The isle is full of noises

From The Tempest: Miranda and Ferdinand playing chess

Image: Wikipedia
The Chess Players attributed to Karel van Mander. This was identified in 1916 as an image of Ben Jonson and Shakespeare playing chess. Most scholars consider this to be pure speculation, but the claim was revived in 2004 by Jeffrey Netto, who argued that the chess game symbolises “the well known professional rivalry between these figures in terms of a battle of wits”.

Update: 2016 – Shakespeare died 400 years ago and today is Shakespeare day! I’ve decided to repost an entry of 4 years ago. Please enjoy my ‘contribution’ to Shakespeare day. The following is my entry of 2012.

I’ve written another cento – I had to, because it’s a chess one! I’ve taken again Shakespeare lines – like my Moonrider-cento , where I also used Shakespeare. A cento is a form of poetry, where you use lines of different poems. In this case [like Moonrider], I’ve used lines of Shakespeare’s works – and not different poems. This cento was much easier to put together than Moonrider, as they are shorter lines and I didn’t really spent that much time thinking how to merge it into a poem that makes sense. I couldn’t give it a title other than ‘A Game of Chess’. I have made minor changes here and there – to the word order or adding of an exclamation mark – just for effect. This ‘poem‘ is almost like a dialogue – as it’s various characters speaking in role from Shakespeare’s plays.

A Game of Chess
Sweet lord, you play me false
For a score of kingdoms you should wrangle
and I would call it fair play
How fares the king?
His hour is almost past

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!
And I have horse – will follow where the game makes way.
I have his horse!
Give me another horse!
So, the good horse is mine.
My day’s delight is past, my horse is gone.
The rascal hath removed my horse.

Are the knights ready to begin their triumph?
A wandering knight?
I am undone! The knight is here!
Great shouts within all cry ‘the mean knight!’
Great is the humour of this dreadful knight.

I dare thereupon pawn
My life I never held but as a pawn
I have not pawn’d to you my majesty?
I pawn’d thee none!
I’ll send some bishop to entreat
The bishop will be overborne by thee
Wat says my bully rook?

There stands my castle!
His queen, it was his queen!
Queen of queens, how far dost thou excel?
Come hither, come! Come, come, and take a queen
Sir your queen must overboard!
Will take your queen
Farewell sweet queen!

I’ll move the king.
The skipping king, he ambles up and down
This may gall him for some check
No mates for you!
We’ll draw!
My lord, your son drew my master
Where’s the master? Play the men!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown 

[Shakespeare-lines -]
Click on this link to read more about the Cento and to read what Folger Education think about my cento. I feel humble – you can view their comments in their comments box. Thank you!

–Click on this link to see the complete list of chess quotes with the references to the works of Shakespeare.

Enjoy Shakespeare day with some chess dancing!

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Melodies of love

Classical music and chess are two of my “melodies of love”..if you know what I mean..and today I want to share Dolannes Melody, by the master himself, the French artist, Jean-Claude Borelly! If you’re a chess player, try playing a game while listening to this music, you surely will have a good game. Wasn’t it Philidor that was a composer too…and a world chess champion! Today’s chess game, which I played on  Chesscube, was really one of  “those” games – for me…a plain silly start. No excuses. Sometimes you play (well me, not you) and you make certain moves and you don’t know what on earth caused you those moves. If you look at these images, you will see what I mean. You see, this is “typical-me”..Frailty, thy name is woman!) not thinking about the game, but just playing for the fun of it..and then, suddenly, the tables get turned…and your opponent refused to move as he knows he’s in trouble…and..”The rest is silence.” I wonder if you will identify some quotes I’ve used here and know from which play? You can now play through two games interactively. Down in this post you will find the links to play through it. Game 2 is a game I’ve played earlier tonight on Chesscube. My opponent is a 1708 strong player. I beat him in our first round and in the second I lost due to a silly Knight-move! If it wasn’t for my Knight-move, I could have beaten him, but that shows you again.. absent-minded-me! Please click on the images for a larger view.

You will see how he used his Knight (my favourite piece – see how I used my Knights later on!) to “spoil” it for me! –“O! what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”

–“Let me be cruel, not unnatural; I will speak daggers to her, but use none.”

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

..hmmm…first Knight to move in with a Knight-fork…”Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me. You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery.”

