The Q Smith 'Twitter' Thread

[Q Smith]

Hi guys,

This thread is like a combination between a 'Twitter' page and a blog for me where I report on what I am doing, and write posts on topics that interest me.

Feel free to comment here if you have something to say!

MTel Masters Round 4

In this round, which finished only some hours ago, Topalov returned to 50% with a win over Wang Yue, who prior to this round was one of the co-leaders. Currently Carlsen and Shirov are leading on 2.5/4 - Carlsen beat Topalov convincingly in Round 1, whilst Shirov won a nice miniature against Ivanchuk in the same Round.

Carlsen plays Wang Yue and Shirov plays Dominguez next round, whilst Topalov plays Ivanchuk.

[Q Smith]

Three top seeds and rising star lead US Championships

St. Louis, Mo., 14 May, 2009 -- The leaderboard flipped Thursday in the seventh of nine rounds of the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. At the end of the day, the three top seeds coming into the tournament, and a 17-year-old rising star, shared first place.

No. 1 seed Gata Kamsky, of Brooklyn, N.Y., No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura, of White Plains, N.Y., No. 3 Alexander Onsichuk, of Baltimore, and Robert Hess, 17, of Brooklyn, N.Y., have 5 points apiece. There is $135,000 in prize money at stake.

Defending champion Yury Shulman, of Barrington, Ill., and Varuzhan Akobian, of North Hollywood, Calif., who shared the lead after the sixth routh, fell into second place with 4.5 points after losing to Onischuk and Nakamura, respectively.

Kamsky defeated three-time U.S. champion Joel Benjamin, of New Jersey, and Hess defeated Josh Friedel, of New York.

Michael Brooks, of Kansas City, Mo., had a dramatic turnaround in his game, putting him closer to earning grandmaster status. Brooks, 47, beat the youngest player in the field, 14-year-old phenom Ray Robson, of Largo, Fla., to end the day with 4 points. Not only will his above-par performance raise his chess rating, but if he manages to score 1.5 points over his final two games, he will be on course for a grandmaster norm. No Missourian has become a grandmaster.

Friday is a rest day. Round eight of the nine-round championship will be on Saturday. The tournament concludes Sunday.

Note: This is an official press release, although the title above is mine.

Update: Nakamura and Hess are currently leading in Round 8 on 6/8. I could be wrong but it looks like Nakamura will play Friedel and Hess will play Akobian in Round 9 to decide the title.

[Q Smith]

Recently I found the following proof that 2 = 1:

1. Let a and b be equal non-zero quantities


2. Multiply through by a


3. Subtract


4. Factor both sides


5. Divide out


6. Observing that


7. Combine like terms on the left


8. Divide by the non-zero b


Can you spot the flaw in this proof?

[Q Smith]

Some more quoting to keep the ball rolling, this time from the comedy show 'Fraiser':

Niles: I thought you liked my Maris!
Frasier: I do, I... I like her from a distance. You know, the way you like the sun. Maris is like the sun... except without the warmth.

Catherine is crying
Frasier: Oh, no, no, no, don't cry. You're in a place of business here.
Catherine: Your wife is really lucky.
Frasier: I'm sure she'd say the same thing, especially now that our marriage is over.

Frasier: Niles, if Dad and I get into a Winnebago, only one of us will come out alive. You've got to come with us!
Niles: Frasier, you're my brother. That entitles you to my bone marrow and one of my kidneys; but this is an imposition.

Niles' Freudian slip
Niles: If you ask me, Frasier, your trepidation is well-founded. It is possible to move a relationship along too fast, and ultimately marry too hastily. You could find, a few years down the line, that the person isn't really right for you, and then what happens if you meet the right person? Someone who really excites you and makes you feel alive, but you can't act upon it because you're trapped in a stale, albeit comfortable Maris!…Marriage…I have to go now.

Niles is laughing while perusing Dr. Snow's manuscript
Frasier: Niles, will you please stop giggling? It's very distracting.
Niles: I can't help it. Have you read this?
Frasier: I'm trying to recommend a book. Reading it doesn't help.

Frasier has conscripted Daphne and Martin to help him move into Niles' office
Martin: You know the best thing about gettin' old? Your hair may turn grey, your joints may stiffen, you may even have to walk with a cane…but people still ask you to help them move!

Frasier has been sent the wrong presents from the educational toy company
Frasier: These are for a Franklin Crane from Kennebunkport. Do you know what this means?
Niles: Yes: the Cranes of Maine have got your 'Living Brain'!

Sherry: Oh, I love making people laugh. To me, humour is like medicine!
Niles: (to Frasier) I guess we're in the placebo group.

(courtesy of Wikipedia)

[Q Smith]

Now for a difficult study by former World Champion Smyslov! It's incredibly difficult, but solving it will be really good for your calculation ability.

White: Pawns on f2 and h2; Rook on d4; King on h1.

Black: Pawns a6, g5, h5 and h3; Rook on a7; King on a8.

Good luck!

[Q Smith]

Weekly Endgame Study (120) : ChessVibes contains the solution to the above study.

[Q Smith]

Just returned from watching 'Angels and Demons'.

I would rate it 8.5/10: Full of action, plenty of drama and great filming. Also, they did an excellent job of improving over some of the farfetched aspects of the novel version.

