Author: Zander (Page 8 of 9)

Learning to play chess: my first fifty games

September 10, 2024 / Zander

Well, it didn’t take long. The first five games necessary for getting my rating on chess.com, all victories. The sixth game, a defeat. I was rated 1264 and got paired against a 1313 player. That’s what I expected from the beginning, advancing to a rating that reflected my abilities and then being held there by being paired against stronger opponents. So after fifty games my rating is not much different than after five games. I managed to cross the 1300 barrier, but was sent back down by a few defeats.

I am now at rating 1276, with 27 games won (54.0%), 2 drawn (4.0%), and 21 lost (42.0%). 100% win rate against opponents up to 1199, 48.1% win rate against opponents up to 1299, and 35.7% win rate against opponents higher than 1300. Average accuracy: 73.48. If I am to improve those numbers, I believe I need to do two main things. The first one is to learn more about openings. Many of my losses were due to a weak position after responding poorly to openings I didn’t know. The second one is to pay more attention and to play slower. I make silly mistakes because I don’t see some threats and move my pieces too fast before fully analyzing the position.

My next step is to be humble and study a book of chess for beginners. I chose Levy Rozman‘s new book How to Win at Chess, which is supposed to walk you from the very basics of the game to an intermediate level. I don’t forget that my current rating is already beyond my original goals, but I see room for some improvement. Let’s see whether a little study can make me a better player or if I’m already at my peak.

(This is the end of the post. What follows is just a list of notes for my own use, which you will probably find boring. Move on to the next post.)

*****

I will list below a long series of short notes I made about my first fifty games (well, the first five are here: Learning to play chess: my first five games). They are of little interest to most people, but I wanted to leave it registered for my own use and this seems to be a good place to do it.

For my first defeat, I was paired against a player with a rating of 1313. The game was pretty even for the first 20 moves. Then I secured an advantage by capturing two pawns, let him capture three of mine, and forced a trade of a knight for a pawn (otherwise I would crown the pawn). I was happy with my position but let my guard down and was forked, losing a bishop and arriving at hopeless situation on move 32. After that, I still fought for another 20 moves but was unable to stop his extra pawn from crowning, and decided to resign. That cost me 45 points in my rating. Despite losing, I got reasonable good marks in the game review: “You had a pretty competitive game there. The opening was balanced. It was an incredible middlegame by both of you. You both battled pretty evenly in the endgame.” My accuracy was 78.8, against 81.0 from my opponent. Estimated 1450 rating for this game, against 1500 from my opponent. Opponent from: Bangladesh. Opening: Colle System.

I rebounded from that defeat with a victory by resignation on the 13th move with the black pieces after my opponent blundered his queen. My accuracy was 78.2. Estimated 1400 rating for this game. Opponent from: Georgia. Opening: Saragossa.

Another victory by resignation with the black pieces, this time on the 52nd move. My accuracy was 62.2. Estimated 1050 rating for this game. Opponent from: Georgia. Opening: King’s Fianchetto. With this victory I reached a rating of 1307.

A strange game here. With the white pieces, I opened with 1.d4. My opponent immediately offered a draw. I refused and he aborted the game. Curiously, it didn’t count as a loss for him or a victory for me.

With the black pieces once more, a sad loss in the endgame, with one of his paws too fast for my king. My accuracy was 72.3. Estimated 1250 rating for this game. Opponent from: United Kingdom. Opening: Accelerated London System. Back to a rating of 1264.

With the white pieces, I played a ridiculous game where I had to resign on the 20th move for playing so badly. I just put my queen in a place where it could be captured by a pawn. My accuracy was 65.1. Estimated 1100 rating for this game. Opponent from: France. Opening: Zuketort, Chigorin Variation. Back to a rating of 1230.

White pieces again, and a victory by checkmate on the 38th move. My accuracy was 87.2. Estimated 1650 rating for this game. Opponent from: USA. Opening: Indian Game: East Indian, Colle, Grunfeld Formation. Rating of 1254 now.

Another victory with the white pieces, by resignation on the 41st move when mate in three was unavoidable. The computer said I played two great moves. My accuracy was 73.3. Estimated 1250 rating for this game. Opponent from: India. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zukertort Variation. Rating of 1275 now.

I was playing such a good game with the black pieces, with an advantage of three pawns and a good position, and then on move 27 I blundered a bishop and resigned in frustration. My accuracy was 77.8. Estimated 1450 rating for this game. Opponent from: Canada. Opening: King’s Gambit.

