Yes, Edna, your fleeting pose for the artist suggests that you will display your portrait in your home décor

Artwork © ~☆Liz Motions☆~ (@eliz.artgallery)

Two Hearts Beat as One

On the second and last day of the inaugural “光明科学城杯” (“Guāngmíng Science City Cup”) Online Chess Stars Tournament, everything ended as it began — with the team 譚中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) & 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) winning the victory with 7½, ahead of 赵雪 (Zhào Xuě) & 韋奕 (Wéi Yì) (6½), 雷挺婕 (Léi Tǐngjié) & 王皓 (Wáng Hào) (5½), and, last but least, the rating favourite team 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) & 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) (4½). 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) was also the best scorer in the whole tournament (5½/6), as his female teammate 譚中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí), aside from being the best female scorer ex aequo with 赵雪 (Zhào Xuě), remained the only woman to have scored a draw against men, namely: 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén).

Come Together

London, United Kingdom: Demonstrators block the road as they gather outside the Embassy of the United States to protest the death of George Floyd. Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images.

Performance in postmodern culture

Before Freud, the gods have placed Nietzsche and his theory about the origin and decline of ancient Greek tragedy. O tempora, o mores! And yet, in Nietzsche’s time, the habit of taking sugar in coffee or tea was spreading to the masses. Photo: Matilde Guerri.

Sure, Edna, it was the only way to get a free Sunday off without making them suspicious of one another

Artwork © All.ego.ry (@ralonso.v)

時間的不實在性 (The Unreality of Time)

The first day of the inaugural “光明科学城杯” (“Guāngmíng Science City Cup”) Online Chess Stars Tournament was led by the team 譚中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) & 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) with 4½, ahead of 赵雪 (Zhào Xuě) & 韋奕 (Wéi Yì) with 3½, 雷挺婕 (Léi Tǐngjié) & 王皓 (Wáng Hào) with 2½, and, last but least, the rating favourite team 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) & 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) with 1½. Apparently 譚中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí) was the only woman to score a draw against men, namely: 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén).

In-Between

Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan “Vishy” Anand finally returned to India on Saturday after over a three-month stay in Germany due to coronavirus travel shutdown. Anand took an AI120 flight from Frankfurt to Bangalore (via Delhi). He will have to undergo one week of quarantine in the capital of Karnataka, before finally going home to Chennai and serving another two-week quarantine — hopefully his last one for awhile. Nevertheless, it was life. “It has been a very unusual experience for me to be in self-isolation. I interact[ed] with my friends and family on a daily basis. Besides that, I [went] for a nice long walk once or twice a day”, Anand told The Times of India.

Houses and Homes

To quote a verse of a poem of Miguel Hernández (Eterna Sombra | Eternal Darkness): “I’m a prison cell with one window, / looking out on a huge solitude of barks”. Photo: Matilde Guerri.

Yes, Edna, you’re two days behind time — so I will see you yesterday!

Artwork © abby-angie

Platonic Readings

When a magic carpet can no longer fly, it is too late to fall asleep and too early to turn on the light. Photo: Matilde Guerri.

Yeah, Edna, they did not foresee that you would end up on the cover of Rolling Stones

Artwork © 𝗨𝗻𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗹𝗲 (@unoodle.art)

Yes, Edna, they signed their own extinction warrant when they, unanimously, but unwittingly, enacted unconstitutional and draconian measures just to prevent you from showing up on the cover of the National Geographic magazine

Artwork © Ting Fui (@fish.stopfly)

😊

In 1999, NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) captured a smiling crater on its camera. Galle crater, nicknamed the “happy face crater”, has a diameter of about 134 miles. Photo © NASA/JPL/MSSS.

Thoughts Before Breakfast

No matter whether staying-at-home or in escape — a romantic meal may be concluded with an after-dinner amaro. Photo: Matilde Guerri.

交比 (Cross-ratio)

Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion and Rhodes Scholar 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is due to take part in the inaugural “光明科学城杯” (“Guāngmíng Science City Cup”) Online Chess Stars Tournament, a mixed team tournament co-organised by the Chess and Card Sports Management Centre of General Administration of Sport of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese Chess Association, the 深圳市光明区文化广电旅游体育局 (Shēnzhèn Guāngmíng District Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau), and the 深圳棋院 (Shēnzhèn Chess Academy), which will be held online May 30–31, 2020 through 国象联盟APP (Chess Alliance).
Eight players — four women and four men — will form four teams. Each team will be mixed with one woman and one man. The participants are (in gender order): 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), 譚中怡 (Tán Zhōngyí), 雷挺婕 (Léi Tǐngjié), and 赵雪 (Zhào Xuě) (women), and 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), 王皓 (Wáng Hào), 韋奕 (Wéi Yì), and 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) (men). Teams’ formation will be done on the first day of the technical meeting.
The time control for players of the same gender is 10 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, while for players of different gender is 5 minutes plus 2 seconds per move (men) and 10 minutes plus 2 seconds per move (women). The format is a three-round single round-robin stage, with men playing men and women playing women in round one, and women and men playing each other in round two. If the score is tied after two rounds, the men from each team will play a final Armageddon game.

