White, down in material, to move and, remarkably, win.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
The wonderful nuns of Gower Abbey, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, have a disc and digital download of what are arguably the most beautiful chants of the entire liturgical year, the Tenebrae Reponses. Okay, so it’s not Lent. It is a Friday, however.
And if your chess game hearkens to the Lamentations of Jeremiah, it’s time to gear up.
For chessy news, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) has banned TRANS men from competing in the women’s category. “In the event that the gender was changed from a male to a female the player has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women until further FIDE’s decision is made.” The rule takes effect on 21 August. “No right”… sounds as if case by case exceptions could be possible.
We saw the other day that a male weight-lifter blew away the female competition with a +200 pound greater lift. Fair?
Chess is another matter. I’ve often wondered if women play differently somehow. No? Why should there be a different section for women? Women GMs rather than just GMs? It comes back, I think, to how girls and women were (are?) treated in an environment that is vastly dominated by males. Judith Polgar addresses this. All-female sections give girls and women a chance to compete and not have to deal with the other dynamics. As more and more female players train up, perhaps the category will phase out. I hope so. The point is good chess. This probably can’t and won’t happen with, say, hockey… unless there is eventually so much estrogen in the water supply that there are hardly any men left.
Maybe rectories should have only tested spring water available. Maybe too late?
Otherwise, yesterday in Baku in the World Cup tiebreaks (Round 6) Pragg and his bestie Arjun played both rapid and blitz to determine who would go to the semis. Draws. Until… as a 3 minute blitz game commenced on schedule and Pragg wasn’t at the board, the clock was started. He said later that he was in the restroom.
Pragg arrives 30 seconds down in a 3 minute blitz, takes off his jacket, adjusts and goes on to win a super battle. Next: Pragg v. Fabi. Magnus v. Nijat Abasov (the Azerbaijani homeboy and huge surprise).
Game 3 between Pragg and Arjun was the real nail-biter, but here’s the last game when Pragg started 20 seconds down.
Also, in my online search of the FIDE site for more precision about the trans rule, I discovered two things.
First, there was a HUGE tournament in Italy in Montesilvano, near Pescara, at the Pala Dean Martin. Dean Martin?!? As it turns out this center is named in honor of the late Dean Martin of Steubenville, Ohio. His real name was Dino Crocetti and his father was a barber from… Montesilvano. I suspect Dino was good to that town.
Second, I saw an article at FIDE entitle “Traduttore-Traditore“, (“A translator is a traitor”) something I know a lot about, for I have been a translating “traitor” for years with my countless columns about liturgical texts. In translating, you have to make some choices of meaning that “betray” other possibilities. The FIDE article was about the difficulties of rendering rules into “Globish”, a kind of English which is … well… bad English. The article even says:
There is an old joke: “the official language of FIDE is not English; it’s bad English”. Objectively, the English spoken at the RC is not strictly British or American English. Instead, it is a form of Globish, a simplified and standardized version of the English language. Globish is commonly used as a lingua franca in international contexts, where non-native speakers adopt it as a common ground for communication.
In the piece we read that before 2023 the rules were written “exclusively for men”. They decided they should use he/she to move closer to gender neutrality. An exception:
Chess960 II.3.2.5, “the king be placed on his final square”, which is why “his” appears one more time than “her” in the new version of the Laws.
I guess that settles the question about whether or not we should refer to the Queen as “her”.
If only there were a language that could help with these pesky difficulties.
The article concludes with
We didn’t provide a Latin version of the Laws of Chess. Still, everybody can translate the well-known motto for the international chess community, reflecting the unity and camaraderie among chess players worldwide: “gens una sumus” !
LATIN!
Rex cum turre locum commutare potest quod adroccare dici potest. Rex adroccat aut in Dominae latus aut suum in latus. Etc.
BTW… chess is absolutely trans friendly. Isn’t that the highest aspiration of every pawn?
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There is interesting research about the average of male/female intelligence being equal but the highs/lows of male intelligence being more dramatic. I feel like my lived experience adds some credibility to that, and I think there has to be some kind of genetic component to the 2700+ players – players like Shankland, Howell, Naroditsky, etc. seem to follow the same path as the top guys but never quite get there.
But I’m not sure we can even evaluate that given how horribly women are treated in club-level up to national-level chess. If we’re going to claim that margins are so tight at the top level that your genetics play a decisive role, assuredly sexual abuse during your prime growth years would have a debilitating impact, much less lack of access to coaching, fewer tournament opportunities, etc.
I love watching women’s classical chess because the games are wild, but that is just because 2400 – 2600 classical chess is wild – I don’t think they play any differently. When we’re watching men’s classical chess we’re seeing 2700’s that I am not sure anybody can really understand (outside of a few broadcasted national tournaments that feature lower-rated players). Twice now in the World Cup Magnus has created an endgame win out of thin air, and even the commentators sound clueless about how he does it (e.g. when Keymer made that “bad” bishop move).
Nc5 threatens Re8 mate on the next move. To prevent it, Black has to move either his bishop or his rook. If Black answers ….. Be6 or Bf7, White’s knight captures the rook; if he plays ….. Re3 or Rd1+, White’s rook captures it.
Even if Black plays his best response, Be4, White still wins the exchange after NxR, BxN. And then White’s rook can go to work on Black’s kingside pawns, clearing the way for the White pawns to advance. Eventually Black will be forced to sacrifice his bishop to prevent a pawn from queening, and his king will be left alone to battle White’s rook, king, and other pawns.
Dean Martin as Tony Rome….Classic
1. Nc5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_Chess_(Sofonisba_Anguissola)
The solution is for everyone to dress appropriately and have sportsmanship and manners… ie. Chivalry. (I would suggest “elaborate Renaissance attire” myself). And maybe they should be limited to speaking latin.
N e4 to c5,
Black can do nothing, except to delay checkmate for a while by moving a bishop or rook.
R e1 to e8
We named our handsome puppy ‘Dino’. If he could sing it would be Vita Bella.