Search found 707 matches

by John Clarke
Tue Mar 12, 2024 11:16 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Counties and clubs
Replies: 55
Views: 3477

Re: Counties and clubs

There is also the North Circular Chess League for teams near the A406. Yes. Interesting the way that one has evolved over the decades. When first started in the late fifties, it was pretty much a Middlesex affair, with clubs in Finchley, Southgate and Wood Green, among others. And Enfield was what ...
by John Clarke
Thu Mar 07, 2024 8:16 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: accepting gambits
Replies: 35
Views: 2428

Re: accepting gambits

It also fails if there's too many in the section, so that you never get to play the guy who wins it half a point ahead of you. Cases in point: the Under-160s at Islington 1972, and LARA 1975, both won by players with clean scores in front of several on 5.5/6.
by John Clarke
Thu Mar 07, 2024 11:32 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Media comments on chess
Replies: 5968
Views: 737480

Re: Media comments on chess

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2024 6:31 pm
I thought Kasparov was now a Croatian national.
Won't mean squat to Poots. Garry had better watch his back (and pour his own tea).
by John Clarke
Thu Mar 07, 2024 11:29 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: accepting gambits
Replies: 35
Views: 2428

Re: accepting gambits

Back to pieces: there's the Vienna Variation in the Queen's Gambit, which if Black is feeling reckless can go: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 dxc4 6.e4 c5 7.e5 cxd4 8.Qa4+ Nc6 9.O-O-O Bd7 10.Ne4 Be7 11.exf6 gxf6 12.Bh4 Rc8 13.Kb1 Na5 - but White should come out on top, I believe, if he f...
by John Clarke
Tue Feb 27, 2024 1:55 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Best Game by an English Player (the vote)
Replies: 80
Views: 3866

Re: Best Game by an English Player (the vote)

I know, I know .... we can't keep amending the list to include all our personal favourites, but a game which includes what Emanuel Lasker himself called "one of the best (or deepest) sacrifices in the history of chess" deserves at least an honourable mention. Abrahams-Spencer (Liverpool, 1930): http...
by John Clarke
Mon Feb 26, 2024 10:28 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Best Game by an English Player (the vote)
Replies: 80
Views: 3866

Re: Best Game by an English Player (the vote)

If we're taking literally the title of this thread, then nos 2 and 3 on Geoff's list are disqualified. William Evans (No 2) was Welsh by birth and upbringing, while McDonnell (No 3), as I've already remarked, was Irish.
by John Clarke
Sun Feb 25, 2024 8:40 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Chess Education Society
Replies: 21
Views: 3833

Re: Chess Education Society

Thanks for clearing all that up, Simon. It looks as though the magazine would have closed anyway before much longer: the financial difficulties simply accelerated the process. How did your search go elsewhere? I've tried myself from time to time, but managed to turn up very little on-line. Similarly...
by John Clarke
Sun Feb 25, 2024 8:22 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: The Best Game of Chess played by an English Player
Replies: 39
Views: 4393

Re: The Best Game of Chess played by an English Player

I was about to nominate the well-known LaBourdonnais-McDonnell game (1834), with the Q-sac on move 13 .... until I remembered that McDonnell was Irish.
by John Clarke
Tue Feb 13, 2024 11:05 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Opponents who "helpfully" write their name on your scoresheet
Replies: 32
Views: 2109

Re: Opponents who "helpfully" write their name on your scoresheet

I've had it done to me a time or two, and went through a very brief phase of doing it myself, before deciding it was all rather daft. Mildly irritating, but not worth getting too worked up about or seeking penalties. (Are these fellows really "being helpful", though, or is it perhaps some atavistic ...
by John Clarke
Sun Feb 11, 2024 7:06 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Trading Places
Replies: 7
Views: 1022

Re: Trading Places

Tim Spanton wrote:
Sun Feb 11, 2024 12:24 pm
Come on then - show us the card with you on it ...
There'd be some who'd say the nine of diamonds. :mrgreen: (Only kidding, Geoff.)
by John Clarke
Fri Feb 02, 2024 4:42 am
Forum: Deaths & Obituaries
Topic: Chris White
Replies: 1
Views: 725

Re: Chris White

Sorry to hear that. I remember Chris quite well (also his clubmates John(?) Murrell and Peter Harbott) from encountering Barking in the North Circular Chess League back in the 70s. Good players all, but rather disorganised at times when it came to getting their team to away matches. Chris was a dist...
by John Clarke
Fri Jan 26, 2024 9:36 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Media comments on chess
Replies: 5968
Views: 737480

Re: Media comments on chess

Gerard Killoran wrote:
Fri Jan 26, 2024 6:00 pm
Nothing about chess here... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Kent

...or pig-breeding
But following one of the links from the Wiki entry turns up a couple more of her pastimes: "writing comic verse and French polishing".
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23092161
by John Clarke
Tue Jan 23, 2024 6:58 pm
Forum: Not Chess!
Topic: ICL Pathway (Fujitsu) Curiosity
Replies: 25
Views: 3044

Re: ICL Pathway (Fujitsu) Curiosity

How do we know the next miscarriage of justice is not already brewing or has happened? Of course it is/has. It's in the DNA of modern-day business culture and those who operate within it. No commitment to providing quality goods or services. Swan into a job, grab your bonuses, loot your expense acc...
by John Clarke
Tue Jan 23, 2024 6:35 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Times cryptic chess clue
Replies: 314
Views: 44525

Re: Times cryptic chess clue

Oh, and what was the answer to the clue in Simon's Jan 4 post? I'd need crossers for that; I keep working out plausible answers, but they're all seven letters long. :x Hi John It was "stigmata". I've vowed to have a go at the Guardian one when I have a spare hour, but I do find switching setters di...
by John Clarke
Tue Jan 23, 2024 4:41 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Times cryptic chess clue
Replies: 314
Views: 44525

Re: Times cryptic chess clue

Finally got the blasted thing out, but it needed three sessions over two days, several look-ups to confirm tentative answers, and recourse to that Crosswordsolver site to nail 5d (I had one-third of it unaided, but the rest was beyond me). I share the view that "unique" is one adjective that should...