Player Recap for Queens Pioneers 2008

The 2nd year Queens Pioneers, definitely one of my picks for the strongest team. They started out with a blistering 5-0, a record only rivaled by the 2006 Boston Blitz. They beat Philadelphia, New Jersey, Arizona, Baltimore, and New York. Apparently, the momentum died out during the second half as they only scored 2/5, beating only Chicago, losing to Boston and Carolina, and tying New Jersey and Carolina, being edged out of first place by .5 game points.

During the season, Queens used two main setups against their opponents. Stripunsky/Schneider/Vovsha on the first two boards, Vovsha/Lenderman on third, and Katz/Ostrovskiy on fourth. Their scored 2.5/5 with both of their losses to Boston (consecutively week10 and quarterfinals.) The second lineup was the somewhat weaker Stripunsky/Schneider/Vovsha/Lenderman on boards 1 and 2, with Zhao/Thaler/Katz, on boards 3 and 4.

Queens has an advantage against most teams because of their 3 2500 lineup. However, it doesn't work against teams like Boston or New York because these 2 teams have strong 3rd boards, which is where Queens is looking for an advantage.

For 2008

1.Alex Lenderman
2.Eli Vovsha
3.Alexander Stripunsky
4.Dmitry Schneider
5.Parker Zhao
6.Benjamin Katz
7.Michael Thaler
8.Aleksander Ostrovskiy

1st Year Alex Lenderman

Alex was a 1st timer to the team, with a much stronger roster than before. He played his games on boards 2 and 3, being the first MVP to not play at board 1. Alex scored a dazzling 7.5/8 (93.75%), but ironically, was not used in the playoffs. He has garnered 22.5 points, drawing only the Boston MVP, Marc Esserman.

2nd Year Eli Vovsha

This is Eli's second year, one of the four veterans that are still on the roster. He has a score of 4.5/7 (64.3%) for this year and 5/9 (55.6%) for last year. With an overall total of 10.5/16 (59.4%) and a total of 10.5 MVP points. Eli played on boards 1, 2, and 3, with his losses to GMs Perelshteyn and Blehm.


2nd Year Alexander Stripunsky

Alex has a life time record of 7.5/15 and finished with 4/6 this year he has a total of 11.5/21 (54.8%). He plays on board one with his only loss to Blitz GM Larry Christiansen.

2nd Year Dmitry Schneider

Dmitry has finished the year with a respectable 3/6 playing on boards 1 and 2. Although he is lower rated than Vovsha and Lenderman, he plays on a higher board. He has a total of 6.5/12 (54.2%) (not 6.5/13, as there is an error on the page).

2nd Year Parker Zhao

Parker has played only three games this year, due to the rather top-heavy lineup. However, he has scored 2.5/3 (83.3%) with 7 MVP points playing on board 3. Last year, he had a 3/5 (60%) score playing on board 3 and board 4 and 4 MVP points.

1st Year Benjamin Katz

The reason why I put Katz ahead of Thaler, even with a much worse score 1.5/6 (25%), is because that Katz was necessary to the 2500 lineup. Other than that, there is not much good that can be said about him.

2nd Year Michael Thaler

Thaler scored 1.5/3 and 2/4 with a total of 2 MVP points. Playing on board 4, he has had a decent 50%. Again, not used much because of the 3 2500 lineup.

1st Year Aleksandr Ostrovskiy

Ostrovskiy played on board 4 for Queens finishing with a not-so-good score of .5/3. Again, there is not much to be said about it except that his name is misspelled on his URL, http://www.uschessleague.com/AlexOstrovsky.html

Watching the USCL Championships 2008 - A rather bleak review.

Having never watched a USCL match on site before, my father and I bravely trekked to the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics to see... Boston lose?!!!!!

The first game to finish during the regular match was Larry Christiansen's game against Marko Zivanic in the Taimanov variation. Larry goaded Zivanic to capture a poisoned f-pawn and quickly lost to the attacking legend. Nice job, Larry!

Here Larry played 18. Rxf6! effectively liquidating into an equal endgame.

The next one to finish was Marc Esserman's game. As always, the should-be-IM quickly defeated IM Schneider in a queen’s pawn opening.

Next, AS I PREDICTED, Ilya Krasik soon lost to might-as-well-be-FM Bayaraa Zorigt in a KID. As the Blitz was already up 2-0, this is the second time she forced the Championship into a tie breaker (Kuljasevic on board 2 was winning at this point).

