Selected content considered more relevant to he who types these words can be found below. Furthermore, though unnecessary, content most recently re-read from the world’s most educated Grandmaster, or not far off it, posted below. There to be savoured and also learned from.
Posted in My own endeavours, On-line journal, Personal Interest & Experience | Leave a Comment »
Why are some tournaments more popular than others and what constitutes the main reasons why chess players chose one instead of another? The main three are, I think, money, location and reputation.
The BCC Open is a well run and well-respected tournament globally, and has been for 15-20 years. Despite the cost of entry being high, and the 5 star hotel it’s housed in not exactly cheap, some thirty or more titled players have signed up alredy; fourteen of them being GMs and one a WGM, more are expected to follow: in total one hundred and sixty have entered the open, with just under six weeks to go until it commences…perhaps another fifty or more will sign up in time. It is the apogee of the Thai chess scene, which is indeed booming in the capital more so than elsewhere. Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra visited it once when the women’s world champion at the time Hou Yifan rolled into town.
It’s appeal lies, primarily, in it’s destination, since Thailand is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the planet, so many like to come, play some chess and have a bit of a holiday too! It’s reputation is renowned, former BCC champion Jan Gustafsson, once a second to Magnus Carlsen, invited him to join him once during live streaming, to which Carlsen politely smiled and did not take too seriously. The torunament has a lot of respect at all levels of the game, and GM Nigel Short has written many articles on it in New in Chess, at least one of which was a brilliant advert for the tournament. It has not yet lost its popularity or prestige. I used to be the official photographer until I kinda dropped out of tournament chess.
Should you fancy a chess filled holiday in the sun in a city with so much to offer, and the opportunity to make new friends, what have you got to lose? It’s by far the best tournament in south east asia, with it’s cosmopolitan competitors making it one of the best in Asia also. It’s better understood as a global event than a local or asian event, as they often desribed as national tournaments, not welcoming to foreigners just accepting only, and are often overlooked or receive little reportage. Yes they also have an open section but its not open in the full sense of the word like it is at the BCC, it’s about right to describe most major open chess tournaments in Asia as a little closed off and unestablished globally. There are of course major closed tourments in China going on byt they are for professional players only. The BCC is an open tournament in every sense of the word with numerous, perhaps even copius, nations being represented. It’s a truly global event. Given how low the prize money is, this is something to be proud of.
It’s a wonderful celebration of chess and enjoyed by so many, some of which are regulars and have been for a decade or more. It so rarely, if ever, receives complaints of any kind and exemplifies more so than anything else how chess is booming in Bangkok as there will be lots of Thai kids there of all ages, believe me. And by lots, I estimate 50 or so, maybe more but I doubt it. And believe me, they are good. It’s going on in all the international schools here now, the generation coming through will be very strong, I said at the chess club last week, Thailand will probably get it’s first Grandmaster from one of them, they already have an IM.
Thai people are lovely, Bangkok is great with lots to do and see, the atmosphere in the tournament professional. It’s not just liked or popular, it’s well-liked and super-popular, despite numbers still being down post Covid.
To end on a personal note: the last game I played there my opponent was ELO 1999 or ELO 1996, not entirely sure. I beat him with the French defence but now he’s about 2500!
It ticks all the boxes, so why not give it a go… .
Mark. J. McCready
Posted in Chess in Thailand | Leave a Comment »
Mark. J. McCready
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000, History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 21st century | Leave a Comment »
Two days before this post was penned, our tenth world champion, none other than Boris Spassky, sadly passed away, aged 88.
A well-written obituary on him can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/feb/28/boris-spassky-obituary
All my favourite players are Soviet players and I do so wish he had beaten Fischer in 72. Regarding the Soviets; Karpov being my favourite outright, Spassky being second favourite. He was a great character and full of life, there are many funny anecdotes about him. He once offered Kasparov some amusing advice, which I am happy to show here.
An anecdote of Spassky’s appearance at the 1984 Thessanoliki Olympiad:
| In a bus, on the way to the games, Boris Spassky was introduced by a friend to one of the anonymous Olympians. When they were about to part, Spassky’s friend told the Olympian not to wash his right hand in order to keep some of Spassky’s power for his game. As a result, the chessplayer won his next game in good style. He immediately came to Boris’ friend to tell him that his advice was absolutely correct. Now he will not wash his right hand until the end of the Olympiad. This happened in the first rounds of the Olympiad. We believe from that moment Boris Spassky was busy shaking hands with other chessplayers! |
https://olimpbase.org/1984/1984in.html#trivia
Whilst still at school I remember his account of the reasons for his divorce to his first wife Larissa also amusing. In referring to her he said ‘we were like bishops of the opposite colour.’ This can be located in Mike Fox and Richard James’s The Complete Chess Addict, a read highly recommended, and found online easily enough also. Sadly, I never had the chance to meet Spassky or go watch him play… .
Here are two games of his I admired in younger years:
A larger than life character who, by the way, always confessed he was not a communist but was nonetheless treated well by his government and granted the status of emigrée. When I was young I always thought he seemed the happiest of all the Soviet champions.
R.I.P Boris and thank you for all your wonderful games and evervescent love of chess.
Mark. J. McCready
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The very best in terms of looks and charisma are all there…
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I can’t say I agree with the methodology, it’s very poorly researched, and the conclusions are, consequentially, rather ridiculous… .
Mark. J. McCready
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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 Games, On-line journal | Leave a Comment »
When was the north/south divide removed from league chess, enabling a change of name and our league becoming the Bedfordshire Chess League? See below.
They were accepted, in 1952 it became The Bedfordshire Chess League. See below.
Mark. J. McCready
Posted in History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1940-1960 | 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 endeavours, My Own Games, On-line journal | Leave a Comment »
I don’t like irrational moves or positions. Hence the change.
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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.
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