Tag Archives: chess

ACTION ITEM: Really great travel chess set available. I have one.

This came into my email and I am eager to get the news out to you. Sure, I push chess in my Daily Rome Shot posts.  I wanted to make sure you saw this. Some time ago, I bought a … Read More

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ROME 22/10 – Day 4: A stroll and an “I dunno”

In Rome sunrise, still to take place as I write this part of this post, will be at 7:08. It will appear to set at 18:49 and the Ave Maria is in the 19:00 phase. It is the Dies Natalis … Read More

Posted in Chess, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
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Daily Rome Shot 550, etc.

There’s a shop on the Piazza Navona where there are many chess sets for sale.  Note also special decks of cards for Italian games like scopa and briscola.  There are decks from different regions for their games, Brescia, Naples, Lombardy, Piacenza, Sardinia… Salzburg. Click … Read More

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Daily Rome Shot 531, etc. – packed!

Catholic?  Have a site or web project?  The Catholic Signal Corps might be just the right resource for you.  Recently we helped Padre Pio Press. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE  These links take you … Read More

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Daily Rome Shot 515, etc.

I’ve been updating the “Day in Rome” project.  Thanks to the donors! Also, I learned that Wyoming Catholic College is looking for a chaplain. HERE In Chess News… 50 years ago today in Reykjavik, It was challenger Fischer v. Spassky in Game … Read More

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Daily Rome Shot 502, et al.

It’s Amazon Prime Day and there are lots of deals. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE To try Amazon Prime for free – US HERE – UK HERE Health report: As you may recall, I … Read More

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50 years ago: 11 July 1972 – Spassky-Fischer – Game 1 (Nimzo-Indian)

I had learned to play chess from my grandfather and, by the time 1972 came around, I was well into competitions. I spent a good share of my youth in the summers in the West, Montana and Wyoming.  Let’s just … Read More

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Just Too Cool: Salt and Pepper repurposed

This is a really fun bit of correspondence.  For you chess lovers, or … perhaps flea market and collecting lovers… From a reader… Dear Father Zed, or Father Zee (as we say up here north of the 49th!!) For several … Read More

Posted in Chess, Just Too Cool, Lighter fare | Tagged
6 Comments

ROME 22/6 – DAY 8: A Spanish Saint, Tomato & Pig Cheek Sauce, Brutal Self-Assessment

In Rome sunrise was at 5:32 and, though we may not see it for the clouds, sunset is scheduled for 20:47.   The Ave Maria bell ought to be a 21:00. This is the splendidly illuminated S. Maria in Monserrato, named … Read More

Posted in Chess, On the road, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged , ,
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17 Jan ’08 – Bobby Fischer

From Twitter… Keep in mind that Fischer probably was received into the Catholic Church before he died. Just… suggestin’ So, two childhood heros named Bobby.  One is still alive.

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A chessy post not without obiter dicta – UPDATED (more pics)

UPDATE 9 Dec 21: One of you wrote: “But Father! But Father!  You showed interior of the finished board and some pieces, but you didn’t show a photo of it set up!  Inquiring minds…” Okay,  that’s fair.  Scroll to the … Read More

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Chess, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged
11 Comments

On chess and gratitude and a dig at the loony Left

First and foremost, thank you to the reader who sent from my wishlist (‘happy birthday to me’) the wonderful “Lewis” chessmen, found on Lewis Island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, not at Lewes in Sussex where friends of mine … Read More

Posted in Chess, SESSIUNCULA, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged
8 Comments

What Fr. Z is up to.

After several decades, and not of the Rosary in this context, along with other things I had loved to do and that I was good at and I that I had shelved because of seminary and priesthood, I’m getting back … Read More

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FOLLOW UP to “Of Leo XIII, Caruso, and Chess”

From a reader reacted to THIS post… I see from your recent post that you are a denier of the Fifth Lateran Council. You resist its Canons on the playing of chess and association with actors. After 800 years, we … Read More

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Saturday Interlude: Of Leo XIII, Caruso, and Chess

UPDATED: See end. Did you know that Canon 16 of the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215 forbade priests from playing chess? It was considered a game of chance (clearly by non-chessplayers).   That canon also forbade participation of clerics … Read More

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8 Comments

Of chess and clerics

Out of curiosity, en passant as it were, are there any Catholic clerical chess players among the readership? I don’t mean just clerics who know how to play, but rather clerics who do play.  More often than a couple times … Read More

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What a difference a bishop can make.

From Chess.com today, the Daily Puzzle is from one of the 18th c. “Modenese Masters”, Domenico Ercole del Rio (+1802).  There is an elegant forced mate here in 3 but it requires a bold sacrifice.  White to move. What a … Read More

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25 Comments

Searching for Bobby Fischer’s search for the Catholic Church

My boyhood summers – when there was still such a thing as boyhood – were in large part spent in Montana and N. Wyoming, running like a brown animal, riding bare-back, swimming, biking, and going to minor league ballgames with … Read More

Posted in Just Too Cool, Random Thoughts, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged
17 Comments

20 July: International CHESS Day!

Before it isn’t the 20th any longer (soon, where I am), I wish all of you a happy International CHESS Day! In honor of this esteemed occasion, I repost… Animi caussa… the names of the pieces. 1 rex, sive scaccus 1 regina (vel virgo, vel amazon, … Read More

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10 October – National Chess Day

I remind the readership that the second Saturday of October is designated as National Chess Day. Don’t be board.  Get out there and start mating!  I’ll check on your progress. Also, en passant, many thanks to the readers who, some … Read More

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