How long do you think it will take for you to answer the questions? Will we see them before Christmas 2008?
I´m trying, I´m trying...not an easy task...
If this was your site what would be the first thing you'd change? (if any)
Promotion. I would try to promote it a lot more, as the offered product is first class.
How did you find about BrainKing? What made you stick around?
I was a player at another site, and I was not enjoying it, heard about brainking from my great friend Walter Montego, and I was delighted when I tried it. Thanks a lot, W.M.
What are three things you would like to do or places you would like to visit in your life time?
1) I would love to write a book 2) I would like not having finantial problems never again 3) I would like to be healthy until the final moment.
I would love to visit: 1) San Petersburgo, 2) Praga, 3) Thailand
Could you give three interesting uses for whipped cream?
As I´m not good at cooking I can only think of some deserts, and some whipped cream on top of them...sorry for my lack of imagination on this subject.
How long do you usually think before making a move in your games?
It depends on several things: How much experience I have with the game, how complex it is, if I need to make some research about openings or not, etc.
Please propose a new game for Brainking.
Chess with different armies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_with_different_armies) seems very interesting. I would also like to see Chaturanga, Thai Chess, Marseilles Chess, etc...
we have played many great games at BK which is your fav game on here?
Thanks for asking. I really LOVE all games which require strategy, and HATE all those which are pure luck, and (I´m sorry to say this) there are a lot of this last ones nowadays in this site. Regarding your specific question, it´s hard to say as there are some VERY good games here , as Connect6, Pente, several chess variations, etc.
Why do you think you were selected for this interview?
I think there were several reasons, but the most probable one is that, apart from my friends here, who know me a little deeper, people wants to explore the ¨soul behind the player¨.
If you have to choose an animal which describe your charakter, which one will it be?
Wow! even when I spent most of my TV time watching ¨Animal Planet¨ I´ve never thought of that... Perhaps the mountain goat, because it tries to keep balance even when the soil it´s standing on is really scary, difficult and deadly.
What pets do you have?
I love pets so much that I don´t have any nowadays, as I couldn´t offer it all the things it needs, due to my actual obligations. But I have had many, specially in my chilhood years (Dogs, Cats, turtles and birds). My preferred ones are dogs. Most of the scarse time I have to watch TV, I spent it watching Animal Planet and National Geographic.
Which planet would you like to visit? You may pick a planet from a wellknown movie or book.
The home land of Mr. Spock (Vulcano). But I would also love to visit the planet-vessel Rama of Arthur C. Clarke´s ¨Rendezvous with Rama¨.
What are your favorite foods?
Apart from the ones of my country (asado, for example) I really enjoy trying other countries delicities, and so I like, to name a few: Oysters, octopusses, locos (chilean sea food), ceviche, keppe and all arabian, italian, spanish, mexican , chinese, corean (which I recently tried and was amazed), peruvian etc food. Generally I prefer spicy food.
Name 3 main reasons why to spend holidays in your country.
1) Landscapes are incredible, Bariloche is like Swiss, Iguazú falls are impressive, all the Andes provinces are worth visiting, Tierra del Fuego is the most Southern city of the world and you also have Glaciar Perito Moreno, or the whales at Peninsula Valdez, amongst many wonders! Here you can find ALL weathers! 2) Food is delicious! You surely should try our Asado, Bife de Chorizo, Empanadas, etc 3) Our wines are the best of the whole world, or at least as good as any you could think of. Try a Luigi Bosca Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, and tell me what you think.
So, what did you do with the purple M&Ms?
The PURPLE one? I bury it very DEEP in a lake, and wait if I can see (and delightfully hear) SMOKE ON THE WATER. (If you don´t understand what I mean, just search in Google all words in CAPS)
How did you come up with the name tenuki?
¨tenuki¨ is a concept of the game of Go, which applies when you answer an opponent´s attack counterattacking at some other part of the board, willing to take a small loss locally and aiming at a compensating (or better) achievement around the place you in fact played. It´s made by two Japanese words: ¨te¨ (hand, as in KARATE= empty hand) and ¨nuki¨ (to take out, as in NINUKIi = to take out TWO, a game similar to Pente); so it´s literally ¨to take out the hand¨.
What line of business are you in, and do you believe playing strategy games helps your mind stay sharp?
I work as a Bridge Professor, and yes, obviously mantaining my mind as sharp as I can helps me a lot in my job.
What is the craziest thing you have done in your life so far?
I couldn´t tell... I really am too thoughtful (unrisky? coward?) and most of my steps are way too calculated.
Do you have any chess title?
Yes. I´m IM (International Master) in email Chess; in live-Chess I had only one IM norm (you need two of them to become IM) which I´ve got when I won the Mar del Plata International Open in 1977 (at age 20). Pity after that tournament and some National titles I retired at 21 to dedicate fully to Bridge, so I never got the second one, so I´m only a National Master.
Do you think dinosaurs tasted like chicken?
Of course they did! Haven´t you tried them á-la-Jurassic-Park with spicy sauce and fern´s salad? You should. Dellicious!!
What do you do for a living?
I work as Bridge teacher, mentor and professional player since more than 30 years. I´ve also ¨survived¨ (a real titanic task for those who live in my country and do not dedicate to politics, football, and other ¨non-sancti¨ jobs LOL) translating, teaching Chess, Maths, Go, English, etc.
Which players at BK do you like to chalange the most?
I prefer, by large, playing against my friends, and in general against all polite players. (I do not tollerate bad manners) I really wouldn´t want to leave any of them out of my list, so I won´t make any names, because I need to finish answering this interveiw before Christmas (as I promise in some other answer). In general, I love playing at brainking.com.