With the white pieces, I got a quick victory by resignation on the 16th move, after some tactical combinations left my opponent down 17 points of material. My accuracy was 77.4. Estimated 1350 rating for this game. Opponent from: USA. Opening: Englund Gambit. Rating of 1270 now.

The next game was strange. My opponent was playing at a certain low level (even got a bishop trapped) and then suddenly started to play much better, like a computer. I felt he was cheating. But I didn’t play well either. My accuracy was 58.3. Estimated 950 rating for this game. Opponent from: Mexico. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zukertort Variation. Rating of 1246 now.

Another loss with the black pieces, by resignation on move 40, in a hopeless position. He had a well studied opening and I had no answer for that. My accuracy was 58.3 (exactly the same as in the previous game). Estimated 900 rating for this game. Opponent from: Indonesia. Opening: King’s Gambit Accepted. Rating of 1224 now.

Then I played what was possibly my worst game ever. Good opening with the white pieces, a bishop sacrifice to corner his king, then two great moves, and when I was ready to give the final blow I blundered a piece exchange and resigned. My accuracy was 75.5. Estimated 1350 rating for this game. Opponent from: Brazil. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Horwitz Defense. Rating of 1206 now.

Finally, after several defeats, a victory with the black pieces, by checkmate. The game was decided much earlier, but my opponent decided to play until the end, even after he lost all his pieces and his king was all alone. My accuracy was 81.0. Estimated 1500 rating for this game. Opponent from: Canada. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zukertort Variation. Rating of 1226 now.

And then a victory by checkmate on the 37th move with the white pieces. My opponent was paying attention to the pawn race we were engaged on, trying to crown his pawn first, and didn’t realize I was going to use my pawn not to make another queen but to trap his king. My accuracy was 80.1. Estimated 1450 rating for this game. Opponent from: USA. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zukertort, Chigorin Variation. Rating of 1245 now.

And another win by checkmate, this time with the black pieces on the 54th move. He had more pawns in the endgame, but I had a passed pawn closer to the final line. He still tried to crown a pawn but missed the checkmate of queen and knight. The computer said I had five great moves, my record so far in a single game. My accuracy was 78.9. Estimated 1450 rating for this game. Opponent from: USA. Opening: English Opening: Reversed Sicilian, Kramnik-Shirov Counterattack. Rating of 1264 now.

Game number 21 was my fastest win so far. My opponent, playing with the white pieces, hung a knight on move four and resigned on move five after I took it. My accuracy was 100 (which is funny for just five moves). Estimated 2100 rating for this game. Opponent from: Indonesia. Opening: Queen’s Gambit Declined: Baltic, Pseudo-Slav Defense (does anyone know all these names?). Rating of 1282 now.

Then I got a victory by checkmate with the white pieces on move 31. My accuracy was 80.5. Estimated 1500 rating for this game. Opponent from: India. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zuketort Variation. Rating of 1298 now.

The next game was a very bitter draw with the black pieces. I was moving my rook to apply checkmate when my time ran out and the game was declared a “drawn by timeout vs insufficient material” (king, queen and rook vs king). That taught me a lesson: enable premoves, so I can play faster in situations like these. Since my opponent was higher rated than me, the draw still gave me 4 points, enough to take me to 1302. My accuracy was 80.4. Estimated 1550 rating for this game. Opponent from: USA. Opening: King’s Pawn Opening: Leonardis Variation. Rating of 1302 now.

Another early resignation in the next game, as my opponent surrendered on move 11 with the black pieces, after realizing the only way to stop my early attack on the king was by sacrificing his queen. My accuracy was 92.7. Estimated 1950 rating for this game. Opponent from: India. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zuketort, Chigorin Variation. Rating of 1318 now.

Then I got totally outplayed by another Indian player who knew his opening better than I did. I resigned on move 30. My accuracy was 76.9. Estimated 1400 rating for this game. Opponent from: India. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Horwitz Defese. Rating of 1302 now.

I thought I was going to lose the next game as well, with the black pieces, because I got to the endgame with three pawns less than my opponent. But I played a solid and stubborn defense and managed to take the advantage after 62 moves. He resigned. My accuracy was 84.2. Estimated 1600 rating for this game. Opponent from: Italy. Opening: Ruy Lopes Opening: Morphy Defese. Rating of 1315 now.

It seems that every time I pass the mark of 1300 I start losing. This time I resigned on move 46 with the black pieces, after getting outplayed in the endgame. My accuracy was 70.5. Estimated 1200 rating for this game. Opponent from: India. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zuketort Variation. Rating of 1300 now.

