Musings on chess, and lesser things
Readers may be aware of my unsuccessful attempt to become a full-blown, road-worthy cyclist. There has recently been a fair bit of public angst, particularly in Sydney, directed at the cyclist/motorist dichotomy, and it’s easy to understand why. Cyclists feel they have ‘every right’ to be treated as equal on the roads to their ozone-eroding …
Readers will no doubt by now be aware of my innate cynicism for today’s commercialised pollution of historical traditions. The astute blog regular will already be predicting what follows to be nothing more than another spiteful attack on the bastardisation of the harmless modern Valentine’s Day. And you’d be right. Admittedly, it hardly seems fair for me …
I’ve just finished watching an absolute ripper of a Twenty20 cricket match between Australia and Pakistan. After the lead changed a dozen times throughout the three hour game, the Aussies clinched victory on the final ball to secure a breathtaking victory. Sixty thousand spectators at the ground and millions more around the world were treated to …
My boss has kindly given me two days off to study for my exam, and so far I have naturally used it to procrastinate. Not on purpose, mind you, but it’s hard not to fall back into the student trap of never having anything to do, but never having any free time, either. It’s an …
I get sinusitis. For anyone who suffers from it, or anyone who’s had a sinus infection, you’ll know just how much of a pain in the butt (or, more correctly, sinuses) it can be. On one trip to the doctor’s, I was told that I have unusually narrow sinuses, which precipitates and exacerbates sinus infections …
I’m not going to get into a debate on climate change on here – I have some pretty strong and largely unfounded opinions, and it only takes a beer or two before I’m an expert worthy of chairing the Copenhagen Summit. Regardless of your own views, we can all agree that pollution is bad, and …
The Australian championships are over for another year, with top-seeded grandmaster Zong-Yuan Zhao winning by a full point with a record-equalling 10/11. But what a championship it was! Unfortunately, work commitments in Canberra relegating me to the role of online spectator, but the live games and even livelier online discussions on ChessChat kept us pundits …
I do. I really, really do. Turu comments that they appreciate reading ‘a grandmaster’s thoughts’. Well, this seems as good an invitation as any to have a rant about the festive season. As I prepare to leave tomorrow for a very merry Christmas in Perth, I’m hoping this rather unmerry post will help rid my …
The final blitz tie-break was actually reasonably exciting. Gelfand, the top seed, came through by winning three of the four blitz games in the tie-break. Not a bad performance from the Israeli, and good to see him getting a tournament victory under his belt. Overall, however, the games in the London tournament were far more …
So, the shock of a decisive victory in this finals match (to Gelfand) is already less than the shock of how badly Gelfand is playing in game three. Maybe he tried to play *too* conservatively, but blundering as early as move 10 in such a harmless position is very uncharacteristic of the Israeli. Ponomariov should take this one out, and will hold a significant psychological edge in the final rapid game (though a soft draw is my prediction – leave it to the blitz, Boris…)