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| Jan-18-09 | | Open Defence: <The Lesser Bandicoot Rat (Bandicota bengalensis) is a giant rat of southern Asia, not related to the true bandicoots. They can be up to 40cm long (including the tail). It is considered a pest in the cereal crops and gardens of India and Sri Lanka, and emits piglike grunts when attacking. The name bandicoot is derived from the Telugu language word "Pandikokku" which translates loosely to "pig-rat". Like the better known rats in the genus Rattus, Bandicoot Rats are members of the family Muridae. The fur is dark or (rarely) pale brown dorsally, occasionally blackish, and light to dark grey ventrally. The head-body length is around 250 mm, and the uniformly dark tail is shorter than the head-body length. > |
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Jan-18-09
 | | jessicafischerqueen: Oooh thanks so much <Deffi>!! Your information will contribute greatly to the <historical accuracy> of my epic <Aquaba: Bandicoot Hunter>, which will star <Eyal Segal> as "Aquaba" when it is made into a film. |
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| Jan-19-09 | | Open Defence: *grnnnt grnnnt* |
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| Jan-19-09 | | brankat: <jessicafischerqueen> One more page to go to 500! In case I happen to miss the occasion, let me offer my congratulations now! |
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| Jan-19-09 | | Open Defence: an excellent game,
played by telex
Fischer vs Smyslov, 1965 |
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| Jan-19-09 | | brankat: An equally excellent game. Also played via a telex :-) Geller vs Fischer, 1965 |
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| Jan-19-09 | | brankat: This one is even better. Yes, You guessed it, yet another Telex case: Fischer vs Kholmov, 1965 |
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| Jan-19-09 | | Open Defence: Fischer vs Szabo, 1965 :) |
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Jan-19-09
| | jessicafischerqueen: hahahah thanks guys!
It was illegal to talk to <Communists> on the phone, but not with a <telex> machine, apparently. That was <Havana Tournament of the Communist Stars> tournament played just two years after the <Cuban Missile Crisis> which might have ended very badly. |
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| Jan-19-09 | | Eyal: V Ciocaltea vs Fischer, 1965 :-) That's the first time Fischer played the Alekhine defense; the story goes that it resulted from a transmission error, as Fischer thought he was replying to 1.d4... but apparently he came to the conclusion that 1...Nf6 wasn't such a bad reply to e4 either, since he added it to his opening repertoire during 1970-72 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...). |
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| Jan-19-09 | | Eyal: Btw, there's some very entertaining stuff in "Russians versus Fischer" about the diplomatic background to Fischer's participation-by-telex in the Havana tournament, I'll try and post it later when I have more time. |
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| Jan-19-09 | | madlydeeply: I heard about your closing in on the "vapid blather" award! You can do it, I know you can! And must I say I am very proud of the way you did it. In honor of Acirce I give a snooty comment:
Rc2 Be7 Qa1 +.02 Crafty
My favorite "crazy fischer" book is "Bobby Fischer vs. the rest of the World." Fun and tragic. However with the passage of time I wonder if certain parts were exaggerated...like all those "insider" beatles biographies... I see the clouded people pass...how is it....etc.
Don't eat any rotten kimchee. Wait...Kimchee is rotten and good for you. I don't understand. Basically I don't understand anything. |
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| Jan-19-09 | | madlydeeply: By the way, the Cuban Missle crisis didn't end so badly for cuba. They got to keep their missles. A Poli sci professor informed me of this. Kruschev turned back ships with new missles...but the original ones stayed. Why do you think we never invaded Cuba? Cause they have NUKES! OH its just one more dirty secret. The only nuclear power USA has ever messed with is Pakistan...right now.
