BBC World Service - Seeking The Endgame (Episode 1) by Simon Terrington

BBC World Service - Seeking The Endgame (Episode 1) by Simon Terrington

Just heard about this new series on chess from the BBC World Service, via Closet Grandmaster. I would check the exact times nearer the broadcast time though as there seems to be some uncertainty about these - see Link 1 & Link 2.

Tags: BBC - BBC World Service - Chess - Simon Terrington - Technology
Posted by ALCHEssMIST - Alchemipedia alliance.

I'm An Explorer Okay - Richard Feynman Documentary - The Last Journey Of A Genius [1988]

ALCHEssMIST is a big fan of Richard Feynman (1918-1988), the theoretical physicist & Nobel laureate (1965). Below is a very interesting documentary about the great man - Richard Phillips Feynman - The Last Journey Of A Genius [1988].

Video Concept List: 1850 - 1931 - 1965 - 1981 - 1983 - 1986 - 1988 - 584 - Adventure - Adventure Of Life - Adventurer - Apes - Arista - Asia - Astronomical Numbers - Ballet - Banana - Big Screen - Big Subject - Big Words - Bishop - Bongo Drums - Botanists - California - Castling - Central Asia - Chairman Rogers - Challenger Disaster - Chemist - Chess - Codex - Colour - Complexity - Confusion - Doesn't Fit - Dresden Codex - Eclipse - Electric Field - Ethnologist - Evening Star - Explorer - Fakers - Gendarme - Genius - Geography - Heat - Heiroglyphics - Honors - Horse - Independent Country - Influence - Integrations - Kismet - Kyzyl - Kyzyl Electric Plant - Laws of Physics - Lectures On Physics - Mario Casetta - Mayan Codex - Mess - Mexico - Mongolia - More Simple - Morning Star - Moscow - Mother (Film, 1926) - Movie Theatre - Museum - NASA - National Academy of Science - Nature - Nobel Prize - O Ring - Orange Juice - Otto Manchen-Helfen - Pain In The Neck - Paris - Phrase Book - Physicist - Physics - Pit Viper - Pool - Presidential Commission - Publicity - Puzzles - Quantum Electrodynamics - Ralph Leighton - Republic of Tuva - Revolutionary - Revolutions - Richard Feynman - Rules - Russian - Science - Siberia - Silk Road - Simplicity - Singing - Stamps - Stockholm - Struggle - Stupid - Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman - Swan Lake - Swedish Academy - Tannu Tuva - The Library Of Congress - Theoretical Physicist - Throat Singing - Touva - Tuva - Tuva or Bust - Tuvan - Tuvinskaya - Underlying Laws - Venus - Very Small Specialty - Vision - Vsevolod Pudovkin - Washington D.C. - Waves - Whistling - World Music - Writing

Posted by ALCHEssMIST - Alchemipedia alliance.

Living Chess British Pathé Newsreel (1933) - The Famous Opera Game

The famous Opera Game was played in 1858 between Paul Morphy and the partnership of Duke Karl of Brunswick & Count Isouard. Morphy won in a dazzling manner.

The video link below (click on image) shows a living chess game filmed by British Pathé in 1933. Although not all the moves are seen, it is clear that the game is a re-creation of the famous Opera Game.

Moves to the Opera Game:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Bg4? 4. dxe5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 Qe7 8. Nc3 c6 9. Bg5 b5? 10. Nxb5 cxb5 11. Bxb5+ Nbd7 12. 0-0-0 Rd8 13. Rxd7 Rxd7 14. Rd1 Qe6 15. Bxd7+ Nxd7 16. Qb8+! Nxb8 17. Rd8#

Tags: 1933 - 1858 - British Pathé - Count Isouard - Duke Karl of Brunswick - Living Chess - Opera Game - Paul Morphy

Eating Takes Second Place For Chess Fiends (British Pathe Chess Newsreel, 1946)

This 1946 British Pathe newsreel (click on image) shows weekday lunch hour footage of the Gambit Chess Rooms, London. The players can be seen eating lunch, with waitress table service, whilst they play games of chess. The chess games last on average 20 minutes.

The classic quote from the newsreel was:

'Lily the waitress has quite a job trying to keep the players mind on food.
She knows that with chess fiends eating takes second place.'

Link tip thanks to Leonard Barden via Edward Winter's Chess Notes - 6658. Edward Mason (C.N.s 4183 & 6646)

Enid Blyton On Chess (Chess Quote)

A comment by the author Enid Blyton (here) got me wondering if she played chess, and also if she was possibly influenced by chess as a child.

The quote was from a letter about her childhood where she described how her mind would be flooded at night by stories, "all mixed-up, rather like dreams are, but yet each story had its own definite thread—its beginning and middle and ending."

This trytychian description of beginning, middle & end, from my personal perspective has a chessic flavour.

Whenever a question about esoteric chess history comes up it is always wise to consult Edward Winter's Chess Notes. Hey presto! the answer appeared.

The following text is from Chess Notes Archive [24] - 4446. Enid Blyton (C.N. 4234):

Geoff Chandler (Edinburgh) has been doing some hunting on possible connections between chess and the British writer Enid Blyton (1897-1968), and has forwarded us a passage from page 55 of her autobiography (written for children), The Story of My Life (London, 1952):

‘When I was six my father taught me to play draughts, and a little later he taught me to play chess. That was just before I was seven. He thought that all young children should learn to play chess. “If they have any brains it will train them to think clearly, quickly and to plan things a long way ahead”, he said. “And if they haven’t any brains it will make the best of those they have!” I don’t know if he was right. I know that I enjoyed the games immensely. Children rarely play chess now. There is not enough time, and chess is a game that takes up a very great deal of time. I wonder if any of you who are reading this book can play chess.’

Considering the text quote is from 1952, I was surprised that Enid described there being 'not enough time', to play chess. Also, the comment that 'chess is a game that takes up a very great deal of time' suggests to me that she did indeed study the game of chess as well as play it.

Tags: 1952 - Autobiography - Chess - Chess Quote - Children - Edward Winter - Enid Blyton - Geoff Chandler - Tryptychian

What Do Bill Hartston and the Castellers of Catalonia Have In Common? (Cryptic Chess Puzzle)

Question:

What Do Bill Hartston and the Castellers of Catalonia Have In Common?

Answer:

Found here at The Streatham & Brixton Chess Blog

Catalonia (Map)

[Image by Hansen at Wikipedia (cc)]

Cryptic Chess Puzzles - An ALCHEssMIST View

ALCHEssMIST's mind is particularly prone to noticing associations (especially visual) between apparently unrelated topics. These thoughts, however, do have some logic unlike a certain famous chess metaphor.

Hint: - the psychologist who first described this chess metaphor had been in correspondence several years earlier with the celebrated author Enid Blyton who had written about her childhood experience of having stories flood into her mind at night:

"all mixed-up, rather like dreams are, but yet each story had its own definite thread—its beginning and middle and ending."

"I thought all children had the same 'night stories' and was amazed when one day I found they hadn't."

The term 'Cryptic Chess Puzzles' is a homage to Cryptic Crossword Puzzles.

I will start this thread of posts with a question which alludes to the merits of a university education -

What Do Bill Hartston and the Castellers of Catalonia Have In Common?