Archive for the ‘Chess’ Category

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

Read Full Post »

‘It matters not whether the glass is half-empty or half-full,’ he said oh-so- slightly embarrassed.

Posted in Chess on May 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Thousands upon thousands of on line games blitzed out over the last few years really have taken their toll. And no this is not the first time I have posted this. Factor in no competitive chess for over six years too and what remains is a detritus. For he who cannot step up to the mark when required to has much to answer for.

Deviation from, or break with, tradition where a whopping 30 mins on the clock to think in has left me erm…well, rather red-faced. I’m operating at about 50%, the glass is half-empty you could say. You could also say it’s half-full. It matters not.

Nothing left to be said than the sober reflection ‘Why wouldn’t it be that way?’ Online blitz is rather unserious but as soon as you opt for more time up your game you cannot…well I couldn’t.

I did, however, find an effective way to distract opponents. In the chat I said to many ‘Hey! you see that hand you’re holding your mouse with, you want that hand broken!’ I got two instant resignations out of that.

Really, there is nothing left to be said except it wasn’t worth all the effort. All I learnt was my game is not tickety boo! I am, rather ungraciously, bowing out and will instead watch youtube videos of flying wheels, rabid cats, and drunken boxing…

Comment from opponent: Don’t believe him. I played him and got thrashed. He’s an amazing player. The best I’ve seen.

Comment from opponent: I got massacred by this bastard, he’s fucking well good. You’ve got no chance.

Comment from opponent: He threatened to break my hand. I went and told my step-father and he smacked me in the mouth and kicked me in the bollocks for lying to him BUT I SWEAR he threatened to break my hand during the game, he put it in the chat.

Comment from opponent: He bastardo Inglazi. He speak ‘I-a-break-a-da-hand. He good play da chess. He son of da gun.

Comment from opponent: I got fuckin’ leathered by this cunt and he threatened to break my hand during the game. He’s a dangerous bastard, I’d steer clear of him if I were you.

Note to self: topic for next post –how to break both your opponents hands during a game of chess.

Mark. J. McCready, 03.50 Saturday, May 13th 2023

A dark room somewhere out there, anywhere. You don’t ask me where unless you want that hand broken! You got that?

Read Full Post »

Which laws to choose?

Posted in Chess on May 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »

If it were the case that at your club you have FIDE rated tournaments how up to date with FIDE’s latest updates on their set of laws are they, and is this significant?

Here at Bangkok chess club, we don’t adhere to the latest rules & laws. Technically this invalidated the tournament and results but no one blinks an eye, and the organizer prefers the old rules, as they are ‘less annoying’as he put it. How untypical this is I cannot be sure, nor do I know whether anyone really pays attention or is that bothered. Bangkok chess club is by its very nature a friendly club, no one really takes their chess seriously.

Perhaps at clubs habited by professional players it has greater significance, although most likely the consensus amongst amateurs is that the latest rules are rather complicated. Some of the changes are significant, the most obvious being that you can now make two illegal moves instead of one. Why they implemented that change I do not know but it does require greater assistance from arbiters, and is less workable than it may appear.

Why do I draw attention to such matters? Well if the organizer at your club is going to bend the rules or disregard those most recent, you do need to know. It’s a critical error to assume that the laws of FIDE are applied by everyone, and its also a critical error to assume everyone is up to date.

I am but then I have to be. I am often described as the most handsome chess player in town and tend to receive more attention than most. I need to look good and so keeping up to date helps. There isn’t a chess player in my home town more handsome than me, and my county too. And as we all know, some of the greatest chat up lines are based of FIDE laws? I mean what could better than ‘Hey, what’s article 4.3 in FIDE’s handbook? when you are trying to woo the latest female at the club.

They work outside the chess club too! The next time you see a lady you like, casually walk up to her, say hi and ask something like ‘You don’t happen to know what article 7.2 in FIDE’s latest handbook is do you by chance?’ You’ll be dating in no time! Given how handsome I am, I don’t usually need to make the effort, whenever there’s a new woman, tranny, or gay bloke at the club, they usually come to me.

Well anyway it’s not so bad being a handsome chess player just makes you a bit lazy. For those less handsome, the need to impress isn’t so great, so if you aren’t up to date, it’s quite unlikely that anyone will care, and in case you’ve forgotten FIDE is far from the professional organization it presents itself as, and understanding the changes they make can be challenging.

One last thing, I may be wrong regarding chat up lines about FIDE laws working outside the chess club but they are damn site better than what they replaced which was usually cantered around whether the lady I was wooing had headlice, with requests for proof that she definitely doesn’t have them. For some reason, whenever I pulled out a piece of paper and a comb, it always sank like a lead balloon!

I’d best go, I must return to the bathroom as always want to be trim and lean, that’s all for now… .