The last game was a man-slaughter where GM Davorin Kuljasevic beat might-as-well-be-GM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun. Jorge seemed out of it as a horrible opening, followed up by being down two pawns, clearly did not help him. The championship again will be decided by tiebreaker.

I should first explain the tiebreaker system in case you don’t know. The time control is 5 5, with winner moving on to play the higher boards. For example: 4 vs 4, 4 vs 3, 3 vs 3.... A draw will eliminate both players.

The first game of the blitz tiebreaker was a Classic Krasik. You can tell how tense Ilya was by his body language - hunched over, squinting, covering his forehead with his hands. Everyone was silent, except (according to sister) occasional snoring from Charlie Mays in the back. Being under ten seconds doesn't help a person to win an endgame up a pawn. Indeed, Krasik blundered and got forked by Zorigt.

Marc was up next…. Everyone in the room was cheering him on “Let’s go Marc!” The game was a Esserman against Zorigt, the Sicillian Najdorf which she used to beat Krasik at Week 3. During the game, Esserman was winning but missed tactical shots in order to "play it safe". However, he still won even with both players being under ten seconds (did anyone notice Marc was banging his mouse very loudly)?

Here, Esserman played 30... Qe7???? Instead, Rd8 trapped the queen.

The third game was Esserman against Schneider. Again, a queen’s pawn opening, which quickly liquidated into an endgame and Marc wins again some tactical tricks. However, after the two victories Marc couldn’t keep his winning streak going against Dallas's blitz ace, Kuljasevic and after defeat claimed that he would never, ever, play that variation of the Dutch again.

The fifth game was 2-time Dos Hermanas winner Jorge Sammour-Hasbun playing Kuljasevic. Apparently, trying to play for a draw is not a good strategy for Jorge, as Kuljasevic rolled him over in an Exchange Slav with the black pieces.

The sixth and seventh games were played by Kuljasevic and Larry Christiansen. The first game was a hard fought draw where Christiansen had the black pieces. The last game was a positionally crushing but tactically lost game for Christiansen, missing a mate in 3. Being so upset about the lost, I left the site without my coat and my chess set.

Well, Dallas wins again, congrats to them. It was a disappointing yet, motivational result. Next year, hopefully the Blitz will win *cough* with my help *cough*.

P.S. Here are the links for the games.

Larry Christiansen 1-0 Marko Zivanic
Davorin Kuljasevic 1-0 Jorge Sammour-Hasbun
Marc Esserman 1-0 Igor Schneider
Bayaraa Zorigt 1-0 Ilya Krasik

Few comments: White won all of the regular games in the match, and no milkshake for you Krasik.

Tiebreak Games:

Ilya Krasik 0-1 Bayaraa Zorigt
Bayaraa Zorigt 0-1 Marc Esserman
Marc Esserman 1-0 Igor Schneider
Davorin Kuljasevic 1-0 Marc Esserman
Jorge Sammour-Hasbun 0-1 Davorin Kuljasevic
Davorin Kuljasevic 1/2-1/2 Larry Christiansen
Larry Christiansen 0-1 Davorin Kuljasevic

Some photos I took:

Final Predictions

I'm in a gloomy mood today. That's probably because my mood is copied by Krasik, a dark day is coming. Dallas has used Zivanic/Kuljasevic/Schneider/Zorigt, which is the most predictable roster for Dallas in my humble opinion. Although without popularity during the regular season, Dallas won both post season matches with this roster. Their record with this line-up is currently 3/4, only losing to the Mechanics in the first week. Dallas got their revenge in the quarterfinals and week 9.

This is Marko Zivanic's first year for the Destiny, playing against many GMs, scoring a respectable 4/8. He has 6 draws, and a loss against Cuban Grandmaster Julio Beccera, but beating Philly's Sergey Kudrin. Larry, my only suggestion is to play d4 against Zivanic's Phillidor. My prediction is that Larry will win, and crush Zivanic with a super aggresive opening. 1-0 Boston

It's a rematch on board two as Dallas's 2007 and 2008 MVP Kuljasevic faces the Rookie of 2007, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun. Kuljasevic has an undefeated record of 5.5/7, with 4 wins and 3 draws playing on boards 1 and 2. Ironically, he has beaten Beccera even though Zivanic lost to him. Jorge hasn't been doing so well this season and maybe a third time is a charm, but not the whole way. Draw 1 1/2- 1/2 Boston

