Arduous Attrition

Met up with V at Adam Road for lunch, couple of tea, and a three hour long game of chess. The game opened with a classic Ruy Lopez, though black opted for the Bird's Defence (ECO C61), 3...Nd4, which is said to be an uncommon variation in modern praxis. The opening quickly escalated to a centre blockade and board-wide tension. In this game, pawn structure played a central theme and black's play was intuitive and decisive enough to eliminate a potential white knight's role in black's backward pawn structure. The middle game was tense and dragged out with black frustrating white's tactical build up... at one point I as white had my queen and two rooks stacked against the black on the queenside but even until the last moment I never really broke through. In the final analysis, black's impatient pawn pushes and advances of his pieces beyond his support fire resulted in unfavourable exchanges that cumulatively costs the game. V is right that Bobby Fischer would not be proud of this... too many tactical ideas failed to launch to great effect. Personally, I was lucky to get away with a win by attrition. It was nevertheless a rigorous mental workout in a game with plenty of tactical and strategic considerations and a meaningful catching up with an old friend.

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A Racer's Dream

Instrumental tracks often describe finer, further, bigger and deeper than lyrics can. Here is an original masterpiece by the most talented composer from Hong Kong (not Jay Chou). This to me is a music of meditation and of hope of a dream. On the evening before the biggest challenge/match of my life, I drove/cycle in solitude to an empty racing/match stadium large enough to accommodate my aspiration. As I gaze towards the vast expanse even within the stadium and to the stars above, I inhale deeply and recall slowly the dream I had carried for all my growing years and that one promise I made once, long ago...

Ignotus Peverell

When I escaped with a stalemate by threefold repetition of the same position, I asked V "Who was that someone in Harry Potter who cheated Death?" That pretty much sums up how lucky I was... or from V's perspective, how patronising I was while basking in the glory of a fugitive that got away unpunished! Indeed I should have been punished right after I lost my light bishop in a fork check. Lesson for me, always watch out for the b5 pawn move. Something that is mildly interesting is that the game opened with the Philidor's Defense. It is a defensive, stable but passive and I think "drawish" kind of opening. It was almost my first love as black. Anyway, in case you are wondering, that someone was Ignotus Peverell from The Tales of the Three Brothers.

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Pawn Sacrifice

Perhaps morally obliged to catch the movie Pawn Sacrifice, I did so yesterday with a rather cynical mindset because: first of all, no offence to my favourite Peter Parker, Bobby Fischer was a very tall man... and Tobey McGuire had never come across as too imposing or enigmatic (as you would know of Fischer) in the former's past lives on the silver screen. I obviously make this observation as a distant audience. Chill, please.

The short film did avoid for the most part, the height issue with careful cinematography. Drips and drops of personal background life events provided some shadings to his character and I could appreciate the slightly more three dimensional perspective of the genius that lived in that cold war period.

It was interesting to hear the anti-semetic lines faithfully reproduced in one of the scenes. Even in his last days, the former world champion had a lot to say about conspiracies and the likes. I also like how the famous 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace was reproduced. It was apparent that McGuire enjoyed his portraying.

One particular note on the role of Boris Spassky... I found Liev Schreiber's physical characterisation quite well done. It is probably because Boris Spassky's easy hair colour, style and his face.

Overall, the film did a fairly just coverage to the famous 1972 Icelandic tournament and the unusual fascination surrounding this american chess legend. I do however wish that the movie had offered even more narrative or depth, though the movie seemed determined to be factual and documentary-narrative in style, especially with its excerpts from real life interviews. 

While it is unlikely to be a film that many will remember or return to watch again, I like to observe that Tobey McGuire had done a fair job. Recommended for anyone with the slightest interest in history or in chess, and in who was probably America's brightest sacrifice on the checkered land.