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Is this the worst move ever played in the Soviet Championships?

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on June 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The following diagrams are from Tolush against Ilivitsky in the 1948 Championship held in Moscow. We pick up play from move 21.

21. Rad1 Rad8?? (worse is yet to come)

Black copies white but for what reason? To pin his own bishop? His position is not good even though he has some standing in the center. There are too many holes in his position and the king is not secure. Better was 21…h5 after which Rg4 threatens to remove the queen from its dangerous diagonal.

White naturally plays 22. Nd5.

According to Cafferty (The Soviet Championships Cafferty & Taimanov, Cadogan, pg. 62)

‘Black sees that 22…exd5 23. exd5 threatens both 24. Rfe1 and 24. Rxd4; he decides to guard against 23 Rxd4 and then Nf6+’

22. Rg6?? As Wittgenstein once noted, we fail to see what is right in front of our eyes.

23. Qe7 ++

Here is the game for those in disbelief.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1240274

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I wonder what Duchamp would have made of this?

Posted in Life beyond the chess board, tagged Duchamp chess on June 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Chess can be described as the movement of pieces eating one another

Marcel Duchamp

https://vimeo.com/23540784

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Something for the little ones

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on May 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Parents who click on the following link may be able to steal a few minutes here and there whilst their children enjoy the printable, on-line chess colouring page. Without sounding too old-fashioned or a big kid, colouring on-line isn’t half as much fun as the real thing.

http://www.oncoloring.com/chess-coloring-pages.html

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Hungry for some chess?

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on May 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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Across the Board Season 3

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on May 6, 2015| 3 Comments »

The BBC Radio 4 production Across the Board, which is arguably the most thoughtful and interesting example of journalism to grace our beautiful game recently returned with a third season. Dominic Lawson, current head of the ECF brings us six more games with yet another interesting mix of opponents and questions for them. If you have time to play through the games on line, I suggest you do so whilst listening to the show. By doing that you might notice that Dominic’s questions are as strategic as his play and perform their role in helping him across the board adequately. I have linked Series 3 below. If I may say so, the radio is far more suitable as a medium to study chess than TV/YouTube, as it demands that you must set up a board and physically play through the game yourself. This will enhance the experience of the game you are playing through considerably. Note, however, for this particular program the games must be viewed on line as only a selection of moves are offered during conversation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04njsks/episodes/guide

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What to watch?

Posted in Life beyond the chess board, tagged Kingcrusher on April 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

“Care and quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing. A person who sees quality and feels it as he works is a person who cares. A person who cares about what he sees and does is a person who’s bound to have some characteristic of quality.”

Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

In this day and age we are spoilt for choice on what to watch. With so much content on-line and so many products to buy you could happily let the world pass you by if you wanted to.

Having just spent over twenty Euros on yet another glib Chessbase DVD, the best advice I can give is to watch someone who is passionate about presenting chess. With this in mind I recommend the youtube channel Kingcrusher. There are hundreds of games to watch both current and classic. The author is a strong player too and is, in my opinion, a considerably more talented presenter than the next depressed looking Chessbase presenter who’s only doing it to supplement his income, whoever that may be.

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A forcing line

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on March 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I found the position below on a recent Chessbase post. It is from GM Khismatullin v GM Eljanov from round ten of the European Championship.

White plays 44 Kg1!! To which black plays 44…Qxd1+. What an amazing move Kg1 is. The purpose, of course, is to put the queen onto the worst square on the board, leaving black completely helpless to the numerous threats of mate that will come. Being a rook up, it is unsurprising that black thought he has at best a draw, which is not the case.

White has a 13 move forced win. It’s actually not as difficult to find as you might think owing to the poor position of the black king. It’s a pleasant way to spent 20 minutes by tuning up your skills of analysis. Can you find the winning line?

You can play through the whole game here if you cannot.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1786318

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Fritz & Chesster

Posted in Life beyond the chess board, tagged Fritz&chesster on February 10, 2015| 1 Comment »

The Chessbase package ‘Fritz & Chesster’ is now free for all http://fritzandchesster.chessbase.com/. Those who have used it can tell you how effective it is. An absolute must for any teacher or parent who wants to teach their pupil/child chess, I haven’t found anything that can come close to it. Just bear in mind that you will still need a board to put the content into practice. As great as the program is, it can’t do all the work for you I’m afraid. If you like the software and plan to use it extensively, it might be better to purchase it anyway to avoid dependency on secure internet connections.

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Chess News 6: Unpaid chess loan lands player in court.

