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| Sep-16-07 | | mack: It would be particularly pointless going to see Sterling Morrison in person now, wouldn't it. And potentially illegal, too. Speaking of the Velvets -- in his Human Comedy of Chess book, Hans Ree mentions that at the Hommage a Caissa thing in the sixties, Warhol organised a game (of chess) between Duchamp and Dali, with the Velvet Underground providing background music. I can't find any reference to this event anywhere else, but would absolutely love to. Any ideas? |
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Sep-16-07
 | | Domdaniel: <mack> I think the Dali-Duchamp idea might have been floated by Warhol, but I doubt whether it happened. Nico -- whom I ticked off my list in a bar in Hammersmith circa 1984 -- would also be hard to see these days. The odd thing is that when I first saw Reed ('79-ish) and Cale ('82) it seemed years too late -- but now some people think I was practically there at the start. |
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| Sep-17-07 | | mack: Hmph, disappointing. I suppose it might be something you come across in your research. Ree talks about it as if it most definitely happened, right down to how the pieces were released into the air with balloons at the end. |
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Sep-17-07
| | Domdaniel: <mack> There were a few avant-chessic New York/Pasadena events involving Marcel in the 60s: his (real) correspondence game with three young Dutch players, which was more chessworld than artworld; and his 'game' vs a naked lady in a gallery, which was the reverse. I've read most of the main biogs of Duchamp, Dali, Warhol, Reed, Cale, etc and would be very surprised if such an event went unmentioned... even allowing for the art world's indifference to and misreading of chess. But I'll try to research a little more: even the rumour is significant, as far as I'm concerned. On a distantly related issue: John Nunn has a new-ish book (reviewed by Watson in TWIC) addressing the hoary question of the relative playing strengths of today's GMs vs the pre-WW1 gang -- with typical Nunnish obsessional detail. He (plus Fritz) analyses Petersburg 1914 and an 'equivalent' recent tournament -- and concludes that the older masters were not only weak in opening theory and positionally naive, but they also blundered a lot. This supports what I've thought for some time, having played through a lot of games by non-superstars from the early 20th cent. I got the impression that Duchamp and other 2nd-string players -- good enough to make a French olympiad team or be ranked in the USA top 30 -- weren't much better than me. Nunn suggests ratings in the 2000-2100 range - not specifically for Duchamp, but for the players filling the lower third of the table in Petersburg. I think Alekhine, Lasker, and Capa would have been stars in any era, with Nimzo, Rubinstein, and maybe Reti not too far behind. But outside the top ten playing strength fell off drastically. You and I would have made the world top 100... Right. Back to work on that time machine... |
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Sep-17-07
| | Domdaniel: <mack> Maybe I'm totally wrong re that Duchamp/Dali game -- where did Ree describe it? |
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| Sep-19-07 | | wasspwot: <domdaniel> do you still pay in Ireland? I had a quick look on the ICU rating list but couldnt find you under that name anyway. Will you be playing the Galway tournament this weekend? Good to see someone else whos never played either side of the Ruy. |
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| Sep-19-07 | | wasspwot: <weak in opening theory and positionally naive, but they also blundered a lot.> If thats true then surely they wouldnt be 2000-2100 today - sounds more like they'd be under 1500: not many 2000+ players of my experience "blunder a lot". |
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Sep-19-07
| | Domdaniel: <wasspwot> Actually, I don't seem to be on the current Irish rating list under any of my names, despite having played in the Irish championship during the summer. Something to do with not paying my membership dues, I expect. No Galway plans, though. God, I'm either an amnesiac or a skinflint, or both. |
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Sep-19-07
| | Domdaniel: <wasspwot> I suppose it depends on what exactly constitutes a blunder. When strong computers first emerged, it was almost shocking to see how error-prone *all* human play was... I suspect that everyone is tactically sharper now, though. 2000+ players *do* blunder, though -- I certainly did when I was one. Maybe they're a little better at finding a way to fight on... |
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Sep-19-07
| | Domdaniel: <blunders> On the other hand, if anyone's still interested -- maybe the apparent preponderance of blunders in 1910-era games is an artefact of their weaker positional understanding. We play through games littered with 'weak' and 'ugly' moves, which are then decided by a tactical error -- and conclude the players weren't very good. While the same error, coming at the end of a sharp, edgy, modern game, would be attributed to time trouble -- and forgiven... Factor out the clunky play, and maybe they weren't so bad, back then. |
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| Sep-19-07 | | euripides: I think the modern chessplaying world draws on a much larger population than in the 1920s. So it's not really surprising if the no.30 or so then was much, much weaker than the no.30 now -even if there hadn't been development in understanding as of course there has. What's remarkable, in a way, is just how good the top three or so were. |
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Sep-20-07
 | | jessicafischerqueen: hi <DO,,m>!!
hOW the heck are you?
