Scattershot

It's time for a random bits containing all the miscellaneous stuff I found just never got around to posting over the past few months!

Starting off with an unposted [Chess Campaign] post (remember those?) where I actually beat Stockfish 4 (as White) using a London vs its Pirc and got its queen early with a pawn push, then had two games against Rose, the first one I was White and sed a London but found myself constantly on the backfoot, staving off checkmates from Queen + Rook and Queen + Bishop but Queen + pawn finally got me and in the second game I played Black. Caro Kann won early pawns for me then we went into a LONG game where both sides were attacking and I lost pieces for her pawns. Eventually got a slayer queen to constantly check her king to clean the board and she resigned when it was just her king left against five of my pawns. I also discovered Josh's ELO is 1300, and then promptly stopped playing Chess entirely because I got sucked into Elden Ring (then forgot to go back).

I had also tried out a solo card based RPG called Deathship where you are a slave aboard an alien ship you must do your best to ... get a high score? What? Yep, your escape will only end in your death - but you might be able to make some friends and kill some guards on your way there. Not recommended. I can't even find the link to this anymore.

Speaking of RPGs, do you need to generate a city map really quickly? This free online Medieval Fantasy City Generator might be just what you need. Other things I found interesting was this method of watering plants using a fog condensation net, weapons testing against a Prince Rupert's drop glass and the Sphere Stadium in LA. That exterior just looks amazing and can be lit up to look like almost anything!

As I usually spruik a musician in these types of posts, for this one I'll highlight the young Aimee Carty who has some good composition and performance skills. Also if you just want some free music, check out NEFFEX. Props to Heartlessgamer for that bit of info! Switching into something funnier, here's an AI's attempt at close captioning the German National Anthem. Might as well follow that with more funnies from Yoleendadong, ISMO, and this old but amazing clip of how to win a cotton candy eating race while maintaining composure. :P

August 2023: The New Blaugs

It's been awhile since I've done a blog status post, so I totally missed announcing that DL managed to get our Guild Hall to level 20 in Neverwinter Online early last month! Also, it's been a minute since I've revisited anything Blaugust but it looks like there's a whole slew of new participants and while I'm not joining those festivities I'll be adding each one to my blog roll as time permits. Just as well since my list was whittled down to 28 over the gap period, so it's time for some new blood. Or new blaugs as it were.

Anyway, it's time for some cool links that I've come across. Mainly "I wish" links. Like, I wish I was this good at archery, or I wish I had Hikaru's precognition(?) of chess, or I wish I had the voice control of Avril Lavigne who can still sing like she's a teenager. Those are all super impressive for me.

If you prefer the funnies you can read through Warframe's red text shenanigans (Red text being the global chat alerts that take place when an update occurs). Or you can watch this amazing clip from an Indian daytime drama. Or relive Neon Genesis: Evangelion, condensed into 10 minutes of live action!

That's it for this post. Have a good day everyone! :)

The Chess Campaign - Rapid 41 to 50 (554)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

I somehow scraped through the Bronze league advancements and am now in the Silver league, where only the top 5 per division will advance. As I've never been in the top 5 so far I think I'm going to be here for awhile. Also my lesson after this set is to NOT play distracted, which currently is basically every game I've played against non AIs. I'll need to pick a better time of day to play...

41. rohchess06 (W) - my London open met strong resistance and was defeated since I missed too many opportunities (the after game review is super useful). (571) down to (563).

42. bluefloyd1_j (B) - Caro-Kann but I failed to attack early? Hmm not sure what I goofed as I only have one free review a day but I was certainly out played. (563) down to (554).

43. lickmyjunk (B) - Caro-kann and since he was passive I got into a good position and got him with a knight + queen into his kingside castle. (554) up to (562).

44. gnmwrty141519 (W) - London with midgame queen trade ended with few pieces on the board where I did a rook sacrifice to promote one, and then another. Win (562) up to (571).

45. zenitsu5364 (B) - Pirc defense doesn't go well with making blunders (no opening does really) so this was a loss. (571) down to (563).

46. usainpault (W) - London into midgame rook/queen check mate in my favor. Victory (563) back up to (571).

47. Lachofdez (W) - he used an Englund gambit and after an early blunder I lost badly here. Seems I'm weak against that Englund thing. Easiest fix is always to decline it though... lol (571) down to (564)

48. biOblind (B) - I played terribly here, hanging my queen for free and getting trounced as I deserved. Defeat (564) down to (555).

49. tradennn (B) - Caro-Kann into early game only as opponent resigned when he hung his queen early. (555) up to (563).

50. tjwelsh09 (W) - Tried the Ponziani which got me into a pretty strong position and a good game but I pushed a rook one square too far that led to a checkmate defeat! (563) down to (556).

The Chess Campaign - Rapid 31 to 40 (514)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

After all these games I think I've gotten over the "trauma" of DL beating me when I was younger by eliminating all my pieces and forcing me not to quit. Eliminating all the enemy pieces is actually the cleanest way to victory as even a pawn still poses a threat in promotion, and is actually very common. The not quitting part makes sense too, because a) he either wanted to practice his checkmates or b) wanted me to see that you can sometimes recover from a losing position... though he never said so, so I guess the answer is A. :P

Anyway, I'm getting chess burnout if you can believe it. Not just "tilt" of constantly playing worse, simply too much chess? I might take a break after this next set. Just as well since lichess has stopped working on my phone...

