I like the new design of the website, but I wish it were more obvious how to get to the forum.
I liked the old look of the magazine, with the “Chess Life” title relatively small and dignified, in the upper left corner. But the new look is nice too.
My USCF membership will end in October. I won’t be renewing it. The issue is more “me” than anything about the USCF. A year ago when I joined I was very excited. I had this vague notion that I would be entering into a vibrant community where I would be exchanging ideas and swapping stories with others, entering tournaments and playing chess online and maybe joining a club here in Cleveland, somewhere on the east side where I live.
But the forum is not very active, so forget about the “community” part of it. And I never got around to going to or entering any tournaments. Because of my wife’s work schedule, it’s hard for me to go all the way over to the west side, near the airport, where all the tournaments in this area seem to be, and then get back in time to pick her up. Also, I just don’t have the money to enter tournaments. And, to be honest, I feel a bit intimidated about entering a tournament and getting my clock cleaned in less than 20 moves. The minuses of entering tournaments seem to outweigh the pluses. I always wanted to get a rating, but never got around to it.
I’m a player who is returning to the game after being away from it for about 30 years. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I dislike algebraic notation, that I find it to be very cumbersome and non-intuitive. It feels like a different language, and at age 58, with a very intellectually intensive job, I don’t have the energy to learn a new language. My wife found a Radio Shack 1650 chess computer at a thrift store recently, and that has algebraic notation along the side, which is great. But back in October and November 2014, when I was grinding away trying to get used to algrbraic, I really got frustrated and wondered why the game I love was feeling more like work than a game. That bad taste lingers even today. I know some of you are probably sick of hearing me complaining. Fair enough.
In the September 2015 issue of the magazine there was a letter, “Staying the Course,” by Bob Probasco. I identify very strongly with what Mr Probasco said about being a “returning” player who often finds things “frustrating and even embarassing.” He was absent from the game for 14 years. I wonder how he would feel if he were trying to re-enter the world of chess after 30 years.
I wish I had encountered more people like Mr Probasco over the last year. He said in his letter that the stories of people like him “aren’t interesting,” but I think they are. I wish Chess Life told some of those stories.
I know there is a lot of justifiable interest in the stories of players at the top of the chess world, but I can’t identify with folks like Carlsen and Anand and So and Krush and Nakamura. I can’t identify with child geniuses. I don’t learn anything from game analysis that compares alternate lines in exhaustive detail. Instead, I wind up with a headache. So often, as I’ve said before, Chess Life reads like a group of experts talking to each other.
For what it’s worth, in the September 2015 issue of the magazine I really enjoyed the review of Boris Gelfand’s book “Positional Decision Making in Chess.” I also liked GM Andy Soltis’ article “Defeated.” The article on Pawn Sacrifice was very good, as was “The Marshall Chess Club Turns 100.” I wish the magazine had a lot more historical articles. And biographical articles–I really want to read the Walter Browne memorial article. I also enjoyed the article “A Chess Fairy Tale.”
Well, anyway, thank you to anyone who read this far.