"Of course, the FA could approach me without needing permission from anyone".
Monday, 30 April 2012
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Hate to say I told them so, but...
The Egregious Chess Federation's outgoing CEO, Andrew "Aintwortha" Farthing, contributing to the latest Forum discussion on the financing of British chess:
A major source of difficulty here is that the ECF obtains so much for free that other organisations would pay for
As they say in Parliament, "I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the reply I gave earlier"!
Incidentally, when the piece in the above link first appeared., it attracted approving comments from hundreds of readers, from various parts of the world. One of the very few disapproving comments appeared on the Egregious Forum (where else?), one of whose members wrote:
The impact of Steve Giddins's closing recommendation - that everyone should start demanding a commercial rate for their services - would be devastating in terms of the price of playing chess.
And who might be this defender of the "everything for nothing" status quo? Step forward, Andrew "Aintwortha" Farthing!
A major source of difficulty here is that the ECF obtains so much for free that other organisations would pay for
As they say in Parliament, "I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the reply I gave earlier"!
Incidentally, when the piece in the above link first appeared., it attracted approving comments from hundreds of readers, from various parts of the world. One of the very few disapproving comments appeared on the Egregious Forum (where else?), one of whose members wrote:
The impact of Steve Giddins's closing recommendation - that everyone should start demanding a commercial rate for their services - would be devastating in terms of the price of playing chess.
And who might be this defender of the "everything for nothing" status quo? Step forward, Andrew "Aintwortha" Farthing!
Saturday, 28 April 2012
My favourite chess writer
No, it's not Paul McKeown...!! Picking a single favourite author is not easy, but if pressed, I think I would have to go for Wolfgang Heidenfeld. Born in Berlin, on 29 May 1911, his Jewishness meant that he was forced to flee Germany in the 1930s, and settled in South Africa. Whilst never of GM strength, he was a good, lower-level master, who dominated South African chess, winning the national championship eight times. In the late 1950s, he moved to Dublin, and spent the last years of his chess career there. He died on 3 August 1981.
As I say, he was never hugely strong as a player (although he took several notable scalps), but his gifts as a writer were something else again. He wrote only a small number of books, but all are masterly. His best games collection, modestly entitled Lacking the Master Touch, would be a shoe-in for my Desert Island selection. He also wrote two lovely general games collections, each on a specific theme - Grosse Remispartien (published in English under the title Draw!) is a collection of great drawn games, and includes some fantastic battles, whilst Damen sind Luxus ("Queens are a luxury") is a collection of outstanding games, in which queens were exchanged early (to the best of my knowledge, this has not been translated into English).
I also have a couple of other books by him. Chess Springbok is the story of a trip he made to Europe in the early 1950s, to play several international tournaments, whilst Busts! is an intriguing little book, certainly the smallest in my collection - pages the size of playing cards, it presents a number of refutations of famous games and endgame studies. Some of his extensive game analyses in the series Lasker and his Contemporaries are also masterpieces, which bring to life some of the greatest games of Lasker's career (eg. the win against Capablanca from St Petersburg 1914, and the fantastic draw in game 7 of the match against Schlechter, surely the finest battle ever seen in a world championship match?).
As a player, Heidenfeld's victims included such strong masters as Najdorf. His biggest scalp, however, came in the following game, and enabled him to win an international tournament, in his adopted country, ahead of the ex-world champion.
As I say, he was never hugely strong as a player (although he took several notable scalps), but his gifts as a writer were something else again. He wrote only a small number of books, but all are masterly. His best games collection, modestly entitled Lacking the Master Touch, would be a shoe-in for my Desert Island selection. He also wrote two lovely general games collections, each on a specific theme - Grosse Remispartien (published in English under the title Draw!) is a collection of great drawn games, and includes some fantastic battles, whilst Damen sind Luxus ("Queens are a luxury") is a collection of outstanding games, in which queens were exchanged early (to the best of my knowledge, this has not been translated into English).
Heidenfeld, pictured in 1960 (photo: wikipedia.org)
I also have a couple of other books by him. Chess Springbok is the story of a trip he made to Europe in the early 1950s, to play several international tournaments, whilst Busts! is an intriguing little book, certainly the smallest in my collection - pages the size of playing cards, it presents a number of refutations of famous games and endgame studies. Some of his extensive game analyses in the series Lasker and his Contemporaries are also masterpieces, which bring to life some of the greatest games of Lasker's career (eg. the win against Capablanca from St Petersburg 1914, and the fantastic draw in game 7 of the match against Schlechter, surely the finest battle ever seen in a world championship match?).
As a player, Heidenfeld's victims included such strong masters as Najdorf. His biggest scalp, however, came in the following game, and enabled him to win an international tournament, in his adopted country, ahead of the ex-world champion.
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Good causes - the Lund Chess Academy
Another gleaning from the recent meeting of the Ken Whyld Association meeting (see here) was news of a worthy new forum for the buying and selling of chess literature. The Lund Chess Academy is a Scandinavian initiative, which aims to raise money, to support the training of young players in the region. The academy has just launched an internet auction platform, effectively a chessplayers' version of e-Bay, where chess books and other Caissic collectibles can be traded.
Registration is free, and the website allows one to buy and sell books (sales can be by auction or fixed price sales), as well as advertise for wanted items. There are no listing fees, the only charge being a 3% commission, payable by the seller. Several times per year, special auctions are held, at which sellers do not even have to catalogue and provide listing details of the items they wish to sell - instead, they simply ship their goods to Lund, who will themselves prepare the listing details, collect the proceeds and ship the goods to the eventual buyers. For this service, the commission is 10%. In both cases, all profits go to the training and sponsorship of young chess talents.
For anyone interested in buying or selling chess books and magazines, this is a worthy initiative. You can register in minutes, and every time you buy or sell anything via Lund, you will get that nice, warm feeling that comes from knowing that you are contributing money, to help the training and nurture of young chess talents! Please give it a try - once again, the link is here.
