Moments in a Blush 動心

9m88 is featured in the cover story of the September issue of MilkX. Photo: 王盛揚 (Troy Wang).

Nah & Gut

Today, the focus was on the ladies, who were performing their acrobatic feats in a magnificent hall on the first floor. Don’t believe that women chess players are more peacefully inclined than the gentlemen in the Winter Garden! On the contrary! But their male colleagues don’t come here to have a bit on the side. Nor do people come to see Miss Vera [Menchik] pluck her ninth victim like a poulterer his chickens. No, they come to spy on more risqué matters. Do you see Marquis Rosselli del Turco there, how he attends to signorina Benini? He doesn’t leave her side. And do you see the Swede over there, captain Ståhlberg, whose gaze caresses one of the Polish women players? People whisper about wedding plans. And there stands Sonja Graf with the latest masculine couture. Today she is unapproachable, and walks about with a warlike air. She’s bitter, because on Saturday afternoon Dr. Euwe danced the matinée with Miss Vera. Playing a game with her, „nah gut” (well, okay), but dancing!!! But what’s that? Are we in a sanatorium? There goes a lady with a sign on her back. What does it say? Please don’t touch my back. And in no less than three languages: Swedish, English, and German. It’s Mrs. O’Shannon, who has lumbago! De Telegraaf, Wednesday, August 11, 1937, p. 5.

You know, Edna, the law is equal for everyone, but not everyone is equal before the law

Artwork © Meridas_Angel

Trial of Bibi

A mural by elusive street artist Banksy of a judge in a traditional wig and black robe using a gavel to beat a helpless protester appeared on the walls of the Royal Courts of Justice in London before quickly being covered up by guards. Photo: Banksy/PA Wire.

Of course, Edna, the prizes awarded to you are the only awards that count

Photo: New R.G.I Toys (@r.g.i_toys)

Marco Polo would’ve wept if he saw but once

Singer, songwriter, and actress 9m88 wearing a breathtaking Chanel black satin slip with lace panels for the red carpet of 女孩 (Nǚhái) (Girl) at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 4, 2025. Photo: Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images.

From Stonehenge to Samarkand

Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina – Dmitrij Kollars
4th FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament; Samarkand, September 7, 2025
Sicilian Defence B30

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. 0-0 Nge7 5. Re1 Ng6 6. c3 Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4 d5 9. exd5 exd5 10. Bg5 0-0. The alternative vintage theory is 10. ... f6 11. Bh4 Nxh4 12. Nxh4 0-0 13. Nc3 g5 14. Nf3 g4 15. Nd2 Nxd4 16. Nxd5 Bd6 17. Bc4 Kh8 18. Nb3 Nc6 19. Nd4 (perhaps here White should seek for improvement) 19. ... Be5 20. Nxc6 bxc6 21. Nc3 Bf5 with comfortable equality, Pfleger – R. E. Byrne, 47th Hastings Christmas Chess Festival, Hastings 1971.
11. Bxe7 Ngxe7 12. h3 Be6 13. Nc3 Qd6 14. Qd2 Rac8 15. Bxc6 Nxc6 16. Ne5 a6 17. Re3 f6 18. Nxc6 Rxc6 19. Rae1 Bf7 20. Re7 Rc7 21. Rxc7 Qxc7 22. Na4 Rc8 23. Qb4 Re8. Black simplifies the position by forcing the exchange of Rooks, apparently olivious to the strength and the potential of White’s battery of Queen and Knight. Much preferable is 23. ... b6! 24. Qxb6 Qxb6 25. Nxb6 Rc2 raising the chances for a draw.
24. Rxe8+ Bxe8 25. Nc5 Bc6 26. Ne6 Qf7 27. Qd6 Qe8 28. f4 g6?! 28. ... Kf7! 29. f5 Bd7 30. Nf4 Qc8 31. Qxd5+ Ke7 is as much sharp as it is sound.
29. Kh2 h5? This leads to a deadly weakening of the Kingside Pawn formation. Black was still in time for 29. ... Kf7 30. f5! gxf5 31. Nf4⩲ — after the exchange of Queens White will regain her Pawn with the better Pawn structure, but a breakthrough is not imminent.

30. f5! gxf5. If 30. ... g5 then 31. h4! dismantling Black’s pseudo-blockade.
31. Qg3+ Kf7 32. Nf4 Qe4. The ending ensuing from 32. ... Qg8 33. Qxg8+ Kxg8 34. Nxh5 is also completely lost for Black.
33. Qg6+ Ke7 34. Qg7+ Kd6 35. Qxf6+ Kc7 36. Nxh5 Kb6 37. Ng3 Qe3 38. Qe5 Qxe5 39. dxe5 d4 40. Nxf5 Kc5 41. Kg3 Bd5 42. h4 Be6 43. Nd6 Bxa2 44. Kf4 Bd5 45. h5 1–0.

Goryachkina is one of only two women playing in the open FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, the other being Divya Deshmukh. They both won today’s game. Photo: Michał Walusza/FIDE.

