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It seems that there is a modern fashion for omitting the best lines from stage presentations of the great English classics. Thus my favourite line in Marlowe — “Egregious viceroys of these
Eastern parts” — which ringingly opens his _Tamburlaine the Great,_ Part Two, is now standardly excised from theatrical productions. When the line is retained, it is reduced to the anodyne
“most noble viceroys”, which does not even have the same meaning. A similar case can be seen in those lines spoken by Hamlet in Act Five, which to me seem to encapsulate the entire meaning
of Shakespeare’s play: _ _ _Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, _ _Might stop a hole to keep the wind away._ _Oh, that that earth which kept the world in awe_ _Should patch a wall
t’expel the winters flaw!_ It is many years since I have attended a performance of _Hamlet_ which included those, to my mind crucial, lines. Words are like shapeshifters from mythology or
science fiction. Dalek, the mortal foe of Dr Who, comes from the Russian adjective _dalek_, meaning faraway, foreign or, indeed, alien. The word “Tulip” originally meant a hat, but was
misconstrued by a Dutch trader in Istanbul. All Russian railway stations are called Vauxhall, since Czar Nicholas II on a state visit happened to ask what the British railway system was
called, while his train was passing through Vauxhall. “Algebra” and “gibberish” share the same linguistic root. The Welsh word for a pharmacy, “Ferfylla”, is derived from “Ferylt”, the Welsh
interpretation of the name of the Latin poet Virgil, whose Messianic Eclogue, curiously imitating a prophetic passage from the Biblical Book of Isaiah, earned him a reputation as a vatic
visionary, magician or alchemist. Caesar himself lent his name to the names of rulers such as _Kaiser_ and _Czar_. Even Queen Victoria, Empress of India, was known there as “Kaisar I Hind”,
or “Caesar of India”, while the mythological national hero of Tibet, Joru Gesar, is clearly based on Julius Caesar. A fact particularly resonant as we move towards the Ides of March in
little more than a month, the fifteenth to be precise. So where does the word chess come from? Chess is an hierarchical game, redolent of courts and rulers. Dictionaries do not give clear
origins, simply similar words e.g. from mediaeval French. What has to be borne in mind is that Julius Caesar is simply the English rendition of the Roman Dictator’s name. In Italian it is
Giulio Cesare, with the C pronounced as “Ch”. So: does the word chess, the game of Kings and Emperors, such as Alexius Comnenus of Byzantium, Czar Peter the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte,
actually owe its derivation to Julius Caesar? Or, t’were it to consider, too curiously, to consider so? DANIEL HARRWITZ vs. ANTONIO BONAPARTE Blindfold simul., Paris, 1857 1.E4 C5 2. D4 E6
3. D5 E5 4. F4 D6 5. NF3 BG4 6. BD3 G6 7. FXE5 BXF3 8. QXF3 DXE5 9. O-O F6 10. NC3 A6 11. A4 QD6 12. KH1 H5 13. QG3 NE7 14. BE3 BH6 15. BXH6 RXH6 16. A5 ND7 17. NA4 G5 18. RA3 KF7 19. QXG5
RG6 20. QH4 KG7 21. RB3 RE8 22. RXB7 KH6 23. BE2 RG5 24. NB6 NG6 25. RXD7 NXH4 26. RXD6 NG6 27. RDXF6 RG8 28. H4 RG3 29. R1F5 KG7 Black resigns as after 30. Rf7+, White will mate with 31.
Rxh5. 1-0 A blue-blooded encounter as, according to the authoritative _Oxford Encyclopaedia of Chess Games_, Black was none other than Prince Antonio Bonaparte, a relative of the Emperor.
Although off-piste with the week’s theme, I am unable to desist from sharing a deadly red-blooded duel fought out in January at the Tata Steel Masters tournament. Playing Black against the
higher rated Parham Maghsoodloo of India, our old Uzbeki friend, ‘Nodi’, (Nodirbek Abdussatorov) rescued a breathtaking game full of drama, errors and brute force. PARHAM MAGHSOODLOO vs.
NODIRBEK ABDUSATTOROV Tata Steel Masters, Wijl-aan-Zee, rd. 3 1.C4 E5 2. NC3 NF6 3. NF3 E4?! Although 3… d6 is known, the most popular theoretical line continues with 3… Nc6, the Four
Knights English. The engine slightly prefers White after the text move. 4.NG5 C6!? I have played against Bellon’s 4… b5, but have never seen this pawn gambit before. Black declines to even
bother defending the pawn on e4. 5.QA4 I have now learned that Aronian played the seemingly natural and immediate 5. Ngxe4 against Praggnanandhaa, losing a crazy game in the FTX Crypto Cup
in 2022. Maghsoodloo follows a game played some months earlier when Abdusattorov beat Keymer with White. 5… QE7 6. F3 TN A new move. 6. Qc2 had been played in a 2021 draw between Aravindh
against Adhiban. 6… EXF3 7. NXF3 G6 8. D4 BG7 9. C5 A tad artificial as there was no need to deter 9… d5. Preferable was the immediate 9. Bf4. 9… O-O 10. BF4 NA6 11. BD6 QE3 12. ND1 QE6 13.
NF2? A clear error: up until this move, White had accumulated a small but tangible advantage which would have been maintained after either 13. Bxf8 or e3. 13… RE8 14. H4 B6 15. NG5 QF5? A
blunder which returns White the initiative. Black retains an edge after 15… Qd5. 16.G4 QD5? Even 16… Nxg4 was preferable. White is now much better. 17.O-O-O BXC5 18. DXC5 The machine now
reckons that White is winning. 18… NXC5 19. QC2? A blunder. White needed to play 19. Qa3 Qc4+ 20. Kb1 a5 with clear winning chances. 19… QXA2 20. BXC5 RB8 Even stronger was 20… Nd5 21. Rh3
Rb8 22. b3 Qa5, but Black is still much better. 21.B4 QA3+ 22. KD2 ND5 23. RH3 RE3 24. NFE4 Better were both 24. Nge4 and Rxe3 24… RXH3 25. BXH3 H6 26. NF3?? Losing. White should prefer 26.
Nxf7, for example, 26… Qxh3 27. Nfd6 Ba6 28. Qa2 Bxe2 29. Kxe2 Qxg4+ 30. Ke1 Qxh4+ 31. Qf2, when he is worse, but not yet finished. 26… NXB4 27. QC1 QA5 28. KE3 D5?! Black conspires to grant
White breathing space. It was all over after 28… Nd5+ Kf2 Nc3 30. Nxc3 Qxc5+ 31. Kg3 Qxc3 32. Qxc3 Bxc3 33. g5 hxg5 34. hxg5 a5 35. Bxd7 Bxd7 36. Rxd7 Ra8, when the a-pawn will run quickly.
29NED2 H5?! Still winning, although 29… Bb2 won on the spot. After, 30. Bxb4 Qxb4 31. Qxc6 Bb7 32. Qc7 Rc8 33. Qd7 Bd4+ 34. Nxd4 Rc3+ 35. Kf2 Qxd4+, White has no good reason to continue.
30.KF2 HXG4 31. NB3 QC7 32. QD2 GXF3 33. BXC8 FXE2 34. KXE2 QXC8 White resigns 0-1 RAY’S 206TH BOOK, “ CHESS IN THE YEAR OF THE KING ”, WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH ADAM BLACK, AND HIS
207TH, “ NAPOLEON AND GOETHE: THE TOUCHSTONE OF GENIUS ” (WHICH DISCUSSES THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHESS) ARE AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON AND BLACKWELLS. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only
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