Unfortunately, Dallas doesn't have Stoopa this year, so Schneider had to take his place. While not as good (again, in my opinion only), he does have an even score, for a high rated board 3 with 4.5/9. While the Boston MVP will gambit as white. I believe that Esserman will win. 2 1/2- 1/2 Boston

Bayaraa Zorigt has definitely been my second choice for team MVP, without her, the Dallas wouldn't have done so well. She has an incredible 7/9, undefeated. Although Ilya has been on a streak, but however, I believe that the streak will end now. 2 1/2- 1 1/2 Boston

Krasik, if you win I'll get you a milkshake from Herrell's. :-)


However, if the Blitz go into another tiebreak, I believe that they will win. Also, please answer the poll.

P.S. Did anyone notice that on the week one, Zorigt's name is spelled wrong? Click here to see (on the bottom).

P.P.S. Greg's probably gonna modify it so the P.S. would look strange.

Player Recap for 2008 Boston Blitz

It's been a long time since 2005 when the US Chess League started. I think we need to reevaluate the players in order of usefulness for the Boston Blitz.

For 2008:
1. Marc Esserman
2. Ilya Krasik
3. Larry Christiansen
4. Jorge Sammour-Hasbun
5. Denys Shmelov
6. Eugene Perelshteyn
7. Charles Riordan
8. David Vigorito (I'm sorry. :-( )

Marc Esserman - 1 year on the team

Marc has had a spectacular undefeated season for the Blitz with a 7/9 record scoring 5 wins and 4 draws (77.8%) and a decent (albeit short) season for the Miami Sharks in 2007, drawing a Sergey that Jorge seems to have tons of trouble with. He is also an underrated player, being used as a 2265, now he is over 2400. He has 16.5 MVP points total, (15.5 from this year, 1 from last year) playing on boards 3 and 4.

Ilya Krasik - 4 years on the team

I'd say every even year, Krasik does well. He has had decent seasons in 2006 and 2008 playing on board four. Krasik's the type of guy where he has a tendency to mess up, so when we are watching at home and he is winning, he makes us say things like, "Krasik, if you mess this up, then I'm gonna haunt you for the rest of your life." It has happened. This year he has a 6.5/10 record (65%), a pretty decent one with 3.5 MVP points and 6 wins, 1 draw, and 3 losses. His total record of 14.5/29 (50%) with a grand total of 4.5 MVP points. If he wins the first time he plays, he does well after a shaky mid-season. Also, an interesting trend Mark La Rocca pointed out. The team has followed Krasik's results. Quite true, with 7 wins and 3 losses.

My Coach Larry Christiansen - 4 years on the team

Ilya Krasik has just over taken him with the most games played (29 to 28). 2008 hasn't been Larry's best season with 3 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses (one loss was to his nemesis Pascal Charbonneau who he hasn't beat yet. Larry was winning, but blundered lost) with a 4/7 record (57.1%) garnering 2 MVP points. His total record is 17.5/28 (62.5%) and he definitely has the most MVP points on the Blitz (34). This is probably Larry's worst season as his other averages were 60% (6/10), 64.3% (4.5/7), and 75% (3/4) by playing on the very competitive board 1.

Jorge Sammour-Hasbun - this is his 2nd year playing for the team

Jorge hasn't had his best USCL season with only 3/6 (50%) and 0 MVP, by losing to the two Sergeys (Kudrin and Erenburg) Its been harder for him playing on board one, instead of the board 2 that he is used to. His debut season was much better with a startling 6.5/7 (92.9%) with his only draw to the strongest player in the USCL and former US champion, Hikaru Nakamura, getting 14 MVP points.

Denys Shmelov - 2nd year

Denys also had a tougher season playing on second board. Last year he was an underrated 2200, low enough to play on 3rd board having a spectacular 7/11 (63.6%) and 15 MVP points. This year though, he has had an even score with 1 win, 4 draws, and 1 loss (50%), only having 2 MVP points. Denys' total record is 10/17 (58.8%) with 16 MVP points.

Eugene Perelshteyn - 4 years

Eugene is the Blitz's second GM, sharing top board honors with Larry and Jorge. He has a record of 2.5/5, although his regular season record was 2/3 and 5 MVP points. Eugene usually plays about 3-5 games each season, with a total record of 9/16 (56.25%) and 15 MVP points.

