Getting the Win

I finally got this win. Phew.

Anyone Who Knows What Love Is

So two of my friends and I have this WhatsApp group called "Songwriting" where we share songwriting tips and discuss why we like certain songs. I thought that my last contribution to this WhatsApp group was worth sharing here.  Enjoy. 

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Hey guys,

So, like, this song, "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" from 1964 is my new favorite song at the moment, and I thought I'd just tell you why...like, break the piece down in terms of how I see it as a music lover and songwriter.

So, first off, I like the song because right at the beginning, there's that catchy, twinkling-like little hook with the xylophone. I feel that when writing a song, you really have to catch people at the first moment. This can be done in many different ways, and this twinkly little riff definitely does it.

Then, of course, there's that chorus of people repeating "anyone." I like that, but that's all, I just like it, nothing more. Then comes the singer's voice. In addition to being smoky and full of emotion, I like how she takes the time to enunciate, and I certainly like that her words and her story are so simple.

You can blame me

Try to shame me

And still I'll care for you.

The highlight of the song, though, I think, is the pre-chorus. You really feel a rise, a rise in tension; plus, there is so much emotion in those chords and in the melody. And speaking of the chords themselves, I think they create a poignant mixture of emotion because they are not run-of-the mill. In fact, most of the chords in the pre-chorus are what's known as achromatic, meaning they break key.

So, for example,  the song starts in the key of D major. However, in the pre-chorus, we have our first achromatic chord change with that D minor.  D minor is definitely not in the key of D major, but that's OK because music is all about breaking the rules.  All that being as it is, the pre-chorus has got a lot of chromatic chords—it almost seems to be in an entirely different key, maybe G# minor?—but then, thankfully, when we get to the refrain, "Anyone who knows what love is will understand," we return to our original key, D, and the tension is released.

And speaking of the refrain, we can't underestimate how important it is. Not only is it the title of the song, but it is also such a fantastic release of tension. It's almost like the waters have finally reached the sea, so to speak.

As for the second verse, well, I like that too because it continues on that same theme, "I may act crazy, but I'm in love, and that's what love is, whether you understand it or not."

Finally,  I think I like the song because it speaks to something universal, love—and, that is, I feel, love however you might interpret it.

So that's my take on the song. I thought it would be cool to write this so you guys could see how my mind works when it comes to listening to music and songwriting.

Anna Rudolf

So there's a funny story with this game. Recently, I've been taking an online endgame course. The course was created by Anna Rudolf, a prominent International Master of chess. The funny thing is, though, on chess.com, there is an Anna Rudolf bot that you can play against. The bot supposedly plays at the same strength as Rudolf (2400) and plays moves and openings that she would. 

Well...

I actually beat the Anna Rudolf bot today. I think it was the seventh time I played against "her." All the other times I lost. 

The super ironic thing is—and this is really funny—this game I won against the Anna bot today goes into the endgame, and I actually used some of the techniques that the real Anna taught me in her endgame course. 

The game is below. I've annotated it so you can see what I was thinking every step of the way.

Finally Did It

I was trying to beat this opponent all night...I finally did it. I have the black pieces. My dark-squared bishop was a monster in the end. 

Artist

Yesterday, I was researching something on the New York Times website, and I came across this really interesting article from 1964. 

The article is about an eccentric artist who never really had much success in his life. However, after he died a violent death, a gallery decided to hold an exhibition of his works. 

The guy seemed like a sort of tragic figure, but there was something very intriguing and maybe even beautiful, in one way or another, about the article. 

Nice Win with the Black Pieces

Here is a nice win of mine. I have the black pieces, and I chose to play the King's Indian Defense in response to White's opening move of pawn to d4.  

 Just so you know, in the King's Indian Defense (1. d4, Nf6 2. c4, g6 3. Nc3, Bg7, 4. e4, d6), Black cedes center control of the board to white, at least for the time being, then seeks to undermine white's position in various ways. White, for his part, tries to play on the queenside. However, if White is not careful and/or doesn't generate sharp enough queenside play, Black, if he's skilled enough, will amass his pieces on the kingside, then launch a attack.  

 In the game below, I was able to do just that—amass my pieces on the kingside and ultimately launch an pernicious attack. 

My opponent was rated 2000, which is 200 Elo points below a master. The "Elo" system is the system that's used to calculate  a chess player's strength. Enjoy! *

The Red Wheelbarrow

I'm kinda proud that I was able to teach this poem to a few of my students today. The students were teenagers, and their take on the poem was super interesting. The poem itself, I think, is mystifying. 

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"The Red Wheelbarrow"

By William Carlos Williams  

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

No Context

The following text was on my desktop. I'm not gonna say why. I'm just gonna post it without any context. Enjoy! 

Titanic is a love story and in it a boy, who is from the lower classes, falls in love with a girl from the higher classes. However, their love affair is cut short by the fact that they are on the Titanic. The boat hits an iceberg and the story ends in tragedy.

Endgame Knowledge

So I've been working hard on my endgame recently, and that can really be seen at the end of this game. Instead of promoting my pawn to a queen, I instead opt for a knight. This means that I will have to mate with a bishop and a knight, which is a heck of a lot harder than mating with a bishop and a queen or even a king and a queen. But I wanted to put some of the endgame knowledge I've acquired to use. The mate was difficult to achieve, but I'm happy I figured it out. My opponent (2000) has the black pieces and she played the Sicilian Defense. 

