A Diary without dates..for when I wish to write!

A little piece of English perfection

2009-07-01T11:56:00.000+01:00

I remember my childhood - a heady mixture of innocence and enthusiasm, where the future was the next five minutes. This was long before the days of my adolescent health problems and back when I had a feeling of both myself and the world being bulletproof.

Of course pretty much wherever any child grows up in the world; summer leaves some indelible memories emblazoned in the mind like the sun that shone in them. A couple of weeks ago I had the rather pleasant experience of getting the chance to relive one such memory again.

I was playing chess for Yorkshire in a church hall situated in a rather picturesque English village. Outside the sun shone brightly, the temperature was in the low 20s and a gentle breeze just took the edge off the heat; and made it a glorious summer day.

Outside the back of the hall there was a suitably large village park. Emanating from it was the happy sound of children playing amongst the trees and on the park's slides and swings. Across the other side a game of village cricket was taking place with 11 fielders and 2 batsmen dressed in pristine white. All around people in deckchairs with picnic hampers filled to the brim with sandwiches and cold drinks; politely applauded good shots and the fall of wickets. This picture was occasionally added to by the gentle tune of an ice-cream van playing, which was always closely followed by squeals of delight from excited children - It was a little piece of English perfection.

I have had little to raise my spirits in 2009, but I can honestly say that the whole scene brought a not inconsiderable amount of joy to my heart for a few minutes. It was like I was 7 years old again and all the cares of the world had simply been washed away.

Ah Nostalgia - It isn't what it used to be...

A Plan of Action

2009-02-28T22:54:00.004Z

I have three weeks of the current University term left. The name of the game is simply to get to March 20th in one working piece. It occurred to me recently that when I have been in such situations before (in other words trying to maintain my health whilst involved in academia)I have adopted a back-foot approach. This time I intend to take a much more positive approach.

1) I have a GP appointment on Tuesday morning to review my current health status

2) I plan to get my two written assessments for this term completed by the end of next week. As a result of this, as soon as my final week exam is over I will be able to rest.

3) I am doing some moderate physical exercise. I am attending the gym and completing my two weights sessions each week. I will continue this unless my GP advises otherwise.

4) Further to this I am back on my gym diet. I had a real collapse of my willpower re my diet for a couple of weeks. That has been brought back under control.

5) As many early nights as possible

That should hopefully suffice. If I can make it to Easter successfully then I will be having the break that I had planned for the Christmas vacation.

The countdown starts now.

I say it best...when I say nothing at all

2009-02-15T17:15:00.010Z

As a person who has never been renowned as being short of a few words to say; the above title may come as something of a surprise. Right now though I feel that it is only fair for me to admit that at the moment I am in the grip of a communication problem.

At the moment I feel like a man who simply has no suitable means to communicate with his partner. I never imagined that such an extraordinary state of affairs could happen to me. However, I have always believed that big events are an accumulation of smaller ones. That seems to be exactly what has happened here. Let's take each of them one at a time.

Firstly, I am still extremely upset at some comments by her; that were alluded to in an earlier post. When I say I'm upset I am in no way angry, annoyed or even exasperated. I am simply purely upset; to the point where I cannot even think of her words without either breaking down or feeling like I am about to. This alone has badly shaken my communicative capacity towards her.

I have also wilted under the cumulative effect of various stereotypical comments that preceded the one referred to above. Furthermore, as alluded to in an earlier post, I kept running into brick walls. These walls took the form of her certainty on various matters on which I was seemingly unable to get her to consider possible alternative ways of viewing an issue. As a result of failing to accomplish what I saw as such a basic task I retreated further into silence.

Furthermore, I have exacerbated the problem by my own actions. On various occasions I have posted what I felt to be humorous status updates on MSN Messenger and Facebook. Each time my partner was not happy with them and my immediate response was to change them without question. I was aware that this could be setting a dangerous precedent, but at the respective times I could not think of another course of action. I therefore silently did I was told/requested.

Finally, over the last couple of months there has been a general increase in cessation of various forms of communication for what can best be termed ‘security reasons’. As a result of all this I simply cannot think of any practical, general or humorous to say. Therefore, in line with the old adage of not being able to think of anything good to say; I say nothing.

In life there is being pushed and allowing yourself to be pushed. Whatever amount of responsibility that people perceive that I should bear for the above; I will gladly accept. Accepting responsibility for my shortcomings, perceived or real, has rarely been a problem. This silence though, both my own and that of my relationship, is draining me to the bitter dregs.

I just hope that now rock bottom seems to have been hit, that I can start picking the matter back up again.

25 Facts

2009-02-10T14:41:00.004Z

I very much enjoyed writing the following; in response to a facebook note. I am therefore reproducing an unedited copy of the original work here.

Rules:
Once you've been tagged, write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.... Blah blah blah....(Ps. I copied this intro from various other posts - the views reflected in it do not necessarily reflect the views of Paul Hopwood. Anything that suggests otherwise is purely coincidental)

1) I have four platonic friendships. Two are with males and two are with females. Three of the people do not even know that they are on the list and the fourth is not aware of who the other three are.

2) Contrary to mass popular belief, chess is not my favourite hobby. I somewhat prefer to play 9-ball pool. I watched 'The Colour of Money' as a kid and was bowled over by the sheer adrenalin rush that can result from the game. The possibility of playing eight consecutive excellent shots and blowing it all by a slight mistake on the ninth is something that I find supremely exciting.

3) I have an adopted teenage son called 'Snuffles' who is a Dragon that I 'acquired' whilst on a school holiday in Wales in 1993. He has just sat his GCSE mocks and I am proud to say that he got significantly better results than I did. His knowledge of all matters relating to thermodynamics is incredible...

4) Despite my supposedly 'legendary calmness'; numerous medical professionals have suggested that my method of using significant quantities of my nervous energy to keep calm when under stress MIGHT not ALWAYS be such a good idea. Therefore all those people who wish they had my temperament may like to think that in fact they MIGHT have the right approach to life after all!

5) I am very proud of being English, but sadly as the years pass I can come up with less reasons as to why that is.

6) For sheer wisdom; I wish I was Indian or Chinese. Virtually every person I have ever met from these two countries has had wisdom far beyond their years, whether they were nine or ninety. As a teenager I was regularly told that I was 'fourteen going on forty', but being English that would make me 'The One-Eyed Man'...

7) From my psychology degree the most important lesson I learnt was that in life there is rarely a big difference between people; there are mainly small but significant ones. For instance, when I did a work placement in a psychiatric hospital; I worked with clients with borderline personality disorder. These were people who had such sensitive emotions that whenever something bad happened, no matter how small, they would slide into anger and depression. I learnt that the only difference between myself and them was that whenever something bad happened to me: I was able to get a rational thought in before reacting to the emotional impulse.

8) I invariably cry at any romantic movie I enjoy. The record so far is seven times during a Bollywood movie called 'Kal Ho Naa Ho'. In this movie the lead character has a heart-related problem; and five days later I collapsed with pericarditis! The moral of that story is don't watch such heart-wrenching movies three days before your Statistics exam...

9) The basic influence of 'The psychology of numbers' has always concerned me. Many times when I have run into a serious problem in life; it is because the majority believe that they are right for no other reason than the fact that they are the majority.

10) Further to the previous point, there is a slight variation where the majority think they are right (as opposed to what one person knows) because of stereotypical thinking. Humour aside, stereotypical thinking is lazy; because instead of thinking of someone as an individual, a stereotype can be used by a person to do the thinking for him or her.

11) My favourite saying is that of La Rochefacould - "We possess more strength than will and we consider things to be beyond out strength, merely to justify ourselves in our own eyes". In other words, people know that they could do things better and there is no good reason why they shouldn't. Instead they make up excuses for themselves not doing so. That's why as far as possible I try and improve myself; and don't make excuses for my shortcomings. I firmly believe that the points 9-11 inclusive hold the key to a potentially much better world.

12) I am agnostic in the scientific sense; in other words I am unsure as to whether nature was created naturally or supernaturally. I have read the key texts of three main Monotheisms (cue indignant responses as to what they are!) and was unable to find one shred of evidence to convince me as to why I should even consider the possibility of their particular definition of 'God' (cue more indignant responses!).

13) As a caveat to the previous point; I follow the George Carlin Theory that if there is a God then they must be a man, because no woman would have ever messed existence up so badly.

14) My byword is 'objectivity' - flows quite reasonably from some of the previous points methinks!

15) Given that I tend to be far better at something than I need to be, or not good enough; I intend to call my autobiography (oh, delusions of grandeur!) something like 'Searching for the Middle Ground'. Fortunately I was blessed with an ability to learn very quickly; and so I can usually transfer attributes from the latter to the former quite quickly. The notable exception to this is my ability to play squash, which despite a whole year of regular practice; remained fantastically mediocre.

16) Beauty is a subjective matter in any form: For me the greatest type of physical beauty is that of the natural variety - people who are truly beautiful and that is the way that nature intended them to look, with no artificial aids. I have only ever come across three people who adequately fulfil this definition.

17) IMO the greatest type of internal beauty is that of people who possess an open, honest and engaging personality. As well as this, they adhere to my favourite (and as far as I can see most accurate) definition of general intelligence; namely someone who is fully aware of the extent of their ignorance in this life. Once again I have met very few people who fit this definition; and it is no surprise to me that most of them are not English (see point 6)!

18) I consider myself incalculably lucky that my partner fits into the definitions given in points 16 and 17.

19) In my experience, Emotional Intelligence is the one quality that people think they possess in abundance; when in actual fact it is the one attribute of personality that they are significantly lacking.

20) I am firm believer in the overall superiority of the female race. I was fairly well sold on the idea before my psychology degree; and upon completion of it I was convinced. I will duly supply some evidence:

a) On average females are born with two billion more brain cells (14 as opposed to 12); b) faster and greater maturity in very early childhood and overall throughout adolescence; c) right from the moment of conception the female zygote is outperforming the male version - all foetuses are female up to the age of 12 weeks, until the male 'y' chromosone does or doesn't kick in; d) Female intuition - I am very proud of my own intuition, but my personal experience with this particular female attribute has left me under no illusions that I am a distinct second best.

There are many other points, but the above form the crux of my reasoning.

21) However, there is a caveat to the previous point that very few people have picked up on. The caveat is that the words 'on average' need to be included in the equation. A high-performing male can surpass an under-performing female.

22) I truly wish that I had a talent, or even just an ability, that wasn't cognitive/cerebral. Having played chess for over 14 years; one point that has always struck me as rather sad is that I can only share the internal joy of the game with fellow chess players. Witnessing my partner's sister play the piano was what really brought this point home to me. Even though I cannot play a musical instrument, I could still appreciate the ability that was on display.

23) Further to the previous point, I don't believe that my cognitive capabilities are exceptional talents. For instance, my ability to calculate large numbers in my head involves the same basic mathematical functions that everyone I know has been taught. The small but significant difference is simply that I practiced them more at an early age.

24) I have a collection of nicknames; the primary one being Hoppers, which I have had since starting school. Over the years I have been christened with various other sobriquets: Chessy/IQ/TWTD (The Walking Talking Dictionary)/The Posh Yorkshireman. The latest one is 'Paro', after a character in a Bollywood movie who calculated how long her love was away from her in various units of time.

25) I make it one of my goals in life to keep putting across various messages that I believe to be of utmost importance. The first (in line with previous points) is that not knowing is fine, but ignorance is not. As far as is reasonably possible I will point ignorance out; and fully expect to have my own pointed out. The second is that as a rule stereotypical thinking is fundamentally a bad idea. Finally, relationships on whatever level (love/platonic/friendship) are all to be treasured in their own right. This is because they all involve two people who have been lucky enough to find each other in this life.

For further updates please check out the following sites:

http://paulmarkhopwood.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/hoppers163

Survival

2009-02-08T00:02:00.003Z

I managed to complete both my assignments that I had been given extensions for. Due to the state of my health neither piece of work was anywhere near the quality that I wanted it to be. With regards to the essay, this was a major frustration; because being given a chance to write for two of the most famous psychologists in the world was a fantastic opportunity.

The critical analysis that I handed in is more of a worry than a frustration. Having never written one before; there is the usual element of fear of the unknown. After the disappointment of my stats exam results; I managed to quickly bring myself to realise that my Masters course is now going to be a matter of survival. The chance of getting a distinction has gone, but a Masters Degree is (hopefully) better than no Masters.

Tweeting - The ideal complimentary service!

2009-02-04T16:24:00.004Z

The title of my blog is relatively self-explanatory. For those who wish for a little more depth; I will elaborate a little further. I had toyed with the idea of writing a diary for a long time. However, I never found a 'solution' to the 'problem' of having to write something every day. As a result this blog was created and given a title.

But what about any gaps, i.e. when I do have something relatively straightforward to say, but don't consider it anything special to a wider audience? The answer, as so often in my life, was provided by Stephen Fry...

I saw a video of his extolling the virtues of 'Twitter' and after a few minutes of contemplation, I signed up.

Now you can find me tweeting at http://twitter.com/hoppers163

Roger and Rafa

2009-02-01T18:52:00.003Z

What have I done to deserve the privilege of watching such a phenomenal sporting rivalry? I have watched all seven of their Grand Slam finals; and to witness all of these chapters has been to watch the finest one-on-one sporting contests of my lifetime.

There are so many details that simply leave me awe-struck. After seeing Federer's tears today, the main one is to wonder how when they put so much pressure on each other; they don't psychologically break down under the strain.

What I also like is the fact that they can be such great friends and still produce such fearsome rivalry. When McEnroe and Connors played; they needed no help to fire themselves up to beat the other guy. With Roger and Rafa, they have to start from cold and get themselves up to working temperature.

I sincerely hope that one day a DVD is released of their matches; indeed last years Wimbledon final deserves one of it's own for my money. I also sincerely hope that there are many more chapters to come. Federer may be hurting now, but he still has the time and ability to equal/surpass Sampras's Grand Slam record. What would make it even sweeter would be if he could beat Nadal in doing so; and if he could do it at the French...

The Blog equivalent of Commentators Curse?

