Happy New Year! (with cats)

Maybe you should change the name of the site to CatNinja.com.

Love, ALF :)

(For those who don't get that last joke, ALF (Alien Life Form) was a US sitcom in the 80's, and, although you never saw it, there were lots of jokes about how it LOVED to eat cats.)

Since this is an open forum: Mig, I wish your cats a long and healthy life. Pet them everyday! I just lost one of mine yesterday to respiratory failure. He was 15 years old and a good buddy. I'm going to miss him and when their gone...it's forever.

At the Corus tornament 2006, several players will have to come out fighting. For example, in 2005, Anand placed third in Linares, and second in Corus, Mtel, San Luis, and Corsica Masters. Topalov needs to prove himself once again, especially since this is his first tournament after winning the championship. Leko did not have a good 2005. My prediction is that Topalov will win Corus and that the pounding on Kramnik will be so tough that he will retire from chess.

What could Kramnik do to earn a living after he retires from chess? Sell his paintings?

I would like to wish all of you a HAPPY, HEALTHY and PROSPEROUS 2006!

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
www.SusanPolgar.blogspot.com
www.PolgarChess.com

with 4 cats someone has a soft heart for the furry kittens.

No all cats live forever in our memory.

the best thing to do is to go out immediately and get another kitten to love up. just spend all your time with the kitten. your heart will melt and bond and the old hurt will be replaced with fond memories of the older cat who now lives forever inside of you.

Of course I just went through all this with an older dog and a young puppy. My puppy now is almost 4 months old. and he heals all my hurts.

Love those pets in 2006.

I did not know Dave was a cat lover. I will be cheering all cat lovers at the US Championships. I will have to hold Dave V. in first place.

then will be Susan Polgar, Gata Kamsky, Nakamura, etc.

Hey Dave, You can do it. I will be watching all your games live over the internet. this will be fun.

Mig, I know 2006 will be a good year for chess. Things are looking up.

Everyone Please have a great year. I will be watching all your games on the internet. I love the internet and chess.

in case there is someone here who does not know. I will say that Dave Vigorito will be playing in the US Championships. A couple of years ago I watched all of Allen Bennetts games at the us championships. it is great fun to see all the Boston players do so well. of course Dave has now left boston for las vegas.

Tommy

Happy New Year, Mig! I'm commenting because I really love those cats! I can't have any cats right now, but we are expecting a baby.

And clean up your house, man!

Tommy, Thanks for your comments. And yes, he will live in my memory and heart. I just wish I could pet him one more time. I have two 3 month old kittens who are receiving a lot of affection. Thanks again.

Happy 2006 everyone!

Well, I was fooling around on Schemingmind and found my way here... Noticed the cats of course.
We foster cats and recently adopted out a few black and whites in pairs. Buddy and Charles, More and Larry (Curley went with an all black Felix)
Anyway, take a peek at my just starting to wake blog http://smilebigandoften.blogspot.com/ for more cat stuff (my guest bloggers)

To chesstraveler. My thoughts go uot to you. They are like children aren't they - each with his/her own personality. We've had/have many each unique and all children. Well, its pretty much a given that we will outlive them and there are always many (too many) needing a home - break another out of jail pease! Actually, there is nothing better than having 2 or more from the same litter. They will share and play like no others.
All the best.

Cincinnati Bob, Thank you also for your kind remarks. I'm in total agreement with your children analogy. My wife was fostering the two young ones (they came to us with there eyes still closed) but in very little time we decided, no way, we're keeping them. And your right again, they're joined at the hip. Best wishes in return.

Chesstraveler,

My condolences. Our 15 year old cat passed away in November after several years of declining health. Always sad...

And one thought for those considering bringing in new cat members to a family: please do consider older cats. Most shelters have a very hard time adopting out a cat over 2 years old, but when they're older you can get a very good sense of their personality. My cat who died recently came to us when she was 4--my other cat was 5 years old when we got her. Both were great additions to our household.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Duif

Duif, First, I want to say I'm sorry for your loss. Second, I'm overwhelmed by these responses and it has made this 1st day of 2006 much easier. Thanks so much and a Happy and Healthy New Year to all!

