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Category Archives: Games
Cheaters
Online cheating in games has become a deep suspicion, if not a thing. Chess, even over-the-board, is getting hit by the suspicion at the top level. Over the past few days, things have coalesced with more accusations and more action … Continue reading
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The New Four-Letter Words
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 In the olden days, the euphemism was “four-letter-word,” something you didn’t want your mom catch you using. Now we have something new. I didn’t catch this switch yesterday on Wordle, but apparently, the original answer in the game was … Continue reading
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So Wordle
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 My sister, not a real word, puzzle, or game fanatic talked about this on social media. Commentary: One puzzle a day keeps it clean. The player doesn’t go off the deep end doing it fifty times … Continue reading
Community Chest Updates
A favorite through two childhoods–my own and that of the young miss–renovated a whole section of play. No more beauty contests. It looks like the amounts players are given and taken are mostly the same. $45 has been rounded up. … Continue reading
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Anti-Clerical Chess
When I was an active chessplayer, my friends and I would occasionally experiment with one of the many variations of the game. I found myself always coming back to the original. Reminiscing seems to have been part of my day … Continue reading
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Boycotting the Cheater
It’s a game I love to play. Honest. In 2016, the bridge federations of Italy and North America found an Italian world champion credibly accused of cheating while playing for Monaco in 2014 and banned him. He was cleared on … Continue reading
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Word Game 1
When I don’t listen to podcasts or music on my daily walks, I sometimes play word games. They remind me of car trips with the miss when she was young, and more willing to engage in three-way fun on long … Continue reading
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On The Tube: The Queen’s Gambit
Netflix’s streaming series looks at a chess prodigy who emerges from a girl’s orphanage in Kentucky to become a force in world chess. Most of this seven-episode adventure focuses on the emerging chess career of Beth Taylor. After being adopted, … Continue reading
Posted in Games, television
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Books On Games
May I make a confession? I’m thinking of retreating to YA fiction for a good long time. Last year I read Louis Sachar’s The Cardturner. A friend of mine at the bridge club recommended it. He’s older than I am. It’s … Continue reading
Posted in Games, On My Bookshelf
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It’s A Puzzle
It’s not just a pandemic thing. Every so often, I renew a hobby from my childhood. A Christmas gift from the young miss was finally tackled in Lent. Gambit was of no help. He loves the puzzle cloth when spread … Continue reading
Posted in Games, My Family
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Book Challenge Day 3
This was one of two very formative books that kick-started me into an avocation that lasted about a decade. The other was a 400-pager that taught tactics via multiple choice. (Move A, turn to page 36; move B, turn to … Continue reading
Posted in Games, On My Bookshelf
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No Trump, Not Not Trump
I post less on politics these days. Certainly not because I lack interest. Not because I’ve moved on from a state with fairly deep political sensibilities. Really, it’s more because I believe more in local politics. And since few of my … Continue reading
Posted in Games, Hermeneutic of Subtraction, Politics
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Catholic Sensibility 
African Animals In Chess
If a piece started on the green square (Yes; I know: there are no green squares in serious chess.) these are the destination squares of three fantasy pieces compared to the standard knight. A curious finding: despite the fact these … Continue reading →