Posted in Life beyond the chess board on September 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
So it’s ten years and counting before I rise up to the challenge (if I live that long). I think my state of mind will be ‘I’m running the club because I want to, and whether or not anyone wants to is another matter’
Says Mark, future club and league president.
Posted in Chess on September 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The malaise regarding GM Hans Niemann and the current world champion isn’t going away anytime soon. If Carlsen wanted to, he could speak out. He doesn’t, which in my opinion, constitutes a lack of maturity on his part. What does he have to gain by letting it rumble on? Carlsen can be heard talking about it in the link below. My own interpretation is that he is letting himself down here, but that’s just me.
https://clips.twitch.tv/MiniatureArbitraryParrotYee-aLGsJP1DJLXcLP9F
For a broader context, involving a number of commentators, you can tune in here.
There is a sense of no one really knows what to do. Little is said why everyone has to make such a big deal over cheating allegations.
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Luton Chess Club on September 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Or ‘we don’t forget what was’ in English.
More pics and details about the revival of Luton chess club to follow…and yes it is only a matter of time before I return to the helm and run the club myself (marooned abroad so about a decade)…assuming it hasn’t folded by then of course.
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Luton Chess Club on September 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The University of Bedfordshire/Luton chess club recently attended the freshers fair in the student union at the university main campus in a bid to attract new members. There are pictures below where lifelong club members put their wits against the freshers!
Posted in Chess on September 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »
This article is well-researched enough for something that falls within the parameters of mainstream media, and sufficiently accurate, making it worth a good introductory read if the topic interests you.
MJM
Posted in Chess in Thailand on September 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Chess in Thailand, My daughter on September 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I found a video that I haven’t seen in a while, in which I give my daughter some training during the lockdown when the Corona virus was reeking havoc on everyone’s lives. My daughter is only aged 7 in this video.
Posted in Chess in Thailand on September 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Here’s some content from Bangkok Chess Club two years ago to the day. Lighting could be better -yes I know.
Posted in Humour on September 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I am sorry to say that I cannot continue any longer with the pinball-chess project. It was working brilliantly and some serious money was going to be pumped into it by investors but there’s a problem which can’t be solved. Everyone knows that pinball and chess are virtually identical, as we’ve said but in pinball you try to get a high score
No matter how hard I tried, this I can’t work with because in chess we win by checkmate and can’t get any high scores. I’ve come as far as I can go. The solution is to keep ramps and flashing lights with extra ball, and the exciting multi-ball option but without a high score in play. You can’t put high scores in chess no matter how hard you try. So that’s it. I am done with this project: it was good while it lasted. I know we all want multi-ball in chess, that’s obvious but I can go no further.
Posted in Chess on September 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Having just read my last post, I am in agreement with myself, that now is the time to act.
I’m going to write a letter to my government, suggesting they set up huge bonfires across the country for chess players who want to see the end of their books. You will not have to pay money for this service I will tell them. One of which will be just outside the London Chess & Bridge centre, Baker St. London
If you could just fill in the form below, I will start petitioning pronto, just put a tick in the last column for petition one
Petition 1 (of great importance)
Name of club
Books you are keen to burn
Town you reside in
Tricked into this by McCready
Petition 2 (additional information)
Hat size
Inside leg measurement
Shoe size
Vegetarian?
What is your quest in life?
Petition 3 (naughty boy info)
Do you sniff glue?
Are you an alcoholic?
Smoke drugs?
Have you ever mugged anyone?
Petition 4 (manifestation of guilt…oops extra info…yes extra info, that was what I meant)
Been behind bars have we?
Do you carry shooters when you play chess?
Worshipped the devil during competitive chess play before?
Does anarchy rule supreme for you?
All names received all much appreciated, I shall get onto this right away.
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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