Charles Riordan - 3 years

Riordan came back to the team after going to law school. He has a 1/2 (50%) record on board 3, which pales in comparison to his 4.5/6 (75%) in 2006. He has a total record of 8.5/15 (56.7%).

David Vigorito - 1 year

This is Vigorito's first season, albeit, not a good one with only 1/3 (33.3%), 2 draws and 1 loss. However, there aren't enough games to find a trend.


All time best:

1. Jorge Sammour-Hasbun
2. Denys Shmelov
3. Chris Williams
4. Larry Christiansen
5. Marc Esserman
6. Ilya Krasik
7. Eugene Perelshteyn
8. Charles Riordan

1st Chris Williams

Chris is an alternate this year, and since none of the alternates played, I'm not counting him as a 2nd. In 2007, Chris made his debut with a stellar 6/9 (66.7%) only diminished by his blunder in the finals to Zorigt, letting Dallas win in a blitz tiebreaker.

Well, that's all for now. Watch the Boston Blitz play a rematch against Dallas at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Room P-G03, 60 Garden St, Cambridge. I am going to be there cheering for the team!

USCL FINALS

Nation, ever since watching the Colbert Report, I've been obsessed with Stephen Colbert's products. His book, his wrist-strong band, even his ice cream "Americone Dream". Here is a video of Colbert's nemesis, the incoming White House Chief of Staff, Rahn Emanuel, roasting him. Click here

Now, I must talk about the

USCL FINALS

First, I must give a tip of my hat to the Boston Blitz, who made it possible for a wanted rematch with the Dallas Destiny after a shaky mid-season. I give a wag of my finger to San Francisco Mechanics Daniel Naroditsky and Vinay Bhat. These two singlehandedly gave Dallas the momentum to beat the Miami Sharks. And finally, I give a tip of my hat to Carolina Cobras, after being ranked as the team to do the worst in the Eastern Division, came to back stab the leading Queens Pioneers and steal 1st place with the help of the unknowing Blitz. Alas, that trickery led Boston to defeat the Cobras in the Eastern Finals, garnering the Division title.

Now Now Now, what should the Blitz do, should they use Christiansen/Perelshteyn/Sammour-Hasbun, Esserman, Krasik? or should they go with the more balanced Christiansen, Shmelov, Riordan, Esserman. The Dallas Destiny are a more balanced team so I would say, don't *cough cough* use Krasik *cough cough*.

Over-Parenting to Freedom with Responsibility

Yesterday, I went to St. Paul’s School (SPS) for a tour, a school that stresses the maxim of “Freedom with Responsibility.” Coincidentally, today I picked up the November 17th issue of the New Yorker and saw an article about over-parenting, a topic that piqued my interest. At first glance, one might ask, “What does over-parenting have to do with the motto of St. Paul’s School?” Well, they are complete… Wait, you want to know what over-parenting is? It’s a pandemic destroying the world’s youth, usually characterized by a lot of extracurricular activities and excessive academic pressure. This disease comes from strict ambitious parents who force their children to do things that they sometimes don’t like. In the later stages, this leads to a lack of independence.

I went for my last school interview at SPS. Standard routine, go on a tour, ask a few questions, and … WHAT, no lights out? So obviously, I sought "Why?!". This is the first school I toured without a lights-out system. The answer lies in their motto, the complete opposite of over- parenting. The school forces students to manage their own lives and well-being, without their parents or too much interference from the teachers. I have to say this is better than over-parenting, as kids actually learn how to deal with real-life problems such as: organizing their schedule, resolving conflicts, etc. Maybe, that’s why some ranked this as the number one high school.

Anyway, why should I care about this? Am I being over-parented? The answer to the latter is no. Although I do a lot of extra-curricular activities, I do them because I enjoy them, not because my parents force me to do them. I care about this topic because I know that I’ll encounter overly obsessive parents in the future. Also, if I grow up and become a parent, it will be important for me, not to over-parent. Is St. Paul’s the school for me? Am I ready for freedom with responsibility? To end with a contemplative quote, “Does the path choose the walker, or does the walker choose the path?”, Garth Nix

Boston wins, New York loses!!!

