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| Posted by jstevens1 chesspeak.com 6/28/2008 07:16:11 Play online chess |  Subject: Chess and the Wizard of OzMessage: The Land of Oz or the Wizard's Kingdom = The Land of Expertdom for those players with ratings of 2000+, which at the moment for me is ......... Somewhere over the Rainbow! The Yellow Brick Road = The Road to Expertdom. The Wicked Witch of the West = Enemy Queen, the chessplayer's chief nemesis who will do everything in her power to halt that chessplayer's path along The Yellow Brick Road. Glenda, Good Witch of the North = Friendly Queen - this is what I call my queen, who is doing everything in her power (by protecting her beloved husband Dear Ole 'Enry with all her might and main) to prevent the Wicked Witch of the West from pushing me backwards on the Yellow Brick Road. "The North" is also significant, because this is where the Yellow Brick Road is heading. We chessplayers all want our ratings to head DUE NORTH!! Ok, well I have annotated a few games based on this story. One is called "Glenda Saves the Day" against a chessplayer called ronlum with a rating in the low 1500s. I was two pawns down in a queen and piece ending but Glenda got in some very useful checks, winning back one of the pawns and enabling me to exchange queens into a drawn opposite bishop ending. The second one, against the same opponent is called "Stealth and Wealth" where I quietly amassed a queenside attack on a castled position and won oodles of material. I then annotated another two games against two different opponents, one who had a rating of 1480 in Old Matey Strikes, Part 1 (in which Glenda played a useful back up role) and another who again had a rating in the low 1500s called Old Matey Strikes, Part 2. In both games I delivered checkmate. I hope you all enjoy your weekend and have a good read! Cheers and bye for now. Joanne |
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