Have you ever looked into a cat's eyes,and wondered if it was extra terrestrial,sent here to study the human race?
Ah! You´re right! I couldn´t tell where I have seen those eyes before! Not I know it were in the serie ¨V, extraterrestrian invasion¨!
How has the internets impacted you, as a member of the human race?
In my opinion, Internet is the 4th most important discovery in communications: the wheel, the writing and Gutemberg´s printing being the other 3. In my personal case, it enlarged my working area to the whole world, actually I have students of all corners of the world I could have never dreamed of. (By the way I work as a Bridge Professor)
Have you ever been to the U.S.? If so, what did you like/not like about it?
yes, I was there twice, and I´ve enjoyed it a lot! Looking back I couldn´t find anything I could dislike. I loved Hollywood boulevard in LA and Manhattan Island when in NY.
Do you like Madonna's version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"?
Yes, I like it, but I prefer, by large, the incredible one of Sarah Brightman; also there are unforgettable versions, as the marvelous ones made by Karen Carpenters, Joan Baez, Olivia Newton John, etc.
i am really amazed by the ratings and ratios you have in the games on this site. i played various types of games with you and have to admit i won none of them! :) do you study the theories about the games before you start to play them or have you studied them before ? what books & sites do you use to learn more about a game ?
Nice question! There are games I already was a Master (Chess, Backgammon and Go, for example), other which are similars and/or I had a lot of previous experience (Reversi, Checkers, AntiChess, Logik, etc) and others which I studied as fast as I knew of them, generally asking a brainking-friend about some tips and/or unrated practice matches. I also study openings and initial moves from the best players in the site (and of some other sites also), and have a lot of written sheets of paper with opening moves trees and the like. I read many books, but today you may find excelent articles (and you may subscribe newsletters, as the one of Kit Woolsey about Backgammon) at Internet. By the way...I didn´t notice you haven´t won any game with me yet, as you´re a mighty opponent, which I love to play with, and you surely win shortly...In my case, I love to play and learn from stronger oppinents as I did recently in Pente, where I improved a lot thanks to them (and of course asking which my mistakes were...)
whats your goal on brainking ? :)
Making more friends, learning more games, improving at the ones I like most, being helpfull for those who want to improve, and receiving better rolls in dice games and less unlucky in Logik and Frog Finder, where I miss all my 50% guesses while my opponents always hit the jackpot even with 1/25 chances
what do you think to be a better statistic ? bkr or the ratio of wins/losses ?
Both are good, but there are some improvements I would to make for BKR calculation (as I´ve already suggested to Fencer), specially at some games. For example: 1) it´s really boring when you achieve a certain BKR in some game and you find you can never play the game again without risking a huge BKR loss to win ZERO. I would make a one-point BKR win the LOWER winning margin to avoid this. 2) A win achieved in a long match should have more incentive than in a short one-game (dice?) match. 3) Some games have strange BKR calculations (Triple Dice Poker, for example) where you loss or win a lot even when you are already an stablished player, quite different form the rest of the games.
do you think a cardgame would work well on brainking ? if so which cardgame would be best to try things out and which card game would you like most to be added to the site in the future and why ?
Generally card(or word)-games are difficult to be played by turns which can last days, so I don´t think they could be added sucessfully to our site. I wouldn´t even try, being hundreds of interesting boardgames to be added yet. (I wouldn´t add more LUCK games, there are too many already to satisfy people who prefer them). Nice cardgames, apart from my beloved Bridge are Spades, Hearts, Canasta, etc to name a few, but none of them would be funny played during months (or even years) to finish a single deal.
which sport(s) do you participate in ? in what manner ? (as you use the flag of argentinia it should be football ;)) which sports would you love to learn ?
In my teen years I played Football, Volleyball, Chess, Go, Swimming and Tae-Kwon-Do amongst others at my born city, then I moved to Buenos Aires, and dedicated exclusively to Bridge for 20 years, then I started Golf, where I´m the worst player in the world, but I love the game!
what job would you like most and do you think you could handle quite well if you have had the proper education and background ? (so you already have the talent and characteristics for the job)
I really love the job I have, to which I dedicated my whole life, and I´m still trying to improve even further, reading, researching and even learning from my own students!
whats your best characteristic ? do you make good use of it in your life ?
I really wouldn´t want to talk about it, as I prefer others to name my best (to enhance them) and worst (to minimize them) characteristics, but I think I´m a good professor, as my students say I´m the only one who teachs them HOW TO THINK. ¨When you see a starving person do not give him a fish, teach him how to fish¨.
whats your worst characteristic ? do you do anything it ? are there any good sides about this 'bad' characteristic ?
I´m VERY BAD in commercial issues, every time I invested a penny I lost the penny, the friend and more hair... now I´m bald, and pennyless. There are no good sides about that, really, as it´s really annoying to see mediocre people being sucessfull in every bussiness they start, while you have to think if could pay your bills next month.
what do you think to be most important to learn a game ? experience or studying ? or a combination of both ? at which ratio ?
As a Bridge professor, I can assure you that BOTH are important, probably 60% practice and 40% studying, but there are also other tasks you could perform to improve faster (specially in our kind of games): Openings research, studying games played by the best players (of our side or anywhere) and reviewing LOST games, and if could not find where you missed ask your opponent which he thinks your mistake was.
Has a movie ever made you cry.and if so which one was it?
I´m a sensible person (heritance from one of my grandfathers), so there were a lot of them which made me (and still make me) cry. I´m remembering a lot (and surely there are thousands more), but Cinema Paradiso is probably the one that affected me more, as it´s exactly the story of my life.
