My Chess Blog

" The direction of the brushstroke is no longer an aid to the reading of forms. It is without any support from structure that the beholder must mobilize his memory of visible world and project it into the mosaic of strokes and dabs on the canvas before him. The image, it might be said, has no firm anchorage left on the canvas - it is only "conjured up' in our minds ". - Gombrich   .....and so is perception in Chess....whether you are the onlooker or the creator of a game! Generally, I only scan the games in the tournament sites and other Chess portals......to select instructive ones.....but thanks to my friend Sagar , I watched the commentary by Karpov in Biel site on the rapid games for about 30 minutes.....pure gold.....a rare occasion where you get to witness the legend in flow! I shall give you a glimpse of it....before moving into my subject article... This was a position from Pelletier -Harikrishna, Biel Rapid - 2017 . Looking at W...

" Men and women were out in the woods To celebrate spring To celebrate the festival of flowers The moonlight was smiling down on an empty city... A lone traveller Was on the road, ....in the moonlight, With the birds singing overhead, He walked on.... Alone.. .. "                                                               - Tagore " Don't think of what you have to do, don't consider how to carry it out! The shot will only go smoothly when it take the archer himself by surprise !" said Eugen Herrigel in his great book..."Zen in the art of archery" Some of the strokes by Roger Federer must have taken him by surprise.....when the master is in such flow state as he is in....now.....and most of his strokes takes us.....the lesser mortals....by great surprise! And so does a move like..... ......Nb8!! in the above...

" I'm an eye. A mechanical eye. I, the machine, show you a world the way only I can see it. I free myself for today and forever from human immobility. I'm in constant movement. " - Dziga Vertov   The revolutionary Soviet film director speaks for.....and on behalf of the 'static camera! Though, the camera...." that mechanical eye " showed the world the way only " it " can see.....it allowed men to see something extra....something beyond....something that " it " did not know when it captured....a particular picture.....a particular period of time.....a particular part of what will become...History! The camera has the capacity to capture only reality.....what is!  And this " what is " encompasses human possibilities as well as human fallibilities......evoke human brilliance.....as well as allow him to be at his banal best! It is not a replacement to " the eye " - the biological camera....but compliments it...

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is the portrait of the artist, not the sitter" - Oscar Wilde In his seminal work; " The act of creation ", Arthur Koestler  writes....quoting Sir Frederick Bartlett - the French psychologist....who said, " Even the most elementary perception have character of inferential constructions " ....that " even the inferential process, which controls perception, again works unconsciously....or below the level of consciousness ... " Well, then, what is self portrait!? What you proffer is not self portrait! It is just pretense. What shows up...inspite of you is self portrait! In chess too, the game should happen " inspite of you "....then it attains the quality of great self portrait! .....everything else.....irrespective of the result....is only a copy....a poor imitation......crap...! There were a few great masters who attained this level.....and the prime amongst them was David Bro...

" Cricket is a simple game. Once you cover the stumps and the ball is outside your body, there is no way it can hit the woodwork. The only way you can be out is by making a mistake ." - Garry Sobers No need to introduce the great man.....and explain what he said.....simply!  Yet..... take my word.....being simple and doing simple things is the most profoundest and difficult thing in life! You can never eliminate mistakes.....but embrace them and by embracing them,, you evolve and understand what IT means.....and thereby get better and better and commit lesser and lesser! Take for eg., if you are afraid of darkness, the only way you can overcome that fear of darkness is by going through dark areas and not circumventing it or avoiding it!  To dispel ignorance you have to experience and go through ignorance.....and this very process lights a flame of awareness and dispels ignorance! So, to overcome or limit the amount of mistakes that one commit, you need to understa...

For men may come and men may go But I go on for ever.... - Tennyson   Could there be a better allusion to Shri.Dakshninamurthy Sir .......and what he meant to us....all the Chennai based Chess players..... with the exception of Vishy, perhaps..... .....than  Lord Tennyson's fond reference to the Brook : the dwelling place for birds, fern....men.... for .......his house in Govindu Street, T.Nagar, Chennai ......was a brook.....which bred many chessplayers.....a few Grand Masters..... and was a place of reverie for many.....who just came to be with him....revel and keep coming..... .....few almost lived there......! A brook.....is a lifeline.....gives it all......always flowing....takes nothing And this brook was flowing in his grand love for the game......generosity.....towards chess lovers..... To this brook.... ......some came for stealing joy of chess.......playing, reading....and learning..... .....and some.... Yet, "The Brook"..., took noth...

Marcel Duchamp the French sculptor and painter.....who incidentally seemed to have played chess and attained Master's title in 1920's.....wrote: " Chess can be described as the movement of pieces eating one another "! How true! The only piece which cannot be 'eaten' is the King.....a symbolic concession given to this majestic game not to let it go barren... .....and Chess, as many in the past have said, is an imitation of life....in all ways! Every game is an incident.....a phase......a chapter.....as in life.... Here is a political parallel....! A study by Janish in 1850.....is depicting the state of Tamilnadu today! In the above position, the Black King depicts the hapless state of the 'common man '......surrounded by...... ......who looted everything and trapped him shutting all the doors.....one by one..... 1. f3 gf3 2. ed3 cd 3.Bf5 ef5 4.Rd4 cd4 5.a8=B Bd5 6. Re6 de...