I played (W)hite or (B)lack.

31. cotrinhkhong (B) - tried to use the Pirc defense for the first time but since this opponent was developing on the wings I opted to switch and take the center standard. After he bishop sniped my rook (corner to corner, pretty cool) I think he blundered as I got him on a turn 9 knight and queen checkmate. (514) up to (526).

32. jhunleo (B) - Caro-Kann but I blundered so much! Luckily he didn't notice and also was blundering a fair bit. Eventually he resigned from what I think was a winning position. Either he was being nice or real life got in his way? (526) up to (535).

33. Nagendra4349 (W) - My London opening was met with a strange counter that I'll need to look up but it still took us all the way to end game where it was sort of even until I blundered my queen. Out of pieces and well down on pawns, I resigned. (535) down to (523).

34. mrd51 (B) - Caro-Kann rocket into king side castle really disrupted the enemy. Took 2/3rds of his forces before checkmate via pawn promotion. Win (523) up to (533).

35. Bigzluz (B) - Pirc got me into a lengthy end game where I was on the back foot. Missed an opportunity to take a free queen and eventually an enemy pawn promotion got me. Loss (533) down to (522).

36. Nixpero (B) - Caro-Kann let me pressure opponent constantly but he was very good in defense. We still had most of the pieces on the board at the end and I won on time, which is rare these days. (522) back up to (533).

37. Thirthankardebnath (W) - Used London into long game where his infiltrator queen did a good job, but I outplayed him at the end and he ran out of time. Victory (533) up to (541).

38. Thanos99x (W) - my London was stopped right away with his king's pawn and then I took a phone call, blundered a bishop and knight and let his queen into my back ranks. He didn't notice my rook/queen cannon checkmate though. Victory (541) up to (551).

39. OwenDarne (W) - London standard and he resigned when I caught his queen in a knight fork. Win (551) up to (561).

40. SanTIagoCJ05 (W) - my London was stopped by his Englund Gambit (that's what the king's pawn response thing is apparently). This led to a decent fight for the center but I caught him with a queen/knight checkmate in his kingside castle. (561) up to (571).

The Chess Campaign - Rapid 21 to 30 (418)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

I'm now in the Bronze league having finished in the top 15 of Stone but to advance again I'll need to be in the top 10 of the week.

I was also lucky to get a lesson game with Josh where he was impressed with my Caro-Kann opening and that I knew he was building a queen/bishop cannon but still needed to guide me on how to actually win towards the end because I simply didn't see the moves. A rook or queen on the 7th row is really strong!

He also recommended I learn more about the Caro-Kann and have at least two openings for both Black and White, suggesting that I learn the London from Gothamchess. I guess I'll go do that next...

Notation is I either played (W)hite or (B)lack.

21. okadarainmaker (W):  d4 e4 open into slow and steady development and then when I attacked their knight it really put them on the backfoot trying to save it and resulting in them losing all their pieces. Ladder checkmate win (418) up to (431).

22. plutofv (B): d4 c6 open into standard central development where we traded 1 bishop and 1 knight. Then I'm guessing he misclicked his queen into a stupid position letting my king slay her and resigned right after that. (431) up to (448).

23. Jagitry13 (B): Caro-Kann vs variation of Queen's early attack which led to an early exchange of queens. However, since my army was developed at that stage and his wasn't, he got murdered pretty badly afterwards. (448) up to (461).

24. Djeyyk (W): My first attempt using the London system and it smashed his king side castle. (461) up to (473).

25. nitrotastic123 (B): Caro-Kann standard, enemy resigned in mid-game losing position. (473) up to (487).

26. RaviRaj11_R (B): Caro-Kann against early queen attack again, but this time he retreated into long development but too late, I had control of most of the board by then. Eventually got all his pieces and promoted a few pawns to ladder mate. (487) up to (501).

27. El_Don_Devil (W): London open led into very long game where both sides were almost wiped out. I still had a rook and more pawns though, and with queen promotion got ladder mate with 30ish seconds to go. (501) up to (516).

28. onlygoodmove (B): Caro-Kann led to an early 10 move win after sacrificing my white bishop for his knight. Queen/Bishop cannoned into his king side castle for checkmate. (516) up to (527)

29. hamza_therifai (B): Caro-Kann long game and LOST as he played a different counter variation I wasn't prepared for. He was thrashing my forces and got my queen in a king fork, so I congratulated him on chat with a "well played" and he graciously offered a draw which I accepted. We both know he won that one. (527) down to (526).

30. Vreymont (B): Caro-Kann and he used the fantasy counter. I felt I was doing well but took too long to think, then I just started making blunders all over the place. Resigned in a losing position. (526) down to (514).

The Chess Campaign - Rapid 11 to 20 (364)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

I think my lesson this time is not to play consecutive games (like these first six are) as it just makes me more and more impatient! Apparently this is called "Tilt"? Gothamchess suggests a things to fix this. One: cap the game count. Play 5 a day then win or lose, just stop. Two: Draw arrows from enemy pieces to help visualize what they can see. Apparently right clicking on chess.com allows that! This also helps stop gut reaction/emotion moves. Third: If you're playing for fun, your chess rating doesn't matter. That's last one is a good one to remember for me... but I'm still going to keep track of it. :P

Notation is I either played (W)hite or (B)lack.

