In yer dreams ...

[Kevin Bonham]

Does anyone else here ever have dreams about chess? I don't have many, but most of them are horrible. Typically I'll get beaten by someone I would ordinarily never lose to, either someone I have an overwhelming scoreline against or even an utter novice. Usually this will involve my time simply running away while I sit there powerless to prevent it, copious cheating by my opponent and an illegally large number of opposing pawns parked menacingly on my third rank.

However a few nights ago my alter-ego enjoyed a form reversal and managed a draw against Peter Leko. I don't remember the exact position but we had castled opposite sides and Leko (Black) had an enormous q-side attack but his Q was parked on h5 and I had a lot of pressure piled up on the g-file, but no actual winning threats. Leko missed that I had a Nxf4 hitting his queen and threatening to take it then sac for a draw before he could checkmate me. He played ...Qd1+ giving up his Q to capture by some minor piece and disrupting my q-side defences, but only had enough attack to force a perpetual with the single tempo left before I forced one myself.

Leko was disgusted by this result and stormed off (I think this bit was inspired by reading about one of Theos Rippis' opponents doing that in the Asian Cities). Leko was even less impressed when he learned that a movie producer intended to use the game in a chess scene in a major blockbuster, thus exposing to the world at large how he had conceded a draw to such a bunny. He even sent a hired thug after me with the object of forcing me to surrender all records of the game so that it would be as if it had never happened. I was telling the thug not to bother, the game was already all over in the internet and published in Australian Chess, there was no way it could possibly be disposed of. Then I woke up. :hmm:

[Trent Parker]

d'oh

[Alan Shore]

Does anyone else here ever have dreams about chess? I don't have many, but most of them are horrible. Typically I'll get beaten by someone I would ordinarily never lose to, either someone I have an overwhelming scoreline against or even an utter novice. Usually this will involve my time simply running away while I sit there powerless to prevent it, copious cheating by my opponent and an illegally large number of opposing pawns parked menacingly on my third rank.

However a few nights ago my alter-ego enjoyed a form reversal and managed a draw against Peter Leko. I don't remember the exact position but we had castled opposite sides and Leko (Black) had an enormous q-side attack but his Q was parked on h5 and I had a lot of pressure piled up on the g-file, but no actual winning threats. Leko missed that I had a Nxf4 hitting his queen and threatening to take it then sac for a draw before he could checkmate me. He played ...Qd1+ giving up his Q to capture by some minor piece and disrupting my q-side defences, but only had enough attack to force a perpetual with the single tempo left before I forced one myself.

Leko was disgusted by this result and stormed off (I think this bit was inspired by reading about one of Theos Rippis' opponents doing that in the Asian Cities). Leko was even less impressed when he learned that a movie producer intended to use the game in a chess scene in a major blockbuster, thus exposing to the world at large how he had conceded a draw to such a bunny. He even sent a hired thug after me with the object of forcing me to surrender all records of the game so that it would be as if it had never happened. I was telling the thug not to bother, the game was already all over in the internet and published in Australian Chess, there was no way it could possibly be disposed of. Then I woke up. :hmm:

That's awesome, nice to remember it so vividly too. I usually dream of chess upon playing a whole heap of games on the net, so in the past have dreamt a lot about bug, (and lately, suicide chess).. suffice to say I think it detracts somewhat from quality of sleep, hehe. Thanks for sharing anyway, hehe.

[Trent Parker]

I hardly ever dream. Dreaming about chess would be the best though!

[Alan Shore]

I hardly ever dream. Dreaming about chess would be the best though!

Hehe, not sure I can agree, it makes you somewhat restless I believe. I had some dream last night that involved some characters in Frasier and a dispute over washing or something :p

[Kevin Bonham]

That's awesome, nice to remember it so vividly too.

Actually I got the squares the wrong way round when I was describing it before - just mirror-image all the files from my post. I remember other details of the position but not quite enough to recreate it and see how erroneous the analysis was. :(

[Rincewind]

However a few nights ago my alter-ego enjoyed a form reversal and managed a draw against Peter Leko. I don't remember the exact position but we had castled opposite sides and Leko (Black) had an enormous q-side attack but his Q was parked on h5 and I had a lot of pressure piled up on the g-file, but no actual winning threats. Leko missed that I had a Nxf4 hitting his queen and threatening to take it then sac for a draw before he could checkmate me. He played ...Qd1+ giving up his Q to capture by some minor piece and disrupting my q-side defences, but only had enough attack to force a perpetual with the single tempo left before I forced one myself.

