Screen Saver

In spite of her being a high-earning female gamer in esports, four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) still thinks that there are significant differences between online and offline chess: “Online competitions are more interactive or, so to say, entertaining and watchable, and the live broadcast is also very convenient, but they are not serious”, she said in an interview for 《人民电竞》 (People’s Esports). “Nothing of that is comparable to the feeling of a game OTB (over the board). If I participate in an online event, that is more from the perspective of promotion and popularisation; high-profile competitions such as International Youth Championships, Olympiads, etc., must still be held offline”.
And yet, for her, she being almost totally absorbed in her university teaching career, the online gaming world has represented a possible thread to her lost but not yet lost realm. That is to say that, after having been a flourishing semi-professional in her chess career OTB, nevertheless she is also a proud “woman in ecareer” in her amateur Internet time, with a gain so far of $53,844.33 USD.
So, just be open and don’t place limits on providence, as chess and esports will be two of the disciplines in the upcoming 19th Asian Games at 杭州 (Hángzhōu) (September 23 – October 8, 2023), thus leaving our heroine the choice of how and where to sit and perform.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) starring as herself in a short propaganda film released by Blizzard Entertainment for its 2021 Hearthstone Global Inn-Vitational.

Between Sea and Sky

A piece of the boat and a piece of clothing from the deadly migrant shipwreck lie on the seashore at Steccato di Cutro near Crotone, Italy. Photo: Remo Casilli/Reuters.

俄罗斯国际象棋联合会 (Chess Federation of Russia)

Today, Tuesday, February 28, 2023, in the presence of FIDE President Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich and Chess Federation of Russia President Andrey Vasilievich Filatov (both pictured above), the Continental Assembly of the Asian Chess Federation held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, has voted by large majority in favour of the Chess Federation of Russia’s joining the Asian Chess Federation, thus marking an epochal shift in the history of the royal game. The passage will take effect on May 1, 2023. In thanking the delegates for their trust, Filatov said: “I hope for further fruitful cooperation and participation of Russian teams in the continental championship and for holding of Asian competitions in Russia, which has many times successfully held tournaments at the highest level and has all the associated infrastructure”. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/Chess Federation of Russia.

Yep, Edna, no one is born just once

Artwork © 𝔻𝕚𝕤𝕟𝕖𝕪 ℂ𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕖 (@disneycolie)

Celebrity Birthdays on February 27

Happy birthday to four-time Women’s World Chess Champion and world women'’s No. 1, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)! Photo © Lennart Ootes.

The Vanishing Point

About anarchy, today

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, February 26, 2023

If for anyone who intends to think about politics, of which somehow it constitutes the extreme focus or vanishing point, anarchy has never ceased to be topical, such it is today also because of the unfair, ferocious persecution to which an anarchist is subjected in the Italian prisons. However, speaking of anarchy, as one has had to do, on the level of law, necessarily implies a paradox, because it is at least contradictory to ask the state to recognise the right to deny the state, just as, if one intends to bring the right to resistance to its ultimate consequences, it cannot reasonably be demanded that the possibility of civil war be legally protected.
In order to think of anarchy today, it will therefore be advisable to take a completely different perspective and rather question the way in which Engels conceived it, when he reproached anarchists for wanting to substitute the state with administration. Indeed, this accusation hides a decisive political problem, which neither Marxists nor perhaps the anarchists themselves have posed correctly. A problem all the more urgent, as we are witnessing today the attempt to achieve, somewhat parodically, what was for Engels the declared aim of anarchy — and, that is, not so much the simple substitution of the administration for the state, but rather the identification of state and administration in a sort of Leviathan, which assumes the good-natured mask of the administrator. This is what Sunstein and Vermeule theorise in a book (Law and Leviathan: Redeeming the Administrative State) in which governance, the exercise of government, exceeding and contaminating the traditional powers (legislative, executive, judicial), exercises in the name of the administration and in a discretionary way the functions and powers that belonged to them.
What is administration? Minister, from which the term derives, is the servant or helper in opposition to the magister, the master, the holder of power. The word comes from the root *men, which means diminution and smallness. The minister is to the magister as the minus is to the magis, the less to the more, the small to the large, what diminishes to what augments. The idea of anarchy would consist, at least according to Engels, in an attempt to think of a minister without a magister, a servant without a master. Certainly an interesting attempt, since it can be tactically advantageous to play in this way the servant against the master, the minus against the plus and think of a society in which everyone is a minister and no one is a magister or boss. In a certain sense, this is what Hegel had done, showing in his notorious dialectic that the servant ultimately ends up dominating the master. It is nonetheless undeniable that the two key figures of Western politics remain thus linked to each other in a tireless relationship, which it is impossible to sort out once and for all.
A radical idea of anarchy can therefore only free itself from the incessant dialectic of the servant and the slave, of the minister and the magister, to place itself resolutely in the gap that divides them. The tertium that appears in this gap will no longer be either administration or state, neither minus nor magis: it will rather be between them as a remainder, which expresses their impossibility of coinciding. Anarchy is, i.e., above all, the radical disavowal not so much of the state nor simply of the administration, but rather of the claim of power to make state and administration coincide in the government of men. It is against this claim that the anarchist fights, ultimately in the name of that ungovernable, which is the vanishing point of every community among men.

