The English Language

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Hi soheil

I'd usually associate 'timing' with a Black set up where he is facing
a mass of pawns of central pawns. King's Indian, Pirc, Modern, Hedgehog...

There the timing of the thrust ...c5, ...d5, ...e5 is important.
It has to be timed right - played at the correct moment.

Black playing d5 in a Sicilian has to be timed well.

You sometimes see - "Black has timed his counter-attack just right."
Too soon and White could have handled it, too late and Black gets mated.

"The type of game produced by open positions will teach you about timing..."

There may be a slight piece of mis-translation here.

In open positions it is 'Tempo' that is the important factor.

hi Geoff
What is the piece of mis-translation?

I would say that in open position one can be severely punished for a seemingly slight mistake

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi soheil,

I thought your were translating a book into another language.
I can see how tempo can get confused with timing.

"I would say that in open position one can be severely punished for a seemingly slight mistake."

Yes and often the mistake in the opening is losing tempo.
Nicking a pawn, moving bits about without developing.
But tempo is a temporary adavantage, it must be traded in for positive plus.

In open positions you can gain a tempo for an attack by placing a piece
on an aggresive square and attacking another unit.
The defending player has to hold the piece rather than making a defensive move
that will stop the coming attack,

I suppose one could say 'this is a well timed move.' but it makes it clearer
if the note reads, White has gained a tempo by shifting his Queen to the Kingside
(say Qh5) hitting the loose Knight on a5.

[John McKenna]

Hi.
What does it mean that:
The type of game produced by open positions will teach you about timing and will introduce you to the tactics necessary to deal with the lack of development and an exposed king.

?Thanks in advance

O Ingenious Star,

Please supply a literal translation of what follows into English -

نوع از بازی های تولید شده توسط پوزیشن های باز شما را در مورد زمان بندی تدریس و شما را به تاکتیک های لازم را برای مقابله با عدم توسعه و پادشاه در معرض معرفی.

Assuming you're still translating Seirawan, do you have his blessing?

I see that "Happy" has reached Iran but has not been well received.

It's probably never going to be the time for this there -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKQ048-O4vs

[Michael Flatt]

What does it mean that

'Unlike a combination, a sacrifice is not always a calculable commodity...'

I found the following definition in the Glossary of Seirawan's Winning Chess:

Sacrifice: The voluntary offer of material for compensation in space, time, pawn structure, or even force. (A sacrifice can lead to a force advantage in a particular part of the board.) unlike a combination, a sacrifice is not always a calculable commodity and often entails an element of uncertainty.

When you read the definition in its entirety it seems self explanatory. The final phrase which was missing in your original post is the key.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Hi.
What does 'stomping ground' mean in:
1. b6
Now Black is forced back even further. Notice how he can move only on the 7th and 8th ranks, whereas White has the first six ranks as his stomping ground.

?Thanks in advance

[Roger de Coverly]

"Stomping Ground" is a standard English metaphor or figure of speech with no particular chess meaning.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stomping+ground and others similar give definitions and context.

Assuming this is Seirawan's book, he's using colourful or indeed colorful language for the sake of it.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

It refers to the territory or space gained by White. Nothing wrong with colourful language for the sake of it. Though I am wondering why these sort of questions couldn't be asked of the author himself... (crowd-sourced translations?)

[Arshad Ali]

It refers to the drive for control of clearly demarcated territory among so many species (including primates such as chimps, gorillas, and humans). Once an individual or group controls a particular territory it feels at liberty to do with it what it will (its "stomping ground") and to chase off, boot out, or even kill intruders. In this connection I refer to the famous Gombe War of the 1970s:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... 4c4sCgythc

[Peter D Williams]

Home turf it can mean or my manor as Ron/Reg Kay would say.

Righ back to cuting a tree down all this rain has made everthing grow to much

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Hi.
Any even a small difference between a draw/tie/tie gsme?

Thanks a million in advance

[Michael Farthing]

It's quite unusual to use 'tie' in chess for the result of an indivisial game: the usual word is always 'draw' (But as always USA may be different)

We do, however, use 'tie' for people who have the same number of points in a competition (especially if there is no rule for deciding an order). So we could say "his last game with Fred was a draw, giving him 6 points and he tied for second place with three other players"

'Tie' is used in cricket for the special case of a draw where both sides have the same number of 'runs' at the end of a game. Draws are then games in which a result has not been reached for some other reason: in cricket this usually means the end of allowed time has been reached but the game was not finished within that time.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

He said stalemate ends the game as a draw, or a tie.

I couldn't find an american chess forum

[Bill Porter]

He said stalemate ends the game as a draw, or a tie.

I couldn't find an american chess forum

https://www.uschess.org/forums/

This is an official forum, slightly more interesting than http://www.englishchess.org.uk/

[Alex Holowczak]

'Tie' is used in cricket for the special case of a draw where both sides have the same number of 'runs' at the end of a game. Draws are then games in which a result has not been reached for some other reason: in cricket this usually means the end of allowed time has been reached but the game was not finished within that time.

This is not strictly correct. Tie is used in cricket for the special case of a draw where both sides have the same number of runs at the end of a game and the side batting last has completed its innings. An innings can be completed in many ways: (1) A side is all out (2) A side declaring its innings closed, or forfeiting its innings. (3) A side's prescribed overs expiring (e.g. one day cricket) (4) A side's prescribed time expiring (e.g. a timed match) (5) A wicket has been taken or a batsman has retired, but there is no further batsman available, and further balls remain to be bowled (e.g. 9 wickets down, the number 11 is in hospital).

For example:
England 273 & 138 v Australia 224 & 187/9 with no balls remaining in the match is a draw
England 273 & 138 v Australia 224 & 187 is a tie
England 273 & 138 v Australia 224 & 187/9d is a tie (although quite why you'd declare...)
England 273 & 138 v Australia 224 & 187/9 with one or more balls remaining and the number 11 unavailable to bat is a tie

[IM Jack Rudd]

England 273 & 138 v Australia 224 & 187/9d is a tie (although quite why you'd declare...)

A tied match is sufficient to win the tournament, and one of your batsmen is going for a best-batting-average prize, which he would miss out on if he lost his wicket.