chesstraveler:
When we first started fostering, we had a mom with 2 kittins who then took in 3 more as her own. At one point though, we fostered kittens without mom's support, so we did the bottle feeding and the bathroom support. You probably know they can't go by themselves until they're around 3-4 weeks.. Darn it's hard to give those guys up! So, we kept the first 6. (Well, I named them all!) (Al and Moniqiue on my blog were the first two) After a while though, reality sets in and you realize that you can't keep them all, and (we've been fortunate) adopting parents come by to take them and, in our case anyway, we knew the vast majority were going to good homes. Very satisfying. All but one parent has sent us pictures and updates. Very nice.
I'm in rambling mode now but if you want to foster more......
My wife is very strict with the fosters - the new parents Must have a vet and take them in within a day or so She calls the vet to follow up. The shelter we work with charges 65 and this (and my wifes screening) mainly assures they won't be food for someone's reptile (yeah, sorry it happens though)
It's hard to give them up when you've been literally mom and dad; but if you screen your new parents well, it can be darn satisfying.
As I said I know I'm rambling, but just wanted to pass along that it's not too hard to get people to consider taking a brother/sister combination if you're fostering. Most people think of adopting 'a cat' just out of habit, but all are very glad to have been nudged into taking two littermates once they've got them home. And, if you take in animals from more than one 'incident', keep them quaranteened until you know all are healthy. Kittens very easily come with URI's (upper respiratory infections) (if from a shelter they get it from kennel cough from the dogs..) and with the little ones it can easily turn into pnemonia. We had this problem and found that some Tiger Balm mixed about 5 (petroleum jelly) to 1 (TigerBalm) and dabbed into their nose helps keep their nose stay clear so they will continue to smell and therefore eat. We had to have 2 put down before we came up with the idea and none of the vets around were of help in this so it's why I bring it up here. (If their nose gets too dry the skin can break and some bleeding can occur, just use more jelly and a little less TB until it's better)

Anyway, again I'm sorry to hear of your little one. We had 3 go this year, one was 17, the other two (brothers) were from the shelter that we adopted but had a genetic liver disease... but in the end we were happy to have given them what they did have while they were here.
All the best whatever you do.

Mig. Btw. You're balck and whites look like some real players! We had a couple - one named after buddy hackett as he was a spittin image as a kitten, whose new parents tell us Buddy say's "Hello" to them. Not a meow that sounds like hello, they say he says "Hello". They're working on teaching him Goodbye. I haven't heard yet on that.

The one on your left leg looks a bit like Buddy.

I completely support the idea of adopting older cats. My last official adoptee (I have three now, plus another one that we feed regularly outside but won't come near us) was an older cat. He had been someone's pet, since he was very friendly and had a collar, but had been totally neglected. He was outside all the time and literally starving. It appeared he'd gotten older, less healthy, and less able to hunt. We live near some fields, so hunting is an option, but not after a certain age. He would probably have only survived a few more months without our intervention.

We began feeding him, then one thing led to another, and eventually he became a totally indoor cat. Several trips to the vet and around $2,000 fixed several serious illnesses and other physical problems, and now he's a very gentle and lovable indoor pet. I'm not sure how many years he has left, since we don't know how old he is, but however many it is we certainly gave him several more than he would have had.

We took it very slow introducing him to our other cats. First he stayed in the garage all the time, then in an upstairs bedroom, then he would roam the house at night with the other cats shut away from him, and finally they were all together. That worked and we never had any issues.

Paul

Watching cats interacting with one another and gradually revealing their distinct personalities is a very similar joy to that of following chessmasters. They may seem similar from afar, but the closer you look the more you can appreciate their individuality. I'm positive as I sit here sipping "Alek-ohol" that Alekhine understood this. To all you cat lovers, may your own chess understanding rival that of his in 2006. Unlike ol' A.A. I haven't ever allowed our cats Mr. Jinx and Dixie to freely stroll on my study board, but perhaps I should rethink that policy given the strength of some of you folks out there. What do you think?

Hey, Mig, how about a thread for New Year's chess resolutions?

Here's mine: to play silly chess (like 5 0 and faster) in a silly fashion, and serious chess in a serious fashion. Which is to say--to stop losing almost every blitz game on time! And to give my correspondence games the attention they deserve. :)

Again, thanks so much for running this site. It's one of my favorite places on the Internet. :)

warm regards and a Happy New Year!
duif

Paul M. God Bless you man. Yes, we also took in an older stray from the neighborhood this year. We saw him all last winter and he was obviously homeless, but a big dude as well, so we weren't too worried. this year, he came around more and we put food out which made his visits go exponential ;), but we finally coaxed him into the house and he's a regular in and out cat now (Big Floydie) with our other 7 - And our 110 lb Black Lab. Very true about the older cats and I wouldn't have any reservations adopting one that I felt had a good personality. Here though, there are so many babies in springtime.... I guess everyone is as dumb as a rock in the Ohio area regards getting the animal fixed. No offense, but dang, the cats around here are more populous than squirrels it seems.

Paul M. God Bless you man. Yes, we also took in an older stray from the neighborhood this year. We saw him all last winter and he was obviously homeless, but a big dude as well, so we weren't too worried. This year, he came around more and we put food out which made his visits go exponential ;), but we finally coaxed him into the house and he's a regular in and out cat now (Big Floydie) with our other 7 - And our 110 lb Black Lab. Very true about the older cats and I wouldn't have any reservations adopting one that I felt had a good personality. Here though, there are so many babies in springtime.... I guess everyone is as dumb as a rock in the Ohio area regards getting the animal fixed. No offense, but dang, the cats around here are more populous than squirrels it seems.

Well, who doesn't LOVE fischer news? eh.

