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Used to be, I got 5-10 e.mails every month, and they all asked basically the same question. ("How do you choose the games for this feature?") This past week, I got asked this question - again - so I thought I would answer it. (Permanently.)
Basically
every week, I download the current issue of
TWIC.
(ChessBase 8.0 and 9.0 and
10.0 does
this for you, just select "Get new games" from the
"HELP" menu.)
Then,
I sort the games, and I filter out all the decisive games where both
participants are at least 2500. {average}
(I used to look at drawn games,
but to be honest, I doubt most draws would interest the average reader.)
I then eliminate the extremely long games ... annotating games over 60-75 moves in length - simply is not practical.
I then play through all the games at least once, usually the first time without a computer (analysis) engine.
I try to eliminate games that are similar to ones I have done before.
I also will eliminate from consideration ... any game that was decided by a one move blunder.
I
also try to seek a game that, if properly presented, would have some
instructional value.
(A good opening, a very crisp middle-game, a
well-played end-game.)
Often times, I make a list ... of a certain opening that I need to do. At first, I will confess to being guilty of pretty much ignoring this list, and wound up examining too many Sicilians and KP openings. However, after some time has gone by, once can now see a whole array of different openings.
I
will confess to having favorite players ... this is my website, there is
nothing wrong with featuring games by players I like.
(A few examples: Garry Kasparov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov,
Alexander Morozevich, Sergei Rublevsky, Emil Sutovsky, etc.)
Sometimes, a game from a big tournament - like Linares - gets top priority. (Nothing wrong with that!)
After making a 'short list' ... its time to make a decision. (Its always my call. Sometimes, its NOT an easy choice!)
Often, I will make an exception to the above policy. And its usually a mistake.
I will share a few examples with you.
A few months back, (Spring - 2005); the editor of a large state chess publication sent me a few games - from a scholastic event - and then demanded that I consider them. I entered a few into the computer, I even lightly annotated two. In the end, the games simply did not make the cut. Then I received an e-mail from the same editor, who blessed me out good, although he never used bad words. I simply reminded him that all I promised to do was to CONSIDER the games ... NOT feature them.
A GM - or more likely, a student or friend of said GM - once sent me games from a weekend Swiss. He DEMANDED - in the strongest possible terms - that I use one of the games for my column. He even threatened me. ("I have never given to your websites, but I am considering a large gift. But this is conditional on your including 'Player X's' games ... on a regular basis.") Needless to say, he was brushed off, and not without a small measure of both irritation and contempt.
Other people have sent gifts. One man was kind enough to send a check for $100.00, and he also had already picked out his favorite game {from TWIC} for that month. (It wasn't a bad game, but it also was not a GM-versus-GM contest.) I tried to patiently explain to him that his gift was greatly appreciated, but this is my website, and ... ultimately I am the one who will choose the games!
Almost every month, a parent will send me a game that their child played in a weekend Swiss. A few times, a very low-rated player had upset a MUCH higher-rated player. However, I have been "spoofed" so many times, <people sending in fake games> ... the ONLY way I would consider such a game is for it to appear in TWIC ... or some other publication. I demand public verification!!!
Occasionally a well-known author will send me a game. Or some other FM/IM/GM will send a game that they saw in a tournament. They will request that I look at such a game, and I usually do. (When it appears in TWIC.) If it is a good game, I will automatically add it to my "games-considered file." However, most of the time, these games do not pan out. A simple mistake decided everything. Or ... in one case, a very brilliant middle-game, was followed by an (uneven?) ending that was over eighty moves long! Like the old commercial used to say to the tuna, "Sorry, Charley!"
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Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2015. All rights reserved.
This page was created in the first week of October, 2005. It was last edited or saved on: 03/17/2015 10:41 AM .