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Feb-12-11
 | | Richard Taylor: <Ladolcevita: Wow!Richard,you have a page now!Splendid!
And,you won so many games!~~:)>
I lost a lot too! But thanks... |
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Feb-12-11
| | Richard Taylor: <kingfu> Thanks...yes. I would like to be younger. But such is life. Where in the US are you? My nice lives in Nevada - or whrerever the casino twnis as her husband works in that area... I suppose Nevada is really the South or South West. My broethr went there and was fascinated by the country there...He just "came through that storm in Queensland but the main force of it missed his city (Townsville)...a lot of trees down etc ... Here the weather is cooling and quite pleasant now.
I am preparing to play my next opponent in the ACC Summer Cup...he plays the Larsen var of the Alekhine's ... I beat him in one game, drew in the next (in the NZCC when I recovered and prepared my game sensibly) and now I face it again...in two days Here is the first game I played against young Hans Gao. I finished with nice little Q-sac... [Event "Spring Cup 2010"]
[Site "ACC, Auckland,N.Z."]
[Date "2010.11.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Richard Taylor"]
[Black "Hans Gao"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. c4 Nb6 7. Be3 Bg7 8.
Nc3 O-O 9. Be2 Be6 10. b3 c5 11. O-O N6d7 12. Nf3 Bg4 13. Rc1 cxd4 14. Nxd4
Bxe2 15. Qxe2 Ne5 16. Rfd1 Qa5 17. Nd5 e6 18. b4 Qd8 19. Nf4 Qc8 20. Nb5
Nbc6 21. Nd6 Qc7 22. b5 Ne7 23. c5 Rfd8 24. Bd4 Nd7 25. Bxg7 Kxg7 26. Qxe6
1-0
Where I am (in Auckland) it never snows ..I have only seen snow twice in my life. But in the Central Plateau in winter there is a lot of snow... once I came home from Wellington...in an old car and I suddenly realized I was in "fairyland". It was beautiful and strange and white: but what was it?.Oh that's right, snow! So we actually have it here in NZ! And then my car lost control (or I did)... and a few turns and I went into a snow bank... But I had spent too much time in Auckland! In about 1984 I played in an International Correspondence tournament...The Zamenhof (he invented Esperanto). I played Germany, Finland, Hungary, England (or at least that was a match we had vs England), USSR, the US and Australia I think. It took about 2 years and as hard going one opponent was a J Taylor of Atlanta, Georgia...and he said temps there varied from -40 to +40 (forget if he meant Fahrenheit or Celsius) and they even had snow there! I had "window" envelope and used to have my address on one side and his or my other opponents on the other...one day I 'forgot' which Taylor it was going to and it came back to me! My father also played correspondence chess (we learnt chess together) and in one game he took a pawn and then wrote "Out, damn spot!" which you may recognize is Lady Macbeth form Shakespeare's play...she is washing her hands of the imagined blood... and from there the whole game was "annotated" by literary and other quotes... The joys of chess go beyond winning and losing or rating points or beautiful combinations. |
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Feb-19-11
 | | kingfu: Re: No Country For Old Men
What do I do with this quarter?
Don't put it in your pocket.
What do I do with it?
I do not care what you do with it. Just do not put it in your pocket. |
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| Feb-22-11 | | belgradegambit: Richard: Hope you and your family are OK. Our prayers are with you and everyone in New Zealand |
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Feb-23-11
 | | jackpawn: Heard about the earthquake and suddenly thought about you. Hope you came through it okay. |
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Feb-24-11
| | Richard Taylor: <belgradegambit: Richard: Hope you and your family are OK. Our prayers are with you and everyone in New Zealand> Thank you. I am a long way from Christchurch - it almost is easier to get to Australia from Auckland! But I have been there in the past...it used to be a quite beautiful and rather Englishy city and the Cathedral was destroyed I have been to. I think that these things prove to us there is no God or that whatever Force runs this Muckball (Beckett's term)... ("...sad the ridiculous waste time..." That said Nature or God as you will is malevolent at best. We humans are no more significant in scheme of things than microbes. Hence Katrina, hence the many wars we indulge in, hence earthquakes and all the other owes..that said I suppose peel struggle on pathetically in this strange drive to keep living driven by the life force or whatever it is as described also by Darwin and others ...as do spiders and rats. But eventually the Universe will probably obliterate in a heat death...and all memory or trace of any life anywhere will be efface so this Goterdammmerung event is trivial sub speciae aeternitatis. But I am afraid prayers will fall on the Eternally Deaf Ear!! one perhaps recalls T S Eliots:
"Unreal cities
burst and collapse and reform
in the violet air..." and so on...(something like that) |
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Feb-25-11
| | Richard Taylor: <belgradebgambit><jackpawn> thanks for your concern. Despite that it is quite far from me it is a significant event. I actually think I may have some cousins who live in Christchurch. But I have never them. They are older than I and may be retired. I had two males cousin and two female. One worked as an Engineer in NY for some years. Another was in charge of a steel company and I don't know what the girls did. One was a nurse I think. They are probably all alright. News coverage here is so constant here and eventually there is so much I turn it off and watch other things or listen to the radio or just read... But of course it is certainly a tragedy for those involved. (Whether is a God or not!) |
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Feb-25-11
| | Richard Taylor: <kingfu: Re: No Country For Old Men What do I do with this quarter?