And then I made my worst mistake ever, blundering my white queen on the 13th move and resigning immediately. My accuracy was 60.7. Estimated 1000 rating for this game. Opponent from: Uruguay. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Horwitz Defense. Rating of 1290 now.

It’s sad and funny at the same that that my next opponent also blundered his queen and resigned, on move 16 with the black pieces. My accuracy was 69.9. Estimated 1250 rating for this game. Opponent from: Mexico. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zuketort Variation. Rating of 1304 now.

For my 30th game, I played the Blackburne Shilling Gambit with the black pieces, one of the very few opening tricks I know. My opponent was clearly not familiar with it and was checkmated on move 7 (that’s the main image for this blog post). My accuracy was 92.9. Estimated 1950 rating for this game. Opponent from: Argentina. Opening: Blackburne Shilling Gambit. Rating of 1316 now.

Not a good day for chess. Three losses in a row, and one was not even my fault.

I thought I had a solid position with the black pieces but then my opponent started taking my pawns, one, two, three, and that was a poor endgame for me with that material disadvantage. Resigned on move 50. My accuracy was 79.7. Estimated 1550 rating for this game. Opponent from: USA. Opening: Bishop’s opening, Berlin Defense. Rating of 1303 now.

The next game was befuddling. I had my opponent one move from checkmate. He sacrificed a bishop to avoid that. And then four moves later he checkmated me. I totally missed that, it was the first time I was checkmated in all my games. Very disappointing. My accuracy was 64.3. Estimated 1550 rating for this game. Opponent from: Kazakhstan. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zukertort, Chigorin Variation. Rating of 1293 now.

Another frustrating experience. I was doing well with the white pieces, up a bishop on move 35, and then the electricity went off. Lost by abandonment. That brought me down to rating 1281.

Finally, I got a victory, with the white pieces. My opponent lost a rook in some poorly calculated piece exchange, and resigned on move 24. My accuracy was 78.1. Estimated 1450 rating for this game. Opponent from: Philippines. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Anti-Torre Attack. Rating of 1290 now.

Then a victory with the black pieces, by resignation on move 54. My opponent actually tried to give me the Scholar’s Mate. I defended appropriately, of course, and the computer classified my sixth move, a knight sacrifice, as brilliant. It’s my first brilliancy ever. My accuracy was 76.0. Estimated 1350 rating for this game. Opponent from: India. Opening: Bishop Opening. Rating of 1298 now.

Appalling game. Big blunder on move 22 with the black pieces, gave a rook away and resigned. My accuracy was the worst ever, 46.7. Estimated 600 rating for this game. Opponent from: Philippines. Opening: King’s Gambit. Rating of 1286 now.

Another defeat. Slowly outplayed, little by little lost material, got to the endgame with my bishop and two pawns against his rook and two pawns, nothing to do but resign. My accuracy was 69.4. Estimated 1150 rating for this game. Opponent from: Indonesia. Opening: Englund Gambit. Rating of 1278 now.

Finally, a win. With the white pieces, in an endgame of queen and pawns, I outmatched my opponent and he resigned on move 61. My accuracy was 73.4. Estimated 1300 rating for this game. Opponent from: Romania. Opening: King’s Pawn Opening: Goldsmith Defense. I’m not sure how this can be a King’s Pawn Opening if I started with 1.d4. Perhaps it’s a transposition, because I played 2.e4? Rating of 1287 now.

A blunder on the 18th move with the black pieces makes me lose the will to play. After losing a bishop that I didn’t see was being attacked, I resigned. My accuracy was 69.3. Estimated 1200 rating for this game. Opponent from: Russia. Opening: Polish Opening. Rating of 1277 now.

The next game, again with black, wasn’t much better. I messed up the opening so badly that I ended up resigning on move 28, feeling totally defeated. My accuracy was 62.2. Estimated 1050 rating for this game. Opponent from: Philippines. Opening: Blackburn Shilling Gambit Declined. Rating of 1267 now.

A draw is better than a loss, so I imagine I shouldn’t be sad about this game. I got a good material advantage but my opponent was lucky that he could force a draw by repetition. My accuracy was 69.0. Estimated 1200 rating for this game. Opponent from: Philippines. Opening: Indian Game: East Indian. Rating of 1268 now.

A little victory to get me going. Endgame of black rook and bishop (me) versus white rook and knight (him) resulted in his resignation on move 47. My accuracy was 75.0. Estimated 1350 rating for this game. Opponent from: Bosnia and Herzegovina. Opening: Blackburn Shilling Gambit Declined. Rating of 1276 now.