Leko was disgusted by this result and stormed off (I think this bit was inspired by reading about one of Theos Rippis' opponents doing that in the Asian Cities). Leko was even less impressed when he learned that a movie producer intended to use the game in a chess scene in a major blockbuster, thus exposing to the world at large how he had conceded a draw to such a bunny. He even sent a hired thug after me with the object of forcing me to surrender all records of the game so that it would be as if it had never happened. I was telling the thug not to bother, the game was already all over in the internet and published in Australian Chess, there was no way it could possibly be disposed of. Then I woke up. :hmm:

Actually that dream is quite common. ;)

[Trent Parker]

in a dream i am at university late doing an assignment. Logging on to chesskit and making comments about chess. oh hang on..... it's reality!!! :lol:

[arosar]

Do you dream in colour?

AR

[PHAT]

Do you dream in colour?

Interestingly, men tend not to recall colour in their dreams unless colour per se is important to the dream itself. Women do recall colour.

Also, smell is quite rare dreams while acceleration (inner ear balance) related preceptions are common.

Does anyone have some recent literature on this stuff.

[eclectic]

Interestingly, men tend not to recall colour in their dreams unless colour per se is important to the dream itself. Women do recall colour.

Also, smell is quite rare dreams while acceleration (inner ear balance) related preceptions are common.

Does anyone have some recent literature on this stuff.
my most common sensation in dreams is feeling like an alert mind inside a corpse and not being able to get myself to move

it's as if i'm possessed by another being or force

perhaps this should be taken to

"in your nightmares"

fears,

eclectic

[PHAT]

my most common sensation in dreams is feeling like an alert mind inside a corpse and not being able to get myself to move

it's as if i'm possessed by another being or force

perhaps this should be taken to

"in your nightmares"

fears,

eclectic

During sleep the brain has to turn off the link between the the motor cortex and everything else, otherwise you would be thrashing about all night with movements require in your dreams. However, there are times when this link is not full cut.
1. Just as you go to sleep - sometimes we give a kick or some twitches when the cut is not quite completed
2. Sleep walking / talking
3. Extemely emotional dreams - fear, anger, sex.
4. Restless legs syndrome - a sleep disorder where your kicking legs keep waking you up.

Another interesting phenominum is where the cut remains intact, but the rest of the brain is nearly awake. Under such circumstances, your waking brain sences the inablitiy to move as a paralyisis. This can be be a very strong sensation in some people. If the person has also been indulging in X-Files type literature, or has has an strong interest in such stuff, the fear can trigger their autonomic NS to start a peristalic wave that feels a bit like defication. In combination, it can result in a frighteningly vivid recollection of alien abduction and anal probes.

How's your bum, eclectic?

[eclectic]

If the person has also been indulging in X-Files type literature, or has has an strong interest in such stuff, the fear can trigger their autonomic NS to start a peristalic wave that feels a bit like defication. In combination, it can result in a frighteningly vivid recollection of alien abduction and anal probes.

How's your bum, eclectic?
DAGNABBIT MR SWEENEY !!!!

I AM NOT ERIC CARTMAN

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

:p

eclectic

[Kevin Bonham]

Interestingly, men tend not to recall colour in their dreams unless colour per se is important to the dream itself.

I recall colour without difficulty more or less irrespective of importance. Objects may not have a fixed colour (indeed frequently don't) but even if so I can remember the colour changes pretty well. GM Leko was wearing a medium-green blazer, a dull tan jumper and yellow trousers.

Also, smell is quite rare dreams while acceleration (inner ear balance) related preceptions are common.

Offhand, I cannot remember having a single dream involving smell, ever.

[PHAT]

I recall colour without difficulty more or less irrespective of importance.

But seriously, the colour/no colour thing, is a generality. Also, we must be aware that our memories of dreams are not as vivid as our memories of reality. The disconcerting aspect aboout memory, especially non-deliberate memories, is how much of it is made up. Most periferal details are not put down in memory at all. Our brain simply has an out line of the event/object and it uses other memories to fill in the details.

Lawyers are starting to realise that current reseach into memory, is close to making "eye witness" non-deliberate memory accounts of events, inadmisable in court. :eek:

Perhaps you have seen a photo of Leko with a green coat.