[Q Smith]

I just found a really useful article for starting out players at Novice Nook! It is a great example of how to approach the analysis of positions, both in games and at home.

[Q Smith]

Just found an interesting article on the age-old subject of 'Toiletgate':

Chess: 'Toiletgate' rocks world championship | Sport | The Guardian

[Q Smith]

Some random trivia:

Abraham Lincoln, who invented a hydraulic device for lifting ships over shoals, was the only US president ever granted a patent.

According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until the 1730's, India was the only source for diamonds in the world.

Antarctica is the only continent without reptiles or snakes.

Australia is the only country that is also a continent.

Baskin Robbins once made ketchup ice cream. This was the only vegetable flavored ice cream produced.

Bats are the only mammal that can fly.

Bats have only one baby a year.

Elvis Presley made only one television commercial - an ad for "Southern Maid Doughnuts" that ran in 1954.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only US president elected four times.

George Washington is the only man whose birthday is a legal holiday in every state of the United States.

Gerald Ford was the only US president not to have been elected to either the presidency or the vice presidency.

Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead.

Grover Cleveland is the only US president to have been married in the White House.

Hawaii has the only royal palace in the United States - Iolani.

Hawaii is the only US state that grows coffee.

Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.

In 1969, "Midnight Cowboy" became the first and only X-rated production to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. (Its rating has since been changed to R.)

James Buchanan was the only US president never to be married.

Libra, the Scales, is the only inanimate symbol in the zodiac.

Maine is the only state in the United States whose name is just one syllable.

Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.

Notables who were the only child in their families include Ansel Adams, Hans Christian Andersen, Carol Burnett, Raymond Chandler, Eric Clapton, Linda Ellerbee, Louis Gossett, Jr., Robert Englund, Charlton Heston, James Earl Jones, Ted Koppel, Ivan Lendl, Barry Manilow, Maria Montessori, Jack Nicholson, Flannery O'Connor, Al Pacino, Charlie "Bird" Parker, Robert Edwin Peary, Lisa Marie Presley, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jean-Paul Sartre, Frank Sinatra, Robin Williams, and Tiger Woods.

Ohio is the only US state without a rectangular flag. Ohio's flag is a pennant.

Only one foreign country--Liberia in Africa--has a capital city named after an American president. The capital is Monrovia, named after James Monroe.

Only one person ever won an Oscar by a write-in. In 1934 and 1935, write-in votes were permitted and Hal Mohr won an Oscar for Cinematography in 1935 for his work on "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as a write-in. 1935 was the last year such votes were permitted.

Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any state of the United States.

Richard M. Nixon is the only US president to have resigned.

Swans are the only birds with penises.

Teeth are the only parts of the human body that can't repair themselves.

The bat is the only mammal that can fly.

The Beatles held the Top Five spots on the April 4th, 1964 Billboard singles chart. To date, they're the only band that has ever accomplished that.

The Bledowska Desert in Poland is the only true desert in Europe.

The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissible in an American court.

The city of Chicago has the only post office in the world where you can drive your car through.

The first graves in Arlington National Cemetery were dug by James Parks, a former Arlington Estate slave. Buried in Section 15, James Parks is the only person buried in Arlington National Cemetery who was also born on the property.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards.

The hyoid bone in the throat is the only bone in the human body not joined to another.

The Joshua tree is the only tree that grows in California's Mojave Desert.

The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache on a standard playing card.

The number 4 is the only number in the English language that has the same number of letters in its name as its meaning.

The only active diamond mine in the United States is in Arkansas.

The only country in the world that has a Bill of Rights for Cows is India.

The only crime defined in the U.S. Constitution is treason - Article III, Section 3.

The only Englishman to become Pope was Nicholas Breakspear, who was Adrian IV from 1154 to 1159.

The only father and son to hit back-to-back home runs in a major league baseball game? Ken Griffey, Jr., and his father, Ken Griffey, Sr., both of the Seattle Mariners, in a game against the California Angels on September 14, 1990.

The only known common metal that is liquid at room temperature is mercury.

The only lizard that has a voice is the Gecko.

The only married couple to fly together in space were Jan Davis and Mark Lee, who flew aboard the Endeavor space shuttle from Sept 12-20, 1992.

The only one of his sculptures that Michelangelo signed was the "The Pieta," completed in 1500.

The only part of the human body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.

The only repealed amendment to the US Constitution deals with the prohibition of alcohol.

The only river that flows both north and south of the equator is the Congo. It crosses the equator twice.

The only rock that floats in water is pumice.

The only wood used by famed London cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale was mahogany.

The pecan tree is the only naturally growing nut tree in North American. It is native to the Texas, Mississippi and Mexico River Valleys.

The penguin is the only bird that can swim, but not fly. It is also the only bird that walks upright.

The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial (pouched mammal) indigenous to North America.

There is only one Q in a Scrabble game.

There's only one city in the United States named merely "Beach." It is found in North Dakota, which is a land-locked state.

Uranus is the only planet that rotates on its side.

When Pierre Trudeau wed Margaret Sinclair in 1971 he became the only Canadian Prime Minister to get married while in office. The couple divorced in 1984.

Woodrow Wilson was the only US president to earn a doctorate.

Zsa Zsa Gabor was the first - and only - recipient of a Golden Globe Award for "Most Glamorous Actress." She won the peculiar award in 1958. The category was deleted thereafter.

Hope you liked it