I’d like to discuss the popular use of warfare comparisons to games, chess in particular. Fischer was a fan of such analogies and I suspect that this is the source of such phrases’ popularity in the chess world. Just know … Continue reading
Some ghosts serve their creators as carriers of transcendental truth, as visible or audible signs of Spirit. Other ghosts carry the burden of tradition and collective memory…ancestral apparitions often act as correctives to the insularities of individuality, as links to … Continue reading
This is Gurgenidze versus Spassky, 1959. The opening is the Bird Defense to the Ruy Lopez. I like how Spassky acquits himself here. I’ve made some annotations, since I’m an aficianado of the opening. Spassky is one of my favorite … Continue reading
Vishy Anand won the 2012 Chess World Championship and already ranks among the strongest players of all time. The chess community knows him as a fantastically consistent competitor. This is due in part to his excellent preparation, evidenced by the … Continue reading
It snowed from the north/ rime bound the fields/ hail fell on earth/ the coldest of seeds – Anonymous, 9th century But nowadays when we read this there is an added poetry. There is the poetry of a nameless Saxon having … Continue reading
Over the weekend the vultures got into the palace by pecking through the screens on the balcony windows and the flapping of their wings stirred up the stagnant time inside, and at dawn on Monday the city awoke out of … Continue reading
I saw a black cat eating grass the other day during a drive through Philadelphia. I looked into its lantern eyes and there wasn’t a trace of contempt; it was thankfully rooting shoots up from the ground even as our … Continue reading
I just finished reading The Human Stain by Philip Roth. Two years before the millennium, sex scandals rocked President Clinton’s White House as, closer to home, Coleman Silk’s academic career suffered from the withering attack of morality pundits. Now, if you … Continue reading
I’m taking a little vacation to the City of Brotherly Love. On July 4th, with any luck, I’ll be celebrating my independence from the worst run of chess I’ve ever played. In the spirit of a wonderful holiday, I declare … Continue reading
They get their designation from the American horror of the same name. The plot involves crazy children doing a lot of unkind things to adults. If you’ve ever lot to anyone less than 4’6″ then you understand this label. Note: … Continue reading