Exabytes woes again

If you noticed I haven't been using my own domains glitchess.com and maribelajar.com for a very long time because of the malware headaches I got the last 2 years from Exabytes.

Just at a critical time during this Penang Open, my own blog at blogspot - gilachess.blogspot.com gets this unexpected and rude warning.

It seems my interactive table that I link to is in maribelajar.com and that in turn has been hit by malware.

Anyway I have removed all links to maribelajar.com so the issue should be solved in a day or two.

In the meantime I will rely on my other blogs for updates.

P/S: The renewal for my domain and website at Exabytes is coming up at the end of December. Guess who will not be renewing ?

Get ready for Malaysian Chess Festival 2014

It will be from September 12 to September 21.

Official tournament site:
 http://datmo.net 

 Tournament blog:
 http://malaysiachessfestival.blogspot.com

INITIAL Thoughts: Blunder Save

I played team chess league tournament - the DATCC Chess League 2009. I won a pawn, then a piece and then  blundered the piece back. Here's how I saved the game.

The reason I created this video because it is my initial feeling of the game. I've heard an advice from a coach that you should make your initial analysis WITHOUT the use of chess engines or even consultation so as to record as many of your thoughts that were going thru your head during the game. IF you delay the analysis after even a day, there may be "thought contamination" and your analysis will contain biases since you have had time to have a secondary analysis either from yourself, opponent and/or chess engine.

Saavedra Endgame Study

This was the endgame study I posted as a puzzle on my other chess blog but no one found the solution after 3 days. Here's a video explaining the famous endgame study:-






Also for a change I put this video in YouTube (for the first time) instead of Flash videos. At least with YouTube it has a bigger exposure and I don't need to have my own webspace to host Flash files as I did with my older videos.

Donations for China Earthquake victims

This is my second post on natural disasters and the human tragedy that resulted. I'm talking about the recent quake in China and my heart sank when I saw the pictures of the children killed by falling buildings. Even though I don't live in China, I am Chinese and I do have relatives living in Hainan, China. Thankfully that was not the area hit by the quakes.

I'm also heartened by the fact that a online casino website is helping out with donations to the victims of the quake. I'm talking about BackgammonMasters.com which is an online backgammon site that also host blackjack tournaments.  It is commendable that they are channeling proceeds of prize money from the blackjack and backgammon tournaments directly to UNICEF organization.

For every $1 donated from a months worth of tournament buy-ins, Backgammon Masters will be donating $5. That's very generous of them and I salute their efforts.

Online backgammon and blackjack tournaments will be offered for the whole month, 24/7 to help towards this cause. So if you are into Blackjack or Backgammon, do drop in, register with the online casino website and join the online tournaments with buy-ins that ranges from $4.50 and $200. Where else can you have a good online game of backgammon and contribute to a good cause at the same time?

Myanmar/Burma disaster

It is feared up to 1 million people may have died in this disaster, and although this is disputed, if Nargis did kill this many people, it would be the deadliest cyclone ever recorded, and the third deadliest natural disaster ever recorded in history, behind the Yellow River floods of 1887 and 1931 in China. At least 10,000 people have been reported to have perished in the delta town of Bogale.One aid worker has claimed that the death toll from the cyclone and its aftermath may reach 300,000; if this was correct it would be the 2nd deadliest cyclone and fourth deadliest natural disaster.

~ Wikipedia

Got an email from Fide Trainer / FM Peter Long relaying the appeal by Myanmar Chess Federation for donation.

Here's a quote from the email:-

I just met Maung Maung Lwin, President of Myanmar Chess Federation at the ASEAN Age Groups in Danang, Vietnam www.aseanagegroups.blogspot.com and he asked me to help circulate the attached appeal to the chess world.

Maung has tirelessly and singlehandedly kept Myanmar chess alive for over 20 years and despite losing all his businesses (factory, restaurant, etc.) in the recent Cyclone Nargis he is more concerned about his people's plight and is still helping promote chess by agreeing to be our Chief Arbiter here!

More information at http://www.thefidetrainer.blogspot.com/

Backgammon Masters to enlist MIT "21" team

There's a new movie coming out called “21” starring Kevin Spacey which features MIT “Blackjack Teams” of students who are able to beat the odds in the Las Vegas Casinos.

Back in real life, BackgammonMasters the makers of backgammon online games, has decided to put their blackjack software to be tested by the real-life MIT "Blackjack Teams" to see how they measure up. Yes they actually exist and The MIT Team will be using their unique strategies to increase their odds of winning in the online game. The results should be very interesting to see.

In addition, Backgamomon Masters is allowing Blackjack enthusiasts to "Tell a Friend Bonuses" so that more people can test the system.

One distinct difference between online Blackjack and the real casino version is that the online game rooms will have  an innovative basic Blackjack calculator allowing players to see the statistics and hence, increase their odds of winning. Of course this is not allowed in real casinos!

Matrix Chess

Since it's a nice quiet Sunday, let's just take a break from serious chess study and enjoy this animation ... :)