McCreadyandChess

Should you be enthusiastic enough about the modern game to follow the main events, you may well know that another is right around the corner. Another Champions Chess tour will commence soon with many of the usual suspects in play. We do have the current world champion participating as well as the name on everyone’s lips GM Hans Niemann. No doubt a great very many will tune in for that clash for reasons well publicized this month.

Let us hope that the world champion clears up some points regarding his departure from the Sinquefield, and let us hope he remains human and dispels some of the gossip flying around. Cheating is extremely rare in OTB chess but the fear and paranoia generated from accusations levied is disproportionate to the impact on a tournament. Surely it is time to move on before it becomes an embarrassment, and an even bigger source of amusement to the non-chess playing world than what it already is.

What needs to be addressed is why the world champion is refusing to explain why he withdrew. He must surely know that GM Niemann has been harmed by the accusations made, and so with maturity it really ought to be time to set the record straight and move on -well let’s hope so.

As it stands I am taking a break from chess and so won’t be following the event. I go to bed very early these days, thus making the coverage past my bedtime, and not something I can stay up for. How beneficial taking a break is I don’t know. It matters not as there is nothing happening OTB, and since when was on line chess ever worth taking so seriously, especially with regards to blitz. The closest I come to thinking about chess deeply is when I teach essay writing, as I use an example of the benefits of chess to illustrate how essays should be structured to my students. It’s an essay I wrote last year and the only real focal point of chess in my life. If events were shown earlier in the day, perhaps that would change matters, then perhaps not.

Should you wish to follow the event live, may I suggest you follow the commentary team headed by GM David Howell. He’s very good but more to the point his team bring home the point that following the modern game is a full time job. Yes, it’s an all or nothing approach I am afraid as opening theory is so deep now, you need to be fully on board or if not then blown away by the complexity of the modern game.

So I’m afraid I won’t be giving running reports of what’s coming up, like was the case with the Olympiad, which in itself was fantastic. Let us hope that this time the world champion doesn’t disappear without explanation and some great chess in played. Don’t ask me what we would do without youtube, just don’t go there.

Here, I sit in a dark room alone. The country I am fielded a team at the Olympiad so weak that I could beat the entire team if I wanted to. I sit listening to Dutch trance, content with my own company and happy to write as always. Everything is stable and secure, and I am content with myself. Chess is, after all, only a hobby. Sometimes work takes centre stage, as indeed it should. So sitting alone late at night in the dark is fine. Ultimately, my goal in life is to be a good father, and so all that dovetails around that takes priority over a hobby. It’s all good despite the fact I have little to say…just thought I would touch base.