11. Heni0622 (B): e4 e5 open but then I got slaughtered on one side of the board and couldn't stop the rampaging queen that followed. Resigned as I ran out of pieces and was badly outnumbered by pawns (504) down to (468).

12. omar1969omar (W): d4 e5 opening and both sides played stupidly according to the review, but I still managed to play worse and was defeated (468) down to (432)!

13. 17or99 (W): e4 e5 open, and was winning until I foolishly gave my queen away to a pawn! It just went downhill from there. Defeat (432) down to (401).

14. artsinasanat (B): he used an early queen attack and got me quick (in 10 moves)! Yikes (401) down to (374). While that's not a good result it is a learning opportunity for me so off I go to study how to counter that. :P

15. chuckygaywagon (W): I managed to control the center early and goofed with my queen AGAIN. He definitely had me on the back foot at the end game but didn't see a bishop/queen pin with my rook to capture his queen. Then all his other pieces. He offered a draw when he realized he couldn't stop my pawn promotion which I declined, then probably rage quit as he just let his clock run out from 3 minutes instead of resigning. Naturally I flagged him as a bad sport and blocked him. Finally a win (374) up to (397)!

16. gracielle19 (W): I think this was her first game on the site, and while I got control of the center she played really well (like, no mistakes or blunders according to the review) which earned her win. Loss (397) down to (381).

17. horse_battle (W): had me on defense the whole time which was nuts since I was white! That's because I goofed on my second move and didn't take the free pawn which would eventually paralyze my back line. The blinders I have when I get an idea are ridiculous. Comfortable win for him, finishing with a bishop backed queen for checkmate. (381) down to (364).

18. newyorkrangers94 (B): both sides built defenses (he used KID) and then I attacked the center where I'm pretty sure my foe just had a counting error (a big battle took place and he thought he'd come out with more material, but he missed an extra attack frome me). With his forces exhausted I just got him with a rook checkmate on the back row. (364) up to (382).

19. jillwoops (B): used the same early queen attack as artsinasanat (#14 above) but this time I stopped it using the Caro-Kann (both tactics can only be used with that white king's pawn opening). Nice sounding defense and the only one I know basic principles of other than the Albin counter. Feels like this person just uses the trick for fast wins (based on their play history anyway), and resigned on turn 4 seeing they had a fight on their hands. Win (382) up to (401).

20. chicukak (B): from the same country as jillwoops and did the exact same early queen attack opening, which again I stopped using the Caro-Kann. It kinda felt like a continuation of the previous game actually, but once she started losing pieces and saw her worsening position she resigned. Win (401) up to (418).

The Chess Campaign - Starting Rapid 1 to 10 (400)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

Ok, so I'm trying Rapid (10 minutes per side) games for the first time and once again I'm starting with a "gifted" (400) rating as it turns out the ratings aren't shared between the chess modes. So no, I didn't suddenly get better - my Blitz rating remains at (347) while I'm doing these. Interesting how big these rating jumps are too, but I guess it's just narrowing down where I actually am. The 10 minute clock also means I doubt I'll win using it via my blitz "pushing wood" tactic now. Lastly to save some typing (and reading), games with (W) mean I played white and games with (B) mean I played black.

After watching Gothamchess lessons on Youtube I've decided to stop trying to use fancy openings (after the first game here) and go back to the basics of control the center of the board. This backpedal is mainly to help force my brain to think a bit more rather than, "I'm going to try use Queen's Gambit (in every situation) because that's what I know."

1. Kruseher (W): QGA and standard development then started slowly but surely losing the battle. Not sure why he resigned midway, because it didn't look great for me (well, it didn't look great for him either). Still counts as a win! (400) up to (560).

2. fena2804 (B): d4 e5 / dxe5 start, followed by standard development until she foolishly sent her queen to die? Had her on the ropes afterwards until checkmate (my second checkmate win LOL). (560) up to (692). Look at me, using chess notation haha.

3. hritikmehta (B): d4 e5 / dxe5 start, followed by standard development until silly error put me into a losing position. With very few pieces left it was a race to promote a pawn and he won. (692) down to (602).

4. Filip2304 (B): attempted the Scandinavian defense but clearly failed (should have developed more first I think) as he managed to infiltrate his queen into my back ranks and eventually win via checkmate. (602) down to (528)

5. engnidal67 (B): while a misclick really undid me, he managed to get TWO rampaging knights into my ranks. I really liked his first rampager though, as it had bishop cover and started from a standard development position. I've done this before accidentally in Blitz, but I'm going to study it better now to see if I can use it intentionally. This defeat brings me from (528) down to (458).

6. Msm9909 (B): I just did basic central development while they opened with each rook's pawn and also push forward weak undefended pawns. Once they ran out of pawns and got their queen sniped, they offered a draw which I refused so they resigned instead. Victory (458) up to (492).

7. MrGhsty (W): after basic central he was winning in attacking my King side castle, but then made silly errors that let me take his queen and the rest of his pieces. Then I goofed because even though I had two queens on the board and he only had a king, I managed to put it into stalemate. LOL. (492) down to (488).

