English Chess Forum

Matt Fletcher wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:21 pm

An odd tale in the Wall Street Journal and some seriously silly reporting

It was impressive that he was 11/11 on his "silly learning tasks" until he made the mistake of trying to learn chess!

This bit is good, though:

"He takes a one-hour walk every afternoon to clear his head. He writes out goals for the next day before he goes to bed. And then he sleeps for eight hours."

That would probably help a lot of people.

The real story here is that Carlsen agreed to play him.

Hmm. If I came up with a silly scheme... (the result would be the same, though).

It is Children In Need tonight. Has there been any chess-themed charity fund-raising lately?

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 17, 2017 11:20 pm

It was impressive that he was 11/11 on his "silly learning tasks" until he made the mistake of trying to learn chess!

You wonder whether he practised against club players, That might have alerted him to a problem that if you lose a piece to a simple tactic just past the opening, your approach as to "how to play" has some flaws.

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 18, 2017 9:21 am

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 17, 2017 11:20 pm

It was impressive that he was 11/11 on his "silly learning tasks" until he made the mistake of trying to learn chess!

You wonder whether he practised against club players, That might have alerted him to a problem that if you lose a piece to a simple tactic just past the opening, your approach as to "how to play" has some flaws.

The piece mentions that he played at Bryant Park:

WSJ wrote:Max played three matches that day. He lost all three.

His blog also notes that he played on chess.com - it's plausible that this could be him - with a blitz rating of 960...

Matt Fletcher wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 18, 2017 11:00 am

His blog also notes that he played on chess.com - it's plausible that this could be him - with a blitz rating of 960...

If this is one of his games, there's a long way to go.

1.Nc3 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 f6 4.e3 d5 5.e4 Nge7 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 Qxd5 8.b3 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 O-O 10.Bc4 Bxd2+ 11.Nxd2

"Besiktas-Porto has been a chess match for the first 70 minutes" according to one of the BT Sport pundits.

How to play chess from "The Wire"!

https://youtu.be/ztc7o0NzFrE

Commentator on today's Rugby League World Cup Final - "This is more a game of chess than draughts."

"This is more a game of chess than draughts."

Page 217. 'Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader', Portable Press, 2003.

"The board game Draughts used to be known as 'Chess for Ladies'."

I know in some countries Draughts is called 'Dames' but I've never heard it called chess for ladies.

It is rather odd that Draughts is called Checkers in the US. Thus I used to frequent The Chess & Checker Club of New York -better known as The Flea House.

Just enjoyed a malapropism in the snooker commentary: 'We've seen the full gambit of John Higgins' abilities...'

No doubt most of you know that The World Chess Championship is due to take place in London 9-28 November 2018.
The live coverage will be taken up by the FIDE organisation. But it will stil be possible for TV programmes to be broadcast afterwards, perhaps in a manner somewhat similar to the way it was done in 1986.
Such programmes will be very desirable for encouraging non-currently serious players. Coverage on the internet will be good, but who would bother with that, unless already seriousy committed to the game?
But how to persuade the peoplein charge of the schedule that the viewing figures will be adequate? By writing to the appropriate bodies direcctly in your own words. I have no faith in a petition. Anybody can be persuaded to sign those.

I don't know the contact details, preferaby my email, for the bodies concerned, mainly for terrestrial TV.

Stewart Reuben wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 05, 2017 4:35 pm

The live coverage will be taken up by the FIDE organisation.

That would be excellent news, but I fear it will be Agon.

That is wht I meant. It is possible Agon will learn from previous errors.

Stewart Reuben wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 05, 2017 5:03 pm

It is possible Agon will learn from previous errors.

What makes you think they believe they've made any?

Tania Sachdev was on BBC Asian Netowrk today (towards the end of this show).