Don't put it in your pocket.
What do I do with it?
I do not care what you do with it. Just do not put it in your pocket.> I remember that scene...the mad killer fellow was in a store... I saw it on TV it was great but I must watch it again as I forget parts. It had deliberately ambiguous ending. The stun gun. Now I worked a few seasons in freezing works and they used those on the cattle before they killed them with knife.. My father was an architect for one company (I worked there as a Knife Hand about1968 and 1969 etc) and he designed the "Beef House" modeled on an Australian one. With sufficient force those air driven stun guns (they don't use bullets as such) can penetrate a mammalian skull... Strange movie. |
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| Feb-26-11 | | SamAtoms1980: My thoughts and prayers are with you and your loved ones. That is all. |
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Feb-28-11
| | kingfu: OK, so let us do an analysis of the movie, "No Country For Old Men." The Coen brothers have done many great movies. Fargo, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple and my favorite, Miller's Crossing, are but a few. Now, No Country for Old Men, is a major dark turn in the Coen Brothers lexicon. The Mad Killer represented outside forces coming into the US with bad intentions. The US citizens he encounters are like cattle. Basically, he killed everyone because he had no artificially imposed morals. No one was expecting to be killed, so it was easy to kill them. And the US citizens including Law Enforcement talked and talked and talked about it but DID nothing. Richard, you should remember when The World Trade Centers were reduced to ash. That was an ACT. That was someone DOING something. A tragedy, yes. It has been about a decade and we, the US, are still talking about what to build in the smoking hole full of dead people. Somehow, we, the US, have been duped into thinking that talking is the same as acting. If we find out why the child molester is acting out then we can talk to him and make him feel better and heal him and let him free. Then they molest over and over and over again. We are stupid and are paying the price. This is shown quite clearly in the movie. Words and language were invented to describe actions, not be actions. How stupid are we, the US, to believe the lies and confusion? |
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| Feb-28-11 | | Troller: Re <No Country for Old Men>: Cormac McCarthy's novels are typically populated with this Mad Killer-type, and it is not necessarily an external force, he can be Mexican, American or Indian for that matter. I think some critics are interpreting his work (at least some of it) as gnostic, and certainly one can trace a sort of ancient dualism in e.g. Blood Meridian. The complete lack of morale (shown by Javier Bardem's character) can also be seen in the Judge-character in Blood Meridian, a person who almost transcends humanity. He is certainly not some external force, rather an archetype. Now the Coen brothers may stress the motif of the intruding force in their film, as an interpretation of the novel, but I think that the Frontier-theme is much more central to the story/film. Beginning with Blood Meridian set in the time of the Indian wars, McCarthy explored the Frontier through the mid-20th century in the Border Trilogy, went on to the 1980's in No Country, and finally into the future (possibly at least) in The Road. Where Fitzgerald pointed out the "new frontier" on the east coast in The Great Gatsby, McCarthy insists on the continued presence of a Western frontier, in which people must take stands in the question of life and death. |
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Feb-28-11
| | kingfu: Excellent work , Troller!
Have you seen the commercial with Javier wearing lipstick? I love this Bardem guy!
Great actors can scare you even if you know they are acting, even if you know it is part of a script. Examples, Vincent D'Onofrio (Private Pyle) in "The Cell." Or Jack Nicholson in "The Shining." Or Ed Harris in "Just Cause." |
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Mar-13-11
| | Richard Taylor: <Troller> <kingfu> I tend to see the film or McCarthy as writing about more universal themes and archetypes (as indicated by Troller). McCarthy obviously "owes" something to Faulkner and others like him. Even Joyce Carol Oates. I like both those novelists. I suppose it should have been obvious he was killing them like cattle!...hmm...I worked in slaughter house ( Meat or Freezing Works we call them here in NZ) myself in the 70s..in fact my father designed the system for processing cattle there. Including killing the cattle...I recall one time seeing a cow or whatever it was falling down about three times before it collapsed. Not a happy business. I have only read McCarthy's first book 'The Orchard Keeper', which I found quite intriguing but a bit baffling, (I have a copy of the first British edition for sale on www.abebooks.com I might negotiate the price on that so, if you see it, you can contact me - that is "ask a question"). I sold a first of Blood Meridian a few years back, I think it went for about NZ$600.00 in Very Good+ condition - I didn't read it. But I have his Border Trilogy on my shelf threatening me to read it! I'm not a big Film Buff but that one was certainly one that kept me on edge as watched it!! Ambiguous ending I liked. |
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Jun-06-11
 | | Benzol: <Richard> was playing in the Waitakere Trust Open this (long) weekend. |
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Jun-07-11
| | Richard Taylor: <Benzol> I didn't do to well. But in my last game (just as you came by!) I had good position and then Jackson blundered, but I missed the significance of it and blundered myself (by not seeing I had forced win just as you came by!) Then I had the advantage but I took pawn in the centre and forgot about a B on the sidelines and it was eaten after which I was gone... I only got 2 draws and one win.