Well, another regular season come and gone, but now its time for the ...................................................................................................................................................................
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POST SEASON

Cmon, everyones supposed to be excited. :)

Here are the line ups,

1.	GM Larry Christiansen (2670)	1-0	GM Alex Stripunsky (2601)
2.	IM Dmitry Schneider (2508)	1-0	GM Eugene Perelshteyn (2619)
3.	Marc Esserman (2307)	1/2-1/2	IM Eli Vovsha (2532)
4.	Aleksander Ostrovskiy (2042)	0-1	Ilya Krasik (2144)
	Boston Blitz	2 1/2-1 1/2	Queens Pioneers

The first game to finish was a Christiansen specialty in the Paulsen, and I coincidentally had a lesson with Larry yesterday. He showed me what Stripunsky played. Stripunsky blundered and resigned in a lost position.

Esserman and Vovsha duked it out to a hard fought draw. Tactical skirmishes and team thinking was what happened at the end, as Krasik was already winning. Perpetual ensured.

Krasik was the next to win. I was sure the drama queen would blunder and mess it up by drawing. Queens had draw odds and since Eugene was losing, he had to not blunder. However, he won with surprising ease.

Eugene lost to Dimitri. A well fought game with a shaky exchange sac. The game was a toss away since Boston already won.

On the other hand, Carolina beat New York 3.5-0.5, surprising all of the predictors. Everybody assumed that Carolina got lucky winning the division title and New York was hot off 4 straight wins. Also, the Cobras also have what some might say, the weakest roster.

Well, Congratulations to Boston, and a tip of my hat to Carolina for proving that they are not pushovers.

OBAMA WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was around 11:30 P.M. Tuesday, Nov 4th, 2008. We’ve been watching TV for hours and finally, CNN announced that Barack Obama is the president-elect of the United States of America. For me, a 13-year-old Asian-American boy, I hope this is the symbol of a new epoch in our country. Our nation has come a long way since 1863, when Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth president, freed slaves in his Emancipation Proclamation. This moment belongs to not only Barack, but also the civil rights activists like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.

How did Barack win this election? I believe that people see Obama as a brilliant and inspiring leader and forget that he is a black man. It did not matter to me what color his skin is because race should not be a factor in making such a major decision. However, during the presidential campaign, some did question his loyalty to our country because of his race, his name, and his father’s birthplace. It seemed very unpatriotic to not vote for him because of those reasons. It is exciting that according to statistics, young voters don’t care what race or gender the candidate is. Obama has energized many new voters with his motto “Change We Need” and his optimistic personality, so there has been record turnout. His ability to raise a lot of money didn’t hurt him either. (On the website Huffington Post, there’s a video of over 1000 students at Penn State University lining up to vote.)

What does all this mean to me? The fact that an African-American, a minority, a person of color was elected as our leader shows that in America, anyone can hold the highest office. We elected Obama because he is the right person for the job. It gives hope to kids like me that we can have a career in politics, and that while there is still racism, our country can evolve out of it.

Boston Blitz and World Championship

On October 22, 2008, the Boston Blitz clinches the playoffs by beating the Philadelphia Inventors 3-1. Marc Esserman and the erratic Krasik came through, scoring two wins against their counterparts. Ilya was the first one to finish and won with a vengeance against the passive Bengston. Ilya quickly came out and exposed his opponent’s underdeveloped position, and eventually forced Bengston to give up a pawn and the game.

The next game to finish was board 3 where the outstanding Marc Esserman played against the lowest rated IM I know, Richard Costigan. Costigan generated a huge attack against Marc’s queenside in the Dutch, but Esserman controlled the position and his opponent resigned on the 30th move. (Image 28th move) After the game, Esserman analyzed the position and quickly found 28.Nd6 which equalizes for Costigan, but it was missed by both players in the time scramble.



With that, Larry Christiansen simplified into a draw against Sergey Kudrin. In the game, Larry sacked an exchange for a central pawn mass. After Krasik and Esserman won, he liquidated into an endgame and quickly offered a draw, which was accepted.

The last game to finish was Eugene Perelshteyn’s. He grinded down his opponent Thomas Bartell in a Maroczy bind, which simplified into a passive rook and pawn endgame , much to the chagrin of the aggressive player Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, who didn’t want him to exchange pieces. Bartell defended well, against Eugene’s technique and a draw came by repetition.

Meanwhile, in the world chess news, the World Championship Match between FIDE World Champion Viswanithan Anand, and former world champion Vladmir Kramnik, is almost over. The chances of Kramnik coming back from a 5-2 deficit are slim. The people at Tianmen Square had a better offer. Kramnik himself admitted that the match was lost.

