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A puzzle for you.
White to move and mate in 2.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE
The traditional Benedictines in Norcia make really good beer, three kinds. Give it a try and help them out at the same time.
The Norway tourney is coming to an end. Magnus Carlsen has not won a single classical game, but, after draws, has been cleaning up in Armageddon. Too little for a good ranking. Fabi is in the lead. He plays Hikaru today. If Hikaru wins, he wins. A draw leaves him in 2nd. Yesterday, Fabi and my guy Wesley So tangled. They drew the classical and, in Armageddon, …
In this tournament, if there is a win in classical (each player with 2 hours, no increments per move until 40) then they play a tie breaker called “Armageddon” in which the white player starts with 10 minutes and black 7 minutes, but, for black, a draw is a win. Winner get’s 1.5 and the loser 1.0
… alas, Wesley made a misstep and Fabiano pounced. Today going into Round 9 Wesley is #4 after Fabi, Hikaru, and 17 yr old Gukesh Dommaraju (17th in world).
Look at this crazy pawn structure in Gukesh v Firouza yesterday.
Gukesh eventually marched c and d down the board.
The readings for Holy Mass in the Vetus Ordo today are beautiful. From Luke 6:36-42:
In that time, Jesus said to His disciples: 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
Christ says the same thing in the Sermon on the Plain as in the Matthew account of the Sermon on the Mount.
I’ll remind the readership that when Christ taught His followers “the Lord’s Prayer”, the one thing he went back to stress was the need to forgive. If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. Period. Thus, undertaking a effort of “purification of memory” is really important for some of us who have been hurt and badly treated.
Domenico Fetti (+1623), a fine painter whose canvass of the Repentant Magdalen you would recognize, has an image of the “Mote and the Beam” which is found in the Met in NYC – where I have not been for too long.
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H to f5, forcing black bishop to d4. Q to d4, checkmate.
An often misinterpreted passage, used to justify a sort of amoral non-application of teaching authority. Since I’ve been in a Ciceronian mood lately, it put me in mind of a passage of Cicero:
“Sed haec eadem num censes apud eos ipsos valere nisi admodum paucos, a quibus inventa, disputata, conscripta sunt? Quotus enim quisque philosophorum invenitur, qui sit ita moratus, ita animo ac vita constitutus, ut ratio postulat? qui disciplinam suam non ostentationem scientiae, sed legem vitae putet? qui obtemperet ipse sibi et decretis suis pareat? Videre licet alios tanta levitate et iactatione, ut eis fuerit non didicisse melius, alios pecuniae cupidos, gloria non nullos, multos libidinum servos, ut cum eorum vita mirabiliter pugnet oratio. Quod quidem mihi videtur esse turpissimum. Ut enim, si grammaticum se professus quispiam barbare loquatur, aut si absurde canat is qui se haberi velit musicum, hoc turpior sit quod in eo ipso peccet cuius profitetur scientiam, sic philosophus in vitae ratione peccans hoc turpior est quod in officio cuius magister esse vult, labitur artemque vitae professus delinquit in vita.”
Effective admonition requires moral rectitude. Nevertheless, it doesn’t always take. This is no excuse to abandon the truth:
“Nonne verendum est igitur, si est ita, ut dicis, ne philosophiam falsa gloria exornes? Quod est enim maius argumentum nihil eam prodesse quam quosdam perfectos philosophos turpiter vivere?
Nullum vero id quidem argumentum est. Nam ut agri non omnes frugiferi sunt qui coluntur… sic animi non omnes culti fructum ferunt. Atque, ut in eodem simili verser, ut ager quamvis fertilis sine cultura fructuosus esse non potest, sic sine doctrina animus; ita est utraque res sine altera debilis. Cultura autem animi philosophia est; haec extrahit vitia radicitus et praeparat animos ad satus accipiendos eaque mandat eis et, ut ita dicam, serit, quae adulta fructus uberrimos ferant.”
It merely means that we ought, in our cultivation of the soul, display humility and humour when we are required by duty to teach or correct.