Registration is free, and the website allows one to buy and sell books (sales can be by auction or fixed price sales), as well as advertise for wanted items. There are no listing fees, the only charge being a 3% commission, payable by the seller. Several times per year, special auctions are held, at which sellers do not even have to catalogue and provide listing details of the items they wish to sell - instead, they simply ship their goods to Lund, who will themselves prepare the listing details, collect the proceeds and ship the goods to the eventual buyers. For this service, the commission is 10%. In both cases, all profits go to the training and sponsorship of young chess talents.
For anyone interested in buying or selling chess books and magazines, this is a worthy initiative. You can register in minutes, and every time you buy or sell anything via Lund, you will get that nice, warm feeling that comes from knowing that you are contributing money, to help the training and nurture of young chess talents! Please give it a try - once again, the link is here.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Termitewatch (23) - Pulp Fiction
Our favourite wordsmith, Paul "I don't hate Ray Keene" McKeown, responded in ineluctably (sic) outraged fashion to my last blog post about him. He denied hating Keene, or having written anything hostile to him, yet just three lines later, he refers to him as "Fat Boy Unslim"! He also claims to be "intrigued" about what story I might have, explaining his hostility to Keene. In reality, he is not intrigued at all, because in the very next sentence, he presents his own highly coloured version of the events concerned.
According to McKeown, he was
invited to write a book about Bob Wade by Fat Boy Unslim, which in the end he had hopelessly hacked up by someone else. Our points of view diverged on the question of quality. I have written a considerable part of my own book on Wade (as many have seen), the rest is on hold until I spend three months in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in 's Gravenhage to complete my research. When I shall have the opportunity to continue, I don't yet know. Bob was a highly respected figure who achieved a great deal, much forgotten, in the English chess world, and he deserves a decent biography, not pulp.
Naturally, the truth is rather different. In 2005, Ray Keene decided that a tribute book to Wade was overdue, and, with Wade's enthusiastic agreement, he decided to publish one. He advertised for someone to write it. McKeown responded to the advert and met with Ray (in the presence of witnesses). It was explained to our wordsmith friend that Bob did not appear to be in great health, and might not have too many years left in him (in fact, he died in November 2008), and so the intention was to get a book out fairly quickly, so that Bob could see it. McKeown agreed.
He then disappeared for 12 months, without a word, before finally popping up again, brandishing what he had done so far. On closer inspection, it transpired that his year's labours had not yet even taken him beyond the point where Bob left New Zealand in the late 1940s, let alone covering his subsequent 60-year international career! At the rate McKeown was working, Wade would have needed to rival Methuselah for longevity, if he were ever to see the book in print.
At this point, Ray decided that, despite McKeown's prodigiously extensive command of English vocabulary, he had not actually succeeded in understanding the point of the project, and so Ray sacked him and engaged Ray Cannon instead. The latter, aided by Julian Simpole and Ray himself, managed within a few months to produce a fine, 350-page book on Wade, containing 240 games, almost 30 with notes by Wade himself. McKeown may regard the book as "pulp", and as having been "hopelessly hacked up", but Bob Wade himself was delighted with it, ordering numerous additional copies (none of which Ray ever charged him for, incidentally), to present to friends and acquaintances. I have one myself.
Bob Wade, as we know, passed away in November 2008. Well over three years later, and almost seven years after he first offered to write the book for Ray Keene, McKeown's book remains unfinished and unpublished, and by his own admission, he does not yet know when he will have the time to continue work on it.
According to McKeown, he was
invited to write a book about Bob Wade by Fat Boy Unslim, which in the end he had hopelessly hacked up by someone else. Our points of view diverged on the question of quality. I have written a considerable part of my own book on Wade (as many have seen), the rest is on hold until I spend three months in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in 's Gravenhage to complete my research. When I shall have the opportunity to continue, I don't yet know. Bob was a highly respected figure who achieved a great deal, much forgotten, in the English chess world, and he deserves a decent biography, not pulp.
Naturally, the truth is rather different. In 2005, Ray Keene decided that a tribute book to Wade was overdue, and, with Wade's enthusiastic agreement, he decided to publish one. He advertised for someone to write it. McKeown responded to the advert and met with Ray (in the presence of witnesses). It was explained to our wordsmith friend that Bob did not appear to be in great health, and might not have too many years left in him (in fact, he died in November 2008), and so the intention was to get a book out fairly quickly, so that Bob could see it. McKeown agreed.
He then disappeared for 12 months, without a word, before finally popping up again, brandishing what he had done so far. On closer inspection, it transpired that his year's labours had not yet even taken him beyond the point where Bob left New Zealand in the late 1940s, let alone covering his subsequent 60-year international career! At the rate McKeown was working, Wade would have needed to rival Methuselah for longevity, if he were ever to see the book in print.
At this point, Ray decided that, despite McKeown's prodigiously extensive command of English vocabulary, he had not actually succeeded in understanding the point of the project, and so Ray sacked him and engaged Ray Cannon instead. The latter, aided by Julian Simpole and Ray himself, managed within a few months to produce a fine, 350-page book on Wade, containing 240 games, almost 30 with notes by Wade himself. McKeown may regard the book as "pulp", and as having been "hopelessly hacked up", but Bob Wade himself was delighted with it, ordering numerous additional copies (none of which Ray ever charged him for, incidentally), to present to friends and acquaintances. I have one myself.
Bob Wade, as we know, passed away in November 2008. Well over three years later, and almost seven years after he first offered to write the book for Ray Keene, McKeown's book remains unfinished and unpublished, and by his own admission, he does not yet know when he will have the time to continue work on it.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Moves we would all like to play (21)
From the latest issue of EG, comes the award for the Shaya Kozlowski 100 memorial composing tourney. This required studies in which "A paradoxical piece action eventually simplifies into a winning or drawn pawn ending."