Stop the fighting children!!!

grow uP

A truly calming space

Sitting here with a panoramic view of the lake in front of me, the wooden deck to my left with a set of outdoor furniture on it, an old BBQ grill stands resolutely in the corner, lonely in the winter. It is a nice place to relax, through the sliding door and the screen, to feel the sun and the fresh breeze. On sunny days, people sail on the lake. The damp wood underneath me after the recent rain, feels refreshing to my feet. Some nights we turn on the outdoor heat lamps and just sit and talk.

In front of me, fifty feet pine trees stand, the branches swaying in the high winds; to the right is my hard tennis court that we play on occasionally. I can see my sailboat still docked on our small beach, with the lake water lapping up to its side. Piles of dead branches enforced our fence that keeps the Canadian geese away. I can hear them in the fall and spring going awk awk awk…

Out here in the suburbs, I hear the sounds of nature daily, birds chirping, pine trees rustling, and the thump as a bee preparing for winter crashes into an invisible barrier, trying to get inside to help those tomato plants it sees.

I work here all the time, my classroom away from school. It was always somewhat cold in this place, unless it was summer and the AC broke. It was built as a 3-season sunroom, so no insulation in the floor exists. I would curl up into a ball with my sweater to warm up my freezing feet. This dining room was a much smaller room than the one in our previous house. Though I cannot remember it well, I know that our old dining room was formal; we only used it when we had a lot of guests over. The table wasn’t cluttered up with papers and books like where I am now. It is filled with papers and books; we have to move all them whenever we want to eat.

My mom and I usually sit in this room, both of our computers whirring. The tap of the keys and the click of the mouse are heard here all day long. I feel sometimes lonely, with a computer as my companion, but there will be my dad, who watches CNN as a first time voter in the next room, and my mom, who is always nearby, ready to help me, whenever necessary. So in reality, there is no space to contemplate my isolation.

I don’t know how my mom can survive being this close to me. She toils along with me, doing her work on her computer and her digitizer, something that is almost always with her, unless if she is reading or sleeping. Since I switched to homeschooling; it seems more arduous for my mom to keep managing me. She stays up until I fall asleep, and some of my habits annoy her to no end. There is no physical education class at home, so I spend all my energy, “bouncing around the house,” that is why my mom signed me up for karate and tennis. Although she can leave me at home it seems to stress her out even more. She’s always worried that I will be hurt and although she is really annoyed with me, she cares about me. She is a true mom.

On the weekends, it really gets lonely here on the dining room. My dad is probably playing chess downstairs, or doing some work outside, otherwise he would take me biking. My mom, with my sister at her harp lesson, is away from the house. After I finish all my school work, I usually play on my Wii or watch TV. This room is totally deserted. A truly calming space, to get work done…

Palin-Biden Debate

Biden-Palin debate.

Palin is clearly memorizing her phrases, you can tell because she's not really thinking. When she is uncomfortable, she shifts her body language and goes back to her catch line.

Biden is a very seasoned candidate. He always has a point.

Does the end justify the means?

Continued from Machiavelli, does the end justify the means? If the answer yes, then you have just approved the Bush Doctrine. If we attack other nations in fear of being attacked, without sufficient evidence, we as the world leader are essentially encouraging other nations to do the same. Its like we hold up a neon sign for the terrorist groups to the same. Also, if we torture people to get information, that allows other countries to torture our soldiers. The question is: do we really want to torture people and allow our soldiers to be inflicted excruciating pain. I don't think that our soldiers deserve it. We can't risk our country's honor. Most importantly, is it even humane to torture people for any reason at all? People might say that soldiers should love their country more than their life. Does that mean we can throw away their lives, like tissues?

I believe that wars are pointless and that we should not waste our soldier's lives. Essentially, for every person a soldier kills, there will be some person who mourns for him/her and will cause even more violence. All the soldiers that come back alive, will be portrayed as heroes for a time, but only history can make the real judgment. One of my favorite books by Orson Scott Card, Speaker of the Dead, Ender was regarded as a hero of the world at the end of the war (Ender's Game), but later, he was portrayed as evil because the human's view towards the Formics changed. Ender himself also changed his view later for the reason that was only ostensible to him.

The average day of a computer

It’s 11:00 PM and my master just shut me down for the night. I can finally get my rest, but… oh, I shouldn’t be exhausted? Well, let me tell you what exactly happened today.

