[chess and games] March 8, 2006 at 7:12:00 PM CET

This is the thread where you take the quotes of wise men and women...and put "fuck" in them (1 matching message)

 
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[chess and games] September 11, 2005 at 8:44:00 PM CEST

Caissa is a witch

The Chess Mind by Dennis Monokroussos. Best chess blog around. I especially enjoyed the Evans Gambit post (giving material to gain space is an obsession of mine). ChessBase is ace to replay games. I haven't played a game of chess with a human for ages. On Friday I had an encounter with this program. It creates lines of thought which look like pop art paintings. The game never finished as the program stopped moving about three moves before it would have been mated. Like in the old times when those grandpas just kept on thinking and didn't move anymore when they were lost. One of the reasons why I stopped playing chess in chess clubs.

 
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[chess and games] October 31, 2003 at 12:07:57 AM CET

Either or

Tonight the questions. Tomorrow my answers. In between yours?

1 Cats or dogs? 2 The Stones or The Beatles? 3 Beer or wine? 4 The city or the countryside? 5 Tea or coffee? 5a Tea with milk or without? 5aa First the milk or first the tea? 5b Espresso with or without sugar? 5ba If with, one or more sugar cubes? 6 Shit or grass? 7 Wagner or Bach? 8 Football or ping-pong? 9 Truffaut or Hitchcock? 10 Adorno or Habermas? 11 Heinrich or Thomas Mann? 12 William Turner or Caspar David Friedrich? 13 Baguette or Pumpernickel?

 
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[chess and games] October 27, 2003 at 5:18:00 PM CET

Schachliteratur

Die Schachstellen bei Arno Schmidt (via ronsens). Sehr akribisch aufgespürt und profund kommentiert von Marius Fränzel.

 
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[chess and games] June 16, 2003 at 10:30:00 PM CEST

Dance of the kings

A chess problem (a composition which is not from a game). White mates in six moves. Secondary condition: White only moves the King. A useless hint: Black only moves the King too.

A good example of why I love chess. It is full of surprises. There is humour in chess. And beauty. The beauty of simplicity. As in maths actually.

I got the diagram from Chessmaster 6000 but I am not too happy with it. The green is annoying and the size is too big. Does any of my readers know of an online resource to create nice black and white diagrams out of chess positions?

P.S. Another hint. This problem is about elegance: The white King asks the black king for a dance. It will be their last dance. White's King will have a small snack during the dance and will step out of the line of fire at the right moment for the lethal end. There are two dances, you were right in your comment, Phil. One is to the left (including an opulent last meal) and the other one to the right (the abstinent option). That is politeness and style in a macabre way. Black's King has got the choice how to dance into his own grave: with a full belly or without.

 
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[chess and games] June 14, 2003 at 10:59:00 PM CEST

Chess diary

I just found a jewel of a weblog. It is on chess. Its name is Open chess diary and it is written by Tim Krabbé, a Dutchman who must be in his sixties or seventies. The posts are numbered, right now we are at #217 which dates from Monday and which is on the Duke of Brunswick who was neither extremely successful in chess nor in his profession as a Duke. But he apparently contributed to law. There are many diagrams and photos and extremely interesting posts on go, chess problems, combinations, everything related to chess.

Krabbé also used to be an active cyclist and wrote the book De Renner on a 140 km course in the Cevennes in 1978. The best chess site I have found up to now on the interweb. Recommended wholeheartedly to aficionados.

 
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[chess and games] June 11, 2003 at 7:28:00 PM CEST

Eight questions (including the answers) I asked myself today on the ergometer

Q1: Are there any comments made by Leonard Cohen at concerts, at interviews or in notes to Paper-thin Hotel (from the weird Leonard Cohen / Phil Spector coproduction Death of a Ladies' Man) on the website Diamonds in the Lines? A1: No.

Q2: Are there pictures of Suzanne Verdal who inspired Cohen's most famous song on the web? A2: Yes.

Q3: Are there any pictures of Suzanne Elrod (with whom Cohen had two kids) on the web? A3: Yes. Just look at the cover of Death of a Ladies' Man. It is the woman on the right. When Cohen writes about listening to a woman making love to someone else in Paper-thin Hotel it is probably her.

Q4: When does Cat Power play her Black Session chez Bernard Lenoir? A4: I fear she does not play at all. Lenoir's boss Michelle Soulier must have said no. Too much of a risk as a live act, she could run away. But there is Grandaddy on Monday, the 23rd of June.

Q5: What happened to Phil Spector after he had been arrested for murder recently? A5: He was bailed out for one million dollars. He has not been charged yet. Authorities say they are investigating. Spector says that the actress shot herself (source).

Q6: Hat le sofa blogger schon etwas über Friedman und Drogenmissbrauch geschrieben (die Nachricht kam gerade im Radio als ich den letzten künstlichen Berg erklimmt habe)? A6: Nein.

Q7: What is BBC's album of this week? A7: Stupid question. Obviously Radiohead's Hail to the Thief.

Q8: Did I write on the version of Howe Gelb's This Purple Child with Grandaddy on Hisser in my weblog yet? A8: No, I did not. I really should have. There is this horn section sample after 2:50 which sounds like an intruder from outer space in the balanced song. For the next two minutes I just wait for this extraterrestrian to come back. And it does.

P.S. Dieses Posting war natürlich hauptsächlich inspiriert von dieser Story. Irgendwie eine fatal attraction. Könnte man auch unter guilty pleasures einsortieren. Abstossung und Anziehung. Geschmacklosigkeiten und Selbstironien. Insgesamt immer noch mit Abstand das interessanteste deutschsprachige Weblog. Mit anderen Worten, ich bin wieder Abonnent, Peter, schreibst Du jetzt auch wieder mal was im Minima Moralia Gemeinschaftsweblog? Es ist dort im Moment erschreckend still. Und wer ist eigentlich "the frank"? Dein alter ego?

 
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[chess and games] December 2, 2002 at 7:57:07 PM CET

A game for clever anarchists

Rules of Card Games: Mao (via caterina.net)

 
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[chess and games] November 20, 2002 at 1:02:34 PM CET

What happened to Bobby?

My first chess entry in my new blog and it is only links. A shame. I wanted to write about the Kramnik - Deep Fritz match, especially about the game where Kramnik morphed into Tal but I will keep that for later.

It is Bobby Fischer then. Two interesting articles on a genius who turned mad. The Philadelphia Inquirer (via eier, erbsen etc.) about Fischer's paranoid mother and possible father. Apparently the FBI has been watching both his mother and him. This sheds a new light on his persecution mania concerning the United States.

A long article on Bobby Fischer's Pathetic Endgame. Paranoia, hubris, and hatred—the unraveling of the greatest chess player ever in The Atlantic Monthly (via sofa blogger).

 
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[chess and games] September 9, 2002 at 12:31:00 AM CEST

A music quiz game I just came up with Squeeze your nostrils with the fingers and try to hum the melody of a song through your nose. A little bit like Bob Dylan does. The people you are playing with have to guess the song. Then it is their turn. You get points if people recognise the song you have performed and also when you find out which tunes other people have interpreted (you need more than two people for this game, otherwise it is always a draw). It really is fun. Especially when done as a drinking game. I would suggest you have to drink for each point you win.

 
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