It seems every time I start to gain a little confidence I’m paired with a stronger opponent. This one had three Great Moves (according to the computer) and made me resign with the white pieces on move 42. My accuracy was 70.9. Estimated 1200 rating for this game. Opponent from: New Zealand. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Krause Variation. Rating of 1268 now.

Checkmate on move 66 with the white pieces makes me smile again, especially against a higher rated opponent who started the game with an insulting trap (1. d4 e5, 2.dxe5 Bc5, 3. f3 d6, 4. exd6 Ne7, trying to get my queen). My accuracy was 74.9. Estimated 1350 rating for this game. Opponent from: United Arab Emirates. Opening: Englund Gambit. Rating of 1278 now.

Got a bad opening, with material advantage but allowing my opponent to have two unstoppable connected passed pawns. Resigned on move 37. My accuracy was 68.9. Estimated 750 rating for this game. Opponent from: France. Opening: Blackburn Shilling Gambit Declined. Rating of 1268 now.

Then a quick victory with the black pieces, to keep my spirit up. My opponent resigned on move 25 after I trapped his queen. My accuracy was 80.2. Estimated 1450 rating for this game. Opponent from: Indonesia. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening. Rating of 1274 now.

Lost the next one with the black pieces in an endgame against pawn superiority and a stronger opponent. Resigned on move 67. My accuracy was 71.7. Estimated 1300 rating for this game. Opponent from: Canada. Opening: Slav Defense. Rating of 1268 now.

A strange game where my opponent tried to attack me very early and very forcefully with the black pieces, and after I defended myself appropriately he resigned on move 21. Even though I played solidly enough to make him resign, the computer wanted me to follow some other plan and gave me very low scores for not doing it. My accuracy was 49.9. Estimated 700 rating for this game. Opponent from: Kazakhstan. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Horwitz Defense. Rating of 1275 now.

I consider very poor sportsmanship when the player is about to be checkmated and, instead of letting it happen or resigning the game, lets the clock run until he loses on time. That’s what happened in this game, where I won with the black pieces on move 88 in a rook and pawns endgame. My accuracy was 73.3. Estimated 1300 rating for this game. Opponent from: Iran. Opening: Scotch Game. Rating of 1283 now.

To close my first series of fifty games I had a very silly loss where I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing and made a couple of serious blunders. Resigned on move 19. My accuracy was 64.5. Estimated 1100 rating for this game. Opponent from: France. Opening: Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zukertort Variation. Rating of 1276 now.

Favorite Movies 2011-2020

September 3, 2024 / Zander

In chronological order, only one movie per director.

Mientras Duermes (Jaume Balagueró, 2011)
Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
About Time (Richard Curtis, 2013)
Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmush, 2013)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2014)
Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014)
Relatos Salvajes (Damián Szifrón, 2014)
The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015)
Trumbo (Jay Roach, 2015)
Captain Fantastic (Matt Ross, 2016)
The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro, 2017)
Marjorie Prime (Michael Almereyda, 2017)
Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)
Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019)
Dolor y Gloria (Pedro Almodóvar, 2019)
Waiting for the Barbarians (Ciro Guerra, 2019)
Ventajas de Viajar en Tren (Aritz Moreno, 2019)
The Midnight Sky (George Clooney, 2020)

Playing Old CRPGs Again: the plan

August 27, 2024 / Zander

One of my projects for 2024 (yes, I have many projects) is to play again (or, in some cases, for the first time) old computer role playing games (CRPGs). It’s something that gave pleasure for many years and I want to experience it again. I think I will be disappointed in some cases but rewarded in others.

I won’t start with games from the Ultima series (Origin Systems) or the Gold Box series (SSI) because I was never able to like them. It wasn’t because of the primitive graphics, I don’t mind that (I still enjoy playing the classic Rogue, which is just white letters and symbols over a black background). It was the clunkiness of the gameplay and in some cases the silliness of the story.

I was never a fan of the Ultima series. The whole mythology centered around the figure of Lord British (game creator Richard Garriott’s alter ego) was silly, and made even sillier by the pretentious use of Old English expressions like “thee” and “thy”. The worst part, however, was the gameplay. These games were never fun, just piling up one annoyance after another. Working on spreadsheets was more entertaining than playing these early Ultima games. The only game in the series that I had a sliver of fun playing was Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992). This was the first time we saw freedom of 360 degrees movement in a game. Even in that low resolution, it was impressive. The gameplay was still cumbersome, unfortunately. And the collision calculations were still primitive, making it hard to deal with enemies and obstacles. A fantastic advance in game technology but still not really an enjoyable experience to play it.