(English translation by I, Robot)

Eileen Agar, Angel of Anarchy, 1936–40. Courtesy of WikiArt.

And, yes, Edna, paraphrasing their innuendo, one might guess that their “miracle vaccine” is the only pandemic virus that has emerged from a laboratory leak

Artwork © Ольга Нуарэ / Olga Noiret 🍀 (@noiret.dolls)

Postcards from Berlin

That’s it, Edna. No matter whether are electronic calendars or paper ones, as long as they help to remember whose birthdays are coming up

Artwork © IshtarGoddess

Hide and Sneak

A visitor looks at a display of limited edition sneakers of various brands made in collaboration with local sneaker shop Limited Edt, during the media preview of Sneakertopia, a sneaker and street culture exhibition, at ArtScience Museum in Singapore. Photo: Edgar Su/Reuters.

Well, Edna, to quote Bertolt Brecht, “Happy the people who do not need heroes”

Artwork © Leon Castle

Lost in Translation

Well, Edna, let’s say that there’s a time for learning and a time for earning

Artwork © Zach’s Pin Adventure (@zachspinadventure)

迷魂記 (Vertigo)

Five years after her tax scandal, and after months of oblivion, 范冰冰 (Fàn Bīngbīng), 41, took the stage again at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival “Berlinale” in Berlin, Germany, February 23, 2023, in a program which featured the première of her latest movie, 《绿夜》 (Green Night). At the press conference, she was not spared questions about her tax scandal, to which she proudly replied that life is made of highs and lows, and that yes, if it happens to touch the bottom, one must climb up the hard way, knowing that even then one will learn a lot about the world and people. Photo © Jens Koch/Berlinale.

Through the Wall

范冰冰 (Fàn Bīngbīng), Lee Joo-young and director 韩帅 (Hán Shuài) at the photocall for the feature film 《绿夜》 (Green Night) at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival “Berlinale” in Berlin, Germany, February 23, 2023.

In one way or another they just can’t wait to give you your birthday present, Edna

Photo © amycheung321

Silk and Steel

Wireless Algorithms

About the liar who doesn’t know he’s lying

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, February 22, 2023

“Stalin and his subjects are always lying, at every moment, under every circumstance, and by dint of lying they no longer even realise that they are lying. And when everyone lies, no one lies”. I would like to reflect on this sentence by Boris Souvarine from his book on Stalin, because it concerns us closely. There have always been lies from governments and their media and collaborators, but the remark that Souvarine adds to his diagnosis seems to me to be decisive: the lie may reach such an extreme degree that liars no longer even realise that they are lying and, while everyone lies, no one lies anymore.
This is what we have lived with — and still we are living with — for the last three years, and this is what makes the present situation in Italy not only serious and oppressive, but such that it is possible for it to get out of control and end up in an unprecedented disaster. Indeed, nothing is more dangerous than a liar who doesn’t know he’s lying, because his actions lose any contact with reality. Truth and falsehood, good faith and bad faith get confused in his mind until they become indiscernible. Thus in the years of COVID, ministers, doctors and experts who were lying, have ended up believing their lies to such an extent that, losing any conscience of the truth, they could trample on the most basic principles of humanity without any scruple. A society which loses any conscience of the borderline that separates the true from the false literally becomes capable of anything, even to destroy itself. This is what is happening for the war in Ukraine, regarding which only false news is spread. The risk here is that governments which lie without realising they’re lying can unleash an atomic war that they thought they did not want, but that their own lies now oblige them to believe they do want.

