Like taking candy from a baby (which if its chocolate I am not above).
So in celebration of maybe (and possibly hopefully) the last win of the season for us, I thought I'd do a theme for the ladies.
Yes, that's right, theme will be: Chess for Beginners (or more properly: How to Beat Your Boyfriend at Chess and Forever Emasculate Him)
Boxscore
Nocioni ( B- ) -- not sure what was up with how we played our SFs this time out, but Noc was again starting, and began the game actively attacking the Clippers down inside. Hit one three, missed the rest of his jumpers, but repeatedly slashed into the paint or backed whoever was guarding him down, for little hooks and postups. Taking a lot of shots in the early going again, but they were pretty much all good looking shots exploiting the Clippers lack of defense, and had all 9 of his points in his first stint. Wasn't doing much else, but really didn't have to. Gave way to Omri in the second for the most part, and while he still started the third, added nothing but a missed J after the break before Omri, Donte (finally) and Cisco took all the late minutes.
Setting Up -- I have never been exactly sure why there is such a distinct gender divide on chess, at least in the modern era (the game is 500 years old), but it really is less intimidating than it is sometimes made out. Requiring a lifetime to master, sure. But its not that hard to learn how to push the pieces around. Look, there are only 6 types of pieces -- each player gets a row of 8 pawns across the front, then you get two "rooks" (often colloquially referred to as castles because that's what they look like), two "knights" (often colloquially referred to as horses because that's what they look like), two bishops, one queen (the most powerful peice on the board -- see the game is even feminist!) and one king (killing him is the whole point of the game). They are set up as above an an 8x8 checkerboard (and as an aside, the whole chess notation thing isn't rocket science either -- the columns are referred to as a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h and the rows 1-8, so you can just list moves being made as "f2f4" or "Bg6 e8" (the big B meaning bishop), the first number being where a piece started out, the second being where it ends up. It just looks like math, but its no more complex than bingo.)
Landry ( C+ ) -- started off this one saying "yes I can rebound!" and grabbed 7 rebounds in the first quarter before remembering that no, I really can't, and settling back into his normal pace. Offensively started ok, but faded and missed almost everything late in the game. Started the game with a little jumper, blocked on the drive, but got it back and finished. Dunk off the pick and roll with Reke. Started the 2nd with a nice post move with a little hook over Kaman, but there would be only one more hit therafter. GTo the line and made 1 of 2. Made a nice high low feed to Beno for a rare assist (the difference being he was up top and not in scoring position, thus having his head up looking to pass rather than the tunnel vision he sometimes gets in scoring position). But was missing his jumpers, including airballing one, and I'm not sure he scored again until adding a +1 finish as the cherry on top to our little burst in the early 4th that opened the game back up and fisnihed the Clippers (who frankly looked like they wanted to be finished and weren't to reinsert Kaman or Baron or Gordon until they were sure we had put the game out of reach). Had a pair fo FTs therafter, but also missed another j, got blcokd inside etc., and just finished up with a 5-14 night. Good start, especially with the uncharacteristic boardwork, buoys this grade, but really largely struggled after the early going I think shooting something like 1-8 and only grabbing 3rebs in the last 30 minutes or so.
Moving the Pieces -- this will be the longest post,but it covers all the basics: ok, so you've got 6 different types of pieces right? How hard can it be to learn how 6 pieces move? From easiest to hardest, and refer to the picture above:
1) the King -- the King is easy. He moves one step, in any direction. He's slow. Easiest piece on the board to move most of the time. The big trick with him is that he is the piece that gets put in "check" -- which basically means that another piece is attacking him and could kill him next round if you don't move him away or move a piece in the way to protect him. So you can't move him into check -- if you did, then your opponent could kill him with their next move, and game over.
