Archive for the ‘My daughter’ Category
Lost certificate
Posted in My daughter on December 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
My meme 20
Posted in Meme, My daughter on October 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Forgotten video
Posted in My daughter on September 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »
When Covid came, I spent more time stuck indoors playing chess than ever before -isn’t that a surprise!
In this video my daughter Grace gets odds of a queen, and as you can see, I’m not exactly the world’s best at making videos.
M J M
Small victories with no cankers but with medallions.
Posted in My daughter on December 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »
It shouldn’t bother me but it does. What’s that then? How comes my daughter is attending more chess events then I am? Once again she’s off helping her mum out whilst I sit alone in a room in a city where I know not one person, with no action going down.
However, I graciously accept this because the more interest my daughter has in chess, the better I will feel. Long may it continue…I mean them assisting in chess tournaments not me sitting all by myself here, unable to get a slice of the action, as Aristotle once said: fuck that shit fuck that dude.
On and on it goes. We put the work in but there is no job to do. You could say we just do what we gotta do. Let us hope in the coming month there will be times where I can play chess and watch my daughter play too. I have time off coming up, so let’s see.
Yelling with my mouth shut: ‘the good news is Grace is getting more involved in chess now, small victories is what we are gettin’.
Gracey the creative
Posted in My daughter on May 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »
As any loving father would do, I call my daughter frequently when away from her to check up on how she is, what she is doing, and what -if anything- she needs.
Today, when I asked her what she is doing, she said she is playing chess. She then showed me
Even though I’ve spent over half my life playing chess, I can’t say what sort of opening this is. If black were to play 2. …a6 next, then it would most likely transpose into the St. George’s Defence, which is not usually met by an early Be2, although the bishop does sometimes go there.
Creative Gracey.
Gracey, aged 7, plays chess
Posted in My daughter on May 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
On this day 2010, my daughter Grace plays chess with me during the dreaded covid lockdown when my parental duties were elevated somewhat.
Gracey goes organizing
Posted in Chess in Thailand, My daughter on May 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »
My beloved daughter has decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and help organize chess tournaments.
Chess lessons, participation in the national junior championships, and just about every book ever written on chess for kids wasn’t enough for her, she just wants to help her mum instead -okay well at least I tried.
For the second time this year she is assisting her mother at a major tournament (but not playing). Yesterday she was helping control the kids in the blitz tournament by stopping them leaving the playing hall in the middle of it. Today she is helping prepare medals.
As both a father and a chess lover, I am happy to see her still connected to our beautiful game.
5 became 6 but 6 will not become 7
Posted in My daughter, My own endeavours on December 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »
“Education is teaching our children to desire the right things.” Plato
One platitude I ascribe to is ‘Home is where the heart is’, and although I am so very proud of where I am from, unintentionally or otherwise, it stopped being home a long time ago; partly because year twenty-four of not living there is rapidly approaching, and partly because priorities change as we age whether we like it or not.
Chesswise I am most certain more years as an active member of Bangkok Chess Club (10-20 on & off) than Luton Chess Club (around 10) have now amassed. With many more friends based in Bangkok than its predecessor, I do see its chess club as my home club, and have done so for quite some time…you could say ‘somehow it just went that way’. Being housed in a pub is always an improvement as you can’t beat a cold pint of cider or six whilst you play OTB.
It’s been 6 months since I last played chess -no I don’t miss it. Online chess has been outlawed then got slapped with a lifetime ban. Yes I have even thought about stopping completely and giving the game up again, just like I did back in the 90s. But it is my every intention to take my daughter to Bangkok Chess Club on the fifth day of the next month. I want to see friends and socialize with them, and the more exposure my daughter has to chess the better. Most probably I will play her to see how much she remembers, as she has lost interest and become inactive. It might be the case that I just hang out, drink some cider, chat with friends and play no more than the odd game or two. However, I may elect to play in a blitz tournament though, and most probably will.
So I shall not go 7 months of no chess but its the overall experience of being amongst old friends that is important, and as mentioned, reacquainting my daughter with the game too: it has got nothing to do with wanting to play chess, which is not in play this time around. The arbiter, and old friend, who runs the club and organizes the Bangkok Open is the same person who employed my ex-wife -that’s how we met. He was instrumental in us hooking up, our child was soon to follow – and visit her in hospital when she was born he did. Had he not given me her mother’s details when I asked who she was at the chess club, there would be no Grace McCready. And that very place we played in then, is the same place we play in now. My heart is with my daughter and home is where the heart is -so I shall break my 6-month duck @Bangkok Chess Club, and my daughter gets to go to the very place where her father asked about her mother for the first time, and was given her contact details as a result -the rest is just history. Pics, videos and report to follow.
Only 6
Posted in My daughter on February 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Grace, my daughter, can be seen playing her daddy on holiday in the videos below, videos I had forgotten all about. She’s only 6. I was working in Guangzhou, China but flew into Thailand to see her and took her to a 4 star hotel by the sea, namely; Le Mercure, Pattaya.
Mark.J.McCready
3.21pm, February 16th
Chachoengsao, Thailand
Tuition during lockdown
Posted in Chess in Thailand, My daughter on September 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I found a video that I haven’t seen in a while, in which I give my daughter some training during the lockdown when the Corona virus was reeking havoc on everyone’s lives. My daughter is only aged 7 in this video.
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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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- Around 2011
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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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- 2017
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- 2014?
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- 2010
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- 2024
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- 2024
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