Moves I could not play 46

October 16, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

Last month I had the great pleasure of meeting GM Wesley So at the most recent olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

I was quite touched by how polite he was to me, even asking where I am from -a true gentleman. Since then I have thought I should make more effort to look at his games and quickly remembered which one stood out the most. It was televised in 2016, when Kasparov made something of a comeback in blitz and took on the world’s best. I watched how this went horrendously wrong against GM So, and so GM Kasparov did not last long in the game. In looking at it again, GM Kasparov plays 17. …h6 in the diagram below. I could not play that move -it looks too suicidal to me! I think he wants to play f5 and stop Ng5 or something but his pieces are poorly placed and he’s now moved all his kingside pawns! Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t last very long here.

Here GM Kasparov plays 17. …h6

I have to admit, I did like how GM So played the moves towards the end of the game, they were clearly well calculated winning moves but played as if they were tactical ripostes almost.

The game can be found here: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1820152

M J M

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Moves I could not play 45

October 16, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

In my teens much if not most of the chess world was polarized over the K-K matches. I never did side with Kasparov back then, mainly because I found his chess to be too tactical and hard to calculate, whereas Karpov had a tendency to opt for quieter moves and quieter positions. They were not as hard to get your head round as the positional elements of his play were easier to appreciate than solid, hard calculations involving powerful tactical threats. In the game below, Kasparov defeats his first challenger after Karpov, GM Nigel Short. In the press conference to that match he said ‘My opponent for this match is short and it will be short. This game partially explains why he might have thought that I think. The way he plays the Botvinnik set up in the English is quite something, then he sacs a pawn, then a knight to seize the initiative. In the position below, GM Kasparov plays 28. Nxb6. I could not play this move as I could only sac for an immediate and obvious win, which clearly isn’t coming.

GM Kasparov plays 28. Nxb6

I ran this through the engines but what they show doesn’t help much as they cannot tell what impact the sac had a GM Short and the demands it placed -quite huge I would imagine. It’s clearly not a winnning move, so they engines show, but it required very accurate play by GM Short to avoid defeat, which he could not maintain.

Some analysis of this game came be found here. To me this game shows a noticeable difference in strength between GM Kasparov and GM Short.

The game can be found here: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070502

M J M

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On this day…

October 13, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

fb throws up more interesting content. It doesn’t look like I have got much better as the years have gone by.

M J M

Posted in Chess, My own endeavours, My Own Games | Leave a Comment »

Moves I could not play 44

October 11, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

Marcus the reprobate1 has nothing better to do early on a Sunday morning than look at a game in which, as I remember it, GM Carlsen looked more depressed in the postgame analysis than any other I’ve ever seen him comment on and play through. It was at the London Chess Classic 2010, which I had the good fortune to attend whilst completing my Master’s Degree. I’m such a lowlife I even messaged a friend about this game this morning, and as can be gleaned from the chat, I’ve become so hopeless at chess, as time has gone by, I am reliant on engines now to make sense of it all -what a life!2 Please note I cannot upload the voice messages shown below. Mark is very working class like me and they are full of swear words and lots of other foul language!3

On with the game. GM Luke Skywalker McShane plays 18. Nc6 here. I could not play this move. I would focus too much on the immediate tactics involved here, which do not seem to achieve very much in any of the lines I thought -and yes the engines seem to agree. What I cannot see is that 18.Nc6 allows white to reposition the knight to b4 and thus eye the d5 and a6 squares and how important that becomes, as it helps white to maintain a stranglehold on the queenside, which helps result in a decisive advantage soon enough.

The engines don’t seem too convinced by 18. Nc6 but I think it’s a good move. The evaluations in the positions to follow show that black is soon lost, admittedly however, some of his moves weren’t the best -so speak the engines!. You may find the game here.4

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1602060

M J M

  1. Marcus is my chess inspired namesake, which for well over a decade already I use in life more than my real name, which is Mark. It mostly comes from Marcus Misson. More about that can be found here. I am writing this post because I was supposed to go to Tashkent this morning but a change of plans by a colleague has left me with nothing much to do today instead of chat about games online with mates. ↩︎
  2. In the Autumn of 1989 I discovered who The Sex Pistols were and have liked punk ever since. London still has punk rockers in it today who look the same as they did back then but in the many documentaries and social media clips surfacing about them they are accused of clinging on to the past, and are often asked if the only reason they are still into punk is because they couldn’t find anything better. I cling onto chess for this very reason. I couldn’t find anything better to do ever and have got stuck with it. I love to write about it but have hardly played in well over a decade already. This has come about because I can’t find anything better to do in life for the most part but also because I can’t admit I’ve never achieved anything in chess and should have left it behind long ago. This is why I am such a down and out but also well suited to chess in some respects. ↩︎
  3. The foul language came about because whilst talking to Mark I became resigned to admitting I have nothing better to do with my life than look at old games I once remembered. The language worsened when I became sure the game is not as I remembered it, and didn’t quite go as I thought it did. The language worsened further when I realized I wanted to go out, get drunk and listen to music, as it suddenly became too difficult to reflect upon anything. It should added that whenever Mark and I chat about chess, it is usually very negative and often has lots of swear words anyway. This is because Mark and I know many criminals in the English chess scene, almost all of them in fact, and it’s quite normal for us to slag them off and throw insults about. It’s not just us. Many other chess players we chat to from England also do this (names withheld for the time being). ↩︎
  4. Please don’t comment on this post. I’ve been told all my life to stop taking the piss but I just can’t. I’ve been beaten up many times over it by kids at school, kids on my street, family members, members of my chess club, participants at tournaments and also arbiters. It won’t do again good to complain about this post! Just see it as a consequence of getting bored easily or something. ↩︎