2009-01-28T16:47:00.003Z

When writing the 'Antiversary' post, I was acutely aware that something did not seem right. That feeling of unease came about when I was writing the section about my realising that although one area of my life wasn't going as well as I wished; overall The Good Ship Hoppers was still in good condition.

However, since the start of the new university term that situation has rather gone out of the window. This is of course not surprising because health will affect most, if not all, areas of life.

Since the start of term, I have simply been unable to get into gear. The pericarditis is on the way out, but various fall-outs from my illness mean that I currently find myself in an unenviable state.

The cold that the pericarditis developed from has subsided, leaving in it's place Post Viral Fatigue. This has left me feeling mentally washed out to a degree I have never experienced before. Indeed, at the moment I only have enough mental energy to work for a maximum of around three hours each day. I am trying to push on with last year's assignments before they snowball into the ones I am going to be set for this term. The result of this is that I am unable to afford myself the opportunity to completely recover; which is unsurprisingly causing other problems.

My immediate priority is to get my two assignments out of the way; before trying to concentrate on anything other matters.

By the time I write here again, I hope to have something more positive to say. I dislike having to give bad news to good people.

The Nature of Relationships

2009-01-16T22:47:00.003Z

I mentioned in a recent post that I had done some thinking about the nature of human relationships. Unfortunately, a couple of comments made to me yesterday have left me feeling very upset and hurt. I really felt like writing this blog entry now though; and I just hope that my current mood doesn't affect the flavour of the article that I intended to write.

Having now watched just over twenty Bollywood movies (most of them romances) it has been very interesting to contrast how another culture views the whole nature of relationships. For me, having a whole new perspective on a matter strongly aids the learning process. This is because being able to compare and contrast; really fires up my cognitive processes.

Firstly, love relationships - Supposedly the pinnacle in terms of the nature and strength of feeling involved. One of the themes that had shone through in most of the films I had watched was the nature of compromise in such relationships. Of course by definition such relationships contain an element of this. The 'rules' state that an individual is only allowed one love relationship at any given time, which is in total contrast to any other form that I am aware of. Furthermore, for such relationships to succeed a degree of compromise is required from both partners for the sake of the relationship's continued success. The key, I presume, is that the amount and nature of such compromises should be kept to a minimum.

Long before I met my partner, I had formed my philosophy about trying to make life about making as many positive events happen as I reasonably could. Throughout my upbringing I noted that most of the adults around me spent virtually all their time trying to prevent negative events from happening. Of course this is a very wise attitude to have, especially for parents! However, it occurred to me at a very early age that it didn't matter how many negative occurrences were prevented in life; nothing positive would then automatically happen as a result.

Every time I watched a Bollywood romance I was simply dumbfounded by the amount of compromise that the leading characters had to make, especially the female ones. This touched a very raw nerve within me. This was because in my relationship at present, both my partner and I are individually making numerous sizeable compromises. However, the amount and nature of hers are far greater than my own.

What grates with me is the fact that throughout our time together, I have tried to impart a little of my philosophy of life to her, namely that it seems to me that there are far fewer things that 'must' be done in life than most people think. This was never on an 'I am right, you are wrong' basis; but rather simply to let her know that there are other ways of thinking and that she might like to consider it a little further.

As a side note, that is the prevailing attitude throughout this entire post. Most arguments I have ever witnessed have come about because people have reached an 'I am right, you are wrong' standpoint. This seems to me to be badly philosophically flawed, because once you say/imply that someone is wrong, you are usually implying that you are correct. Given that the world is not so black and white, this seems silly to me.

Unfortunately due to current circumstances and the distance between us, I have singularly failed to keep getting this point across as clearly as I would have liked. Even worse is that she seems to feel that my exasperation at not being able to do anything about this is because I am suffering from 'a typical male ego shot'. Indeed, most of my attempts to purvey my point from the previous two paragraphs has usually run into one brick wall or another. As a result of all this, I feel that my partner is carrying an emotional burden far greater than she needs to.

As an individual I have also been extremely lucky to be a part of four platonic friendships. My trusty 'Concise Oxford English Dictionary' defines the word platonic as 'intimate and affectionate, but not sexual'. It comes as no surprise that this is the first time I have had chance to really 'discuss' this matter. Such a topic of conversation is not easy to bring up with the lads!
Of the four friendships (two each with females and males, hence why I felt I should give the dictionary definition!), all of them are very precious to me. I personally believe that relationships on all levels are special. This is because they all involve two people who have been lucky enough to find each other.

Some people may find that statement demeaning towards love relationships, because that is supposed to be most special of all. However, I think that it puts love relationships on a higher pedestal, because an individual has to be 'luckier' to find someone with who they can have that level of relationship. Of course, the trouble for a lot of people is wanting to find such a person. The only problem is that once you have found one, you have to make sure that you don't find another!

For me, knowing these four people has been an enormous privilege in itself. The fact that I am able to call each of them friends is simply wonderful. These are people who make me feel like I have improved as a human being each and every time I meet them. They are people who seem to understand me better than I understand myself. What is also wonderful is that each of these relationships involves so little compromise (that I am aware of, but I will quite happily be shown to be incorrect!). So much is gained and so little is given.

It may sound like I have a much more positive view of platonic friendships than I do of my love relationship. However, I am even luckier than most in that respect. Not only is my partner the most beautiful woman I have ever met on the inside and outside; she is also my best friend. Plus if a love relationship is the pinnacle, then it makes sense that to get more; you have to give more.

There is more I wanted to say here on the nature of platonic relationships and some problems that I have surrounding mine. However, I haven't been able to put together a few paragraphs that don't sound like a rant(!) and so will hold back for now at least.

I guess the sixty-four thousand dollar question is whether I consider that the 'more' I am 'getting' from my love relationship is worth the compromises that my partner and I are making, both individually and collectively. Here, unfortunately is the one point where the events of last night have had an effect on what I originally intended to write. I have no intention of going into what happened, but the effect was that last night I ran into yet another brick wall and this hurt far worse than any pain, physical or emotional, that I have ever experienced.

As a result, instead of my answer being a relatively straightforward 'yes it is' it is currently closer to 'I'm really not sure'. As I said earlier, the reasons for that change will not be mentioned here. However, at the moment I consider myself far too upset to make any kind of objective conclusion and so will defer my final verdict for now.

I have also been lucky to form a great number of friendships all over the world. The term friendship can mean many different things to different people. Recently I was asked to give my own and the following was my answer:

Friendship is when two people accept each other's pasts, understand their presents and appreciate their intended futures.

It is the acknowledgement of each other's qualities and shortcomings and the desire to enjoy the former and help with the latter in each other.

It is the wish to help another person purely because you like them. Friendship is a willingness to help when others have problems and be helped in return.

Ultimately it is the desire to make time with another person as enjoyable as possible.

There are presumably many branches that stem from the points given above; that I have missed. If I think of any, then I will endeavour to address them at a later date. For now, I have no particular conclusions to draw, or indeed any take home message. I just thought it would be interesting to put my thoughts down on a page as a foundation to be able to modify them over the passage of time.

Six-Month Antiversary

2009-01-15T13:38:00.003Z

The term 'Antiversary' is one that I have coined (invented?) to denote the anniversary of something negative. In this case, January 15th 2009 marks the Antiversary of the last time I saw my partner.

Over the years I have learnt that with age comes experience, but that doesn't mean that I will be able to cope with situations any better! However, I had a long time to prepare for the inevitability of a long separation from my partner. As a result, I had plenty of time to think about how I was gong to handle it. As always I was going to try and turn it into as positive an experience as I possibly could. I knew that in this instance it was going to be a much trickier task than usual, but I believe that I have managed to do it.

This involved making sure that I regularly undertake two cognitive exercises to maitain (yes, that favourite word of mine!) objectivity. The first is to force myself to regularly recall that as tough as the situation of my relationship is, it is still only one area of my life. Granted, it is one of the most major (my pericarditis would like to remind me that my health ranks up there as well!), but there are plenty of others. Furthermore, most of these areas are going well and that overall my day-to-day existence is a positive experience. Granted, it feels like there is a piece missing from the puzzle of each of those days, but overall the picture is relatively clear.

The second exercise that I do concentrates more directly on the separation. One of the greatest practical gains I have made during the course of the relationship is to have expanded my capacity for dealing with negative emotions. As my health problems of ten years demonstrated; I had so little experience of dealing with adversity that I had not developed any coping mechanisms.

Those health problems allowed me to become a much more rounded person, but that didn't mean that the learning process had to stop. Therefore, each and every day I remind myself that the experience of the separation is further increasing my capacity to handle negative emotions. Ultimately this will help me to maintain my calm disposition in increasingly tense situations; and that this is good for my continued personal development.

In the wider world, there are practical aspects as well. I am very much enjoying my MRes Psychology course at York University. Part of this is due to having met so many wonderful and engaging people. A number of these I am delighted to be able to call friends. The key point for me is that friends are exactly what I am treating them as. The last thing I wish to do is to treat them, or even be seen to be treating them, as emotional crutches.

It's funny that at times I have doubted my own ability to cope with the emotional strain, but not for one moment have I doubted one iota of the relationship. I'm not entirely sure what conclusions to draw from that, but suffice it to say that for the moment I am just glad that that is what I am doing!

2009 - Hoppers' Review

2009-01-12T18:32:00.004Z

The University Spring term started today. Unfortunately my recovery from Pericarditis still has a fair way to go. I have two hospital appointments; an echocardiogram on Jan 16th and general check-up at YDH Cardiology Clinic on the 20th.

The most direct result of my illness was that I got the relaxing Christmas break that I wanted; just not in the fashion that I had intended! However, as a result of following Doctor's orders; I got to catch up on a fair amount of reading and watched a fair few movies. Therefore, I thought I would offer my own miniature version of Newsnight Review - first up: movies!

1) Dil To Pagal Hai (The Heart is Crazy)

A pleasantly enjoyable film with an intriguing contrast between young women's understanding of what love is. Not too heavyweight and therefore a suitable watch for most occasions.

An epic of a picture - very enjoyable and containing the single most brutal ending to a film that I have ever witnessed. The song 'D(h?)ola Re is one that really needs to be played so loud that the heavens tremble!

What this adaptation lacks in style, it more than makes up for in substance; compared to it's 2002 counterpart. What I liked about this movie was the clearer social boundaries between the Landlord's family and Parvati's. Furthermore, this film has a much rawer emotional core running through it.

The largest grossing Bollywood film of the 1990s and it is easy to see why. Has all the key components that any romantic movie fan is usually looking for.

The film proclaims to have created 'A Love Legend' and for me it comes awfully close. There are moments that I was concerned about at the start of the second half. However, I cannot quite put my finger on what they are! An emotional wrecking-ball of a film. Rather than leaving you crying with sadness or joy, this film leaves you feeling that your emotions are crumbling. Complimented by a superb soundtrack, the highlight of which is 'Tere Liye' - a wonderful song in it's own right, but is 'made' by the scene which it plays over.

More some other time. However, having now watch around twenty Bollywood movies (yes most of them romances!), I have noticed a few themes that have repeatedly cropped up:

Firstly, I don't like the amount that the lead actresses, when playing a member of a couple, tend to get forcefully pulled and pushed around.

Secondly, every time a lead female character has to do a reasonable amount of running; she always seems to be wearing something fairly impractical! The best example of this that I have seen so far is when Aishwarya Rai is running after a Tram, down the middle of the tracks in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. I watched that particular scene between the gaps in my fingers hoping that none of her outfit snagged in the railings or in any of the Tram's mechanisms!

Thirdly, prior to an engagement party there is likely to be some kind of chat between the bride-to-be and her mother, where the latter will discuss the (for want of a better term) unfortunate compromises that her daughter will have to make in the marriage. The first of these takes the form of slating the male capacity to love, with 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' and 'Veer:Zaara' providing particularly scathing examples. The second takes the form of extolling to the daughter the compromises she has to make in terms of her own happiness (e.g. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge).

Finally, I do hope that I will soon see some Bollywood movies where the female leads get to play a more decisive role in the climax of the plot! Usually the lead male/lead female's father fulfil this role; either individually or as a team.

All of the above points, as well as others, really got me thinking about the nature of human relationships. However, there is enough material there for a separate post. Here I will suffice it to say that the experience of watching so many Bollywood romances has, if not expanded my understanding of this area, then at least added layers to it.

Coming up soon (hopefully!) 'Mughal-E-Azam' - This is the film which every review I have read says that if you haven't seen this movie, then you cannot call yourself a fan of Hindi Cinema. I for one cannot wait!

2008-12-31T11:00:00.001Z

After having written a ‘highlights program’ for the end of last year, I saw no reason not to do the same again. I found that the experience of actually writing a summary of 2007 helped me get over my typical end-of-the-year nostalgia much faster; and therefore allowed me to start making the most of the New Year straightaway.

Overall, I think that it would be fair to say that 2008 has been the best year I have had in over a decade. There have been so many positive events; and the few negative ones have usually been necessary evils that will hopefully come good in the end.

Finishing my degree was of course a big event. However, most important of all for me was the manner in which it was achieved. From a pure work perspective, the whole of my third year ran extremely smoothly and any problems were calmly and efficiently solved. In a lot of respects it was like being 14 again, when everything used to come so easily to me – a very pleasant experience indeed!

The first term of my Research Masters at York University has been a wonderful experience. The University, the staff and my fellow students have all been outstanding. During the first couple of weeks I was rather bewildered, due to having sorted out the course at such short notice. As a result I found it difficult to adjust to finding myself in an academic establishment of such repute.

Fortunately with the help of numerous great new friends, I was able to find my feet pretty quickly. What I noticed straight away was the level of respect of my fellow students, not only for the lecturing staff, but also for each other. Their desire, not only to learn, but to also share personal knowledge is a joy to behold.

Of course no summary of the year would be complete without a mention of my darling girlfriend. This year saw us celebrate our third anniversary, but sadly we were not able to be together for it. She is currently visiting family, before returning to Switzerland to continue with her preparations for ‘The Next Step’.

It is difficult to describe a prolonged separation from the one you love so dearly. From a personal perspective, one of the biggest gains that has come out of the relationship has been the development of my capacity to experience and cope with negative emotions. Being an extremely cheery soul, this facet of my personality was rarely tested in the past.

