Search found 326 matches

by George Szaszvari
Thu Aug 02, 2012 5:48 am
Forum: Not Chess!
Topic: The most ridiculous article ever published by the Guardian?
Replies: 58
Views: 11088

Re: The most ridiculous article ever published by the Guardi

Hi George, Was your flight to America on Concord? That lofty perspective on the world and its woes still embodies the highest European ideals, mixed with eastern Zen and western Easy Rid(er)ing... If I go on we'll soon be dubbed the forum's Flight of the Conchords. Hey, could ask Alfred E. Newman (...
by George Szaszvari
Mon Jul 30, 2012 9:11 am
Forum: Not Chess!
Topic: The most ridiculous article ever published by the Guardian?
Replies: 58
Views: 11088

Re: The most ridiculous article ever published by the Guardi

Welcome back, George. Did you once identify yourself a bit with Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim character in the book, I wonder? It would be interesting to hear what people think about re-reading books and articles years after they first did so. The results might be surprising. One of the ideas in Slaught...
by George Szaszvari
Sat Jul 28, 2012 7:20 am
Forum: Not Chess!
Topic: The most ridiculous article ever published by the Guardian?
Replies: 58
Views: 11088

Re: The most ridiculous article ever published by the Guardi

I would note that the majority of killings are carried out with weapons which are not guns 'Carried out' where? This statement is true only for the UK where, of course, access to guns is strictly controlled. So, in 2011-12, there were 550 murders in the UK, of which only 39 were by fire arms. For A...
by George Szaszvari
Tue May 29, 2012 9:16 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

The absence of Russian loanwords in the language of chess may be viewed in a positive way. In the spirit of international co-operation, we could formally adopt a Russian word. It could be selected by a suitable body (e.g. Russian Chess Federation) following a strict filtering process with the final...
by George Szaszvari
Sat May 26, 2012 7:35 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

priem (from Russian priyome, common in Russian chess lit.) used directly and generically in English to represent a typical technique/device/method. Has anyone come across it, I haven't. Soltis uses it in his book "What it Takes to Become a Chess Master". He says: "The Russians gave us a word - priy...
by George Szaszvari
Sat May 26, 2012 7:27 am
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

Hi George & Paul, John here - all we need is Ringo and we can form a quartet!? Paul emphasises the 'known knowns' and George warns of 'known (and unknown) unknowns'. John Foley asked an interesting question about a Russian chess legacy. Apart from a 'nomenklatura' (e.g. Alekhine, Bronstein... Lenin...
by George Szaszvari
Sat May 26, 2012 6:47 am
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

So, it is clear that this thread concerned Russian vocabulary. You accuse others wishing to deal with an interesting subject of showing off, because they happen to know a few Russian words, which you happen not to? Especially in the context of your having promoted a cockamamie theory that the Russi...
by George Szaszvari
Fri May 25, 2012 11:21 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

Paul McKeown wrote:
George Szaszvari wrote:even though our history books are often shaped more by our ignorance
Not sure about that. Reliable history makes clear what is known to be true and what is known to be false, according to reliably documented evidence, and what is conjecture.
Reliable history? :P
by George Szaszvari
Fri May 25, 2012 10:47 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

You might be showing off your own familiarity with Russian vocabulary and culture I thought we were having a conversation about Russian vocabulary. My bad. The context here is your "showing off"... but I guess you don't really do that, do you...my bad. KGB and Sputnik were very commonplace in talki...
by George Szaszvari
Thu May 24, 2012 11:00 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

Vodka is one that springs to mind immediately. It seems that chess and vodka were closely related in the Soviet Empire times. As a Soviet official remarked to Salo Flohr “ Under the communists, you either drank vodka or played chess. I don’t know which was worse – but no man could manage both...
by George Szaszvari
Thu May 24, 2012 10:55 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

... Chess arrived in Russia by 1150 according to Murray, iirc, and quoting Eales, "while Russian historians have claimed very early dates for the introduction of the game there (Savenkov in 1905 tried to push this back to the fifth or sixth century), confirmatory evidence is lacking before the twel...
by George Szaszvari
Thu May 24, 2012 10:31 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

Perhaps Russian doesn't lend itself to having loan words so readily accepted into English as happens with other European languages. That can't be right. Vodka is one that springs to mind immediately. Never mind bliny, apparatchik, zek, Bolshevik, Menshevik, Kolkhoz, babushka, Gulag, mammoth, pogrom...
by George Szaszvari
Thu May 24, 2012 6:28 am
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

Perhaps Russian doesn't lend itself to having loan words so readily accepted into English as happens with other European languages. That can't be right. Vodka is one that springs to mind immediately. Never mind bliny, apparatchik, zek, Bolshevik, Menshevik, Kolkhoz, babushka, Gulag, mammoth, pogrom...
by George Szaszvari
Wed May 23, 2012 6:10 am
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

For instance, was there not a period when Russians would look westwards to a German speaking university for higher education? Westwards, yes, but not just to German speaking universities (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), but also to those in France and Italy. For education in the school of life, rat...
by George Szaszvari
Tue May 22, 2012 10:06 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Russian legacy to chess
Replies: 88
Views: 15658

Re: Russian legacy to chess

Many chess-playing countries have contributed to chess language or terminology in some way - at least as we know it in English. We have chess expressions in French, Italian, Spanish, German, Arabic, Yiddish, Persian etc. However, as far as I am aware there appears to be very little which we have in...