Irreplaceable

Nakakatuwa yung pagkakabira ng kantang ito, may halong "country" tas okey din yung blending. Medyo nakakatawa sya sa una kaya naisipan kong idikit dito. Isa sa mga tampok na pagtatanghal sa ginanap na American Music Awards noong 2007. Beyonce's Irreplaceable feat. Sugarland.

Chess 101- Opening

At last, now I can start to share some information about the game that I really love. I would like to emphasize that my blog will not be all about chess, I know not all of us will be interested on it, because you simply don’t have a mind of a mongoloids like me. It will still be about anything funny, serious, informative and sometimes nonsense.

To give you a brief background, I learned this game from my father, he showed me the basic moves and simple strategies to mate an opponent. My father has some kumpare who noticed my interest on the game and they started to teach me some advance moves. One special thing that I learned from them are basic opening moves, which later on, turn out to be, one of the most important thing to know in chess.

I played on small chess competitions before, one major reason why I was struggling at the start of the game is that I don’t have good opening. Your opponent might even mate you easier if you have poor opening. Too late for me to know the important part of the game. I realized that my father’s kumpare has thought me inferior opening moves, but then, I still have to thank them for sharing to me what they know. I was still able to win some of my game on those non-rated competitions before, but it’s a bit late for me to realize one serious flaw on my strategy. That’s why now, I am just a chess lover not a chess player. I hope beginners in chess will stumble upon this post.

Below is a shortened information about chess opening that I got from Wikipedia. I also added a brief chess opening sample which I got from revver.com at the end of this article.

Common aims in opening play

Irrespective of whether they are trying to gain the upper hand as White and equalize as Black or to create dynamic imbalances, players generally devote a lot of attention in the opening stages to

1. Development: One of the main aims of the opening is to mobilize the pieces on useful squares where they will have impact on the game. To this end, knights are usually developed to f3, c3, f6 and c6 (or sometimes e2, d2, e7 or d7), and both player's King and Queen pawns are moved so the bishops can be developed (alternatively, the bishops may be fianchettoed with a manoeuvre such as g3 and Bg2.
2. Control of the center: At the start of the game, it is not clear on which part of the board the pieces will be needed. However, control of the central squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board relatively easily, and can also have a cramping effect on the opponent.
3. King safety: The king is somewhat exposed in the middle of the board. Measures must be taken to reduce his vulnerability. It is therefore common for both players to either castle in the opening
4. Prevention of pawn weakness: Most openings strive to avoid the creation of pawn weaknesses such as isolated, doubled and backward pawns, pawn islands, etc
5. Piece coordination: As each player mobilizes his or her pieces, each attempts to assure that they are working harmoniously towards the control of key squares.
6. Create positions in which the player is more comfortable than the opponent:

Major changes in the rules of chess in the late fifteenth century increased the speed of the game, consequently emphasizing the importance of opening study. Thus, early chess books, such as the 1497 text of Luis Ramirez de Lucena presents opening analysis, as does Pedro Damiano (1512), and Ruy López de Segura (1561). Ruy Lopez's disagreement with Damiano regarding the merits of 2...Nc6 led to 3.Bb5 (after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6) being named for him as the Ruy Lopez or Spanish Opening.[7] Opening theory was studied more scientifically from the 1840s on, and many opening variations were discovered and named in this period and later. Opening nomenclature developed haphazardly, and most names are historical accidents not based on systematic principles.

The oldest openings tend to be named for geographic places and people. Many openings are named after nationalities, for example Indian, English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Scotch, Russian, Italian, Scandinavian, and Sicilian. Cities are also used, such as Vienna, Berlin, and Wilkes-Barre. The Catalan System is named after the Catalonia region of Spain.

Chess players' names are the most common sources of opening names. The name given to an opening is not always that of the first player to adopt it; often an opening is named for the player who was the first to popularize it or to publish analysis of it. Eponymic openings include the Ruy Lopez, Alekhine's Defense, Morphy Defense, and the Réti System. Some opening names honor two people, such as with the Caro-Kann.

A few opening names are descriptive, such as Giuoco Piano (Italian: "quiet game"). More prosaic descriptions include Two Knights and Four Knights. Descriptive names are less common than openings named for places and people.

