Monday, October 28, 2013

Early Resignation

In a game of speed chess, my opponent resigned after only eleven moves. My opponent, who played white, was Josuezolimones of Spain. Here are the moves of the game along with my commentary:

1. e4 c5
2. Bc4 e6
3. Nc3 a6

White prevents d5.

4. a4 Nc6

White prevents b5.

5. Nf3 Qc7
6. g3 Nf6
7. d4 cxd
8. Nxd4 Bc5
9. Nxc6 Qxc6

I put pressure on e4.  This prevents white from castling.

10. Bg5 Nxe4

11. Nxe4 Qxe4+

White cannot save the rook on h1. He resigns.

In this miniature, white loses a key central pawn and never manages to castle. His exposed king allows a check that leads to the loss of a rook. With such an uneviable position, he decides to resign.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Family Relationships

The prefixes great-, grand- and great-grand, and the suffix -in-law can be used to express a number of family relationships. Some are very common and others less so. Here is a list of the possible relationships:

great-aunt, great-uncle, great-nephew, great-niece

grand-aunt, grand-uncle, grand-daughter, grand-son, grand-mother, grand-father, grand-nephew, grand-niece

great-grand-mother, great-grand-mother, great-grand-son, great-grand-son

brother-in-law, sister-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, sister-in-law

A great-aunt is the sister of a grandparent. A great-niece is the daughter of a nephew or niece.

A grand-aunt is the aunt of one's parent. A grand-nephew is the son of a nephew or niece. Thus the words great-niece and grand-niece have the same meaning.

The suffix -in-law is used to family members who are not related by blood but rather by marriage. The four affixes great, grand, great-grand and -in-law can be used to signify a large number of family relationships. In certain cases, grand- and great- have the same meaning.

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