[Trent Parker]

now now sweeney. Not everyone fits the mould

[Rincewind]

Maybe you are a closset poofter.

:eek:

As a serious question, Kevin, how were you able to keep a straight face whenever Leko spoke? He has what has got to be the most comical voice on the super GM circuit. ;)

[JGB]

When i started really getting stuck into the chess study (May 2001) I probably dreamt about chess 50% of all my dreams (well of those i remember anyway; at least one a night). This would have been a result of being a player who went from never studying or relly playing chess to a 4-6 hours per day studier of the game for a 2 year period now. Thje dreams have eased up a bit now I have maybe only one chess dream every 2 days. Im not sure if I liked it or not, but I was certain some how it was doing my chess a great deal of good. if I could see it all so clearly in my dreams, the perfect position for a game studied that day with new ideas flowing, must be a good sign. not easy to break it to the girlfriend that shes number 2 on your dreams list, after chess.

[PHAT]

Important typo correction:



Lawyers are starting to realise that current reseach into memory, is close to making "eye witness" non-deliberate memory accounts of events, inadmisable in court. :eek:

[Trent Parker]

"an attempt at humour"? A story found on http://www.queensac.com/bob.html

[Alan Shore]

Hehe, delightful story Trent.. if only we could get those dreams ;)

[Alan Shore]

Lawyers are starting to realise that current reseach into memory, is close to making "eye witness" non-deliberate memory accounts of events, inadmisable in court.

This doesn't surprise me based upon psychological research on witness testimonies.. even 'having a high level of certainty' recalling an event from memory only correlates r=.25 with the truth.

[Rincewind]

This doesn't surprise me based upon psychological research on witness testimonies.. even 'having a high level of certainty' recalling an event from memory only correlates r=.25 with the truth.

Since when have the courts been interested in the truth?

[Rincewind]

"an attempt at humour"? A story found on http://www.queensac.com/

Trent,

Funny story. Although next time it would be best to provide a URL link to external resources rather than copy them verbatim. It saves on facilities and mitigates legal risk.

regards

[Kevin Bonham]

Perhaps you have seen a photo of Leko with a green coat.

He was wearing quite a gaudy outfit (though I can't say how close it was to that specified) in one of the rapids that were televised last year. It's likely that in the dream he was wearing my best memory of that.

[Kevin Bonham]

As a serious question, Kevin, how were you able to keep a straight face whenever Leko spoke? He has what has got to be the most comical voice on the super GM circuit. ;)

I don't think he ever spoke in the dream. My conversation about what was going on was conducted entirely with his hired "thug" (who, I have to say, wasn't really all that thuggish).

[Trent Parker]

Trent,

Funny story. Although next time it would be best to provide a URL link to external resources rather than copy them verbatim. It saves on facilities and mitigates legal risk.

regards
done

[Kevin Bonham]

Does anyone else here ever have dreams about chess? I don't have many, but most of them are horrible. Typically I'll get beaten by someone I would ordinarily never lose to, either someone I have an overwhelming scoreline against

Aaaaaaaargh! This actually happened IRL tonight, lost to someone I was previously +5=0-0 against and thereby almost certainly lost the club championship I've won outright the past six years in a row. Aaaaaargh!

(Entirely self-inflicted, I didn't play the man, and gave him the sort of position I knew he was strong in. Stooooooooopid.)

Anyway I have another distantly chess-related dream, although it's really more golf than chess. I dreamt that I had somehow qualified for an 18-hole playoff in a major golf event (those, such as S.T., who have heard of my dreadful golfing abilities will realise that this is far, far less likely than me drawing with Peter Leko.) Of course I was expecting to be mashed by 25 strokes or so by my quality opponent and was hence very surprised to be heading off to the second tee one up after getting a birdie on the first hole (hey, I guess there's a first time for everything, pity it was while I was asleep.)

What does this have to do with chess? My opponent was one S. Solomon.

[Brian_Jones]

Take a look at Ray Kitchen's dream in the latest Australia Chess magazine!