I had already played more advanced games before I got to Gold Box series (Pool of Radiance and its sequels). After that, those older graphics and interface felt primitive and cumbersome. Everything took forever, with an excess of keystrokes to accomplish even simple tasks like equipping a character. And the battles were long and tedious. There was no enjoyment. The only thing I remember appreciating in these games was that after killing many monsters in a battle the last ones would flee instead of staying to be slaughtered. I thought that was a nice touch.

So I will start my replaying of CRPGs with the first games that I really fully enjoyed: The Bard’s Tale (Interplay, 1985) and Eye of the Beholder (SSI, 1991). I won’t strictly follow a chronological order and may eventually jump to more recently titles and then jump back to the old classics. I don’t want to write a thesis about this, I just want to have some fun.

Favorite Movies 2001-2010

August 20, 2024 / Zander

In chronological order, only one movie per director.

The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001/2003)
The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002)
Basic (John McTiernan, 2003)
The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003)
Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
Kill Bill: Volume 1 / Volume 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003/2004)
Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004)
House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou, 2004)
Match Point (Woody Allen, 2005)
A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
La Moustache (Emmanuel Carrère, 2005)
Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)
Volver (Pedro Almodóvar, 2006)
The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
The Man from Earth (Richard Schenkman, 2007)
Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
The Time Traveler’s Wife (Robert Schwentke, 2009)
Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

GMing D&D: Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak

August 13, 2024 / Zander

I have enjoyed an uncountable number of hours playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), and many of them being the Game Master (GM). I particularly find pleasure in being the GM for a group of people who are playing D&D for the very first time. Guiding new players into the game, helping them create and grow the characters, sharing with them the magic of discovering new worlds, all this is a reward in itself. I often use the official starting adventures published by Wizards of the Coast, Lost Mine of Phandelver (from the the 5th Edition Starter Set) and Dragon of Icespire Peak (from the 5th Edition Essentials Kit). They are both good, but they can be improved with a few tweaks (something to be expected from good GMs), and I do that by merging the two into one single adventure.

Merging Lost Mine of Phandelver (LMoP) and Dragon of Icespire Peak (DoIP) into one single adventure is an idea that pops up naturally, because both stories are set in the same geographical area (southeast of the city of Neverwinter, close to the Sword Mountains) and both adventures were designed for characters of the same level (1–5 suggested on LMoP and 1–6 suggested on DoIP).

I begin the campaign with the LMoP adventure. The party can follow the initial plot, dealing with the goblin ambush, finding Sildar Hallwinter, and discovering the Black Spider’s involvement with the Wave Echo Cave. I particularly enjoy that very first fight, the goblin ambush on the road to Phandalin. It’s the first time the players experience combat and start to learn how their individual abilities can interact and collaborate into achieving victory. Well, it’s also funny when things go wrong. Even though those goblins are just a few weak foes, that first encounter requires some thought for a party of level 1 characters. I’ve seen one group of adventurers be totally wiped out by the little critters, thanks to some bad planning and a few unlucky dice throws. After some laughs, the players rerolled their characters and did a much better job the second time around.

When the party reaches Phandalin and starts exploring the village and the surrounding areas, I introduce hooks and rumors related to the troubles in the region described in DoIP. I emphasize the growing threat of the white dragon, Cryovain, and the cultists. Phandalin becomes the central hub for both campaigns. NPCs such as Sildar Hallwinter and Harbin Wester can provide information about the increasing danger in the region, tying the two plots together. Side quests from both campaigns become seamlessly incorporated into the storyline. This can involve encounters with the dragon cultists and their activities, as well as additional threats in the wilderness. In case the players don’t show enough initiative to follow those clues by themselves, Daran Edermath can provide missions for the party guiding them to those locations.

I let them explore and accumulate experience with the side quests, and eventually give them information about one person who knew the location of Cragmaw Castle (that’s where they need to go to rescue Gundren Rockseeker, their original employer and owner of the mine of Phandelver). It’s a druid named Reidoth, usually found in the area around Thundertree, a ruined village East of Neverwinter. That’s where the party will encounter their first dragon, and it’s where I apply my own patch to fix one thing that I consider a problem.

