Encyclopedia of Chess Openings and other works. (See below for games.) Chess Informant's panel of grandmaster judges also cited the first game, Rhine-Sprenkle
, as the 8th-9th most theoretically important game in Volume 32 of Chess Informant.
I have primarily written and contributed to chess-related articles in
Main Page
of Wikipedia on March 21 and December 6, 2009. Only about one out of every 1,400 articles ever becomes Today's Featured Article.
It is impossible not to have misgivings, both general and particular, about Wikipedia, but we have recently noticed a great improvement in some of the chess articles in the site’s English-language version. There is, for instance, excellent treatment of
G.H.D. Gossip, and it is also good to see a fine article on Hugh Myers
blogging. If acting in plays (rather than films) counted toward a Bacon number, I would have a Bacon number of 3, having acted in school plays with Chris Rolfes, who has a Bacon number of 2
.
My aunt,
Morphy Number of 4 (many grandmasters today have one of 5), having drawn a game online against Leonard Barden, one of the few living players with a Morphy Number of 3. I have a better record against Viktors Pupols (one draw) than Bobby Fischer
). Someone (maybe even me, I don't remember) adapted this into the exclamation "Krakatoa!"
Chess studies
The
White, on move, is to play and win. The solution is here
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Below is a study that I composed in 2005. It was published in "Benko's Bafflers" in the May2006 issue of Chess Lifemagazine. It is based on a simpler study that I composed in 2001, which was also published in "Benko's Bafflers." (In the earlier problem, there are no knights on c5 or d3, White's rook is on h1 rather than h4, and Black's bishop is on e5 rather than d6.) White, on move, is to play and force a draw. The solution is here.
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Chess games
Below is a game I won against David Sprenkle (Black) in
Below is a correspondence game I played against Kyle Thompson (White) in 1992. Chess Informant, volume 57, published it with my annotations. It was also cited in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, and was chessgames.com's Game of the Day on December 14, 2010. You can play it over here.
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Thompson-Rhine, position after 26.Re5??
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 e6 6.f5 White is playing the hyper-aggressive
centralizing 22...Qd3!!, rather than the more natural 22...Qxb3, was that it prevented this move
! Qxf1+! 27.Kxf1 Bd3++ 28.Kg1 Rf1#
I played the following correspondence game against against Antonie Boerkoel (Black) in the
tactical genius, sacrificing, or offering to sacrifice, literally every kind of piece possible except his king -- pawn, knight, bishop, rook, and queen. You can play it over here
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Rhine-Boerkoel, position after 23.Qb3: Black initiates a sacrificial orgy.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Rel f5 11.Ng5 Nf4 12.Bxf4 exf4 13.Rc1 Kh8 14.Bf3 Be5 15.c5 c6!? theoretical novelty 16.exf5 Nxf5 17.dxc6 Qxg5 18.cxb7 Bxb7 19.Bxb7 Rab8 20.Ne4 Qh4 21.Ba6 dxc5 22.bxc5 Rbd8 23.Qb3 (see diagram at left) Ne3!! Threatening to win with either 24...Nxg2! 25.Kxg2 f3+ or 24...f3! 25.g3 Qh3 26.Bf1 Nxf1. 24.g3 If 24.fxe3, f3 with the triple threats of Qxh2+, Qxe4, and f2+ is strong. 24...fxg3 25.hxg3 Rxf2!! Now Black's knight, rook, and queen are all hanging. 26.Kxf2 If 26.gxh4, Rg2+ 27.Kh1 Rh2+ draws by perpetual check. If 26.Qxe3??, Qh2#. And if 26.Nxf2??, Qxg3+ and mate next. 26...Bxg3+!
=
27.Nxg3 Forced. If 27.Kxe3??, Qf4+ 28.Ke2 Qxe4+ 29.Kf1 (or 29.Qe3 Qg2+) Qh1+ 30.Ke2 Qg2+ 31.Ke3 Qf2+ 32.Ke4 Qf4#. 27.Ke2?? Qg4+ 28.Kxe3 Qf4+ is the same. 27...Qf4+ 28.Ke2 28.Kg1?? Qxg3+ and mate next 28...Qg4+ 29.Kxe3 Qxg3+ 30.Ke2 Qg2+ 31.Ke3 Qg3+ 32.Ke4 Qg4+ 31.Ke3! 31.Ke5?? Qf5# 1/2-1/2 A brilliant game by Boerkoel. Who says draws have to be boring?
I later found the following grandmaster game, which has strikingly similar tactical ideas to those in Rhine-Boerkoel: Westerinen-Sakaev, Gausdal 1992 1. e4 2.c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nge2 d6 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 Nf6 6.0-0 Be7 7.h3 0-0 8.d3 Rb8 9.f4 d5 10.exd5 exd5 11.f5 d4 12.Ne4 Nxe4 13.Bxe4 Bd6 14.Nf4 Ne5 15.Qh5 Re8 16.Ne6!! g6! 17.fxg6 hxg6 18.Rxf7! 1/2-1/2 You can play it over here
For many fine contributions to chess topics. Bubba73(talk), 23:26, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
The Content Creativity Barnstar
For the tremendous work and material you put in the article First-move advantage in chess so that it reached A-class, I award you this barnstar. SyG (talk) 08:08, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
The Half Barnstar
For the great work Philcha (a British) and Krakatoa (an American) were able to produce together in order to reach a neutral point-of-view in the article Howard Staunton so that it reached GA-class, I award to each of them half of this barnstar. SyG (talk) 08:30, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For numerous quality contributions to chess topics.
talk
) 16:03, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
You are the first Wikipedian ever to be awarded the Chess Barnstar !!
The Chess Barnstar
For having brought once again a chess article, George H. D. Gossip, first to FA-class then on the Main Page, I award you this Chess Barnstar. Thank you so much ! SyG (talk) 15:42, 20 December 2009 (UTC)
The Minor Barnstar
In recognition of continued steady work on our chess articles, particularly a large number of minor edits that combine to form a major contribution. RomanSpa (talk) 09:25, 5 August 2014 (UTC)