Yeah, Edna, now, more than ever, it’s time to rescue ’em from their own clichés and cloying rhetoric, or else they will keep tormenting everyone everywhere until somebody claps his hands as a sign of surrender

Artwork © Abacate is my brand (@o.abacate)

Portrait in a Spoon

Spoon-like formation on the Martian surface. Photo © NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Red circle by Amanda Kooser/CNET.

Al dente

In a time when families are dealing with their stay-at-home candlelit dinners, penne pasta should be cooked al dente — or to the tooth. Photo: Matilde Guerri.

Of course, Edna, as they were approaching Mars, you were already on Venus

Artwork © Darckjer_Dibujo (@darckjer_dibujo)

A Pyramid in Cydonia

Original Face on Mars photo taken by NASA’s Viking 1 orbiter, in grey scale, on July 25, 1976. Image shows a remnant massif located in the Cydonia region. On July 31, 1976, a NASA press release said the formation “resembles a human head”. However, NASA scientists had already correctly interpreted the image as an optical illusion caused by the illumination angle of the Sun, the formation’s surface morphology and the resulting shadows, giving the impression of eyes, nose and mouth. Photo © NASA/JPL.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

A play of shadows and silhouettes creates the illusion of a handbag hanging on the back of a chair, which feels just like being back home in the good old days. Photo: Matilde Guerri.

Naw, Edna, there is no scientific proof that the world was created in a week, but they demonstrated that they could successfully wipe out civilisation, art and culture in a hour or two

Artwork © Shana Sharp (@balloonrequestlive)

Waiting for van Gogh

Matilde’s cat, Aramis, likes to sleep curled up on a chair with a woven straw seat. Photo: Matilde Guerri.

Well, yes, Edna; I’d guess that, from the heights of their millennial medicine, they regard arrogance and violence as natural treatments for shyness and insecurity

Artwork © Trynton Fisher (@asap.tf)

Heartless

Two Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

By popular demand, here is the first of a few pictures Matilde, a bright dancer of Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”, took in the aftermath of the post-apocalypse stay-at-home-months. Yes, the bars were unlocked and the guns have been taken down, but the world outside is still so far away. That means that any physical and social freedoms will have to be reconquered day after day and inch by inch. Photo: Matilde Guerri.

Yeah, Edna, they are obsessed by the fear of being censured for bombastic adulation of themselves

Artwork © 🅙🅞🅒🅔🅛🅨🅝🅔 (@jocelyneperezart)

Caffè delle Carrozze

Even in times of floating lives, a Saturday stop at the artisanal ice cream shop Caffè delle Carrozze in front of Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy — a “tourist hit” owned and ran by Viola’s father — can only end on a sweet note.

Oh, Edna, they’ll be happy about that, as there is no subsidies for artists there

Artwork © GAYLA® (@gaylaillustrationstudio)

To the Blue Sea

It took only a two-and-half-month lockdown in an apocalyptic nowhere city to turn Viola, a dancer and teacher of the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”, into a house-painter. So she spent the first weekend of her new, post-apocalypse life painting the bedroom of her second house on the sea coast. Photos courtesy of her herself.

Naw, Edna, there is no need to give a date as you already know when and where

Artwork © Sara Ferrater Gómez (@marinescultura)

It’s only a matter of going

• Kenneth Silber, Chess and Its Alternatives, Splice Today, May 20, 2020

Besides the standard game, there are many chess variants: the starting positions of the pieces, or the use of non-standard pieces; the size and shape of the board or boards; the number of players; the rules for such operations as castling, Pawn promotion, draws, checks and checkmates; whether the game retains its symmetry between the contending sides, or its transparency, where all players can see the full board; whether some element of chance is introduced, as with a dice roll determining what pieces can move. This makes for an interesting ferment, though no variant has yet approached the popularity of regular chess. A relatively popular one is Fischer Random Chess, also known as Chess960, invented by the troubled and brilliant late champion Bobby Fischer; relatively moderate in its differences from standard chess, this variant randomizes the initial placement of the pieces behind each row of Pawns, making for a more varied set of game openings. [Read more].

Chess and its alternatives: where complexity borders on chaos. Credit: Splice Today.

Noon at Tiffany’s

Executive Assistant Jessie Dawson sits among mannequins occupying some tables so diners will not feel isolated by coronavirus social distancing measures when The Inn at Little Washington, a Michelin three-star restaurant, reopens shortly in Washington, Virginia, United States. Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters.

