Sunrise. The start of my last day of vacation. It doesn't look too much different then the sunset shot I took here. Though in this picture the sun is rising over the Atlantic. 
"Don't even think about taking my fish! Go find your own."
Snowy Egrets. Sigh. I egret to say vacation is done.
If you wear your chess related attire in enough different places someone is bound to ask you one of the following questions:
Are you a chess master?
Do you know _________? (fill in the blank)
I was asked both questions by a gentleman I met on the beach Thursday afternoon. He saw the Marshall Chess Club cap. He asked me if I knew Bruce Pandolfini. It turns out he had been the principal at a school in Charlotte, NC where Pandolfini visited and did a simul for the kids. We had a good time discussing "Searching for Bobby Fischer" and the reality of the book versus the movie. He mentioned that he asked Bruce about the scene where Bruce swept the pieces off the board in a fit of rage. He had wondered if that really happened. Bruce said not exactly.
Foto fun with pieces. One of my lame attempts at being artsy.
The Pelican Variation? They weren't too thrilled with my presence. 
Pelican Variation Part II
Their take off is the damnest thing.
One has to wonder how they get off the ground.
Though once they get going, they can haul ass.
Creatures with smaller wing spans. Monarch butterflies on their way to New Mexico for the winter. I saw hundreds of these beauties both at the beach and inland.
Alas all good things come to an end. Sunset, and hopefully not a bad moon risin'.
Okay this is a chess blog, so I will end this post with some chess. Back to the chess club tonight. We had a small turnout of 5 players so we played a casual Game/10. No prizes, and no quick rating results submitted. It figures I'd go 4-0 on a night like this. The position below was an approximation of the finishing touches on my game with Guy.
As the little arrow indicates it's very clear what my next move is going to be. I reached this position by using my bishops to chase him around and then finally got utilize a killer check by taking advantage of the pinned g pawn. I'm usually the one who gets nailed by my g3 pawn getting whacked because of that bishop lurking on a7. This time I beat my opponent to the punch with 1. Qxh6+ Kg7 2. Qxg7#
So back to my normally scheduled programming. Back to some teaching, directing and playing. Next stop on my travels will be adding another state to my "States I've played a tournament in.", Redmond, WA for the Washington State Class Championships over Thanksgiving weekend. I decided it was time to cash in some frequent flier points before some absurd merger causes me to lose them all.
PS. If you're registered to vote, don't forget to do so.
13 comments:
Pity that nice holiday is over. Nice photographs!
It's always a killer if you can take the h-pawn with your queen with check. I bet your opponent took your queen and you had to point out the pin.
tiger: Actually he saw immediately that he couldn't take the queen and he starts shaking his head realizing that mate follows.
Ouch! Even more painfull. Means he had a hole in his analysis there. Lucky for him he can do something about it for futher games.
Man, this really makes me want a vacation!
Your photos are getting nicer and nicer, they are looking professional.
Tiger: I picked up a few crucial tempi chasing his rook and getting those key diagonals. Once that happened he can't stop Qxh6.
Chessaholic: The only problem with vacation is it ends sooner or later, and that sucks. LOL
Pawn: I did a lot of black & white photography back in high school and college. I've spent too many recent years using little point and shoot cameras. Now I've gone back to an SLR camera, and it's taken time to relearn all the shutter, f-stop and ISO elements that are crucial to making the camera work for me. I may have to set up a photo blog. :-)
Is there some odd phenomenon going on in that part of the world or are you just tilting your camera?
You take some very nice photos, Polly! :)
That checkmate must have been pretty painful to watch for your opponent. Ouch.
tempo: I'm not sure which picture you're talking about.
Gorgeous pics. Thanks a lot for sharing them.
Those
. with
. horizons:)
Tempo: I see what you mean! I think the one with the chess pieces on the drift wood was because of the angle I was shooting. I was trying to get the beach and ocean in the background. Since the piece of driftwood was not level I'm sure that accounts for odd angle.
I didn't even notice the odd angle of the ocean on the subrise shot until you mentioned it. I think it probably was the way I was setting up the shot to catch the birds in flight.
The more we focus the more we miss what's evident but not in focus. Sounds like chess.
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