5. ...Nbd7 6. Bd3

No fanfare this time, just the move: 6. Bd3. 5. ...Nbd7 won by simply being the only vote (one vote can make a difference!). My next move is coming on the 2nd, so be sure to put in your 2 cent's worth by 11:59 pm on the 1st. Time to start programming in Ruby for homework...

4. ...c6 5. e3

By a 2-1 vote, 4. ...c6 gets the nod. I am responding with 5. e3. Here is a question for you to think about while considering the next move: Why did I have to buy a textbook for my Badminton class?


You have until 11:59 pm on the 29th to cast your vote, on the 30th move 6 will arrive.

3. ...Nf6 4. Nc3

So once again we had a tie, and the first tied move suggested was ...Nf6, so that is what will be played. For those of you who do not have an entire room at your house dedicated to the current position of this game (don't worry, I don't either) here is where we are:


All you voters have until 11:59 pm the 26th to vote, I will be posting my fifth move on the 27th at some point.

2. ...e6 3. Nf3

Looks like a simple majority won this time. And... we are up to 3 votes! If this trend continues, by the endgame this might be a semi-popular blog (2, 3, ..., 56, etc.).

Here is the current position:


You all have until 11:59 on the 23rd to cast your votes, the 24th I will post my move (on the first day of my last semester of college!).

1. ...d5 2. c4

Sorry to Robinson, but I have decided that in case of a tie (1 for d5 and 1 for Nf6) that the move which was originally suggested first will win the tiebreak. There really isn't much of another way to decide this without looking like I am choosing for you. Also thanks to Anonymous (*cough* Jason *cough*) for voting. Hopefully we can get more votes in the future so that we won't have to go through tiebreaks again. Here is the current position:


Anyway, my next move will be posted on the 21st, so you have until 11:59 pm on the 20th to vote.

Since I have nothing to post...

...I have decided to try something different. I propose a match between myself and the readers. Obviously this won't be the same quality as other such matches (Some GM vs. World, etc.), but it will fill the time until I have something to post. I will post a new move every 3 days and will give the viewers the time between to comment on the position, the most popular move in the comments of the current position's post will be made for the readers. If nobody decides to make moves, then I will just abandon the game. Hopefully this will kill enough time until at least the Iowa Open (Sept. 5-6) so I will have something to post. Anyway, here goes the experiment (I get white because it was my idea :-p):

1. d4


Hopefully some of you will let the game continue. Next move by me: Aug 18. Reader comments taken into account until: 11:59 pm Aug 17.

Nothing Interesting at the Moment

Sorry folks, not much to report on for the past week. I've been playing blitz, but nothing has been too interesting (except for one game where I showed how little theory I know: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Be7 5. c3 dxc3? 6. Qd5 Nh6 7. Bxh6 0-0 which I somehow went on to win). My correspondence games are progressing as slowly as you would expect. Perhaps the biggest point of interest is that my 5-minute rating is up over 2000 now (previously I had not played games in this category, instead just using the generic blitz time controls) after going 6-1-1 last night (1902-->2007!). The 1902 was what my blitz rating was when USCL merged with WCN to make WCL, and this rating was applied to the 5-minute category as well, since it falls within the blitz time controls (3-14 minutes). Also of note, my bullet rating is over 1800 for the first time since 2003 when I got a gigantic rating from having my first few bullet games played against a 2800 bullet player.

As for tournaments, I am just waiting around for September when I will be playing in the Iowa Open (perhaps for the last time if I get a job far away upon graduation). Aside from that, no tournament news.

In correspondence tournaments, I am currently leading my group in Round 2 of the Ruy Lopez Thematic tournament on Chess.com with 6.0/6.0 with 2 games to go. I am up a pawn in one, and and im a slightly inferior middlegame in the other. I just need 1 point to guarantee moving on to the next round.