Courtesy of GM Levitt on ye olde fb, I was alerted to the following, highly entertaining video. Well worth a watch. I think it should go viral.
Regarding GM Levitt’s work, an example can be found here.
MJM
Archive for the ‘Chess’ Category
One that should go viral?
Posted in Chess, Humour on June 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Kasparov’s moves on youtube
Posted in Chess on May 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Former world champion Kasparov has extended his presence on youtube further with new channels full of interesting content. In this video, Kasparov gives us some background and analysis on his first game against rival Karpov.
MJM
Too much too young
Posted in Chess on May 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Entertaining opening analysis?
Posted in Chess on May 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Two, perhaps, audaciously theatrical videos here; one on the Milner-Barry Gambit, and the other on the Halloween Gambit. Highly interesting stuff right? Well worth a watch, yes? 10 out of 10 for creativity agreed? Youtube links follow below.
The creator does indeed have his own youtube channel. Do make of it what you will. Quite a find I’d say but nor really my cup of tea tbh.
https://www.youtube.com/@ChessMakta
MJM
The bravest move ever played?
Posted in Chess on May 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »
You may watch the game or you may flash through it on the link below, either way I am not going to tell you what the bravest move I have ever seen played is, I’m sure you can work it out for yourself.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1956850
MJM
The 2018 match
Posted in Chess on May 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »
For different reasons, united mostly by a sense of disappointment, the 2018 world championship match between GM Carlsen and GM Caruana isn’t well-remembered.
However, I enjoyed it and followed all the way through. The participants can be found in the video below discussing some of their games. Have they hoisted themselves by their own petard here? Better to say that honesty is the best policy, whether it be complimentary or uncomplimentary isn’t it?. Better still, that analysis is so often ad hoc or ad lib and based on calculation and recall in all its many guises, with a few extras thrown in!
If I had been participating and asked why all games were drawn in the classical format, I would have sung not spoken (see below) :-).
MJM
Bends the mind doesn’t it?
Posted in Chess on April 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
GM Boris Spassky passes away
Posted in Chess on March 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Two days before this post was penned, our tenth world champion, none other than Boris Spassky, sadly passed away, aged 88.
A well-written obituary on him can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/feb/28/boris-spassky-obituary
All my favourite players are Soviet players and I do so wish he had beaten Fischer in 72. Regarding the Soviets; Karpov being my favourite outright, Spassky being second favourite. He was a great character and full of life, there are many funny anecdotes about him. He once offered Kasparov some amusing advice, which I am happy to show here.
An anecdote of Spassky’s appearance at the 1984 Thessanoliki Olympiad:
| In a bus, on the way to the games, Boris Spassky was introduced by a friend to one of the anonymous Olympians. When they were about to part, Spassky’s friend told the Olympian not to wash his right hand in order to keep some of Spassky’s power for his game. As a result, the chessplayer won his next game in good style. He immediately came to Boris’ friend to tell him that his advice was absolutely correct. Now he will not wash his right hand until the end of the Olympiad. This happened in the first rounds of the Olympiad. We believe from that moment Boris Spassky was busy shaking hands with other chessplayers! |
https://olimpbase.org/1984/1984in.html#trivia
Whilst still at school I remember his account of the reasons for his divorce to his first wife Larissa also amusing. In referring to her he said ‘we were like bishops of the opposite colour.’ This can be located in Mike Fox and Richard James’s The Complete Chess Addict, a read highly recommended, and found online easily enough also. Sadly, I never had the chance to meet Spassky or go watch him play… .
Here are two games of his I admired in younger years:
A larger than life character who, by the way, always confessed he was not a communist but was nonetheless treated well by his government and granted the status of emigrée. When I was young I always thought he seemed the happiest of all the Soviet champions.
R.I.P Boris and thank you for all your wonderful games and evervescent love of chess.
Mark. J. McCready
A truly great advert for chess.
Posted in Chess on February 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Can this be not worth a watch?
Posted in Chess on February 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I can’t say I agree with the methodology, it’s very poorly researched, and the conclusions are, consequentially, rather ridiculous… .
Mark. J. McCready
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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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- Pattaya 2011
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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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- Pattaya 2009
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- 2011
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- Kuwait 2008
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- 2012
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- 2012
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- 2011 BKK Chess club
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- 2011
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- 2011 Thai Open
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- 2011 Thai Open
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- 2013 approx
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- Around 2014
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- 2010
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- 2012
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- 2011
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- 2011
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- 2013
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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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- 2008
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- 2011
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- 2013 or thereabouts
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- 2010
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- 2010
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