However, throughout our time together I have had to deal more and more with the old adage that if it is so wonderful being together; then it will be all the more painful being apart. As far as possible I have tried to turn this into a positive experience, by constantly emphasising to myself how this prolonged separation is helping me to continue to emotionally develop. However, after five and a half months apart; it would be a total lie to say that there have not been any weak moments. I can only hope that 2009 will be kind enough to let us see each other again.

Speaking of love, I have had a couple of wonderful family experiences based around that favourite (!) subject of mine. One of my cousins became Mrs Emma Fletcher at the end of September; and a truly wonderful day the wedding was as well. To add to this back in February I attended my cousin Kerry’s 30th birthday and got to meet her then 10-month-old daughter Daisy May. It was the first time since my own childhood that I have been able to interact with one so young. As a result it was amazing to see the emotional attachment for one so young close up for the first time.

My girlfriend was also superb at providing a one-woman entertainment system for Daisy for most of the time she was awake. When she (Daisy that is!) fell asleep on my lap, various relatives and my partner praised me for having a natural touch with young children. Personally, I just thought I was lucky that it was near the end of the day and she was tired out!

Speaking of being tired out, I began ‘Street’ dancing lessons a couple of months ago. Sadly, thanks to illness I have only had five lessons so far. I am very much looking forward to resuming those as soon as I get better. Street Dancing was not my intention though. My original plan was to try and find a Bollywood dance class. Having failed though, I felt it would be better to do some kind of dancing, rather than none at all. However, I believe that I have found a short course in Bollywood dancing beginning in April and have my fingers crossed for that.

I have also absolutely loved immersing myself in the world of Bollywood films. This completely different approach to motion pictures has been something that I have found fascinating, invigorating and a breath of fresh air. As a big fan of romantic movies, I have found plenty to enjoy. Indeed, for the first time I am able to put my head on the block and say that my all-time favourite film is ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ (‘Tomorrow might never come’).

What I find so appealing is two-fold. Firstly, there is no clear-cut defining of a film into a specific genre. Whatever is felt needs to be in the plot, goes in the plot. This has given most of the films that I have seen to far; a much greater richness of content than their western counterparts. Secondly, I have always been a fan of energy; and that has never been lacking in anything that I have seen to date. Some of the songs in the soundtracks are so wonderful that they push my emotions to the point of disintegration. As a result, I have come to question my capacity to be able to ‘get into’ movies to such a degree!

Despite having two serious viral infections, 2008 has been a very good one on the fitness front. I am currently in the best shape of my life; and have revamped gym routines and a diet program to help push me to greater heights in 2009. My specific target from going to the gym was to achieve a flat stomach once more. Before contracting pericarditis, I was very close to achieving this and was developing some abdominal definition to boot – a very pleasant surprise!

In sport, as a proud Englishman (English first, British second!) the success of the Great British Olympic and Paralympic teams was a joy to behold. As well as this, to witness the achievements of Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps was simply indescribable.

In the case of the great Jamaican sprinter, I had the privilege of watching his two individual finals live; and shouting him home all the way down the home straight in both of them. His 200m triumph was especially poignant for me. I had seen Michael Johnson run 19.32 seconds twelve long years ago. During all that time I had no doubt that it was the greatest moment I had ever seen in athletics. To finally see those figures eclipsed, even by 0.02 of a second, was something awe-inspring.

However, my own personal sporting highlight of the year (and indeed pretty much any year) was the Men’s Singles Final at Wimbledon. It is quite simply the finest one-on-one sporting contest that I have ever witnessed. The match for me was simply four hours and forty five minutes of unrelenting tension.

Far better writers than I have tried to describe the twists and turns that occurred. Here I will suffice it to say that as a psychologist it was amazing to see each player’s mental reserves tested so severely in the white-hot cauldron of battle. At any moment you could have quite understood either man relenting and yet somehow they just kept managing to burn nervous energy like it was going out of fashion.

As mentioned recently, my chess has been pretty good so far this season. With both York and Minster Inn on top of the Yorkshire and York leagues respectively, I am looking forward to some crunch matches in the first half of 2009.

I think that’s enough writing for now. Given suitable inspiration, I will write an account of the lighter side of 2008 early in January. For now, it simply remains for me to wish all those I hold dear a happy and prosperous 2009!

Pericarditis - worth a few at Scrabble, if nothing else!

2008-12-17T18:13:00.003Z

My University term has come to a slightly premature end. This was due to being diagnosed with pericarditis.

Yesterday morning I was taken to Hospital in an ambulance after developing severe pain in both of my lungs. It was a serious fright, but fortunately no more than that. Despite my ECG looking like that of a heart-attack (which of course was highly unlikely, but no chances were taken), it turned out I was suffering an infection brought on by the cold virus. The chest pain was caused by inflammation of the wall of the heart, which put excess pressure on my lungs.

It has been a pretty good year on the health front - Indeed, I have only been ill twice. Unfortunately on both occasions I have contracted a serious viral infection; neither of which I had even heard of!

I managed to complete my Statistics exam on Monday, but have been granted an extension for my two written assignments.

Now the plan is simple - rest and keep taking the medication!

Once more onto the Breach!

2008-12-08T16:52:00.003Z

My return to York has also meant a return to (fairly) regular competitive chess. So far I have managed to display good form, primarily due to the fact that my fitness regime is starting to pay dividends. As a result, I now have much greater physical and mental reserves, which are greatly helping me when games go to the wire.

In the York Evening League I am playing for the Minster Inn team, after point-blank reufsing to play for a York R.I. team; due to the political machinations of last summer.

In the Yorkshire League, I have been delighted to return to action for the York first team. I also played one match for the C Team; and this allowed me to produce my best performance of the season to date.

Mike Stokes (156) - Paul Hopwood (163) 10.11.2008
York C vs. Harrogate A

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 a6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Bg5 e6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. Rfd1 Bd7 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. a3 Qa5 13. b4 Qh5 14. b5 Ne5 15. Nxe5 Qxe2 16. Bxe2 dxe5 17. Rd2 Bc5 18. Rad1 Bd4 19. a4 Ke7 20. Bf1 Rhd8 21. Ne2 axb5 22. Nxd4 exd4 23. axb5 e5 24. Rb2 Rdc8 25. Bd3 Rc3 26. Kf1 Ra5 27. Ke2 b6 28. f3 Kd6 29. h4 Kc5 30. Rdb1 Raa3 31. Rd1 Be6 32. Bc2 Bc4+ 33.Kf2 Ra2 34. Rxa2 Bxa2 35. Bd3 Bc4 36. Bxc4 Kxc4 37. Ra1 Rc2+ 38. Kf1 Kd3 39. Ra6 Ke3 40. Kg1 d3 0-1

2008-12-05T17:06:00.004Z

The first term of my Research Masters at York University has been going well. There are two weeks of term left, during which time I will complete three assessments. These are a statistics exam, a 3000 word critique of two academic papers and a 3000 word essay on Long-Term Working Memory.

Otherwise, I have started 'Street' Dancing Lessons, which weren't exactly what I wanted to do. However, I figured that it would be better to learn a bit about something of some form of dancing, than none at all! The ultimate aim is to be able to find Bollywood/Bhangra dance classes.

At the moment though, I am able to enjoy practicing routine various Bollywood routines at home; and am having tremendous fun in the process.

I have also started off a Bollywood DVD collection: At present, this totals six movies:

1. Dhoom/Dhoom 2 Box Set
2. Tezaab
3. Zanjeer
4. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
5. Kaho Naa..Pyaar Hai

I am also reading a guide to the History of Bollywood and have guide to the best movies - Overall, I am finding that learning about a whole new culture is a huge amount of fun!

If at first you don't succeed

2008-10-20T21:34:00.003+01:00

Unfortunately I was turned down for funding to do a Psychology PhD at Brunel University. However, I have landed on my feet by getting a place on a one-year MRes course at York University.

It has started reasonably well, but at the moment the whole experience feels slightly strange. This is partly due to having spent three months mentally preparing myself to be going to Brunel and partly because I have been to York Uni many times, but never as a student.

The induction program went well and despite my late application, I am almost up to speed. This week is the first full week of my timetable and I am slowly bringing my focus back round to essay and report writing. As well as this, I am already trying to sort out a project supervisor for next year. I am hoping that it will be Professor Alan Baddeley, one of the co-authors of The Working Memory Model.

All for now - more as and when it happens.

PhD Adventures...

2008-08-09T15:49:00.003+01:00

Currently I am at home in York waiting to find out whether I will received PhD Funding. I already been offered a place at Brunel University, but I am still nervously waiting to find out whether or not I will receive the necessary funding in order to accept it.

Currently I am trying to sort out admission and accomodation details, which feels strange to say the very least. However, even though I may have to 'pull the plug' in a few weeks, the staff at Brunel have been extremely courteous and helpful.

I received an e-mail from Brunel saying that due to the number of applications recieved, it would be the middle of September before formal notifications would be sent out.

The Road Ahead

2008-07-16T22:38:00.004+01:00

Last week I submitted my research proposal for doing a Cognitive Psychology PhD at Brunel University with Doctor Fernand Gobet. I have already received a formal offer of supervision and as well as this, Doctor Gobet was a great help in drafting the proposal.

The question I wish to research is 'Is expertise linked to cognitive superiority, as proposed by Gobet and Simon (1996a) or greater awareness of environmental factors, as proposed by Vicente and Wang (1998)?' This would involve continuing the work begun by my dissertation and would be based around three main experiments:

Experiment 1: Does memorizing standard chess positions first offer an advantage when memorizing truly random ones?

This experiment would involve splitting participants into groups based on chess-playing strength. Then each group would be divided in half, which would memorize either the normal or truly random positions first.

Experiment 2: Altering the Chess Environment: Does the use of non-standard pieces affect non-tournament players?

This experiment would be the same as for my dissertation, but the participants would be non-tournament players. This would test whether not having familiarity with a typical chess environment has an effect on the ability of the participants to memorize both normal and truly random chess positions.

Experiment 3: Template Theory vs. Constraint Attunement: Does an electronic environment offer any advantages when memorizing chess positions?

This experiment would involve participants being divided up by playing strength and the amount of experience they had of using typical chess software. This would test whether familiarization with a non-tournament chess environment provided stronger players with any advantages when memorizing chess positions.

Currently I am awaiting for my referees to send their references and then it is all in the hands of The Brunel University Funding Department.

Next Stage

2008-07-05T21:17:00.003+01:00

My Psychology results arrived home on Wednesday. I graduated with a 2:1 from my Psychology Honours degree.

Although my marks were not quite what I had hoped for, the main thing is that I achieved my target and have earned the right to be able to do a PhD. Furthermore I was not on for a first and so not quite achieving my targets had no effect overall.

What was nice was that I steadily improved throughout the three years and that I was able to keep setting myself steadily higher targets. Furthermore, even though I rarely hit these targets (Hands up all those who still think I am being too hard on myself!) , I missed them by progressively smaller margins.

As a result I am really looking forward to doing a PhD, where my confidence can continue it's restoration and I can push for higher heights.

Degree Summary: Happy - Yes, Satisfied - No. I can do more and better and I'm looking forward to further challenges.

Technical Time out

2008-06-20T10:39:00.002+01:00

At the moment I am having to take an enforced time out due to having Viral Positional Vertigo. This seems to have been a new one on most people who have spoken to me. However, it is as simple as it sounds. I have a virus that is affecting my balance and making it feel like I have vertigo.

Fortunately I am now able to sit up and write a few words. Currently I am still working on PHd applications and chasing up photos from my Graduation Ball. My only real concern is that the virus I have could last up to a month. If that is the case, then there is the possibility of it affecting my Graduation Ceremony. However, at the current rate of progress that should not happen.

I have plenty of books on my shelf that need reading, plus I have enough Hindi language learning material to sort out any loose ends. This could be a very productive summer - if only my medication keeps working!

The Next Step

2008-06-01T15:58:00.005+01:00

Since handing in my dissertation, I have been cracking on with Phd applications and doing a little bit of bar work back in York. Unfortunately it seems that my body would have appreciated a bit of a rest!

After attending a psychology leavers party, I immediately went back to work. The top priority has been preparing my Phd application to The University of Brunel, where Dr. Fernand Gobet works. He is the man who co-wrote the key paper that my dissertation was based on and is also the Director of the National Centre of Expertise.

I wish to continue my resarch into expertise, focussing particularly on memory, hence why I am planning very carefully for the 'dream' Phd. Other postgraduate courses are also being looked into and so far one at Lancaster University has also caught my eye.

However, all the travelling between York (for work) and Leeds has been taking it's toll and I am in dire need of a rest. I just about managed to keep myself in one working piece for my Graduation Ball and since then I have simply crashed out.

As a result I have had, to my dismay, to miss a few social functions that I would really like to have gone to. I just hope that there are enough still planned for the future so that I can make up for it.

They think it's all over - it is now!

2008-05-14T14:07:00.002+01:00

An hour and a half ago I handed in my dissertation signifying the end of my degree. After waiting an extra five years to get to this point, the expected sense of relief flooded over me with extreme rapidity.

However, I have to say that I have enjoyed the last two pieces of assessed work, especially my dissertation.

All I did throughout my experiment was follow the advice of my supervisor and it worked a treat. The key points were:

1) Base it on something that you know will keep you interested for the whole of your third year.

2) Even when there is nothing to write or physically do, keep reading!

3) Put as much effort as you can into the experimental design - the more you do, the better the experiment and the better the results you will have to discuss.

Simple as that really! I just hope I have done my experiment justice in the write-up. However, it feels strange now that the end of the line has been reached. It is said that the fun is in journey, not in arrival. However, I guess that depends on where you are going!

Right, time for a cup of tea!

The light at the end of the tunnel

2008-05-01T13:15:00.004+01:00

It's been a while, but I'm still here! I only have a final essay and my dissertation to hand in (Deadlines May 8th/15th respectively). I have to say that the dissertation has been very enjoyable and judging from the reactions of others it would seem that the decision to base it on chess was a master stroke. Whereas most other people simply want to hand their work in I am enjoying the process a good deal more!