(English translation by I, Robot)

Frances MacDonald, Truth Lies at the Bottom of the Well, ca. 1912 – ca. 1915. Courtesy of WikiArt.

You know, Edna, people with a sweet tooth always say they don’t like sweets

Artwork © Karen Hunter (@moonlightlove1998)

Mediterranean diet

“Sleep problems are very serious”, three-time Russian Women’s Chess Champion Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina said in an interview with a Championat correspondent. “I periodically suffer from it myself, and I have no ready-made solutions”. With an anno horribilis behind her, she has, indeed, no saving thoughts at all about the new one. The interviewer subtly urges her to tell if she ever thought to follow in Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk’s footsteps and change nationality. Goryachkina, in her answer, is anything but sibylline: “You know, for some reason the Chess Federation of Russia has been ignoring me for the last six months. Last year I was the only one without a subsidy...”. It is not only a money matter, though. The supreme authorities also denied her a spot in the Russian Chess Championship. But why? “I do not know”. On its part, the Chess Federation of Russia declined to comment on her words.
On the other hand her participation in FIDE events cannot be anything but occasional due to the conventio ad excludendum against Russia. So, as things go, she will have to look around for a new challenge and new types of formats, whether at home and abroad. Who knows, maybe she will be commenting on the upcoming World Chess Championship match between 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) and Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi.
Quite curiously, when she sits at the board for long hours, she does not eat anything of sweet or salty, but just drinks water all the time, because, “in order to be ready for anything, it is better to feel a little nervous”. But life is not only chess, of course (and fortunately). And thus, “Speaking without reference to chess, desserts usually disappoint me — I probably like 1 out of 100. So I prefer, say, pizza — the same calories, but it tastes much better to me”.

Indeed, Edna, popular tradition suggests that sheep counting is quite a foolproof method

Photo © Edna Mode (@extra.edna)

Through the Looking-Glass

I know I should have to get through the Looking-glass again — back into the old room — and there’d be an end of all my adventures! Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

Yes, Edna, it was Saturday afternoon, but pray don’t tell anyone or you’ll be late

Artwork © 記錄日曆 (@rec.calendar)

After One Time

Interviewed by Montevideo Portal on February 4, 2023, Argentine-Italian chess Grandmaster Carlos Horacio García Palermo provided his interlocutor with a photo of the scoresheet of his second simultaneous game against Bobby Fischer, played a year after his first and most famous one. “[It was] A simultaneous display in San Martín, Buenos Aires, given by Fischer against the best players in the country except Masters. I was invited, I scored a draw. Subsequently, thanks to the engines, I discovered that I was lost, but he didn’t noticed it. He didn’t lose a single game in that simul”, García Palermo recalls. “Both in the first and the second simultaneous, he always played risky, very on the edge. In many games he didn’t take any precautions, he went straight for the jugular. That made him an admired and daring player, even though, as Spassky objected at one time, one cannot play to win in all positions”.

[Event "17-board simultaneous exhibition"]
[Site "San Martín, Buenos Aires ARG"]
[Date "1971.11.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Black "García Palermo, Carlos Horacio"]
[ECO "C81"]
[Result "½-½"]
[PlyCount "70"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Nxe4 7.d4 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Qe2 Be7 10.Rd1 0-0 11.c4 bxc4 12.Bxc4 Qd7 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.bxc3 f6 15.exf6 Bxf6 16.Bg5 Rae8 17.Bxf6 Rxf6 18.Ng5 Ne7 19.Bxa6 Ng6 20.Qh5 Bg4 21.Qxh7+ Kf8 22.f3 Bf5 23.Bf1 Re3 24.h4 Qd6 25.h5 Ne7 26.Qh8+ Ng8 27.Rab1 Bxb1 28.Rxb1 Qc5 29.Kh1 Re8 30.Nh7+ Kf7 31.Ng5+ Kf8 32.Bd3 Qf2 33.Nh7+ Kf7 34.Ng5+ Kf8 35.Nh7+ Kf7 ½-½

Cat Day Afternoon

Spent Sunday, the 19th, at Villa Vogel in Florence, where Mado Flynn was volunteering her time and art to the charity fundraiser for the A.M.A. (Friends of Animal World) Cattery of Bagno a Ripoli, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy.