8. proofjj (B): I think this was his first game on the site, and after a e4 e5 open he offered an early queen trade which I accepted as I had more material at that point. Castled on opposite ends and eventually got to promote two more queens to ladder checkmate him with 42 seconds to go. Win (488) up to (514).

9. Chayo1255 (B): e4 e5 and he had me on the backfoot early but charged my line with a bishop instead of a knight with an awesome fork (same one as game 5 here vs engnidal67) . This let me recover and get my queen into his own lines but then on chat he was :scared face: "juega rapido" (I take my time thinking if I have 10 minutes lol) so I traded queens and we cleared most of the board. I offered a draw (which would have lost ranking for me) in case he was in a hurry IRL which he refused so I advanced my pawns to promotion which he desparately tried to stop, but was caught by a rook / pawn promotion queen in his face. Win (514) up to (548).

10. nabilyy (B): he used an odd opening advancing all pawns down one side which I'd not seen before. Felt I was doing ok defense wise until I castled that way and fell into a Queen / Rook checkmate. Well played, I need to remember that one! Loss (548) down to (504).

The Chess Campaign - Blitz 31 to 40 (319)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

Thirty games down and while my number of victories are growing, the number of my wins by checkmate is very low. LOL. Guess I'm officially a clock warrior? Just goes to show if I play in a different setting (or just standard friendlies) I will most likely still be trounced as I have no end game. Who am I kidding, I'm still getting trounced regularly right now. :P

That's pretty cool actually.

31. RaronXD: had me on the ropes from his bishop's opening (I played black), but resigned after losing his queen to an unforced error. Victory - (319) up to (335).

32. johncdavid: I played white and used Queen's Gambit with a metric ton of errors, losing many of my pieces right away. LOL. Still "won" off the clock though! Victory - (336) up to (346).

33. ahmdkatab: I was white and screwed up the Queen's Gambit opening!? Yep. Anyway, I lost even more pieces right away to the point where I just messaged him "You might as well practice your checkmate". He got me with 8 seconds to spare. Loss (346) down to (335). Also my first friend request! Accepted!

34. Arunag_kundu: Used Queen's Gambit as white and he retired on move 5 after an early error let me take his queen. Win (335) up to (347).

35. Justin-jrp: Played black and lost to a queen/rook checkmate after his King's pawn opening. I really need to learn what to do with that. (347) down to (336).

36. Danjsho: I was white and Queen's Gambit Declined (QGD) let us both develop our armies well for a pretty standard battle which I won. He ran out of time before I could checkmate him. (336) up to (347).

37. gbuty: I played white with my usual QGD opening and got outplayed. While I definitely lost on the field, he lost to time. Victory for me (347) up to (354).

38. johnmegerwadea: Played white and QGA (Queen's Gambit Accepted) which should have given me the upper hand, except it didn't. Apparently these slightly stronger guys know how to counter it. I got wiped out! (354) down to (347)

39. Fyrex45: Just to drive the point home, I played white and QGA again - but I got smashed. Hrm, maybe I should learn a new opening? (347) down to (337).

40. adrianacosta5: Played white and before I could Queen's anything she tried to be cute with an early check that cost her queen. We then went through a battle of attrition until she realized she didn't have the time left to keep fighting and resigned. (337) up to (347).

According to the forums Blitz games aren't really the way to get better at chess if you're a beginner, but rather to play the 10 minute Rapid or even longer Classical. As I don't have all day to play chess, Rapid is probably where I should actually be at the moment. Maybe I'll give that a try next.

The Chess Campaign - Blitz 21 to 30 (221)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

Apparently there are weekly player "leagues" on chess.com and I've graduated from the first one, the Wood League, by being one of the top 20 players in my division! That's not really a feat though as many other players in my division simply didn't play during the week giving them a score of 0, which is pretty easy to beat. Up next is the Stone League where the top 15 players of the week will advance. 

Also, for those more knowledgeable about chess, it occurs to me that some of my terms aren't so accurate because when I say "Queen's Gambit", it's not actually always the actual Queen's Gambit - I just do the same moves as white regardless because I'm silly. :D

21. yannmz: I was black and apparently played an "Italian" game? Whatever that is. An early misclick (mouse + finger fail LOL) led to my easy downfall. (245) down to (227).

22. Bot9687: I was black and goofed up by using an Albin counter to a non existent Queen's Gambit (he didn't use it). Obviously this did not go well for me as I proceeded to get slaughtered down to a single pawn and my king. However, using tactics that worked against me previously, I opted to be spry and just dodged his towers, bishop and knight (killing the last two) and still won using the clock. Sometimes you don't have to be smart, you just have to be FAST! (227) up to (239).

23. Theclown9: I was black and haven't played for a few days, but did that down time really lead to me making so many silly errors? Maybe. I lost easily. (239) down to (221)

24. scoottl_eo: I was white and he used an odd defense, all stacking up in one corner... I'm assuming it was the KID (King's Indian Defense) but haven't studied that one too much as there's too many variations of it. It was effective, but since he was also a thinker I just went for steady development and defense and won on time. If he had a few more minutes I'm sure he would have got me. Victory (221) up to (234).