Mark. J. McCready, 11.25pm Thursday 4th of May

A place where I lie wounded, Bangkok

Read Full Post »

The Press Conference

Posted in Chess on May 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The world championship is over, Magnus has been dethroned. Liren has emerged victorious and here is the press conference after the match has ended. If you’ve been a FIDE member for some time, or an active chess player over the years, or perhaps are a journalist even, then you will know that FIDE is far from the professional organization it tries to present itself as. The number of reasons are so great, I simply cannot go into them here or I will be up all night long! Regarding the press conference linked below, you ought to know that FIDE no longer requests that the questions are vetted beforehand. Questions have been raised over this but they have been left unanswered. If you go to the 11.54 minute mark you will hear Ding Liren being asked a question by Maria from chess.com: it is the question he is currently being quoted on answering the most across the various social media platforms most commonly used. The question pertains to the meaning of life itself, making it philosophical in nature. Firstly, you could question that the point in asking a chess player what the meaning of life is per se extremely dubious, but secondly, Liren’s answer isn’t articulate; partly because English isn’t his first language and partly because Philosophy isn’t his background. However, it is mine and his answer constitutes an alignment with Nietzsche’s assertion that you should live by your passions. Liren makes it clear chess has always remained central in his life and when time goes by and he is not playing in tournaments, he doesn’t feel ‘so happy’, as he put it. I’ve linked the interview below, but as you might expect, it’s a bit of a strain because the questions haven’t been vetted there’s clearly much room for improvement with some questions being rather poor indeed and others so vague the players struggle to answer them. ‘How’s the organizing things here for you?‘ Would you like to answer that? Anyway, here it is:

Read Full Post »

Something worth a watch

Posted in Chess on April 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

As you may, or may not, know. GM Jonathan Rowson is a former British champion, a very well-educated man and a great writer. This is well worth a watch.

Read Full Post »

The verve this man had!

Posted in Chess on April 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Well, people get up to all sorts of things in this world of ours, and I should know -to say I’ve had a colourful life is quite an understatement. Anyway, just have a read of the following. I do sympathise, I must say.

https://nation.africa/kenya/sports/other-sports/shock-as-male-chess-player-busted-competing-in-women-s-category-4192642?fbclid=IwAR2zmV7tdYkL9yEzbYdm-2pTAcYnlIhh0R12by1vbpwKC8Kt_WRpnzQefzU

Read Full Post »

Then everything must go…

Posted in Chess, My own endeavours on April 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“One is unable to notice something-because it is always before one’s eyes”

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus

Do you know what or who you are? Do you really?

Next question. Do you see yourself as a creature of habit? If so, can you explain why you play chess and when you choose to? Is it always borne out of desire or, perhaps, lack of a better idea on how to pass the time? Aren’t you able to abstain from bullshitting yourself then bottom out the question instead? Not easy is it? Or is it?

“Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value

Today chess exists in two main forms OTB chess (over the board) and online chess.

Online chess just got itself sacked from my life. I did that two months ago but it snuck back in. This time it’s sacked, sacked, sacked.

OTB chess. I have withdrawn from all tournament play and will only visit the chess club once a week -that is enough for me.

I am a philosopher, academically speaking, so by my very nature I have to question. I have to ask myself what do I want, how much do I want of it and why.

Once a week is quite enough, and that’s it. I focus on contentment and not improvement, that is what is pushing the agenda, and if that’s not enough, then everything must go…

“We are asleep. Our Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein

Mark. J. McCready 22.22, Sunday, April 2nd.

Laksi, Bangkok.

Read Full Post »

OTB chess in Asia and its challenges

Posted in Chess, Chess in Thailand on March 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »

@BKK chess club tonight -the female in question wore a pink dress and was stunning!

Read Full Post »

The unhindered, the unabashed, the unflappable.

Posted in Chess, Chess in Thailand, My own endeavours, Personal Interest & Experience on February 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.”

Aristotle -Politics

What would he have made of those who opt for online chess instead of OTB chess I wonder?

The Unhindered

Been back in Thailand for over three months now I have. Meet every Friday upstairs in The Royal Oak pub, Sukhumvit 33/1 Bangkok Chess Club does.

The Royal Oak, formerly The Red Bull

A little noisy it is, a little cramped for space too, but for a club moved on every couple years or so, our latest home is tolerable. Whether good (il buono), bad (il cattivo), or ugly (il brutto), I will still like it and enjoy going there most weeks. It’s a stark contrast to what I left behind: life in the desert was getting to me, of that there is no doubt but now ‘unhindered’ I can do as I so wish -phew!

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly final scene

If anything, it has been a slow and gradual welcome return to the fold. In Bangkok for more than fifteen years to play chess now I have been, and make many friends along the way I did, most of whom are still here plying their trade OTB with a steady pint on hand by their board. Highlight of the week it is, play in the blitz tournaments I do always, even though play well I usually don’t. The topography of Bangkok Chess Club is a tough terrain, not just because the playing premises is subject to upheaval biennially…or thereabouts, but more so that several stalwarts aside you never do know who will turn up week to week. You don’t know how many also, with numbers varying between five to thirty usually. There’s a different bunch that make up the numbers as each week passes, predominantly ex-pats sometimes, predominantly local players sometimes, a mix of both usually. There’s a sense of continuity and impermanence stood side by side at Bangkok Chess Club, making each visit to the club both familiar and unpredictable. For me the overarching emotion in play is a sense of belonging. Neither a tourist nor resident, I am one who comes and goes, never staying for too long or too short a time. Not part of the furniture and not one of the passers by either, somewhere in between I am… .