Some openings have been given fanciful names, often names of animals. This practice became more common in the 20th century. By then, most of the more common and traditional sequences of opening moves had already been named, so these tend to be unusual or recently developed openings like the Orangutan, Hippopotamus, Elephant, and Hedgehog.

Many terms are used for the opening as well. In addition to Opening, common terms include Game, Defense, Gambit, and Variation; less common terms are System, Attack, Counterattack, Countergambit, Reversed, and Inverted. To make matters more confusing, these terms are used very inconsistently. Consider some of the openings named for nationalities: Scotch Game, English Opening, French Defense, and Russian Game — the Scotch Game and the English Opening are both White openings (White chooses to play), the French is indeed a defense but so is the Russian Game.

Something

One of my colleague mentioned that Eric Clapton, sometime ago, has been a member of The Beatles. Due to my disbelief, I search the web and I ended up on Eric Clapton’s Portal which happens to have an article discussing whether Eric has been part of the band. He played on session with some members of the group especially with George Harrison but technically he’s not part of the Fab Four. Curiosity also lead me to this youtube video where Eric Clapton, Paul Mc Cartney and Ringo Starr played George Harrison's Something, as a tribute. Watch Paul play the ukelele first, then enjoy the rest of the song while reading the lyrics at the bottom.

Something in the way she moves,
Attracts me like no other lover.
Something in the way she woos me.
I don't want to leave her now,
You know I believe and how.

Somewhere in her smile she knows,
That I don't need no other lover.
Something in her style that shows me.
I don't want to leave her now,
You know I believe and how.

You're asking me will my love grow,
I don't know, I don't know.
You stick around now, it may show,
I don't know, I don't know.

Something in the way she knows,
And all I have to do is think of her.
Something in the things she shows me.
I don't want to leave her now.
You know I believe and how.

World Junior Chess Champion

On my way home, I noticed a crowd watching an exciting match between a man about 45 years old and a very young boy. I had a quick conversation on the man watching at his back who happens to be the young boy’s father/coach. He said that his son is only 9 years old and already represented our country on a chess competition in Vietnam. The boy, he added, has an ELO rating of 1600+. Before our small talk ends, I noticed that the old man’s defense gradually collapses from the relentless attack of the boy. In few minutes, the young boy’s opponent conceded.

Our country indeed has a lot of potential young players for chess. One of them is GM Wesley So who is currently the world’s youngest chess grandmaster. Expect a lot of kibitzing on this blog later on about his games and other notable players in the world of chess.

Together with fellow filipino Haridas Pascua who did well although non-rated, So competed and finished 9^th on the World Junior Chess Championship held at Gaziantep, Turkey. So fell in the 11th round against German Arik Braun, only an International Master yet sporting a grandmaster rating of 2551. The competition was dominated by India’s GM Ahibjeet Gupta, and the girls through IM Harika Dronavalli.

The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament. Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Viswanathan Anand have gone on to win the World Chess Championship.

Pascua, So and the young boy playing on our street are our country’s future, a force to reckon with some day in the world of chess. Below is the final ranking after the competition:

Ninoy

His heroism will be forever remembered in every history book. Benigno “ Ninoy” Aquino , one of the best leader we ever had. Today, we commemorate his 25th death anniversary. As a tribute, let me relive this wonderful poem wrote by Ninoy for his wife, former president Corazon C. Aquino.

Singer/Businessman Jose Mari Chan transformed this into a superb song and included it in his album Constant Change. "I had fallen in Love" was written by Ninoy for Cory at Fort Bonifacio on October 11, 1973 for their 19th wedding anniversary. You may listen to the song while playing the track located at the bottom of the poem. Enjoy!

I have fallen in love
with the same woman three times;
In a day spanning 19 years
of tearful joys and joyful tears.

I loved her first when she was young,
enchanting and vibrant, eternally new.
She was brilliant, fragrant,
and cool as the morning dew.

I fell in love with her the second time;
when first she bore her child and mine
always by my side, the source of my strength,
helping to turn the tide.