[Alan Shore]

More strange dreams.. I was at university to take some exams and I ran into Barry Cox. I was surprised at how old he looked too as I had imagined him to be quite a bit younger. He was telling me how he was also interested in anicent history and symbology. Then while I was sitting in the exam room someone asked me if I wanted to have a haircut. Afterwards, a few people and I were on a bus in Los Angeles but I had to ask them to stop in the middle of the freeway so I could retrieve my car. The driver was reluctant but with the persuasion of Steve Buscemi and Jack Nicholson the driver did stop when a friend noticed my car. We walked back to it only to discover it was the exact model and year but with a different license plate, upon which I woke up.

[JGB]

More strange dreams...upon which I woke up.
Damn!, you just woke up before Antichrist entered scene 2 with Robert De Niro in the street battle scene direct from the movie 'Heat'. :D

[Kevin Bonham]

Possibly the stupidest dream I've ever had - brings a whole new meaning to the idea of "coffeehouse chess".

Last night I dreamt that I was playing game one of six in a match against another top Tasmanian player. The game was being played on an unusually large board and I was having trouble focussing on the position. I kept transferring it to a smaller board to analyse it (nobody seemed to object to this) but when I did so the position kept changing, usually for the worse. Finally I concentrated on the main board where I was three pawns down in a double rook ending with some tactics involving cross-pins on an attacked pawn, I don't remember the exact details. I had thought I had a sequence that recovered two pawns with chances but found that the position was different to the one I'd analysed and the line actually dropped a rook. So I played whatever I could to keep going and soon found my opponent had an unstoppable pawn which queened.

He was waiting for me to resign but as I surveyed the board looking for swindles I noticed that my remaining pieces had turned into half-full hot cafe lattes and I was in an endgame of king and five lattes vs king and queen (opponent may have had other material). Improbably I seemed to have winning chances as I had his king (on h8) boxed up by my king (f6) with two of my lattes on g7 and g8. It occurred to me that if I could completely surround his king with lattes then he would be unable to prevent me from tipping hot latte on his king next move and would therefore be immediately checkmated. I therefore wanted to play latte (a8)-h7 mate and got up to ask the DOP whether this was a legal move.

My opponent was disgusted. I said "I need to find out how lattes move, it isn't stated in the laws of chess". He said "You've beaten me so often, it won't hurt you to lose just one." On my way to the arbiter's table I suddenly realised the answer for myself - lattes are not chess pieces and could not contribute in any way to my attack. (Doh!) I therefore returned to the table, resigned and shook my opponent's hand. I tried to apologise saying "I'm sorry about that, it had never come up before, I just wanted to know my rights" but he was ropable and refused to listen.

[antichrist]

I have never dreamt of anything chess, am I missing something?

[Eric]

AC I thought it would have been obvious, you're missing a brain!

[The Snail King]

Possibly the stupidest dream I've ever had - brings a whole new meaning to the idea of "coffeehouse chess".

I actually think its quite profound ... but I hadn't picked you as one of the latte set KB!

[antichrist]

AC I thought it would have been obvious, you're missing a brain!

Just shows that I have a lot more interesting things to dream about aye? Actually you may be on something on there I can't remember when I last dreamt. I think it was of AR showering and I was perving on him hahaha

[Trent Parker]

I rarely dream... I had a couple of dreams involving chess last night.....

There was one where i was playing in a huge tournament..... In Mt Buller! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Frank Walker]

I had a dream of my son playing chess and when he lost he ate all the other players and the arbiter didnt give him money so he gobbled up the arbiter too.

[Rincewind]

There was one where i was playing in a huge tournament..... In Mt Buller! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah, like that will happen. :)

[Garvinator]

I rarely dream... I had a couple of dreams involving chess last night.....

There was one where i was playing in a huge tournament..... In Mt Buller! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
did you get any cd's :P

[macavity]

Very good one and all,
take care and God Bless, Macavity

[antichrist]

I rarely dream... I had a couple of dreams involving chess last night.....

There was one where i was playing in a huge tournament..... In Mt Buller! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Your dream has come true - I just voted for A/C being barred from having polls - beat that.

[garethbcharles]

This isn't my dream but I thought some might find it interesting:

http://www.worldchessnetwork.com/English/chessNews/evans/031110.php

[Kevin Bonham]

Last night I dreamt that I was playing in a small but very strong 7-round swiss somewhere on the Australian mainland and, having fluked my way to an undeserved 4/6, I was drawn to play white against tournament leader David Smerdon (6/6) in the final round.

