Tic-tac-toe

IBS.it bookstore hopes to draw more customers with aggressive marketing and price cuts, so Garry Kimovich Kasparov is now being sold at 50% of the cover price.

Flying High

If nothing else, anyone who takes pictures of the Duomo may not be said to suffer from Florence syndrome.

Men Without Ties

The tie shop in Via dei Calzaiuoli, tired of waiting for better times, surrendered its lease to a real estate agency.

Love in the Time of Cholera

A shop sells T-shirts printed with words and thoughts of love that can just be glimpsed behind the railings.

One Day at a Time

Hopefully, one day the sustainable intermodal chains will bring public servants back into the office.

Life Behind the Wall

To quote again 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”.

One Year Ago

Today, Sunday is nearly the anniversary of the day when, one year ago, the anti-virus world government ordered millions of people to give up most of their freedom, rights, and liberties in the name of handling a pandemic threat. Just because, as they say, “the threat is stronger than its execution”, that’s all it took — one year to turn the San Lorenzo market to Desolation Row.

No, Edna, there was no hidden meaning concealed in the number 667

Artwork © Russell Keach | Digital Artist (@gameoftoons)

To Castle or Not to Castle

Zoltán Varga – Alexander Sergeyevich Morozevich

3rd FiNet Chess960 Open; time control: 20 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; Mainz, August 6, 2004

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Position #667

1. e4 g5 2. d4 Ne6 3. c3 Nf4. Threatening a Knight fork on e2, but maybe that’s the only good point. 4. Rd2 g4 5. Ne3 h5 6. h3!? d5?! After 6. ... gxh3 7. g3 h4 8. Qh2 hxg3 9. fxg3 Ng2 10. Nd5 White stands better, but Black can still hope to defend himself. Instead, the text soon brings Black to the verge of ruin. 7. Qh2 e5 8. dxe5 Bxe5 9. g3 Nxh3 10. Nxd5 Bd6 11. f4. 11. e5! was also very strong. 11. ... Nd7 12. e5 Bf8 13. Na3 c6

14. Ne3? As the rulebook says, in “Rook-move-only” castling the Rook always jumps over the King: 14. 0-0-0! cxd5 15. Rxd5+− with an irresistible attack. White seems to have been unaware of Fischerandom castling nuances. 14. ... f6! 15. Nac4 fxe5 16. fxe5 (16. 0-0-0! Kc7!∞) 16. ... Bf7 17. Na5?! White pursues tactical suggestions, in the hope that the rapid time control may do the rest. Either way, the bureaucratic alternative offered by 18. Qe2 Ng1 was not appealing enough to hold on his own. 17. ... Qg5. Maybe not wrong, but 17. ... Nxe5! would leave White with very few arguments. 18. Qe2. Threatening both Na5xb7 and Na5xc6. 18. ... Ng1. Of course 18. ... Nxe5! was still very good. 19. Qf2

19. ... Bc5? Black ought to play 19. ... Nxe5! 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8 21. Qxg1 Nd3+ 22. Kc2 Bg6! winning back the piece with dynamic and material interest. 20. Qxf7. White could interpolate here 20. Nxb7 since then 20. ... Kxb7 21. Qxf7 Bxe3 22. Bxc6+! forces a draw by perpetual check. 20. ... Bxe3 21. e6? (21. Nc4 Nxe5=) 21. ... Bxd2+ 22. Bxd2

22. ... Qxd2+! 23. Kxd2 Ne5+ 24. Kc2?! A little better may be 24. Ke3, though after 24. ... Nxf7 25. exf7 Nh3 it’s hard for White to claim any compensation for the Exchange. 24. ... Nxf7 25. Rxg1? This is definitely a bad idea — but 25. exf7 Nf3 26. Bxf3 gxf3 27. Rf1 Rf8 28. Rxf3 0-0-0! would not have changed the result. 25. ... Nd6 26. Re1. Maybe White is still hoping for tricks based on sacrifices on c6, but, alas for him, the e-Pawn won’t ever become a reliable candidate for queening. 26. ... Kc7! 27. Re5 Rh8 28. c4 Rae8 29. c5 Nf7 30. Re3 Ng5 31. e7 h4! 32. Rb3 b6 33. cxb6+ axb6 34. Nxc6 hxg3 35. Bd5 Rh2+ 0 : 1.

