Mr Keene's increasing involvement with the ECF

[Roger de Coverly]

you might want to join me in contemplating the type of captain Mr Keene might be.

Didn't David Norwood once write that his role as captain included organising pizzas? I'm sure arranging food and wine would be entirely to the taste of the Times Correspondent.

[Carl Hibbard]

Whoops I jumped the gun and deleted a duplicate post the same time as the original poster did a tidyup

Sorry

[Paul Cooksey]

Whoops I jumped the gun and deleted a duplicate post the same time as the original poster did a tidyup

Sorry

If you find yourself in the next instalment of Mr Toad's Diary, don't come running to us

[Carl Hibbard]

Whoops I jumped the gun and deleted a duplicate post the same time as the original poster did a tidyup

Sorry

If you find yourself in the next instalment of Mr Toad's Diary, don't come running to us

I deleted a double post of Jonathan Bryant the same time as he made the correction, so whoops I have banned myself until tomorrow morning

[Jonathan Bryant]

I was just pointing out that as far as Olympiad records go, RDK's is rather decent.

Thrice playing through whole events unbeaten
IM norm at Siegen in 1970
GM norm at Nice in 1974
GM norm at Haifa in 1976.


If circumstances were different, Ray would make a pretty good Olympiad captain, I think.

[John McKenna]

Did Ray lead the way? England's placing in those Olympiads went from 25th in 1970 (17th '72, 10th '74) to 3rd in 1976.

[Alan Walton]

In 1970 and 1972 Hartson seems to be the better performer, Keene performance in 1974 was 2556 (was that a GM norm then?), in 1976 the whole team performed well, especially Miles who got a 2650 performance on board 1

After 1976 Keene only played a handful of games with no victories, from 1980 onwards the younger generation dominated the team

[Matt Mackenzie]

And the shenanigans surrounding the 1974 event surely don't need repeating, do they??

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Whatever you may think of Keene as a person, he was a tremendous chess player in the 1970s. Check out this game from 1975 against Miles:
[Event "Hastings (England)"] [Date "1975.??.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Raymond Keene"] [Black "Anthony Miles"] [ECO "D42"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "51"] 1. Nf3 { Notes by Raymond Keene. } Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e3 e6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd3 cxd4 {Perhaps 7...Be7 is more accurate, maintaining the central tension.} 8. exd4 Be7 9. O-O O-O {One of the classical isolated queen's pawn positions, in which White's extra space and attacking chances compensate for the structural weakness.} 10. Re1 Nf6 {A solid alternative is 10...Bf6 11 Be4 etc.} 11. Bg5 {!? Fashionable was 11 a3, but the text is not bad. All White's pieces are coming out at great speed while Black still has problems completing his queenside development.} 11...Nb4 {The immediate 11...b6 deserves attention. Black's plan to dominate the blockade square d5 instantly is possibly too straightforward.} 12. Bb1 b6 {12...Bd7 is a more cautious treatment, planning a later development with ...Bc6.} 13. Ne5 Bb7 {It might look as if Black is over the worst but now a vicious attack appears almost out of nowhere.} 14. Re3 {!! A difficult and bold move. When I played it I already had to be sure that my kingside attacking chances would be sufficient compensation for my lack of queenside development and the clumsy position of my rook on the third rank. Strangely, a similar rook manoeuvre occurred in a game Filip - Pogats, played 14 years previously, but neither Miles nor I had any notion of this until I discovered the theoretical background after our game. Incidentally, the Filip game ended in a draw.} 14...g6 {To prevent 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 Bxh7+ Kxh7 17 Qh5+ and 18 Rh3.} 15. Rg3 {! It looks odd to aim the rook against a granite wall (g6) but the granite has faulty foundations. In contrast, the more natural 15 Rh3 achieves nothing.} 15...Rc8 {?! At the time the course I feared most was 15...Nc6! 16 Bh6 Qxd4! when Black breaks White's attack by sacrificing the exchange. In view of the lack of weaknesses in Black's position it would then be a distinctly uphill struggle for White to win. After the move played the solution became susceptible to precise tactical analysis.} 16. Bh6 Re8 17. a3 Nc6 {17...Nbd5 does not alter things significantly.} 18. Nxg6 {!} hxg6 19. Bxg6 {Apart from capturing the bishop Black has two other defences: a) 19...Bf8 20 Bc2+ Kh8 21 Bxf8 Rxf8 22 Qd2 Ng8 23 Rh3+ Kg7 24 Rh7+ (Fritz gives 24 Qf4) 24...Kf6 25 d5+-; b) 19...Bd6 20 Bxf7+ Kxf7 21 Rg7+ Kf8 22 Qf3+-. In this position Black is quite helpless, in spite of his extra material.} 19...fxg6 20. Qb1 {! An original square for the queen in a mating combination, but neither 20 Qd3 Ne5 nor 20 Qc2 Ne5! 21 dxe5 Ne4 (exploiting the pin on the c-file) would be good enough for White.} 20...Ne5 21. dxe5 Ne4 {Without the c-file pin this is sheer desperation.} 22. Nxe4 Kh7 23. Nf6+ Bxf6 24. Qxg6+ Kh8 25. Bg7+ Bxg7 26. Qxg7# 1-0

[Charlie Storey]

I think Grandmaster Ray Keene would make an excellent captain - he knows more about chess than any other chess Master I have encountered.
In fact I would go so far to say he is not just a visionary he is also a gentleman with the best interests of chess at heart.

