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Mine's the cover of Albert Ayler's Love Cry , it happened to be the last CD i bought when i set up my avatar plus its a great cover that just seems to say JAZZ.

I love Aylers music , but am by no means an expert & i'm gradually building up a collection of his titles.

I've been in a bit of a Monk mood recently so i may be changing it shortly , now where were the posts explaining how to do it ...........................

Edited by Gary
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I haven't had an avatar since signing up here more than two months ago, but just added one today, of my own choosing. I finally got around to figuring out how to do it. It's the cover of Andrew Hill's BLACK FIRE, an album I haven't heard before (well, just the title track on the BN comp., THE AVANT GUARD YEARS), but will soon; thanks Late!

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Conn,

I am at that oh so awkward phase where I can sense the innate power in the sicilian defense, but don't know how to use it to its fullest potential.

Cool! Another chess player on the board. :D:party:

Takes a lifetime to learn the Sicilian. Since I am an e4 player as white, I have to face the Sicilian from the other side as well. I can play a couple of variations as black, such as Richter-Rauzer and the hyper-accelerated dragon. I am in the process of putting in more time into the study of Sicilian setups from both sides.

Why do I play the Sicilian? To me, black basically equalizes right off the bat. My style favors dynamic openings and my mentality is that if I start off one move behind when black then I want some dynamism. I want pressure on white and I want avenues for counterplay. This is the key to the opening. If black equalizes after the middlegame then he goes into the endgame usually with an advantage. Both sides hang on a razor's edge. Need strong nerves. That's the nature of the opening. I remember beating a sicilian dragon in a tournament last December after wild fireworks on both sides, and I got up from the table shaking in an uncontrollable fashion. You need strong nerves and I wondered why I do this sort of thing to myself.

My favorite defence to d4 openings is the Benoni--again another aggressive and dynamic opening. These type of openings are close to being unsound, but they are not quite unsound ;) Again I try to select an opening repertoire which suits my style. This may sound obvious to people, but I find that most club players do not follow this in practice.

BTW, are you USCF rated? Just curious.

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Conn

Most of your post went waaaay above my head bro!

I do love chess though, I was studying it for a while but I didn't get too far before I had to study other things. I am not USCF rated, I don't want to get rated until I can kick serious butt. And I will be able to just as soon as I have the time to start studying again. I have an older book named Chess Openings: Theory and Practice by Horowitz that should get me started.

What you said about the sicilian equalizing the playing field for black is really illuminating! As far as those openings being unsound, I guess I prefer the term daring. Its the ability to really go for victory without fear or hesitation that makes someone good at anything imo.

P.S. - Anyone that stands up shaky after an intense chess game is my kind of chess player!

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av•a•tar (av'-uh-tar):

An embodiment, as of a quality or concept; a temporary manifestation or aspect of a continuing entity.

Yep, I'm still waiting for Parkertown's post, and ghost of miles' post (origin of painting; painter) as well. Also want to hear about Mike Weil's conga player. And who has the avatar of the bass saxophone?

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av•a•tar (av'-uh-tar):

An embodiment, as of a quality or concept; a temporary manifestation or aspect of a continuing entity.

Yep, I'm still waiting for Parkertown's post, and ghost of miles' post (origin of painting; painter) as well. Also want to hear about Mike Weil's conga player. And who has the avatar of the bass saxophone?

I can answer one of them for you. Ghost of Miles uses a self portrait by Edward Hopper, a well-known modern American painter.

Perhaps his most famous painting is "Nighthawks" which hangs at the Chicago Institute of Arts.

I love his work and am personally impressed that G-of-Miles would select one of his paintings as an avatar. Awesome! And one of my favorite avatars to be sure.

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Conn

Most of your post went waaaay above my head bro!

I do love chess though, I was studying it for a while but I didn't get too far before I had to study other things. I am not USCF rated, I don't want to get rated until I can kick serious butt. And I will be able to just as soon as I have the time to start studying again. I have an older book named Chess Openings: Theory and Practice by Horowitz that should get me started.

What you said about the sicilian equalizing the playing field for black is really illuminating! As far as those openings being unsound, I guess I prefer the term daring. Its the ability to really go for victory without fear or hesitation that makes someone good at anything imo.

P.S. - Anyone that stands up shaky after an intense chess game is my kind of chess player!

Maybe we ought to start a chess thread of something so as not to hijack this thread.

Would be happy to expound on the game some more. I've recently returned to tournament chess after a very long layoff. My "comeback" is going quite well.

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One more word about Hopper. Was the guy prophesying the future of UTES?* Many of the women in his paintings are, um, bountifully endowed, in addition to being unusually defiant of typical gravitational forces. :rfr

Don't mean to start one of "those" threads, but I thought it was at least a point of curiosity that scholars on modern American painting might be able to speak to.

:rolleyes:

* (Upper torso enhancement surgery.)

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One more word about Hopper. Was the guy prophesying the future of UTES?* Many of the women in his paintings are, um, bountifully endowed, in addition to being unusually defiant of typical gravitational forces. :rfr

Don't mean to start one of "those" threads, but I thought it was at least a point of curiosity that scholars on modern American painting might be able to speak to.

:rolleyes:

* (Upper torso enhancement surgery.)

His main model was "Jo" his wife. I'm going by memory here. I think that was her name.

I like his introspective style. He had a talent for showing the hidden quiet of this very loud society.

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