Your devotee,
JFQ |
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Sep-20-07
| | jessicafischerqueen: Which do you think is more important:
<artefacts>, <artifacts> or <art facts>? I need to know.
I have a lot of time on my hands.
So my hands hurt.
AHAHAHAHAHAAH
get it? |
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Sep-20-07
| | jessicafischerqueen: Hi <Eom>!!
Here is some literary criticism I wrote.
Do you think it's a "keeper"?
I'm looking for a publisher. Do you think <<<Frogspawn> might consider it? here is is: Ah <George Eliot>, very good choice. He/She was of course a famous <transvestite> as well as the great-grandfather of <TS Eliot>, who once argued with <Ezra Pound>. The <Pound>, of course, is superior to the <Euro>. <Madame George>, by <Van Morrison>, was recorded in <America> by an <Irishman>. Since neither <America> nor <Ireland> is part of the <UK>, this means that <Silas Marner> can only be purchased with <Euros>.
So if you wanted to buy this book you'd have to go to a <currency exchange bank>.I hope this has been of some help.
Regards,> >>
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Sep-20-07
| | Domdaniel: Hey-ho, <Jeffica>, thanks for dropping by... it's so quiet round here when you're absent. Time is an illusion, of course, but your early mornings seem to coincide with midnight here and with the last few moves of the Mexican games. Hmm. I'd *really* better renew my membership now. It expires today or tomorrow, depending on our old pal the International Date Line. Frogspawn, if it still exists, will publish anything (by you, that is). But Silas Marner was a miser with a hoard of money, unlike Attila and his Hunnish Horde. As the latter swept across the steppes, villagers hung out signs saying "no hordes balled". But it didn't work, as Attila ravished with <no holds barred> ... <mandatory chess reference> Attila Kiss |
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Sep-20-07
| | Domdaniel: Meanwhile, I'm reading <I, Claudius>. As mack would say, I dig Graves. |
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Sep-21-07
| | jessicafischerqueen: Sa tang juseyo!!
(Give me candy please)!!
Dom juseyo!! (give me Dom)
Give me Dom or give me death!! |
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Sep-21-07
| | Domdaniel: <Jess> I am complying with your wishes in the only way I know how -- I have just renewed my CG subscription. So I should be safe from <The Vanishing> for another year. Sang kyu. |
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Sep-22-07
| | Domdaniel: <mack> Duh. You'd already told me where Ree said it. In his Human Comedy of Chess book, is where. I'll go wash my brain out with soap now. "As you Ree, so shall you soap."
Fang Kew. |
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Sep-22-07
| | Domdaniel: <euripides> I agree completely. Usually I avoid the who-was-stronger argument because it tends to be irrational, skewed, circular, and a waste of time. But the point about strength in depth today is valid, and likewise the strength anytime of Alekhine etc. |
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Sep-22-07
| | Domdaniel: These non-Mexican days are like some kind of cold turkey. I feel like an Aztec priest who's had his supply of sacrificial virgins cut off... |
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| Sep-22-07 | | achieve: <Dom> That must be one of the best understatements ever.. Cheers Dom, have a coke and a smile!
Congrats on extending your membership-- we'd be disabled in a way if you hadn't! It is good to have you (Dd/G) around. |
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Sep-22-07
 | | Open Defence: speaking of Morisson's I wish I caught Jim |
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Sep-22-07
| | Domdaniel: <Deffi> I wish you'd caught Jim, too -- you could have made beautiful music together. But when the man said it was The End, he meant it. |
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Sep-22-07
| | Domdaniel: <achieve> Thanks, Niels. Re the renewed membership (right up against the deadline as usual) something reminds me of an old 20th century sci-fi novel -- (by Harry Harrison, filmed with Chuck Heston -- Soylent Green?), where the year 2000 is approaching, and the world is overpopulated and screwed up. A crazy prophet type wanders round predicting doom. Then the millennium arrives, bells ring, parties and riots start up, the madman looks expectantly to the sky, and ... nothing happens. The world fails to end. So the crazy man screams to the sky "Oh God, no, no! -- not another thousand years of *this*!" Okay, so maybe I haven't signed up for a full millennium, but you know what I mean..(.) |
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