The Royal Fork

the knight too went down. the situation became grim. i was under attack and desparately looking for some pattern to strike back. some skewers, overloaded pieces, some forks.. and there i saw one. a fork. and the royal one too. but it was not a straight one. i needed a decoy to achieve a fork. and there is no better decoy then a rook. the opposition fell for it. and immidiately my knight moved into position and the opposition queen had to go down. the rest was a phenomenal unturn of events. and a victory that smelt good at the end.

a month ago i would have had no clue wot was going on above. i would, given the references to the knight and queen, possibly make out that its not a battle from the history books but a game of chess. but heck.. wots this skewer? little did i know that the last month would teach me so much of chess already. thanks to the little
chess tournament going on in our office, which i am glad to be part of.

well i may already sound like a pro (for the non-players that is), but the fact is given the vastness of tactics and strategies and methods in the chess arena, i find myself an amateur-novice-beginner. chess can offer u an unlimited challenge. and thats exactly what makes it that much more exciting for me.
imagine that ppl actually know all the permutation combinations of openings in chess. for each move you begin your game with, a pro would know what are the possible counter moves and what are repercussions of each of it. what more, there are names for each of those openings, names for your counter moves and for many of the variations that you would probably take. openings are cruise control for the pros. God! imagine you start with the pawn in front of your king and the opponent does the same... hello.. u just started your game with Ray Lopez opening.
boy.. and when u know all those openings.. and suppose you are a great tactician and make deadly moves and all... and defeat ppl.. one at a time that is. how about playing 20 players at a time. alrite.. u are the champ and beat 15 out of 20... how about playing blindfold where u dont see the chessboard at all.. u just announce your moves and so does your opponent. :)
and u knew this was coming... how about blindfold chess with 15-20 players... i believe thats stretching the limits of human brain. drop dead stuff!!

well... i dont intend to do any of the above (in near future that is). but the most fascinating thing about chess, for me, is to see the patterns. we have patterns everywhere... be it the code we write or the design we do or, nowadays, the chess we play. and i love to find those patterns. plus slowly and steadily, i would love to know all this literature on chess. i mean, its about time to know what the hell is this sicilian defence that we all heard anand starting his game with.

So, wont you want to know why passed pawns can cause havoc and how a fianchettoed bishop can protect ur castled king... Welcome to the battlefield!!!

The last pin standing

well.. i happened to go for bowling a few times recently... and its been a lot of fun. well, being very frank. inspite of being the very 'seedha' saadha person, the bowl fails to take a 'seedha' path and quite often, deviates when its about to strike.
alrite, i am not so bad with it as well. when i am in groove, tha ball does roll where i want it to. but just one problem. and its the last pin standing.
somehow, when u feel that its gonna be a perfect strike... when the ball hits the front pin at the killer angle... and when they start tumbling allover.. one pin out of nowhere withholds its place. and its invariably 9 - as the next roll invariably takes the gutter route. 9- after 9- after 9-... it does get a little frustrating

so then i think that power is the key. take the heaviest of the balls and give it a mighty roll... result - a wide ball!!! and u dont get to bowl it again as in cricket.

but its fun nevertheless. and tho there is a lot of scope for improvement (spin department is empty rite now), it will surely be a nice skill to possess.