First prize in the provisional award (all awards in study or problem composing tourneys remain provisional for a three-month period after publication, to allow time for claims of unsoundness and/or anticipation. If no claims are received within this period, the award becomes final) has been won by OTB Grandmaster Jan Timman. In a previous blog post, I have spoken of his study-composing achievements in recent years, and his magnificent book, The Art of the Endgame, published by New in Chess last year. This latest first prizewinner is a worthy addendum to the book. Keep a careful eye out for White's 6th move:
Timman's book, available from here
First prize in the provisional award (all awards in study or problem composing tourneys remain provisional for a three-month period after publication, to allow time for claims of unsoundness and/or anticipation. If no claims are received within this period, the award becomes final) has been won by OTB Grandmaster Jan Timman. In a previous blog post, I have spoken of his study-composing achievements in recent years, and his magnificent book, The Art of the Endgame, published by New in Chess last year. This latest first prizewinner is a worthy addendum to the book. Keep a careful eye out for White's 6th move:
Monday, 23 April 2012
Termitewatch (22) - A wordsmith writes
In a remarkable, if unintentional, piece of self-revelation, a certain Paul McKeown, long one of the most unpleasant of all the termites, posted the following classic line on the Egregious Chess Forum yesterday afternoon:
Also, I would suggest that there are some people who abuse the principle of forensic journalism (sic), to the degree that anyone who becomes even tangentially associated with certain controversial persons becomes an instant target for that selfsame forensic journalism (sic).
As a description of the Keene-haters, it can scarcely be bettered - anyone who exhibits the slightest connection with Ray Keene is automatically targeted by the termites, as I know from my own experience. Of course, McKeown himself is one of the most vitriolic of their number, the real reason for his hostility to Keene being a story to which this blog must return at some future date. But for now, I could not help smiling, when I read, as part of the same thread, a claim by McKeown that the present crisis in the ECF is the result of
ineluctable negativity.
Such long words brought praise pouring down on his head from several of his fellow termites, stunned by the extent of his vocabulary. I wonder if they would have been so impressed, had they been aware of this article, published on the BBC website, just 48 hours earlier, in which writer Will Self defends his own use of obscure words. He also provides a handy list of Will's Words of the Week, number four of which is, er, "ineluctable"...
Also, I would suggest that there are some people who abuse the principle of forensic journalism (sic), to the degree that anyone who becomes even tangentially associated with certain controversial persons becomes an instant target for that selfsame forensic journalism (sic).
As a description of the Keene-haters, it can scarcely be bettered - anyone who exhibits the slightest connection with Ray Keene is automatically targeted by the termites, as I know from my own experience. Of course, McKeown himself is one of the most vitriolic of their number, the real reason for his hostility to Keene being a story to which this blog must return at some future date. But for now, I could not help smiling, when I read, as part of the same thread, a claim by McKeown that the present crisis in the ECF is the result of
ineluctable negativity.
Such long words brought praise pouring down on his head from several of his fellow termites, stunned by the extent of his vocabulary. I wonder if they would have been so impressed, had they been aware of this article, published on the BBC website, just 48 hours earlier, in which writer Will Self defends his own use of obscure words. He also provides a handy list of Will's Words of the Week, number four of which is, er, "ineluctable"...
Saturday, 21 April 2012
Odious Adam - the evidence
Despite the revelations in my previous blog post, "Odious" Adam Raoof continues to equivocate, and has refused to acknowledge that his statements to the ECF Forum on Thursday were untrue. Yesterday afternoon, he was challenged by Alex McFarlane
to confirm or deny that Ray Keene has been in touch with him as is claimed on the Gidden's Blog?
Just as Alex himself predicted, there has been no response from the Odious One. But we do not need to await a response from Raoof. Below are exact copies of three messages Ray Keene has sent him, over the past 24+ hours, on the subject of the British Championship sponsorship. Apart from exact e-mail addresses, Ray's facsimile signature and postal address/phone numbers, which appear at the foot of each message, the only thing I have taken out (where indicated) are some comments in the first message, which do not concern the subject under discussion here:
Message 1
Message 2
Message 3
to confirm or deny that Ray Keene has been in touch with him as is claimed on the Gidden's Blog?
Just as Alex himself predicted, there has been no response from the Odious One. But we do not need to await a response from Raoof. Below are exact copies of three messages Ray Keene has sent him, over the past 24+ hours, on the subject of the British Championship sponsorship. Apart from exact e-mail addresses, Ray's facsimile signature and postal address/phone numbers, which appear at the foot of each message, the only thing I have taken out (where indicated) are some comments in the first message, which do not concern the subject under discussion here:
Message 1
From: RDKxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 19/04/2012 11:39:33 GMT Daylight Time
Subj: EC FORUM
To: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 19/04/2012 11:39:33 GMT Daylight Time
Subj: EC FORUM
DEAR ADAM
I just saw the debate on the ec forum about the funding for the 2011 british-i wd like to point out that after our sept 8 2010 fundraiser at simpsons that ali and dave norwood agreed they wd sponsor something else as well
cj and i had the 2011 staunton memorial in mind but when hoped for support for the british did not materialise cj and i agreed that it wd be better to ask ali to support the british-this was a perfectly amicable arrangement between myself and cj which we both felt was for the greater good
cj did the negotiation with ali and i accepted his offer to open the championship on an expenses only basis
[extraneous comments removed]....
ray
Message 2
From: RDKxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 19/04/2012 18:52:27 GMT Daylight Time
Subj: BRITISH SPONSORSHIP
To: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 19/04/2012 18:52:27 GMT Daylight Time
Subj: BRITISH SPONSORSHIP
DEAR ADAM
Just got back after a long day out and saw the e c forum again
at first you wrote that cj was 100% responsible for the british sponsorship
i then pointed out to you what had in fact been the case- namely that cj and i had intended to ask ali/dave norwood to back the 2011 staunton memorial as their next promised venture-that british sponsorship cd not be identified so together cj and i agreed we wd approach ali for british 2011 backing instead
after i had alerted you to the truth -which as far as i am concerned is and always has been in the public domain-you then wrote that you cdnt be bothered to continue the debate-or words to that effect
i understand that dealing with termites who wish to undermine any british chess success and pull it apart to destruction-might be very trying for you- but as it stands it looks as if I have been exaggerating at best and at worst lying about my involvement in helping to secure the funding for sheffield 2011.
i can understand perfectly well that the sponsor wd be puzzled by the question of who approached them for the money since the decision to go for sponsoring the british rather than suggesting the staunton memorial was an amicable decision between cj and myself-decided on for the greater good of british chess-as i am sure cj wd agree if you ask him ( he is btw staying with me over this coming weekend before the london marathon)
i am of course happy for cj to take the lions share of the public credit- and there is no doubt that the physical approach was made by him- furthermore i think you will concur i have been one of cj's most active supporters-but i did play a role which your recent posts seem to ignore or negate - after i pointed out the truth to you signing off soon afterwards with a statement that you cant be bothered to continue the discussion seems oddly inappropriate to me.
