Posted in My Own Games on March 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »
It is Lucas Chess that I use and in the previous post I showed how the engine rated 2200 was rather easily beaten, so I then decided to play one rated 2400 but will not be posting a video of that. It was well dodgy and left its queen en prise, so I won again. A pyrrhic victory.
M J M
Posted in My Own Games on March 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »
When we don’t expect the unexpected what then? I made a video of me beating Lucas Chess 2200 engine. I had been playing well earlier in the day and so upped the anti. I didn’t think I could be confident enough to do such a thing but it was well founded as I won convincingly, much to my disbelief. I didn’t have to think that hard either but I did stay very focused! The only conclusion I can draw from this is that I must be better than I thought! I suspect it will be some time before the disbelief passes. Comments on the game are very welcome.
M J M
Posted in My Own Games on March 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Posted in My Own Games, Personal Interest & Experience on August 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I hold it true, whate’er I befall;
I feel it when, I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
Tennyson, In Memorium 27
Old Heraclitus once said ‘You can never step into the same river twice for it’s not the same river and it’s not the same man’. When I bought and read IM Littlewood’s publication ‘Chess Tactics’, I did so voraciously at school; therefore, I was a mere teen and not a man. That book was one of many my small school bag was stuffed with, often read in T. D. (Technical Drawing), on the bus too, and wherever else whilst uniformed. How would it read upon rediscovery some 37 years on?
The cover was green, now it’s orange. The song does not remain the same. It’s a book for beginners and I don’t recall any of the puzzles, just that I found it challenging… .
Why does the song not remain the same? The reasons are multifarious, primarily however, reading it is of no benefit anymore thus of no interest: it retains a certain sentimental value, perhaps, but no more really… except that it may be helpful if teaching chess… .
Type O’ Negative have a song called ‘Everything Dies’. In death I will now become known as one who once read Littlewood’s ‘Chess Tactics’…what else have I got to hope for?
O heart, how fares it with thee now,
That thou should’st fail from thy desire,
Who scarcely darest to inquire,
‘What is it makes me beat so low?’
Something it is which thou hast lost,
Some pleasure from thine early years.
Break, thou deep vase of chilling tears,
That grief hath shaken into frost!
Tennyson, In Memorium 3
M J M
Posted in My Own Games on July 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
This is rather unimpressive and untypical too because of white’s early d5 push and several sub-optimal moves played by white. But I do like that I did play in the spirit of the Dutch and siught counterplay to grab the draw.
Mark. J. McCready
Chapinero, Bogota, Colombia
Posted in My Own Games on June 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I really am not a fan of online chess but it does help alieviate boredom I suppose. Anyway, here’s four wins which show how badly I play online and how bad my opponents usually are. Not anything to be proud of but rather ashamed of instead yet still I post! It remders my play quick fire and impulsive. If you do have to watch any of them then only the last game is worth looking at as my opponent is not so terrible… .
2. No thought needed here, another example of poor opening play by my opponent.
3. Far too easy.
4. Nice trip down memory lane.
Mark. J. McCready
Colombia
Posted in My Own Games on May 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Here is a game which exemplifies I am a mere club & county player, and both challenges the widely held belief that 1. c4 is a quiet move often leading to postional struggles as well as that I am playing for a win still, despite having stopped playing sacrifical chess against computer engines. It’s far from brilliant, like most ad hoc online games are, but looks like the right way forwards for someone wnting to move away from 1. e4.
Mark. J. McCready
Colombia
Posted in My Own Games, On-line journal on February 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Opponent Monarch 1.7 ELO 2100 (ECF184). I am white, have the better game but let it slip at the end. Good game: I am implenting what I told myself now but more time is needed.
Mark. J. McCready
Posted in My own endeavours, My Own Games, On-line journal on February 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Playing for pleasure and playing to win are two different things altogether.
I have upped the engine on Lucas Chess to Monarch 1.7 (ELO2100/ECF184).
I have not yet fully absorbed the advice I previously posted from Rowson’s The Seven Deadly Sins of Chess. Because of this, I lost the second game against it when I should really have won. But for the first time I also did the other thing required, to look at my games and learn from my mistakes (more on this to come).
Now there are conditions too:
Firstly, play with a clear head.
Secondly, make sure I am ready to play and want to play.
Thirdly, allocate more time to the games, as this will help.
From the harrowing loss, I have learnt I am missessing the position and not spending enough time on that. I also need a broader approach and play with more caution. By this I mean give less emphasis to wanting to seize the initiative all the time, which I tend to do. I really couldn’t believe I lost.
Clearly winning but misassessed.
Here I went a bit wrong. The correct move is 27. …. h5 and not 27. …. Qxh1. I should have eased off grabbing material and seen that my knights were controlling the position and essential to retaining control of it. I should have made more effort to assesss the position and not thought more in terms of the result. /
32. Ka4 Kh8 22. Bh2 Nc4?? That move lost me the game whenI thought I had it won. Nd7 is better. The position is not won, it’s marginally worse. I just thought he’s bound to get mated when in fact the king is safe there.
3-6 months it stays. About right for someone so out of practice. On we go.
Mark. J. McCready
Posted in My Own Games, On-line journal on February 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
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.
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