Wrapup

OK, last post for the day. Got to get ready to watch Germany whip the unholy hell out of Argentina tonight, as well as me whipping the unholy hell out of Malv and Red A Saturday. Local notes: Taichung AmCham is having their Independence Day celebration at Tiger City tomorrow, starting time 2:00PM. If you loathe this blog and have always wanted to take a swing at the tall geek who writes it, go to Tiger City at 2:00PM and wait. Also, Fubar will have a free chicken barbecue to clebrate Jour Du Canada. No idea what time that starts, nor do I know what constitutes the Canadian concept of 'barbecue'. Whatever it is, I am sure that J-Hole would be unimpressed. Fortunately, J-Hole is drunk in Texas for the time being.

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Chess stuff.

Sometimes, when talking about chess with a relative beginner, they will say something like:

"I often get into a position where I am not in danger, but I see no good way to press an attack. What should I do in those kinds of positions?"

and I'll say:

"Just try to maximize the mobility of your pieces, while minimizing the mobility of your opponent's pieces. Visualize blue lines that extend from each of your pieces to all the squares where they can possibly move, and red lines that similarly extend from your opponents pieces. Look for a move that leaves more blue lines on the board than red ones."

I don't know if that is particularly good advice for a beginner, but I don't really know what else to say. Turns out, I'm not the only one who uses the colored-lines approach.