There’s a young green dragon called Venomfang living in a tower in Thundertree. Apparently, the game designers put it there as an example of how not every monster should be fought and how not every problem should be solved by force. The players could avoid the dragon or could try to negotiate with it. But my experience is that every newbie just wants to fight the dragon. It’s their first one and they want to be heroes (and also collect the dragon’s loot). Even the illustration on the cover of LMoP shows a party of adventurers fighting a green dragon. This is a young green dragon with 136 hit points and armor class 18, which makes three attacks per turn (one with its bite and two with its claws) and exhales poisonous gas in a 30-foot cone. Also, once you engage into a fight there is no way to flee, because Venomfang has a flying speed of 80 feet, plus blindsight, darkvision, and a passive perception of 17. Experienced players may manage to defeat it with some luck, but it’s too much for a party of low level newbies. And while your players may laugh at being vanquished by weak goblins in their very first fight in the game, it’s no fun to see a TPK (total party kill) this far into the adventure. So I give them a little help. Reidoth, the druid, gives all of them potions of poison resistance (those are good for an hour, enough time to fight the dragon) and offers support during the combat (he won’t attack the dragon but will cast healing spells from the background). This gives them a chance of defeating the dragon and finding among the loot the Dragon Slayer Sword (+1 bonus to attack and damage rolls, plus extra 3d6 damage to dragons), which will be of great value in the fight against Cryovain, the dragon of Icespire Peak (Reidoth won’t be there to help them).

Once the players are through all (or most of) the side quests, I like to combine the climactic encounters from both adventures into a single, epic finale. Wave Echo Cave (which is the final challenge in LMoP) and Icespire Hold (which is the final challenge in DoIP) are not too far from each other, so I establish that there is a tunnel connecting both locations. After the party enters one of these locations, I create some event that blocks their exit through the same route and leaves them with the other location as the only way out. This creates a large and challenging final dungeon to be explored, but at this point the characters should be at least level 6 (with the two campaigns combined, there are more side quests and therefore more experience points to be collected). The party eventually discovers that the Black Spider (from LMoP) and the dragon cultists (from DoIP) are working together to harness the power within Wave Echo Cave for a dark purpose.

I’ve GMed Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak merged together like this many times with first-time players, and we all had much fun with it. The sense of accomplishment and the bonds formed during these initial adventures make it a truly rewarding experience for both the players and the GM.

Favorite Movies 1991-2000

August 6, 2024 / Zander

In chronological order, only one movie per director.

Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
Delicatessen (Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1991)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)
Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (Gary Fleder, 1995)
Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995)
Fargo (Joel Coen, 1996)
Contact (Robert Zemeckis, 1997)
A Simple Plan (Sam Raimi, 1998)
Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
The Matrix (Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski, 1999)
Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze, 1999)
Todo sobre mi Madre (Pedro Almodóvar, 1999)
Nueve Reinas (Fabián Bielinsky, 2000)
Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)

Learning to play chess: my first five games

July 30, 2024 / Zander

So, I put my plan in motion and began playing at chess.com. I started unrated and had to play five games to get my first rating.

In the first game I got a victory by resignation on the 16th move, after my white knight forked the black king and queen. But the game review said I played with only 69.5 accuracy. I guess it didn’t like me taking too long to check mate. Despite that, it said I played two great moves. Estimated 900 rating for this game. Opponent from: Philippines. Opening: Ruy López, Morphy Defense, Deferred Schliemann Defense (I wish I knew that’s what I was playing).

The second game, playing with the black pieces, I won by checkmate on the 43rd move. This time I had a much better accuracy, 83.0. Estimated 1350 rating for this game. Opponent from: India. Opening: Queen’s Pawn , 1 … c6.

The third game, playing with the black pieces again, I won by resignation on the 25th move, after my knight forked the king and a rook. My accuracy here was 76.5. Estimated 1200 rating for this game. Opponent from: Indonesia. Opening: King’s Pawn, Leonardis Variation.

I won the fourth game with the white pieces on the 48th move, by checkmate. There was a moment where I thought I was lost, but I managed to play a discovered attack on the black queen with check (a great move, said the computer) and that turned the game around. My accuracy here was 73.3. Estimated 1200 rating for this game. Opponent from: Brazil. Opening: Colle System (I learned that from Rey Enigma on YouTube).

The fifth game, with the black pieces, I won on the 20th move by resignation, after my opponent miscalculated an exchange of pieces and emerged with one piece less than me. My accuracy was the highest so far, 82.8. Estimated 1550 rating for this game. Opponent from: USA. Opening: Queen’s Pawn, Chigorin Variation.