Because of an unwitting and enveloping sense of ‘this is my home’ has grown and grown since my return to the club, it has made OTB chess a rock in my life. Always a pleasant night out where enjoy the occasion I do; the social aspect of the evening more dominant than the competitive side of it always it is… .

The Unabashed

Unleashed from the desert, now entering the city aka BKK was a breath of fresh air in itself. Just seeing people congregate on a sky train freely was enough per se not to mention seeing women in public, dressed as they so wish. Quickly, a spectacle was there to behold with nightlife awaiting. Having spent many years in Bangkok already, I knew everything was on sale, drink, drugs, women, anything I wanted, and plenty of it too. This meant that I started drinking alcohol in the chess club then was off out partying after it had finished ‘unabashed’. Cider was thy tipple in numerous bars in the red light district.

Magners Cider by the board

All this I had to reign in within a month or so because, as anyone can tell you, chess and alcohol do not mix very well. As the night went on, my play got worse and worse, reaching the point where I was blundering thus losing too frequently. It had to stop. So it did stop, and diet coca-cola soon took over. For sure thy cider enhanced the social aspects of the evening and assisted in mood elevation but on the chess front, it was not acceptable, so I pushed it out, and out it stays. Boycotting booze OTB is both good for my health and good for my wallet but what soon followed I didn’t expect. I curtailed partying too, and a month or so later, cut it out, and accompanying loose women I kept dating unsobered. Normality ensued, reigned supreme, and stayed put. There were no more cancellations to the chess club for the likes of her.

I spent quite a few evenings with her

Her nickname is ‘Nan’, her real name ‘Pannada’ and she’s 29 years old. She’s from up north, Nong Bua Lamphu to be exact, and came to like me quite a bit that night she pulled me out of the chess club -which I took as a compliment. Certify I can, she has quite a body on her 🙂 (and before you ask, yes of course I’ve had my hands all over her countless times but no Luton’s handsomest chess player is not telling you what his favourite part of her body is and not through faulty memory because I was bloody drunk all the time!) What the picture, perhaps, doesn’t show you is that when she wears make up and dresses herself up she really is a very beautiful woman.

The Unflappable

Rather than fool around/about/again drinking excessively at the club, making bad videos for this site, I started to focus on my chess more and more week by week. At first, it was far from easy: online chess has altered my level of concentration when I play so much, too much in fact, making me prone to make mistakes more because online chess is rather unserious, a corollary of which being concentration levels are nominalized. So step by step, I stopped online chess altogether, deleted the apps from my Samsung A8 tablet and focused solely on OTB chess aka the real thing.

Thy trusty tablet. With all online chess apps deleted

Notice that with OTB chess the ability of your opponent differs much more greatly than it does with online chess I did and take some weeks to adjust to it took. Was rusty me off the pace with blitz being played at 3m 2s per game? Yes. So speed up I did. Gradually, my results began improving but only because I lost on time less often. Emotions during play had to be contained, something I put into practice by not allowing myself to give up if a mistake was made, for the simple reason you could still win on time. Taught myself to become ‘unflappable’ I have, and to focus solely on my next move during play became the norm. Adjusting to etiquette OTB, and FIDE rules too, has taken time. You can’t, for example, knock a piece over, press your clock, then put it back on its square. That’s illegal and loses you the game on the spot but easily done it is. And spotting illegal moves with so little time on the clock is not as easy as you might think, most often with kings not being moved out of check -immediate loss.

Three months have come and gone. The desire to act like a playboy do what I want has as well. What is left is a ‘to do what’s right OTB’ attitude. To win. To win more. And more still. The light at the end of the tunnel -pride in oneself! Chess has become a rock. ‘I am a rock, I am an island’ as Simon and Garfunkel once together sang.

Yes I do have a colourful life, don’t I? Quite unlike that of your average chess player, isn’t it? Wonder why? What if I told you under no circumstances whatsoever should I still be alive? And no I am not joking… .

‘I was sitting at home and had a profound experience. I experienced, in all of my being, that someday I was going to die, and it wouldn’t be like it had been happening, almost dying but somehow staying alive, but I would just die! And two things would happen right before I died: I would regret my entire life; I would want to live it over again. This terrified me. The thought that I would live my entire life, look at it and realize I blew it forced me to do something with my life.‘

Hubert Selby Jr.

Mark. J. McCready, 5.33pm, Tuesday, February 21st.

Chachoengsao, Thailand.

Read Full Post »

The top 3 all in 1

Posted in Chess on January 11, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The three most beautiful chess players in the world:

1. Andrea Botez

2. Aka Nemsko

3. Anna Cramling

All appear in the same video here:

MJM

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »