It comes at the beginning with 10 contestants eager to score fastest, to qualify for a place in the show by putting the following in the correct order. Fastest finger question: put these in order from easy to difficult to play chess with.
A: Opening an email from the hospital confirming you are HIV+ 5 minutes before your match begins.
B: A massive hangover from an all night-drinking session.
C: Doing a huge line of cocaine just before the game, to perk you up from a 5-day bender.
D: Learning you have to default a board as a team member was just run over by a steamroller in the car park and killed instantly.
Answer order: C, B, D, A
If there is a tie for first, then a second fastest finger question will be asked. Place the answers in the order that Tal said were easy to difficult to play chess with.
A: cuts in the head after being bottled at an Olympiad.
B: a black eye after an altercation in a knocking shop.
C: a fat lip after an off-hand remark made towards Petrosian.
D: a thick ear after drunken debauchery was cut short by the handbag of an unimpressed tranny.
Answer order: B, A, C, D
Come on admit it, I do have a sense of humour do I not!
Posted in Who wants to be a millionaire chess special | Leave a Comment »
Firstly, I’d ask not to do that with myself as getting murdered is actually one of my pet hates! But do have a go at the quiz I have linked (note: non-English chess people may find it hard) Time expiration is only a month. There are twenty questions.
Mark. J. McCready
Room 7096, Intown Holiday Hotel
PattayaSaisong Soi 11
Pattaya
Posted in Chess, Life beyond the chess board, My own endeavours | Leave a Comment »
Could you spot a soviet chess player in a crowd? Well could you? You have one month to play and find out. Just click on the link, enter a nickname and off you go. The platform is Kahoot. The faster you answer a question, the higher your score becomes. It’s like a finger first type of game where speed is the vital component. There are 16 questions. Sadly, it can only remain active for one month, So you have until 10pm July 27th to give it a go.
Mark. J. McCready
Room 7113, Intown Holiday Hotel,
Pattata Saisong Soi 11
Pattaya
Posted in Life beyond the chess board | Leave a Comment »
‘The moon is red and bleeding, the sun is burned and black.’
I can’t begin to tell you how colourful and oftentimes chaotic my life has become, having been abroad for 22 years now, and visited some 36 countries along the way (many of which I worked in more than once). But the day when it is time to head home will one day come.
‘Time it waits for no man my future it is revealed. Time it waits for no man my fate is sealed.’
When that does happen, when I am a retiree of sorts, I will reach my rightful place. It’s only a matter of time before I become the Secretary of Luton Chess Club and also President of the Bedfordshire Chess Association.
‘If I cancel tomorrow the undead will thank me today.’
Administrative roles and obligations have been in place for the online versions of our club for some time now, the history of our country has been in my hands alone for many years, moreover in a bid to revive the club, much advertising will take place here. Moves are being played.
‘The demon in your mind will rape you in your bed at night.’
Lyrical encores aside, I am unflustered by what lies ahead and do not lie awake at night, erm…well singing Iron Maiden songs. The diagnosis is, I will live forever and am not ‘too evil’ to be the club secretary (when that day comes). More honest chaps might ask, since I won’t die young, can’t I run the thing from abroad…and perhaps I can.
Evil updates soon to follow…oh and lastly, do enjoy the song below (it has a chess reference).
Mark. J. McCready
11.15am, June 30th.
Room 7113, Intown Holiday Hotel,
Pattaya Saisong Soi 11
Pattaya
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Life beyond the chess board, Luton Chess Club, My own endeavours | Leave a Comment »
Pattaya Chess Club has been housed on the 4th Floor of the Central Dept. store on Beach Road Pattaya for a few years now. Ex-pats and locals often met there during the day for a quick game or two. When I can find out where it has moved to, I shall post further details of.
Mark. J. McCready,
10.19am June 30th
Pattaya
Posted in Chess in Thailand | Tagged chess pattaya | Leave a Comment »
In due course I will post information about Luton Chess Club. Sadly, it has fallen into disarray since the lockdown, with it remaining closed for long periods and then unable to field a team in the Bedfordshire Chess League, due mainly, to a lack of interest.
There are plans afoot to revive matters and soon I shall spell out the details. For a town its size, and university backing, Luton Chess Club should be in much better shape than what it is. Let us hope for a move in the right direction before the summer is out.
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Luton Chess Club | Leave a Comment »
In each of the last two years I have played over 1000 games on line. Naturally I played brilliantly throughout, except for when I was absolute rubbish or just downright diabolical. The moral of the story is ‘stay online, play online, lose online, go offline’.
Posted in Humour | Leave a Comment »
-
Recent Posts
Archives
…on what this site initially became…on what this site is now becoming…on what this site cannot become…
Categories
- Academia
- Bedfordshire Chess
- Chess
- Chess in Thailand
- Dear Ken
- Documentaries
- FIDE
- GM Rowson's thoughts
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1900-1920
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1920-1940
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1940-1960
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1960-1980
- History of Bedfordshire Chess from 1980-2000
- History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 19th century
- History of Bedfordshire Chess in the 21st century
- Humour
- Kasparyan
- Life beyond the chess board
- Luton Chess Club
- Meme
- Moves I could never play
- My daughter
- My own endeavours
- My Own Games
- My own warped humour
- On-line journal
- Personal Interest & Experience
- Postmodern History
- Quaint Chess History
- Reflections
- Reviews
- Selected on-line games
- Sources of inspiration
- Tournament Chess
- Trivia
- Viz inspired material
- Who wants to be a millionaire chess special
- World Championships Analytics
- X
Posts which McCready is mighty pleased with
Luton & The University of Bedfordshire Chess Club
Tuesdays from 7.30 pm, The Library, Ground Floor
Please go to:
https://www.lutonchessclub.com/Blog Stats
- 33,816 hits
-
Join 39 other subscribers
-
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
-
-
To add comments, please see the bell at the top of the page.