And obama thinks its a noble cause...la la etc etc blather blather boo. |
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| Jan-19-09 | | Eyal: OK, here's the promised stuff about Fischer's participation by telex in the 1965 Havana tournament (The Capablanca Memorial). After he agreed to take part in the tournament, the State Department refused to grant him permission of travel to Havana. He came up with the ingenious idea of playing his games by telephone, and a special permission for that was obtained from the FIDE president. The whole thing was almost cancelled in the last moment because some paper in the US printed a statement, allegedly published in Havana, in which Fischer's decision to play by telephone was described as a propaganda victory. This led to the following exchange of telegrams: <To Prime Minister Fidel Castro, HavanaI protest against the announcement published today in the newspaper "The New York Times," in which mention is made of some sort of propaganda victory, and in connection with this circumstance I must withdraw from participation in the Capablanca Memorial Tourney. I would only be able to take part in the tournament in the event that you immediately send me a telegram declaring that neither you, nor your government will attempt to make political capital out of my participation in the tourney, and that in the future no political commentaries on this score will be made. Bobby Fischer>
To which Castro replied:
<To Bobby Fischer, New York, USA I have just received your telegram. I am surprised that you ascribe to me some sod of announcement touching on your participation in the tournament. I have said not a single word on the subject single word on the subject to anyone. I know of this only through your telegraphic communiques from the North American news agencies. Our land needs no such "propaganda victories." It is your personal affair whether you will take part in the tournament or not. Hence your words are unjust. If you are frightened and repent your previous decision, then it would be better to find another excuse or to have the courage to remain honest. Fidel Castro>
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| Jan-19-09 | | Eyal: Meanwhile, in Havana, the organizers called a special meeting of the players, the details of which were described by Jan Hein Donner. The first item on the agenda was for all the participants to agree to play their games with Fischer by telephone. This went without a hitch. Next, the Soviet players - led by Smyslov - demanded to issue a joint statement that would denounce the US government for violating the freedom of travel of chess players. Most players agreed, but Lehman (from West Germany) and Donner himself objected, and it had to be unanimous. Lehman claimed that it's hypocritical to issue such a protest, initiated by players from a country where freedom of travel is openly violated all the time. Donner tried to remain as apolitical as possible, and said that such a protest would definitely prevent Fischer's participation, since he would never allow himself to be used as an instrument for what he would surely perceive as propaganda against the US government. This led to a prolonged and heated debate: <This debate was greatly fuelled by the Bacardi rum that Barreras had ordered in large quantities. At first I thought this was a mistake, because Bacardi is a heady drink fostering an uncompromising firmness of principle in its consumers, but it turned out that I had underestimated Barreras. After fierce discussions had raged for two and a half hours, the meeting began to disintegrate. Some members were quarrelling in small groups, others were shouting aimlessly on their own, often in languages other than their mother tongue: a Russian in German, a Hungarian in Spanish, a German in English. Smyslov had climbed onto the table. At this point, Barreras stepped in. This great man, who survived two dictators - he was already organizing chess in Cuba before Battista came to power - announced briefly and to the point that it had been decided unanimously to let Bobby Fischer take part in the tournament. After these words he closed the meeting and invited everyone to follow him to the Tropicana, where the show was to begin in half an hour.> There was also a "technical committee" that was created in order to draw up a set of rules for playing by telex, of which Donner was a member: <For normal people, who trusted one another, such questions should not have created any great problems. Half of our committee of four, however, were Soviet grandmasters. Their mistrust was really unbelievable. They seemed to be convinced that Fischer would do all he could to cheat as much as possible. "How do we guarantee that sealed move will be kept secret and that he will not surreptitiously change it?" Our suggestion that a special arbiter (for example, Bisguier) should be appointed in New York was met by sarcastic laughter: "He's an American; how can he be trusted? No, we must not allow Fischer to adjourn a game," they felt. "And what if he blames a wrong move on a transmission error, and takes back his move; who will be able to prove that?" In the end we drew up a protocol full of complicated rules and prohibitions, which had more in common with a system devised in a home for paranoiacs than with the regulations for a chess tournament. I personally advised Barreras to deposit this document in a wastepaper-basket and certainly not to bring it to the attention of Fischer, who would be extremely insulted by it its very existence. Fortunately, Barreras did this immediately, and there was no more mention of our committee.> |
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| Jan-20-09 | | Ragh: <JFK> <Well I'm cheering for <Smeetwagen>> reconsider?! Here's a scary closeup pic of the Smeet..
