A gulf in class?

July 20, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

If you delve into chess played back in Victorian times -to use an English term- more work is involved than you may think: some would argue the further back in time you go the more cumulative this becomes. Not yet aghast? You may even discover that sometimes a spiffing Englishman come up against a chap from a former colony of ours and gets a tonking over the board -just imagine that!

In those heady days chess was bereft of ratings and titles only categories were used for classification; differing among nations in terms of criterion and meaning since they weren’t universal and subject to revision and misreportage also.

Today, some just go on the name of a player alone just to estimate their strength. But of course you can always compare ability by matching up these greats of the past. Look at the example below to see what I mean. Let’s look at a position and ponder a move first before playing through the game.

Bird has just played 17. 0-0-0. Look okay to you?

Here’s the game, containing a variation in an opening you don’t see in top flight chess these days. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1027914.

Everything is open to interpretation, so make of it what you will. It looks to me like there is a serious gulf in class here. This appears to be substanitated by their results.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1039530

A blow for us English but not an unexpected one.

MJM, Colombia

Posted in Bedfordshire Chess | Leave a Comment »

Family members come forth next year

July 14, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

Take a look at this:

As it stands the world’s number 1 and 2 are Carlsen and Nakamura, with the latter following the former by also announcing a baby is on the way next year. Click on the following link for further information (you may find the video interesting also!): https://www.chess.com/news/view/hikaru-nakamura-expecting-first-child-with-wife-atousa-pourkashiyan

Two months previously, this broke: https://www.chess.com/news/view/magnus-carlsen-and-wife-ella-victoria-announces-pregnancy

Speaking from experience, I suspect their priorites may change or be altered with chess getting less time than it previously did. A celebration of life itself should always triumph over celebrations achieved in a board game right?

MJM

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A heuristic test of strength for those in the smallest home county

July 13, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

Fellow Bedfordshire chess players: the only player who emerged from the Bedfordshire league and went on to become a GM was James Plaskett, and thereafter British champion in 1990 in sunny Eastbourne.

But just how good was he whilst still playing in the Beds. league? Well, he did finish second in the British championship in 78, however, that is just a statistic, so can hardly be classified as being heuristic for the average club and county player if drawing direct comparisons is the name of the game. What if I said his rating in the 1979 B.C.F list was 222, of further help? Let’s shift the goalposts somewhat.

In completing Norwood’s spiffing The Chess Traveller’s Quiz Book, I did notice that the very last puzzle comes from one of GM Plaskett’s games; an impressive victory accomplished while he was still playing in the Beds. league at the time. If you fancy it, I suggest you try to solve it, then decide for yourself how graspable it is, or is not! From that you should be able to deduce any disparity in ability there may be between yourself and that of a young Plaskett’s. You should bear in mind it is the very last puzzle of the book thus the hardest, (unsurprisingly, I couldn’t even get the first move right!). It is hoped that such endeavour should offer up some indication of his strength comparatively but do bear in mind this pertains to solving a puzzle, so you know something is afoot in the postion. That said, may I suggest you set aside a good few minutes for this if not more and, perhaps, put the right sort of thinking cap on? I should also add the solution to the puzzle is below.

Solution is below. Please refrain from reaching for it initially as it is somewhat self-defeating. Unhelpful clue -as I found out to my surprise, the first move is not Bxg6!

For further information on the game it should be pointed out that it was played in the European Junior Chess Championship, and that GM Plaskett finished 3rd, behind Soviet Union GM Sergei Dolmotov (2nd) and Dutch GM Jon Van Der Wiel. Some information can be found in the following link. https://www.olimpbase.org/~~V/ind-eicc/eu20b-1979.html?__r=5.8830a57d4c3c59c6d5e85f1c4c551575

NB. Comments placed on this site along the lines of ‘What in the devil’s name was the point in asking me to try and solve that!’ I shall not reply to. Praise along the lines of ‘Ah thanks, so that’s how good one of our own once was while still playing for Bedfordshire’ shall be welcomed.

“The Eleven Home Counties, which are thought in Land Taxes to pay more than their proportion, viz. Surrey with Southwark, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Kent, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk, Berks, Bucks, and Oxfordshire.“

An Essay upon Ways and Means of Supplying the War, 1695 Charles Davenant

Mark. J. McCready

Colombia

Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1960-1980, History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000 | Leave a Comment »

Droidfish draw

July 11, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

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 | Leave a Comment »

Reflections 2

July 11, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

Posted in Meme, Reflections | Leave a Comment »

A game that could cause your phone or computer to blow up

July 2, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

DISCLAIMER: as insomniac author of this post, I take no responsibility for any electronic device, laptop or PC blown up by running the game linked below through an engine you have installed.