25. bofisal: I was white and used Queen's Gambit which he declined, but then brought his queen out early and was on the backfoot trying to keep her safe. Fast but certain moves are really good when there's time clock pressure. Victory (234) up to (254).

26. miguelcorrales12: I was white and used Queen's Gambit for the win (on time). I'm still impressed by how quickly it sets up my pieces for attack and buys precious seconds against the opponent. I really need to find one of these for when I play black. (254) up to (267).

27. ElTiol: I was black and lost my queen in the first three moves from his kings's pawn opening. Taking a call while playing is a bad idea! LOL. I think I still did ok despite that, and while I certainly wasn't winning the board I could stave off the attackers until they ran out of time. (267) up to (279).

28. demian2305: I was white and Queen's Gambit worked well, to the point where he forfieted by disconnection. Pity since on his next move he could have got my queen for free (i left it hanging, sigh). Victory (279) up to (293).

29. salome_ramirez18: My fastest game so far, I was black and she resigned after 5 moves when my bishop caught her queen from a knight pin. (293) up to (303).

30. igoralmeidam: Another fast game where I was black, he was very aggressive and had me on the back foot but resigned on move 12 when my rampager knight got a nice king / queen fork. (303) up to (319).

The Chess Campaign - Blitz 11 to 20 (118)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

This is rather addictive. so just for the hell of it I've decided to learn one open: the Queen's Gambit, because it's easy to remember, gains a decent central position on the board, is fast to do so there's less thinking time and has that pretty good Netflix show named after it. Downsides are I can only use it if I'm white and... well, I'll only have one opening.

11. castlevape: I was black and he blindsided me with a queen + knight checkmate in my castle position. I lost pretty quick! Good lesson for me here: aim for the king. That should be obvious right? But instead I always fixate on the enemy queen first.. (184) down to (145).

12. huahaiM: I played black and was doing ok until the time pressure got the better of me, causing mistakes to be made. In the end he didn't need a checkmate to win, it was the clock that got me (145) down to (118).

13. wjllfvet: I was assigned black again and this time my opponent played like the old me, moving lots of pawns, leaving pieces undeveloped and not controlling the center. As such I made him bleed time on the defense and for a change won using the clock (118) up to (147).

14. KevinJeffrey: I was white and used Queen's Gambit, but it didn't take. He was winning until I got his queen in a surprise discovered attack fork afterwhich he resigned. Shit, I'm learning chess terms now? Anyway, I won this one (147) up to (169).

15. RiaSatoni: I was white, used Queen's Gambit, and was accepted which led to a really quick check of my king! LOL! I could still fight that off though and eventually chased after her queen HARD. She couldn't escape and resigned right after she realized she moved it into a deathtrap. Victory for me (169) up to (194).

16. sxnch1t: I was white and got to use Queen's Gambit again, though against air so it's not really a Queen's Gambit... still, he made some early blunders which led to the loss of many pieces including his queen. Got him in a checkmate just before his time expired (194) up to (212).

17. oidualcacul: I was white and Queen's Gambit wins again. I felt like I controlled the board well here, and then the time pressure on my opponent got the better of him. (212 up to 229).

18. ADIxTYA: I was black and he used Queen's Gambit on me! I responded with that Albin counter, or a variation thereof because its my first attempt at it, and did pretty good. Got lots of his pieces but ate too much time thinking while doing so, which then resulted in blunders and him getting a pawn promotion. Lost to time, though he would have gotten me in checkmate pretty soon after. (229) down to (212).

19. youssefbenkhalifa1: I was black and again Queen's Gambit was used on me. This time my Albin counter was better - surprising what that lone central pawn can do! After annihilating most of the enemy he either disconnected by accident or rage quit. Either way, that's still a win for me. (212) back up to (229).

20. MittensnettiMittens: I was white and Queen's Gambit coupled with rampaging knight (that they could have easily killed but missed the opening) put them on the backfoot very early on, so much so that two draws were offered! I let my opponents time burn a little while deciding to decline that. Ultimately they resigned, and I won without losing a single piece! (229) up to (245).

Yeah, that's not going to happen too often.

The Chess Campaign - Starting Blitz 1 to 10 (126)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

Chess.com has a few types of game options to pick when finding an opponent, and most have to do with time controls. "Daily" is just, whenever you can make a move I think so that's too slow. "Rapid" goes for about 10 minutes, "Blitz" 5 minutes and "Bullet" under 3 minutes. I decided to try Blitz and found the 5 minute thing is how much time (in total) you have to make moves for the entire game, and certainly not 5 minutes per move, meaning its time to (try) think fast!

Here's how I went for my first ten games of Blitz, keeping track of my own rating that default starts on (400).

1. vini0413: I got trounced by an infiltrating queen who killed my back line (hmm, same way Larry Jr. usually gets me) and resigned as my opponent still had most of his pieces in play. (400) down to (233)

2. mirellaoo: Managed to assassinate the enemy queen early with a bishop after pinning it to their king. Won with only 4.1 seconds to spare! (233) up to (313)

Bishop sniper, or BS for short if you don't see it coming. :P

3. mapleorca: I blundered my way to another loss / missed an opportunity to turn the tide (I really need to look at the reviews more, but I only get one free one a day)! (313) down to (224)

4. Sameh_O: This guy was playing as a black mimic, copying everything I did! It took me too long to get his king into check which shattered the "mirror" as by then I was hurting for time and he still had minutes to spare. Another loss for me through clock pressure at the end: (224) down to (126).

