Chess, politics and madness

September 29, 2009

chess zee anna

Blade was struck by this story from the FT, reporting on the uncertain political fate of Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion who retired from chess in 2005 to become the face of opposition to Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.

As a chess player of some ineptitude, Blade has the utmost admiration for Mr Kasparov. Confronted with the agony of 64 black and white squares, the man was a genius, regardless of the colour of his troops. But a cursory glance at chess in literature reveals that the game is inextricably linked to madness. This is a subject to which Blade will return, but at first blush, casting his eyes around his library, Blade encounters Vladimir Nabokov’s The Defence, Elias Canetti’s Auto da Fe, Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass and Stefan Zweig’s The Royal Game. In none of them do chess players shine as emblems of civilian sanity. What other fate for Mr Kasparov was there, Blade wonders, than political discombobulation?

Pictured courtesy of Zee Anna: chess, a combative old game but not, perhaps, the best preparation for politics.

 

Comments

Please submit comments to Swordplay below.

Not so right said Fred

February 2, 2012
fred hat

So Farewell, then, Sir Fred Goodwin.

Now you are just Fred.

Not Right Said Fred, but plain Fred.

The Forfeiture Committee did for you.

No one had heard of it before,

But Dave said it had to act, and it did.

Trouble is that no one knows what to think.

Is it ‘Alas, poor Fred‘,

Or ‘Hurray! Sir Fred is dead!’?

We don’t know.

Do you?

By A. Mob, aged 1,378 and a half.

London Goes AWOL

January 31, 2012
CNN

STOP PRESS:

Fed up with being stuck on the Thames in south-east England, London yesterday decided to move. In a dramatic gesture which augurs ill for the Olympics, the city upped sticks and relocated to East Anglia.

Lawyers were not consulted about the move, and the city’s precise motivation remains unclear. However, financiers fear that London’s decision is a sign that it wishes to downsize. Moreover, a source from London said: “We no longer want to be Britain’s seat of power. If the Scots can deregulate, why can’t we? East Anglia is a nice place where nothing happens. It’s time for a quiet life. Please respect our right to privacy.”

Elsewhere, Birmingham did not do anything, but Manchester was seen to be packing its bags. “There’s an opportunity for us,” said Manchester. “We can become London.”

East Anglia said: “We don’t mind. It’ll be refreshing to be associated with something other than fens and flatness.”

A cartologist at CNN, which broke the extraordinary news, was later fired.

An excellent ad if ever there was one

January 25, 2012
legovader

We seem to be visually led this week but sometimes words proliferate far too much and letting an image do the talking is no bad thing. That’s another way of saying that ACCESS Agency’s work with Lego is absolutely top drawer.