There are too many of these in these in many political quarters these days.

Just a richer sound and more energy.

I like this version better than the record version.

Love it! Seriously good version.

Thanks, I'll have a look at those later today. One hell of a columnist!

I didn't know Lasker was linked to Manchester Uni. Interesting.

I love this song but these days it makes me sad. My lovely French tutor had me translate it for homework. She was born in France and lived there until she was about 20 but had lived in Yorkshire so long that her accent was half French and half Yorkshire. She is very sadly no longer with us.

High in the field. Well played Graham.

By way of something other than chess, our retriever doing what retrievers do best

Bulletin No.81 – The Stafford Gambit is Dead, Long Live the Stafford Gambit! – Dorset Chess

Martin wrote a follow up a few months later

www.dorsetchess.co.uk/bulletin-no-...

Bulletin No.45 – The Stunning Stafford Gambit – Dorset Chess

By far the most read of the Dorset Chess "COVID" bulletins was the first one by Martin Simons on the Stafford Gambit which got thousands of hits.

www.dorsetchess.co.uk/stafford-gam...

#chess #chesspunks

In fact, one of the sources I used was "The Complete Chess Addict", co-written by Richard! A very entertaining read, btw.

These were part of a series of bulletins written by me and others to keep people entertained during COVID restrictions.

Don't expect the historical depth that you get from @richardjameschess.bsky.social and @simaginfan.bsky.social amongst others.

Bulletin No.46 – The world champions & what you may not know! – Part 1 Steinitz to Tal – Dorset Chess

A couple of light articles I wrote in 2021 on the the lives of the World Chess Champions from Steinitz to Carlsen. A few broken links but still readable.

www.dorsetchess.co.uk/bulletin-no-...

www.dorsetchess.co.uk/bulletin-no-...

#chess #chesspunks

A new one for me and I love it! Straight onto my playlist.

The lyrics are fun and paint a picture and the sound has not been over-produced so the instruments pop almost like live music.

This song has aged well 🙂

Interesting read, Richard.

One thing I have noticed about the covers you post is how good the female bands are. Another great one!

Only a few times. I can't remember why I didn't like it. It's a bit hazy but perhaps the lack of strong players.

It is really irritating to be accused of cheating. I hate cheating in anything. Fortunately it is quite a while since I have had that one.

I suspect there is a bit of all of the above 4.

So my experience of manners have got better over time.

Have chess players just got more polite over time?
Or do the admins do a better job?
Or are early adopters ruder?
Or does this reflect the different mix of nationalities on sites (there are definitely cultural difference between countries)?

And then to lichess. Like chess.com, the odd incident of bad manners but it is has been very rare. And the platform is a delight - free, ad-free, fast and fully functional.

So now I use both lichess and chess.com about equally.

Next chess24 (R.I.P.) I really can't remember one case of bad manners there. Of course it could be irritatingly slow.

So onto chess.com. Generally I have found the manners fine - the odd incident but nothing to worry about. Was slow in the early days but seems fine now.

Next stop Playchess. Started off very polite. Over the space of 2 or 3 years some rudeness kicked in. Not at ICC levels but enough to be irritating. Also the platform was not great - a bit slow, buggy.

I started online on ICC. In many way it was the best online platform. Fast software client, good features, lots of strong players. However, there were plenty of very rude players on there and also rude admins. I left because of the rudeness.

The discussion about luck in chess got me thinking about manners of different online platforms.

1/n

At the end of online blitz games where I have been completely lost but managed to win in the end, I have occasionally had opponents tell me that I was lucky + swearing.

I normally don't reply but if I do it is something along the lines of "Yes, I was lucky but you weren't unlucky"

They say that Kasparov analysed so many promising lines and rejected them because he had seen the defences. His opponents had not even seen them at all.