Chiv Chat

Carpets, pregnancy, a cartoon, the collected works of Ray Keene, the TV hit Lost, literature - all that and a tiny bit more features in today's Chiv Chat.

• First, Dilbert. Ah, Dilbert. How you perk up the lives of daily office dwellers like myself with your droll, cynical humour. What possible excuse though could I find to share you with readers of our chess blog?
  
  
Just one brief mention of chess in passing. That'll do it.


• Readers may recall that a while back my fellow blogger ejh queried just how many books Ray Keene has written. Soon after Ray Keene emailed me a bibliography based on his own collection, which I have now published here. Thanks to Ray for that, and apologies for the delay. As to why they aren't all in the British Library - Ray adds in some cases this was due to their being published abroad, in others perhaps simply because the publisher didn't get around to it.
  
  
• Here's a question. Should chess blogger Elizabeth Vicary have a baby? Vote (!) and comment at her blog.
  
  
• Evening courses abound everywhere in London. Why then aren't there more for chess? Any, even? A basic course for beginners, a refresher for those returning to the game - I'm sure such things could run regularly. But: what made Chivers think of this, you may well be asking. And the answer: learning about an evening course called "Enjoying Carpets". Enjoying Carpets, that's right. If you enjoy carpets, then imagine how exciting you'd find chess.
  
  
• Fan of Lost? The advert for the new series has a chess theme. You can watch it here.
  
  
• What about the Nabokov novel The Defence, a.k.a. The Luzhin Defense? I found it a rather uninspiring read myself - but I like this cover designed by John Gall far more:
  
  


• On the subject of literature, ever wondered what would happen if famous novels came alive as . . . chess players? Me neither, but Cabinet Magazine has - and they've invented a computer programme to work out who would win if they played each other. You yourself can pit novel against novel here. Is this the most futile idea ever to have graced the internet? It makes me want to turn off my PC entirely, and quietly head off on my own to enjoy a carpet or two.