Has anyone from Bedfordshire ever participated at an Olympiad? Yes but perhaps only one, a certain Ian Cordon (son of Sandy Cordon). Details have been found from looking through previously posted content, which can also be found below.
And can be verified here via team results: https://www.olimpbase.org/1986/1986ber.html
MJM
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess | Leave a Comment »
“The experience of art is exemplary in its provision of truths that are inaccessible by scientific methods, and this experience is projected to the whole domain of human sciences.” Gadamer
As an undergraduate in Philosophy, I once took part in the Erasmus programme, where students spent a semester at a designated university of their choosing somewhere in Western Europe -and got paid to do it also! I chose Turku University, Finland in the rainy Autumn of 96.
There, I took book exams (one of which was on Plato’s Republic), lectures and seminars too, mostly on the Philosophy of Science, principally focusing on the text below.
It was a very good read with an interesting title that helped no end that dull grey morning I had to give a presentation on logical posivitism to my class, as my friend Markko watched on with interest. Progress and its problems. Hmm…
It could be argued the modern chess world has much progress and it, too, is not without its problems. For computerization, and the reliance on it, has created a culture of suspicion which reaches beyond you not being allowed to use electronic devices during your game. In fact anything that allows you to store information is expressly forbidden nowadays. This includes objects that were never seen as a problem for decades.
You aren’t allowed to write your move down before you play it now as this can be interpreted as taking notes. Also, you are not allowed to use a scorebook anymore as they may contain notes from previous games which may assist you.
So no more scorebooks then. I had many from the early 1990s as I always used them and never dreamed of using them to look at pre-existing games during play. No one ever did but in the current climate, this is not acceptable. Scorebooks just aren’t allowed anymore. End of story. Don’t ever mention that hardly anyone cheats ever, or anything like that. It won’t do you any good. Supposedly borne in mind here is the greater good and it is that what counts…or so I’ve been told.
I used to enjoy studying the hermeneutics of suspicion immensely as I was something of a Nietzschean back in the day. But I must say it is somewhat saddening that so much suspicion exists in chess today. Quite unnecessary if you ask me. But given that chess doesn’t exactly pass as an academic discipline and languishes in and amongst the netherworlds of intellectual pursuits instead.
MJM
Posted in Life beyond the chess board | Leave a Comment »
Not me at my best but how often do you get to deliver checkmate with underpromotion? Which I might add was due to my opponent generously allowing me counterplay and failing to identify a threat in the position.
MJM
Posted in My Own Games | Leave a Comment »
Determining whether a sacrifice is sound or not is never easy but it is generally accepted that greek gift sacrifices usually are not. So I accepted rather than decline and came under the kosh but hung on in there as my opponent allowed me to simplify all too easily.
MJM
Posted in My Own Games | Leave a Comment »
I have written about the once famed amateur William Ward many times on this site because he was the first player to represent Luton who went on to make a name for himself. Having done further research it has become clear that Ward was established as a player in London before his documented appearances for Luton in 1896 & 1897. They were at best cameos, most likely he still had family in the area and retained his attachments. The reportage below show he had commitments in London during those years.
We have been been able to establish that by profession he was a solicitor. But information about his life outside chess and the circumstances concerning his death have remained unestablished until very recently. I am indebted to the individuals on the English Chess Forum who have taken up a thread I started almost ten years ago and have long since forgotten about! Please see below.
Mark. J. McCready, Bangkok
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I am re-reading Eales’s: Chess the History of a game, as chess history is supposedly my thing, and I did accidentally throw the thing away four years ago 😦 . New copy came through the post before the woeful summer commenced!
The first paragraph of the preface is as follows:
A history of chess is firstly a history of chess players, and as such I hope it will interest modern players who realize that in taking up the game, they are entering on a rich inheritance built by their predecessors. But it is also an account of the changing background against which chess has evolved, the forces which have caused it to be sometimes respected and encouraged, sometimes disapproved of, or even made illegal. The long development of chess has led through many different cultures and societies. It has been variously described as a game, a sport, a science or an art. At different times its social appeal has been seen as primary noble, intellectual, or even proletarian. In literature it has served as a metaphor, for order through its ranking of distinctive pieces. For these reasons I hope the book will also interest those who do not play chess well (or at all), because it deals with many important historical issues, though from an unfamiliar point of view.
pg. 9
I have to say, as something of an admirer, what does the final clause in the final sentence mean? ‘…an unfamiliar point of view’? probably that it is based on discourse. I may be wrong but some explanation would have helped.