I would even consider playing for him if he ever got the role and would happily play The Teradctyl.
Although to justify my place I may have to play a few GM tournaments in the summer so I can rocket past the current crop of Masters who haven't quite gor their heads around The Sniper yet!

[John Upham]

I would even consider playing for him if he ever got the role and would happily play The Teradctyl.

Both RDK and Lawrence Day referred to The Pterodactyl from time to time.

[Roger de Coverly]

And the shenanigans surrounding the 1974 event surely don't need repeating, do they??

Kingpin's account is on-line at
http://www.chess.co.uk/kingpin/Kingpin/raylevy.htm

The problem that both Keene & Hartston might have needed to play Andersson in the last round wasn't mentioned in contemporary reports. Chess for instance tabulated Keene's opponents and just commented that Hartston had an outside chance of a GM norm.

Olimpbase has the round by round scores
http://www.olimpbase.org/1974/1974eng.html

[Geoff Chandler]

So It was all a joke.

SG: 1 Termites: 0

Looking forward to more jokes.



Original picture by Frederic Friedel on Chessbase, I deleted the background
so it would match the colour of this thread.
That is the artist within me struggling to surface.

Hi Jon.

Agreed. Keeno was good at his peak. His 'How I Became a GM' is a good read.
Some good games in there.

I liked Keene, he's dropped a bit in my eyes over the Alex and Lara affair but
he won't lose any sleep over my opinion.

I reckon he would make a great team captain. Engalnd would win the Olympiad
of that I have no doubt with all the moves taking place off the board.

[Geoff Chandler]

I have made the Stevie G hall of fame.

So we don't have him boasting about his hits which seem very important to him.
I'll save you the bother of going there.

This appears in the middle of the BLOG.

"Now another of their number, one Geoff Chandler, has weighed in.
As far as I can establish from his various past offerings, Chandler seems to
regard himself as something of a Caissic Frankie Boyle.

He does, in truth, occasionally exhibit a modicum of Boyle's offensiveness,
but of the latter's wit there is, alas, no trace.

Chandler's latest contribution is a truly side-splitting one-liner about myself, based around a photo of me.

The photo was actually taken by Frederic Friedel of Chessbase, at Wijk aan Zee, a few years ago, but no reader of the
Egregious Forum would know that, because the picture is unattributed.

Given that Chandler does not have the courtesy to credit the picture to Friedel, I think we can discount the chances that the
cretinous Caledonian has actually sought or obtained permission to use it.

And whilst these acts of online piracy are taking place before their very eyes on the Egregious Forum, where are the fearless
moderators of the said piece of cyberspace, led by self-appointed Censor in Chief, Carl "Old Mother" Hibbard? etc etc etc..."

-----------------------------------------

"online piracy..."

"Image may be subject to copyright." is all I got when it I snatched it.

'may be' what does that mean?

Nowhwere does it say on the CB site anything is copyright.
I even typed 'copyright' in their site search engine. Nothing.
(cept a link to some bod wanting copyright for chess players games.)

The article from whence the pic came.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5150

Does not mention Frederic Friedel or his camera.

And as I am not using the image not to make a financial gain or indeed slander anyone.
And Stevie G often makes merry with a picture of a well known and respected contributor
to this forum.....

(No it's not funny...I'm still thinking of a punchline.)

I even tidied it up by removing the background. (brick walls.)
It made it look as if StevieG was standing outside a gents toilet.

It's the Internet. It's free.
There was no ownership banner under the original.
The picture is in the public domain.

Leave it up Carl. It's a joke.

If CB come calling then just say I did not know who to contact.
(true). and as you can see it is just a harmless piece of fun...
If you want I'll go and add Fred's name, but only if you want me to.

Now where was I?

"a Caissic Frankie Boyle."

I'm not a Frankie Boyle fan. I don't find him witty at all, just sick.

I'm a Laurel & Hardy man.
(....this is another fine mess I've got Carl into.)

"...the cretinous Caledonian..."

Wrong again honey.....I was born born in Bethnal Green.

Of course SG's just upset because he cannot think up a good punchline.

RDK to Termite.

"What is your favourite opening?"

"The Ruy Lopez." replies the termite, then adds. "What's yours?"

RDK: "Why thank you, I'll have a double brandy!"

CJ to termite:

"What is that King's Pawn Opening where White plays 3.d4."

Termite: "Scotch."

CJ: "Why thank you, I too will have a double."

[Ernie Lazenby]

Very Good.

Heres a possible entry for a future whose who;

Giddins, Steve
A believer in the power of ego, a radical thinker.
A believer in his ability to comment on all subjects known to man and convince lesser mortals he was always right.
A believer in his great ability at chess, evidence for such a believe known only to himself. Famous published games as played by him absent from any relevant chess literature.
Proud owner of a very high pedestal which he sat upon to pass judgement on lesser mortals.
Owner of a blog with which he used to demostrate his ego.

Fav. Hobby. Ridiculing lesser mortals in particular those who dared to offer an opinion counter to his own.Resorting to highly personal attacks when he was unable to find a constructive intelligent word or two to make a point.

Fav. Purchase. A ready supply of kleenex tissues needed for the orgasmic climax achieved from the flow of his acerbic pen.

Pet hate. People not reading his blog.

Known friends- further information needed.