However the final essay, although much shorter, is a more difficult. The problem is that it is routed in philosophy and although that's an area I find fascinating, my lack of knowledge and the subsequent work I'm having to do is causing the batteries to run low.

On the chess front it has been a fascinating year so far with a lot of top-level chess to comment upon. That will have to wait for another day, but suffice it to say that the tactician in me has been enthralled by the mass interest in the the Moscow Gambit of the Semi Slav. Further comment will have to wait for another time though!

Essays, Dissertations and Black Holes

2008-03-24T16:25:00.004Z

Following on from the last post an article appeared in The Trinity times under the rather provactive headline of 'The Multi-faith Delusion' - Please note there was no question mark!

The article was essentially to my satisfaction. All my corrections were made in a fashion, but conveyed the message I wished to. The piece also included quotes from the College Chaplain and an incensed student who named 'The God Delusion' as his favourite book and expressed his displeasure at what had happened to me. I just hope that the latter does not cop any flack like I did!

Following on from the matter a deeper interest in the matter has developed within me and beyond that into my old childhood favourite of space. Therefore for the summer I have further theist and atheist reading, as well as various books on the history of the universe, general relativity and quantum theory. Furthermore I'm also planning on starting to learn Hindi properly. Suffice it to say that I think my summer evenings are taken care of!

Before then is the small matter of finishing my degree. If anyone is worried that the above is proving to be a distraction then fear not - At the moment it is as if my brain has developed a block of any information that is not specifically related to psychology!

Eight weeks to go...

The Trinity Delusion?

2008-03-09T13:54:00.005Z

Once again it has been a while since I have put fingers to keyboard and predictably this has been due to the fact that there has been nothing of particular merit to say...until now.

At the end of the Christmas vacation I was having a trawl around the charity shops of York in search of books and vinyl records. (May I say at this point that the Micklegate branch of 'Oxfam' is a fantastic treasure trove on both counts!) The main purpose of my visit was to see it I could find a suitable introductory guide to Hinduism. My girlfriend is a Hindu and having not studied the religion since year 8 R.E. classes, I felt it would be interesting and beneficial to do some updating.

In this task I was lucky enough to come across a suitable text, which coincidentally my girlfriend approved of quite highly. It was not that book however which is the key to this blog post, but rather the one sitting to the right of it. As a disinterested observer of most topics it was almost impossible for my interest not to be tweaked by seeing the words 'The God Delusion' written in big red font on the spine and 'International Bestseller' on the cover.

Over the coming weeks I only read the first couple of chapters due to concentrating the majority of my efforts on my psychology. In recent weeks though my leisure time has been limited and so I began to peruse it further a few weeks back. It was here that the problems started. Not unsurprisingly for a higher education institution I tend to read whenever and wherever I get the chance to and so therefore I read most of it in public areas. It would be fair to say that the response to this was less than welcoming.

During the course of three consecutive days I was verbally abused twice, asked to go and read it somewhere else once and also had someone try and snatch the book off me with the express intention of binning it. I was well aware for reading it that both the author and the book are not exactly popular in religious circles and that I was reading it in a Catholic College. However, in the prospectus I read before starting my degree I read that the college was one which welcomed students of all faiths, religions, belief systems and backgrounds. It was on this basis that I decided to approach the College 'newspaper' in order to bring the matter to public attention.

For that meeting I undertook some fairly intensive preparation. The last thing I needed in the home stretch of my degree was to provoke a public backlash against me. I therefore made sure that I emphasised two key points in the interview:

1. That I was an utterly disinterested observer. I had no views to defend or push. I was simply reading the book because I thought it would be an interesting read.

2. I was in NO WAY trying to make a religious issue out of the matter, rather I felt it was one of an educational nature. In an higher education institution students have to face people and issues that they will disagree with. The skill of the higher education student is to be able to assimilate both sides of an argument and move forward through learned discourse.

In at least three cases, I'm pretty sure that the 'assailant' was a student. In the case of being asked to read the book somewhere else, I was confronted by a woman in her late 20s/early 30s. In none of the four cases did I in any way recognise the person. If I had, then I would have been quite happy to 'name and shame', so that the relevant authorities could deal with them.

Even despite all these measures I was still a little uneasy about the course the interview took. At one point I was asked whether it would be okay to include the story about going shopping for a book on Hinduism, 'in order to make it look like I wasn't against religion'. My response was a very curt, 'Yes I do, because emphasising that I am a disinterested observer should be enough to do the job'.

As a precaution (From previous experiences with journalists) I asked to be able to see a draft copy of the article. The next issue is due out on Friday and I will keep the blog updated. In the meantime, if anyone has any advice or points they wish to make then feel free - I would welcome it!

Strolling on

2008-02-20T14:01:00.003Z

It has been a while since I have posted anything here. That has simply been because I've felt that nothing particularly worthwhile has happened recently! Indeed I have simply been plodding on with university work and now I am well and truly on the home stretch. Between myself and the finishing line lie the following:

1 x 10000 word dissertation
2 x 2500 word essays
1 x 2000 word essay
1 x 2500 report
1 Seminar

I have already done all the necessary preliminaries and so I am free to get on with all of these at the same time, which is proving to be a distinct advantage. The dissertation has had to lie dormant for a while due to equipment problems, but finally I have run my pilot and am ready to go!

During this hectic period suitable opportunites for time-outs are few and far between and therefore it was wonderful to go to my cousin Kerry's 30th birthday party last Saturday and meet many family members I haven't seen in several years as well as members of her husband's family and their wonderful 10 month old daughter Daisy. Numerous photographs were taken and I hope to be able to present one or two of them here in the near future.

Finding the level

2008-01-22T19:56:00.000Z

It has been nice to finally get some third year marks!

For my Mental Health and Councilling essay I scored 68% (2:1)

For my Cognitive Psychology essay I scored 72% (1st)

For my Cognitive presentation I scored 68% (2:1)

It now remains for me to get my Applied Sports Psychology report and presentation marks back. The report is the mark that I am most concerned about. This is because I was given a copy of the Sports Department Handbook on how to write reports. Suffice it to say that it was a good job I did, because the style is markedly different to the psychology department. However, when it came to handing it in, I found that I was the only person who had followed the guidelines regarding how to lay the report out.

Everyone else seemed to be concerned that I they have done it wrong, but then again they are the ones who have been specialising in the subject for two years longer than I have!

Postscript - Have received my marks for Applied Sports Psychology - 66% (2:1)

Bobby Fischer RIP

2008-01-22T19:42:00.000Z

A legend has passed away. One of the ultimate heroes of the 64 squares has gone to the great chess club in the sky.

I'm one of those who believes that Fischer the man died years ago. As a psychologist it is all too easy to view his life as one of those where dedication to a very specific area caused deficiencies in many others. The effect of this process is that the one key area, in this case chess, acted as a glue holding the persons' life together. Once Bobby had scaled the heights, the glue came unstuck.

But the passing of Fischer the chess player is an event without parallel. I have received many messages from chess players old and young, male and female, novice and expert, expressing their profound sadness at his passing.

The only comparison I can draw is that the emotion being expressed is likely to be how the world is going to feel the day that Pele or Muhammed Ali pass away. I have no doubts that in the 'Who is the greatest ever' debate that Kasparov was the better player. However, the sheer gap between Fischer and all of is contemparies in the period 1970-72 was awe-inspiring and unlikely to ever be seen again.

A lot of people are now dusting down their copies of 'My 60 Memorable Games' and books relating to the Rekjavik match. These texts alone will provide the true chess fan with enough memories to last a lifetime.

May you finally rest in peace, Bobby.

Island Life

2008-01-22T19:04:00.000Z

My 'brilliant plan' to return to TASC early has sadly been shown up to be not as brilliant as I had envisaged...

Once term started the noise began. Last Monday night, having spent an 18 hour day back in York attending my late uncles' funeral; my Halls were subjected to numerous disturbances. Firstly, there were three fire alarms within a fifteen minute period - two in the neighbouring Hall and one in mine. The last of these subsided at 3.45am.

(Incidentally, as a side-issue; new rules are in force so that if anyone deliberately sets a fire alarm off deliberately, then they are immediately expelled from Halls of Residence. Over the course of the academic year so far, there have been numerous alarms from 'Fountains'. I can only summise that a lot of people in there have accidentally set the alarm off...)

After the warm-up act, the real fun started. One of the rooms directly below me started a social gathering almost immediately after the last alarm had been switched off. This involved clearly audible talking, people banging about and music being played at such a volume that my floor was reverberating.

I asked the Senior Resident to ask the offending room to turn the noise down, which he did. Shortly afterwards the party started once more. I then proceeded to fetch security three times. Amusingly enough, the first time they went to the wrong hall and collared someone else for causing a disturbance! The second time, I have no idea what they did. Finally at 4.35am, I found one of the Security Guards outside the halls wondering where a rather clear disturbance was coming from. Needless to say I provided the answer and 'escorted' him to the room!

Nevertheless, the same pattern occurred. The occupants obligingly turned the music down, only for the chat to continue and the volume of the music to eek its way back up. The last I remember is it being 5.35am and clearly audible music and chat were still ongoing.

The following morning, I reported all of the above to Student Support, in the hope that it would warrant an official warning. The rules in place are that anyone receiving three official warnings will be excluded from Halls. Our student handbook doesn't contain specific criteria, but I intuitively felt that the events outlined above would warrant one! Student Support agreed and a written warning was issued.

Cue last Wednesday night and the first Sports Socials of the new term. Once again I was disturbed at 3.30am and then twenty minutes later I was startled by the sound of someone hammering on my door. As it turned out it was the occupant of the room where all the above listed problems had occurred 48 hours earlier. Whether she wanted retribution is unclear. However judging from the conversation outside that preceeded the attempted DIY on my door, she clearly wanted some kind of explanation.

However, she was very noble in holding a most self-incriminating conversation outside my room with someone else who I believe my enforcement of the noise curfew has irritated. (Name unknown, but voice clearly recognised - I now understand a little about how when people lose the use of one sense, the others try to compensate!) Many of the comments made on both sides were borderline hilarious, but to hear it announced that I had ruined someones' life almost made me break down in tears of laughter!

Suffice it to say this second incident was reported and the matter dealt with. Last night was pretty much ok, but there are many more social nights to go. Is this the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning? Only time will tell, but if the young lady in question is currently rebuilding her life as her comments last week suggested she would; then I may get a few nights peace...for now at least!

I can only suggest tongue-in-cheek that after all this, somebody buys the occupant of the offending room a sufficiently big mirror for her to take a long look in! ;-)

Swimming back to The Island

2008-01-13T00:06:00.000Z

Perhaps slightly worryingly I have returned to University early this term; in order to have a rest. This was a decision I took after having a difficult Christmas vacation.

To summarise events as quickly as possible; it started ok and then gradually went downhill.

Being unable to quickly obtain the key piece of equipment I needed for my dissertation experiment it was impossible to even do the pilot. Then both of my parents fell ill in the days after Christmas with flu and a bad chest infection, meaning that I spent most of the time keeping out of the way of the germfest.

Finally, overshadowing it all was the 'imminent' demise of my Dad's eldest brother. (Who eventually passed away in the early hours of Sunday January 6th 2008)

So not an enjoyable break! For once even my composure deserted me completely for a short while, when I felt the need to phone my girlfriend in the early hours one morning for a comforting chat. Thankfully my York chess colleagues saw me right and managed to get me out of the house at regular intervals to help keep the normality levels as high as possible - thanks guys!

I also did myself a favour by doing more non chess/psychology reading than I have done in a long time. I currently have an explanatory guide to Hinduism and 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins on the go - an interesting contrast! Furthermore, I wrote the official press release for the 2008 Fulprint York Chess Congress, which allowed me to go and enjoy my home town event, despite not playing.

It was very nice to see some old friends as well, particularly Stuart Robertson. The conversation and post-mortems were just like the old times. The only difference was that the drinks were a little stronger four years on!

The New Year was welcomed in steady fashion and has proceeded that way ever since. I have spent most of this week enjoying some downtime and recharging my physical and emotional batteries. Once my Uncles' funeral is out of the way tomorrow morning, the 'run to the line' can begin.

At the moment though I am still in a state of limbo where I haven't got back any of the marks from last term. As a result I don't have a good understanding of 'where the level is' this year. Once I have that understanding it will be all hands on deck to aid the Good Ship 2:1.

2007 seemed like a very eventful year indeed. Once my degree is over, I'm planning on writing it all down in order to have a permanent record of all the many and varied events that occurred and what I learnt from them.

First of all though, there is business to be taken care of.

The Last Post

2007-12-31T13:37:00.000Z

I always seem to find myself reminiscing around the time of my birthday and the Christmas/New Year period. I don’t so much look back on my life as a whole, but on the previous twelve months. In the lead-up to my birthday I tend to look back on my own life – what I have learnt about myself, the areas I have made progress and what needs to be put on the ‘To do list’ for the next year.

With regards to the current time of year, my reflections turn more to the wider world and the people/organisations that have helped to make up the year. Here then is my own Cooks Tour of 2007.

Chess: A fourth Woodhouse Cup for York (and a third for me) was a great achievement. What made it even more special was that after dropping one draw in each of the previous triumphs, this time the team went through the card with eleven straight wins – a fantastic achievement!

With regards to The ‘Railway Institute Gambit’, I’ll keep my musings to a minimum (I wish to go out tonight…). Suffice it to say that it caused a major blot on the landscape. I just hope in 2008, the twin fangs that constituted the rule changes passed will be removed from the neck of the York Chess League and we can see the daylight of common sense again. Once that happens, The ‘Group-thinkers’ (A fictional band name, based on an e-mail I wrote regarding the matter) will disperse.

University life has continued to be a highly enjoyable experience overall. However 2007 has not been without its wobbles and one of them threatened to derail me entirely. The sad part is that the troubles all revolved around exams – an area where I have spent (too many) years trying to demonstrate that I don’t have a problem with ‘hot’ ones. Sadly the end of 2006 did nothing to dissuade this view and 2007 looked to be going horribly wrong as well.

The nadir was reached during the preparation for my four August deferrals. During this time one of my lecturers had resigned and despite promising otherwise, had removed half of the work for the module that had been placed in a visual learning environment.

