The Knights of Castle Kimbark

Your Next Car

2008-08-04T07:00:00.003-05:00

If only, eh? Hat tip: Britannica Blog.

Chess in the Churchyard: Toronto

2008-08-03T06:54:00.018-05:00

I can’t resist the bonhomie of street chess, so when I found myself in Toronto for the day last Thursday, I made sure to visit the one spot in town where I knew there to be a lively version of it generally in progress: the courtyard of the Metropolitan United Church, on Queen Street between Church and Bond.

The churchyard has four chess tables located a piously appropriate distance from and building’s entrance. Still, if you enter the church from the front you can’t avoid walking past the chess boards.

From about 3:30 in the afternoon on there were five or six games going on at any time, the woodpushers having appropriated not just the chess tables proper but some of the assorted picnic tables that also dot the yard. The scene was mostly male and slightly raucous though perfectly friendly. Five-minute blitz appeared to be the game of choice, though some clock-free games were under way. No money changed hands at the table where I played (won 1, lost 2).

I also stopped by the incredible plaza at Yonge and Dundas to see the irrepressible chess entertainer Raul, who holds court on the corner. He charges five dollars a game (“a donation, not gambling”). I didn’t have time for that. Maybe next visit.

Raul

Raul photo by Danielle Scott via flickr

Watching the Storm Roll In

2008-07-27T20:27:00.005-05:00

Washington, Connecticut
July 27, 2008

French Dip

2008-07-22T23:37:00.003-05:00

Kids: When you weaken your kingside pawn structure, beware. Of course, it doesn't help to fall behind needlessly in material, either.

Your Moment of Zen XI

2008-07-18T00:08:00.001-05:00

For those of you wondering why I have't gone out and bought my cats one of thise spiffy kitty playgrounds like the one Elizabeth Vicary has (scroll down in the post), it's really quite simple: I'm not sure they'll use it.

While Elizabeth's cats are obviously intelligent enough to know when something is intended for their use, I have no such confidence in Lyra (pictured here) and Yoda. They're always in the way, getting under foot, and appropriating houshold items that simply weren't meant for feline use. The root of the problem, I reluctantly conclude, is that they just aren't that smart. I know that must sound terribly insensitive and speciesist in these times of harmonic convergence, when all the creatures of the earth coexist on a basis of mutual respect, but there it is.

Feel free to provide captions to the above. The same prizes as always are on offer for the best.

Blowing It With One Bad Move

2008-07-17T00:06:00.001-05:00

Kids: How many times have I admonished you about king safety? (No, I don't need an exact number; it's a rhetorical question.) And do you listen?

Okay, so maybe you do: good. But do I listen -- to my own advice? Not from the look of this game. I had the advantage throughout. I was turning up the pressure, controling space, and was up a rook to a pawn, but in my lust for material, and because I ignored my opponent's attack while pursuing my own plans, I enabled him/her to swoop down and mate me.

My big blunder was 30. g3, which made mate inevitable. Even after 29. ... Qh4, with Black's queen and knight bearing down on my king, Chessmaster scores the game at 6.62 -- a big lead for White.

The move I missed was 30.Qxf7, which would have protected the f2 square and pressured Black's king. Chessmaster's continuation: 30. ... Qxh2+ 31.Kf1 Qh1+ 32.Ke2 Nf6 33.Qe6 Qh5+ 34.f3 Qg6 35.Qf5 Qxf5 36.exf5 Nd5 37.Nb5 Nf4+ 38.Kf1 d5 39.Rb7.

Street Chess By the Bay

2008-07-16T12:48:00.003-05:00

As I think I've said before, I'm a sucker for street chess. Here's an excerpt from a documentary on the game as it's played in San Francisco. Is that Market Street?

And, yes, money is changing hands. It happens.

Your Moment of Zen X

2008-07-14T21:21:00.002-05:00

Feel free to provide the caption

Wacky Monday

2008-07-14T21:10:00.004-05:00

Kids: Don't play the way Black did in this "miniature." Bad development and exposing your king encourages your opponent to attack early, generally with tragic results.