May all things go well for you, Edna, and may you be happy

Artwork © Tyez-K

Back in Time

Charming as usual, Edna, and irresistible as usual

Artwork © Aaron Thorstenson (@sanchez_040902)

I’m Only Sleeping

A panda rests at the conservation and research centre for giant pandas in 汶川 (Wènchuān), China. Photo: Rex/Shutterstock.

That goes without saying, Edna: in your case, and only in your case, it does not matter whether you are a beginner or not

Artwork © 𝕯𝖎𝖊𝖌𝖔 𝕺𝖘𝖈𝖆𝖗 𝕷𝖚𝖈𝖊𝖓𝖆 (@diegooscarlucena)

A Day in the Life of a Dentist

The then two-time Italian Chess Champion Vincenzo Castaldi conducts a simultaneous exhibition against 32 opponents in Turin, 1942, winning twenty-six, drawing one and losing five.

Cat’s Eye

A cat stands amid the rubble in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters.

Yeah, Edna, some no longer know what to do in order to get the best outcome for themselves

Artwork © Alexandria Art (@alexandriakharatyan)

Tidal acceleration

Hey, Edna, probably a shrink would say that a gluttonous appetite for sweets is by implication to betray a desire for lust

Artwork © AlexRuizArt

天眼 (Sky’s Eye)

The world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, known as the “Sky’s Eye”, in south-west China’s 贵州省 (Guìzhōu province). Photo: 新华社 (Xīnhuá News Agency)/Rex/Shutterstock.

Well, Edna, today is not the day to diet, but a pair of tiramisus and several slices of cream cheesecake could just possibly be the most caloric valentine you’ve ever been given

Artwork © Pixar (@Pixar)

延时播出 (Broadcast delay)

Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) conveys to all participants in the 12th 海南 (Hǎinán) 儋州 (Dānzhōu) Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament (September 23–25, 2021) her best wishes for success and health.

You know, Edna, if there is a woman at the till, a gentleman, even if he’s broke, never keeps scores

Artwork © Adannica Galindo Aroca (@yukiyukines)

Randomised algorithm

Personal check, 6 x 3, filled out and signed by Bobby Fischer, paid to Claudia Mokarow (née Evanow) for $100.00, August 21, 1974. Photo: LiveAuctioneers.

The Delayed Letter

Personal check, 6 x 3, filled out and signed by Bobby Fischer, paid to Claudia Mokarow (née Evanow) for $300.00, July 23, 1974. Photo: RR Auction®.

方向 (Orientation)

Quite unsurprisingly, Edna, their cancel culture bullying against you just gave you eternal fame and transcendence

Artwork © Uddhab Das (@ud_pictures1)

Cast a Diva

Lastly, but not least, four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) ended up with a double podium finish at the superfinal of the 17th Chinese Chess League in 聊城 (Liáochéng). Indeed, her team, 杭州银行 (Hángzhōu Bank), captured only the second-place prize (maybe a little disappointing), but she, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), once again proved how very much the awareness of uniqueness can make everyone’s eyes shine — just enough, apparently, to win the “Best Popularity Award”! Photos: photo.sina.com.cn.

Time’s Arrow

黄茜 (Huáng Qiàn) – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)

17th Chinese Chess League “泰来杯” (“Tàilái Cup”) Knockout Final; 杭州银行 (Hángzhōu Bank) – 重庆体育彩票 (Chóngqìng Sports Lottery); Final match game 2; 聊城 (Liáochéng), February 11, 2023

English Opening A35

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e3 Nf6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qb3

