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OK - I’ll go first.

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:02 pm
by knightmare
I apologize to the room in general and to Brian in particular for my earlier outburst. Not for the sentiment, which I believe true, but for the way it was expressed. I don’t want to reopen the subject as it can’t lead to any useful end.
Any attempt to do so will be ignored by me.

I offer up the following Quote as a jumping off point for discussion in the hope or bringing this board back to life.
And then I can go back to lurking.

“ Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before.
And, taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a Heaven creature or into a hellish creature -- either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power.
To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness.

Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other. “

C.S. Lewis “ Mere Christianity” (1952)


I don’t subscribe to religious underpinnings of this quote but I think Mr. Lewis has hit upon a simple but profound truth. I just don’ think need to invoke GOD or Christianity. I believe the observation is equally true in a purely secular world. The choices you make today are a direct result and consequence of the choices you made yesterday. The effects of these Choices are cumulative. The more you make choices that place you in conflict with your follow creature the harder it is to correct. But it’s important to remember, no matter the choices you’ve made in the past, you still can make new and better choices today. Mr. Lewis and I would both call it the power of redemption. However the Theist believes he needs to appeal to GOD for redemption and I believe he just needs to appeal to his humanity.

Happy Holidays to all!

Re: OK - I’ll go first.

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:43 am
by iamachessstudent
I agree, in principal!!

Every choice you make, more roads open up and others close....it has NOTHING to do with a diety, or "god" but it is YOU that makes those decisions for yourself!
Even tho I'm still young, I have also made choices that have shaped my future....there is no turning back on the road you choose!

I just want this site to go back to what I was told it was in the older days, good CHESS conversations, camaraderie, lots of nice chats in the games..language barriers permitting and FUN!

Let's play hard and make our fun hard also :)

Happy holidays to ALL and I Cant wait to see you all on the board!

joshua

hehe How do you guys prepare or study your Chess...variations, games, positions, magazines online media?!?!

I ise all of the above, i have a large library and chessBase to help me keep track of the trends and such.. its a B#### to keep up, but I thnk it is worth it1

Re: OK - I’ll go first.

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 4:53 pm
by davidswhite
Joshua,
Even tho I'm still young, I have also made choices that have shaped my future....there is no turning back on the road you choose!

I certainly agree with the thrust of your post but don't think it was your intention to lock anyone onto a misguided path (as a literal reading of your above sentence would make obligatory).Reflection and introspection should always prevent us from getting too hopelessly lost.

You're right in understanding that this site has traditionally exhibited and encouraged civility and even amiability in its forum postings and game comments.However,now and again tempers have flared and abusive remarks have reared their ugly heads...we are,after all,only human but these instances have been relatively rare and of pretty short duration.

Books and ChessBase game history have been my only means of trying to stay current on chess theory in order to compete but I've either been too lazy or simply lacked sufficient free time to do a proper job of it.As to actual game preparation I've done absolutely none for at least 8 or 9 years.It requires a huge investment of time and effort ,including an exhausting study of your opponent's tendencies,and then when you've prepared a masterful plan to destroy him,he fails to cooperate by deviating from the blueprint on,say his 5th move.Of the maybe 10 times I've gone to all the trouble of specific preparation, only once did it bear fruit.Still,I have to admit,for very serious and strong players with the necessary available time,it's the only way to go.

Best wishes,
David

Re: OK - I’ll go first.

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 10:09 pm
by langelli
It saddens me to see what goes on in the Firum. I've been playing chess here at net-chess for going on 9 years. I, like many others, have a fair amount of stress in my life. I come to net-chess to relax, play a game I love, and unwind from the days *******. Call me shallow, and perhaps I am, but this reference to God, and such, just gets in the way of the reason I come here. I've made friends here, and so look forward to coming here each day. Lets not let a few malcontents ruin it for the rest of us. Greg, you do a magnificent job of maintaining net-chess. If you choose to give a friend extra time then do it. It's your site. If someone doesn't like it they can leave. Nobody is chained to their computer with their computer locked on to net-chess. Lets just get back to playing chess, and enjoying each others company. Isn't that what we are supposed to be doing?

Re: OK - I’ll go first.

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 11:30 am
by redketchuplover
I concur with the human :mrgreen:

Re: OK - I’ll go first.

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 5:45 pm
by langelli
Hwat makes you think I'm human? :twisted:

Re: OK - I’ll go first.

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:22 am
by redketchuplover
GASP!!!