Just a couple of small chess things to share in this post. It's such a beautiful day outside you know, and in London you're never sure when the next one of those will come along.
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First off: Alexey sends news of how to beat Fritz right out of the opening, via Chess Maniac: 1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Ng5 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. Qxg4!! You'll have to work out the rest for yourself - and this time using Fritz won't help, of course.
If only Kramnik had known . . .
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The BCM blog brings news of a rather unusual new venue for chess: The Vortex Jazz (and Blues) Club in Hackney. They're running "Chess Sessions" from 4-6pm on the Sundays of this April, starting tomorrow: "bring your own chess sets . . . Play who you want when you want! Player with most consecutive wins over the five afternoons scoops the trophy!" And promisingly: "Daniel King, chess grandmaster, games consultant, television presenter, freelance journalist and an award-winning author, will be at the April 1 gig. On 29 April he will be playing against 10 opponents simultaneously."
Although, there's no mention of how to sign up for the simul . . .
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Finally, my gentle reputation is apparently, and regretfully, spreading. One of my opponents on FICS took a look at the blog (which is linked to in my finger notes there) and then as part of our conversation after, there was this:
BillSykes tells you: thometimes when we see films like Lock Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels we forget that England is aland of gentelmens :)
Gentlemen, us? But I want to be a chess thug . . .
9 comments:
Well I don't know about you lot but I'm gentleman at all times (lock, stock and 2 smoking barrels or not).
I wear my bowler hat 24 hours a day - even in the shower.
I recall that during the 1978 match Baturinsky accused Ray Keene of having lost the characteristics of an English gentleman. He might have been a KGB man, Baturinsky, but he was pretty acute.
I'm not so acute that I can find a win in the Fritz variation. I can see a repetition: 7.Bf7 Kd7 8.Be6 Kc7 [Black thinks itself better at this stage and therefore declines this repetition] 9.Bg4 Qe8 10.Ne6 Kc6 11.Nc3 Qg6 12.Nd8 Kc7 13.Ne6 and now Black accepts the draw. But whether Black will allow White to get more with (say) 11.Bf5, I don't know.
Let's all turn up at the Jazz venue with our chessboards and demonstrate our thuggery! (Who do they think they are, taking the micky out of chess players?)
Angus.
Yeah! Let's chuck our boards about the place like ninja stars! Except, mine's a plastic roll-up one . . .
Are they taking the micky? I suspect Sunday afternoons must just be a low point for them. Bring your own board is kind of ludicrous, as is the set up itself. Still, having Danny King on board is a plus.
Bring your own board is kind of ludicrous
Normal in the US.
You mean in general, not just at jazz clubs? How peculiar.
In a nation known for it's hooligans at soccer, er, I mean, football matches, I would have thought you English would welcome a kind word about your gentility - Benny Hill, Charles Cromwell, royal beheading and the Tower notwithstanding!
Wouldn't such kindness currently be better directed to the Italians?
j'adoube:
hooliganism at football matches is very old hat these days. Hardly ever happens now - well infinitely less than it used to anyway.
TOM:
I think that in American tournaments it is traditional for one player to bring the board and the other to bring the pieces. I certainly read that somewhere once but I've never played in a tournament there so I can't swear to it from personal experience.
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