8. ... e6. 8. ... Nxc3 9. Bc4 Nd5 10. Bxd5 e6 is also quite playable here.
9. Bb5 Bg7 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. 0-0 0-0 12. Re1 Qc7 13. Ne4 c5 14. Nxc5 Bxd4 15. Nxd4 Qxc5 16. Nf3 Qb6 17. Qa4. Or 17. Qxb6 axb6 18. Bd2 f6 19. Nd4 e5 20. Nc2 Bb7 21. Nb4 Rfc8 ½ : ½ Malakhov – Cheparinov, 5th Tournament of Peace, Zagreb 2018.
17. ... Qb4. The outcome is the same after 17. ... Bb7 18. Ne5 Qb4 19. Qxb4 Nxb4 20. Rd1 Rfd8 21. Bg5 Rd5 22. Rxd5 Nxd5 23. Ng4 Rc8 24. Rc1 Rxc1+ 25. Bxc1 f6 ½ : ½ Giri – Nepomniachtchi, 5th Grand Chess Tour, 7th stage, Tata Steel India Blitz, Kolkata 2019 (time control: 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move).
18. Qd1 Bb7 19. a3 Qb6

20. Bh6 Rfe8 21. h4 Rad8 22. Qc1 f6 23. Nd2 e5 24. Ne4 Rc8 25. Qd1 Red8 26. Qb1

26. ... Qb3 27. Qd1 Qb6 28. Qb1 Qb3 29. Qd1 Qb6 ½ : ½.

Yet 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s draw was not enough to secure the team’s success. In fact, by virtue of today’s victory by 4–1, 重庆体育彩票 (Chóngqìng Sports Lottery) won 6–4 on aggregate. Photos: photo.sina.com.cn.

Please Edna, let your presence be their guide for one more time

Artwork © animeotaku1234

Return to Berlin

Half Way

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 黄茜 (Huáng Qiàn)

17th Chinese Chess League “泰来杯” (“Tàilái Cup”) Knockout Final; 重庆体育彩票 (Chóngqìng Sports Lottery) – 杭州银行 (Hángzhōu Bank); Final match game 1; 聊城 (Liáochéng), February 10, 2023

Sicilian Defence B95

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Qd3!? “This is a new attempt to confuse the usually well-prepared Najdorf players, but it does not seem very logical to me. I consider it weaker than any other early Queen move at this point, but still it has to be treated seriously”, Grandmaster Miloš Pavlović wrote in his book “The Modernized Najdorf”, Thinkers Publishing, Landegem, 2018, p. 26.
6. ... Nc6. 6. ... Nbd7 is regarded by Pavlović as “the most reasonable response”. There can follow 7. Be2 g6 8. 0-0 Bg7 9. Rd1 0-0 10. Qe3 Qc7 11. a4 Nc5 12. a5 Bd7 13. h3 Rac8 14. Qf3 Bc6 15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 e5! 17. dxe6 fxe6⇄ with dynamic equality according to his analysis.
7. Bg5 e6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. 0-0-0 Qa5

Mutatis mutandis, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) channeled the game from the Najdorf to a Richter-Rauzer Attack (B62), reaching a well-known position in which White usually continues 10. Qg3! claiming the initiative. She instead goes on her own way:
10. e5!? An adventurous Pawn sacrifice which can be hardly regarded as a significant improvement over theory.
12. ... Qxe5 11. f4 Qf5 12. Qxf5 exf5 13. Bxf6 gxf6. Black is a Pawn up, but only formally, as of course her tripled Pawns do not count as three.
14. Bd3 Rg8 15. Rhe1+ Kd8 16. Rd2 Ra7 17. Nd1 h5 18. Ne3 Re7 19. Rf2 h4 20. Kd2 d5 21. Ree2. After 21. Nxf5 Rxe1 22. Kxe1 Bc5 23. Re2 Rg4 24. Nh6 Rxf4 25. Nxf7+ Kc7 26. h3 Rd4 the position is more or less balanced as both the f7-Knight and the d4-Rook have their squares counted.

21. ... Re4! Black can now cause some apprehensions to her illustrious adversary by a positional Exchange sacrifice.
22. c4! The immediate 22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. c3 a5! could really turn out to be very unpleasant for White.
22. ... Bb4+ 23. Kc2 Bc5 24. Bxe4. The time has come for claiming equality by a mutual liquidation.
24. ... fxe4 25. cxd5 cxd5

26. b4! Ba7 27. Nxd5 Bxf2 28. Rxf2 f5 29. Rd2 Rg6 30. Ne3+ Kc7 31. Rd4 Be6 32. a3 Rg8 ½ : ½.

重庆体育彩票 (Chóngqìng Sports Lottery) fell to 杭州银行 (Hángzhōu Bank) 3–2 today in the first day of the final. Photos: photo.sina.com.cn.