2) the Rook -- the "castles" are some of the easiest pieces to move for beginners. They just move in a straight line. If they run into your own piece, they stop. If they run into an opponent, they eat it. That's the default in chess BTW -- there is only one piece (the knights) which can jump pieces). So the Rooks can move straight up the board, or straight across the board. Easy. And simple is strong in this case -- rooks are generally considered the second most powerful pieces on the board (to the queen).
3) the Bishop -- the rooks go straight ahead or sideways, the bishops on the other hand go diagonally. An important thing to remember here is that means that they can never leave their own color -- one bishop starts on white, the other on black, and since they move diagonally through the checkerboard, they can't ever switch colors. If you lose your white bishop, its harder to attack white squares from then on etc.
4) the Queen -- every newbie's favorite piece -- hey she can do everything right? She is a rook AND a bishop. She moves in any direction, like the King, but as far as she wants until she runs into something. Strongest piece on the board. And new players unsure of their other pieces always want to move her the most. But be careful -- you start running her around out there and eventually you will get her killed, and then where will you be?
5) the Knight -- here's the tricky piece. You're not going to get this one to start. But if you play for any length of time you will grow to love them. They do things no other piece can do and can be deadly. First of all, they move in an L. Not a straight line, not diagonally. But an L. Two steps out, and one step over. They hop around awkwardly. And the other key thing is that they are the only piece that can jump OVER pieces. So you can jump them right over your own pieces or your opponent's, and get anywhere you want to go. These are great trap pieces -- its hard to see all the places they can go, and you can surprise your opponents with them.
6) the Pawns -- should be the simplest, weakest, pieces on the board. You've got 8 of them for a reason -- they are fodder. And their basic move is very simple. They walk ahead one measely square at a time -- always forward, never back. Onyl one direction, one movement choice. But there are several tricks you have to remember, and believe it or not at the end of games they are often the pieces that determine the game. More on that later. See the odd notations in the diagram above about them? Well here's the thing: 1) normally they just walk ahead one square at a time; 2) BUT, the very first time you move one, you can jump him head two squares if you prefer. So first move, 1 or 2 squares, your choice. After that, always 1.; and 3) here's the key thing, they walk ahead one square at a time, but they can only attack diagonally. Only piece like that -- moves one way attacks another. So you stand a piece directly in front of your opponent's pawn, that pawn can't move. You stand kitty-corner to the little sucker though and he'll eat you. Its the defining characteristic, remember it.
Thompson ( A ) -- maybe Jason's best game in forever -- it was noted in one of the recaps that it was his first 20+pt game since Dec.19., and when you add in the 15 rebounds as well...well it was the Clippers, but 22pts 15rebs will get it done. The jumper was mostly on, and while it should be noted that 8 of those 15 boards were on the offensive end and frequently of that Moses Malone miss inside and follow your own shot stat padding variety, in this game with the Clippers bigs shwiwng no interest at all in blocking him out, it effectively made him unstoppable. He either hit the initial shot, or threw up a brick, went and chased it, and then hit the shot. Hit a few wild inside shots over Kaman, and had several hustle saves. Began to lose control of Kaman defensively as the game wore on, but again avoided the foul toruble woes that are normally the aggravating factor, and his ability to do that late in the season has been promising. In the early 4th came up with a fugly finsh +1 along the baseline as part of our surge that finished the Clippers off. He was the inside guy to Reke's outside (to whatever degree you can call Reke an outside guy) this game that killed the Clippers. Our big task this summer is to find someone, anyone, who can do this sort of thing every night in there and we will be well on our way to mattering once again.
Control the Middle -- Basic Strategy 101 for a beginner is to try to control the middle of the board. Control the middle and you can control much of the action. The opening you see above is the classic Ruy Lopez (named after the old Spanish monk who first researched it) -- it dates back 500 years. Pawns are advanced to face off in the middle White hops his horsie out to threaten the black pawn. Black hops his horsie out to protect it. And White's bishop darts out diagonally to try to chase off or eat the Black horsie. If you don't know what you are doing, you can do worse than imitating a 500 year old opening like this to at least pretend you do and give structure to your early game.
So in celebration of maybe (and possibly hopefully) the last win of the season for us, I thought I'd do a theme for the ladies.
Yes, that's right, theme will be: Chess for Beginners (or more properly: How to Beat Your Boyfriend at Chess and Forever Emasculate Him)
Boxscore
Nocioni ( B- ) -- not sure what was up with how we played our SFs this time out, but Noc was again starting, and began the game actively attacking the Clippers down inside. Hit one three, missed the rest of his jumpers, but repeatedly slashed into the paint or backed whoever was guarding him down, for little hooks and postups. Taking a lot of shots in the early going again, but they were pretty much all good looking shots exploiting the Clippers lack of defense, and had all 9 of his points in his first stint. Wasn't doing much else, but really didn't have to. Gave way to Omri in the second for the most part, and while he still started the third, added nothing but a missed J after the break before Omri, Donte (finally) and Cisco took all the late minutes.
Setting Up -- I have never been exactly sure why there is such a distinct gender divide on chess, at least in the modern era (the game is 500 years old), but it really is less intimidating than it is sometimes made out. Requiring a lifetime to master, sure. But its not that hard to learn how to push the pieces around. Look, there are only 6 types of pieces -- each player gets a row of 8 pawns across the front, then you get two "rooks" (often colloquially referred to as castles because that's what they look like), two "knights" (often colloquially referred to as horses because that's what they look like), two bishops, one queen (the most powerful peice on the board -- see the game is even feminist!) and one king (killing him is the whole point of the game). They are set up as above an an 8x8 checkerboard (and as an aside, the whole chess notation thing isn't rocket science either -- the columns are referred to as a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h and the rows 1-8, so you can just list moves being made as "f2f4" or "Bg6 e8" (the big B meaning bishop), the first number being where a piece started out, the second being where it ends up. It just looks like math, but its no more complex than bingo.)
Landry ( C+ ) -- started off this one saying "yes I can rebound!" and grabbed 7 rebounds in the first quarter before remembering that no, I really can't, and settling back into his normal pace. Offensively started ok, but faded and missed almost everything late in the game. Started the game with a little jumper, blocked on the drive, but got it back and finished. Dunk off the pick and roll with Reke. Started the 2nd with a nice post move with a little hook over Kaman, but there would be only one more hit therafter. GTo the line and made 1 of 2. Made a nice high low feed to Beno for a rare assist (the difference being he was up top and not in scoring position, thus having his head up looking to pass rather than the tunnel vision he sometimes gets in scoring position). But was missing his jumpers, including airballing one, and I'm not sure he scored again until adding a +1 finish as the cherry on top to our little burst in the early 4th that opened the game back up and fisnihed the Clippers (who frankly looked like they wanted to be finished and weren't to reinsert Kaman or Baron or Gordon until they were sure we had put the game out of reach). Had a pair fo FTs therafter, but also missed another j, got blcokd inside etc., and just finished up with a 5-14 night. Good start, especially with the uncharacteristic boardwork, buoys this grade, but really largely struggled after the early going I think shooting something like 1-8 and only grabbing 3rebs in the last 30 minutes or so.
Moving the Pieces -- this will be the longest post,but it covers all the basics: ok, so you've got 6 different types of pieces right? How hard can it be to learn how 6 pieces move? From easiest to hardest, and refer to the picture above:
1) the King -- the King is easy. He moves one step, in any direction. He's slow. Easiest piece on the board to move most of the time. The big trick with him is that he is the piece that gets put in "check" -- which basically means that another piece is attacking him and could kill him next round if you don't move him away or move a piece in the way to protect him. So you can't move him into check -- if you did, then your opponent could kill him with their next move, and game over.
2) the Rook -- the "castles" are some of the easiest pieces to move for beginners. They just move in a straight line. If they run into your own piece, they stop. If they run into an opponent, they eat it. That's the default in chess BTW -- there is only one piece (the knights) which can jump pieces). So the Rooks can move straight up the board, or straight across the board. Easy. And simple is strong in this case -- rooks are generally considered the second most powerful pieces on the board (to the queen).