pls can you let me know if you plan to add something while the topic is still hot today- based on what i have told you about today-if not i will implement other measures to ensure that the truth is known-i refuse to become involved with the termites -who will gleefully twist anything anyone says- but i do have other outlets.
thanks ray
Message 3
From: RDKxxxxxxxxxxx
To: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 20/04/2012 14:18:05 GMT Daylight Time
Subj: my role in the british sponsorship
To: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC: adamraoxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 20/04/2012 14:18:05 GMT Daylight Time
Subj: my role in the british sponsorship
dear adam
i can assure you that you are wrong-ali may only have dealt with cj directly on this matter but i can promise you that cj and i had agreed that the next ali sponsorship wd be for the staunton-if he agreed to go ahead-but cj and i then decided between us that the british shd be a priority when british funding seemed unlikely elsewhere-cj therefore proceeded with my blessing
cj is staying with me tomorrow
why dont you check with him-or shd i?
i am happy to concede the lions share to cj but i played a role which shd not be overlooked-i wd be very grateful for a correction on the ec forum
Friday, 20 April 2012
Termitewatch (20) - Better things to do
With support for the Dear Leader draining away by the day, there are signs that his supporters on the ECF Management Board are getting desperate. In the middle of the ever-lengthening forum thread discussing last Saturday's Finance Meeting, "Odious" Adam Raoof suddenly piped up yesterday morning with the statement:
I can state categorically that CJ, and CJ alone was responsible for securing sponsorship for Sheffield. You can thank him!
This, of course, is completely untrue, and contradicts my earlier blog post on the subject, which gave chapter and verse on the exact sequence of events. Raoof's post was timed at 9.48am. It was immediately questioned by other forum users, whereupon OA claimed to have spoken to Ali Mortazavi, of Darwin Strategic, who had confirmed that "CJ was responsible for the sponsorship".
A couple of hours later, Ray Keene saw the comment, and immediately e-mailed Raoof directly, pointing out the error and repeating the correct facts. He also explained why Ali Mortazavi had given the response he had - Darwin had agreed to sponsor a future British event, expected to be the Staunton Memorial, but when Ray and CJ changed their minds and decided to ask Darwin to put the money into the British instead, it was CJ who actually spoke to Ali about this. Ali was unaware that there had been discussion between Ray and CJ, over which event to sponsor, and by that late stage in the proceedings, all of his communication was with CJ. But none of this changes the original facts, that Ray Keene was instrumental in securing the sponsorship in the first place.
And what was "Odious" Adam's response to this information? After being challenged on the forum by other termites, the Egregious Federation's probable next CEO went back on at 2.23pm and posted the following:
I'm sorry, I have more important things to do than carry on this discussion.
How convenient that this discovery of "better things to do" should happen to occur just a few hours after receiving definitive information, which clearly showed that his earlier posts on the forum had been what Churchill was wont to call "a terminological inexactitude"! Ray contacted Raoof again in the evening, asking him to correct his mendacious statements on the Forum, but to date, he has yet to receive even the courtesy of an acknowledgment of his messages, let alone a substantive response.
And this is the man who would like to be the next CEO of the English chess. I leave it to my readers to decide whether such a person is unfit to hold office, or whether, on the contrary, he has all the attributes necessary in a leading official of the Egregious Chess Federation...
PS 13.00, 20/04/2012
The Odious One speaks:
On the matter of the next ECF CEO, I think someone really needs to start another thread. Why would anyone do this thankless, unpaid, time-engulfing job after seeing the abuse received by Andrew Farthing who has to be one of the most hard working, diplomatic, patient people I have met?
Isn't that what the Watergate journalists used to call "a non-denial denial"?
I can state categorically that CJ, and CJ alone was responsible for securing sponsorship for Sheffield. You can thank him!
This, of course, is completely untrue, and contradicts my earlier blog post on the subject, which gave chapter and verse on the exact sequence of events. Raoof's post was timed at 9.48am. It was immediately questioned by other forum users, whereupon OA claimed to have spoken to Ali Mortazavi, of Darwin Strategic, who had confirmed that "CJ was responsible for the sponsorship".
A couple of hours later, Ray Keene saw the comment, and immediately e-mailed Raoof directly, pointing out the error and repeating the correct facts. He also explained why Ali Mortazavi had given the response he had - Darwin had agreed to sponsor a future British event, expected to be the Staunton Memorial, but when Ray and CJ changed their minds and decided to ask Darwin to put the money into the British instead, it was CJ who actually spoke to Ali about this. Ali was unaware that there had been discussion between Ray and CJ, over which event to sponsor, and by that late stage in the proceedings, all of his communication was with CJ. But none of this changes the original facts, that Ray Keene was instrumental in securing the sponsorship in the first place.
And what was "Odious" Adam's response to this information? After being challenged on the forum by other termites, the Egregious Federation's probable next CEO went back on at 2.23pm and posted the following:
I'm sorry, I have more important things to do than carry on this discussion.
How convenient that this discovery of "better things to do" should happen to occur just a few hours after receiving definitive information, which clearly showed that his earlier posts on the forum had been what Churchill was wont to call "a terminological inexactitude"! Ray contacted Raoof again in the evening, asking him to correct his mendacious statements on the Forum, but to date, he has yet to receive even the courtesy of an acknowledgment of his messages, let alone a substantive response.
"Sorry, I can't discuss this right now - I'm due at the hospital for some urgent rhinoplasty" (photo: caveofknowledge.com)
And this is the man who would like to be the next CEO of the English chess. I leave it to my readers to decide whether such a person is unfit to hold office, or whether, on the contrary, he has all the attributes necessary in a leading official of the Egregious Chess Federation...
PS 13.00, 20/04/2012
The Odious One speaks:
On the matter of the next ECF CEO, I think someone really needs to start another thread. Why would anyone do this thankless, unpaid, time-engulfing job after seeing the abuse received by Andrew Farthing who has to be one of the most hard working, diplomatic, patient people I have met?