Yes, Edna, tickets can be purchased on board, but you better have coins ready as drivers are not always able to change large notes

Artwork © Orri (@orr1n)

A Streetcar Named Desire

If nothing else, no matter what desolate world one has to live in, there is still a travelling oasis, a sweet harbour of consolation for the thirsty wanderers in the desert. Photo: 9m88 via 愷 (@kyleangusssss).

Oh yes, Edna, you are as like as two peas in a pod — only, now I think of it, she may be a little taller and thinner

Artwork © wisely

Multinationals Blues

A Queen’s Story

Four-time Women’s World Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) will be one of the chess stars vying for 24 gold medals at the 15th National Games which are going to take place from September to November 2025 in 罗湖区 (Luóhú District), 深圳 (Shēnzhèn), China.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) just confirmed her status as women’s world No. 1 with a perfect 6–0 score in the Chinese League. Screenshot from CCTV.

Red Chanel

Singer, songwriter, and actress 9m88 wears a striking Chanel dress for the red carpet of 女孩 (Nǚhái) (Girl) at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 4, 2025. Video via 9m88.

You know, Edna, even if it’s not a romantic story, one can always hope that there will be at least one kissing scene

Courtesy of PinPics

The Magic Carpet

Singer, songwriter, and actress 9m88 on the red carpet for the premiere of 女孩 (Nǚhái) (Girl) at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 4, 2025. Photos: Jacopo Salvi/La Biennale di Venezia.

A Woman of Genius

Singer, songwriter, and actress 9m88 at the press conference for the premiere of 女孩 (Nǚhái) (Girl) at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 4, 2025. “Girl is set in 1998. I was born in 1990. I remember that, in those days, women still lived under a burden”, she said. “They were dependent on their male partners, doubting they could do anything without them. When I came across the character I was going to play, I immediately thought she was very fascinating: she’s a mother who doesn’t know herself and is trying to figure it all out”.

Venetian Views

Singer, songwriter, and actress 9m88 shines at the photocall for 女孩 (Nǚhái) (Girl) at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 4, 2025. Photo: Karen Di Paola.

Of course, Edna, you are one and unique; there is no one besides you but you and only you

Artwork © C🍬 (@cookie_art.13)

Blue Moon

9m88 performing live Plastic Love at 青山月見ル君想フ (MoonRomantic), 東京都 (Tokyo), Japan, on January 9, 2018.

Come on, Edna, a month will pass quickly, and in the meantime, you may enjoy tasting the delights of the pâtisseries and bakeries around the university campus

Artwork © 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 (@karinkadenofficial)

The World of Yesterday

Sonja Graf – Clarice Benini
International Women’s Chess Tournament; Semmering, July 5, 1936
Queen’s Pawn Game D02

Notes by Master Heinrich Wolf, Neues Wiener Abendblatt, No. 194, July 16, 1936. p. 8.

The first International Women’s Chess Tournament at Semmering was won in dominant fashion by Miss Sonja Graf from Germany. The following game, played in the fourth round on July 5, is an example of her clear, positionally founded play, which many of her male colleagues would envy:

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c6 3. Nf3 Bf5. Italian player should not have missed the opportunity of gaining a tempo with 3. ... Qb6!, whereupon White is compelled to play 4. b3 or 4. Qc1.
4. Nbd2 Nf6 5. e3 e6 6. c3 Nbd7 7. Be2 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. c4 Rc8. She ought first to play 9. ... h6 so as to prevent the Queen’s Bishop from being exchanged after Nf3-h4.
10. Nh4 Bg6 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. h3. White stands slightly better due to her Bishop pair. However, Italian woman master handles the ensuing middlegame with remarkable ingenuity and succeeds in maintaining the equilibrium until the endgame.
12. ... c5 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. cxd5 Nxd5 15. Bg3 Bd6 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. Nc4 Qe7 18. Qd4 Qf6. This Queen exchange offer was not so urgent. 18. ... Rfd8 seems to be much better.
19. Qxf6 gxf6 20. Nd6 Rc6 21. Rac1 Rxd6. On 21. ... b6 22. Nb5! would be very uncomfortable for Black.
22. Rxc5 Rfd8 23. Bf3 b6 24. Rc4 f5 25. Rd1 Nf6 26. Rxd6 Rxd6 27. Rc2 Kf8 28. Kf1 Ke7 29. Rc7+ Rd7 30. Rc8 Nd5 31. Bxd5 Rxd5 32. Rc7+ Rd7 33. Rxd7+ Kxd7. German matador exchanged all pieces for a good reason, because only in a pure Pawn endgame she can hope to take advantage of her sounder Pawn constellation.
34. Ke2 Kd6 35. Kd3 Kd5 36. h4 e5 37. Kc3 Kc5

38. e4!! fxe4 39. g4 Kd5 40. h5 gxh5 41. gxh5 Ke6 42. Kc4 Kf6 43. Kd5 Kg5 44. Kxe5 Kxh5 45. Kxe4 Kg4 46. f4 f6! 47. b3

47. ... a6? So far, both sides had handled the difficult endgame well, but here 47. ... b5 should have been played, after which a win for White would no longer be possible. Let us suppose, for example: 48. b4 Kg3 48. Kf5 Kxf3 50. Kxf6 Kxf4 51. Ke6 Ke4 52. Kd6 Kd4 53. Kc6 Kc4 54. a3 Kb3! with a draw.
48. b4 Kg3 49. Kf5 Kf3 50. a3! a5. Other moves cannot save the game either.
51. b5 a4 52. Kxf6 1–0.