Yeah, Edna, day by day they are turning themselves into apps for each other’s smartphones — but luckily all mobile phones must be switched off inside the theatre

Artwork © art_by_daniisaavedra (@art_by_daniisaavedra)

The Middle of the World

Naw, Edna, no one is invincible or immune to your charms, so there’s no reason to be afraid

Artwork © Savannah Rozier (@rhodgesart)

Long-distance operator

• Anatoly Samokhvalov, Эксперт: Горячкина способна потягаться с Хоу Ифань | Expert opinion: Goryachkina is able to compete with 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), RIA Novosti, May 18, 2020

Expert opinion: Goryachkina is able to compete with 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) Moscow, May 18, 2020 — RIA Novosti correspondent: Anatoly Samokhvalov. Russian chess Grandmaster Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina is actually able to compete with four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) from China, provided the latter keeps playing, former coach of the Russian women’s and men’s teams Yury Rafaelovich Dokhoian told RIA Novosti. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) just won the Online Nations Cup as a member of China’s team, coming back on the scene after a study break. “If 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and India’s Humpy Koneru get back on stage, Sasha Goryachkina may also compete with them. She is young, ambitious, and on her way to the top. Right now I’m inclined to think that Goryachkina might be even stronger than China’s 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn)”, Dokhoian said by phone. “I generally think that 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s comeback may be due to the fact that her compatriot 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn) is not indisputably better than the others. Furthermore, she is not on the same level as one player, such as, for instance, in the case of Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov and Garry Kimovich Kasparov, and at least three or four players, including Goryachkina, are equal to 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn)”, he observed. “In order for China to save the throne of women’s chess, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s comeback is a logical move”, he argued. “Thus, the adversaries will have to take other bastions”.

(Free translation by Nobody’s Perfect)

Yeah, Edna, it is the earth which turns around the sun and not vice versa

Artwork © Namrata Menon (@nimmisplashes)

Multi-booting

Clinicus Herodes trullam subduxerat aegro: deprensus dixit “Stulte, quid ergo bibis?” Doctor Herodes had stolen a drinking-ladle from a sick patient. When detected he said: “You fool, why then do you drink?” Avea rubata una tazza il medico Erode a un malato. Sorpreso, disse: “Sciocco, volevi dunque bere?”

Martial, Epigrams, Book 9, XCVI
English translation by Walter C. A. Ker
Italian translation by Giuseppe Lipparini

Closing Ceremony, No. 2. Photo collage © Same Paper.

Just Like a Rock

Conference Centre

Urinals, with some blocked off to maintain social distancing, on the M20 motorway in Maidstone, Kent, England. Photo: John Sibley/Reuters.

Yeah, Edna, one thing remains constant and certain, whether online or offline: when their cell phone battery conks out right in the middle of a videoconference, the world becomes a brighter place

Artwork © Bridget Bravo (@bravobridget)

Happy Ramps

Irene, a bright and versatile dancer of the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”, enjoyed her first outdoor Sunday in months with family at Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence, Italy. Photos courtesy of her herself via Chiara.

The Reluctant Dancer

Margaret Keane, The Reluctant Ballerina, 1963. Courtesy of Keane Eyes Gallery, San Francisco.

Pray, Edna, just remember to put them offline for almost two hours and half when you enter on stage

Artwork © Warren Wucinich (@warrenwucinich)

Einstein synchronisation

• Anatoly Samokhvalov, Бывший тренер сборной России: грядет обострение борьбы в женских шахматах | Former coach of the Russian team: a women’s chess showdown is coming, RIA Novosti, May 12, 2020

Former coach of the Russian team: a women’s chess showdown is coming Moscow, May 12, 2020 — RIA Novosti correspondent: Anatoly Samokhvalov. The return to the scene of four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) from China and Grandmaster Humpy Koneru from India may be the prelude of a coming women’s showdown, former coach of the Russian women’s and men’s teams Yury Rafaelovich Dokhoian told RIA Novosti. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) won the Online Nations Cup as a member of China’s team. Koneru competed in the colours of her own country. “Most probably, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) has good intentions to make a comeback into the chess limelight. In that case, she might still feel reluctant to compete with women. But Humpy Koneru is back as well. If they both keep playing regularly, a women’s chess showdown will come almost inevitably”, Dokhoian said by phone. “侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) is not a Woman Grandmaster, but an all-gender super Grandmaster. She is almost of the same level as those playing the Candidates Tournament. An unique phenomenon. I remember her making her début at 12 years old in the Women’s World Chess Championship. Judging by her last performance, she is always who she was, though she’s played very little lately”, he added.

(Free translation by Nobody’s Perfect)

Open Wings

A peacock leaps into the air as it battles a rival over territory on a foggy morning at Dudhwa National Park, Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, India. The brightly coloured bird jumps almost six feet into the air before crashing down on its opponent. Photo: Nilesh Patel/Solent News & Photo Agency/Solent News.

Fearlessly

Yeah, Edna, he’s too rich to be bought and too poor to be envied

Artwork © catherine vu art (@inlovewithvu)

The Millionaire Next Door

• Leonard Barden, Chess: Magnus Carlsen announces $1m online series as viewer numbers surge, The Guardian, May 15, 2020

Possibly the most significant Nations Cup game for its potential future influence was 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s win over Aleksandra Goryachkina in the China v Russia match. 侯 (Hóu) is the all-time women’s No 2 after the retired Judit Polgár, and despite taking two years off for academic studies as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford she showed that she is still close to her peak strength. Goryachkina is 21, five years younger than her opponent, and the flagbearer for a new generation following her crushing win in the women’s Candidates, so this was a pairing of unusual significance. [Read more].

Sic transit gloria mundi

A man throws garbage into a bin full of discarded mannequin heads in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo: Nhạc Nguyễn/AFP via Getty Images.