I sat down at the table and reached out to shake hands and then noticed that David had already moved a black pawn to a6. After a moment of confusion I somehow understood this to mean 1...a6 against anything. I thought for a moment and played 1.e4. He pointed at his a-pawn and pressed the clock. I played 2.d4. David picked up his b-pawn. I thought "aha he is going to play the Polish and smash me with it to punish me for rubbishing the Polish on the bulletin board". But no, he played ...b6. I felt relieved. The game continued and after several moves, all of his banged out instantly although his clock showed he had used 25 minutes, he had a great pawn centre, his first two moves notwithstanding. He was harassing my king with minor pieces that kept threatening to checkmate me [this is a blatant lift from me threatening the same against Dowden in the Tas Blitz champs I think]. He had castled kingside and fianchettoed his king's bishop and I suddenly noted with delight that I could play Qxh7+ - it was protected by my knight on g5. My delight faded when I noticed that his king would simply move and all I would do was harmlessly win a pawn that would not solve my problems, since his bishop covered h8 and if I sacrificed my queen there (it was protected by a rook as well as the knight) he would get g7 and then f6 as holes for his king. I studied the position for several minutes in dismay trying to find a more effective attack, failed, and woke up.

[ElevatorEscapee]

I've had a couple of chess dreams myself, but the position of the board often ends up in confusion and I wake up in frustration. (This maybe me more of a reflection of my lack of talent than anything else! :lol: )

[qpawn]

Actually, if you get the Chernev book "The chess companion" there is a fantastic piece of fiction called "Professor Pownall's oversight".

It's about two chess rivals who are competing to qualify for a master tournamnet. One of the rivals murders the other one. But then the ghost of the other player keeps appearing at the chessboard and making killer moves. Even in his dreams the murderer is accosted by his murdered rival. Ultimately, the murderer vows to never play chess again and hopes that his games never appear in his dreams :D

But to answer the question, yes I have had dreams of chess games and positions a few times. I tend to getpositions rather than opponents. I see my hand reaching for the chessboard and moving pieces.

[Kevin Bonham]

On Tuesday I was running way ahead of schedule in my work and for a while it looked like I might be back in Hobart in time to watch the final Kramnik-Deep Fritz game.

As it turned out this didn't materialise because there proved to be no plane from Wynyard to Hobart that day (Tassie intrastate transport is an absolute disgrace) and I missed the game, but I had been looking forward to hopefully getting back in time to see it.

That night as Kramnik was losing to Deep Fritz I dreamt that because Kramnik was unable to win the match, he had agreed to be replaced by Kasparov for the final game to increase interest in the final game (which was otherwise a dead rubber). In the game Kasparov was white.

Kasparov built up pressure on the computer with a series of apparently meaningless moves. The computer started playing complete nonsense (eg at one point it had a blocked pawn on b5 and played Ba6 shutting its bishop out of play for no reason.) Kasparov was clearly better and probably winning but suddenly misjudged a relatively simple (but not completely straightforward) series of exchanges. The computer won a pawn and went on to win the game in another ten moves or so.

[Kevin Bonham]

Last night I dreamt that I was trying to win a game with K+Q+R vs K+R+N+B+P. I've tried to reconstruct the position but it has turned out to be logically impossible as, among other things, it requires nine squares on the opposing second rank. I had explored a line with a rook check followed by an exchange sac leading to winning the other piece with checks but didn't want to leave my opponent with KR. I had another line where I played a queen check then a different rook check driving the opposing king away from the rook and winning it, and was analysing that when I woke up.

I also dreamt that I had a game where my flag fell (analog clock) after my opponent played an illegal move (think we may have discussed this on a thread) and my opponent and I claimed the illegal move and the flagfall simultaneously. We were calling the arbiter over to sort out the mess when I noticed that even though my flag had only just fallen, it was showing three minutes past flagfall, so getting two minutes back wouldn't help me. Therefore I accepted my defeat.

[antichrist]

If you really dreamt that you really do need help. Gee for an oldie my dream-imagination is still very "youthful".

[Kevin Bonham]

What's worse than dreaming you have beaten a strong player convincingly only to wake up and find it was a dream? Not being able to reconstruct the game, of course! :P

Last night I dreamt that I was playing (one of Tasmania's strongest players) in round one of a seven round swiss (go figure!) However the game was both a game and a bus trip through some hills above what later proved to be Adelaide. Thus, while the chess game was some kind of peculiar Caro-Kann where Black fiddles around a lot with knights and both sides essentially lose a move compared to some other line, the bus was going up over the skyline somewhere around move 5, causing me to say "I like this line, it's fun", when this feeling was actually more likely prompted by the bus ride.