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Moves I could never play 43

October 6, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

GM Mariotti, Italy’s first GM, was an interesting player and fellow. I’ve had an interest in him and his games for a long time as he played in my home county Bedfordshire in the 70-71 season whilst still an IM. I have spoken to him about that since, but alas he told me that ever since his heart operation he isn’t able to remember anything about his past life.

Here’s a game of his where he defeats Pal Benko with the Wing Gambit in the Sicilian Defence. White plays 26. Nxf5+ in the diagram below, a long term piece sacrifice which the engines are not critical of, given his position is assessed as already slightly inferior and does not worsen. I can’t see where the win is coming from exactly, so I couldn’t play it,

White plays 26. Nxf5+ here.

As mentioned, I did run it through the engines, well the analysis board on Lichess I should say.

It gave him an attack and then Benko cracked under pressure and blew it, allowing mate in 4. Here’s the game.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1785932

M J M

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To be richly rewarded…

October 1, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

I met a colleague today for lunch. He told me that the Uzbekistan National Team could be seen on tv today, each receiving a check for 200,000$, a house and a car. Here is the evidence.

https://zamin.uz/en/sport/223015-200-000-a-house-and-a-volkswagen-uzbek-chess-players-receive-grand-rewards.html

M J M

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What else should I have said?

October 1, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

After she had finished, she said ‘good’. This happened at the recent Olympiad in Uzbekistan. Please click on the link and view all of it.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/929959269918259

M J M

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46th Chess Olympiad, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

September 29, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

I decided to spend a day or two there. It was truly wonderful. Here are the pics and videos.

The car that took me there.
Me with GM Niaz Mushed
In the golf cart thing that took me to the playing hall.
The entrance
Me and Neww Jong from Thailand, main organizer there.
Me and IM Prins from Thailand
The Thai chess team
People playing chess
Moi
Prins aanalyzing his game after it had finished.
Some mascot
Me and GM Wesley So
Sahipol, president of the Thai chess federation.

Video 1

I took a taxi to go to Samarkand, which took about 5 and a half hours, We stopped off a few times. Heres one clip.

Video 2

Taxis werent allowed to take you right up to the venue so some shuttle bus/golf cart thing did instead.

Video 3

Requiring a wristband.

Video 4

The Thai Chess Team

Video 5

The hall that felt like home. It was a hive of activity.

Video 6

This I found fascinating.

Video 7

The Thai Chess team just before round 10 starts. There’s more robot fun also.

Video 8

This I enjoyed seeing.

Video 9

Round 10. Long video which shows many of the world’s best players after about 3 mins 20 secs.

Video 10

The Kuwait team. I played much chess there.

Video 11

You can see many top players in this video. Interesting viewing. That”s GM Rapport and GM Leko in the thumbnail there.

Video 12

Yet more top players here, especially from the India team.

Video 13

I am having a nice time.

Video 14

I spent nearly 7 hours walking around that day and got tired a few times. So in this video I am sitting down and recovering.

Video 15

GM Peter Svidler in the distance. I didn’t want to disturb him.

Video 16

Autograph time for the kids and a little wander around.

Video 17

GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov and much security.

Video 18

On the shuttle bus after much walking around.

Video 19

A walk around Samarkand before play began on the final day.

Video 20

He was very polite to me when I asked for a picture.

M J M

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Houghton Regis

September 28, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, is starting up a chess club. Details can be found in the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2005719213024749/permalink/4425807084349271

M J M

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Winning prizes for playing…

September 22, 2026 by mccreadyandchess

When I lived in Kuwait in 2008, I found online and befriended a certain Khalid Hashem, who introduced me to the chess scene there, and I would not stop playing. I entered many tournaments and won prizes in one of them. I have fond memories of that tournament and always remember I kept playing the Stonewall Attack as white, and the French Defence against 1. e4 and the Dutch defence against 1. d4. If you go to the 1.55 mark in the video linked below, you can see me tripping over a chair before, shaking many hands having my photo taken and collecting my prize.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1KYit4mGvX/

M J M

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