The Indecipherable Hieroglyphic of Being

German chess Grandmaster Dr. Robert Hübner, a classical philologist and a papyrologist specialised in the decipherment of ancient papyruses, passed away after a grave illness on January 5, 2025, in Kalk, Cologne, at the age of 76. Hübner was more times a Candidate for the World Chess Championship, always without success due to his nervous sensitivity. He reputedly spoke more than twenty languages.

Robert James Fischer – Robert Hübner
Interzonal Chess Tournament; Palma de Mallorca, November 9, 1970
Caro-Kann Defence B10

The annotations — in rigorous symbolic form — are by Hübner himself, as it was in Šahovski Informator (Chess Informant), No. 10/191.

1. e4 c6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 g6 4. Ngf3 Bg7 5. g3 e5 6. Bg2 Ne7 7. 0-0 0-0 8. Re1 d4 (8. ... Nd7 9. c3 Δ d3-d4)
9. a4 c5? (9. ... a5 10. Nc4 b5! 11. Na3 Ba6=)
10. Nc4 Nbc6 11. c3± Be6 (11. ... f6 12. cxd4 cxd4 13. Bd2 Δ b2-b4-b5±; 11. ... Bd7 12. cxd4 cxd4 13. Qb3 Qb8 14. Bd2 Rc8 15. Rec1±)
12. cxd4 Bxc4!? 13. dxc4 exd4 14. e5?! Qd7 [14. ... Nb4 15. Ng5 d3 (15. ... Nec6 16. e6 f6 17. e7 Nxe7 18. Ne6+−) 16. Ra3+−]

15. h4?! (15. Bf4!? h6 16. h4 Qf5 17. Nh2!±)
15. ... d3! 16. Bd2 Rad8 17. Bc3 Nb4

18. Nd4?! (18. Bxb4!? cxb4 19. Qb3 Nc6 20. Rad1 Qe7 21. Rxd3 Na5 22. Qc2 b3 23. Qc3 Rxd3 24. Qxd3 Qb4 25. Nd2 Qxa4 26. Bd5±)
18. ... Rfe8 (18. ... Qc8? 19. Bxb4 cxb4 20. Qxd3 Qc5 21. Nb3 Qxe5 22. Rxe5 Rxd3 23. Nc5 Bxe5 24. Nxd3 Bg7 25. Bxb7±)
19. e6 (19. Qd2 cxd4 20. Bxb4 Nc6 21. Bxc6 Qxc6 22. Qxd3 Bxe5=)
19. ... fxe6 20. Nxe6 Bxc3 21. bxc3 Nc2 22. Nxd8 (22. Nxc5? Qc8 23. Nxb7 Rd7−+)
22. ... Rxd8 23. Qd2 Nxa1 24. Rxa1 Kg7 25. Re1 Ng8 26. Bd5 Qxa4 27. Qxd3 Re8! (27. ... Qd7? 28. Qe3 b6 29. h5!+−)
28. Rxe8 Qxe8 29. Bxb7 Nf6?! (29. ... Qe7!=)
30. Qd6 Qd7 31. Qa6

31. ... Qf7! (31. ... Ne8? 32. Bc6+−; 31. ... Qe7? 32. Qxa7 Ng4 33. Kg2 Qf7 34. f3 Ne3+ 35. Kf2 Nxc4 36. Qa6+−)
32. Qxa7?! (32. Kg2 Ne8 33. Bd5⩲)
32. ... Ne4 33. f3 Nd6 34. Qxc5 Nxb7 35. Qd4+ (35. Qe5+=)
35. ... Kg8 36. Kf2 Qe7 37. Qd5+ Kf8 38. h5 gxh5 39. Qxh5 Nc5 40. Qd5 Kg7 41. Qd4+ Kf7 42. Qd5+ Kg7 43. Qd4+ Kf7 44. Qd5+ ½–½.

Hübner in his prime. Photo: Boris Georgievich Dolmatovsky.

Well, Edna, day three is like day one, but with a little less time and a little more hurry

Artwork © mickeyphantom14

Happily Ever After

On Saturday, January 4, 2025, in a traditional ceremony (jeans not allowed) held at Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo, Norway, five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen tied the knot with his fiancée Ella Victoria Malone.

Newlyweds challenge the kiss between Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater at the prow of the Titanic under a golden glowing sunset. Photo © NTB/AFP via Getty Images.

Snakes in the Wood

It’s almost time to say goodbye to the Year of the Dragon (龙) and welcome the arrival of the Year of the Wood Snake (蛇) that will begin on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. If one believes in horoscopes, it is noteworthy that J. K. Rowling is a Wood Snake and that Voldemort’s most beloved companion, Nagini, was a woman turned into a snake due to a curse for twenty years.

Barbarella fends off killer snakes in a panel from Jean-Claude Forest’s original strip.

No, Edna, one cannot change one’s life all in a day or two

Artwork © LeMew (@LeMew)

Chants of a Lifetime

To be sure, Edna, there must be a double of you!

Artwork © ZoneX (@zonexanimate)

The Wedding Singer

There, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan of China, on July 31, 2022, at the wedding ceremony of model and influencer 王詠穎 (Wáng Yǒngyǐng) (a.k.a. Melinda Wang) and actor 楊祐寧 (Yáng Yòuníng) (a.k.a. Tony Yang), a superstar singer known to the public as 9m88 performed her cover of Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.

