Lobowolf

I nominate Justin to the Appeals Board.

My pard & I are up & running now.

Are you going to post brackets, so we know who's up against whom in each round? You can put me down as willing to host, also, assuming I can coordinate with partner to finish early enough to be useful.

If you're playing SAYC, either bid is natural.

2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Terrence Reese's Master Play in Contract Bridge. In honor of a nice little book, here's a hand from it - [hv=n=skq3hqj62dqt9ca43&w=s9742h753d532cqj7&e=sajt865hat98d4ct5&s=shk4dakj876ck9862]399|300|[/hv] South played in 6♦ after E overcalls in diamonds...West leads the ♠2. Which side do you want?

He clearly went primarily with peak ability, not relative to peers. While no doubt he recognizes the genius of Capablanca, Alekhine, etc., they're the giants, and others are on their shoulders now. As for Karpov v. Fischer, Karpov got longevity credit. I think a peak Fischer beats a peak Karpov, but Karpov proved he was the best, albeit in a Fischer-less world, for a hell of a long time. He spent more than two years just defending the world championship. In the world of what-if, it's possible that if Fischer hadn't retired, Karpov might not have been world champion. I think Fischer easily beats him in '75 and '78 (years in which Karpov struggled mightily to beat Korchnoi) The interesting match would have been '81. It's not at all clear that Karpov would have caught Fischer before Kasparov caught Karpov. Karpov was definitely one of the elite, but he did catch a break in coming a long during the gap between two other elites.

Yasser Seirawan's latest book, "Chess Duels" arrived at my house yesterday. In addition to some great games, annotations, and anecdotes, he names his "5 greatest chess players." For the curious: 5. Boris Spassky 4. Viswanathan Anand 3. Bobby Fischer 2. Anatoly Karpov 1. Garry Kasparov

lobowolf/bkjswan

Put me down for treating them differently, also. Whatever the line is, they're on opposites sides of it. Treating them the same means underbidding #1 or overbidding #2. 3♣ seems like a necessary evil on the first one.

Best thread ever.

I'm trying not to hijack the WC, but I'm a big football fan. I can't wait until the season starts; I think the Raiders will be much improved without Russell.

Question 2: Do you know what the expression "prisoner's dilemma " refers to? Question 3: Do you understand how "prisoner's dilemma" applies to doping? Mike, don't answer those!

I was actually referring to the Paula Jones matter, not Lewinsky (i.e. fairly parallel sexual harassment charges). Liberals generally supported Anita Hill and denounced Paula Jones, while conservatives did the opposite. Nothing new under the sun. With respect to Lewinsky, Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice, not sexual conduct.

What's your question? Didn't we learn that back in the day when the hot button topic was sexual harassment allegations against prominent political figures? How could anyone have an opinion without knowing whether we're talking about Clarence Thomas or Bill Clinton?

Phil-San! Keep on rockin' in the free world.

Stolen bid doubles, but in my defense, I had a student who insisted.

I noticed that it's MPs, and I assume partner did, too. He probably also noticed that we're red against white. In addition to the other reasons for passing, the hand with the diamond length is usually better positioned to evaluate the ODR. He can diagnose our shortness and ruff bad diamonds on offense, or smack 'em upside the head with good diamonds on defense. The distribution is nice, but I have to say, doesn't seem like a close call to me. I trust partner to do something intelligent if 3♦ gets back to him and he has his fair share (or more) of the missing points.

Recommended reading related to this point for fans of literature in general and/or Shakespeare in particular: Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, by Harold Bloom

English.

Duvall's first feature film. Peck's performance is generally considered one of the best all-time acting performances in film history. Also Harper Lee's only novel, and it won the Pulitzer. She out-Ungared Stu Ungar.

I agree. Interestingly, I think Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is a top-3 Black Sabbath song, also.

No, we're all Rebublicans. ;) As Shakespeare's Polonius said, "Neither a Republican nor a Democrat be."

Heh

Yeah, my previous comment was a little egocentric...non-Swedes who particularly enjoy "romantic distance" might find it elevated, too. I'm generally neutral on romantic distance, and + on local color.

I tell students that while either play might be right or wrong, and you have to think about each case individually (preferably not at the key moment), far more tricks are lost by grabbing aces than by ducking them. With respect to avoiding a loss/seeking a gain, that may be part of it. I think the biggest factor by far, among beginning/intermediate players, is that the losses of ducking are just obviously, while the losses of grabbing are generally less readily apparent. I see it all the time...analogously, you have a hand where there's nothing to the play, and you get the lead of an unsupported ace in a suit where you have Kxx opposite Qxx. Making 5, and everyone is making 4 or 5 depending on how many tricks are won in this suit, and the defenders have no idea why you got an overtrick. Or in the middle of the hand...saw pretty much the identical layout just Saturday. Lead from the jack by the partner, low, 3rd hand ace from ATxx, winning one trick instead of two in the suit. They had no idea where the other trick was supposed to come from. But go to bed with an ace and they remember it for a week, and they're going to make darn sure THAT doesn't happen again.