The obscurely named Wijk aan Zee tournament has chess going on outside of the playing hall as well apparently.
Archive for the ‘Life beyond the chess board’ Category
Reasons to go to Wijk aan Zee
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on February 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »
On this day…
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on January 31, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Apparently, on Jan 31st 2012 I posted this on my fb page with the question: What’s black’s best move here?
It’s not that hard but you can ask for the answer if necessary.
Yet more from Nunn
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on December 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Here’s another carefully selected example from Dr. Nunn that shows how difficult King and Pawn endgames are. Take the following position for example, I doubt whether a strong GM could find the solution in blitz.
It’s white to play and win. Take your time and make an effort to discard the more obvious moves. Carefully scroll down if you need the answer.
Understanding Chess Endgames, pg.15.
Armenia, the cleverest nation on earth?
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on December 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »
In case you missed it, here’s some quality journalism from the BBC. It discusses the chess phenomenon in Armenia and asks why such a small nation is so successful. Is Armenia the cleverest nation on earth? I don’t know but they are certainly the smartest in the Caucasus.
Here’s the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004j7zg
You may need to be in the UK to listen, in which case the BBC iPlayer Proxy in you are a google chrome user. You can find it from the google chrome store.
A crafty stalemate
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on December 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »
From page 57 of Hendricks Move First, Think Later, Chapter 6 Pattern-like Knowledge. The following position is a good example of how we look for patterns in chess and fail to see solutions that do not fit into those. See if you can find the draw for white here, I know I certainly couldn’t. It’s white to play and save the game.
Hopefully you’ve made a genuine attempt to find the draw but here’s the solution anyway.
I think what’s tricky about that is that it looks like checkmate is in the air prima facie rather than stalemate.
Where does he get them from?
Posted in Life beyond the chess board, tagged dale brandreth's bookstore, glynn's bookstore, tony's bookstore on December 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »
With an absolute stack of books and magazines on order from yesteryear, I thought I might share where I get them from. If you’re interested in antique, rare or out of print books as well as much chess paraphernalia that is quite ungoogleable, you could do a lot worse than click on the links below. Each bookstore I have used many times and can verify their professionalism and trustworthiness -just don’t go buying up all the best offers now!
Norwich’s own Glynn’s Bookstore http://www.abebooks.com/glynns-books-norwich/3949676/sf allegedly visited by Alan Partridge in search of Golding’s Lord of the Flies whilst researching the ‘numero one’ of radio debates in 1990’s England: that being, who was the best lord – Lord of The Rings, Lord of the Dance or Lord of the Flies. Click below for the answer.
Tony’s Bookstore or http://www.chessbooks.co.uk/. They deliver worldwide, including Kazakhstan. Here Borat talks about the inherently ambiguous term the Soviet School of Chess…or does he?
Lastly, Dale Brandreth’s site or http://www.chessbookstore.com/ They will sell books to anyone, even author and former Monopoly champ Giles Brandreth, whose career took a nose-dive into politics when he became a member of Parliament. Here is the verbose champ below, showing us all why Britain has fallen into decline. Monopoly fans take note that Brandreth’s book on Monopoly has never been bettered…admittedly, the clip below is intriguing. Brandreth claims that chess is English in origin…or does he?
One for the ladies
Posted in Life beyond the chess board, tagged female chess players, women's chess on December 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »
As you would expect, The Telegraph has presented us with a well-written article on gender difference -or lack thereof- in chess.
Even though more women are taking up our beautiful game than ever before, they still face chauvinism from some of its more old-fashioned practitioners. Journalist Rachel Halliwell makes two noted members of that club appear quite foolish in her article, and equally as effortlessly, dispels a number of gender based myths that pervade chess. An incisive riposte -journalism at its finest.
For a philosophical take on the same topic, you could also try reading McCready’s own post here:
Move First, Think Later
Posted in Life beyond the chess board, tagged move first, think later on November 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »
I’ve started reading Move First, Think Later. Its an intriguing read and very modern in its approach. As you may know, it won the Chess Book of The Year award in 2012.
Here’s a demo by the author himself. The position studied is original and the approach by the author is revisionist and refreshing.
Helping your children with chess
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on November 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »
You can find an interesting article on helping your children with chess on author Richard James’ site. Here is the article:
http://www.chesskids.org.uk/ckapg.pdf
I think it would be a good idea to read it in conjunction with another of his articles, which can be found here:
http://www.chesskids.org.uk/fallacies.pdf
Richard James is an acclaimed author, noted for his literature teaching chess to children.
Capablanca speaks
Posted in Life beyond the chess board on November 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »
-
Recent Posts
May 2026 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Archives
…on what this site initially became…on what this site is now becoming…on what this site cannot become…
Categories
- Academia
- Bedfordshire Chess
- Chess
- Chess in Thailand
- Dear Ken
- Documentaries
- FIDE
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1900-1920
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1920-1940
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1940-1960
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1960-1980
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000
- History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century
- History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 21st century
- Humour
- Kasparyan
- Life beyond the chess board
- Luton Chess Club
- Meme
- Moves I could never play
- My daughter
- My own endeavours
- My Own Games
- My own warped humour
- On-line journal
- Personal Interest & Experience
- Postmodern History
- Quaint Chess History
- Reflections
- Reviews
- Selected on-line games
- Sources of inspiration
- Tournament Chess
- Trivia
- Viz inspired material
- Who wants to be a millionaire chess special
- World Championships Analytics
Posts which McCready is mighty pleased with
Luton & The University of Bedfordshire Chess Club
Tuesdays from 7.30 pm, The Library, Ground Floor
Please go to:
https://www.lutonchessclub.com/Blog Stats
- 32,563 hits
-
Join 39 other subscribers
-
A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
-
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
-
- I’m either 10 or 11 here
-
- 1982, myself versus Brian from Sunderland.
-
- At the Thai Junior chess championships. My daughter of course.
-
- Pattaya 2011
-
- 2011
-
- Thai Junior Championships
-
- 2008
-
- 2011
-
- Around 2011
-
- 2011
-
- Pattaya 2009
-
- 2011
-
- Kuwait 2008
-
- 2012
-
- 2012
-
- 2011 BKK Chess club
-
- 2011
-
- 2011 Thai Open
-
- 2011 Thai Open
-
- 2013 approx
-
- Around 2014
-
- 2010
-
- 2012
-
- Around 2011
-
- 2011
-
- 2011
-
- 2013
-
- Around 2011
-
- Around 2011
-
- 2020
-
- 2011
-
- 2008
-
- 2011
-
- 2013 or thereabouts
-
- 2010
-
- 2017
-
- 2014?
-
- 2010
-
- 2024
-
- 2024
-
- 2024
-
-
To add comments, please see the bell at the top of the page.
McCreadyandChess 