Hmmm...IM Dave Vigorito, aka Fluffy on the ICC. So that is what he looks like. :)

Everyone's looking at two cats who will soon become Grandmasters. Officially today, Garry Kasparov and his foundation for chess, have agreed to teach these cats everything there is to know about the GarryBase. Watch out for these cool cats comin' to a tournament near YOU!

What about chess-related names for pets?

The best chess-related name for a cat that I've heard is "Gambit." Are there others?

Dog names are harder, especially big male dogs that normally have testosterone-laden names like "Sargon," or "Butch." Any chess-related names that sound good on a medium to big-sized dog? Maybe non-English chess terms that are easier on the tongue than "Zugzwang"?

I would think Grob is a good name for a Leonberger...

Alekhine had a cat named Caissa, and so do some other players... Maybe "kaissac" is a good variation or something like Catlekhine...

Here are mine:

http://www.chessninja.com/images/boo_princess.jpg

My little one, Morri, only has one good eye, so of course Teichmann came to mind. But it's not a very pleasant name, especially for a she. Morrigan is from Celtic mythology, one manifestation being a one-eyed crone.

Please, if I wanted to see animals engaged in post coital homosexual love- I would of filmed my own cats...;)

they are brother and sister you freak

Don't worry about it Dave some people just see anything as sexual. Anyway, the main question is why are David Vigorito's cats doing on Mig Greengard's website? I am confused.

Someone posted about Dav's ICC handle, he sent me a photo of his cats, I posted it for him.

What? No greg koster rant so far? Can't he see that both cats are evil manifestations of Fischer and Kasparov?

:-P

PS: I think Morrigan is the Celt goddess of War. That's what my AD&D Deities and Demigods manual says... ;-)

Looks like a King's Indian Defense to me:
The 4 paws attack.

Look at those happy babies. Bet I know what's in that little faux hot pepper.

Somebody take Tom out and shoot him!

True story. When I was a wee lad my siamese cat(lilac point) would always sleep with me underneath the covers, usually between my knees.

I awoke one morning to this sensation of wetness, and quickly got up to look at what was going on. My cat "Misty" was in the process of giving birth to 5 kittens. Truly sureal experience, and rather cool that she felt safe enough to have her kittens in bed with me.

Just thought i'd share this cat story.

They are adorable :) Do I smell catnip in the toy? And what blue book were they reading?

That is Morri's pepper. Any catnip in it faded long ago, but she carries it with her and fetches it better than any golden retriever could.

I think the book was Chess CATechism. Really.

That rotten Prince Charles. Imagine making his sons welcome into their family the woman who broke up their dead mom's marriage. If it was alright for Charles to shack up with the babe before and during the marriage, why not doesn't he just keep shacking up with her and leave her out of his sons' lives? I hope a cat sneaks up on Charles some night while he's sleeping and rips out his adam's apple.

Greg, I think those two are in love and have been for a long while. And marriages end every day, so Charles and Diana's split was typical, just very public. I hope the same cat sneaks into the Prince and Duchess' nuptial couch and feels comfortable enough to give birth to a litter of love cats.

While pondering whether "Rook" is the perfect large dog chess name...

I noticed here in the U.S. that there is a group that is attempting to popularize legitimate (i.e. olympic-style) wrestling with a new TV show. Although I'm not a wrestling fan my initial reaction was that it'll never have the popularity of the WWE since it likely won't be as outrageous and dramatic (or overly dramatic, if you prefer).

Then it hit me: chess should learn from the WWE. Think of it: they took a small-niche sport, changed it, and made it extremely popular. In what ways could we change our small-niche sport, change it, and make it extremely popular. Maybe we should think of outrageous, bombastic productions and maybe it won't even be chess as we know it, but it could be chess of a kind.

In World Chess Entertainment we could have the players making snide comments to each other (Nigel Short might finally become World Champ!), while also playing to the crowd. The players could be interviewed by chess announcers (Mig?) and pronounce the aneurysms they're going to smack down on their opponent. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. At least not in the basic idea which is that flash and bombast and outrageouness are popular these days and that chess is not.

I've been both a life long chess player and professional wrestling fan. I've met my share of masters of both "squared circles" over the years. It's a fact that wrestlers are often (of course not always) much more "cerebral" than outsiders might expect. They are very shrewd..and it usually takes years of dedicated hard work before they can turn professional. Chess professionals are misunderstood by much of the world too. As we know, chess players are not all "nerds". A lot of jocks would be jealous of some of the lovely ladies who flock to certain chess pro's. Avid chess fans are often enamored with the personalities of their favorite pro's, just like pro-wrestling fans. Wrestling fans usually can't "wrestle"...but they pay to watch pro's do it because the personalities are played up. If a promoter could manage to do the same thing for chess masters without tampering with the technical side of the game..I say more power to them. Oh, and as far as the old "wrestling is fake" criticism..it's as "real" as grandmaster draws and "rigged" final round games in swiss events.

Happy birthday, Garry Kasparov!
I hope you are already missing chess a little bit. (Oh, sorry, that was VERY selfish of me. But I think you understand.)

Me again. I read somewhere recently that Kasparov said that it would have been interesting to see what summits Anand might have reached had he been born in the Soviet Union. (Not exactly these words, but that was the gist of it, I believe.)
Food for thought?

Mig:

Black and white cats can be hard on the eyes. Next one, try green and buff, with algebraic coordinates.

David, shayne here in NH. Hope you are well. Remember you fondly as a talented man with an encouraging demeanor.