At a certain point the road on the skyline had a vertical jump on it, causing the bus to shoot up high in the air. Precisely why the bus did not crash at this point I am not sure, but in any case when it landed I got off (somewhere around move 9) and considered my next move. It was somewhat difficult to orient - which way was the board facing? what was the board? would my opponent play 10.Na3 or 10.Nc3 next? (Na3 was a dusty bit of weed-infested dirt perched above a railway track wile Nc3 was somewhere in the parking lot of the supermarket across the road).

"Naaah" I thought "I don't need to look up Na3 in NCO, he's not a Na3 sorta guy" (never mind that I was supposed to be White). I had to look to the ocean to work out where south was, and hence work out which way the board was turned around, and then I confidently played Nc3 (which consisted, of course, of crossing the road).

I remember no more of the "game" except that I won a convincing and brilliant victory that was much admired by other players. I went outside for a walk ...

... and wandered off into the forest. When I looked at my watch it was 6:08pm. I had forgotten about the tournament and forfeited round two already, perhaps I'd make it back in time for round three? It wasn't clear. I wondered if the DOP would throw me out of the tournament then I remembered that I was the DOP. Then I woke up.

Later I fell asleep a few times and each time I had slightly worse recurring versions of the same forgetting-to-make-the-next-round thing. In the final one I turned up for round 4 the next morning, wondering if they would let me in so I could maybe score 5/7 and win some $$$. My opponent was sitting there showing people how I had beaten him, as if no time had passed and I had never been away.

[Kevin Bonham]

Apparent cheating by opponents is a very common feature of chess-related dreams that I have.

Last night I dreamt that I was again playing in the Australian Championship, but for some reason I had to play two games at once, and while my game against some unidentified very strong junior was proceding very nicely, I had lost half an hour on my clock in my white game against IM (name suppressed as I'm sure this person doesn't really cheat) without making a single move.

I was concerned that IM Anon would play the Pirc against me, and found this tedious because I wouldn't want to lose to it, even to an IM. So I decided I would play 1.Nf3 against IM Anon, and after 1...Nf6 2.g3 I returned to my game against the junior.

After a few more moves in that game I decided my position was very strong and the junior had plenty to chew on, and returned to my game against the IM.

I discovered that it was suddenly move six or seven. Both sides had fianchettoed their king's bishop, brought the other knight out and castled king-side. But what was peculiar was that IM Anon had also played ...Re8, which seemed to suggest he was a tempo ahead, which didn't make any sense. Looking at the board I could not see any reason for it, until I discovered that my queen was on f2 and my knight was on h1.

I got into an argument with IM Anon about how this happened and he insisted that I had mistakenly picked my king's knight up when I meant to move my bishop, and moved it there on move three.

This being a dream, it did not even occur to me that h1 would have been occupied by a rook or that Nf3-h1 would be illegal anyway. I decided to complain to the arbiter and insist that either IM Anon or a spectator had been moving my pieces while I was playing the other game.

[Garrett]

interesting post Kevin.

It's interesting how things like Nf3-h1 seem perfectly rational in dreams.

[Adamski]

What's worse than dreaming you have beaten a strong player convincingly only to wake up and find it was a dream? Not being able to reconstruct the game, of course! :P

Last night I dreamt that I was playing (one of Tasmania's strongest players) in round one of a seven round swiss (go figure!) However the game was both a game and a bus trip through some hills above what later proved to be Adelaide. Thus, while the chess game was some kind of peculiar Caro-Kann where Black fiddles around a lot with knights and both sides essentially lose a move compared to some other line, the bus was going up over the skyline somewhere around move 5, causing me to say "I like this line, it's fun", when this feeling was actually more likely prompted by the bus ride.

At a certain point the road on the skyline had a vertical jump on it, causing the bus to shoot up high in the air. Precisely why the bus did not crash at this point I am not sure, but in any case when it landed I got off (somewhere around move 9) and considered my next move. It was somewhat difficult to orient - which way was the board facing? what was the board? would my opponent play 10.Na3 or 10.Nc3 next? (Na3 was a dusty bit of weed-infested dirt perched above a railway track wile Nc3 was somewhere in the parking lot of the supermarket across the road).

