Closing Gambit

October 27, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

Closing Gambit is a contemporary, well-produced, and coveted documentary. It’s entertaining, informative and fascinating throughout. There are many ways in which events can be retold, and this documentary does a fine job of doing just that. It’s usually not free on Youtube but I have found a free version and linked it here.

There are comments that are, in my opinion, contentious but I don’t wish to go into that here. However, I do want to offer up a fuller account of Soviet chess then the one offered in the documentary. You can find that below. Generally speaking, it is better to go to academic historians than chess players with regards to the history of Soviet chess, as Dr. Eales clearly states here with his broader account of the subject matter which is in itself based on discourse. A good introduction.

https://mccreadyandchess.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/the-soviet-phenomenon-by-dr-richard-eales/

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Kasparov talks

October 22, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

An entertaining and informative Kasparov can be found here. And if you’ve ever read his book ‘How life imitates chess’, you will hear some well-rehearsed, familiar content. It’s worth a watch, he can be a great orator at times.

MJM

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Do we have a worse title than this?

October 21, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

Let’s hope not!

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Bogo-Indian?

October 6, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

MJM

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A fractured reminder

October 6, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

Don’t ask me how but one of the two games I played for Luton whilst in recovery from my main accident, where I fractured my skull alongside a great very many other vicissitudes has been found, and here it is. I do remember the game, and do remember delivering mate.

And in case you can’t read it, here it is:

Mark.J.McCready

Shamal Mohammed

24/11/16 OU v Kents/Luton

  1. e4 e6
  2. d4 d5
  3. Nd2 c5
  4. ce Nc6
  5. Nf3 Qb6 This is an antiquated move which I played because I forgot the theory. Qb6 was premature, the queen should never be moved so early in the French Defence.
  6. exd5 cxd5
  7. Nb3 Bg4
  8. dxc5 Bxc5
  9. Nxc5 Qxc5
  10. Be3 Qd6
  11. Be2 Nf6
  12. 0-0 0-0
  13. Nd4 Bxe2
  14. Qxe2 Nxd4
  15. Bxd4 Rfe8 This is precisely what I aimed for. Mostly inspired by Capablanca in my youth who blockaded an IQP with a bishop in one of his famous games. Normally this is done with the knight and not the bishop.
  16. Qb5 Ng4 I found black’s last move to be strange, the cheap threat is very easily countered.
  17. g3 Qh6
  18. h4 Qh5 Black needs more pieces in attack to make this work. There is no threat here.
  19. Rae1 f6. I understood it but thought it was not the best move in the position.
  20. c4 Ne5
  21. Qxd5 Kh8
  22. Bxe5 Rxe5
  23. Rxe5 Qxe5
  24. Qxb7 Rb8
  25. Qxa7 Qxb2 It was better to take with the rook I thought and was surprised by this.
  26. c5 Rc8
  27. Qa6 Rg8 After this was played I knew I would win.
  28. c6 g5
  29. c7 Qc3
  30. hxg5 fxg5
  31. Qd6 h5 The fatal blunder.
  32. Qh6 mate. Believe it or not it took a second or two to register but then I had not long been out of hospital from a head injury and was not yet fully functional.

MJM

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Welcome to the third floor

October 6, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

The big question on everyone’s lips in the chess world these days is ‘What can chess players get from glue sniffers’ right?

To answer this, let’s look at the first line in the chorus of the song 3rd floor by the American thrash outfit Death Angel. ‘Welcome to the third floor, it’s a one-way trip then they lock the door’.

Take a look at this fellow:

Further discussion of this (I am an amused contributor) can be found here:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1308309-glue-sniffing-homeless-man-falls-from-third-floor-of-building-and-breaks-his-arm-in-pattaya/#comment-18394741

I asked there, which is the best floor in a hotel to sniff glue on, similarly, which floor of a building is the best floor to play chess on? To some degree this depends on whether you want to sniff some glue whilst playing and how high you want to go. Unfortunately FIDE has not presented us with any statistics on what percentage of chess players are glue sniffers, although the word on the street is approximately 70%. If true, then the safest floor must be the ground floor…not the third floor because (on the glue) it’s a one-way trip! If not true how high up do you want to be when you play chess? Top floor maybe? Whatever your answer may be, if you like to sniff glue whilst playing chess, I recommend you play chess on the ground floor!

MJM

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Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it’s Sven!

October 4, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen, more commonly known is Magnus Carlsen, and sometimes mistakenly thought of as the current world champion, plays with more daring in the opening than anyone else. In the past I have seen him win with Alekhine’s Defence and play 1.f4 against both GM Kramnik and GM Michael Adams -beating them both with it! Look at this from two days ago at the European Club Championships, Round 3.

His opponent is no pushover, so how can he justify this? I think his rationale is something like ‘I don’t need to gain an advantage in the opening, I can outplay you in the middle game or the endgame.’ Or perhaps it was ‘I am rated over 300 points above you, I can play whatever I like.’

Whatever it was, he won the game and here it is.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/european-club-cup-2023/3/2/1

And regarding why Sven insists on being called Magnus…well you tell me.

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An unimpressed Dracula

October 3, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

Where do cross-dressers go to play chess?

Trans-ylvania.

Yes, that’s all for now folks.

Mark

A drunken me and On, Winter 2017.

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The big smoke and the shy Lutonian

October 1, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

Deep in the darkest winter, when Covid came and ravaged the country, I was stuck indoors, unable to go out, unwilling to because it was so cold.

Under candlelight I played chess online for the team MK Phoenix, who participated in the London League, the 4NCL as it’s known.

But I grew up in little Bedfordshire, and there I played most of my chess. I knew of the London league back then because some of our league players played in it also, but only our very best. And so, I grew up weary of them, the prestige that league had, and never thought myself good enough to gain an invite for a team there.

But everything changed during lockdown and play in it online I did. I only played 5 games or so and scored 50%. Here is the final position from one of my games, the best of them I think.

Yes I am white and obviously I am winning. In the chat, my opponent said ‘well played’ at the end of the game. I never let him off the hook and held the initiative throughout.

Here is a link to the game itself. Division 7, round 4, you will need to scroll through the drop down menu.

https://www.4ncl.co.uk/replay/onlines3/round4.htm

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Rolling with the punches

September 28, 2023 by mccreadyandchess

Some time ago now, perhaps a decade or more, I was tasked with finding a better location for Bangkok Chess Club, which I did. The one I found was described as ‘perfect’, and so I was invited to the opening evening (which I declined for a reason I cannot quite remember).

More recently, I spent a month or so at Luton Chess Club and although there was a strong sense of relief that my club has a stable home now, in becoming used to playing chess in pubic houses -which is what Bangkok Chess Club does- playing chess in an empty university library left me feeling rather flat. It felt like I was playing chess in a morgue, and so most evenings I left to go home early even though the library closed at 10pm.

If a rather unappealing choice of location wasn’t bad enough, it is also the case that the chess club is at the whims of the University too. That means next week there is no chess club because the University staff are going on strike. So the chess club is shut next week, like it or lump it. Why are they going on strike? They aren’t being paid enough, and want more.

I can’t say I am overly impressed by how things stand regarding my home club but also accept that just having a home itself is a noticeable improvement on recent years despite there being more room for improvement. Let’s hope it attracts more members and finds somewhere to play with a bit of life in it some time soon.

Just how comedic is this strike? Not as comedic as that which I have linked I suspect.

Me and the little one 2014.

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