The night before the deferrals started was the most horrible feeling of nerves I have ever endured. It had kicked in during my preparations and steadily got worse. Simply put, whenever I was revising for the ‘missing work’ exam, I felt I was neglecting the other three and vice versa. I got no sleep due to my heart rate struggling to get below 120 and all sorts of scenarios flashing through my mind, such as what I was going to say at forthcoming job interviews.

It was then that the ‘miracle’ occurred. Getting up at 5.30am and travelling to the exams I felt no better nerves-wise, but strangely felt no worse for the lack of sleep. Upon entering the exam and seeing the questions, I knew I could do a half-baked job of one and a potentially good job of the other. Suddenly I felt galvanised and all the fitness work I had been doing over the summer kicked in. I suddenly felt mentally sharp to a level I hadn’t in a decade. Now I felt like if these exams were going to be the nemesis of my university experience, then they were going to have to give me one almighty shot to knock me over completely.

Moral of the story – plenty of exercise, 2+ litres of water and five portions of fruit and vegetables a day for 3 months can turn your life around! On a serious note though, for me to take all the credit for getting through that experience would be quite wrong. There are three other ‘groups’ who I would also like to take my hat off to.

Firstly my lecturers and staff provided me with a lot of much-needed academic support and constantly assured me that my capabilities were going to be easily enough to get through.

Secondly my family, who for years have defied ‘the authorities’ that have tried to suggest that I was not capable of getting over my health issues and have never let their love, belief and support of me, be lessened by outside opinion.

Finally, my wonderful, wonderful girlfriend deserves some serious plaudits too. It is her who has been on the front line with me throughout the year and had to deal with these wobbles of her supposedly calm and collected partner first hand.

To all of the above – thanks again.

However, for others a by far more tragic event was the death of my famous slippers who had to go to the big footwear store in the sky just before Christmas…Rest in peace my comfortable slip-ons!

The other major experience of the year for me was my first official holiday since August/September 1999 - a truly wonderful experience that I will never ever forget. Quite simply it was a beautiful location with wonderful people and enough memories to last a lifetime. I just hope it will possible to relive at some point!

Other than those three main areas of Hopwoodian life, there has been a veritable selection of other highlights this year.

January the first was a big day for me (and probably most of Holland too) when Raymond van Barneveld beat Phil Taylor to win The PDC World Darts Championships. Not most peoples idea of a dream come true, but there we are!

English Sport in 2007 – What in the name of all that is sane happened there? So many lowlights to pick from, but I’ll single out the whitewash in the Ashes and the interview with Glenn McGrath after it was all over. He has predicted a whitewash for as long as I can remember and to see the look on his face, as it became reality was difficult to take for a red-blooded Englishman!

Tom Adams and his Swan Quiz for being easily the best I have ever done. The questions were ‘generation-proofed’; all on a good level and the quizmaster himself made it seem more like a stand-up routine with questions interspersed – full marks Tom!

The creation of the concept of ‘Linuses’ – Reti and 1. f4 players, you know who you are! I also have to thank Jos Woolley in helping me create this concept and for the greatest blitz chess session I have ever been a part of.

No summary of the year would be complete without a big thank you to Chateau Townsend, who were able to cope with my near-collapse form low blood sugar back in June and being able to deal with the matter with a smile on their face. For those worried by this occurence, it was another one-off due to exceptional circumstances - My health is much better!

The Swiss security guard who was trying to give my girlfriend and I directions to lunch, whereupon after spending five minutes doing so, my better half suddenly felt that perhaps an alternative to Chinese was better. At this point, the guard looked at me with mock concern and asked, ‘You want to marry her?’

So in summary, the plan for 2008 is:

1. Cut out the wobbles! They’re all part and parcel of life, but some have been distinctly unnecessary.
2. Finish degree with 2:1 and sort out postgraduate study.
3. Keep playing some chess. I don’t wish to fade away.
4. Keep working on and improving general fitness.

There are also some other short-term goals, but I will deal with them as and when the opportunity arises.

That’s all from my blog for now. Please feel free to point out other anecdotes of the year, both good and bad; and I will update the list later on. For now, I wish everyone a happy start to 2008.

The greatest comeback since Lazarus?

2007-12-17T21:19:00.000Z

Gata Kamsky has won the second World Chess Cup. He managed to do it in impressive fashion too by not losing a single game. Given what was at stake in both cash and chess terms, I take my hat off to him.

The next stage will, I hope, lead to a simmering down in the chess world by there being one World Champion AND one qualification system. The next step in this process involves the matches Topalov-Kamsky and Kramnik-Anand.

With regards to the first match, I feel that Topalov should have a bit too much in the tank. Kamsky was renowned for his incredible fighting spirit even before his ‘retirement’ and he demonstrated that it is still there in abundance when winning in Khanty Mansiysk. However I feel that Topalov is the one player who can match him in that area. If those factors are neutralised, then I feel it will come down to specific chess factors.

The main one that I can foresee is in opening preparation. Topalov has become renowned for being ‘Kasparovesque’ in this department in recent years. Kamsky has been rustic to say the least since his return, but seemed to have done some work for the World Cup. However, he will surely need some Seconds for the match and I feel it is a question of who will work with him.

Those with long memories will recall the ‘horror stories’ of when Gata was competing in Candidates matches in the mid-nineties and the many incidents that revolved around his father. Hopefully people will realise that he is not on the scene any longer and have nothing against the Gata himself. If he can successfully manage this and recall his former devastating work ethic, he has a chance.

On the other hand, the Anand-Kramnik match is a highly juicy prospect in my eyes! Whatever the issues surrounding Kramnik and his right to a return challenge, it seems that there is widespread agreement about a match being the best way to decide the ultimate prize. For the system mess-ups, one can look to FIDE, but I am not going to criticise them here. Plenty of people have done it already and well, it’s just too easy it seems!

My current opinion is that Kramnik will score a narrow victory, but that is on the basis of where the players are today. How they will be playing next autumn is hard to speculate. My reasons for thinking that Big Vlad will be victorious are as follows:

Kramnik has shown himself to be a better match player over the years and one of the reasons behind this has been his steely personality. Contrast this with Anand who has shown degrees of grit, but has also gone on bad runs after a setback. Examples of this are Dortmund 2001 and of course his match against Kasparov. Looking back over the intervening years I feel sure that he has toughened up though. Despite that, I still do not feel that he is in Kramniks’ league yet.

The openings will be a massive battleground. Firstly Anand has to find a way around the Catalan, which I predict will be the Semi-Slav. This will not be easy to dent, but I feel there is more of a chance of Kramnik applying pressure here than in the Petroff. I'm basing this on the fact that Anand has exclusively stuck to 1. e4 for a good while. However, he learned how to play 'left-handed' after the Kasparov match and may choose to exercise that option in the match.

Both players might try and play the match in ‘plus-equals mode’ and if that is the case, it will come down to who can grind and withstand being ground the better. This point also links in with the psychological profiles.

I’ll no doubt return to this issue many times over the coming months!

"House!"

2007-12-17T19:57:00.000Z

I’m now home for Christmas, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it. Due to problems with my student loans/grants, I have been living on a tight budget for the last six months. However, now that the festive season is here the limited social options are pinching even more than usual!

As mentioned in a previous post, I do have plenty of academic work to be getting on with during my vacation. However, once again the lack of readies has made itself felt by my being unable to purchase an essential piece of equipment for my dissertation experiment. I had to try and buy the equipment off the Internet and thought that I had budgeted for it correctly. Unfortunately there was not enough in the bank to cover postage and packaging as well!

As a result I have been getting on with my essays and it has been nice to be able to work in my room on an evening without being disturbed at all hours. However my recent experiences in student halls have led to the invention of a new game, which I have christened ‘Rievaulx Hall Bingo’. The rules are very simple – each time I get disturbed by a room, I mark it off on my ‘Bingo Card’. So far, I have completed four corners (Rooms 10/6/50/44) and am one away from completing a line, having being disturbed by 32/33/34/35. Suffice it to say if I get anywhere near a Full House in the second term; I hope serious action will be taken!

What has amused me is that in certain quarters I have developed a bad reputation for ‘complaining about the noise’. Given that there is a clear ‘noise curfew’ that kicks in at midnight, I thought I was just stating a fact about a rule being broken. Perhaps a Lexicographer can accurately tell me what the difference is between the two; then I can add another useless piece of information to my collection!

First Years – bless them! At such times I tend to recall a scene from ‘Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistlestop Café’, where two ‘young upstarts’ dive into a parking space ahead of Kathy Bates’ character and smugly point out that they are ‘younger and faster’. After entering the building, the upstarts hear a large crashing sound and cheering coming from outside. They then race back outside to find Kathy Bates repeatedly ramming their car. When the upstarts ask what she is doing, back comes the gleeful retort, ‘Face it girls, I’m older and I’m better insured!’

Oh to be 26 and a mature student!

b2 or not b2, that is the question...twice!

2007-12-10T23:41:00.000Z

Term has ended for me and so I have been letting my hair down in typical Hoppers fashion by enjoying a few steady beers and indulging in some Najdorf analysis. I find one of the beauties of openings study is that there is always the chance to discover something new. However with so many people having powerful chess computers these days; the odds of discovering something truly original are probably very small indeed!

This has not stopped me from trying though. For once I have tried to give 'that' memory of mine a fractionally easier ride by cutting out some learning in the Poisoned Pawn variation.

In my earlier post 'b2 or not b2, that is the question: part 2', I briefly referred to the line.

If this line did work, then it would cut out the large chunks of analysis needed to play the long main lines after 20. Bd6 - again see the earlier post for further details.

However, my analysis revealed two 'black holes' that seem to render the line unplayable. I therefore concluded that 14...Qd5 is the only move for black.

This time England didn't even make the quarters!

2007-12-06T22:00:00.000Z

Despite my workload, I've been keeping up with events in the chess world. The 2nd World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk has provided me with a good deal of entertainment. As an England fan it was sad to see Michael Adams go out in the fourth round, but in being beaten by Magnus Carlsen it made my task easy as to who to support for the rest of the event!

As an avid chessbase website follower, it has been possible to follow the progress of prodigies right from the very beginning of their international playing careers. I was aware of Magnus from the age of ten and when he was first splashed all over the media after Wijk aan Zee 2004, I was not surprised.

Since then, I have simply been astounded by not only his progress, but also the way he plays the game. Unlike most prodigies of the computer era, he has the capacity to play excellent positional chess as well as being a tactical whizz.

I have also played again myself in the last week, when I turned out for my home town in the annual York-Lancaster Roses Match. I have not played in the event for three years, which has been a great disappointment because it is without doubt my favourite match of the year. The County Roses Match is indeed special, but it somehow feels to me that playing in a match where one can only be a member of two chess clubs in the whole world is even more so.

Despite playing like a drain in a mainline Spanish, I nonetheless succeeded in drawing after my opponent generously agreed to split the point in a position where he was slightly better and could torture me with good knight versus bad bishop. This was a bit of a disappointment because I normally make a big effort to get fire up for the match, which has led to some pleasing performances in the past. However, as a relative veteran of nine fixtures, I was pleased to be one of the few players to maintain a healthy unbeaten record of + 5 = 4.

However, what my own game lacked in excitement and cutting edge, the match more than made up for. York went into an early 4-1 lead in the nine board fixture, only to be pegged back to 4-3. Richard Larkin then drew after a heroic defensive effort to guarantee a share of the spoils. This though was nothing compared to the extreme drama and tension surrounding the board one encounter.

Yorks' Jos Woolley had outplayed his opponent Bob Newton all game long, but his clock handling had left a lot to be desired. With a couple of minutes versus half an hour Jos steadfastly kept control in an advantageous position with mutually exposed kings. He eventually managed to swap off to a position where he had rook and g-pawn against Bishop h and g pawns, which from the match perspective suited us fine.

However, with only seconds left on the clock it looked certain that he would be flagged and no-one had much of a clue what to do if Jos had tried to claim a draw. It was at this point that Bob Newton wrote himself into the folklore of this great fixture forever by agreeing to a draw, 'in the spirit of the match'. This gave York an extremely narrow 5-4 win, but the real winners that day were chess and the indomitable spirit of friendly rivals.

Bob Newton, Caissa and the chess-playing fraternity of York salute you!

Re-emergence

2007-12-06T20:52:00.000Z

My last deadline for 2007 was today and I comfortably met it when handing in my Mental Health and Counselling essay this morning.

Since my last post, I have handed in two essays and given another presentation. As well as this I also performed a reading from the Book of Genesis at the College Carol Service, which was very well received. With regards to the latter, I’d like to thank all those who failed to volunteer and let me have my moment!

Last Thursday, I handed in my Cognitive Psychology essay on autism. The title was, ‘Is there a single factor that could unify the symptoms of autism under a single cognitive umbrella?’

For this work I looked at the three main theories that have been put forward to try and collectively explain the disorder:

1. Theory of mind
2. Central Coherence Construct
3. Executive Dysfunction

Unsurprisingly each theory has holes and cannot be seen as unifying all the symptoms. However, I also argued the case that there doesn’t seem to be universal agreement on what the symptoms that should be included in any theory are and that until this is done, it seems highly unlikely that any all-encompassing theory could be developed.

Furthermore, it may even be possible that one of the existing theories does actually cover all of the symptoms, but lack of agreement as to what they are prevents it from being seen as such. In my opinion, if any of the theories is going to achieve this, then it will be the Central Coherence Construct.

The presentation was also for Cognitive Psychology and involved talking for fifteen minutes and taking questions on a particular research paper that I had used for the autism essay. My paper endeavoured to expand on the knowledge I had picked up from the lectures and writing the essay by looking at the neuropsychological theories of the disorder.

Once again, I was pretty unhappy with how the presentation went, but I do set myself very high standards when it comes to public speaking! As with the Sports Psychology presentation, I simply didn’t have the mental energy in the tank and my voice lacked punch. Apart from that I forgot one point in the main body and one when answering a question, but other than that I muddled through and once again I predict a 2:1. My Mental Health and Counselling essay was entitled, ‘Critically evaluate whether the diagnosis of schizophrenia can ever been seen as valid using recent research evidence to support your argument’.