McLaren won as you may know. Edward did well beating Daniel Shen in the last round and finished on 4 points from 6. I was really exhausted after the tournament. |
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Jun-07-11
| | Benzol: <Richard> I didn't know the Waitakere was on until Dad and I popped in to see how Tony Booth was doing after his hip op. He told us it was on. I was talking to Helen Milligan at one stage and she was showing one of her latest ventures, an i-pad with an interactive e-book of one of Lev Aptekar's publications. It looks promising as a teaching tool or a leisure activity pastime. I hope it works out for her as a business activity. |
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Jun-07-11
 | | perfidious: <Benzol>, <Richard>: Did Tony Booth ever play in USA? When I first lived in Boston in 1982-83, I recall a player of that name who was about 2000 strength, though we never actually met. |
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Jun-08-11
| | Richard Taylor: <perfidious> There were 2 Tony Booths in Manchester where Tony is from. I recall at least one who was (often in a mag I used to get in the 60s called 'Chess') quite strong. I put it to Tony but he said he wasn't that player.
Tony is or was perhaps, a pretty sharp player, but not ever 2000 as far as I know and I doubt he was ever in the US. Booth is a fairly common name like Taylor! |
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Jun-08-11
| | Richard Taylor: <Benzol: <Richard> I didn't know the Waitakere was on until Dad and I popped in to see how Tony Booth was doing after his hip op. He told us it was on. I was talking to Helen Milligan at one stage and she was showing one of her latest ventures, an i-pad with an interactive e-book of one of Lev Aptekar's publications. It looks promising as a teaching tool or a leisure activity pastime. I hope it works out for her as a business activity.> I think that may be a part of the NZCA's books and graded exercises etc for juniors etc She is doing some coaching also. I have been talking to Leonard re possible coaching of chess. I stood in for Ewen Green one Saturday. Re the tourney I found it very tiring so am wondering if those weekenders are for me. I played really badly missing an easy win over Jackson and playing like a rabbit against Jeremy Browne (blowing my game from what was easily at least = Also I had a really good position v Garbett but this time (while I was trying to engineer a sac or attack or maybe just to solid up and hold)); then I missed an exchange sac by him which probably was a bit bettor for him, certainly it changed the balnce of the position (I was a bit better up to then and had played well...) fatigue is the enemy when you are my age! Don Eade actually played a great game (opening to middle game), and I was in not a very good position, but suddenly missed a RxN when there was pin. Bit Don had paled well up till then Oosin fact that game was the most depressing aspect of the tournament (not (only) because I played badly but I really felt for Don..it wasn't a good way to win a game). I had fun with an interesting xchange sac against Winston Yao but I veered away form a possible win and took a draw so my rating got a hammering. But during the year I beat Bruce Watson again and mainly only lost to stronger players one loss against Steadman and Daniel Shen when I made a silly move)) |
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Jun-08-11
| | Richard Taylor: I see Tony had an operation, I didn't know. I've known him for years... He lost his eye in a car accident in the 80s. He once had a clothing factory in Otara [it's great for some!] (he has a PhD in Chemistry etc to do with clothing etc) Tony used to be good value but more recently he seems very stressed. IM Russell Dive looks pretty much out of condition and GM Bob Smith is looking older! I cant see myself but my contemporary IM Peter Stuart looks knackered!! Smith and Stuart both play pretty dull chess also I'm afraid). GM Ewen is as miserable as always!!
The Juniors are all looking pretty much little old men (Gerontions!) in imitation of such people! Smith-Green-Stuart and company! The misery brigade!! One bloke I got on well with was GM Ivan Dordevic, he played a brilliant game against IM Chris Burns to win! Like me he likes attacks and complications and creative chess and takes risks...FM Edward Tanoi blasted The Shen off the board in about 20 moves! Chess is a terrible game! It drives everyone mad...From Fischer to...well fill in the blanks!! ............
............
etc |
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Jun-08-11
| | Richard Taylor: But I was very pleased for GM Leonard McLaren's fine win (IM Antonio Krstev stopped him from getting the magic 6/6 but such is life). |
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Jun-12-11
| | Richard Taylor: My game against Garbett should come after the NZ Champs...I play quite a nice combo in the game. |
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Jun-12-11
| | Richard Taylor: This game -
R Taylor vs P Garbett, 2011 |
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Jun-12-11
| | Richard Taylor: That photo of me was the best angle I could get! I look pretty old in some views... But I remember worrying about being grey when I was about 25 or so. I used to get comments all the time (quite cruel) from so-called work mates and even one of my "bosses"... |
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Apr-01-13
| | Richard Taylor: It looks as though my chess career stopped in 2011! |
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