http://www.chessbase.com/news/2008/... |
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| Jan-20-09 | | benjinathan: <By the way, the Cuban Missle crisis didn't end so badly for cuba. They got to keep their missles. A Poli sci professor informed me of this. Kruschev turned back ships with new missles...but the original ones stayed. Why do you think we never invaded Cuba? Cause they have NUKES! OH its just one more dirty secret.> I don't think that is right. The deal was that they remove their missles and I don't know of any evidence that they did not live up to the deal. It is almost certainly true that the Russiand stationed in Cuba had tactical nukes which could have been used in case of an invasion. <The only nuclear power USA has ever messed with is Pakistan...right now.> I am not sure how you define "mess with", but it seems to me that the US has messed with other nuclear powers. But perhaps you define "mess with" as launch weapons at their territory in which case you might be right. |
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| Jan-20-09 | | Woody Wood Pusher: Don't forget that a lot more went on in the Cuban Missile Crisis than we will probably ever know about. The Americans agreed to removes some of their nukes from Turkey as well I heard, so the Soviets did not exactly cave in for nothing. |
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| Jan-20-09 | | Travis Bickle: Hello Jess. I see your a fan of The English as well. I just got a copy of a dvd on The English opening by Nigel Davies. ; P |
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| Jan-20-09 | | achieve: Here's a video me and my pals enjoyed when at University, as I can remember we perceived mega irony expressed in the lyrics here... We all liked the music, though - and were just fantasizing. <Mr. Big - To Be With You> http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=5QD5n...
The joy in listening to this song has never diminished, though -- very nice composition, this... It was kinda hip in the late 80s early 90s for hard rock bands to record a cheesy ballad - but they were mostly top quality. I miss it. Eg there was this band called EXTREME - with a ballad called More Than Words - but there were several other good ones... Love ya.
Oooh yes, it's great fun to read the comments of the young folk, as they feel they miss this kind of music, already. (over 3,000 comments with this one.) |
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| Jan-21-09 | | achieve: FIRST!!
heh |
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| Jan-21-09 | | madlydeeply: when I was desperate and working at KFC for a month or twon back in 1989, That Mr. Big song was on the "5 song power rotation" on Power 99....along with "Diamonds and Pearls" "I got the power" "save the best for last" and mercifully I forgot the other song finally! Hallelujah!! Can you believe a radio station that only played 5 songs? Can you believe a staff of idiots who actually chose to listen to it? Poor me!! |
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| Jan-22-09 | | achieve: Nah, you're overreacting a bit, <madly>; Diamonds and Pearls is a great song. Actually Prince is my favourite Artist Formerly Known as ... Right. 'Counting the Days' - is also a great song from his New Power Generation period. I could listen to it 27 times in a row and not get bored... But yeah, 'I've got the Power' would certainly be coming out your nose, after a while... OK then! |
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| Jan-22-09 | | achieve: Here's the music from <Count the Days> http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=Di7LL... -- Unfortunately I couldn't dig up the clip as originally released... Prince wrote this 'incognito', as it were, as he was in a dispute with Sony Records and stuff... The music was written as part of the soundtrack he wrote for the underappreciated <Spile Lee> film: Girl 6 I especially like the climax that is built towards from 2.05 to 2.21 in this clip, with the uniquely trademark 'Princianesque' intricate voicings, which he always manages to pull off like noone else, it seems... But maybe you don't like the guy and/or his music!
OK then. |
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Jan-22-09
| | jessicafischerqueen: <El Panto>
You are shrewd-- and there is a reason for what you suspect. As a regular reader of <Variety> and <People Magazine>, I know that <Prince> slept with <Samuel L. Jackson's> wife a buncha times. "bad blood, it seems... |
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