Jeffrey Ashton

A student named Joe Li told me about lichess.org. Since yesterday, I have been using the free app for iPhone. It might be my favorite app for playing online, although I've been a loyal supporter of the Internet Chess Club (chessclub.com) for about 20 years. Features that I like: - Game analysis - Simple sharing of the notation - Training Tactics - Kid Mode. I wish there was a way to keep this on always. Parents and coaches can tell if the kid turns "kid mode" off. This feature blocks all chat (people are rude on free and paid internet chess sites). Their features aren't anything new, but they implement them well. It's very well designed. They have an "open source" philosophy, and they only make money by donations. You can find me on lichess.org as JeffreyAshton.

Round 1-Untitled Event Thursday, May 12, 2016 White: Black: Ashton, Jeffrey No Result First Move Recorded: May 12, 2016 at 7:31:51 PM CDT Last Move Recorded: May 12, 2016 at 7:56:05 PM CDT 1. e4 c5 2. ♘f3 ♞c6 3. ♗b5 e6 4. ♗xc6 bxc6 5. O-O ♞e7 6. ♘e5 d6 7. ♘c4 ♞g6 8. d4 ♝a6 9. b3 d5 10. exd5 cxd5 11. ♘e5 ♞xe5 12. dxe5 ♝xf1 13. ♕xf1 ♝e7 14. ♕b5 ♛d7 15. ♕xd7 ♚xd7 16. h3 ♜hc8 17. c4 a5 18. cxd5 exd5 19. ♗e3 a4 20. bxa4 d4 - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

... is illegal. You aren't supposed to talk to your opponent.  Sometimes, very often in fact, a player will ask his opponent: "Do you want to stop notating?" If you are asked this, just continue to notate.  Also, it is wrong to pressure your opponent, before the game, to skip notating.  Chess teaches you patience if you follow the rules. The rules say you have to notate until either player has less than 5 minutes. Special exceptions can be made by the tournament director for special situations. 

I will be at the Village School tournament this weekend. See you there!

Happy New Year!   Don't forget to make some chess goals, but more importantly, set up a productive routine and commit to it. Make sure that this routine is realistic. Make sure that it is a routine that you won't quit.   It is about 2 weeks after the New Year, so your resolution excitement might have worn off a little bit. That's ok. This allows you to set a REALISTIC goal.   Be careful about setting a rating goal. I don't think it's bad to do this, but sometimes you can just have a cold streak, a few bad pairings, and your goal becomes impossible to reach. The bad thing about setting up a rating goal can be shown an example like this: "I am 1600 by January 1, 2017." Well, what if your rating is 1400 on December 1. What's the point of even trying in December?   Here are some good chess goals: Play 50 tournaments (150 or more tournament games!) in 2016. Notate every game until I or my opponent has 5 minutes on my clock. Try my best to enter every game i