Isn't that what the Watergate journalists used to call "a non-denial denial"?
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Oasis of civilisation
Last weekend, 13-15 April, I attended the annual meeting of the Ken Whyld Association. Founded in 2003, and named after the great English chess historian, often referred to in his time as "The omniscient one", the association is dedicated to chess history research and book-collecting. Its approximately 160 members hail from all parts of the globe, and include some of the most famous collectors in the world, such as David deLucia, Lothar Schmid and Jurgen Stigter.
The association not only provides a meeting ground for chess historians and collectors, to discuss topics and assist one another's research, but also provides financial support to history-related projects, such as the publication of books on aspects of chess history. Most such books are unlikely to sell enough copies to make them viable on a purely commercial basis, but thanks to the support of the KWA, the often many years of research that goes into them is not wasted, and the final product is made available in print.
The weekend meeting, held in a comfortable hotel in the beautiful city of Norwich, was a veritable oasis of civilisation - nobody whinging about lost rating points or missed wins, no ECF scroungers with their hands out, demanding that everyone present contribute money to their vile organisation, and not an offensive T-shirt in sight. Those present enjoyed a series of fascinating lectures, on topics such as the discovery of Philidor's grave (he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave, but years of research by KWA member Gordon Cadden has tracked down the precise location, to within a few feet!), the 130 years of the BCM, and a fascinating history of the 19th century heyday of the Norwich Chess Club. Amongst the exhibits from the latter (a charming lecture by 1960s British Championship star, Owen Hindle) was the club's official visitors' book, bearing the signature of none other than Emanuel Lasker, from a visit he made in 1902, to play a simultaneous display.
Later on the Saturday afternoon, a chess book market took place, offering the chance to pick up some wonderful specimens of chess literature. Finally, on Sunday, many of us finished off the weekend with a visit to Bletchley Park, where so many eminent British chessplayers (Hugh Alexander, Stuart Milner-Barry and Harry Golombek, to name but three) were stationed during WW2, as part of the Enigma codebreaking project.
An initial photo collection from the weekend can be found on the KWA website (see here), with the promise of a full report to follow. At the same site, you can also find details of how to join the KWA. I heartily recommend it, especially to anybody who is so disgusted by the shenanigans of de Mooi & co. as to start wondering why he remains involved with the chess world. There is a chess civilisation out there, chaps!
Ken Whyld, the Omniscient One (Photo: KWA)
The association not only provides a meeting ground for chess historians and collectors, to discuss topics and assist one another's research, but also provides financial support to history-related projects, such as the publication of books on aspects of chess history. Most such books are unlikely to sell enough copies to make them viable on a purely commercial basis, but thanks to the support of the KWA, the often many years of research that goes into them is not wasted, and the final product is made available in print.
The weekend meeting, held in a comfortable hotel in the beautiful city of Norwich, was a veritable oasis of civilisation - nobody whinging about lost rating points or missed wins, no ECF scroungers with their hands out, demanding that everyone present contribute money to their vile organisation, and not an offensive T-shirt in sight. Those present enjoyed a series of fascinating lectures, on topics such as the discovery of Philidor's grave (he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave, but years of research by KWA member Gordon Cadden has tracked down the precise location, to within a few feet!), the 130 years of the BCM, and a fascinating history of the 19th century heyday of the Norwich Chess Club. Amongst the exhibits from the latter (a charming lecture by 1960s British Championship star, Owen Hindle) was the club's official visitors' book, bearing the signature of none other than Emanuel Lasker, from a visit he made in 1902, to play a simultaneous display.
Later on the Saturday afternoon, a chess book market took place, offering the chance to pick up some wonderful specimens of chess literature. Finally, on Sunday, many of us finished off the weekend with a visit to Bletchley Park, where so many eminent British chessplayers (Hugh Alexander, Stuart Milner-Barry and Harry Golombek, to name but three) were stationed during WW2, as part of the Enigma codebreaking project.
An initial photo collection from the weekend can be found on the KWA website (see here), with the promise of a full report to follow. At the same site, you can also find details of how to join the KWA. I heartily recommend it, especially to anybody who is so disgusted by the shenanigans of de Mooi & co. as to start wondering why he remains involved with the chess world. There is a chess civilisation out there, chaps!
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
The Curse of the Ant-Eater strikes again!
Of course, none of the Egregious Federation's Management Board would admit even to reading this blog, let alone being influenced by it, but now we have incontrovertible proof that such is the case. Just 24 hours after my revelation that Lara Barnes had declared the Dear Leader to be persona non grata at this year's forthcoming British Championship, her partner Alex McFarlane has revealed that she was contacted earlier today by the Egregious lot's CEO, Andrew "Aintwortha" Farthing. He was seeking assurances that any ECF officials who visit Whitley Bay will be treated "with respect"! Curiously, despite Alex requesting that he do so, Farthing has refused to contact de Mooi, to seek similar assurances about the latter's future behaviour. Instead, he has responded to Alex's request by announcing that he will not communicate with him again on the subject!
Tribute to a drunken machine-gunner
Today marks the 50th birthday of GM William Watson. Part of the Hodgson-Short generation, who emerged as junior talents in the middle and late 1970s, he was an early example of the Sadler Syndrome, abandoning professional chess in his mid-20s, for a regular job. In Watson's case, it was as a lawyer, and he very quickly rose to become a partner in one of the world's largest law firms, specialising in tax law.
I remember a curious incident from my own working career. Whilst I was a tax adviser at Morgan Stanley, I was sitting in my office one morning, when a conference call began in the next office, which was occupied by my VAT-specialist colleague, Simon. Almost at once, I thought I recognised the voice on the other end of the call as that of Willie Watson, although I had no idea at that stage, that he was a tax specialist. When the call ended, and I popped my head round the door and asked Simon if he had been talking to a lawyer called William Watson, he was dumbfounded!
Having been out of chess for so long, Willie is largely forgotten amongst today's generation, but at his best, he was a ferocious tactician. Here is one of his best games, in which he annihilates a world-class GM, with remorseless violence, which starts at move 8! The game led to Watson acquiring a memorable nickname - after seeing this game, Boris Spassky commented "This Watson is very dangerous - like a drunken machine-gunner!