But there were candles to burn
the world was my concern;
while our home was her domain.
and the people were mine
while the children were hers to maintain;

So it was in those eighteen years and a day.
’till I was detained; forced in prison to stay.

Suddenly she’s our sole support;
source of comfort,
our wellspring of Hope.
on her shoulders felt the burden of Life.

I fell in love again,
with the same woman the third time.
Looming from the battle,
her courage will never fade

Amidst the hardships she has remained,
undaunted and unafraid.
she is calm and composed,
she is God’s lovely maid.

Numbers: 2008 Beijing Olympics

Facts and trivia I've searched on the web about the 2008 Olympics being held at Beijing, China:

- 28 number of sports competition.

- 302 scheduled events.

- 10, 708 athletes from different countries will be competing.

- 31 competition venues 6 will be held outside Beijing. These six are Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao, and Hong kong which will host the Football, Sailing and the Equestrian events.

- 1 host broadcaster , Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co., Ltd (BOB).

- 70, 000 olympic game volunteers.

- 6 deaths at all Beijing venues according to Reuters.

- 5,600 accredited written press and photographers.

- 1 world , One Dream. The official slogan of the Beijing Olympics.

- 6 universal values of the Olympic spirit signifying Unity, Friendship, Progress, Harmony, Participation and Dream.

- 5 five mascots for the game jointly called fuwa, each representing a ring of the 5 Olympic rings. Each of the Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow. They also represent 4 of the most popular animals in China and the Olympic flame. Read together with one syllable from each, it becomes ‘Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni’ which means "Welcome to Beijing."

- 0 gold so far for the Philippines but we are all in one spirit in supporting our brave athletes in their quest for our first Olympic gold. Go Team Philippines !

Wireless-N

A critic from a known tech. magazine said it best “If most routers look like Volvos, the new routers from Linksys look like Ferrari’s”. Choosing the right wireless router is just like choosing a car to purchase. You want it fast, with sleek design, and will cover more distance. If you’re just new with wireless networking and you’re thinking what kind of wireless router suits you best, then you may take a moment to look at the table for comparison of different protocols.

Protocol	Frequency (GHz)	Indoor Coverage Radius (m)	Outdoor Coverage Radius(m)
802.11a	2.4	~35	~120
802.11b	5	~38	~140
802.11g	2.4	~38	~140
802.11n	2.4,5	~70	~250

Table information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11n

Speed and Range
Basically, speed and range is really what you should look for in choosing the right wireless device. If budget is not the problem, obviously, based on the given table you should go for 802.11n. In terms of range, which can be defined as the distance between the wireless access point (AP) and the wireless client (laptop or desktop), 802.11n covers a wider range in comparison with the old 802.11 b and g. With the right devices and depending on the environment, the statement “up to 12 times faster than wireless-G” might be true for wireless-N routers. You also don’t have to worry if your laptop came with a built-in legacy 802.11 b or g card since wireless-N routers are backward compatible with it except for 802.11a.

MIMO (multiple in, multiple out)
The most significant new feature of 802.11n is MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) , which transmits multiple streams of data on different antennas in the same channel at the same time and then recombines the streams at a receiver that also has multiple antennas and radios. This new feature of wireless-N router helps it increase the wireless range and effectively decrease dead spot. Provided that all devices are running on 802.11n, you don’t have to worry of purchasing a range expander, a wireless repeater or a high gain antenna.

Choosing the right router
Almost all router manufacturers came up with their own versions of wireless-N routers in the market. Since the author is currently familiar and has hands-on experience with Linksys, I might as well just provide a few suggestions from the said brand like these models seen below: (WRT160N, WRT150N, WRT330N, WRT300N, WRT350N).

Images from Linksys website.

How about for my PC/laptop?
To get the advantage of wireless-N technology, it will be ideal to equip your laptop with adapters which also runs on the same 802.11n standard.


Images from Linksys website.

As mentioned earlier, other wireless router manufacturer has came up with their own wireless-N models. In the end, it will be up to you which brand you will choose. (D-Link, Netgear, Belkin, Apple, Buffalo, Zyxel etc.,). It is always recommended to go to their support site for more information and visit forum for reviews before picking the model number that you think will provide the best wireless networking experience.