Media comments on chess

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John Swain
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by John Swain » Fri Oct 04, 2019 10:13 am

The Times has an article on p.12 "Chess players make more mistakes when air is polluted":

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/clea ... -98x2cm3g2

I have another excuse to deploy the next time I blunder!

Andy Stoker
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Andy Stoker » Fri Oct 11, 2019 8:45 am

Letter to November "Prospect" p9
"3D Chess.
As a Europhile frustrated by Labour's equivocation on Brexit, Len McCluskey always seemed part of the problem. I'm grateful your profile ... highlighted his complexity and pragmatism, making internecine struggles more relatable.
I'm particularly heartened by McCluskey's passion for chess, where awareness of the whole position and the opponent's right to think differently is essential. At the same time, chess is sublimated warfare, premised on picking a side and trying to win. The best players know when to be resolute. Labour should back Remain.
(signed) Jonathan Rowson, chess grandmaster and author of "The moves that matter" "

[infelicitous construction of the first sentence but meaning clear]

Andy Stoker
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Andy Stoker » Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:20 am

From "In fact" in "Prospect" p8
"A chess player can burn up to 6,000 calories a day playing in a tournament, three times what an average person consumes in a day" - source given as ESPN 13th September, 2019.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Fri Oct 11, 2019 4:14 pm

Andy Stoker wrote:
Fri Oct 11, 2019 8:45 am
Letter to November "Prospect" p9
"3D Chess.
As a Europhile frustrated by Labour's equivocation on Brexit, Len McCluskey always seemed part of the problem. I'm grateful your profile ... highlighted his complexity and pragmatism, making internecine struggles more relatable.
I'm particularly heartened by McCluskey's passion for chess, where awareness of the whole position and the opponent's right to think differently is essential. At the same time, chess is sublimated warfare, premised on picking a side and trying to win. The best players know when to be resolute. Labour should back Remain.
(signed) Jonathan Rowson, chess grandmaster and author of "The moves that matter" "

[infelicitous construction of the first sentence but meaning clear]
Now there's someone I didn't know was a chess fan (McCluskey, not Rowson!)
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Oct 11, 2019 4:47 pm

Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Fri Oct 11, 2019 4:14 pm

Now there's someone I didn't know was a chess fan (McCluskey, not Rowson!)
Previously in Prospect
After failing the 11-plus, but passing the “second chance” 13-plus, McCluskey went to the city’s Cardinal Godfrey School, where the headmaster was a “psychopath” who “used to run round with a cane which was almost as big as he was, just lashing out like Errol Flynn at people.” He learned to play chess—still a passion—and in the sixth form became a “proficient poker player.”
On the coffee table was one of two chess sets he keeps in the office, the pieces seemingly in mid-game
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:07 pm

"I'm particularly heartened by McCluskey's passion for chess"

A good candidate to be an ECF Supporter with his 140000 a year salary.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:36 am

Tony Connelly is a good commentator on Brexit, but he insists on using both gambit and endgame in the same context:
It could be consigned to the annals as a worthy but doomed gambit...Johnson himself is in a much more volatile and toxic endgame.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

NickFaulks
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by NickFaulks » Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:56 am

The latest Private Eye has just dropped through my letterbox. Half of p9 is devoted to a certain belated departure from The Spectator.

edit - Justin gets an honourable mention.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.

Mark Ashley
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Mark Ashley » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:16 am

Saw a message on twitter from James O'Brien, a presenter on LBC radio where he said he met Kasparov last night. No further details.

https://twitter.com/mrjamesob/status/11 ... 03331?s=20

Anyone know if he has an interest in chess?

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:35 pm

NickFaulks wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:56 am
The latest Private Eye has just dropped through my letterbox. Half of p9 is devoted to a certain belated departure from The Spectator.

edit - Justin gets an honourable mention.
Ta
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:48 pm

"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Stewart Reuben » Thu Oct 17, 2019 12:25 pm

A very attractive photo in Thursday's Daily Telegraph on page 14.
It shows two girls playing in the ECF Junior Female Championships in Blenheim Palace.

Reg Clucas
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Reg Clucas » Thu Oct 17, 2019 1:35 pm

Andy Stoker wrote:
Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:20 am
From "In fact" in "Prospect" p8
"A chess player can burn up to 6,000 calories a day playing in a tournament, three times what an average person consumes in a day" - source given as ESPN 13th September, 2019.
Interesting. Our club has recently been ousted from our playing room and relegated to a back room, because a Slimmers' club has outbid us for use of the front room. Could be a good source of new members!

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Thu Oct 17, 2019 1:41 pm

Stewart Reuben wrote:
Thu Oct 17, 2019 12:25 pm
A very attractive photo in Thursday's Daily Telegraph on page 14.
It shows two girls playing in the ECF Junior Female Championships in Blenheim Palace.
Not quite sure what point you're trying to make here
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Oct 17, 2019 2:26 pm

Andy Stoker wrote:
Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:20 am
From "In fact" in "Prospect" p8
"A chess player can burn up to 6,000 calories a day playing in a tournament, three times what an average person consumes in a day" - source given as ESPN 13th September, 2019.
Dominic Lawson used it as the basis for one of his opinion pieces in the Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/arti ... ories.html

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