First I should tell you a little bit more about me. I’m about a year old, and I’m a gray Dell laptop with white outlines. My favorite maxim is that without travel, there is no fun.( Imagine those boring desktop PCs, they do nothing but sit at home.) My master can be extremely fun. Sometimes, after our work is done, we go to the theme park that was in town, where the hurricane ride gave me the thrill of my life. My master and I also like watching Naruto on the Internet together. It’s fun to get away from all the academics that my master does. I also like to talk to my master’s DS for he has very interesting tales about the games my master plays (he agrees with my master that Final Fantasy Tactics Advance A2: Grimoire of the Rift is the best strategy game ever. Personally, I think its Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.)

It was 9:30 when I woke up. My master wanted me to go onto bluejay.cty.jhu.edu to write his CAT exercise (the answer of it is confidential). Afterwards he wanted to know how I feel about his treatment to me. He was confused however and started to type random things like AMITUOFO, it is his way of having temper tantrums. I was sorely tempted to change all of the letters on my screen into binary (hello, Andrew here, my computer cannot see this and luckily it doesn’t know that I actually know binary). After a while (a while meaning 3 hours), he finally finished this essay but forgot to save it before closing the filet, so he had to spend another 2 hours writing this again (more like another 2 hours for ME!!!). He was banging away at my keyboard. It’s the same as if you humans have been whacked by a mallet for 5 hours. After a short lunch break from each other, we did math which confuses me but not my master. My master is a hard worker and we continued with chemistry lesson for a while. It’s my favorite subject because we computers wouldn’t even be alive without chemistry and every computer likes to blow stuff up.

The time has come when I need my rest. I fully expect that it will be another exciting and tiring day tomorrow (hopefully without temper tantrums.)

A Note about Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli was a Florentine scholar (1469-1527) who was a major figure of the Florentine politics of his time. He was the author of The Prince and other works. The Prince was his most well-known book which he wrote in 1513, but it was only published 5 years after his death. In The Prince, he wrote how rulers should rule. His most important maxim was that man must be adaptable to any situation he came upon. He was an unofficial ambassador, sent to neighboring countries as the Secretary of the council Ten of War after the Medici were thrown out in 1492. It worked out very well for him, as he also analyzed each country he went to. His life remained like this until 1502.

In 1502, Borgia, the son of the Spanish Pope Alexander VI, set his sight on conquering Italy. He had already gained control of most the area. As Machiavelli examined his tactical moves, he was able to win a case for a citizen militia using Borgia's philosophy, and in 1509, Machiavelli led a thousand citizens to conquer Pisa. Machiavelli's army stood together until 1512, when his troops broke ranks, and left Florence open to Medici and his comrades. Medici overthrew the republic and seized control of the city. Then Machiavelli's militia and the Great Council were dismissed and he was jobless. He hoped that the Medici's would find his talents useful. It was then when he wrote The Prince, which made him famous as that book was responsible for many events in other countries.

In 1522, there was a plot to murder Giulio de' Medici which originated in the anti-Medici circle that Machiavelli was involved in. The plot failed and the circle was broken; it's members exiled or killed. Although Machiavelli was part of the circle, his friends could not trust him to keep the secret because he worked for the Medici family. In 1527, the Medici was overthrown, but Machiavelli, at 58, could no longer be trusted to serve the Republic. He died just a month after the Republic was restored.

Why do I write about Machiavelli?

TO BE CONTINUED

WHY WHY WHY

This morning, I was reading the September 15 edition of The New Yorker and one article especially came to my attention. That article was called A Cloud of Smoke by: Jennifer Khan. It was about James Zadroga, a New York City homocide detective who worked at Ground Zero after 9/11 and how he died.

My question is: how do the first responders of 9/11 prove that they are victims? It was 7 years since 9/11 and most people still haven't gotten aid from the government. For example: the Zadroga Act gives compensation to the families of the consequential 9/11 victims that are city workers, but it hasn't actually give out compensations because 9/11 illness is hard to define. In this case, doctors cannot agree on the REAL cause of James' death ( drugs or breathing hazardous chemicals at Ground Zero). Should we still respect him as a 9/11 hero and give his family compensation? My opinion is, even if James did take drugs, it was probably because of what he witnessed at Ground Zero (therefore a mental illness). It shouldn't matter what the cause of death was in the doctors' eyes. His death was a effect of the tragedy, therefore we should still respect him and his family should get help.