5. DasBloerk: was kicking my ass, until an unforced error let me take the enemy queen. My foe resigned right after that which is strange, as I felt he still would have won if he kept playing. (126 up to 211)

6. Alexsilva_27: I won the battle, leaving my opponent with only a bishop, king and pawn but as I couldn't checkmate the spry enemy king he still won using the clock! (211) down to (161).

7. lenl4: Again I won the board here, but was unable to checkmate to finish! Rather than run out of time I settled for a stalemate. (161) down to (152).

8. Maan_Jaskrat: Finally, I won via checkmate after actually playing well for the most part! I still could have lost my queen early as I'm still blundering but he missed that opening. (152) up to (198).

9. Christine1105: I played as white, opened with King's pawn and she dominated me right from the start and thanks to silly errors had a quick win after I resigned (198) down to (157).

10. KSW97: I played as white, opened with Queens pawn and dominated right from the start managing to bishop snipe his queen early then wreck half his army with a rampaging knight, causing my foe to resign soon after (157) up to (184).

That went about as well as I expected! I'm keeping the 126 in the post title as it was my lowest ranking in this set.

The Chess Campaign - Coach Mae (800)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

Instead of sleeping all the time I thought I'd occasionally practice on my daily commute but since chess.com relies on an app for phone games and doesn't load on the browser (and I hate downloading apps), I've instead found this other chess site that still lets me play on the browser. Lichess!

There are no AI "people" on this site, just a cold hard level number between one and eight for something called Stockfish. I beat Stockfish level 1, 2 and 3 (got massacred by level 4) then back at a PC I decided to challenge Martin's "tougher" alter-ego Mighty Martin (500) and won! YESSSSSS! Then just for good measure I beat AI Coach Mae (800) as well! Then I tried playing against the new(?) AI dog bots and lost easily. Woof woof.

Against Coach Mae I think I needed 2-3 pawn promotions to queens (because I still keep losing my queens) before I can checkmate which is not a great statistic. Also, I'm getting to 51 moves now against Larry Jr. (1250) but I feel that I am still nowhere close to winning and interestingly, each level of Stockfish is equivalent to +300 on chess.com which means Stockfish level 4 which also is regularly beating me might just be Larry Jr. in disguise or vice versa!? All my reading on chess for novices didn't give any clues, but just reinforced that chess is all about mating. :P

Interestingly the 400 rating chess.com generously gave me as a "new to chess" account hasn't moved at all. I guess it just doesn't get affected by any games against AI. According to the forums, the technique to beating the AI is to practice against people which is super counter intuitive but OK, I guess I'll just have to play against real people instead.

The Chess Campaign - Martin (250)

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

After that thrashing I decided to play Martin (250), the lowest AI on chess.com (at least the lowest for free to play members) and proceeded to LOSE FOUR MORE TIMES. Sigh. And these were not close games. He won decisively. Clearly I have to learn more but since I don't really want to read books or memorize grand master matches (really? people do that? wtf?) I decided to see what googling would get me.

Two main points are:
1 - Don't rush. Yeah, that's a big part of why I suck at this - I have little patience.
2 - Don't eat pieces just because you can / "Tension" is good.
3 - "Count". Count? Count what? Points! Turns out each piece has an arbitrary point value that is meaningless in the game, but helps decide if an exchange or set of exchanges is worth it.

Pawns are worth 1, Bishops and Knights 3, Rooks 5 and the Queen is 9.

And just like that they added fricking maths to something I already dislike! This really helps in decision making though as my next game against Martin was a long one, filled with tension, and no pieces were eaten for a long time! Then my queen died (first piece to die too)! Haha... still, I managed to get another queen (pawn promotion) and eventually slew all his pieces apart from the king, but somehow - even with a queen, rook, (dark) bishop, four pawns and a knight I couldn't get a checkmate against a single king: the match ending in a draw/stalemate. LOL :D

Like that time Jon Snow faced an army alone and they decided to call it a draw...

That's ok, its an improvement and I'll take it!

The Chess Campaign - Ground Zero

[Part of the Chess Campaign]

For those wondering why I'm even doing this, my cousin's son Josh is really into chess and is pretty good as is his grandpa Rick. While I know how the pieces move I have zero in context of planning or anything and historically have lost to pretty much everyone I play, unless they let me win, have a brain-fart, or are less patient than I am. I'm particularly scarred by playing against DL who enjoys ignoring my king and slaying every other piece on the board first before going for a checkmate (no surrendering allowed).

Anyway, thanks to Josh and Rick I learned a few things (because they decided to teach a little instead of just kicking my butt)!

1 - Don't bring out the queen early. I love bringing out my queen early! She also dies early, like after killing one pawn. LOL.
2 - "Develop" the bishops and knights - get them off the back line. I move pawns too much.
3 - Control the center of the board. That's a thing?
4 - En passant. I had a true WTF moment when Josh used this against me. If your pawn takes two steps (first move) and ends up BESIDE an enemy pawn it can immediately be eaten as if it was diagonally in front of it. I had to look up this term as I kept remembering it as "Ovaltine". :P

Armed with this new intel I decided to try play against some online chess AI on chess.com, and by default went against "Larry Fitzgerald Jr. (1250)". I didn't realize that number is their skill level, and got immediately thrashed as his queen broke through my front lines and went on a massacre. I lost in around 10 moves!

