Old Fischer interview in which he tells us what he thinks about women...
https://archive.org/details/bfischer

Kramnick off to a strong start in the Candidates,
his risky attack crushes Aronian (2800) today:

Aronian is the betting favorite, too. Personally, I'm rooting for Fabbie, but I'm bummed that Nakamura and MVL are not in the tournament.

So Kramnik has white against Caruana today and comes out of the opening with the two bishops, both rooks centralized, and only doubled pawns to defend...but somehow the American wins and moves into first place.

Watched that game live, it was real back and forth. Fannie in the lead now.

With Yasser. U know Hess will have a great write up on it by tomorrow night.

Let's see if I can get this photo of Kramnik after the game with Caruana to post:
:large

I lost two internet games to an IM this morning and only feel slightly disappointed, poor Kramnik has his career and millions of dollars at stake.

Would love to have an American challenger and So's style is boring, so I'm pulling for Fabby.

The Candidates proceeds but this game is by a 30 yr old Englishman named Gawain Jones who I follow.
He likes to play the Grand Prix Attack vs the Sicilian but since there is no f4 here, just Bb5, I'm not sure what it is called except wild:
Jones 1-0 Inarkiev
https://live.followchess.com/#!european-individual-2018/704634706

Yes, Karjakin/Carlsen would be bad for chess. Another defense first match with a handful of dry Berlins. I don't think Fabby can handle Magnus, but he plays interesting chess and having an American with Italian heritage as the challenger would certainly broaden the appeal over another (boring) Russian.

No, the way Magnus has played this year I don't think anyone can beat him, but I'd rather see anyone other than karjakin. I'm still disappointed that nakamura and MVL didn't get in, they play the most interesting chess of the super GMs.

With their head to head record if Carlsen played Naka I would expect Carlsen to win the first 6 and then just coast to the championship will Nana made excuses and snide but humorous comments on Twitter.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch,
SanAntone beats Austin:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sanantoniochessclub/permalink/1728233910574977/

Big result! Fabi wins in a beauty and Karjakin draws, Shak wins, and has the tie break over Karjakin in second. Tomorrow will be wild.

Fabi is first American since Gata Kamsky vs Karpov in 1996, I believe.
https://www.ichess.net/blog/karpov-analyzes-1996-world-chess-championship-match-with-kamsky/

Edit: The Ronald Henley mentioned in the above was from Houston, and was the first GM from Texas.

I beat GM Pal Benko in a simul, but only because he was concentrating on the two masters sitting beside me. The funny thing was that when he came back around to my board, I felt bad about him leaving his queen en prise and offered him a draw. He still didn't see it, so declined, then did a double take when I removed his Q, and promptly tipped his K.
He wrote about the incident in CL&R, calling me a "southern gentleman"...hah, little did he know.
I was Pres of the Corpus Christi CC at that time and the next day got to play a series of 5-minute games with Benko and two guys from the club, he won all ~20 games except I had one draw.

VERY cool story!..........I played some skittles with Ron Henley at the Texas Junior Championship years before he hit the big time.

Highest rated person in a tournament game was 2247. Unofficially, I have a buddy who is an FM and I've beaten him from time to time (over the several hundred games we've played.)

AstroAg17 said:

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Caruana isn't exactly a homegrown hero like Fischer either, but calling Kamsky an American player will always have an asterisk in my mind.

Out of curiosity, what's y'all's best win ever by rating or title? I beat a low 1700's player this week, so the dream of playing a non-embarrassing game against one of you experts is gaining steam.

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Someone ranked in the high 1200s... I'm definitely not at your levels...

I don't think any of us play well by the standards of Paul Morphy, so we are safe on that point at least.

Is there a good book to help me learn more about chess strategies?

I like to play, but feel like I am just guessing my way through most games.

I generally like Jeremy Silman's books. His Reassess your Chess also seems to be pretty well liked by those who have used it. I think that is a good book to improve your overall play.

Is there any part of your game you want to work on particularly?