The greatest tragedy of chess in the context of the modern game is that not enough women play it. Not enough by far in fact and until the balance is readdressed globally, there will always be work to be done on that. When women do play chess, it isn’t very often you see them playing whilst heavily pregnant, so here is a rather touching video of the current Olympiad where that clearly is the case -must be tough to do!
Archive for the ‘Chess’ Category
2 versus 1
Posted in Chess on August 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
But it’s always human error?
Posted in Chess on August 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Having photographed more than enough international chess tournaments and worked behind the scenes with senior Arbiters when doing so, the point made in the video below I find rather strange. So an arbiter made a mistake? What is so unusual here, it goes on all the time. But because it involved the Norway team, the prestige of result was elevated and it drew attention even though such mistakes are made more frequently than what is suggested here. I don’t see why Svidler is so surprised tbh.
No time to eat, no time to walk, no time to do anything offline
Posted in Chess on August 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »
WW3
Posted in Chess on August 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »
In the chess Olympiad, England play Austria today. As you may know Austria is where Hitler was from so is this going to be WW3? Will those Austrians try and team up with ze Germans and allign forces? Will England, with it’s tail between it’s legs, go asking the Americans for help knowing Russia isn’t allowed to participate this time and so can’t be relied upon (especially when busy with Ukraine).
Let battle commence and let us hope that England are victorious for once. And I do apologize for remaining a post-modern historian, and I’m doubly sure you don’t need me to tell you BUT everything is open to interpretation, and that includes England winning WW2! (which it bloody well did not)
MJM
No whitewash leads to ray of hope and rays of light from a glassy evening sky above the jungle.
Posted in Chess, My own endeavours, Personal Interest & Experience on August 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Laos managed to draw their match against the British Virgin Islands yesterday rather than lose 4-0. They have a point in the table now. Let us hope they pick up another or even a victory but most importantly at all, let us remember the character of the Laotians and hope/assume that no matter what the results are, they are enjoying themselves -highly probable. And so even though they face tougher opponents today, let’s hope their national character wins through and it’s fun all round!
The reason I stopped off in Pak Beng was because I took the boat to Luang Prabang. So highly recommended by all. I remember wandering around streets not knowing where I was going (because I couldn’t think straight and didn’t know if I had already walked down that street already), then running into the couple I started chatting to at the restaurant when I bumped into them by chance. ‘Where’ve you been? They asked with some exasperation since we got on so well in the restaurant in Pak Beng until, well until, well until it was, erm, well…the conversation became a bit intense and started to wander at the same time also…well anyway so I put on an act and said I wasn’t well and rubbed my forehead to back it up with a slight swoon…in retrospect that was better than saying I got out of it on that shit! But the thing is, for that little tourist loop, it was quite the norm amongst backpackers back then -so I was fitting in really!
Anyway, I am not suggesting you should visit Laos and go and get high, but from personal experience, I am not sure what else you could do. I most certainly don’t recommend getting high then putting about 60 kms on your bike across the countryside in the dark -that you should not do believe me. Ah maybe drink beer and look for someone to play chess on the street? They have their own version of chess there, so be ready, it’s much more popular and you can get a game on the street anywhere, so yes, now thinking about it, do that (but not whilst high). Beer + local variants of chess, and a few photographs…phew I finally worked out how to spend time in Laos more productively!
Mark. J. McCready 11.15am August 3rd
Laksi Bangkok
At the very bottom
Posted in Chess on August 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Laos has fallen to the bottom of the table in the Olympiad, I suspect they may have the weakest team too.
They play The British Virgin Islands today.
It doesn’t look good. Prospects aren’t really there.
Something doesn’t quite add up
Posted in Chess on July 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I’ve linked the world champions reasons for not defending his title here:
Does it add up to you? If you think how much he earns for defending his title, and that most likely he will do so successfully several times over, that is well into the millions. It doesn’t add up to me but then I don’t know how rich he really is.
Mark.J.McCready
1158pm July 24th.
Laksi, BKK
She cannot be beaten
Posted in Chess on July 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Of all the women in the world who play chess, the one that can’t be beaten in looks is, in my opinion, Andrea Botez. You can see her here playing in this video.
Admittedly, if there is a criticism it is she does throw like a girl.
Oh boy, here we go.
Posted in Chess on July 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »
There’s being funny and there’s taking the piss. When you book hotel rooms online, there’s usually a customer service section where you can ask questions. So here’s mine.
I wonder if I will actually get an answer?
MJM, dark room late at night.
Has it become all too easy?
Posted in Chess on July 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »
So Magnus has chosen not to defend his title. Maybe its all got a bit too easy for him.
https://new.chess24.com/wall/news/magnus-carlsen-will-not-defend-his-title
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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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- 2008
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- 2011
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- Around 2011
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- 2011
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- 2011
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- 2011 BKK Chess club
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- 2011
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- 2011 Thai Open
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- 2013 approx
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- 2010
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- 2011
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- 2011
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- Around 2011
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- 2020
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- 2011
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- 2013 or thereabouts
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