It's like this scene from Kill Bill, and my pieces were the ones wearing black!

Ok, time to look for the lowest ranked AI there... Martin (250).

The Chess Campaign

Regular readers would know that I'm terrible at many things, one of them being chess. I figured I'd keep a log while I try change that so that at least I move from "absolute crap" to "not very good". Yes, no aspirations of any form of mastery here as my lack of patience will see to that! Let's see how I go!

Ground Zero
Martin (250)
Coach Mae (800)
Starting Blitz 1 to 10 (126)
Blitz 11 to 20 (118)
Blitz 21 to 30 (221)
Blitz 31 to 40 (319)
Starting Rapid 1 to 10 (400)
Rapid 10 to 20 (364)
Rapid 21 to 30 (418)
Rapid 31 to 40 (514)
Rapid 41 to 50 (554)
Scattershot

Waiting for Duviri: The Tenth Tacticals

And now for a set of games that require planning (and maybe one that doesn't)!

Chess Ultra

Regular readers will know I'm bad at this game, but luckily there's a setting to make the AI so dumb that I can win. LOL. Obviously the opposite is true too as it is grand master approved and obviously there's the PvP option as well as spectating(?). I should probably use the tutorials provided to see if it can help my game. Visuals wise: the room, board and pieces can be customized and look really nice. That won't help you win though!

A Game of Thrones: The Board Game - Digital Edition

This competitive game has players running one of the Westeros Houses and are trying to dominate the map by either holding 7 castles for an instant win or the most castles after 10 rounds. Battles are simple where you just add up the unit values and add whatever your chosen leader card does (7 to pick from, can't reuse same one until you've used all the others). Alas, the rest of the game isn't simple: It's a mess. Boats act both as units and bridges, you need to spend a phase giving "orders" which are limited to 3 of the same, there's a phase where you just pull random events that can add or remove units or lock order types at a whim, and some houses have better starting spots than others. Not recommended.

Yellow and Yangtze (Digital)

This competitive area control game has players putting tiles down in one of five different colors. If you place a red tile on a connected tile set with your red tile leader, you get a red point. If its someone elses red leader, they get a red point. If there is no red leader then you look for the black (king) leader in the region and they get the point. Once there are no more tiles to draw the game ends and you score your LOWEST color of points.

If you try put your red leader in a set that already has a red leader, you must spend the appropriate tiles from your hand to try win your revolt and likewise if two tile sets join which would result in two leaders of the same color being in the joined state, then a war breaks out. Defenders win ties.

Super simple, but also super challenging! I was interested in getting the precursor to this, Tigris and Euphrates until I learned Yellow and Yangtze refined that game a bit. Now that I've tried the digital version - I'm probably not going to get the physical one because I am terrible at it. LOL!

Terraforming Mars (Digital)

Another competitive victory point collecting game where each player runs a company that is terraforming mars, with each company having different themes on what special things that they can do. You will mostly be dictated on options based on the random cards you draw which might be a deal breaker for you, however if you can roll with whatever comes your way you this might be for you. You also need to keep your eyes open on the first come first serve rewards you can nab, as well as the awards that you can fund (in hopes to award yourself) as those are a lot of victory points!

Turns get longer as the game goes by because everyone will have more resources later and turns only end when the player all players pass. On the flip side, if you warm the planet enough, put enough oceans and forests and basically terraform Mars, as per the title - you can activate an immediate game end sequence if you are confident you've got the points lined up to win. Pretty cool.

Warhammer 40K: Gladius - Relics of War

A strategy game where you can play as one of the various factions in the Warhammer 40k universe, where you must build a base and send your units to destroy the enemy bases, much like ye olde Dune and Warcraft / Starcraft, EXCEPT it is all turn based. And boy that makes it supremely boring. The poor tutorial doesn't help either. Skip it.

Evil Dead: the Game

The only non-board game based offering in this set - this four player co-op versus one monster player where in the four players (who most likely will be playing various incarnations of Ash Williams) need to locate the necronomicon and a magic knife to seal the evil portal within a time limit to win. The maps are pretty big, the fighting is quite decent, and having cars people can hop into together is great. The enemy player has interesting mechanics too, as they are usually just mist and must run around gaining power to be able to deploy traps, spawn bad guys and possibly possess said bad guys (or good guys, if they don't stay near the light).

As a bonus, there are AI modes that range from one player and every one else is AI, only the bad guys is AI so it's pure co-op, and single player missions to unlock stuff. Pretty cool game and one that I was ready to buy for my gaming group until I learned this is currently only available on Epic Games, which has NO METHOD OF GIFTING GAMES TO OTHERS. Pity, because that means I purchased something else (x3) instead from Steam.

Gloomhaven (Digital)

This is the cooperative "something else" I purchased (x3) for my gaming group instead of the Evil Dead, and I am pleased to say it plays very much like my physical copy of Jaws of the Lion where I've already covered most of the mechanics. Even better, this digital edition means you don't need to spend time setting up or running the monsters and just get straight into the action. We've only started the original campaign and its already pretty good, with the ability to have players drop in and out mid mission (host controls any unassigned mercs). Very good so far and recommended if you like thinking games!