Marty Chess

So my girlfriend and I have been playing a lot of chess recently, and I have begun teaching her Philidor's Defense. Basically, Philidor's Defense is a system for Black. Anyone who plays chess knows that many games open with White pushing his king's pawn two squares forward, to e4, and Black responding by pushing his own king's pawn, also two squares, to e5. Usually—again, if you are even the least bit familiar with chess, you have probably seen this before—White will then bring his king's knight to f3, attacking Black's pawn on e5. If Black responds to this threat by moving his queen's pawn one square, to d6, in an effort, of course, to support his center pawn on e5, then the opening moves of Philidor's Defense have been played. 

Anyway, Marty and I have been playing games in the Philidor's Defense recently (with her as Black), and below is a game we played tonight. In my opinion, Marty had some great moments. Her first impressive move was 9…knight to c5. She was going after my dangerous bishop and eventually got it! 11…pawn to b5 was also new for her (with this move she grabbed some space on the queenside), and 14…queen to b6 was also impressive, as it stationed her powerful female monarch on a good attacking square. 

Marty's best move in my mind, though, was undoubtedly 19…knight to f6. Marty was under heavy attack at this point, and she had the presence of mind to ignore the threat on e6 and instead go after my queen on g4. This was a high-class move because it both attacked my queen and brought her knight to a much better square. 

In the end, I did win, but, hey, Marty put up a heck of a fight. 

Go Marty! 

Chess Rival

When I used to play chess on gamecolony.com, I had a rival, "mcrat." This guy and I, man, we used to tear it up. We would play game after game after game, and our games would always be super sharp and exciting. He was the yin to my yang or something. 

Anyway, years went by before I realized that his handle wasn't mcrat. It was mrcat. 

Two

I got up from my desk, turned on the radiator, went into the kitchen and filled the electric kettle up with water. I then went over to my bed and grabbed a bag of beef jerky that was lying among several other things that I had dumped out of my backpack earlier. As I was about to sit down at my desk again, I noticed that I had forgotten to turn on the electric kettle.  

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I went for a run last night. The running paths were sludgy. I couldn’t see much, and I was just praying that the muck under my feet was just mud—not mud mixed with dog shit. At one point, I lept over a puddle that I swear was in the shape of Australia. 

Here's a Memory

When I was about 10 years old, I went with Zhong, my best friend at the time, to his cousins’ apartment in Manhattan to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The apartment was somewhere in Chinatown, but this was a long time ago, so I can’t say exactly what street. 

When we arrived at the apartment, Zhong’s aunts, uncles, cousins, and a slew of other family members were in the living room. I remember one of Zhong’s cousins, a woman in her 20s, came over to me and handed me a gift: a red envelope with a little bit of money in it. Exchanging small red, cash-bearing envelopes, I learned, was a custom of Chinese New Year.  

Anyway, at some point during the gathering, I found myself in the bedroom of the apartment, alone. For whatever reason, I took a seat on the bed, and as I was looking around, my gaze happened to fall on a bottle of whiskey. The bottle, which was more like a carafe in shape, was among several other bottles on a fancy-looking trolly next to a long wooden bureau.

Being 10 years old, I got it into my head that it might be interesting to try the whisky. I had never drunk alcohol before, and I guess my curiosity just got the best of me. So when I felt the coast was clear, I went over to the trolly, removed the bottle's stopper, took a sip, and...

Was immediately repulsed: IT WAS PERFUME.

Beating "Beth Harmon" (at 2500)

I finally beat "Beth Harmon" (rating 2500). I must have played 100 games against "her" on chess.com. But today I finally won. I have the black pieces. The opening in this game is the "four pawns attack" variation of the Kings Indian Defense.

Dance Me to the End of Love...

 The song “Dance Me to the End of Love” comes on, and Martina laughs. 

“What is that?” 

“That's good shit," I say.

I think about going online and looking for a cover version of “Dance Me to the End of Love.” Perhaps a cover might be a little easier.

But I decide not to. Let’s let this version roll. 

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin

Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in

Touch me with your naked hand, touch me with your glove

Dance me to the end of love

Beating Beth Harmon

Have you seen that Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit"? Well, the chess website that I play on, chess.com, created a bot for Beth Harmon. I beat her at age 17, when, according to chess.com, she was rated at around 2400. It took me about 40 games to get a win. I have the white pieces.

Chess win

 Another chess win against a "master." Granted, my opponent is a bot. But "his" score is 2450. I have the white pieces.  

Jury-rigged

Martina jury-rigged a standup desk for me. She used an ironing board, an old photo album and two textbooks. 

Knife

 

One year I flew to Germany for a week so I could spend Christmas with my ex-girlfriend. The airport that I flew out of for that trip was Newark Liberty International. At the airport, I realized that the Swiss army knife that my cousin had gifted me was in my backpack. Instead of throwing out the knife—which was my first thought; after all, what was I to do?—I hid it outside the terminal, in some shrubbery near a designated smoking area. 

When I got back from my trip, I had totally forgotten about the knife. However, as I was leaving the airport I remembered it. For a minute I thought that I would just let it go. After all, what were the chances that the knife was still there? But then, a little voice went off in my head: Come on, Chad, your cousin got you that knife. I listened to the voice and trekked over to the designated smoking area. The knife was still there. I still have it today.

Chess Win Against a "Master"

My first win against a chess master. Of course, the "master" was a computer, but, still, it had a rating of 2200. I have the black pieces.