So, after five games, I have a rating. To my surprise it’s 1264, beyond my realistic goal of 1000 and my optimistic goal of 1200. But I don’t think it will be so easy from now on, as I will keep getting stronger opponents. I expect my rating to stand around this level or even go down, because soon I will find players who will defeated me. I’m curious to see when I will encounter this brick wall.

Favorite Movies 1981-1990

July 23, 2024 / Zander

In chronological order, only one movie per director.

Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan, 1981)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Bob Rafelson, 1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
Storia di Ordinaria Follia (Marco Ferreri, 1982)
Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984)
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (Hugh Hudson, 1984)
The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)
Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
The Decline of the American Empire (Denys Arcand, 1986)
House of Games (David Mamet, 1987)
Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios (Pedro Almodóvar, 1988)
Farewell to the King (John Milius, 1989)
The War of the Roses (Danny DeVito, 1989)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard, 1990)
Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990)

Watching the same gunfight in seven different ways

July 16, 2024 / Zander

Sometimes I get obsessed with a theme and dive into a marathon of movies and/or books about it. This week it was the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. It all started because I read the book Tombstone – Wyatt Earp, the O.K. Corral, and the Vendetta Ride, by Sean McLachlan. It’s a straightforward account of the gunfight and the events leading to it and spreading from it. That got me thinking about all the movies I had seen that misrepresented the episode, so I decided to watch them again.

I couldn’t find Law and Order (Edward L. Cahn, 1932) or Frontier Marshal (Allan Dwan, 1939), so I started my marathon with Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die (William C. McGann, 1942). It’s a simplistic tale where Wyatt Earp (Richard Dix) and his friends are all good and courageous and Curly Bill Brocious (Edgar Buchanan) and his band of bandits are all bad and mischievous. No room for subtleties here. And then there is Johnny Duane (Don Castle) – is he a replacement for Johnny Ringo? -, a bad boy who is actually a good boy, so Wyatt Earp is determined to bring him to the light side of the force. Doc Holliday (Kent Taylor) looks pretty healthy, no signs of tuberculosis. The actual gunfight at the O.K. Corral is handled poorly, and with almost no importance in the plot.

The next one was My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946). Despite all the critical acclaim, to me it’s the worst movie made about the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Yes, it’s a well told story (probably the reason people like Akira Kurosawa or Sam Peckinpah listed it as one of their favorite movies), but it’s not even close to what happened (the reason it displeased me so much). It starts with Wyatt Earp, played by Henry Fonda, taking a herd of cows to California with his brothers, and he only stops at Tombstone because his cows were stolen and his younger brother was killed. (In fact, the Earp brothers went to Tombstone following a plan to invest in many businesses there and become rich, and there was no cattle involved. Also, they took their wives, which don’t show up in the movie. Also, James Earp was not the younger brother and he wasn’t murdered in Tombstone but died of natural causes many years later in California). Then Wyatt Earp meets Doc Holliday, poorly played by Victor Mature, for the first time in Tombstone. (In fact, they were already friends at that point.) This Doc is not a gambler, doesn’t travel with a prostitute, looks very robust for someone suffering from tuberculosis, and doesn’t even have a mustache. Then there’s the love interest, Clementine Carter (Cathy Downs), who used to be Doc’s girl. She’s not the real Doc’s Big Nose Kate and she’s not the real Wyatt’s Josephine Marcus, just a made up character. To make it more dramatic John Ford makes the fight at the O.K. Corral happen at sunrise. (In fact, it happened at 3 PM.) On one side, Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, and Doc Holliday. Virgil Earp is missing because he had been killed earlier. (In fact, Virgil was in the fight, wasn’t killed before or during the fight, and survived even when he was shot later. Also, Virgil was the older brother, and not Morgan like in the movie.) On the other side, Old Man Clanton and his sons. (In fact, the cowboys on the other side were Billy Claiborne, brothers Ike and Billy Clanton, and brothers Tom and Frank McLaury. Old Man Clanton had been killed in another incident a couple of months earlier.) The fight lasts a few minutes, with both sides shooting at each other from afar. (In fact, the fight only lasted 30 seconds and they were fairly close to each other.) And Doc Holliday gets shot and dies. (No, no, no, he wasn’t shot in the fight and died six years later in a hospital bed.) If that’s the story you want to tell, tell it without using the names of people from a different story. I don’t care if it’s John Ford, his movie is ridiculous.