Because Girls are Better: Ava, Enola Holmes and the Queen's Gambit

Well, they're better when they are actually written that way...

Enola Holmes

Too talkative for her own good.

When Mrs. Holmes suddenly vanishes, her abandoned daughter Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) decides to go find her after her two older brothers (Sherlock and Mycroft) prove to be less than helpful. While it has an okay plot and decent acting this flick did annoy me with its constant fourth wall breaking.

At least Millie Bobby Brown seems to be having fun.

I don't mind when Deadpool does it, but it just felt so out of place here... and it just gave me a negative feeling every time Enola would do it. Ah well, maybe it better works on this films intended audience, so if that sounds like you give it a try. For everyone else, eh - you can probably find something better on. One and a half flowers out of five.

Ava

Also too talkative for her own good.

An assassin (Jessica Chastain) who keeps breaking the rules of her employer soon finds that she is next on the target list. The plot is predictable and the action pieces are ok, but it feels like the producers tried to remake John Wick with a female lead and a small scale... it doesn't work.

Nor did it need to. The writers went out of their way to really give flaws to all the main characters and it could have been interesting if they did something other than copy what had been done before. As it is though this is a bit of a miss for me, but still an ok movie for action fans with nothing else to watch. Two addictions out of five.

The Queen's Gambit

Teaches a bit of chess on the side.

Orphaned at a young age, Beth (Anya Taylor-Joy) discovers a passion for chess and substance abuse. While that combination doesn't earn her many friends, it does drive her to become the best at her sport which is the main plot of this one season series.

Definitely a beautiful series and one we were very engaged in, even though we didn't quite like Beth's flaws (but hey, that's required for character development right). Worth watching and one I can recommend. Strangely, this story about chess is far better than the above two films! I give it three and a half rooks out of five.

Hearthstone (Beta): Put your heart in the cards Yugi!

 The wars in Azeroth are over. Now they just play cards.

Juris gave me a beta key to this game a month back and I can see how it can become addictive. This online World of Warcraft themed CCG (collectable card game) is pretty easy to get into but will take pretty long to master, basically because you won't have all the awesome cards in your stable at the get go - You need to earn your way up. In the beginning playing against the NPC serves as a good extended tutorial while you unlock the various starter decks but after that you will need to go and face random opponents in Play mode who have a similar rank to yours. Despite it being pretty much a game board with slight decorative variants, there's not really much to look at other than the cards. That said, the graphics are pretty good regardless and the little touch of having the classic Warcraft (RTS) music and sounds to the game really add to the flavour for me.

There are still daily quests to do, believe it or not - despite it being a card game - though I imagine your main goal would be to reach Rank 1. There is no storyline to follow and no vast "multiplayer" beyond you and your opponent. In that regard it is a bit like chess, though you don't know what pieces your opponent has and it is quite likely they have things that can wipe you out really easily later on. Some people even just pay for better pieces I'd imagine. There is ofcourse, Arena mode which requires in-game gold to join (which you gain doing quests) where you and your foe build a quasi random deck each time to try even the battlefield. Winning enough matches (without losing 3 times) can give you better cards for your normal deck.

So... I guess it's like pokemon chess then, because you've got to catch them all? Anywho, if you like CCGs then this should probably be on your watch list. If you like WoW then maybe this will be on your watch list, but I suspect you should play WoW instead. Or go to that place where they're playing Hearthstone in WoW, then play Hearthstone like a true roleplayer. Haha! As a stand alone game it is pretty good. The very restricted chat options between opponents (unless they are on each others friend lists) is a good idea too. I'm guessing there are still some balance issues which is why it remains in Beta but otherwise it is a pretty complete game. I give it 3.5 out of 5 happy dwarves which isn't bad considering a) it's in beta, b) I don't like CCGs and c) I'm not into WoW.

For those who already play Hearthstone, Cogitationes Astalnaris has a list of recent nerfs you may want to check out.

Crushing Candies

Unlike my grandfather I'm not really one for "little" games that involve a lot of thinking like chess, mine sweeper or solitaire but thanks to my wifey I've been introduced into the somewhat addictive yet highly frustrating Candy Crush Saga. This simple facebook app plays pretty much like ye olde Bejewelled where in you have to match 3 identical items in a row to clear them from the grid. However while only some challenges are timed (just like Bejewelled) majority instead have a set number of moves wherein you must complete whatever task is given to you - be it reaching a score, lowering ingredients, or most commonly (and annoyingly) eliminating jelly squares from the board. You learn to hate those really quick, and given the board is hardly ever a proper square it can be challenging to clear them from nooks and crannies where they hide.

The "Saga" part is how often it makes you fail.

Indeed often times the only way to win is to orchestrate (or get lucky enough) to combine four or five candies into super powered ones that can clear whole rows. With hundreds of levels and a max of five lives which regenerate by one every 20 minutes (faster if your friends gift you some) it certainly has a lot of content. In my case the low life count is good though, because it means I can attack it for a little bit and when I'm out of lives (which is often) I can move on to "better" games. I just wonder then if they are "better" given that I play this one first? Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, or maybe I'm just addicted to candy. :P