Photo: Chessbase
I remember a curious incident from my own working career. Whilst I was a tax adviser at Morgan Stanley, I was sitting in my office one morning, when a conference call began in the next office, which was occupied by my VAT-specialist colleague, Simon. Almost at once, I thought I recognised the voice on the other end of the call as that of Willie Watson, although I had no idea at that stage, that he was a tax specialist. When the call ended, and I popped my head round the door and asked Simon if he had been talking to a lawyer called William Watson, he was dumbfounded!
Having been out of chess for so long, Willie is largely forgotten amongst today's generation, but at his best, he was a ferocious tactician. Here is one of his best games, in which he annihilates a world-class GM, with remorseless violence, which starts at move 8! The game led to Watson acquiring a memorable nickname - after seeing this game, Boris Spassky commented "This Watson is very dangerous - like a drunken machine-gunner!
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Persona non grata
A small postscript to my previous piece regarding the ECF Finance Meeting on Saturday:
The Dear Leader may have survived the de facto no confidence vote, by the skin of his teeth, but his position remains untenable to anyone with any sense of propriety. One example of how bad things are is that Lara Barnes, the Manager of the 2012 British Championship, made it clear to the Council meeting that, if de Mooi shows his face at this year's championship, he will be ejected from the premises! We thus have the extraordinary situation of an ECF President, who has been declared personal non grata at the Federation's flagship event. In practical terms, this may not mean much, because I rather doubt that de Mooi was planning to visit the frozen wastes of the North East anyway. Nonetheless, it is a truly extraordinary state of affairs, and surely one that even the hapless ECF Management Board cannot tolerate?
The Dear Leader may have survived the de facto no confidence vote, by the skin of his teeth, but his position remains untenable to anyone with any sense of propriety. One example of how bad things are is that Lara Barnes, the Manager of the 2012 British Championship, made it clear to the Council meeting that, if de Mooi shows his face at this year's championship, he will be ejected from the premises! We thus have the extraordinary situation of an ECF President, who has been declared personal non grata at the Federation's flagship event. In practical terms, this may not mean much, because I rather doubt that de Mooi was planning to visit the frozen wastes of the North East anyway. Nonetheless, it is a truly extraordinary state of affairs, and surely one that even the hapless ECF Management Board cannot tolerate?
Let them know it's (not) Christmas
The Egregious Chess Federation's long-awaited Council Finance Meeting was held last Saturday. Amidst chaotic scenes in Central London, with key figures absent (including the Dear Leader himself, of course), an unrealistically bulging agenda and a Chairman who, by all accounts, struggled to cope all afternoon, the meeting failed totally to lance the boils that have tortured British chess, ever since Sheffield.
What purported to be a complete set of accounts for the British Championship was at last produced, showing a surplus of £2k on the event, and the possibility of a further £700 VAT potentially recoverable on hotel expenses. A possibility, potentially recoverable - so, in other words, the accounts are still not finalised! Even more scandalously, the figures produced do not disclose how much money the Dear Leader did or did not put into the championship, nor how it was spent. A figure of £8233 appears in the income section, described as Bequest/Donation, but the Egregious lot's CEO, Andrew "Aintwortha" Farthing, offered dark hints that this included money from various sources, and was not from the Dear Leader. So, six months on from the event, we are no nearer to establishing the truth (or lack of it) in the DL's public claim to have put in £16k of his own money. Nor are we ever going to be any nearer, it seems - according to Farthing, this is all "confidential". Over on the Forum, Farthing was asked repeatedly to answer the simple yes or no question, whether or not proper supporting documentation existed for these payments. He pointedly refused to answer. Perhaps he should have enlisted the late Peter Cook to answer for him - Cook explained it better, and much more amusingly.
Round about this point in the meeting, a motion was put down to the effect that "Council considers that the conduct of the President brings the performance of his role into question and calls for a full review of his activities". This was a watered-down motion, the original "no confidence" motion having been ruled out of order by the Chairman. The motion was lost by just 93 votes to 84, and then only because all the members of the Management Board who were present, dutifully voted against it, to protect their boss from embarrassment. It was a narrow escape for the Dear Leader, who just six months earlier, had been re-elected by 160 votes to just one against. Let's hope he knows his history, and draws the appropriate lessons from Neville Chamberlain's reaction to the House of Commons vote in the Norway debate of May 1940 - though I am not holding my breath.
Having finally swept this scandal under the carpet, the meeting then went on to vote on its membership proposals. Basically, from 1 September this year, Game Fee will rocket to an astronomical £2 per game, per non-member (so a game between two non-members will attract Game Fee amounting to an eye-watering £4!), unless both players are ECF members, at a minimum of £18 each. The Egregious lot hope that leagues and congresses will feel obliged to enforce a compulsory 100% membership requirement, so as to avoid this swingeing ad valorem tax on playing chess. Let us hope that, instead, every club, league and congress in the country votes to give up having their games graded by this bunch of latter-day robber barons. Personally, I am with the former Essex and British Champion Dr Fazekas, who was wont to refer to it as "the degrading system", but if people cannot live without a three-digit number against their name, to confirm their relative value as a human being, then any fool with a laptop computer and spreadsheet capability can reproduce the grading system in less than an hour.
I gather that Aintwortha Farthing is standing down as CEO, next October. Who could replace him? The smart money is still on "Odious" Adam Raoof, but in view of the ECF's current revenue-raising approach, I suggest another candidate:
What purported to be a complete set of accounts for the British Championship was at last produced, showing a surplus of £2k on the event, and the possibility of a further £700 VAT potentially recoverable on hotel expenses. A possibility, potentially recoverable - so, in other words, the accounts are still not finalised! Even more scandalously, the figures produced do not disclose how much money the Dear Leader did or did not put into the championship, nor how it was spent. A figure of £8233 appears in the income section, described as Bequest/Donation, but the Egregious lot's CEO, Andrew "Aintwortha" Farthing, offered dark hints that this included money from various sources, and was not from the Dear Leader. So, six months on from the event, we are no nearer to establishing the truth (or lack of it) in the DL's public claim to have put in £16k of his own money. Nor are we ever going to be any nearer, it seems - according to Farthing, this is all "confidential". Over on the Forum, Farthing was asked repeatedly to answer the simple yes or no question, whether or not proper supporting documentation existed for these payments. He pointedly refused to answer. Perhaps he should have enlisted the late Peter Cook to answer for him - Cook explained it better, and much more amusingly.
