Archive for June, 2023
That third rate spectator sport
Posted in Chess on June 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The winning move is what?
Posted in Chess on June 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Case dismissed
Posted in Chess on June 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Hans Moke Niemann, and his $100,000,000 lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen and a fair few others, has been thrown out of court.
https://www.wsj.com/sports/chess-cheating-scandal-hans-niemann-magnus-carlsen-7fcbdb56
bfn
Posted in Luton Chess Club on June 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »
My repatriation with my home club has come to a close.
Tough and indifferent was my final visit.
I only played three games. I won them all.
New found approach is working well. OTB chess only now.
It makes playing chess more precious.
Makes me interact with what I am doing more.
Tough, tough night. My feet were sore. I couldn’t stop laughing.
Just before I left the club, Humuyan went around asking them if they would be free to play for Luton next season and what their availability was. Two teams are possible but only one will be formed at first. The league secretary has been notified.
Mark. J. McCready, 11.45pm, Tuesday June 27th,
Luton, Beds.
The Lewis Chessmen
Posted in Chess on June 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Only human
Posted in Chess, On-line journal on June 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »
‘Those that can do, those that can’t teach.’ -Proverb
The haves
Those who are titled, and classified as professional, interact with chess across a variety of mediums, the most prominent being electronic in today’s world. They can pick and chose aware that the future is digital.
Income from what they do may come from entering tournaments, classes/teaching/coaching, writing, online chess courses, commentary, sponsorship, online streaming, I could go on. I would imagine its a good life if Nietzsche is correct insomuch as we should ‘live by our passions’.
The have nots
You may not have a title, you may only be an amateur, nonetheless you are who you are. And don’t you love yourself? If not then you should because if you can’t then who can? Okay, so personal profit is not in play with regards to chess. So what is then? Personal pleasure or identity-conferring experience or social interlinkage or improvement or lack of a better idea?
Do you actually know why you play chess and what you get out of it? Is it important? Isn’t it important to know who we are and what we do? After all, that is how we define ourselves right? But where does all this lead? Put simply, knowledge is power as Francis Bacon once said. To get more out of what you do, you should know what you get out of it in the first place right?
Improvement or Contentment -the big question or is it?
The biggest of all questions should be what do you play chess for? Improvement, contentment or both (assuming that’s a false antithesis in play there). Improvement? Okay, let’s scrap that you can work it out yourself! May I suggest you seek out the right literature as a starting point then find your own way in? For the time being, let’s focus on contentment. Actually scrap that too -it’s too broad. Instead allow me to personalise matters then you decide to take whatever you want or so wish.
Consciousness -my only friend!
Loss of contentment = dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction = enquiry into what’s changed. I noticed that I was not playing to the best of my ability and that my play was too sloppy. I wasn’t thinking about my opponents moves enough or establishing threats in the position when it was my turn to move. Why? Online chess was why. I played too much and often at inopportune moments. This ushered in bad habits. Easily distracted, my thoughts wandered during my games all too easily. This ran through my mind last week during a game:
Conversation in a clinic
” ‘as ee got da krab?” (krab is a play on words with crabs. Crabs is English slang for pubic lice!?!)
” ee got da krab”
” ya see da smoke?” (da smoke means smoke produced when someone itches their pubes with such great intensity, smoke is produced)
“I saw da smoke”
It all got too casual. Things had to change. And change they would.
‘Of flesh and blood I’m made’
‘I’m only human, of flesh and blood I’m made. Human, born to make mistakes’. And so too my opponents from…well from now on from. Online chess was banished with thunder and lightening to keep it real, to make it fresh again. Online viewing banned too! OTB chess and OTB chess only now. Flesh and blood across the table was the order of the day. Once conscious of what was wrong, fix it so did I. Job done.
Mark. J. McCready, 9.40pm, Monday June 26th 2023.
My dark room, my home town.
Yesterday
Posted in On-line journal on June 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday, I walked to the chess club. The cricket had ended. England lost.
A quiet stroll, I saw no one en route-almost!
Ten or so at the club only and the last in was I.
Interesting games were played, well a few.
During one a white pawn fell off the table and broke upon the floor.
Soon after all got up and left early.
As did I.
It was light when I walked home still.
Along the way, I saw an old friend.
Then, once in, to bed I went.
Yesterday.
Mark. J. McCready 11.59 pm Wednesday June 21st 2023
An imprisoning darkness, Luton.
The sun doesn’t shine at night
Posted in On-line journal on June 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »
It is indeed late here. 03.38 am as I type.
A late night find here:
Found here: https://durbanchessclub.co.za/duhan.html
I do quite like being referred to as a chess researcher, and just perhaps, I really ought to pull my website back into shape and start doing some more research later in the year. And why’s that you ask? Put simply -it’s been a really tough year. So tough at times my behaviour underwent deviations I was unconversant with and of grave concern to those closest to me. But rest assured I don’t die. Let’s rewind to two cycling accidents in 2016/2017
| Injury Type | Quantity |
| Major accidents | 2 |
| Fractures in skull | 2 |
| Broken bones | 1 |
| Parts of bone lost | 1 |
| Parts of brain dead | 1 |
| Blood clots in brain | 1 |
| Drill holes in skull | 5 |
| Areas of damage to the nervous system | 1 |
| Collapsed veins | 2 |
| Stitches | 98 |
| Seizures | 19 |
| External injuries | 70 |
| Resulting Psychological Conditions | 2 |
| Areas of skin lost | 3 |
I should have died many times over across several decades long before that but I do indeed have balls of steel. I have super-stamina also. There is tremendous bounce-backability in play too for life isn’t really about what knocks you down but much more about how you pick yourself back up. And so what is my point? Well, it really has been a tough year, and so to cheer myself up I have undertaken efforts to focus on my positive points more and bring them into play. Positive points bring optimism. I need optimism after the year I’ve had. The year needs a strong finale and so a return to something I enjoy and am good at will improve the site no end.
I shall get onto this once the summer is over ( I have to relocate twice during it)…
Mark. J. McCready 0407 am Monday 19th June 2023
An empty, dark, quiet room where I feel very alone, Luton.
What to do with boredom?
Posted in On-line journal on June 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Boredom is a bitch. It’s a bastard too.
Of all the things I have done over the years, of all the avenues I go down if bored, of all the things.
In recent years I play chess online if I get bored. I did today.
I have put a stop to that but today was a tough day.
Inclement weather. Nothing to do. Deranged friends haranguing me.
Bloody tour of Luton in the rain.
In evening of chess which I didn’t really enjoy.
England is home…well sort of.
England can be tough.
It’s boring.
And boredom is a bitch.
No more online chess. Online chess no more.
MJM 😦
push push push push push
Posted in Chess on June 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Oh so very me, oh so flawed, oh so relentless, oh so victorious.
https://lichess.org/BkoP4flQkdkS
MJM
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A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
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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.
Gallery
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- I’m either 10 or 11 here
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- 1982, myself versus Brian from Sunderland.
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- At the Thai Junior chess championships. My daughter of course.
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