If you visit the famous Budapest baths, you can do both.According to the Budapest travel site (www.budapesttravel.com) the hot springs that fuel the baths have been around for thousands of years, since the times of the Romans.

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• Four Seasons Budapest Family Friendly (johnpondworld.com)
• Icy, rather than blue, Danube – Budapest, Hungary (travelpod.com)

Though it is April 1st and last month’s fun photo was a gag, this one is not a joke. We looked up the two players on FIDE and found that Hans has a rating of 2306 and Robin has a rating of 2494. Some additional digging turned up two You Tube videos.

The first one is the actual coverage of this match.

The second one we found shows a one minute bullet match on a TV shows between Hans and Magnus Carlsen.

I can’t speak to the live commentary on this video as I only know a little French. Even so, it’s still very entertaining!

Below is a selection of T-shirts that we found on the web -

1. Zazzle.com – “My Prefrontal Cortex …” - You have to love a shirt that is intellectual and goofy at the same time. (Which is another way to describe many of the chess players you bump into at USCF tournaments!) Cost $20.20
2. Cafepress.com - “Life is a Game” – Another tongue-in-cheek quip that will put a smile on people’s faces. Cost $20.
3. Chessmotifs.com – “To Hell with Book Openings” – Some top players subscribe to this theory, but most of us try to at least stay in the book for the first handful of moves. This one’s a bit more expensive, priced at $30.99
4. “It’s All Fun and Games …” – Another clever slogan, but unfortunately, we misplaced our notes and can’t tell you where to get this one! If anybody is able to find out where it’s from, please add a note to the comments section of this post.

One last thing. It’s great to buy items that profess your love of chess. But for god’s sake, please don’t purchase this wacky chess board hat for your child, unless you want to subject them to years of merciless taunting in school:

(… if you must have it, you can find it at the US Chess Federation store for only $6.95)

We found this photo while doing a random search on Google images. You might think “this can’t be real” and you would be right! Of course it isn’t real. It is a clever gag inspired by a comic on xkcd.com.

If you take another look, you can see the velcro on the pieces …

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We don’t normally like to do a lot of self-promotion, but we just wanted to point out that in late February we passed a significant milestone – this blog surpassed 25,000 views!

Thanks for coming back to see content from time to time.

In the meantime, we’ll keep trying to build fun and interesting content related to the world of chess.

I’m sure nobody noticed it at the time, but with 20/20 hindsight, this interview is pretty disturbing. It’s clear that Fischer is a great chess player, but other more ominous aspects of his personality are also apparent in this piece.

Let us know what you think …

Related articles

• A Bold Opening for Chess Player Magnus Carlsen (time.com)
• Bobby Fischer, Age 14 (forbes.com)

French Staunton Pieces

These wooden pieces are listed in the clearance section on www.chessusa.com It only takes a quick look to understand why – they are hideous (and cheap) looking. The bigger mystery is why they cost $34.95. It must be because of the fine craftmanship that went into the knight. Look at the intricate detail of the carving. An where else can you find such a nice dull finish?

Texas Chess Set

Not to be outdone, the folks at www.chesshouse.com have a wide selection of novelty sets. To be fair, we all know that these types of sets are more for show. Oftentimes it’s nearly impossible to play a game with a novelty set, since it’s hard to distinguish between the different pieces. That being said, take a gander at the Texas Chess Set. Hey, it’s no French Staunton set, it’s priced to sell. For only $29.95 you can have one of your very own. Try and explain to your friends why the state flag is the rook and the steer is the knight (at least that’s what we think they are). It’s certainly obvious that the oil derrick is the bishop!

LED Chess Set

Here’s an item that really does look cool. The pieces are equipped with LED lights which are illuminated by the custom board. Of course, we cannot vouch for the quality of the set without seeing an actual model.

Looking at the photography and the accompanying YouTube video, it seems that the set looks the best when the room is dark. That’s great for the pieces, but could cause some issues if you need to get a good look at the board. On the other hand, it glows!

If you would like one of your very own, visit www.uncommongoods.com. It can be yours for $55.00.

Chess Drinking Game

Here’s another unique item from the folks at www.chessusa.com. On the positive side, the images of the pieces are clearly marked, so you won’t get the pieces mixed up. The negative is that the rules say, you have to do a shot for every piece that you capture! Unless you’re playing an old Russian who can hold his vodka, the best play may be to sacrifice material until your opponent gets plastered. By that time, nobody will care (or remember) who won or lost the game!

Believe it or not, this is the biggest value of the bunch. It only costs $29.95 for the set and board. However the board is only 9 5/8″ x 9 5/8″, so you won’t have to reach too far to find the next shot.

There are also great anecdotes about his 50 year romance with his wife Alice, battles with Bobby Fischer, life in Germany and France, and highlights of key matches in his career.

We’re proud to claim Arthur as a regular member of our club. Anybody who has had a chance to commiserate with him knows that he’s a nice guy with a good sense of humor. He still loves to play wild games and dance on the razor’s edge. It a wonder to walk by his matches on Wednesday nights to see an uncastled king with pieces and pawns in various positions on the board while Arthur calmly dispatches another opponent!

To see the full article, click on our link to the USCF site and login to the members area to view this months magazine.

Not sure where to file this post, it’s probably most fitting to call it a completed 2011 new year’s resolution. In any case, the quest to finish the Dvoretsky endgame manual has finally come to a close. After close to 1,200 days I finally read the final page and reviewed the last exercise on December 30th.

Without a doubt, I’m sure that many a stronger player has read the book and digested the material much more quickly than I. The issue was that somewhere between 2008 and 2011, I lost the initial head of steam that propelled me through the early chapters.

At some point it became a test of my resolve to finish things that I have started. Since there was no way I was going to carry this into 2012, I brought the book with me on our family vacation to Aruba this year and finished just in time.

As noted in previous reviews of the book, the material is very good and thoroughly covers almost everything a person should know about endgames. That said, now that I have completed it, I would only recommend the book for players with ratings of 1650 and above.