I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of work because I finally had the chance to get my teeth into a really meaty topic and go to town with it. I can only hope that this shows through in the mark. Suffice it to say I am a much wiser person for the experience!

The Christmas period is looming large, but there is no rest for the weary. The next four or five weeks will be spent collecting dissertation results (for which I still need more volunteers! – Please see my November post, ‘It’s chess Jim, but not as we know it’ for further details) and writing my Deconstructing Psychology essay.

So far everything in this academic year has been good. Not great, but good.

Two for the price of one!

2007-11-25T16:11:00.000Z

As promised, Scott Fraser has very kindly sent the game I referred to in my post 'A day of two halves'. However, he has also sent his previous game in the same line against the same opponent - many thanks!

Here for your delectation then are the games, with with first one embedded in the notes to black's eighth move:

(1) Miettinen,Teemu (2003) - Fraser,Scott (2079) [B90]
League Garde (4), 18.11.2007

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nde2 Be6 8.f4 Nbd7

[8...g6 thinking I was vaguely following Nispi-Topa... 9.Qd2 Ng4!? bizarrely, this isn't that bad it seems. 10.Bg1 Bh6?! (10...Be7) 11.h3 (11.0–0–0 0–0 12.h3 Nf6 13.Be3) 11...Nf6 (11...Bxf4 12.Nxf4 Qh4+ 13.Kd1 exf4 14.Qxf4 0–0 15.g3 Qh6 16.Bg2 Qxf4 17.gxf4 Nh6 18.f5! +-) 12.Be3 Nc6 13.0–0–0 Qa5 (13...0–0 14.Qxd6 Qa5 15.Qc5 Qxc5 16.Bxc5 Rfd8 = is ok it seems! 17.g3 (17.Bb6 Rxd1+ 18.Kxd1 exf4) 17...Rxd1+ 18.Kxd1 Nh5 19.f5 Rd8+ 20.Ke1 Bc4 21.g4 Nf6 =) 14.a3 Bg7 (14...0–0 15.f5) 15.g4! (15.Qxd6 Bf8! rather sadly, I thought this just won the queen during the game... 16.Qd2 (16.Qd3 Bxa3 17.bxa3 Qxa3+ 18.Kb1 Nb4 (18...Qb4+ 19.Ka1 (19.Kc1 Qa3+ =) 19...Rd8) 19.Bc1 Ba2+ 20.Ka1 Qa5 21.Qd6! Be6+ 22.Kb1 Nxe4 23.Qxe5 Qxe5 24.fxe5 Nf2 25.Ba3 Nc6 26.Nf4 Nxd1 27.Nxd1 0–0–0 28.Nc3 and white is better.) 16...Bxa3 17.bxa3 (17.Nd5 Bxd5! 18.exd5 Bc5! 19.Nc3 Nb4 and the fight goes on - unclear.) 17...Qxa3+ 18.Kb1 Nb4 19.Qc1) 15...0–0 16.f5 Bc4 17.g5 Ne8 18.f6 Bh8 how did I manage to win from here? 19.Ng3 Be6 20.Qf2 (20.Nd5 Qxd2+ 21.Rxd2 Bxd5 22.Rxd5 Rd8 23.Bb6 was probably enough.) 20...Nd4 21.h4 Bg4 22.Rxd4 (22.Nd5 h5 23.Bxd4 exd4 24.Rxd4) 22...exd4 23.Bxd4 h5 24.gxh6 (24.Nd5) 24...Rc8 25.Nd5 Kh7 26.h5 Be6 27.Bg2?! (27.Bh3 Bxd5 28.Bxc8 was just over.) 27...Rc4 28.Nf4 Rxd4 (28...g5 29.Nxe6 fxe6 30.Qe3 Rxd4 31.Qxd4 Qe5 might be survivable.) 29.Nxe6 (29.hxg6+ fxg6 30.Nxe6 Rxf6 31.Nf5! Rxe6 32.Nxd4 Qg5+ 33.Kb1 Qf6 34.Qxf6 Rxf6 +-) 29...fxe6 here there was a comical moment as my opponent suddenly gathered all the pieces together at the side of the board to confirm that yes, he was a rook down. 30.hxg6+ Kxg6 31.Qxd4 Qg5+ 32.Kb1 Qxg3 33.e5! forced 33...Qxe5 34.Qd3+ Kxf6 35.Qf3+ (35.Bxb7! Ke7 36.c3 Nc7 transposes, but disallows black's best.) 35...Kg6 36.Qd3+ (36.Qxb7 d5) 36...Kf6 (36...Rf5! 37.c3 d5 might just be winning for black.) 37.c3 Ke7 (37...d5) 38.Bxb7 Nc7 39.Bf3 Nb5 (39...Qb5 40.Qxb5 axb5 is favoured be the computer, but I decided I needed to play for the attack.) 40.Ka2 d5 (40...Qg3) 41.Rh5 (41.a4 Nxc3+ 42.bxc3 Qxc3 43.Qxc3 Bxc3 isn't that good.) 41...Qf4 42.Be2 and now 42...Qc1! the killer. 43.Rh3 Nxc3+! 44.bxc3 Rb8! it's all over. My opponent was severely disgruntled, and played on using all his time with the following. 45.Qh7+ Kd6 46.Bb5 Qd2+ 47.Ka1 Bxc3+ 48.Rxc3 Qxc3+ 49.Ka2 Rxb5 50.Qg7 Qc2+ 51.Ka1 Rb1#]

9.f5 Bc4 10.b3 10.Nc1 10...Bxe2 11.Bxe2 Qa5 12.Bd2 Rc8 13.Nd5 13.Bc4 Qc5 Is the line from Sharpest Sicilian 13...Qc5 14.Be3 14.c4 Nxe4 (14...Nxd5 15.exd5) 15.Be3 Qa5+ 16.b4 Qd8 17.0–0 And I'm not convinced white is doing that badly.; 14.Nxf6+ Nxf6 15.Bd3 14...Qxc2 15.Qxc2 Rxc2 16.Kd1 Rc8 17.Nxf6+ Nxf6 18.Bf3 (D)

18...Be7 18...d5! 19.exd5 e4 20.Be2 Nxd5 21.Bd4 Rd8 22.Ke1 Nb4 is the sting in the tail - c2 and d4 are dropping 19.g4 d5 20.exd5 e4 21.Be2 Nxd5 22.Bd4 0–0 23.Rc1 Bg5 23...Nb4 24.h4 24.Rc4 b5 25.Rc5 Rxc5 26.Bxc5 Rc8 27.h4 Bf4 28.b4 Nxb4 29.Rf1 Nd5 29...Rd8+ 30.Ke1 Bg3+ 31.Rf2 0–1 (D)

In memoriam - Steve Webster

2007-11-24T22:12:00.001Z

Today I played my first game of chess since the second game of my match against Jos Woolley. (Mentioned in ‘b2 or not b2, that is the question!’) Sadly my intention to play in the Steve Webster Memorial tomorrow was thwarted by the tournament being cancelled due to lack of entries.

I find this a very sad state of affairs for a Memorial Tournament. I hope it was simply down to unavailability of players (I know that it was due to clash with a couple of events), rather than a lack of willingness to play. I may be more sentimental than others, but I have always felt a great obligation to play in such matches and tournaments. This has mainly been down to knowing most of the players that are being remembered and having a lot of great memories to call upon. I feel sure that the same rings true for most others, especially in the case of Steve Webster; and I hope the tournament can take place again in 2008.

Given the lack of opportunity to create anything worthwhile tomorrow, I dedicate my win from today to his memory.

Shemilt,Jim (149) - Hopwood,Paul (162) [D00]
Alwoodley A vs. York C, York Railway Institute, 24.11.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0–0 6.h4?! c5! (D)

White seemed to reason that playing h4 before ...c5 would make the hack option viable, but I saw no reason for not adopting classical principles. 7.Ne5 Nc6 7...cxd4 8.exd4 Nc6 surprisingly has been played before, but in an online game. 8.Be2 cxd4 9.exd4 Qb6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Qd2 11.Na4 is a standard Barry Attack position, except white has swapped castling for h4. I was in no doubt that this was to my benefit in the long term, but it seems better than what was played. 11...Qa5+ 12.c3 and now I was planning on 12...Re8, once again aiming for an eventual e5 advance. 11...Qxb2 I also looked at 11...Nd7 12.0–0–0 e5 13.dxe5 Rb8 14.b3 Nxe5 , but I saw nothing wrong with taking the pawn because now white must win at any cost, due to being a pawn down and having no truly safe haven for his king. I felt sure that Jim would launch everything at me, but on positional grounds I simply did not believe that the attack would work. The course of the game bears this view out - see my comment to white's 14th. 12.Rb1 Qa3 13.Rb3 Qa5 14.h5 (D)

White sounds the starting pistol, but I was not worried in the least. White's only potential breakthrough point is h7 and so as long as the black knight stays put, there is no way through. 14...Bf5 15.g4?! Having played in the same team as Jim for several years in the York League, I expected no other move! 15.h6 Bh8 is liked by the computers, but they can't see far enough to realise that white's main source of play was a kingside attack.By blocking that avenue, white is simply a pawn down in a standard position.; 15.hxg6 fxg6 immediately was better. The text simply ups the anti when white can ill afford to do so. Whilst the investment is only one pawn, white is just about hanging on - the text pushes him over the edge. 15...Bxg4 16.hxg6 fxg6 17.Bh6 Bxe2 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qh6+ Kg8 20.Kxe2 Rab8 Simple chess - the rook is the only piece that defends the liability on c3, so I simply threatened to knock it out. Now white is forced to start going backwards. 21.Qe3 21.Rhb1 is no good, because now I can proceed with 21...Ng4 unhindered, due to there being no threats on the h-file. 21...Rxb3 22.axb3 e5! (D)

23.f3! 23.Qxe5?? Re8; 23.dxe5 Ng4 24.Qh3 Rxf2+ 25.Ke1 (25. Kd1? Qa1+ 26. Nb1 Qxb1#)Qa1+ 26.Nd1 Qxe5+ wins 23...exd4 24.Qxd4 Qb6 Here I tried to make more forceful continuations work, such as 24...c5 25.Qd3 Re8+ 26.Kf2 d4 27.Ne4 Nxe4+ 28.fxe4 , but I was reluctant to swap off the badly placed knight. Having said that, 28...Qc7! re-routes the queen back into the action and should also be good enough to win. 24...Qc7 was the other move considered, re-routing the queen straightaway and preparing ...Nh5-f4,but with time running a little low, I decided to play it safe. 25.Qh4 25.Qxb6 axb6 was probably the best practical option, but with the pawn no longer on a7, I wasn't worried about white ideas based on Rh1–a1–a6. 25...Qc7 Here I was simply planning to 'invite everyone to the party' on the e-file. White's best seemed to be 26.Re1 and now I was going to get on with my plan of re-routing the knight with 26...Nh5 and with everything covered, there doesn't seem to be a constructive continuation for white. 26. Qg5 26...Re8+ 27.Kf2?! White's position was very difficult, but now the game is up. I was expecting 27.Kd2 Qe7 , but with hindsight the plan to run the king away simply fails to 28.Kc1 Qe3+ 29.Qxe3 Rxe3 and a third pawn drops. 27...Qb6+! 28.Kg3 Qd4 (D)

The ultimate achievement for black in The Barry Attack - White is completely hamstrung by the knight. 29.Na4 Re2 30.Nc5 There is nothing better - 30.Rh2 Qg1+ and 30.Rf1 Nh5+ 31.Kh3 Nf4+ 32.Kg3 (32.Kh4 Rh2+ 33.Kg3 Rg2+ is the same) 32...Rg2+ finish proceedings. 30...Qf2+ 31.Kf4 31.Kh3 Qxf3+ 31...Qe3+ 0–1

A day of two halves

2007-11-23T23:50:00.000Z

The presentation went reasonably well. The only problems were my lack of energy (due to frequent disturbances in halls this week) and only presenting to five people! The latter was an issue because I have been used to presenting to large groups in lecture theatres. The advantage of that type of setting for me is that wherever I am looking, there is a person in my line of sight and so I actually feel like I’m constantly addressing someone. With such an intimate setting as occurred on Thursday, I had problems keeping eye contact with the audience, because I was always having to look down at them! This is something to be worked on for later in the year!

Predicted mark = 2:1

What was particularly nice though was one person afterwards commenting that I had made chess sound much more interesting than he had given it credit for and that perhaps the general perception of the game in this country is wrong – A moment thirteen years in the making!

Today I have spent my time working on my Cognitive Psychology essay, ‘Is there a single factor that could unify the symptoms of autism under a single cognitive umbrella?’ - There will be more written here about this piece of work when I have completed it. My deadline is November 29th.

The second half of my day was spent enjoying some further analysis of my beloved Sicilian Najdorf. However this time, I moved away from the Poisoned Pawn lines and focussed my attention on four variations:

6. Bc4
6. Be2
6. Be3 with 7 Nde2
6. Be3 with Nf3

It was nice to cover some really meaty positions in these lines too! Of special interest to me was the coverage of Kolev from NIC Yearbook 84 that looked at the variation 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4 0-0 9. 0-0 Be6 10. Bxe6!? as played in Ivanchuk – Toplov, Morelia/Linares 2007. (D)

Further points of note:

From a general point of view, there seems nothing wrong with dealing with the Karpov System in the following manner: 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Be3 Be6 10. Qd2 Nbd7 11. a4 Rc8 12. a5 Nc5 13. Nxc5 dxc5 14. Qxd8 (The alternatives are no better) 14…Rfxd8. (D)

However from a practical point of view, the winning chances for black are almost zero and at my level that is a concern.

Having spent all of the time I have been playing the Najdorf looking at the anti - Sozin line 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 b5 8. 0-0 Be7 9. Qf3 Qc7, it was nice to have a look at 9…Qb6 instead. There seems to be less to learn for this line and the positions look to be of a more heavyweight maneouvering nature.

With regards to 6. Be3 e5 7. Nde2, my good friend Scott Fraser played a lovely game in this line recently as black, when his opponent dared to deviate from the path of ‘Sharpest Sicilian'. I hope to be able to reproduce it here soon.

