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.
M J M
Archive for the ‘Chess’ Category
To be richly rewarded…
Posted in Chess on October 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »
46th Chess Olympiad, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Posted in Chess, My own endeavours on September 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »
I decided to spend a day or two there. It was truly wonderful. Here are the pics and videos.
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
Chesstime for the pupils
Posted in Chess on September 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »
On this day 2011
Posted in Chess on August 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »
I was about to post this in the Moves I Could Never Play category until I realized I saw which black’s best move was, as keeping the opposition looks paramount to me, so I guessed it correctly. More memories from facebook which have been long since forgotten. Thotsaporn, who comments, is rated aeound 2050 usually. I once saw him beat an Israeli IM with his pet line in the French Winwer once (Advance, Bogoljubov variation).
M J M
England’s first GM
Posted in Chess on May 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
As you may know, it’s a popular misconception that Tony Miles was the first Englishman to gain the title of GM. To clarify, for OTB chess yes it was Miles but problemist Comins Manfield was awarded the title before him. Taken from the 1923 B.C.M, here’s one of his problems.
More about him can be found here. Comins Mansfield.
M J M
Upon Returning to Competitive chess
Posted in Chess on April 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Former British champion, and celebrated author, retired GM Rowson offers up his thoughts upon the challenges of returning to competitive chess. Thought provoking indeed and wistful in places.
https://substack.com/@jonathanrowson/note/c-249105686?r=5lwyqf
M J M
Quality journalism
Posted in Chess on April 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Much can be gleaned from Vishy’s life and thoughts on the modern game from this interview. A good watch.
M J M
Fabi and his insights
Posted in Chess on April 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »
GM Fabi Caruana’s podcast C-squared can be highly engaging and informatative at times. In this episode, Fabi gives great insight into a wide range of topical points, beyond contemporary issues. He does indeed have so much to say sometimes… .
M J M
Digital revolutions and all that…
Posted in Chess on March 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Have you noticed how difficult it has become to say who the most famous chess player in the world is. It isn’t and can no longer be the world champion -that’s yesteryear. It’s one of the streamers as they have milions and millions of followers and are much more popular. What does that tell you? We are experiencing a 4th revolution -that’s what. Society is always subject to change.
M J M
A coupla fir-een-year old fotos
Posted in Chess on December 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
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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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- 2011
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- Thai Junior Championships
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- 2011
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- 2012
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- 2012
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- 2011
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- 2013 approx
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- 2010
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- 2012
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- 2011
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- 2011
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- Around 2011
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- Around 2011
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- 2020
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- 2011
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- 2011
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- 2013 or thereabouts
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