On a happier note, the USCL matches are happening tonight, don't miss the action!!!

REVENGE!!! (or maybe not)

This is my 5th day of homeschooling.

Unfortunately, the Boston Blitz lost 1.5/2.5 to Dallas. Jorge, was only able to pull out a draw against Davorin. Boston was really hoping for a win for Davorin. Vigirito and Shmelov drew, not exactly what they were hoping, which left Krasik to beat his higher rated opponent. However, he lost in a time scramble where both sides had chances.

USCL REMATCH

This is my 1st weekend break.

The USCL lineups have been announced today, for the four teams playing on Monday. Boston is having their epic rematch against Dallas, who they lost to in a Blitz tiebreak in the championship match of 2007. Click here to see what happened. Unlike last year, Larry and Drasko will not be playing, having been replaced by IM David Vigorito, and IM John Bartholemew. Dallas superstar Jacek Stopa is also not playing, having been replaced by Igor Schnieder. Ilya Krasik will be playing for Chrissy Bear. Last year, the win Jorge got against Davorin was awarded as the game of the year. Judging from the two teams history, will the imbalences created by the rosters be enough for Boston to pull out a win? Find out on Monday!!

McCain Speech and Sarah Palin

I was watching the McCain speech last night, and have you noticed that he always repeats his major points. When McCain speaks, it's repetitive. For example: "we will know their names, we will know their names," although repetition is a critical form of speech rhetoric, it gets boring after a while. Also, it's ridiculous that John McCain canceled the CNN interview because of the Campbell Brown's interview with Tucker Bounds. CNN is completely able to ask questions about Sarah Palin's past. Sarah Palin, although supposedly a great governor, tried to censor books when she was a mayor. The city censorship was just like China, and she tried blackmail the librarian who wouldn't get rid of the books!

USCL and the Republican Convention

This is day 2.

Last night, the Boston Blitz beat the Carolina Cobra's 3-1. Larry Christiansen got a really fast draw against IM Lev Milman on board one. Denys drew Oleg Zaikov on board two. Returning player from 2006 Charles Riordan got a critical win against Fide Master Ronald Simpson as White.

Ronald Simpson just played 17... Nf6. Can you guess what Charles Riordan played?

For the solution, click here.

On the last board, Marc Esserman made his debut to the USCL with a win against fellow National Master, Craig Jones. Right now, Boston is tied with the Miami Sharks and the Queens Pioneers. Miami beat the New York Knights so they have 0-2 and Queens beat the New Jersey Knockouts which are 1-1. The USCL adds two new teams to the division every time, last year, it was New Jersey and Queens which has a 1.5/2 record against New Jersey. If you want to view the games from last night, click here.

Last night was also day 3 for the Republican Convention in Minnesota. Former Governors Mitt Romney, Rudi Giuliani, and Mike Huckabee spoke. Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, also spoke. I noticed that whenever they spoke, they all did two things. They never mentioned Bush, and they always talked about McCain serving his country more than Obama. Now that doesn't make sense to me. For some reason, people think that the person who has the greatest sob story will serve his country the most. Please comment.

USCL and CNN

This is my first day of homeschool.

The reason why I wrote this is because the US chess league is happening today. If you want to watch, go to one of the places specified near you at http://www.uschessleague.com/. I am a big chess fan of the Boston Blitz, I am friends of most of the players. Larry Christiansen is my coach and will be playing tonight at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The Boston Blitz almost won the last championships but they lost to the Dallas Destiny, which has lost their first match.

I watched a CNN video last night of Campbell Brown interviewing John McCain's spokesperson Tucker Bounds. She really nailed him with the question of Sarah Palin's qualifications. He kept dodging the question. If you want to watch it click here.

Also if you want a fun chess problem for those who weren't watching last week's action of the USCL, then here is one from the game Shabalov-Sammour-Hasbun. This game is from the match between the Boston Blitz, and the New York Knights. They have an really old rivalry that dated from 3 seasons ago. It is quite similar to the situation in baseball. Before the game, Shabalov(2700) was trash talking that he could beat the entire team by himself. Well, he lost against our first board, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (2500) who doesn't even have a IM or GM title yet.



White just played 16. Qc2

Shabalov has many threats like Qg6 on his next move. Can you predict what Sammour-Hasbun did?

For the solution, click here.