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on January 24, 2015| Leave a Comment »

After failing to return the grand total of 160 pounds, which is a lifetime of chess earnings for the average amateur player, an English chess player has found himself in court.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11364939/Chess-players-7-year-legal-battle-isnt-black-and-white.html

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New Spassky Interview

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on January 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Courtesy of Colin McGourty, a great interview with Spassky can be found on chess24 here: https://chess24.com/en/read/news/spassky-i-still-look-at-chess-with-the-eyes-of-a-child.

As you may know, Spassky is one of the game’s great raconteurs and is always worth listening to. A well handled interview with much food for thought.

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…on what this site initially became…on what this site is now becoming…on what this site cannot become…

On what this site initially became…

…once upon a time, the chess-related musings of an adrift academic were bound playfully and electronically in this online journal of sorts. They grew and grew as the decade did too. I kept on because I love to write whether I had much to say or not; therefore, being read by others was usually of little or no importance, comparatively speaking. Content was based on personal thoughts and experience on various topics with no intended audience borne in mind. With topics broadening, my own take on things always shaped the narrative I constructed: I often thought I was insightful but never that I was right. Sometimes imagination gave rise to originality: and of that I have always remained proud. I often introduced humour, believing that I am funnier than I really am. Sometimes, I found my own style antithetical to the conservatism I believe chess is plagued by -oftentimes that has put a gracious smile on my face… .

On what this site is now becoming…

…this site is now becoming a collaboration of chess in Bedfordshire: much more so of the past than the present -that has become the dominant trend. I document the history of chess in Bedfordshire as much as I can, and as time has passed I have become more thorough and resourceful. However, I am not a trained historian as my background lies principally in philosophy but yes it is true I did study some modules on history as both an undergraduate and a post-graduate too; furthermore, I have trained myself up, particularly in terms of postmodern history. Since 2015, I have only read history and historiography as well as those philosophers who have been so influential on postmodern history, such as Nietzsche (whom I once wrote a 19,000 word dissertation on, entitled: Can the Will to Power be Found in The Birth of Tragedy?), also Richard Rorty and Foucault and I suppose certain structualists such as Claude Levi-Strauss too. Regarding postmodernism, mostly I keep to Hayden White, Keith Jenkins and Alan Muslow.

Some friends and former playing partners back home describe me as the ‘go to guy’ for the history of chess in Bedfordshire. This compliment says more about the lack of interest in the subject than my own endeavour. As mentioned, I am too adrift from academia to feel chuffed by it. Rather, I tend to lament that my historical research, like my chess, just isn’t what it should be. Even though I may well have a broad understanding of Bedfordshire chess history courtesy of the volume of research put into it, all of which began in 2014, this is not something I am particularly proud of. Nonetheless, out of courtesy compliments are graciously received. If the truth be told, I just see it as my job and only that – after all someone’s got to do it and no one else is that interested!

Amongst the many others, I have created three categories: ‘Bedfordshire Chess’ and ‘History of Bedfordshire Chess’ and ‘Luton Chess Club’. This website is slowly moving towards a consolidation of those (all of which can be found in one of the toolbars to the right).

On what this site cannot become…

…I like to be both creative and amusing when I can be, factor in that playfulness has been an ever-present factor, the content of this site should be thought of as multifarious. It could be said I continue to enjoy undermining the conservatism I believe chess is underpinned by even after all these years, and often try to use humour to do it still, believing I have got better at it. Consequently, despite the general direction its going in, this site cannot only be about Chess in Bedfordshire and nor will it be. It may become noted for that yes -in fact that’s been the case for years already even by established historians, archivists, and whoever else. External factors aside, this site is titled McCreadyandChess. I cannot, nor will I not, remove my own personal thoughts and experiences of chess from the posts of this site -especially if I think they are funny or original for they constitute my writing at its very, very best. In addition, the number of categories alone tells you that breadth of content is important to me. I am proud of my site, it is identity conferring and that is how it shall stay -end of story. All you really have are: ‘Some thoughts on the beautiful game’, which, incidentally, just happen to be my very own; nothing more, nothing less, take of it whatever you please… .

Mark. J. McCready

9.56 pm Monday, October 28th 2024

Bangkok, Thailand
Categories
Posts which McCready is mighty pleased with

Malpractice — Replete with dark humour and literary devices

Bedfordshire Chess in the 70s its past and its future — Local History

Our Clash of Future Champions — Local History

Fond Memories of Bedfordshire Chess — Humour & Reflection

Bedfordshire Outfoxed -Local History

Reflections 20— Reflection & Warm Condolence

Reflections 17 — Colourful reflections from afar
Luton & The University of Bedfordshire Chess Club
The University of Bedfordshire Library, Vicarage St. Luton
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Tuesdays from 7.30 pm, The Library, Ground Floor

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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
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