Tonight, old-timer McCready beat an IM at draughts (I have played for England before). The videos linked do not show the game I won but rather who my oppponent was (not just an IM but a senior figure in the draughts world), and that I was enjoying myself. Should it be the case that you assuming I was some one trick pony and nothing more, I am very sorry to tell you that isnt so… .
M J M
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It is Lucas Chess that I use and in the previous post I showed how the engine rated 2200 was rather easily beaten, so I then decided to play one rated 2400 but will not be posting a video of that. It was well dodgy and left its queen en prise, so I won again. A pyrrhic victory.
M J M
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When we don’t expect the unexpected what then? I made a video of me beating Lucas Chess 2200 engine. I had been playing well earlier in the day and so upped the anti. I didn’t think I could be confident enough to do such a thing but it was well founded as I won convincingly, much to my disbelief. I didn’t have to think that hard either but I did stay very focused! The only conclusion I can draw from this is that I must be better than I thought! I suspect it will be some time before the disbelief passes. Comments on the game are very welcome.
M J M
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Jetlag has cleared off, which means this week’s visit to the chess club won’t be the same as last week’s. Overall more pleasant and the sense of occasion greater. My results will improve but probably not greatly.
Presently I am on holiday and have much time to do as I so wish. I have decided to make videos for my site and find my voice with them. This is sharpening me up somewhat, so I won’t be quite so rusty either. Doesn’t mean much at all except that a pleasant evening should be had and that’s something to look forward to. And as you might expect, it’s always pleasant to go into the city and Bangkok chess club is right in the heart of it, leaving you with a slight sense of adventure as well… .
Last week I drank Coke Zero only to help keep me alert and will do so again this week as I don’t want to be carried out and put in a taxi again. Should be good.
M J M
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NB If you liked the game you are welcome to comment that I am a very good and handsome chess player, as that’s what I am most used to hearing and naturally warm towards. 🙂
Old-timer Marcus, considered one of the funniest woodpushers in chess, signing off here…
M J M
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NB: Comments commending me for my play may leave me quite sure the poster was drunk when posting. And like I said, I am still sore from getting beaten up after I posted it. 🙂
Note to self: don’t run this game through the engines for fuck’s sake in case it’s shit.
M J M
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‘Live by your passions’, Nietzsche said so many times throughout his life. But how do we do that when we play chess? When I read Kasparov’s ‘How Chess Imitates Life’, I took note of his assertation that ‘Evaluation triumps over calculation’ and believed in it. Over time my play became more impulsive and calculation began to play second-fiddle. Impulses and instincts took over eventually, which works well enough in blitz and quickplay but with regards to classical chess, I am less sure. Evaluation is based on a feel for a position rather than congnition. Consciousness, then, more or less gets the boot and feeling and passions, such as which looks good and doesn’t need much thinking about, or moves I just want to play because I like them, or somehow it feels right get the nod. I can only really say this because I don’t play classical chess anymore and I only play for pleasure and not improvement, the underlying motive being bad conscience.
M J M
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You really do need to know what pawn moves should be made in most openings.
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A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
Not perhaps, but quintessentially, Old Tom Sweby is best thought of as a passionate devotee to the newspapers he wrote for. He was well read and knowledgeable of the Bedfordshire chess scene and well beyond, given that he was the president of the S.C.C.U. once upon a time. He was generally well-respected and rubbed shoulders with many, if not all, of those eminent within British chess circles. It would, however, be a critical mistake to see his column is primary source material entirely. That it is not. You will also find secondary source material quoted too, and the reliability of that is not quite as Tom hoped. Given that he wrote for decades, this is to some degree inevitable, and after all we are all prone to error whether we realize it or not. Thankfully, with regards to old Tom Sweby, they are infrequent and for the most part old Tom continued to document events and developments in the Bedfordshire league from the get go as best he could but, of course, everything lies open to interpretation. Despite this, and generally speaking. this does indeed make him informative and thus worth reading. Dare I say his columns constitute a narrative describing the latest developments, match reports and changing nature of the Beds league...he knew his audience and wrote according. This manifested itself over decades but brevity was always in play courtesy of the restictions imposed by writing a column. Should you wish to read a in instrumental figure of the Beds' league post WW2, you are quite welcome to peruse what has been posted here... . :-) I should, however, point out that as the decades wore on he gradually moved on away from narratives concerning the Bedfordshire league towards affairs both historical and international. The reasons for this are multifarous, old age was a predominante factor presumably, however, the bottom line is with regards to how the Bedfordshire chess scene developed post WW2: old Tom Sweby is your go to guy. He wrote more about chess in Bedforshire than anyone else did but given he was a Lutonian and writing for a Luton newspaper there is both bias and greater coverage of his hometown than the rest of the county.
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