Blaze Heats Up

2008-07-12T08:37:00.006-05:00

The Chicago Blaze, one of two new expansion teams in the United States Chess League (USCL), now has a Web site and a blog. (Yours truly will be one of the regular posters.) The team is getting ready for its first season, which begins on August 25 with a match against the Arizona Scorpions, the league’s other new team.

This week the Blaze issued an official press release with a preview of the what’s to come. The schedule is now posted online. Mark your calendars and plan to follow all the action throughout September, October, and into the November playoffs.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Vicary is conducting a poll on her blog to see who people think will win the USCL championship this year. You can vote for the team you think most likely to win.

Borders Slashes Business Hours

2008-07-09T07:10:00.010-05:00

Hyde Park chess players squeezed again

The Borders bookstore on 53rd Street and Lake Park Ave., where Hyde Park chess players have found perhaps their warmest welcome since being unceremoniously ousted from Harper Court several years ago, has cut back its daily hours of operation, now closing every evening at 8:00. The store was previously open until 10:00 on weeknights and 11:00 on weekends.

The reason for the new hours wasn’t immediately clear, though there have been reports in the Chicago media that certain Borders stores, including the one in Hyde Park, might be slated for eventual closing as a result of a shift in the company’s corporate strategy. I have no recent information on this or whether the change of hours indicates anything about the store's eventual fate.

The new schedule does mean, however, that chess players, who play continuously in their cozy perch on the east end of the store’s second-floor café, will have their evening games cut short. The store has given refuge to a group of itinerant chess players who have been part of the Hyde Park scene for many years. Though they are mostly adult men, some star members of the Ray School Chess Club, including Phillip Parker-Turner and Sonam Ford, play there regulary.

In other developments, the storefront on 53rd between Greenwood and Ellis that was home to the former Hayden Market, which once provided a haven for chess players, is now empty. The establishment was taken over last year by new proprietors who immediately put an end to chess at the store. What exactly happened is a matter of some dispute, but if the new management thought that banishing chess was its key to success, they appear to have miscalculated.

Elsewhere, I have seen no chess at all this season outside the Starbucks on 53rd and Harper, where players gathered regularly in previous years, though the royal game is being played vigorously, weather permitting, at the two chess tables in Harold Washington Park, 53rd Street and Hyde Park Boulevard.

The People Have Spoken

2008-07-07T05:59:00.000-05:00

Here are the results of our recent poll. I think it’s clear who people want for vice president.

Chess in the Park, Part II

2008-07-05T09:10:00.012-05:00

“Chess is like ginger ale. No one thinks about bringing it, but people love it when someone remembers it.”

Liquid Egg Product

For the second year in a row, the truth of LEP’s prescient, profound, and prophetic observation has been proven true at the 4th of July celebration in Chicago’s Nichols Park. No one thought about chess, no one asked for it, but someone remembered it yesterday, and kids and adults were all over it like a cheap suit.

Please forgive the cliché; it’s a simile I enjoy too much to resist. More photos here.

Your Independence Day Moment of Zen

2008-07-04T09:02:00.005-05:00

For life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, peace, social justice, chess, and all that good stuff.

Moment of Zen IX.

Chess in the Park Tomorrow

2008-07-03T16:39:00.009-05:00

Everyone had such a great time when we did this a year ago that we're going to do it again. If all goes as planned, I'll be out there in Nichols Park tomorrow during the July 4th festivities with chess sets so anybody who wants to can come and play. The kids had a great time last year. Maybe this year we can get some adults to play.

The 4th of July parade in Hyde Park is scheduled to reach Nichols Park at about noon on Friday, so that's when things should get started. Look for us at the two concrete chess tables just south of the 54th Street cul du sac ("dead end" where I come from) between Kimbark and Kenwood. Come and play, very informal.

"A" marks the spot

Breaking News: Bush Tours America

2008-07-03T11:56:00.006-05:00

This just in: the president takes bold action in response to the crisis

Wacky Wednesday on Thursday

2008-07-03T09:50:00.002-05:00

It's been awhile since I posted a Wacky Wednesday game, and while I'm a day late with this one there's little doubt that it meets the criteria for wackiness. I'm Black in this online game. Was my opponent a lemming?

game viewer: ChessVideos.tv

No Room for Snobbery

2008-06-18T06:19:00.004-05:00

I found this item from the Falmouth Penryn Packet, in Falmouth,U.K., simply charming. Why don't we have more reports like this in American newspapers?

