"Gin and Vermouth" = "Hung over, damn it."

I'll pick up the loose ends while you go out and play...

Might call up Eddi Loman and celebrate this momentous occasion!

Yrs,
sighfried

Great thread!! <Frogspawn> remains my preferred "first thing in the morning" reading material.

I"m just going over the <big argument> on the Nimzo pages a second time now.

That's Entertainment!!

<Rooky> certainly knows how to throw a rock at the wasp nest--

- Wrong paradigm, Bub. Minds aren't read. Pattern extraction leading to workable models of the so-called self is available via cheap over-the-counter heuristic analyzers.

- Who you callin' a heuristic analizer?

Biff. Bang. Exit La Heure, peevishly.

Anyhew. The reason for my amazement is: I just came home from a fromage, sorry from a shopping expedition. Clutching, oh yes, <The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes>.

*Now* I got Holmes to go to.

Yep, it's plug yawning gaps in education day. I also got Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (been reading fragments since forever but never the whole tamale); Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow (One from The Hux that I somehow missed); a Graham Greene which I've *already* given away (I met a friend whose need was greater than mine ... jeez, I'm starting to sound like some kinda xtian); and a Frank Zappa disc box set thing, don't let Deffi hear this.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Swam out, comparing notes:
"My Faith is influential,
And I have no need for boats"
The Walrus raised a flipper
And he rasped "Let's see who floats!"

The Carpenter went under
He gurgled like a child
He said "I walk on water,
Is it that which has you riled?"
The Walrus tusked him briskly
While growling "Meek? And mild?"

The Carpenter resurfaced
He flexed his virtual pecs
"Next time I make a Walrus,
I'll omit the Walrus Sex!
Those hormones have you addled
Like your dope-addicted 'tecs."

The Walrus paused on hearing this
He had a shot of coke
It mingled with his blubber
And nearly made him choke.
"Leave Holmes alone, you brute"
He gasped. "I know that I misspoke."

"Misspoke, mis-bloody-flippered,
And mistusked me in the groin!"
Miss Muppet and Misanthropy -
Now there's a Faith to join.
"Let's just be friends" they chortled,
"Let the limb lie with the loin."

The Walrus met his Maker
And attacked him with The Swarm
The Carpenter was canny, and
He did not come to harm.
He knew a backwards Bishop
Means that Black has chanced his arm.

And thus they reached the time control
Out in the freezing ocean
The Walrus looked at home there
But the Karp had magic potion.
One molecule was one quant suff -
An unscientific notion.

The End (for now)

<and a li'l bit of Pseudo-Bowie the Transvest-Areopagite>:

Gin and Vermouth ...

Moving a Thunder
A Thund'ring Move.
Dun vinegar moth.
V.U. and Mothering
Another Ming Duv.
Marvin hung to Ed.
U and them, roving.
Und thrive among ...
Marvin due thong?

Up again in the middlety of the ♘, eh? ... You're on a roll... in a spin and through the bend, turning into a bell, at worlzand...

<Dom> I hadn't looked that deep into the possibilities, but "all" the vowels are there!.... the list may be endless!

<A thund'ring move> nice.. Maybe put a few together and see what happens...

"Marvin hung another Ming Duv to Ed, roving a vinegar moth - U and them - on thundring thong!!"

Utterly pointless, what I just did there, but Jess taught us that pointlessness is good!

Brilliant list -- I tried but got stuck... Maybe try a Dutch one...

Here's a mixed bag:

Heavily Zvjaginsev inspired French Advance blitz lunacy against Junior 10. Senor J10 bailed out with a draw, the $£!%@# chicken! ...

1.e4 e6 2.f4 c5 3.Na3 d5 4.e5 Ne7 5.c3 h6 6.Nf3 Nbc6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Nc2 Be7 10.g3 O-O 11.Bh3 Qb6 12.O-O Bd7 13.Kh1 Rfc8 14.g4 Nh4 15.f5 exf5 16.Nxh4 Bxh4 17.gxf5 Ne7 18.Rf4 Qc7 19.Ne3 Bg5 20.Rf3 f6 21.exf6 Bxf6 22.Ng4 Qb6 23.Nxf6+ Qxf6 24.Bf4 Bxf5 25.Be5 Qe6 26.Bxf5 Nxf5 27.Qb3 Rc4 28.Qxb7 Re8 29.Rg1 Re7 30.Qb8+ Rc8 31.Qb3 Rf7 32.Qd3 Nh4 33.Rxf7 Qxf7 34.Bxg7 Nf3 35.Rf1 Qxg7 36.Qxf3 Qxd4 37.Qf7+ Kh8 38.Re1 Rg8 39.b3 Rg1+ 40.Rxg1 Qe4+ 41.Rg2 Qb1+ 42.Rg1 Qe4+ 43.Rg2 Qb1+ 44.Rg1 Qe4+ 1/2-1/2

I'll list it for the ACADEMY (Anagram Club Acrostic Dinner Event Menu Yum-yum), along with:

Lemon Dice
Gin, Plums and Chips
Git Heel Gland

or

Zappa and Nimzowitsch had several things in common.

(1) "Why must I ... Lose to this idiot/ Play my brilliant music to these morons?

(2) A belief that the idiots/morons could somehow be educated: "This is a chord/ That is a passed pawn". Thus a didactic streak.

(3) A dislike of chess when played on buses.

(4) Premature demise.

(5) Playing Black + Let's Make the Water Turn Black.

(6) Take a walk and look around and watch the Nazis run your town. Not always a metaphor.

What did Ko-Ko say when he saw Katisha's elbow?

