Zugzwang

I can’t remember the last time I bought a printed copy of a paper. Yesterday, however, I splashed out on the Independent, mainly in order to try its cryptic crossword, which, like Jon Speelman’s chess column, doesn’t appear on the website. (Why? Lack of space?)

I’m still trying to recover from the shock of seeing the above diagram, in which the knight, in defiance of an age-old convention, is facing to the RIGHT. Is the Indy trying to be independent? Is there a political message? Is anyone willing to set up a Facebook campaign for the abolition of right-facing knights?

Free Nature of Britain calendars are still on offer from the Open University.

From the page for January we learn that the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch will take place during the last weekend of the month.

We’re also told that 2008 is the International Year of the Bat, but I can find nothing about such an event on the web.

Jonathan Agnew’s article on the recent Australia v India test has so far attracted more than 1200, mostly favourable, comments. He says:

What a shame it is that the legacy of this fine team [Australia] will be so tarnished by the ugly and offensive manner in which it plays the game – and has done for at least three years.Ricky Ponting’s men have trampled all over the spirit of cricket by offering the lame excuse that they are “hard”. In their world, deliberately conning the umpire is part and parcel of the game: “It’s his decision,” they offer as a cop-out. Just look at Andrew Symonds, who visibly gloated for the media when he admitted he had got away with a catch behind the wicket early in his first innings - what a miserable performance.

Blogged with Flock

Although the official answers to the KWC quiz haven’t yet been published there is a lengthy discussion of the questions at Quite Interesting.

Just what I was looking for! With Photobook I can now easily transfer photos from a friend’s Facebook albums into iPhoto, and thence to a memory card for viewing on a digital picture frame.

Here’s what the OED has to say about the word:

A [chess] position in which a player is obliged to move but cannot do so without disadvantage; the disagreeable obligation to make such a move. Freq. in Zugzwang. Also transf.

1904 Lasker’s Chess Mag. I. IV. 166 White has struggled bravely and only loses by ‘Zugzwang’. 1930 British Chess Mag. I. 196 The move..puts Black into a Zugswang [sic] position that speedily loses. 1935 SMITH & BONE tr. Tarrasch’s Game of Chess I. 5 White has constrained his opponent to move, has placed him, as we say in Germany, in Zugzwang. 1942 H. GOLOMBEK Fifty Great Games Mod. Chess 53/2 Black now has only a few pawn moves left after which he is in complete ‘Zugzwang’. 1963 [see GRAB n.2 5b]. 1973 Country Life 13 Sept. 744/2 She is, to use a chess term, in complete Zugzwang. She could only make six tricks for a penalty of 200.

There is much more on the subject at Edward Winter’s Chess Notes.

A test of the Chess By Blog Wordpress plugin.

I don’t know why the players’ names (Karpov and Kasparov) aren’t displayed.

[Event “World Championship 31th”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “1984.09.24″]
[Round “5″]
[White “Karpov, Anatoly”]
[Black “Kasparov, Gary”]
[Result “1/2-1/2″]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.f4 O-O 9.Kh1 Qc7
10.Bf3 Nc6 11.a4 Re8 12.Be3 Rb8 13.Re1 Bd7 14.Qd3 Nxd4 15.Bxd4 e5 16.Ba7 Rbc8 17.Be3
Qc4 18.a5 h6 19.h3 Bf8 20.Bd2 Qd4 21.Be3 Qb4 1/2-1/2

Vae mihi! I’ve just discovered (and corrected) a mistake in the title of the first post of this blog.

Instead of “King William’s College’s quiz 2007″ I wrote “King William College’s quiz 2007″. Perhaps I also had in mind what in my day was called Queen Mary College.

Jonathan Calder at Liberal England has 8 wishes for 2008.

1. Nick Clegg to turn out to be half as good as his supporters claimed he was during the election campaign;
2. Guantanamo Bay to close;
3. A Lib Dem education that goes further than “we agree with the NUT”;
4. Jonathan Ross to be sacked by the BBC;
5. Me to get more paid writing published;
6. Andrew Flintoff to return to test cricket;
7. Chelsea to win the Champions League;
8. Leicester Tigers to win everything in site.

No argument whatsoever with any of the even-numbered items on the list. To 6 I’d add a wish for the return of Marcus Trescothick and the (seemingly almost forgotten) Simon Jones, who is now with Worcestershire. As for 8, we might have to settle for the Anglo-Welsh thingy this season, if the recent displays against Toulouse and Sale are anything to go by,

An example of the Templatedia Chess plugin.