Pub seeks chess mates

CELEBRATIONS to mark the first anniversary of The Railway Tavern's Wednesday night chess sessions take place this week. More players are needed to keep the nights interesting as they appear to have settled into a bit of a hit and miss affair with two or three out of five regulars turning up on any one night.

Anyone is welcome from complete beginners who want to learn chess to accomplished players who just want to show off! All will find that there is no room for snobbery as the current players are from all walks of life, coming simply to enjoy a game of chess in convivial surroundings and a friendly atmosphere.

There are at least six boards to play on and one player capable of playing simultaneous games so nobody should have to wait to play.

The Agony of Defeat; the Thrill of Victory

2008-06-12T12:52:00.007-05:00

One loss, one win. Both are pretty crummy games, but perhaps there are some beginners out there who can benefit from seeing how not to play. And if it's quality you want, there are plenty of other blogs with that.

Can We Get the Senator a Bluetooth?

2008-06-12T07:36:00.005-05:00

Was that State Senator Kwame Raoul I spotted talking on his cell phone, handset in hand, while driving yesterday evening? Details: Illinois license plate #13, with the label "Senate Official"; late-model Toyota at 53rd & Woodlawn, Chicago, approximately 7:55 PM.

What would Barack Obama think of his Illinois Senate successor flouting Chicago's no-hands cell phone ordinance?

Probably not much. I hear he has bigger issues on his mind these days.

So Long, Coach—and Thanks

2008-06-08T23:47:00.004-05:00

It was five years ago this summer that my son Michael and I ran into our friends Emil Sidky and his son Nikolaj Reiser in Nichols Park one afternoon and discovered that like us, they liked playing chess. Both kids were about to enter first grade at Ray, and almost instantly the thought of starting a chess club at the school struck all four of us as a brilliant idea.

That fall we founded the Ray School Chess Club, and since then I have been privileged to work in double harness with Emil to give the kids at our school a place to learn and play chess. He and I have had a division of labor, and there is no question whatsoever that Emil has done the most important work. It is he who has taught chess and run the meetings—sometimes with help, sometimes without it—probably 150 Monday afternoon sessions since that first one in 2003.

Emil has been the backbone of the Ray School Chess Club, the only person whom the club simply couldn’t have done without.

Of course, starting next fall we will have to do without him, since Nikolaj is leaving Ray and Emil will move on to other things. I would therefore like to take this occasion to thank him for all he has done these past five years to make Ray’s chess program one of the best in the city.

Thanks, Coach, and good luck always.

Another Year Come and Gone

2008-06-06T08:50:00.017-05:00

This was the scene last Monday at the final meeting of the year for the Ray School Chess Club. It was pizza in the schoolyard and the traditional end-of-the-year chachkas for all the kids. This year, alas, we also bade farewell to the chess club’s founding coach, Emil Sidky, who is moving on after this year.

Photos by Chihlan Lu. More of them here.

Thanks to Lu and also to chess moms Teresa Parker and Julie Vassilatos for organizing the festivities.

Remembering

2008-06-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

At Long Last, Closure

2008-06-04T06:37:00.006-05:00

Next item: Obama's running mate. Will he choose the lady from New York?

This Day in History

2008-05-31T23:06:00.017-05:00

Forty years ago today (I think) I saw a concert at New York's Fillmore East with these guys: Moby Grape.

The opening act was the Gary Burton Quartet, whose guitarist that night may or may not have been the great Larry Coryell; I'm not sure.

It was a superb concert, but the reason I remember it so vividly four decades later is the middle act: the Fugs. They were iconoclasts of the first rank -- ardent, uncompromising, and funny. They were the toast of the counterculture, and we all loved them. That night they made jolly good sport taking shots at daft pop stars like Nancy Sinatra. But they also took some strong jabs at Bobby Kennedy.

And a few days later he was murdered.