"It is conceded by the defence that the money arrived. What happened to it then, we shall never know. Nor should we pry - it will be a sad day for this country, when a leading politician cannot spend his election expenses, in any way he thinks fit".
Round about this point in the meeting, a motion was put down to the effect that "Council considers that the conduct of the President brings the performance of his role into question and calls for a full review of his activities". This was a watered-down motion, the original "no confidence" motion having been ruled out of order by the Chairman. The motion was lost by just 93 votes to 84, and then only because all the members of the Management Board who were present, dutifully voted against it, to protect their boss from embarrassment. It was a narrow escape for the Dear Leader, who just six months earlier, had been re-elected by 160 votes to just one against. Let's hope he knows his history, and draws the appropriate lessons from Neville Chamberlain's reaction to the House of Commons vote in the Norway debate of May 1940 - though I am not holding my breath.
Having finally swept this scandal under the carpet, the meeting then went on to vote on its membership proposals. Basically, from 1 September this year, Game Fee will rocket to an astronomical £2 per game, per non-member (so a game between two non-members will attract Game Fee amounting to an eye-watering £4!), unless both players are ECF members, at a minimum of £18 each. The Egregious lot hope that leagues and congresses will feel obliged to enforce a compulsory 100% membership requirement, so as to avoid this swingeing ad valorem tax on playing chess. Let us hope that, instead, every club, league and congress in the country votes to give up having their games graded by this bunch of latter-day robber barons. Personally, I am with the former Essex and British Champion Dr Fazekas, who was wont to refer to it as "the degrading system", but if people cannot live without a three-digit number against their name, to confirm their relative value as a human being, then any fool with a laptop computer and spreadsheet capability can reproduce the grading system in less than an hour.
I gather that Aintwortha Farthing is standing down as CEO, next October. Who could replace him? The smart money is still on "Odious" Adam Raoof, but in view of the ECF's current revenue-raising approach, I suggest another candidate:
"Give us yer focking money!"
Monday, 16 April 2012
Termitewatch (19) - The Sincerest Form of Flattery
As previously announced, I have been out of action over the past few days, attending the annual meeting of the Ken Whyld Association. More on this splendid weekend later, and more too, on events at the Egregious Chess Federation's Finance Meeting on Saturday, which was every bit as disgraceful as one might have expected.
But for now, just a brief observation on the latest doings of the Bedlam Brigade at S&B. As is well known, these charming people are extremely censorious of alleged acts of plagiarism in chess, especially when it may involve the chess correspondent of one of our leading national newspapers. I was therefore most interested to read Friday's contribution to the Bedlam Brigade blog, which speculated on the possibility of Geoffrey Boycott commentating on chess:
Interestingly, the very same idea was mentioned in an article in the April issue of Chess, where yours truly wrote, concerning a dead drawn rook ending, which a leading GM had managed to lose:
Of course, it goes without saying that it is a mere Plaskettian coincidence that my piece in Chess should have appeared just a week or so before the Bedlam Brigade's effort. After all, it is utterly unthinkable that a group of people so deeply concerned about the provenance of a few lines of analysis of the Lisitsyn Gambit, should themselves pinch ideas from somebody else...
But for now, just a brief observation on the latest doings of the Bedlam Brigade at S&B. As is well known, these charming people are extremely censorious of alleged acts of plagiarism in chess, especially when it may involve the chess correspondent of one of our leading national newspapers. I was therefore most interested to read Friday's contribution to the Bedlam Brigade blog, which speculated on the possibility of Geoffrey Boycott commentating on chess:
Wouldn't the London Chess Classic be even more fun if we had him wandering around the hall explaining to all and sundry that his grannie could have mated Carlsen 'with a stick of rhubarb'?
Interestingly, the very same idea was mentioned in an article in the April issue of Chess, where yours truly wrote, concerning a dead drawn rook ending, which a leading GM had managed to lose:
It is just as well Geoffrey Boycott doesn't commentate on chess. I can just hear his drawling tones, solemnly declaring "That's baaad technique is that. My old moom could have drawn that ending, with her pinny on!".
Friday, 13 April 2012
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Weekend miscellanea
This Saturday, the Egregious Chess Federation is holding its annual Finance Meeting, in London. It promises to be a livelier-than-usual occasion, with various attendees looking for answers to some probing questions, regarding the Sheffield 2011 British Championship fiasco. Among those who will be there to face down the Board who have treated him so shamefully is Alex McFarlane, the sacked Co-Manager of the Sheffield event. However, it remains to be seen how many answers are forthcoming to the various questions. The person with most questions to answer will not be at the meeting - the Dear Leader is maintaining his stance of dumb insolence, and will not be gracing the meeting with his Z-list celebrity presence. Needless to say, this blog will be keeping a weather eye on developments, and will report on Monday.
In the meantime, I myself will be spending the weekend in what promises to be altogether more pleasant surroundings, at the annual meeting of the Ken Whyld Association. This group of chess historians and book collectors will be gathering in Norwich, for a weekend of lectures on historical topics, book trading and other chess-related paraphernalia. It will be a truly international event, the list of attendees including visitors from France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, etc. It will be my first attendance at a KWA meeting, and I am looking forward to it enormously.
In the meantime, I myself will be spending the weekend in what promises to be altogether more pleasant surroundings, at the annual meeting of the Ken Whyld Association. This group of chess historians and book collectors will be gathering in Norwich, for a weekend of lectures on historical topics, book trading and other chess-related paraphernalia. It will be a truly international event, the list of attendees including visitors from France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, etc. It will be my first attendance at a KWA meeting, and I am looking forward to it enormously.
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Pots and kettles
A truly astounding tweet from Silvio "Danny Boy" Danailov, earlier today:
"Some FIDE officials have begun to behave in a very aggressive and arrogant way. Somebody has to remind them who they really are".
