The anti-transparency organization FIDE, who just happen to be the governing body of chess also, have once more confirmed how out of touch they are with reality at the current Baku Olympiad with yet another draconian ruling which is ‘absurd, humiliating, unworkable’, so it has been claimed. Some of the world’s leading players have signed a petition to have it removed, the ruling in question is as follows:
Players of every match MUST inform their Match Arbiter when they leave the playing area in order to go to the toilet, to the bar or to the smoking area. They are not allowed to leave the playing venue while their game is still in progress. The Captains are not allowed to leave the playing venue either while their Match is still in progress. If they want to be replaced by another person, they have to inform the Match Arbiter in writing. The replacement will be allowed only once per round.
Further background info can be found here, I have to say all this reminds me of when I was at school and had to ask for permission to do a wee-wee or poo-poo:
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/olympiad-protest-at-anti-cheating-toilet-rule
Whether or not any player or group of players can influence this particular FIDE policy is yet to be seen but a twitterstorm is brewing:
Posted in Life beyond the chess board | Tagged wee wee chess | 2 Comments »
Poor old Enamul Hossain from beleaguered Bangladesh, forced to play for his country and defend its honour against world champion Magnus Carlsen. It is the second round of the 2016 olympiad, and after 16 moves the following position has been reached.
Both commentators pointed out that even though black is not material down the position is completely lost! Black has given world champion Carlsen a free hand on the kingside, thus resignation is not far off. The game is here below.
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/42nd-chess-olympiad-baku-2016-open/2/39/1
Posted in Life beyond the chess board | Leave a Comment »
As you may know “Texas hold em” Poker is currently the world’s most poplar game by quite some distance. I’ve often thought the expression ‘putting a player on tilt’, heard so often in Poker coverage is applicable to chess also. In the following game at the Abu Dhabi Open, a tournament which has come a long way since I last entered it, GM V. Fedoseev (2670) begun with the black pieces in the most provocative fashion against England’s D. Eggleston (2384).
The position after 1.e4 Nf6 2. e5 Ng8?!
I think black’s plan is to unsettle his lower rated opponent with dubious moves. A risky strategy but the great tragedy here is that black succeeds with his initial plan and then goes on to win in less than 30 moves!
You can find the game here below. I am informed that the variation at hand (2. … Ng8) is called The Brooklyn Variation. You may note that white’s idea of Qb5 is not correct – I suspect he was ‘on tilt’ at the time.
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/abu-dhabi-2016/1/1/4
Posted in Life beyond the chess board | Leave a Comment »
I’m going back to the hallowed antiquity of spring 2008 in the home counties; it’s a typically quiet Sunday morning, with a cold, light breeze that carries the country air. You told the wife you’re ‘just poppin’ out ta fix the motor’ but you can’t fix it, and without an escape into the country, the emptiness of the afternoon ahead is suddenly overwhelming. Without your wheels you wander off to the ‘the local boozer’, get hammered and stagger home before midday. Did someone put this chess-song on the jukebox down ‘the local boozer’…it doesn’t matter as you’ve congratulated yourself on finding something to do already… .
Credit goes to Justin Horton for reminding me of the Half-Man Half-Biscuit track… .
Posted in My own warped humour, Personal Interest & Experience | Leave a Comment »
Searching for a new home, Luton Chess Club, whilst eagerly awaiting permission from Bedfordshire University to relocate there, have acquired a second option at a venue ‘just outside the town’ I was informed by e-mail. The Bedfordshire Chess Association, keen to know whether Luton Chess Club will participate in the forthcoming season or not has quickly rejected it, stating the following:
‘Dear Luton Chess Club Secretary, Mr I. Adjust,
Regarding your applications to relocate, pictures of the venue alone is insufficient. At the very least, we require a physical address and directions in order to assist visiting teams, and I might add, the proposed second location looks a bit further away than ‘just outside the town’ as you put it -we are not in agreement at all!
Note that travel to a venue is limited to vehicles belonging to team members and does not usually involve spacecraft from third party sources. We are most displeased with the effrontery of your proposal for an, albeit potential, second venue given how incredulously close to collapse the club is. Please reconsider with greater sensibility.
Mr. J. Doube,
Bedfordshire Chess Association.
The images submitted by the Luton Chess Club over its ‘just outside the town’ second option, can be found below.
The first option
The second option
View from the first second option venue
‘Just outside Luton’
Posted in Luton Chess Club, My own warped humour | Tagged Luton Chess Club | Leave a Comment »
See below for how not to make a promo video:
Having spent nearly two years in Baku, I strongly suspect those participating in the vid know little about the place (the locals excluded of course!). No comments on the multitudinous rumours abound that the vid was scripted, that many of the GMs were coerced, were held at gunpoint during the filming, that the budget of 10 pence was not exceeded. (that’s £ 0.10 to non-Brits).
Posted in Life beyond the chess board | Tagged chess baku olympiad | Leave a Comment »
Who is better and why? Hot Tip: the white pieces are handled by a certain endgame expert named Mr. J. Capablanca
Posted in Life beyond the chess board | Leave a Comment »
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A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
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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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