6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 needs to be treated with respect!

The road is long, with a many a winding turn...

2007-11-18T20:47:00.000Z

I have recently been having a bit of a rethink about what I wish to do for a living. The plan for a long time was to finish my psychology degree and then aim to do postgraduate study in clinical psychology. However, the numbers for those courses do not make pretty reading. According to the British Psychology Society website, the average acceptance rate is 30 percent and in Leeds the situation is worse – only one in eighty.

Upon discovery of this, I started polishing up my Plan B, which was to do post-graduate Sports Psychology. I have thoroughly enjoyed my undergraduate studies and as most people will tell you I have a healthy interest in most sports! Furthermore, as my earlier post ‘Mind over Matter’ revealed, I have relished the challenges of my ‘Applied Sports Psychology’ module.

However, I have enjoyed nothing quite as much as my dissertation. The fervour that that piece of work is causing feels very similar to when I was writing the draft of my book a few summers ago. Then, I simply couldn’t wait to see what the book looked like after each and every stage of production; causing me to work on the writing of it for long hours with unbridled enthusiasm.

Most people tend to be of the view that most psychology students have picked the course in part because they wish to learn something about themselves. In my experience of being around another 120 undergraduates, that view does seem to hold true!

With regards to myself; that experience came true in Cognitive Psychology last year, when I was learning about memory and perception. With those topics in mind, came the initial idea for my dissertation and since then that same unbridled enthusiasm has come back and I have never found studying a particular academic area so much fun.

Given that a lot of people consider their ‘dream job’ to be one where they can combine their hobbies and interests with work, it now seems slightly silly not to consider doing a postgraduate course in Cognitive Psychology. The reason behind wishing to do clinical was the desire to help people, but with ‘Cog’, I would still be able to do that AND be able to enjoy researching areas that relate to my other interests.

I now need to go and speak to ‘Careers’ again to find out when the deadline for Cognitive applications are.

Awesome hat-trick by Kramnik

2007-11-18T18:40:00.000Z

I have to confess to being extremely impressed with the way that Vladimir Kramnik is playing at the moment. I have been particularly struck by his awesome Catalan Hat-trick at the 2nd Tal Memorial.

Having received a lot of praise and derision for his development of the black ‘weapon’, the Berlin Defence, it has been intriguing to see his development and use of a white equivalent.

From a personal point of view, the beauty of his Catalan wins has been that you look at the moves and are convinced that you could make most of them yourself. This factor, combined with his Karpovian ability to create 'something out of nothing' has made me wonder why he never played the opening regularly before 2006!

I found the grinds against Leko and Shirov incredible. I have followed many of his classic positional wins, but in Moscow it seemed like he had discovered the secret of chess alchemy. Kramnik always had the draw in hand, but was able to keep giving his opponent a little more rope:

Kramnik – Leko, Tal Memorial, Moscow 2007 (3)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Ra7 11. Rc1 Be4 12. Qb3 Nc6 13. e3 Qa8 14. Qd1 b4 15. Qf1 Bd5 16. Be1 Rc8 17. Nbd2 Na5 18. Ne5 c5 19. dxc5 Bxc5 20. Nd3 Bf8 21. Bxd5 Nxd5 22. e4 Nb6 23. Rxc8 Qxc8 24. Nf3 Qb7 25. Nxb4 Qxe4 26.Qd3 Qxd3 27. Nxd3 Nac4 28. b3 Nd6 29. Rc1 Nd5 30. Rc6 Nf5 31. Ba5 Ra8 32.Nfe5 Nfe7 33. Rd6 Nf6 34. b4 Ned5 35. Rc6 Be7 36. a4 g6 37. Nc4 Kf8 38. Nc5 Bxc5 39. bxc5 Ke8 40. f3 Ng8 41. Nb6 Nge7 42. Rd6 Rb8 43. Nxd5 Nxd5 44.Rxa6 Rc8 45. Bb6 Nb4 46. Ra7 Nc6 47. Rb7 Ra8 48. Rc7 Nd4 49. a5 Nxf3+ 50.Kf2 Nxh2 51. c6 Ng4+ 52. Kf3 Nf6 53. Rb7 Nd5 54. Ke4 Nb4 55. c7 Rc8 56. Kd4 Kd7 57. Kc5 Nc6 58. a6 h5 59. a7 f5 60. a8=Q Rxa8 61. c8=Q+ Kxc8 62. Kxc6 1-0

Kramnik – Shirov, Tal Memorial, Moscow 2007 (5)

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Qc2 dxc4 7. Qxc4 a6 8.Bf4 Bd6 9. O-O b5 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 12. Nb3 Be4 13. Qd2 Qe7 14. Rfc1 Rfc8 15. Bxd6 cxd6 16. Qa5 Rcb8 17. Nbd2 Bd5 18. Rc2 Qd8 19. Qxd8+ Rxd8 20. Rac1 Nb6 21. Ne1 Rac8 22. Nd3 Rxc2 23. Rxc2 Rc8 24. Rxc8+ Nxc8 25. Nb4 Bxg2 26. Kxg2 a5 27. Nc6 a4 28. e4 Ne8 29. Kf3 Kf8 30. Ke3 Nc7 31. Kd3 Ke8 32. Kc3 Na6 33. Nb4 Nc7 34. Nf1 Kd7 35. Ne3 Ne7 36. g4 g5 37. Nd3 f6 38. f4 gxf4 39. Nxf4 e5 40. dxe5 fxe5 41. Nfd5 Ncxd5+ 42. exd5 Kc7 43. g5 Kb6 44. b4 axb3 45. axb3 Ka5 46. h4 Ng6 47. h5 Nf4 48. g6 hxg6 49. h6 g5 50. h7 Ng6 51. Kd3 1-0

For the final part of the hat-trick it was nice to see Kramnik showing up some of his critics who despair of his ‘safety-first’ play. The following is as consummate a demolition of a 2700 Grandmaster as there is ever likely to be:

Kramnik – Alekseev, Tal Memorial, Moscow 2007 (6)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 b5 6. e4 Nxe4 7. Qe2 Qe7 8. Bg2 Nd6 9. Be3 b4 10. Bxc5 Qxe2+ 11. Nxe2 Na6 12. Bxd6 Bxd6 13. Nd2 Rb8 14.Nc4 Be7 15. d6 Bf6 16. Nf4 Nc5 17. O-O Ba6 18. Nd5 O-O 19. Nxf6+ gxf6 20. Bd5 Na4 21. Rfc1 Rfe8 22. Ne3 Rb6 23. Rc7 Rxd6 24. Rd1 Kh8 25. Nf5 Rb6 26. Bxf7 Nxb2 27. Rdxd7 Re1+ 28. Kg2 Bf1+ 29. Kf3 Be2+ 30. Kf4 Rb8 31. Bc4 1-0

Mind over Matter

2007-11-18T16:26:00.000Z

This coming Thursday (November 22nd) is the first assessment deadline of my final year. It is for my ‘Applied Sports Psychology’ module and for it I have had to produce a report and a twenty minute presentation. The theme of these two pieces of work has been to look at an ‘Elite Performer’ and the psychological factors that affect their performance.

The work has been in order to find out the main psychological difficulties that the Performer has in their field and to suggest no more than two interventions to counter these.

The collection of data took place in two forms. The first was to do a Performance Profile, where the Performer had to draw up a list of all the psychological factors that they felt affect their performance and give themselves a score out of ten for each. (Where 10 was ‘couldn’t be any better’ and 1 was ‘couldn’t be any worse’) Then they had to choose someone at a higher level of expertise within their field, who was performing at a standard they wished to obtain (For instance a Championship footballer comparing themselves to a Premiership player) and score them in the same fashion.

The second stage was to carry out a semi-structured interview that was specific to the Elite Performers specialist area. I liked this idea, because throughout my psychological studies, I have become a big fan of the combined 'Typology' (Eysenck) approach; where quantitative and qualitative research methods are combined.

I have to say, I have found it thoroughly enjoyable and am looking forward to delivering the presentation on Thursday. These have been a strength of mine throughout my degree and so hopefully there are some ‘easy marks’ for me to gain.

The next step will be to present the Performer with the interventions and specific instructions on how to use them. Then after a given period of time, the interventions will be evaluated and any necessary modifications will be made to them.

The final part of my assessment will be to write a larger report, looking at how the interventions have worked, any modifications that have been made and an evaluation by the Performer of the service I have provided.

I am certainly looking forward to presenting my Elite Performer with my program. I also have no fears about the interventions and whether they will work or not. They may not be the most ideal due to my lack of experience, but they certainly won’t negatively affect their performance. I have picked them not only for their suitability, but also on the grounds that they have been thoroughly tried and tested. Also, I know I have put the work in and done the research. Furthermore, I have had regular meetings with module supervisor, who is an accredited Sports Psychologist and her feedback has given me plenty of confidence.

I’ll feedback later on how the presentation went.

b2 or not b2 - that is the question!: Part Two

2007-11-15T21:31:00.000Z

Today I have enjoyed spending some time analysing my new chess love. (See my earlier post of the same name for details) More specifically, my attention was focussed on the currently critical lines involving 10. e5 - see diagram.

I have started drawing up a Chessbase database solely dedicated to the Poisoned Pawn variation and all of it's branches. My current verdict on the big main line is as follows:

10. e5 dxe5 11. fxe5 Nfd7 12. Ne4 h6! 13. Bh4 Qxa2 14. Rd1 Qd5(!)

14…Qb2!? was a move that was immediately written off after the game Radjabov – Karjakin, Cap d'Agde Rapid 2006. However with current analysis it also seems viable at present thanks to a crucial novelty. If this is so then it represents a very important alternative to following the ‘forced’ sequence up to move 20. This will allow black to avoid the reams of analysis that have already developed after the tabiya position following 20. Bd6.

15. Qe3 Qxe5 16. Be2 Bc5 17. Bg3 Bxd4 18. Rxd4 Qa5+ 19. Rd2 0-0 20. Bd6

Out of the three main alternatives tried so far 20…Nc6/Rd8/Re8, I believe that the latter is currently black’s best option, although playing it requires been very well prepared and having faith in your defensive technique. Furthermore, I’m not sure what the winning chances are at elite level. However, at less exalted heights, the passed black a-pawn could certainly tip the balance.

Currently, I think that the critical line is 20...Re8 21. 0-0 f5 22. Qg3!? Nc6! 23. Qg6 Qd8 24. Bc4! Kh8 25. Ng5! Qxg5! 26. Qxe8+ Kh7 27. Bf4!? Qg6 28. Qxg6+ Kxg6 29. Bxe6 Nf6 30. Bc4

This position was reached in the game, Deep Junior - Deep Fritz, Ultimate Computer Challenge, Elista 2007. Here Deep Fritz played 30...Kh7? - a move I simply do not understand, how does this help black to unravel? Maybe the machine was planning ...g5 and ...f4 to release the c8 bishop, but it looks artifical to me.

Instead I suggest 30...a5, intending ...a4 and ...Ra5. The black bishop is quite happy where it is for the moment and the black knights do a good job of fighting for the centre. Furthermore, pushing the a-pawn is using black's major asset.

Whatever the current verdict, the assessments are currently in a state of flux. This is a variation where any prospective exponent is going to have to keep their database up-to-date and their tactical vision sharp, plus also bear in mind that the current evaluations are still pretty unstable. However, in my analysis this afternoon, there seemed to be certain rules of thumb to guide the search for black improvements.

1. First and foremost be looking to co-ordinate the black forces.
2. Try and establish whether you should be playing ...f5 or ...f6.
3. If ...f6 is a good idea, it will quite often be in conjunction with placing knights on e5/f8 and g6.
4. Always remember the a-pawn! However, don't be tempted to push it too far in the middlegame when it may simply drop off. Furthermore, this is often the best way of developing the a8 rook.
5. Black is usually happy to trade both a and b pawns for the white c-pawn. If this happens, then white's winning chances considerably diminish with all the pawns being left on the kingside.
6. Try not to be too concerned about the bishop being stuck on c8 for long periods. This piece does a valuable job protecting the b-pawn. Once that pawn leaves the board, white's c-pawn becomes passed. If you are going to sacrifice the b-pawn to develop the bishop, make sure you get considerable activity for it, or try to do so with an aim towards following rule 5.
7. If white manages to win the b-pawn (Usually after Ne4-d6xb7), there is usually counterplay for black down the newly opened file. If there isn't, then white's c-pawn tends to get motoring pretty quickly.
8. With the dark-squared bishop back in the box, black needs to be wary of sacrifices on f6, g7 and h6 as well as any other problems relating to the dark squares.

I have also looked at the other key variations in the Poisoned Pawn and provide a short summary below:

10. Bxf6

10... gxf6 11. Be2 h5! is the way to go now. 11…Nc6 looked good for black for a long time, until it was busted by a big novelty from Atanas Kolev. Given that he is one of the authors of ‘Sharpest Sicilian’, it’s almost certainly safe to take his word that this line is best for black!

10. Be2

...10...Nbd7! 11. 0-0 Qc5 or 11…Qa5 as recommended by Richard Palliser, seem simplest. This is a line where Georgiev’s theory that the Poisoned Pawn is easier to learn than other anti 6. Bg5 lines certainly holds up. Constant analysis over the decades has narrowed the path right down to the critical line and therefore it is simply necessary for black to learn that line and all the offshoots.

The same holds true for 10. f5

...where the critical line is 10…Nc6 11. fxe6 fxe6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. e5 (and 13. Be2) 13…dxe5 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Ne4! Qxa2! 16. Rd1 Be7 17. Be2 0-0 18. 0-0 Ra7! 19. Rf3! Kh8 (or 19…Rd7, which I have played over the board and personally think is simpler.) 20. Rg3 Rd7 21. Qh6 Rf7 22. Rg3 Rxd1+ 23. Bxd1 Qa5! 24. Kf1 Qd8 25. Qxf7 Qxd1+ 26. Kf2 Qxc2+ 27. Kf3 Qd1+ 28. Kf2 Qc2+ 29. Ke3 Bc5+! 30. Nxc5 Qxc5+ 31. Kd2 (31. Kf3 e4+!) 31…Qf2+ 32. Kc3 Qc5+ 33. Kd2 Qf2+ 34. Kc3 ½ - ½ Vallejo Pons – Kasparov, Moscow 2004.