As you can guess, Edna, ain’t no sense in asking why they’re so pissed off

Artwork © Jo Jski (@jo.ai.illustration)

The AI Reality of Being

On false relations

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, September 1, 2025

A good definition of political power is that that characterises it as the art to put people in false relations to each another. This, and nothing else, is what, first and foremost, power does in order to then govern them as it wishes. Once they have allowed themselves to be led into oblique relations in which they cannot recognise themselves, they can be easily manipulated and oriented as one likes. If they so easily believe the lies they are being offered, it is because false are, first and foremost, the relations in which, without them realising it, they always already found themselves.
The first move in a political strategy worthy of its name is therefore the search for a way out of the false relations in which power has put people in order to govern them. But just this is not easy, because a false relation is exactly what from what one sees no way out. Something like a way out becomes possible only if we understand that the false relation is the very form of power, that to be in a false relation means to be in a relation of power. That is, the relation is false not because we lie, but because we lack awareness of its essentially political character. Whether relations that are apparently intimate and private or those technically or socially definite are in truth always already political — that is, we find ourselves in false relations from the beginning — this awareness is the only way to change at the root our way to live through them.

(English translation by I, Robot)

鈴木 達朗 (Tatsuo Suzuki), Connection, 2014. Photo © 鈴木 達朗 (Tatsuo Suzuki). Courtesy of International Photography Awards.

Strength and Beauty

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – 王秦萱逸 (Wáng Qínxuānyì)

19th Chinese Chess League Division A Regular; Match 深圳鹏城队 (Shēnzhèn Péngchéng Team)–杭州棋类协会队 (Hángzhōu Chess and Card Association); time control: 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds per move starting on move 1; 南京 (Nánjīng), September 1, 2025

Sicilian Defence B23

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 e6 6. 0-0 Nc6 7. Nd5 exd5. Very interesting is 7. ... g5 8. Nxg5 exd5 9. Qh5 Ne5 10. exd5 d6 11. f4 Bg4 12. Qh4 h6∞ Caruana – Narodistky, Late-Titled-Tuesday-Blitz-May-20-2025, chess.com, May 20, 2025 (time control: 3 minutes plus 1 second per move).
8. exd5 Nb4. No good is 8. ... Qf6 9. dxc6 dxc6 10. Re1+ Ne7 11. Ne5 Be6 12. b3 Nd5 13. Bb2 Qg5 14. Qf3 Nf6 15. Bc4 Be7 16. Nxc6+− Kravtsiv – Zienkiewicz, Early-Titled-Tuesday-Blitz-April-01-2025, chess.com, April 1, 2025 (time control: 3 minutes plus 1 second per move).
9. Re1+ Ne7 10. d6 Nxd3 11. cxd3 Qb6 12. dxe7 Bxe7

13. b4! d6? The Pawn cannot be captured now, either by the Queen (13. ... Qxb4?? 14. Qe2+−) or the Pawn (13. ... cxb4 14. Bb2→), but Black misses the chance here to put the King safe in the castle: 13. ... 0-0! for if 14. Rxe7 then 14. ... Qf6 forking both Rooks and thus winning the Exchange.
14. bxc5 dxc5 15. d4 Be6 16. dxc5 Qxc5 17. d4 Qd6 18. Bg5 Rd8 19. Qc2 h6? Black still could not castle (19. ... 0-0? 20. d5!+−), but the text move is also bad as it allows White to deliver a mating attack. Correct was 19. ... f6! 20. Re3 0-0 21. Rae1 Bd5 22. Rxe7 Bxf3 23. Bh6 Rd7 with a tenable defence.

20. Rxe6! fxe6 (20. ... Qxe6 21. Bxe7 Qxe7 22. Re1+−)
21. Qg6+ Kf8 (21. ... Kd7 22. Rc1 hxg5 23. Ne5++−)
22. Ne5 Kg8 23. Qf7+ Kh7 24. Bxe7 Qxd4 25. Qg6+ Kg8 26. Qxe6+ Kh7 27. Qg6+ Kg8 28. Rf1 1–0.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) has consolidated her position as women’s world No. 1 with a perfect 6–0 score in the Regular stage of the Chinese League. Photo: 新华社 (Xīnhuá News Agency).

You know, Edna, there’s an old Chinese saying that goes, “Ignorance is fearless”

Artwork © Jose-Ramiro