DATED:

July 2nd 2025

SIGNED:

Look at this position:

White to play. Try for four queens?

It comes from this game https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1064810&kpage=3

The question is not who stands better but what will happen if I run it through an engine -I’m not doing it, I wouldn’t dare.

Marcus -Colombia

Posted in Chess, Humour, My own warped humour, Selected on-line games | Leave a Comment »

Lest we not forget that anniversary celebrated yonder

July 2, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

Reading and writing go hand in hand, of this we know: both are art forms, that most don’t. An advantage of academia is that you encounter texts which require being read critically and many times over in parts, you therefore develop a natural inclination to return to texts repeatedly in order to increase your understanding of them. This may assist you in establishing the importance of a text or a passage whereas simply reading for pleasure is less, or much less, likely to do so.

Knowing what to read in chess is becoming increasingly more difficult for numerous reasons, one of which being an ever-increasing selection of texts to choose from, not to mention all that pulished online on various types of websites and social media platforms with or without the help of AI.

I don’t wish to cast judgement on such matters but would rather refer to that which I found highly engaging when it was published some sixteen years back. That was the 25th anniversary of New In Chess. We can, I think, argue that which is published in the press is more likely to be of higher quality than that which is posted on the internet, generally speaking. We may also argue that an anthology carries greater prestige than the latest publication, since the author is more selective over the material chosen, opting for that considered to be best by readers, writers, editors and reviewers. Quality, then, takes precedence over that which is current. Since it is possible to be both biased and right, or so I believe, my views on the publication this post is about, is that finding anything better is both a hard task ahead and a good path to go down. I cannot help but recommend it for it contains much first rate journalism -of that you can be sure.

So there you have it. Reticent I am not; so I recommend what I am presently re-reading I do, and believe myself justified in doing so thoroughly I do too…hardly synchronic, happily arranged, hurriedly off with a bang -a damn good read indeed it be!

Nietzsche -Human, all too human

Marcus, Colombia

Posted in Reviews | Leave a Comment »

Reflections 1

July 2, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

Courtesy of old friend Damon D’Cruz – a true chess addict in his younger years- in the spring of 95, I was encouraged to participate in the Nottingham Open with him. I have many memories of that tournament but one that stands out as being different was the journey up there.

When we reached Nottingham, there was a pop concert in town which we happened to drive past, and there I saw Tori Amos giving a fan an excited autograph. How often do you see famous pop stars en route to a tournament?

This was the song that propelled her into the big time.

Posted in Life beyond the chess board | Leave a Comment »

Picture trivia

June 27, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

Is this a scene from Chess the musical?

MJM

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Alekhine, a Canadian fox, sacrifices galore, and he who straddled more than one academic discipline…

June 26, 2025 by mccreadyandchess

Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

In May I posted details of Bedfordshire’s baptism of fire in the S.C.C.U back in 1923. I drew attention to Middlesex’s board 3, pointing out that he beat two former world champions and drew with one, using that as an explanatory factor in the size of the defeat dished out, amongst others. The post is called Bedfordshire Outfoxed and can be found in the search bar.

The post contains the aforementioned games but I felt drawn to his game against Alekhine in particular. Yes it was part of a simul with sacrifices galore, as so often happens in such events but upon looking at the game closely, I found one move in particular of Fox’s that I am rather fond of I must say. It was both brave and in the spirit of things or was it his saving grace instead? Let’s have a look:

White has just played 29. dxe5. What would you play as black here? You can see what Fox played in the image below.

As much as I would love to paraphrase Kasparov in ‘How Life Imitates Chess’ I cannot. So I can’t say this exemplifies how ‘the best form of defence is attack’ for it is a counter-attacking move and doesn’t quite qualify. It is, however, unusual to see being mated averted by threatening mate in one yourself, if that’s the case of course. Since it is a simul, we don’t know how much time Fox had to make the move, probably not very long. Great move nonetheless. Here’s the game again.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012317

Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

(Note to self: consider making more posts on moves you like)

MJM

Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Postmodern History, Quaint Chess History | Leave a Comment »

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