9. Nb3

...is not causing too many problems at the moment, but a fair body of theory has built up after 9…Qa3 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Be2 Nc6 12. 0-0 Bd7 13. Kh1 Rc8 and now white has to make a crucial choice. This can be considered the tabiya position of this line.

I also count 7…Qb6 8. Nb3

...as part of the Poisoned Pawn. Positions in this line tend to turn into typical Sicilian races after 8…Be7 9. Qf3 Nbd7 10. 0-0-0 Qc7 11. Bd3 b5 12. Rhe1!?, although again there are numerous alternatives.

Sorry for not posting more analysis, but when I started this blog, I intended to write rather than post reams of chess analysis! If anyone is interested in discussing these lines further, or wishes to suggest additions/amendments to my rules; feel free to do so in the 'comments' section!

So many fascinating lines already viewed – so many more to see!

It's Chess Jim, but not as we know it...

2007-11-14T16:12:00.000Z

I’m very much enjoying working on my dissertation. The field I have chosen is Cognitive Psychology and more specifically expert memory.

For over 40 years, chess players have been used to research theories of expert memory. This has been to try to decipher whether ‘experts’ in a field simply have a better memory than non-experts, or whether their chess education has helped them to develop subject specific techniques.

The path taken to my research idea was as follows:

1: I looked at the original research of Adriaan de Groot (1965), who looked at the differences in thought processes between the world’s elite, Grandmasters and National Masters by getting them to analyse positions and provide an ongoing commentary of what they were thinking.

2: My next step was to look at research into memory techniques. The first I came across was ‘Chunking’ – Chase & Simon (1973), who put forward the idea that a chess expert sees not individual pieces, but groups of pieces – These were termed ‘chunks’ and the authors reckoned that experts split positions into about seven of these.

3. The next significant idea was that of ‘Template Theory’ – Gobet and Simon (1996a), who claimed that the idea of chunks was too rigid. Their idea was that experts actually remember positions in two parts. The first part was termed ‘The core’, referring to perhaps the pawn structure. This part was identical to a chunk, in that an expert would memorise it exactly. The second part was called the ‘slot’, which referred to different piece configurations in and around the core.

4. The final key part of my preliminary research looked at the ‘Constraint Attunement Hypothesis’ – Vicente & Wang (1998). This theory stated that experts remember more, even in very random positions, because they are aware of various constraints surrounding any given chess position. Examples of this are that there are always two kings on the board and that pawns never appear on the first or eighth rank.

To test this idea, Gobet & Waters (2003) set up an experiment comparing Template Theory and the Constraint Attunement Hypothesis. This experiment tested experts and non-experts at memorising normal positions, positions with a certain percentage of the pieces scrambled and then ‘truly random’ positions. These were positions where the normal rules of chess were broken as in the examples given above.

The results were that experts still remembered significantly more of truly random positions than non-experts, although the percentage gap was smaller than on any other type of position. In their discussion section, Gobet & Waters (2003) hypothesised that the reason for this was that players of all levels could work out the absence of such constraints and that ‘ceteris paribus’, the experts superior use of Template Theory was the crucial factor.

Finally, they went onto discuss whether 'all' the constraints had been removed in their experiment and here is where my idea comes in! The authors pointed out that the pieces used are another possible constraint that should be tested. This is because most players, whatever their strength, have played in a tournament using the standard ‘Staunton’ pieces. Therefore my idea is simply to test whether memory and recall is affected by the types of pieces that the position is presented to the player on – simple!

Now there is just the usual problem of trying to find enough volunteers!

Apparently I know what I am about to write...

2007-11-06T17:16:00.000Z

As a psychology undergraduate, I have never ceased to be amazed at just how divisive it can make other people. Fortunately, one of my lecturers has kindly divulged a key weapon that may finally start shifting the momentum back in favour of the humble psychologist! I wish to share this advice with anyone else who is in my position.

In my experience (For what it’s worth), most people upon finding out I am studying psychology; tend to fall into three main overlapping groups.

The first are those who also have a fascination with the subject matter and are interested in the knowledge that I can bring into a discussion. This group is by far the smallest!

The second group mainly consists of people who have studied physics, chemistry or biology and delight in pointing out that they think I am studying a weaker/inferior/unsound science. This is then usually followed up by asking me why I am not doing a proper degree. The size of this group tends to be on a par with the next one.

The third (and usually the most insidious) group are those who wheel out the standard question, “So, what am I thinking right now?” Fortunately there is a simple antidote to such people, that I am grateful to my former flat-mate Tom for sharing with me. This simply involves pointing out that, “I am a psychologist, not a psychic!”

That is ok for the majority of ‘Group Three’ members, but now like a more virulent viral strain, a new and stronger sub-group is emerging and beginning to wreak vengeance for their fallen colleagues. I am referring to those people who take the whole ‘prove it’ philosophy to an entirely new level and ask me to demonstrate my abilities by performing an instantaneous character profile.

Up until now these people have just had to be dismissed with a laugh and a wave of my hand, but this is an outcome I have never been happy with. I had always hoped that there would be some way of shining such ignorance under a bright searchlight and exposing it, but up until last Monday I did not have what I considered to be a suitable riposte…

However, now I consider myself suitably well armed and it is all thanks to the generosity of Dr. Paul Smith. His idea is that you take the ‘offender’ up on their question in a manner similar to the following…,

“Well, judging by the way you are standing, I would say that you are a closet homosexual. The long distant look in your eyes would suggest that you have not told your wife yet and that this feeling is BURNING A HOLE RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF YOUR SOUL!”

Obviously, it is possible to expand upon this idea, or develop new ones, but the basic premise is there and I hope will come in useful for myself and many others.

Oh, the joys of being outside of the laboratory and not having to adhere to ethical guidelines!

b2 or not b2 - that is the question!

2007-11-03T22:46:00.000Z

I now haven’t played a serious game of chess since the day of the 2007 Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final. As fantastic a match of tennis as that was, it did not put me off the Royal Game! Rather, I felt like I wanted to concentrate my efforts for the coming year on my degree and therefore only play chess when I chose to, rather than when I had to. The consequence of that decision is that I am currently not playing any team chess.

There have been those who have doubted that my ‘self-imposed exile’ would last and that surely my ‘insatiable’ appetite for the game would draw me back sooner rather than later. However, they couldn’t be more wrong. My appetite is as sated as I have ever known it. The reason for this is because there is more than one road leading to Rome. Let me explain…

During the summer, I picked up an excellent new tome, ‘The Sharpest Sicilian’, dedicated to my beloved Najdorf Variation.

The surprise for me was that the recommended line against 6 Bg5 was the famous Poisoned Pawn Variation. I remember first coming across this line in 1995, when I was a slip of a chess-playing lad and my initial response was to look at most of the arising positions and think, “Black isn’t playing that?- surely!?”

A decade later, I got hold of Kasparov’s DVD on the line and began to see what all the excitement was about. I felt there was something truly magical about the way the black position kept holding together in the face of mass white assaults. There didn’t seem to be that much chess logic behind how black hung on, just cold calculation! However, the DVD only covered a fraction of the necessary knowledge and so I never gave the line a second thought, until…

Fast forward to summer this year and having purchased a book recommending the line, I thought I would try and tweak my interest further. In conjunction with my Najdorf books by Nunn and Palliser, I began to dig deeper. Needless to say, the ‘magic’ I had first experienced watching the DVD; kept leaping out from the pages. I was like an eager child, desperate to turn the page and find out what happened next! For the rest of the summer, most of my chess-related efforts were devoted to learning the secrets of this amazing variation.

At the moment, I am sadly not devoting any efforts to my new chess-related love. However, whenever I find myself getting a gentle pining for chess, a position from the Poisoned Pawn flashes into my mind and after five minutes of analysis I feel fine once more.

Beautiful ideas are just that, whether they occur in play or on the board at home. However, I intend to return from exile on November 25th, to play in The Steve Webster Memorial – I hope to see a lot of my York comrades there and also many more beautiful ideas created in memory of our wonderful ex-colleague.

Not the greatest adventure into the depths of the mind...

2007-11-03T21:22:00.000Z

Each and every Calendar year, I tend to develop one ‘major’ insight into my life or life itself. So far in 2007, I have been lucky enough to experience both this year’s insight and a startling revelation to boot. I shall deal with the first here, whereas the revelation may take me some time to put into words.

My insight for 2007 was developed from two sources. The first was watching a documentary in my Level Two Psychology studies entitled, ‘Five steps to Tyranny’. In it, the host runs through what she feels are the five different steps to go from a perfectly peaceable society to a tyrannous regime. Looking at the documentary it seemed to me that each of the five steps could imperceptibly creep into the collective unconscious and that any problem caused may only be discovered when it was too late – It was most intriguing to this pair of eyes anyway!

The second was a conversation with a history graduate, who remarked that all he had learned from his dissertation was that for the citizens of any given country, there was only one difference between a moderate leadership and an extreme left/right wing government or dictatorship. ‘That’ difference, he explained, was that in a democracy unless there is a law saying that something cannot be done, then it can and vice versa under an extreme leadership.

These points got the psychologist in me thinking. Many times during my upbringing I had been ‘subjected’ to the explanation that someone was too old to change, or that certain bad habits/attitudes/beliefs were too well ingrained in them. The two examples above made me question those explanations that I had been given in the past. When looking at them with my own eyes, it seemed that the changes required in each case were not big, per se; rather they were small, but significant.

Now, whenever I hear that someone is too old or stubborn to change, I adopt a much more positive (Yes, it is possible even for me!) frame of mind than before, because in each case I am almost certain that it cannot be true. It also gave me an interesting insight into the potential source of the origins of the ‘It’s grim up North’ attitude, or indeed the perceived cynicism of The British.

That’s been one of the frustrations of studying psychology – I’ve had to come down from my contented and smiling cloud and see the effects of the rain that falls from it! However, it has at least allowed me to form this cognitive minuet. Not the greatest adventure into the depths of the human mind, but one that gave me a nice warm feeling!

Please Sir, I want some more!

2007-11-03T16:22:00.000Z

I am currently having one of those weeks that tend to come along every three/four months where I lose all willpower regarding my food intake.

So far this week a large amount of Indian snacks, Swiss Chocolate and two 500ml tubs of Chunky Monkey have seen their way past my lips without so much as an iota of resistance.

The strange thing is I have no idea why this happens! It’s not due to having a bad time in the near past, or feeling ‘that way out’. Nor is it due to suddenly fancying some snacks or a sugar rush. In fact, it is due to no ‘desire’ whatsoever!

Given that I’m a budding psychologist, I feel as though I probably should know the answer. However, I am not at all concerned as long as it only lasts for a week at a time. If I am not back in the gym tomorrow, then there may well be a slightly more concerned post appearing on Monday morning!

Controversial - or perhaps not!

2007-11-02T13:15:00.000Z

Having re-read my previous post and received a response from an 'eager correspondent' - I shall clarify a quick point.

I don't intend every musing presented here to surround issues that are open to debate. That would be far too 'interesting' by my standards! However, when I do present any such material, I shall make sure I can back it up in a public forum as previously stated.

Blimey, three posts in and already responding to the public - what have I let myself in for?!

(With thanks to Catherine and her holistic voice of reason!)

(What) to write, or not to write - That is the question!

2007-11-02T12:50:00.000Z

Since starting this blog, I've spent the majority of the time wondering about what I should not write, as opposed to what I wish to...

A couple of days ago I was reading the blog of 'The Great' Stephen Fry and he was talking about the days when he used to regularly write newspaper columns. The crux of his point was that if he needed a quick thousand words, it was very easy just to pick something he didn't approve of/dislike/hate and wax lyrical.

I found myself nodding along with this point, but then decided to take it one step further. (Two years of psychology training to develop critical thinking kicking in at last, I hope!) It has always seemed easier to me to be able to write constructive (or indeed any form of) criticism, publish it and then hide behind the words. When it becomes necessary to back those same words up in a public forum, to me that is entering a whole new sphere - For instance...

Over the summer, I spent some time 'hand-crafting' an e-mail to be sent out to the York chess mailing list, regarding the 'group-think' (See me or Social Psychology texts for details!) that had set in at The York R.I. Chess Club. The e-mail consisted of two sides of written text dealing with the salient facts and the conclusions that could be drawn from them. This whole process took me a week, because I wanted to make sure that the conclusions I represented were as close to what I wished to say and factually accurate as possible. This was because given that I rarely enter public debates, I wanted to make sure that I could state my case in public discussion with others, so as not to appear like I was hiding behind said aforementioned words on my computer screen.

The result of this exercise, for those of you who are wondering...well I received a fair degree of anger, but no-one decided to challenge me on any of the key facts that my 'words' had been based upon. Given the backlash I received, despite not being directly challenged on any of my points, I can only assume that I was too close to the truth for the liking of various people and I am now being portrayed as a dangerous and eccentric outsider who hides behind his keyboard!

Despite that little 'failing', I do intend to stick to my principles and anything that I write here will only be presented if I am able and prepared to back it up in a public forum. Perhaps one day, I may even have the confidence to back my points up in a dialogue with Stephen Fry himself. However, given that that man knows more about the English language than I know about the Sicilian Najdorf, that day may be someway off!

Right, now what do I actually wish to write about?

Hello, good evening and welcome!

2007-11-02T12:47:00.000Z

I've considered the idea of writing a diary for years. However, there was one aspect that didn't quite appeal to me and that was the 'implied compulsion' to have to write something every single day.

Even if I felt something interesting or worth sharing actually did occur each and every day of my life, there was then the small issue of no-one seeing it. That in my mind meant it would 'merely' add up to a collection of memories and anecdotes that would only become available to a wider audience after I had shuffled off this mortal coil - not a pleasant thought!

Which leads me to this very moment - my debut as a Blogger! Now I can write when I wish to, about what I wish to and finally when I feel that something worth writing about has actually happened.

So there we are - Now I only have to decide what I consider to be interesting, or when I have something valid to say! Given that the inspiration for writing further musings has not hit me yet, I shall leave my debut post here.