"Naaah" I thought "I don't need to look up Na3 in NCO, he's not a Na3 sorta guy" (never mind that I was supposed to be White). I had to look to the ocean to work out where south was, and hence work out which way the board was turned around, and then I confidently played Nc3 (which consisted, of course, of crossing the road).

I remember no more of the "game" except that I won a convincing and brilliant victory that was much admired by other players. I went outside for a walk ...

... and wandered off into the forest. When I looked at my watch it was 6:08pm. I had forgotten about the tournament and forfeited round two already, perhaps I'd make it back in time for round three? It wasn't clear. I wondered if the DOP would throw me out of the tournament then I remembered that I was the DOP. Then I woke up.

Later I fell asleep a few times and each time I had slightly worse recurring versions of the same forgetting-to-make-the-next-round thing. In the final one I turned up for round 4 the next morning, wondering if they would let me in so I could maybe score 5/7 and win some $$$. My opponent was sitting there showing people how I had beaten him, as if no time had passed and I had never been away.What a classic, Kevin. :lol: My dreams are far more prosaic. Occasionally involve chess-players, but none that I recall actually have chess games in them. But I read that we forget 90+ % of our dreams...

[eclectic]

from tonight's forthcoming federal budget speech:

... accordingly, the federal government will henceforth recognise chess as an elite mind sport thus entitling its peak body, the australian chess federation, to funding in the vicinity of one hundred million dollars per annum ...

[eclectic]

i'm going to dream that this board gets a new vbulletin upgrade overnight which results most unexpectedly in causing those who have not posted or shouted here in quite some time to be unable to pm email or access the coffee lounge :D

[Kevin Bonham]

Last night I dreamt that I was playing Peter Garrett (as distinct from our Garrett!) in a serious tournament game. The game had the same time controls as the FIDE Grand Prix meaning that there was a time control at move 40. It was move 35 in a queen and pawns ending in which I was white and a pawn up. Garrett made a surprising move and pressed my clock.

I realised that Garrett's move was threatening a series of queen checks that would force a draw. I could start a series of queen checks myself but they would win a pawn and then run out, and he would force a draw.

As I analysed, my clock ticked down. Garrett's fans, a bunch of Green Party members (this should surely have alerted me to the fact that I was dreaming) tried to distract me by feeding me small trays of roasted nuts. I simply grabbed the nuts and ate them and continued to analyse.

With just under three minutes on my clock I realised that playing h3 (which I thought of as h6 although I was white) would leave Garrett without an effective perpetual check threat and leave me free to play the queen check next move. I played the move and pressed my clock. Garrett sat there for ages analysing the position and lost on time minutes later without playing another move.

[Captain Underpants]

I played the move and pressed my clock. Garrett sat there for ages analysing the position and lost on time minutes later without playing another move.
As I've said, the Libs are tossed for being hated - Labor tossed for being incompetent!

[Saragossa]

This is possibly the most epic thread in ages! I often have in tournament/in game day dreams where I either win awesomely or lose pathetically...my version of analysis. But as far as dreams go I think I've had them but not anything specific enough to remember mostly just around the tournament I'm actually playing.

The roasted nuts distraction made me laugh.

[Miranda]

I had a dream a few nights ago that I was playing Hou Yifan at Box Hill Chess Club, in a major tournament. Many of the spectators were players who I've played and they've stuck in my memory for some reason (usually because they made a huge blunder, were annoying during the game or completely and uttely smashed me to pieces). I ended up winning the game by playing the Sicilian, and doing a K R v K mate. As I stood up to go report the result, I caught sight of my reflection in a window nearby and realised I was dressed as Darth Vader.

[pappubahry]

I agree with Saragossa. Kevin, these stories are hilarious!

The game was being played on an unusually large board and I was having trouble focussing on the position. I kept transferring it to a smaller board to analyse it (nobody seemed to object to this) but when I did so the position kept changing

This is interesting, and is similar to a common phenomenon involving clocks in dreams. Namely, that if you look at a clock, look away, then look back at the clock, the time has usually changed.

[justaknight]

... I caught sight of my reflection in a window nearby and realised I was dressed as Darth Vader.
Do you mean complete with the light stick???:doh: :hmm: :cool: