In these tight times the US Chess Federation http://www.uschess.org is seeking to economize. As part of the belt-tightening its flagship magazine (Chess Life) is shrinking, with fewer and shorter feature articles. How to do that and still have fun, reach out to new audiences, and re-energize a graying population of caissic aficionados?
I suggest Poetic Annotations — explanatory game comments in the form of ultra-short verse. It doesn't have to be 17-syllables, but let's start with that. Consider the classic game between de la Bourdonnais and McDonnell (1834, from Tartakower & du Mont, 500 Master Games of Chess, 1952):
| 1 e4 e5 The peasants butt heads Quarreling over nothing — Not unlike their kings. 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 c3 d6 Chrysanthemum buds Tantalize a dreamer's nose Until the bee stings. (4 ... Nc6 would have been more active) 5 d4 exd4 6 cxd4 Bb6 Sunlight through raindrops, Chill breezes, open windows: Prepare for the night. (not 6 ... Bb4+) |
and so forth ....
(see ChessChow for other ideas on adding levity to the Queen of Games)
TopicPoetry - TopicHumor - TopicRecreation - 2002-01-04
(correlates: ChessCrisis, HowDoYouDo, GraffitiZone, ...)