The Betrothed

The Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang (VG) has announced that this weekend Magnus Carlsen, the king of chess, will be getting married to Ella Victoria Malone, with whom he had been going steady for a couple of years.

Say It Ain’t So

Well, Edna, they just have to pray that he doesn’t fall in love with a woman with almond-shaped eyes

Artwork © ZoneX (@zonexanimate)

One Plus One Equals Three

Magnus Carlsen and Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi, the two finalists of the 12th World Blitz Chess Championship, being still tied after three tie-breakers, gave rise to an unprecedented outcome as they asked and obtained — on Carlsen’s suggestion — that the title should be shared. FIDE President Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich welcomed the request and proclaimed them both World Champions! The whole story sounds like a terrifying display of strength — not only in chess — by Carlsen, who succeeded in imposing his authority upon FIDE, which was not appreciated by many of his colleagues. But he didn’t care about it. “It feels very good to share gold with Nepo. We reached a point where it had been a long day. We played many games, we had three draws and I felt that I could keep playing. But it was a nice solution to share the win, it was a good way to end it”, Carlsen told to the Norwegian media NRK. For the second time in less than a week, President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin took pen and paper and wrote a congratulatory telegram to a Russian World Champion, who “deservedly became World Champion, sharing this honourable title with the virtuoso Magnus Carlsen. Well done!”.
As for the other half of the sky, in the 10th Women’s World Blitz Chess Championship, 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn), the queen of 上海 (Shànghǎi), did not indulge in such magnanimity with 雷挺婕 (Léi Tǐngjié). Once again she defeated her long-time friend (frenemy) in a final, if not classical, to win her first world title in the blitz specialty.
One final consideration concerns the fact or detail that this time, with the exception of Carlsen, all the World Rapid and Blitz Champions belong to countries which are members of the Asian Chess Federation. If anything, it should be something for Western supremacists to think about.

The Year That Follows

Don’t blindly believe anything you hear or read from the mainstream media, Edna. As Hans Christian Andersen said, “The year begins when the spring comes; that’s the course of nature, and that’s the way I reckon”

Artwork © Thayssa Telles Arts (@thayssatelles)

Fast and Furry-ous

Come on, Edna, the sales will start in time for you to shop for branded jeans to wear

Artwork © jittqs

Getting in the Game

You see, Edna, in five minutes one can do a lot of unthinkable things, like, for example, to strip one’s self of all

Artwork © Jose-Ramiro

Up and Around

With a twist worthy of the best Bollywood movies, five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, the king in jeans, pulled up his pants and hurried back to Lower Manhattan. The grand announcement, “Suiting up”, means that he will come back for his fans, just in time to play the 12th World Blitz Chess Championship! FIDE President Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich, stuck in Moscow with flu, after hearing the other side of the story from Carlsen himself, deplored FIDE’s intransigent censors for their disproportionately punitive attitude towards questions of customs and modes of dress, exhorting them to use common sense. He must have been convincing because Carlsen won’t give up his transgression. “As a principle, I will definitely play in jeans tomorrow”, he said.

As E.L.V. Denim founder Anna Foster said, “There are more jeans than people in the world”. Photo: Benedikt Frank, courtesy of E.L.V. Denim.

Green Tea with the Queen

A congratulatory telegram from President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to Volodar Arturovich Murzin, new winner of the 12th World Rapid Chess Championship, appeared today on the website of the Kremlin:

Dear Volodar Arturovich! I congratulate you on your victory at the World Championship in New York. You coped brilliantly with a set task and, in competition with strong opponents, you demonstrated skill, endurance, as well as remarkable preparation, convincingly confirming the high authority of the Russian chess school. And of course, it is gratifying that the whole podium was dominated by Russian players. I sincerely wish you new achievements and all the best. Taking this opportunity, I congratulate you on the upcoming New Year. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Success could not fail to smile on the young Murzin, who enjoyed the grace and favour of Her Majesty, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), in both the 5th (2018) and 6th (2019) anniversaries of the China–Russia Junior Match of Friendship. Photos courtesy of Murzin himself.

The In Between

They, too, have a dream, Edna; to picture everyone in their underwear and barefoot

Artwork © Anreal Cris

Lifting the Sky

Deep Blue

Five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen just said bye-bye to the International Chess Federation (FIDE), as he in fact withdrew from the 12th World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships which are being held in the heart of Wall Street, the financial capital of the world. The stone of scandal were the jeans worn by Carlsen, which apparently violated the “dress code” enforced by FIDE morality censors. He was first warned, then fined, and once these milder measures failed to convert him to the yuppie style, disqualified. And thus justice was served. But Carlsen won’t appeal. “Honestly I’m too old at this point to care too much”. he said. “If this is what they want to do I’ll probably set off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer”. He was probably alluding to the next inaugural Fischerandom Chess Grand Slam Tour, which may have been perceived as an existential threat by FIDE ringleaders, thereby enhancing their susceptibility to “dress code” breaches.
One cannot help but notice here that jeans (and sneakers) are a long-time obsession for many or some FIDE member federations. It’s only been eight years since four-time Women’s World Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), against the backdrop of a match for the crown, was told quite authoritatively by overzealous organisers to no longer wear her jeans and sports shoes. But she was just luckier than Carlsen as there was nothing in the contract inferring a ban on jeans and sneackers.

Pocket detail at paige.com.

Well, Edna, to say it with Samuel Beckett, “What do you expect, one is what one is, partly at least”

Artwork © roperkevin02527