A00011 - The Brilliance of Magnus Carlsen

 

Over the weekend, the 2021 World Chess Championship reached a stunning conclusion with the World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway winning his fifth world title by demolishing the Russian challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi  7.5 games to 3.5.  The victory cements Carlsen's reputation as being the best chess player of all time.  He is certainly the highest rated (2882) of all time.

You can read about the match at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2021

and you can read about the career of Carlsen at 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen

For me, what made this match particularly intriguing was that the sometimes three to four hour games were condensed into 30 minute replays with commentary by Maurice Ashley, the first "official" chess grandmaster. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ashley

Ashley, whose siblings are professional fighters, made the chess games sound like boxing matches with Carlsen seeming to be a young Mike Tyson stalking his prey for the inevitable knockout.  The NBC Sports Network broadcast also paid tribute to the popularity of the marvelous Netflix series The Queen's Gambit by interspersing interview segments with Judit Polgar, the woman who is recognized as the greatest woman chess player of all time ... and one of the best chess players in history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r

It was remarkable to see these games on television and it was remarkable to see Magnus Carlsen at his prime.  Sadly, with chess, it is generally a game for the young, and Magnus is now thirty.  Who knows how much longer his brilliance will last. Fortunately, for a few hours on Sunday, his brilliance was on full display, and for the chess fan his brilliance will be permanently memorialized in the notations of the games. 

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Fairfield, California
December 14, 2021

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A00173 - The 'Spiritual Wonder" of Van Gogh's Starry Night

  My "This Day in Science" calendar for Wednesday, July 12, reports: "2016: Scientists recreate  The Starry Night  with genetic material "Scientists from the California Institute of Technology demonstrated the ability to precisely fold and arrange genetic material in a very artistic way -- by replicating a dime-width version of Vincent van Gogh's painting  The Starry Night .  Scientists stuck over 65,000 photonic crystal "lamps" filled with fluorescent molecules to the DNA scaffold.  Though entertaining, the artistic process also represented a serious step forward in precision manipulation of genetic material, which researchers say is essential for microscale manipulation of genetic constructs for drug delivery improvements and other uses." Here is a link to the article announcing the accomplishment: Scientists recreate Van Gogh's Starry Night with fluorescent DNA | Science | AAAS Reading this Day in Science post brought to mind the most start
Read more

Alphabetical and Numerical Listings (1-220)

  88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 Alphabetical Index 2022 9/11 Remembrance Day  A00067 A Day with Bernadette, A Few Moments with Moses the Ethiopian A00063 A Day with Bernadette ... and the Lady  A00144 A Full Card Table of Black Economists  A00163 A Happy Fourth of July Dancing Under the Stars  A00167 A Meditation on John Coltrane  A00197 A Most Profound Thich Nhat Hanh Memorial  A00113 A Musical Meditation on Rumi A00180 A Poker Game in Heaven  A00155 A Return to Allensworth: From a Field of Weeds to a Field of Dreams  A00149 A Return to Disneyland, A Return to Tomorrowland  A00218 A Return to Monserrat and a "Miraculous" Introduction to the Black Madonna  A00145 A Side Trip to Dublin and an Exploration of Black Irish Roots  A00146 A Surprising Connection to Our American Soul  A00148 A Tale of Two Black Economists  A00161 A Tale of Two Memorial Services  A00201 A Victory for the Descendants of Boley  A00199 Abdul Qadeer Kh
Read more

A00244 - Fatima Bernawi, The First Female Palestinian Resistance Organizer

  March is Women's History Month Women's History Month - Wikipedia and on March 11, Ramadan began Ramadan (calendar month) - Wikipedia Ramadan was the time when it was hoped that the Israel-Hamas War would be paused for humanitarian reasons  Israel–Hamas war - Wikipedia but it was not.  In a previous email (see below), I discuss the legacy of the 1948 Deir Yassin Massacre which gave rise to the Nakba. Sadly, the 75th-year anniversary of the Nakba has predictably proven to be woefully tragic. As a student of history, I sense that the result of this latest episode of the Nakba will not bring peace but will produce a generation of young Palestinians who are committed to resist. One example of such historical resistance fighters created by the Nakba was Fatima Bernawi    Fatima Bernawi - Wikipedia I encourage everyone to become aware of her story.  I found it intriguing not just because she was the first Palestinian woman to organize a resistance attack in Israel, but also because
Read more