I am very happy to say that I shall be visiting Luton Chess Club this summer. It’s my home club and has members I have been playing competitive chess with wince the 80s. I haven’t yet visited it in its new location, which I am told is impressive indeed. I’m also not sure how many members it has too. What has been gleaned from chat with friends is the club is growing and may well be able to re-enter the league next year. I have been asked to become the club president a few time but had to decline the offer since I am usually abroad, however, inevitably that will happen, its just a question of when.
As you might expect, lots of pics and videos to follow. I’ll try to have some of my games caught on film but only where I play well, so I should only have to film a few thousand of them!
More info to come in due course, most likely a visit to Bedford Chess Club is in order too!
‘Women, can’t live with them, can’t shoot them.’ Sean Penn, U-Turn
As a creature of habit I put no thought whatsoever into my visit to the chess club tonight. I go every week, so why should I? Why should I? I have a better question, how about you apply to life the things that chess teaches you like learning to think ahead before you make your next move. Then ask yourself ‘What might happen if I play out a trip to the chess club tonight?’
Of all the countries in S. E. Asia, I just so happen to be located in the sleaziest of them all; namely, Thailand. The capital is the main base of many I have around the world -and importantly it’s Thai new year at present. This means hundreds of thousands flock to the city centre to get blind drunk and have one huge water fight. Why did I not question whether it was a good idea to go into the city? I wish I knew. Was it nothing more than a preference to not stay at home all day long and to go out and do something instead? Why didn’t I tell myself that to stay at home is for the best sometimes? I just don’t know. I really don’t.
Hardly anyone showed up at the club but we rolled out a blitz tournament nonetheless. With the time limit at 3m 2s increment I under-performed as usual but that’s fine, I am quite used to it. But I went and let the whole evening be derailed by women, whilst in the chess club. What on earth possessed me to allow that you might wonder!
Firstly, I had some woman from New York state wanting to chat to me on Instagram, secondly I also had a former colleague wanting to hook up and bring two women along, one of which he made very clear was quite drunk, wanted to meet me and spend the night together, thirdly I had an ex-girlfriend sending me messages about how much she loves me whilst she was high on what the Americans call crystal meth.
Why could I not just see the night as a night of chess, ignore everything else, go home and go to bed? I just don’t know. So anyway, I met this fucking woman who wanted to sleep with me whilst I was dealing with my Vietnamese ex-girlfriend. My colleague was very drunk, she was too and so was her friend. Yes she liked me and made it clear we were to spend the night together but before that they wanted to party. It was now 11pm, so I started drinking too, so that we could enjoy the night together but with it being new year I wasn’t sure where to go after the English pub we were in closed. Festivities are supposed to stop at dusk but it never happens. The street I chose to go to was total carnage, the likes of which I have never witnessed. Rammed full of drunken idiots partying on like never before, in the street on the road in all the bars, it was everywhere, there was no escaping it. We were fucked and had to change location. What I thought would be a safer option was no better. The whole city centre was besieged by pissed up revellers, partying all day and all night. Acting like total fucking drunken idiots all the time, not knowing what they are doing or even why they are doing it. We got attacked en route numerous times thus completely drenched in water -and I got very pissed off indeed. Those with me could see I had become super-stressed, so when I said I was going home AND going home alone, there was no argument.
There was no argument but matters complicated further because the carnage was everywhere and I was trapped on the street I was on. Even though I had already said goodbye, I kept bumping into those I had spent the last few hours with -we were all trapped. The route I wanted to take out of the city I couldn’t because there was pure mayhem that way, so that meant a good 5km walk through more carnage to escape the area I was in. Taking a taxi out of the situation was impossible because they prey on tourists heavily downtown, and charge you extortionate fees to go anywhere, so I had to walk for kilometres just to get out of the tourist zone. All I could tell myself was ‘Mark, don’t hit anyone, please don’t hit anyone’ but I knew that was coming, I knew for sure. The second route I wanted out of the city was so blocked I knew it was a bad idea. I had to take a third route which involved skirting the Arab quarters, where thankfully no such partying continued. Yes it was a long walk but it turned out to be a wise decision. I knew all too well that about 3kms from the road I was on there was another major road parallel to it, one which led in the direction I needed to go in. I knew that tourists never go there so picking up a taxi would be easy, which it was. Sit in the air con drenched from head to toe I did, not relieved, not overjoyed, just very pissed off. I chose the wrong evening to socialize and start dating someone -and it came back on me big style.
Men and women are principally different and women are much smarter then men. Want to know why? Women only think with one part of their body; namely, their brain. But men think with two parts of their body. Yes their brain is one of them but also another part much lower down the body is used, and used with great frequency. But I don’t think with that part of my anatomy. I never have and I never will. Yes I love women because I love life per se but that’s as far as it goes. I don’t need to get laid. I did it more than enough times already thank you very much.
And so what should have been a quiet night of chess turned into a total fucking nightmare that I never want to happen in my life again. For the next two days the city is besieged with the same stupid shit. So I am staying at home and going nowhere until it’s returned to normal and everyone has stopped fucking about and acting like complete idiots. At times I fucking hate this place and with good reason. Never again will I go into the city to play chess during new year festivals -never again.
And the moral of the story is: ‘If you allow women to enter your life and have more than one, two or three on the go bear in mind that needs to be managed at all times and do not bow down to their wishes when festivities are at their worst because that is so often a recipe for disaster, as was the case tonight’.
That’s the sort of stupid rubbish I had to put up with tonight.Yes, you’ve guessed it -more stupid shit.Even more bollocks.
As you may, or may not, know. GM Jonathan Rowson is a former British champion, a very well-educated man and a great writer. This is well worth a watch.