3) the Bishop -- the rooks go straight ahead or sideways, the bishops on the other hand go diagonally. An important thing to remember here is that means that they can never leave their own color -- one bishop starts on white, the other on black, and since they move diagonally through the checkerboard, they can't ever switch colors. If you lose your white bishop, its harder to attack white squares from then on etc.
4) the Queen -- every newbie's favorite piece -- hey she can do everything right? She is a rook AND a bishop. She moves in any direction, like the King, but as far as she wants until she runs into something. Strongest piece on the board. And new players unsure of their other pieces always want to move her the most. But be careful -- you start running her around out there and eventually you will get her killed, and then where will you be?
5) the Knight -- here's the tricky piece. You're not going to get this one to start. But if you play for any length of time you will grow to love them. They do things no other piece can do and can be deadly. First of all, they move in an L. Not a straight line, not diagonally. But an L. Two steps out, and one step over. They hop around awkwardly. And the other key thing is that they are the only piece that can jump OVER pieces. So you can jump them right over your own pieces or your opponent's, and get anywhere you want to go. These are great trap pieces -- its hard to see all the places they can go, and you can surprise your opponents with them.
6) the Pawns -- should be the simplest, weakest, pieces on the board. You've got 8 of them for a reason -- they are fodder. And their basic move is very simple. They walk ahead one measely square at a time -- always forward, never back. Onyl one direction, one movement choice. But there are several tricks you have to remember, and believe it or not at the end of games they are often the pieces that determine the game. More on that later. See the odd notations in the diagram above about them? Well here's the thing: 1) normally they just walk ahead one square at a time; 2) BUT, the very first time you move one, you can jump him head two squares if you prefer. So first move, 1 or 2 squares, your choice. After that, always 1.; and 3) here's the key thing, they walk ahead one square at a time, but they can only attack diagonally. Only piece like that -- moves one way attacks another. So you stand a piece directly in front of your opponent's pawn, that pawn can't move. You stand kitty-corner to the little sucker though and he'll eat you. Its the defining characteristic, remember it.
Thompson ( A ) -- maybe Jason's best game in forever -- it was noted in one of the recaps that it was his first 20+pt game since Dec.19., and when you add in the 15 rebounds as well...well it was the Clippers, but 22pts 15rebs will get it done. The jumper was mostly on, and while it should be noted that 8 of those 15 boards were on the offensive end and frequently of that Moses Malone miss inside and follow your own shot stat padding variety, in this game with the Clippers bigs shwiwng no interest at all in blocking him out, it effectively made him unstoppable. He either hit the initial shot, or threw up a brick, went and chased it, and then hit the shot. Hit a few wild inside shots over Kaman, and had several hustle saves. Began to lose control of Kaman defensively as the game wore on, but again avoided the foul toruble woes that are normally the aggravating factor, and his ability to do that late in the season has been promising. In the early 4th came up with a fugly finsh +1 along the baseline as part of our surge that finished the Clippers off. He was the inside guy to Reke's outside (to whatever degree you can call Reke an outside guy) this game that killed the Clippers. Our big task this summer is to find someone, anyone, who can do this sort of thing every night in there and we will be well on our way to mattering once again.
Control the Middle -- Basic Strategy 101 for a beginner is to try to control the middle of the board. Control the middle and you can control much of the action. The opening you see above is the classic Ruy Lopez (named after the old Spanish monk who first researched it) -- it dates back 500 years. Pawns are advanced to face off in the middle White hops his horsie out to threaten the black pawn. Black hops his horsie out to protect it. And White's bishop darts out diagonally to try to chase off or eat the Black horsie. If you don't know what you are doing, you can do worse than imitating a 500 year old opening like this to at least pretend you do and give structure to your early game.
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