Words fail me!
Monday, 9 April 2012
Boiled or fried
At the risk of increasing the chances of the termites putting out a contract on Sabrina, I recommend them to read this entry from Sabrina Chevannes' Chess Academy website. It may come as something of a surprise to those who assume Ray's only contact with children would result from their being served en croute, on the menu at Simpson's...
"How do I like children? Boiled or fried! (photo: en.wikipedia.org)
PS. 12 April 2012: The termites are nothing if not predictable. Sabrina reports having lost 30 followers, within hours of posting her piece about Ray's kindness. If there is one thing termites cannot live with, it is uncomfortable truths!
Friday, 6 April 2012
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Termitewatch (18) - Let us Dupre
The Egregious Forum never fails to provide a laugh, to any who glance through it over their cornflakes. The past 24 hours has seen a wonderful thread, entitled "FIDE rated in January, NOT in March". Over its course, a certain Paul Dupre fulminates with quite unimaginable intensity, over some kind of minor rating discrepancy, which now appears to be merely the result of a player being assigned the wrong rating code for a certain event. Even one of his fellow termites felt constrained to express his concern that "if the ECF don't appoint an I[nternational} R[ating] O[fficer] soon, Paul may spontaneously combust". But our Mr Dupre certainly belongs to the "conspiracy, not cock-up" school, and sees dark forces at play, solemnly warning:
I'm not allowed to talk about what I know - but understand this.
One day I will and all hell will break loose.
One can only hope that the Western world's intelligence agencies have been alerted to this dire threat to world order.
One cannot help wondering what it is that makes termites get so worked up about such trivia. It would appear to be a demonstration of Sayre's Law, which states that "in any dispute, the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake". The rule is generally used to explain why academic politics are so bitter, but the chess world seems an even better example. After all, threats of uncontrolled nuclear proliferation or terrorist attacks on iconic New York landmarks pale into insignificance, alongside Martin Page having three rated games at the 2010 Surrey Major (all of which he lost!) attributed to the wrong player...
I'm not allowed to talk about what I know - but understand this.
One day I will and all hell will break loose.
One can only hope that the Western world's intelligence agencies have been alerted to this dire threat to world order.
Photo: www.imdb.com
One cannot help wondering what it is that makes termites get so worked up about such trivia. It would appear to be a demonstration of Sayre's Law, which states that "in any dispute, the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake". The rule is generally used to explain why academic politics are so bitter, but the chess world seems an even better example. After all, threats of uncontrolled nuclear proliferation or terrorist attacks on iconic New York landmarks pale into insignificance, alongside Martin Page having three rated games at the 2010 Surrey Major (all of which he lost!) attributed to the wrong player...
Monday, 2 April 2012
Termitewatch (17) - April fools
The Chessbase April Fool story is an annual tradition, almost as old as Methuselah, but that still didn't stop the termites being taken in again. Over at the Egregious Chess Forum, several of their number engaged in a serious debate, about CB's "revelation" that a cluster of super-computers had "solved" the King's Gambit. It seems that after 2...exf4, all White third moves lose, except - wait for it...3.Be2!! The Lesser Bishop's Gambit suffices for a draw, according to CB's "interview" with Rybka programmer, Vasik Rajlich.
The main reason the termites were fooled is apparently that the CB piece was dated 2nd April. But, of course, the earth's orbit means that at the moment it becomes 2nd April in some parts of the world, it is still 1st April in others - a typical Friedel trick, of course.
Oh well. It is only 500 or so years since Copernicus showed that the earth orbits the sun, with all that entails. I suppose one should not expect the termite world to have got its collective head around such advanced concepts just yet...
The main reason the termites were fooled is apparently that the CB piece was dated 2nd April. But, of course, the earth's orbit means that at the moment it becomes 2nd April in some parts of the world, it is still 1st April in others - a typical Friedel trick, of course.
"You termites think you're the centre of the universe, don't you?" (photo: en-wikipedia.org)
Oh well. It is only 500 or so years since Copernicus showed that the earth orbits the sun, with all that entails. I suppose one should not expect the termite world to have got its collective head around such advanced concepts just yet...
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Extracting Danny Boy's urine
From the last round of the farcical European Championships at Plovdiv there comes an amusing reductio ab absurdum of "Danny Boy" Danailov's no-draw rules. These rules themselves resemble Churchill's description of Soviet foreign policy as "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma". Nobody seems to be able to explain exactly what the rules say. The one thing that seems clear is that draws cannot be agreed inside 40 moves, without the arbiter's agreement.
But what about threefold repetitions? In round 8, the top board game was drawn in 16 moves, after the players engineered a well-known repetition in the Berlin Wall. But that same day, Safarli and Baron were double-defaulted, after they repeated three times and then signed the scoresheet - their crime, apparently, was failing to consult an arbiter, before signing. Like Mafia bosses, Danny Boy's arbiters are big on "respect", it seems. But then in the final round yesterday, Bologan and Malakhov repeated three times, and called the arbiter, only to be refused permission to agree a draw anyway - on what grounds, only Don Corleone could say!
Anyway, forewarned is forearmed. Sebastian Maze and Ilya Smirin took no chances in their game. Having reached a position after 15 moves, in which they wished to draw, they then repeated moves - 13 times, all the way to move 40, whereupon they smoked the pipe of peace!
But what about threefold repetitions? In round 8, the top board game was drawn in 16 moves, after the players engineered a well-known repetition in the Berlin Wall. But that same day, Safarli and Baron were double-defaulted, after they repeated three times and then signed the scoresheet - their crime, apparently, was failing to consult an arbiter, before signing. Like Mafia bosses, Danny Boy's arbiters are big on "respect", it seems. But then in the final round yesterday, Bologan and Malakhov repeated three times, and called the arbiter, only to be refused permission to agree a draw anyway - on what grounds, only Don Corleone could say!
Anyway, forewarned is forearmed. Sebastian Maze and Ilya Smirin took no chances in their game. Having reached a position after 15 moves, in which they wished to draw, they then repeated moves - 13 times, all the way to move 40, whereupon they smoked the pipe of peace!
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