Media comments on chess
-
- Posts: 1212
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 11:35 am
Re: Media comments on chess
I yesterday began reading Iberia by Julian Sayarer, coming across this gem on P30:
I think of Ronaldo, that footballer from the South Lisbon tenement blocks, one of those neighbourhoods with the external stairwell exits, where the seagulls sit atop of chimney pots like chess pieces, and you go down through the washing lines, down through the balcony railings and then the man in a vest always smoking on his doorstep, down through to where the child's ball bounces on the street beside the wrong side of the tracks.
Apart from the chess simile and the awkward writing style, what is remarkable in this paragraph is the utter tosh about Ronaldo, who was born and bred about as far from Lisbon as it is possible to be and still be on Portuguese soil, ie 600 miles away in Madeira.
Three pages earlier Sayarer, paying tribute to the Portugal he claims to love, asks whether the country is Mediterranean, "a sea it hardly touches." This is true, at least in the same way that Britain "hardly touches" the Mediterranean. Actually, a claim could be made that more of Britain than Portugal touches the Mediterranean if one counts Gibraltar as being part of the former.
Luckily I can ditch the tome as I browsed a secondhand bookshop in Kenilworth this afternoon and came away with Peter Mayle's A Year In Provence, a book I have not read, possibly from reasons of inverted snobbery, for £1.
I think of Ronaldo, that footballer from the South Lisbon tenement blocks, one of those neighbourhoods with the external stairwell exits, where the seagulls sit atop of chimney pots like chess pieces, and you go down through the washing lines, down through the balcony railings and then the man in a vest always smoking on his doorstep, down through to where the child's ball bounces on the street beside the wrong side of the tracks.
Apart from the chess simile and the awkward writing style, what is remarkable in this paragraph is the utter tosh about Ronaldo, who was born and bred about as far from Lisbon as it is possible to be and still be on Portuguese soil, ie 600 miles away in Madeira.
Three pages earlier Sayarer, paying tribute to the Portugal he claims to love, asks whether the country is Mediterranean, "a sea it hardly touches." This is true, at least in the same way that Britain "hardly touches" the Mediterranean. Actually, a claim could be made that more of Britain than Portugal touches the Mediterranean if one counts Gibraltar as being part of the former.
Luckily I can ditch the tome as I browsed a secondhand bookshop in Kenilworth this afternoon and came away with Peter Mayle's A Year In Provence, a book I have not read, possibly from reasons of inverted snobbery, for £1.
-
- Posts: 10364
- Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:06 am
- Location: Somewhere you're not
Re: Media comments on chess
Provided we neglect the Azores, about half as far away again.Tim Spanton wrote: ↑Thu May 05, 2022 6:27 pmabout as far from Lisbon as it is possible to be and still be on Portuguese soil, ie 600 miles away in Madeira.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."
lostontime.blogspot.com
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."
lostontime.blogspot.com
-
- Posts: 4552
- Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:04 pm
- Location: writer
Re: Media comments on chess
I came across CHESS VALLEY for the first time today. Apparently there is a beautiful walk quite near to where I live in Buckinghamshire, following the River Chess.
https://www.chilternsaonb.org/uploads/f ... or-Web.pdf
The whole walk is about 10 miles. That is too much for me, certainly by myself.
A photographer would be needed.
https://www.chilternsaonb.org/uploads/f ... or-Web.pdf
The whole walk is about 10 miles. That is too much for me, certainly by myself.
A photographer would be needed.
-
- Posts: 183
- Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:15 pm
Re: Media comments on chess
An 18th/19th c. player named Sarratt wrote an historically important work on chess. Someone once commented that there is a town Sarratt on Chess, as a remarkable coincidence. (Whether there is a demand for this information I do not know!)Stewart Reuben wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 4:34 pmI came across CHESS VALLEY for the first time today. Apparently there is a beautiful walk quite near to where I live in Buckinghamshire, following the River Chess.
-
- Posts: 5249
- Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:56 pm
- Location: Croydon
Re: Media comments on chess
At least one e2e4 event was held at a hotel in the Chess Valley.Stewart Reuben wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 4:34 pmI came across CHESS VALLEY for the first time today. Apparently there is a beautiful walk quite near to where I live in Buckinghamshire, following the River Chess.
https://www.chilternsaonb.org/uploads/f ... or-Web.pdf
The whole walk is about 10 miles. That is too much for me, certainly by myself.
A photographer would be needed.
The main playing hall had one excellent feature. There was no mobile phone reception.
-
- Posts: 21322
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm
Re: Media comments on chess
It's still there. Google for De Vere Latimer to find reviews etc.David Sedgwick wrote: ↑Tue May 10, 2022 1:27 pmAt least one e2e4 event was held at a hotel in the Chess Valley.
-
- Posts: 4552
- Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:04 pm
- Location: writer
Re: Media comments on chess
Then we should hold a chess event at De Vere Latimer.
-
- Posts: 10364
- Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:06 am
- Location: Somewhere you're not
Re: Media comments on chess
Just saw a chess-themed Peugeot ad. Can't trace it on YouTube - don't know if it's aired in the UK?
EDIT: here you go
EDIT: here you go
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."
lostontime.blogspot.com
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."
lostontime.blogspot.com
-
- Posts: 183
- Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:15 pm
Re: Media comments on chess
Charles Windsor filmed next to a chess set. He says he doesn't play. No explanation of why it is there. At around 1.26: https://uk.style.yahoo.com/future-king- ... 22356.html
Clip also used in Friday's Have I Got News For You.
Clip also used in Friday's Have I Got News For You.
-
- Posts: 4552
- Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:04 pm
- Location: writer
Re: Media comments on chess
That Peugeot ad was an original way of using chess.
-
- Posts: 4552
- Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:04 pm
- Location: writer
Re: Media comments on chess
I very much doubt Prince Charles was a chess player. I think Ray Keene told me they were on the same staircase at Trinity, Cambridge.
His older son is reputed to have joined the chess club at university when he went to a Scottish one.
His older son is reputed to have joined the chess club at university when he went to a Scottish one.
-
- Posts: 5249
- Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:56 pm
- Location: Croydon
Re: Media comments on chess
If you lack sufficient respect for someone to use their correct name, then I don't understand why you would wish to post about them in this thread.Roland Kensdale wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 6:47 pmCharles Windsor filmed next to a chess set. He says he doesn't play. No explanation of why it is there. At around 1.26: https://uk.style.yahoo.com/future-king- ... 22356.html
Clip also used in Friday's Have I Got News For You.
-
- Posts: 5249
- Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:51 pm
- Location: Millom, Cumbria
Re: Media comments on chess
You mean he should actually be Charles Mountbatten-Windsor? Or what exactly??
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)
-
- Posts: 5249
- Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:56 pm
- Location: Croydon
Re: Media comments on chess
His correct style is HRH the Prince of Wales. I regard Prince Charles as acceptable.Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 10:30 pmYou mean he should actually be Charles Mountbatten-Windsor? Or what exactly??
-
- Posts: 5249
- Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:51 pm
- Location: Millom, Cumbria
Re: Media comments on chess
But does "style" always matter above all else? IIRC his eldest son was known as Mountbatten-Windsor at university.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)