Of course, Edna, MS-DOS floppy disks are included

Artwork © crazy_art2111 (@crazy_art2111)

Ice to the Eskimos

Ad Age magazine said that world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana will be sponsored and aided by Intel — the historic sponsor of the now defunct Professional Chess Association (PCA) in the 1990s — through the upcoming second half of the Candidates Tournament and the eventual World Chess Championship match. Furthermore, the same source says, “Caruana also just signed a deal with an undisclosed company for a new brand campaign soon to be revealed”.

Midnight Express

Yes, Edna, they are doomed to spend their meaningless lives counting out all the awards and honours which they will offer to you in the vain hope of being forgiven

Photo © For The Love Of Pleats (@fortheloveofpleats)

Friday Motivation

In the wake of the Hollywood Golden Globe Awards, ChessBase correspondent Carlos Alberto Colodro dedicated his Throwback Thursday March article to four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and her historic victory at the 2010 Women’s World Chess Championship Knockout Tournament in Antakya, Turkey — which made her the youngest Women’s World Chess Champion ever.

• Carlos Alberto Colodro, Throwback Thursday: 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) becomes world champion at 16, ChessBase.com, March 4, 2021

Into the Sky with Diamonds

Two of the ground floor boarded up windows of a building at Tumska Street in Włocławek, Poland, have been frescoed with imaginary windows. The artist/author is unknown. Photo: Mariochom/CC BY-SA 4.0.

Well, maybe, Edna, but the very important thing is that you found your glasses

Credit: writing-and-nutmeg

Life Stories

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, has celebrated his 90th birthday on Tuesday while staying in a hospital as a precaution amid the pandemic. Good wishes and congratulations came from the most prominent world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who hailed him as an “outstanding statesman” who influenced the course of history. Evgeny Anatolyevich Surov, editor-in-chief of the most popular Russian website Chess-News.ru, also recalls how, upon the world’s stage, Gorbachev has appeared in many unforgettable chess scenes, such as the awarding ceremony of the 35th Women’s World Championship in Tirana, Albania on November 30, 2011, when he crowned 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), as pictured above, after she successfully defended her title from the challenge of Humpy Koneru. Photo: Hektor Pustina/AP.

Rooms with a View

The executive director of Sverdlovsk Chess Federation, Albert Azarapetovich Stepanyan, told TASS that, to this day, the Hotel Hyatt Regency in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Ural Federal District, Russia, is still the venue for the second half of the Candidates Tournament to resume next month, but the last word will only be said within a short time: “The question concerns the venue, because, with regard to the first half, there were complaints about it. [...] We are not inclined to change venue, but rather to confirm the Hotel Hyatt Regency with all its facilities. Of course, other options are possible as well, such as, for instance, the residence of the Governor, ‘Sinara Centre’. Hopefully, a decision will be made within the week”, he said.

Who knows, Edna, maybe the worst that can happen to them is that he, like the Count of Monte Cristo, can carry out his revenge with exquisitely calculated patience

Artwork © Eléanore CHABOUD ✍🏻 (@ec_artworks)

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

People staring at Banksy’s street art on the side of Reading Prison in Reading, Berkshire, England. The mural shows a prisoner, possibly resembling the famous inmate Oscar Wilde, escaping on a rope made of bedsheets tied to a typewriter. Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images.

Of course, Edna, it’s not easy to cope with adult narcissists and egocentric adolescents all the time

Artwork © Afroformer

“There’s always something authentic concealed in every forgery”

The 78th Golden Globes Awards, which were aired live on NBC Sunday night, crowned Anya Taylor-Joy with Best Actress Golden Globe Award for her lead role as Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit, that also won Best Limited Series or Television Film Golden Globe Award.

Yeah, Edna, a little too much sugar, maybe, but otherwise a fantastic espresso

Photo © Murr (@murr_reacher)

Through the Heart

Due to Florence now being a COVID-19 orange zone, coffee houses and restaurants are to open for take-away only, and even elegant and exclusive dehors, for the avoidance of doubt, have been caged behind bars.

If you say a you must say b

Only a week has passed since I was here at the IBS.it bookstore, and Averbakh’s and Beilin’s book is already sold out, completely sold out. So, now it’s up to another classic, “Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess” by Bobby Fischer, Stuart Margulies and Donn Mosenfelder (published in Italian by Hoepli).