"What's a nice joint like you doing on a girl like this?"

There's more than one way to serve a Sunday joint.

PS. Do you have the word 'bint' at all in the American language? It's almost obsolete here, but was popular slang 60 or 100 years ago. Allegedly from an Arabic or Farsi or Hindi word for 'woman', picked up by the British Empire during its travels.

The Brits still travel abroad, but they acquire different stuff these days. No colonies, few words. But seemingly the single most popular dish in England is Chicken Korma, followed by Vindaloo.

Puns on <Vindaloo> are now inevitable, I guess.

Mer l'eau de toilette?

"You cloth-eared bint"!

Ta for the "fulsome" prose in my forum-- I'll respond on the way...

In the meantime, I've started a "New Feature" in <Eyal's> forum against his will.

We're looking for more "items" from <Frogspawners>.

The only criterion is that the fact should be "truish", if not true.

IE- some kind of semi-reliable source.

The source for the first two is <Bill Wall>:

New Feature!!!

<Things Bobby did after Winning the World Championship that nobody really understands>:

Part One- "The Chicken Restaurant Incident"

<In 1972, Fischer showed up for 15 minutes at the Church's <<<Fried Chicken>>> tournament in San Antonio.> ---

Part Two- "The Proud Father"

<In 2000, Bobby named his daughter <<<Jinky Ong>>> Fischer>

White: Ruff
Black: Dom
Opening: French, Winawer, Swarm [C17]

1.e4 e6
2.d4 d5
3.Nc3 Bb4
4.e5 c5
5.a3 Ba5
6.b4 cxd4
7.bxa5 dxc3
8.Qg4 Ne7
9.Qxg7 Rg8
10.Qxh7 Nbc6
11.f4 Qxa5
12.Rb1

Much better than the Ne2 seen in our last Swarm. Vaganian has played 12...Bd7 here, and if 13.Rxb7 Nd4, with ideas like ...Bc6 and even ...0-0-0 in the air. When I suggested that I might have played this to my last (human) opponent, he seemed a bit alarmed. It's a very sharp line, and in truth White has been getting the better of it recently.

Meanwhile, the silicon beast has reached the end of its book.

12 ... Nd4
[another Vaganian invention - I like this move]

13.Ne2?

That theme again. The engine leaves its book and immediately goes wrong: 13.Qd3 is better.

13 ... Nxe2
14.Kxe2
Some sort of horizon effect? 14.Bxe2 is not good, but it's playable and is at least consistent. This just leaves the White King in a Bad Place, which will become apparent in a few moves.

14 ... Bd7
15.Kd1 0-0-0
16.Qxf7 Qc5
17.h4
A passed pawn? Click. Push it.
17 ... Nf5
18.Rh3??

A horrendous blunder. Full marks, though, to the programmers who enabled Ruffian to come up with this oddly human move. No computer post-1980 would really miss the coming tactic. But a human could.

18 ... Rxg2!
19.Bxg2 Qg1+
20.Ke2 Qxg2+
21.Ke1 Qxh3
22.h5 Qg2

No resigning. I have to mate the thing.

23.h6 Ng3
24.Qxd7+ Rxd7
25.Be3 Qf1#

Okay, White played book moves followed by blunders -- not even a 'real' engine game. But I've actually played this whole game a few times, at different settings -- the engine gets locked into a book line which it has no 'feel' for, and one bad move loses.

What's amusing is the way that Ne2? once again turns out to be a bad idea, and that White collapses and is mated in a quite different way to my previous game here (with ...Nb4). Yet the way the Black pieces go a-swarming is typical ...

Truish, huh? Depends. Is red bluish?

I was reminded recently of this Bobby story. It seems that during his Pasadena days -- but before the jailhouse incident unhinged the final nut -- he turned up for dinner at the home of a local woman, an enthusiastic amateur chess player who just happened to have Pal Benko staying.

Fischer arrived, circuitously, and went aside to analyze with Benko. He was invited to stay for dinner, and reluctantly agreed. The food thawed him out: he wolfed a steak and became almost chatty.

He asked his host if she had a rating. Yes, she said, around 1100. "Do they go that low?" said Fischer in unfeigned amazement.

She then asked him to autograph her copy of 60 Memorable Games. No way. If he signed books that'd be like giving something for free, which is communism. So she offered him some cheesecake for dessert.

He agreed. He devoured lots of homemade cheesecake. Dimly sensing that fair exchange (signature for food) was not *too* communistic, he said "You know, I'm gonna break my no-autograph rule. I'll make it so it doesn't come into effect until after today".

This sounds like authentic Bobby to me: signing his name acquires the weight of a constitutional amendment, and everyday social exchanges are subject to his semi-autistic iron whims, backed by relentless Bobbicentric logic.

The reason I was remined of this? We-ell... following my catastrophic loss in the club championship to a guy rated 1260 -- one of the lowest-rated opponents I've ever played in a serious game -- my reward is in the next round draw. My next opponent is rated 750.

I've definitely never played anyone under 1000 before, apart from unrated folk. How do you actually play games and get put at 750?

"Do they go that low?" was my instinctive response. I'm even less of a Fischer than you are, ma reine, but ... pass the cheesecake.

I think I'll play Bird's Opening, the Christmas Tree Variation. The tree is formed by pawns on e3, f4, g3, and the decorations are pieces on f3, e2, f2, g2, etc. There's also a Giant Redwood Variation, with pawns on h2, g3, f4, e5, d4, c3, and b2 -- but it's harder to reach.

Truish enough for ya? And should I post any other rumblings chez Eyal rather than here?