing “The Patzer” falls into the category of moves not to be played.
Preston Ware played the move seven times at Vienna, 1882, winning against Weiss, but losing the other six games against Winawer; Zukertort; Steinitz; Meitner; Paulsen; and the man called “Black death.”
“Preston Ware Jr. (August 12, 1821 – January 29, 1890) was a US chess player. He is best known today for playing unorthodox chess openings. Ware was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and died in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Boston Mandarins, a group of chess players in the late 19th century.
Ware was an avid tournament player and played in the Second International Chess Tournament, Vienna 1882, the finest chess tournament of its time. He finished in sixteenth place of eighteen scoring a total of 11 points out of 34, but he did beat Max Weiss and the winner of the tournament, Wilhelm Steinitz in a game lasting 113 moves. At the time, Steinitz had not lost or drawn a game for nine years prior to this tournament and was the unofficial World Champion. Ware also competed in the first, second, fourth and fifth American Chess Congresses.
Ware’s other claim to fame was his eccentric opening play. He used the Ware Opening (then known as the Meadow Hay Opening), the Corn Stalk Defence (sometimes known as the Ware Defence), and the Stonewall Attack. Around 1888 he reintroduced the Stone-Ware Defence to the Evans Gambit, named also for Henry Nathan Stone (1823–1909). (It had originally been played by McDonnell against La Bourdonais in 1843.)” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Ware
I would be remiss in my duties if I did not give the game in which an American bested the acknowledged World Champion:
Because Preston Ware was the first player to adopt the move and play it against the best players in the world at the time, and since there are other moves named “Ware,” I hereby name the move 3…Qe5+ the “American” opening. I would rather tell my friend I lost with the “American” than the “Patzer.” How about you?
Alexandre Drozdov has played 3…Qe5+ seven times, losing four while winning only three, but two of the wins were against a strong Grandmaster.
Armchair Warrior 