The third movie was Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (John Sturges, 1957). This Doc Holliday, played by Kirk Douglas, sports a mustache (a small one, but much better than no mustache) and has a love-hate relationship with Big Nose Kate, played by Jo Van Fleet. But Wyatt Earp, played by Burt Lancaster, has no mustache. Any non-mustachioed Wyatt Earp has zero credibility. DeForest Kelley (yes, that DeForest Kelley, aka Dr. Leonard Bones McCoy) plays Morgan Earp, also without a mustache. A fun fact is that years later in the sixth episode of the third season of Star Trek, Spectre of the Gun, DeForest Kelley, as Bones, would be involved in a re-enactment of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. I also find it interesting how the bromance between Earp and Doc seems very suggestive of a platonic homoerotic attraction between the two. But the movie takes too many liberties with the facts. For example, like in My Darling Clementine, they make James Earp a younger brother (he was actually an older brother) and get him killed to serve as an excuse for the fight at the O.K. Corral (James actually lived until 1926). Also like in the John Ford movie, they schedule the shootout for sunrise (actually, it was at 3 PM). And the fight itself is convoluted, with all the gunmen spread out, and even has a wagon on fire (it was actually at close quarters and over in 30 seconds). In any case, even with the incongruences, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is a better movie than My Darling Clementine.

John Sturges liked this theme so much he returned to it ten years later in Hour of the Gun (John Sturges, 1967). This time he added some more historical accuracy, and the opening states that “This picture is based on Fact. This is the way it happened.” Well, almost. There are still several liberties, like how some of Earp’s antagonists died. They also add a train station at Tombstone, which is completely anachronistic. But it’s good that Sturges decided to correct the falsehoods of his previous movie. However, this is not a remake, it’s a sequel, starting right with the shootout and following it with the trial and acquittal of Doc and the Earps, and then the revenge section fills most of the movie. James Garner, with a mustache, is Wyatt Earp. Jason Robards, with a mustache, is Doc Holliday. Curiously, almost all the women seem to have disappeared from Arizona, as this is a movie about men, for men, and the director only shows men.

The fifth movie was Doc (Frank Perry, 1971). Not a bad idea to tell the same story with Doc Holliday as the protagonist. Stacy Keach is good in the role, as is Faye Dunaway as Big Nose Kate. Harris Yulin lacks charisma to be a good Wyatt Earp, but perhaps that’s part of the plan. The movie has a very 70s vibe, with too much talk and a few artsy-fartsy moments. The imbroglio with Ike Clanton doesn’t follow the historical facts at all, and is just played as a personal conflict. And Ike Clanton beating up Wyatt Earp in a fist fight seems very out of character for both men. Good effort, but still inadequate results.

We had to wait over twenty years to get a good movie about the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (which actually didn’t happen at the corral but nearby): Tombstone (George P. Cosmatos, 1993). Unlike other attempts, this film strikes a remarkable balance between cinematic entertainment and historical accuracy. While there are still some liberties taken for dramatic effect (which is part of cinematic narrative), it manages to capture the essence of the events surrounding the legendary gunfight more faithfully than its counterparts, and distinguishes itself by weaving a compelling narrative while maintaining a level of authenticity that remains true to the spirit of the historical events. It not only serves as an engaging piece of entertainment but also as a more credible and respectful representation of the iconic showdown. Kurt Russell, with a magnificent mustache, plays a solid Wyatt Earp. Val Kilmer, in the best role of his life as Doc Holliday, captures the character’s complexities and showcases his wit, charm, and inner turmoil with remarkable skill. Plus Sam Elliott (king of mustaches) and Bill Paxton as the other Earp brothers, and Powers Boothe and Michael Biehn as the villainous Curly Bill Brocius and Johnny Ringo. Tombstone is easily the best movie made about this theme.

The seventh and last movie in my marathon was Wyatt Earp (Lawrence Kasdan, 1994). Kevin Costner as Wyatt Earp, with an underpowered mustache. The story starts with Wyatt Earp as a kid, which gives some background to the character but also makes for the least interesting part of a very long movie. For the first hour (the whole thing is over three hours) he doesn’t even become a lawman. Dennis Quaid does a good Doc Holliday, but it lacks the finesse shown by Val Kilmer in Tombstone. Well, I can’t say it’s a bad movie or too far from historical fact, it’s just too long and too slow to be really engaging.

And that was my obsession for this week. Onwards to the next one.

Favorite Movies 1960-1980

July 9, 2024 / Zander

In chronological order, only one movie per director.

La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
L’Année dernière à Marienbad (Alain Resnais, 1961)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962)
The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel, 1962)
Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967)
Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968)
Z (Costa-Gavras, 1969)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
La Planète Sauvage (René Laloux, 1973)
The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, 1975)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)
Life of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979)