Posted in Quaint Chess History | Leave a Comment »
Here’s two more questions from myself, which you may or may not get.
Posted in On-line journal | Leave a Comment »
Here’s the latest, can you answer it?
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Although I have oftentimes told myself not to write if I have nothing to say, there are exceptions because the principle reason for writing is not to be read but enjoy the process per se.
I’m writing because I have, to some degree, lost touch with chess this summer. The amount of chess we have in our lives never is constant due to circumstance or other matters foreseen and unforeseen. In writing this I have decided, that I should address this matter and have more chess in my life, and start taking note of current affairs, and so on -keep more in touch with things if you will. It’s sometimes helpful to ask do I have too much or too little chess in your life as it may change without you noticing -just my opinion.
The good news is over the summer I talked myself into larger projects, firstly that I should write a history of Bedfordshire chess, then after that was dismissed, that I should write an essay on the history of chess in Luton. Prompted because the person doing a cracking job of running Luton chess club currently asked me if I could write a short history for something or other. I did that but its not really my thing, so an extensive -that may not be the right word- a fuller account will be written. So at least some, correction -one good thing has emerged. This helps counterbalance the missed opportunities to play OTB that have passed, as I did not visit the chess club so much. I stayed true with my intentions to remove classical chess from the agenda, and as it so happens the tournament I refused to participate in was cancelled anyway… .
It would have been nicer to have made more effort to read the two books I recently ordered, especially since they are both well-written. Never mind, plenty of time for that still. It would also have been great if I had checked if any one day tournaments were held over the summer. Again I didn’t that, as mentioned, chess took a backseat over the summer if you like. I did play on line but not so much, and most likely matters will continue in a similar vain. To some degree this was tied to a failed attempt to establish the etymology of the term stalemate, which I did not get far with even I have sufficient material currently at my disposal…ah well some things are harder than they seem sometimes.
So as it stands for the rest of the year I will have to conduct further research. There is always work to be done, and helping improve upon the periods that I am less certain of is, perhaps, a necessity. Other than that all I can add is that the history presented will be in the form of post-modernism -of that I am certain.
Little else to say except it would have been nicer not to have drunk alcohol when I did play at the club, since its the sense of occasion rather than improvement that matters most, and since when did alcohol help with such matters bloody drunkard .
So there you have it. Later in the month I shall begin research again with the eventuality being an essay on the history of chess in Luton, probably something around the 10,000 word mark. And if that’s not boring enough, you can follow the updates on what was Twitter and is now X.
I can’t really add more than that, it has been a quiet few months and I have something to do of which I am passionate about to be getting on with. How drawn into correcting the co-authors of Chess in Bedfordshire I will get is hard to be certain of but hopefully the reaction to the final product won’t be in line with theirs; namely, that the author (s) should be tied up and shot against a post. Or put differently the subject will be covered more extensively, half the bloody county was left out thus more wholesome in the narrative offered -which is all you are getting! And just perhaps the most recent attempt at research had its minor frustrations here and there due to traces of the past not being entirely compatible with the intentions of old Tom Sweby, whom I have come to know more so than before, as he remained the primary source. I am a little sad to say I don’t have a great deal of material to work with, as you might expect, but this is not necessarily a problem, depending on how you define history, there isn’t a great amount of reportage I can use as traces of the past but I will do my best nonetheless.
To conclude, I decided to abandon all attempts to improve on Chess in Bedfordshire as I don’t have enough material and don’t feel capable of it, The smaller project of a history of chess in Luton is what it will be. Perhaps, just perhaps, I do enjoy writing about chess than actually playing it, in which case, the next few months should be productive…well hopefully so. I ought to remember to thank Humuyan (the organizer of Luton chess club( for putting good ideas in my head and wonder less why I couldn’t have thought about it myself.
Editor’s note: answer to that coming within the next 50 years -that’s a promise!
Webmaster’s note: going to live to 100 am I? You sure?
I shall sign off here, sometimes I just like to write.
Mark. J. McCready
BKK
Posted in On-line journal | Leave a Comment »
If you are ever taught by a GM, you will learn quickly that you should not make mistakes in the opening, well I was at least… .
…this game makes me smile because you don’t normally deliver checkmate barely out of the opening without even moving your queen…
…especially in the Italian game of all things but it does sometimes happen…
…enjoy…
MJM🙂
Posted in My Own Games | Leave a Comment »
| 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 | |
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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