Chessvine.com - Site News

CJA Awards 2011 - Best Chess Blog ...Broken Pawn

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:25:00 -0400

The Chess Journalists of America awards have been announced and I'm once again a FAAAR second banana to a very good blog. Why aren't these brilliant bloggers competing against one another? I can only stand in “wonder-ment”.

This year my competition was a blogger by the name of “Broken Pawn”. To tell the truth I didn't have the time to analyze the competition for the Best Chess Blog Award but I felt like I had a decent chance with the articles I submitted. Broken Pawn submitted his blog after I did mine and in his own words:

“I reviewed the competition and see that there have been only 13 posts on their site all year (and most of those posts are merely links to other chess sites - no original content) and just 3 of those since May 1st (It was much more active last year). It’s inconceivable to me that I could finish second to this particular blog, but I’ve seen stranger things happen.” - Broken Pawn (HankAnzis)

I think this illustrates the negative side of competition. It has never been my purpose in the chess community to outdo anyone. I am at my heart a chess promoter … not exactly a journalist. I derive more pleasure from pointing people in the direction of useful information than in the simple retelling. I was very disappointed in Broken Pawn for his comments. I would have preferred that he made his criticism constructive so that others (myself included) might learn from their mistakes.

What mistakes have I made in my blog over the past year?

1) First and foremost it is a sign of disaster to allow your blog posting to drop in frequency. Set a pace that you can maintain. Over the past year my life has made such dramatic changes I don't even know where to begin. In the past I made a point to make at least one post per day. That was unrealistic. Don't make the same mistake.

2) I've never been a very prolific writer. I have a personal issue with those who do write verbosely, “A fool is known in multitude of words”. So in my opinion there must be a happy medium. Original content IS important in blogging and is sorely lacking on Chessvine these days. Quite simply I had nothing to say that someone else hadn't already said. At least that is the excuse I'm sticking with.

Bottom line: Don't say too little and don't say too much. Think of Goldy Locks, keep it JUST RIGHT with original content.

Don't make the same mistakes that I've made here on Chessvine. We all need to lift one another up and support all efforts to spread chess throughout the world. At times that does include constructive criticism. Get out there and blog, promote chess, and all the things that make the sport great. Most importantly … keep moving those pieces around!

I Love It When People Listen

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:35:33 -0400

Check out Pogonina's new Blog Post. I've been trying to tell people in the chess community for several years now that Social Media is a necessary part to the business of promoting chess worldwide and comments like "please use tweets to contact me, not DMs" means that a few of you are listening! WOOT!

After all this time wailing to the wall I see a great many results to my efforts. Just a few years ago I could count the number of chess related social media mavens on one hand and now it seems to have exploded. I could just give all of you a big hug ... but I won't because that would be weird.

Chessvine On The Brain

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:00:53 -0400

Here is a new wallpaper for chessvine fans (or chess fans in general). Click Here

Facebook ... Chessvine Has A Page

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:17:26 -0400

Many of you are still just adding me on facebook instead of adding Chessvine.com's facebook page. To remedy this I'm adding this blog post as well as a small add at the top of every page of the blog advertising the page. You see, i'm a greedy social media neophyte and I want as many friends as I can get to like chessvine.com's page!

If this is the first time you've seen Chessvine then I encourage you to take a look around and if you think we're worth it head over to facebook and like us.

Chessvine Wallpapers: Pushed Pawns

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:42:00 -0400

I've added yet another wallpaper to the chessvine.com collection (800x600 pixels, fits most screens).

you can see and download it here.

Chessvine Wallpapers: Bishop Victory

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 11:36:00 -0400

I've added another wallpaper to the chessvine.com collection (800x600 pixels, fits most screens).

This is my new favorite!!!!

you can see and download it here.

Get Chessvine Updates via E-mail

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:41:46 -0400

Want to see what is going on in the chess world from Chessvine.com in your e-mail inbox? SIGN UP HERE!

Site Stats For Chessvine.com For the Last Twelve Months

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:40:19 -0400

After some requests I thought I'd publish the site's visitor tracking numbers for the last year:

Chessvine Isn't On The Kenilworthian Blog List

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:38:02 -0500

I was a bit offended that my buddies over at the Kenilworthian didn't list me on their chess blogs list. But with the chess blogging community growing it's becoming that much harder to keep us all together isn't it?

I remember when chess blogging had only a select few hardcore bloggers. We've lost a number of those old veterans but in their place we have dozens more now! It's a good time to be a chess blogger and we're gaining momentum.

Sick Day

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:31:36 -0500

I am still feeling under the weather (this is day four or five) and I'm taking this one totally off! I posted my illness on my facebook status and a friend sent me the following song:

Why Is Chessvine.com Not Covering Linares?!?

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:54:24 -0500

Because our friends over at < a href="http://www.chessdom.com/">Chessdom.com already are more than adequately ... live coverage, round recaps, etc.

Shameless Self Promotion

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:35:37 -0500

Check me out in all these cool places:

Facebook

Myspace

Twitter

Happy Valentine's Day 2010!!!

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 07:44:00 -0500

New Years Resolution

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:04:58 -0500

Recently Alexandra Kosteniuk asked her Facebook friends what their chess related new year resolutions were. I answered pretty modestly ... I want to be known in "real life" with the same amount of celebrity that I enjoy on the internet.

How do I plan on accomplishing that goal? By offering to my readers a great resource. I want to get involved in your public life, I want to help out with your chess projects. I want to write articles about what you're doing. I want to give live updates to my 9000+ Twitter Followers about how a event you're running is going. I want to be hands-on involved in chess. Give me something to do!

Contest Sponsors

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:19:57 -0500

Recently, some of you have been contacting me about services and products that you offer. I'm currently looking for contest sponsors for a future Chessvine.com major contest giveaway. If you have any products or services you would like to donate or advertise then by all means contact me! I can be reached via e-mail (colonel_crockett@yahoo.com) or through Facebook. Your product does not have to be chess related but please put "Chessvine" in the subject line.