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.’
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.
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.
In returning home recently, and reacquainting myself with friends and former playing partners stretching back some 35 years and more, a few things stood out – one in particular.
I can’t say I am entirely comfortable as being seen as the ‘go-to guy’ with regards to the history of chess in Bedfordshire and Luton, but then no one else writes about either, so it’s understandable I suppose…if a little embarrassing.
On this site, you can can choose which category you browse through and quickly find documented evidence of the history of Luton Chess club, some of which is more than 150 years old already. We can agree, then, that I speak with some authority when I say that Luton chess club has faced upheaval and uncertainty many times before in its less than illustrious past. Much more recently, having no fixed playing venue and a pandemic putting the brakes on everything put the future of the club in serious doubt, difficulties compounded by the fact that I am most usually abroad and not unwilling but unable to take over the running of the club, as I have been asked many times over already.
Numbers dwindled to the point where we had to withdraw from the Bedfordshire league and almost folded the club -that’s how critical it became. That never happened and how much better things are now. With the patronage of the University of Bedfordshire in play the club has a premises to use and money for equipment too. There is, however, a caveat in play. And that is to fulfil obligations towards the university by opening the club up to the students who study there. What better way to do that than appear on Freshers Day for both the Luton and Bedford campuses and grab those just joining for a game or two, and giving them the info they need to join the club thereafter if they so fancy it! Don’t believe me? Well see the pics below of club members in action in both campuses and decide for yourself whether I am making it all up or not. (btw, etymologically speaking the term ‘campus’ means ‘field’ in Latin and is first attributed to the use of the field adjacent to the now named Princeton University in New Jersey, USA.)
Bedford’s Neil Hickmann -who when we last met over the board was quick to point out that he always lost when we played was quickly reminded that in the opening game of the 93/94 season he did actually defeat me with the From gambit -has brought out a publication entitled ‘Memorable games of British Chess’, reviewed here:
As I read, I stumbled across the following passage.
I am very happy to announce that someday very soon, I shall veer away from the content I have posted more recently -often to shock and challenge the conservatism rampant in chess – and focus more on research, which I like doing.
Mark. J. McCready, 03:01 am, Friday September 22nd 2023
Al-Fursan (Fursan means knight in English), Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
If you are thinking the title comes from a Nirvana song then you would be right but that’s not what the post is about. If you thought I am the only McCready in town playing chess then you would be wrong, and I can prove it.
If you click on the link below and scroll down, you can find an article written in 1940 in The New York Sun.
In England, the government has agreed to invest £500,000 in promoting chess for children. What this is likely to achieve I don’t know. Most likely not very much as throwing money at things doesn’t usually accomplish anything. Promoting chess-playing members of society who could work as a source of inspiration appears to be off the agenda.
…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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