Well didn't see anyone reporting on this since chessbase posted about the ebay auction, but the auction has been withdrawn. Icelandic news agency contacted the seller and told them fischer saw this auction as theaft and shouldn't have to buy back his own things. The seller claimed he had repeatedly tried contacting fischer giving him his stuff, but he's a hard man to reach. He then contacted a friend of Fischers, Einar S. Einarsson.
The seller did not want to reveal his name but claims he knows Fischer and spent time with him in Belgium. He said he was ready to give his things to him if moving costs was provided.

While Einar and the seller were speaking, an offer was made to the auction from Holland which the seller withdrew two days later.
According to the seller many university libraries and private-collectors have shown interest in the things.

Well so someone in Iceland will pay for moving costs and he will receive his things soon enough.. everyone loves a happy ending.

http://www.visir.is/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051221/FRETTIR01/51221014&SearchID=73231411001709

In the UK my local animal shelter not only entreats you to take older cats but also to consider black and white ones! Apparently they are the least popular feline colour combo, tabby being most popular.

In the UK my local animal shelter not only entreats you to take older cats but also to consider black and white ones! Apparently they are the least popular feline colour combo, tabby being most popular.

You cat lovers might like this MSNBC story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10707711/from/RS.3/

Still waiting for a new thread re: FIDE World Championship matches.
1. L. Aronian - M. Carlsen
2. P. Leko - M. Gurevich
3. R. Ponomariov - S. Rublevsky
4. B. Gelfand - R. Kasimjanov
5. E. Bacrot - G. Kamsky
6. A. Grischuk - V. Malakhov
7. J. Polgar - E. Bareev
8. A. Shirov - M. Adams
It's fun to make picks, so I'll take
Aronian, Leko, Rublevsky, Gelfand, Kamsky, Grischuk, Bareev, Adams.
I'm offerring picks without reasons, but if a thread goes up then I'll add some comments.

Considering my earlier post at the beginning of this thread,now that Kramnik withdrew from Corus, do I still get to say 'I told you so'?

Alphonse,

I had a similar reaction when I first heard the news. However, after seeing the diagnosis Chessbase is suggesting for Kramnik, Ankylosing Spondylitis, I have nothing but sympathy for him. This is a very real condition and one that can be quite debilitating.

(It is ironic that the photo chosen to accompany the Chessbase article shows Kramnik in exactly the WRONG sort of position for someone with this condition. Bending forward while sitting can encourage bone growth in the wrong parts of the spine, leading to further pain and deterioration.)

Here is the Mayo Clinic article on this condition:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ankylosing-spondylitis/DS00483

It cannot be cured, but many of the symptoms can be addressed with medical treatment and lifestyle changes.

(Giving up smoking is important, for example, because AS can cause the ribcage to become less mobile, making it harder to breathe. When lung function is decreased due to smoking, the AS patient has even more difficulty getting enough oxygen.)

Learning the right posture is also critical because, as I already mentioned, the condition can cause excess bone to grown at sitesw of inflammation.

Anyway, there are many good symptomatic treatments, so I am hoping that we will see GM Kramnik improve physically to the point where he will find his chess improving as well as his general life.

Duif

Duif,
I am sorry if you are still suffering from this ailment. I hope you are better. It might be true that Kramnik is sick and also that he's known about it for two years but then his negociations with the Topalov camp towards unification and his participation in the Russian Superfinal even after a year of bad results, were based on something very similar to denial, something which could explain other problems. Susan Polgar's comments today on this issue are quite interesting.

Alphonse,

Thank you for your concern. The illness that I have is different. It is an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks its own nerves. CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy).

But I do understand how difficult it can be to acknowledge that one has such an illness, even after diagnosis, and how challenging it can be to make the necessary lifestyle changes.

(It is still difficult for me to ask my kids to do something, like pick up books off the floor after the cat knocked them off the shlef, that I feel I "should" do as the parent.)

regards,
Duif

Just heard about Kramnik's withdrawal from Corus and the quite credible mention of his VERY serious sickness at chessbase.com

I feel I should post an apology to Kramnik. I have always considered him the legitimite Steinitz lineage holder, although generally speaking, I indeed don't like his chess. As many others, I have posted cynical remarks which I now sincerely regret.

Jamie,
Perhaps asking your children to assist you is teaching them the value of assisting others. If so, they are a large step ahead in life of many of today's pampered children. Just like a chess player to aid her young in the lesson of rapid development! ;) Love your posts here, btw. You have a real talent for synthesis.

Zinger,
Thank you for your comment--you are much too kind. I enjoy the conversations here, very much--Mig does our community a wonderful service in running this site.

Happy New Year to all!
Duif

I think that is me cat we found her on our porch and decied we can keep him.

Some time before, I did need to buy a good car for my organization but I did not earn enough money and couldn't purchase something. Thank heaven my comrade proposed to get the loan at reliable bank. Thus, I did so and was satisfied with my collateral loan.

So funny.very nice ....

That's a cool cat. Looks like my girlfriend's. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading and will share with my mates.
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