Well, people get up to all sorts of things in this world of ours, and I should know -to say I’ve had a colourful life is quite an understatement. Anyway, just have a read of the following. I do sympathise, I must say.
“One is unable to notice something-because it is always before one’s eyes”
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus
Do you know what or who you are? Do you really?
Next question. Do you see yourself as a creature of habit? If so, can you explain why you play chess and when you choose to? Is it always borne out of desire or, perhaps, lack of a better idea on how to pass the time? Aren’t you able to abstain from bullshitting yourself then bottom out the question instead? Not easy is it? Or is it?
“Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.” Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value
Today chess exists in two main forms OTB chess (over the board) and online chess.
Online chess just got itself sacked from my life. I did that two months ago but it snuck back in. This time it’s sacked, sacked, sacked.
OTB chess. I have withdrawn from all tournament play and will only visit the chess club once a week -that is enough for me.
I am a philosopher, academically speaking, so by my very nature I have to question. I have to ask myself what do I want, how much do I want of it and why.
Once a week is quite enough, and that’s it. I focus on contentment and not improvement, that is what is pushing the agenda, and if that’s not enough, then everything must go…
“We are asleep. Our Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming.” Ludwig Wittgenstein
There is a tournament taking place in Pattaya next month. I have attached a photo with all the details. You could say the timing is somewhat questionable, and that its not an established tournament and so its rather unlikely that there will be a huge turn out. It would have helped if they had mentioned the fees for joining also but in the five minutes or so it took to knock that flyer up, it never entered their heads. And you might wonder if they can’t get basic things right like advertising and promoting, can they get organizing a tournament right, being 100 times harder. If you are desperate to play chess it may well be worth going otherwise it looks like a bit of a non-event.
…on what this site initially became…on what this site is now becoming…on what this site cannot become…
On what this site initially became…
…once upon a time, the chess-related musings of an adrift academic were bound playfully and electronically in this online journal of sorts. They grew and grew as the decade did too. I kept on because I love to write whether I had much to say or not; therefore, being read by others was usually of little or no importance, comparatively speaking. Content was based on personal thoughts and experience on various topics with no intended audience borne in mind. With topics broadening, my own take on things always shaped the narrative I constructed: I often thought I was insightful but never that I was right. Sometimes imagination gave rise to originality: and of that I have always remained proud. I often introduced humour, believing that I am funnier than I really am. Sometimes, I found my own style antithetical to the conservatism I believe chess is plagued by -oftentimes that has put a gracious smile on my face… .
On what this site is now becoming…
…this site is now becoming a collaboration of chess in Bedfordshire: much more so of the past than the present -that has become the dominant trend. I document the history of chess in Bedfordshire as much as I can, and as time has passed I have become more thorough and resourceful. However, I am not a trained historian as my background lies principally in philosophy but yes it is true I did study some modules on history as both an undergraduate and a post-graduate too; furthermore, I have trained myself up, particularly in terms of postmodern history. Since 2015, I have only read history and historiography as well as those philosophers who have been so influential on postmodern history, such as Nietzsche (whom I once wrote a 19,000 word dissertation on, entitled: Can the Will to Power be Found in The Birth of Tragedy?), also Richard Rorty and Foucault and I suppose certain structualists such as Claude Levi-Strauss too. Regarding postmodernism, mostly I keep to Hayden White, Keith Jenkins and Alan Muslow.
Some friends and former playing partners back home describe me as the ‘go to guy’ for the history of chess in Bedfordshire. This compliment says more about the lack of interest in the subject than my own endeavour. As mentioned, I am too adrift from academia to feel chuffed by it. Rather, I tend to lament that my historical research, like my chess, just isn’t what it should be. Even though I may well have a broad understanding of Bedfordshire chess history courtesy of the volume of research put into it, all of which began in 2014, this is not something I am particularly proud of. Nonetheless, out of courtesy compliments are graciously received. If the truth be told, I just see it as my job and only that – after all someone’s got to do it and no one else is that interested!
Amongst the many others, I have created three categories: ‘Bedfordshire Chess’ and ‘History of Bedfordshire Chess’ and ‘Luton Chess Club’. This website is slowly moving towards a consolidation of those (all of which can be found in one of the toolbars to the right).
On what this site cannot become…
…I like to be both creative and amusing when I can be, factor in that playfulness has been an ever-present factor, the content of this site should be thought of as multifarious. It could be said I continue to enjoy undermining the conservatism I believe chess is underpinned by even after all these years, and often try to use humour to do it still, believing I have got better at it. Consequently, despite the general direction its going in, this site cannot only be about Chess in Bedfordshire and nor will it be. It may become noted for that yes -in fact that’s been the case for years already even by established historians, archivists, and whoever else. External factors aside, this site is titled McCreadyandChess. I cannot, nor will I not, remove my own personal thoughts and experiences of chess from the posts of this site -especially if I think they are funny or original for they constitute my writing at its very, very best. In addition, the number of categories alone tells you that breadth of content is important to me. I am proud of my site, it is identity conferring and that is how it shall stay -end of story. All you really have are: ‘Some thoughts on the beautiful game’, which, incidentally, just happen to be my very own; nothing more, nothing less, take of it whatever you please… .
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.
Gallery
I’m either 10 or 11 here
1982, myself versus Brian from Sunderland.
At the Thai Junior chess championships. My daughter of course.
Pattaya 2011
2011
Thai Junior Championships
2008
2011
Around 2011
2011
Pattaya 2009
2011
Kuwait 2008
2012
2012
2011 BKK Chess club
2011
2011 Thai Open
2011 Thai Open
2013 approx
Around 2014
2010
2012
Around 2011
2011
2011
2013
Around 2011
Around 2011
2020
2011
2008
2011
2013 or thereabouts
2010
2017
2014?
2010
2024
2024
2024
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