..and my second ready to slay his King..another Knight-fork…gmf! that will teach him to chase my Dame around and slaughter my men! –“The rest is silence..

And my dearest opponent begged me to stop..and on his knees he prayed his last prayers…his poor King in rags! –“The play’s the thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King!”  –“Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Do you think it’s true what Kasparov said?

Game 1: Please click HERE to play through the game. The game will open in a new window.

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nb5 Kd7 5. Nxc7 Rb8 6. Nb5 Ra8 7. Bc7 Qe8 8. Be5 Ne4 9. Nc7 Qd8 10. Nxa8 f6 11. Bc7 Qe8 12. Bf4 e6 13. Nc7 Qe7 14. Nb5 Qf7 15. Nd6 Bxd6 16. Bxd6 Nxd6 17. e3 a6 18. Nf3 Rd8 19. Qd2 Ne4 20. Qd3 g6 21. h3 f5 22. a4 Nb4 23. Qb3 Qe7 24. c3 Nc6 25. c4 Na5 26. Qb6 Nc6 27. b4 Nxb4 28. cxd5 Nc2+ 29. Kd1 Nxa1 30. Ne5+ Ke8 31. f3 Nf2+ 32. Kc1 Nxh1 33. Bb5+ axb5 34. Qxb5+ Bd7 35. Qxb7 Qa3+ 36. Kd2 Nb3+ 37. Kc2 Na5 0-1

Game 2: Please click HERE to play through the game.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Bg4 4. d5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 a6 6. Nc3 h6 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Re1 Qe7 10. Qd1 Nb6 11. b3 Qd7 12. a4 Be7 13. a5 Nc8 14. b4 O-O 15. Ne2 Nh7 16. Ng3 Bg5 17. Bxg5 Nxg5 18. Qh5 Ne7 19. Be2 Ng6 20. Bg4 Qd8 21. Nf5 Nf4 22. Qh4 Qf6 23. Qg3 Rab8 24. h4 Nh7 25. Bd1 Ng6 26. Nxh6+ gxh6 27. h5 Kh8 28. hxg6 Qxg6 29. Qh3 Rg8 30. Bf3 Ng5 31. Qg3 Nxf3+ 32. Qxf3 Rg7 33. Re3 Rbg8 34. g3 Rh7 35. Qe2 h5 36. Rd1 h4 37. Rdd3 h3 38. Kh2 Qg4 39. Qxg4 Rxg4 40. Rc3 f6 41. Re2 Rgg7 42. Rf3 Rf7 43. Rf5 Rh6 44. g4 Kg7 45. Rh5 Rxh5 46. gxh5 Kh6 47. Kxh3 Kxh5 48. Kg2 Rg7+ 49. Kf1 Rg5 50. Re3 f5 51. Rh3+ Kg4 52. Rg3+ Kf4 53. Rxg5 Kxg5 54. exf5 Kxf5 55. Ke2 Ke4 56. Kd2 Kxd5 57. Kd3 e4+ 58. Ke3 Ke5 59. c3 d5 60. f4+ Kf5 61. Kd4 c6 62. Ke3 Ke6 63. Ke2 Kf5 64. Ke3 Kf6 65. Ke2 Ke6 66. Ke3 Kf5 67. Kd4 Kg4 68. Ke5 e3 69. f5 e2 70. f6 e1=Q+ 71. Kd6 Qg3+ 72. Kc5 Qc7 0-1

Update: Game 3…Another game I played on Chess cube….my opponent’s time ran out…although he was about to lose the game too…please click HERE to play through the game where I played white. Out of desperation he forced me to capture his Queen in order to have a lost myself, but I didn’t mind that much as I knew I had a Pawn-advantage. I loved the position of my Knights during the middle-game as I could use them effectively.

1. d4 h5 2. e4 e6 3. e5 f5 4. Bf4 Ne7 5. Bg5 h4 6. Bb5 b6 7. Bxe7 Bxe7 8. h3 Bb7 9. f3 Bb4+ 10. c3 Be7 11. Nd2 a6 12. Ba4 b5 13. Bc2 Nc6 14. Nb3 b4 15. c4 d5 16. c5 Bg5 17. Bd3 Be3 18. Be2 Bxd4 19. Nxd4 Nxe5 20. Nxe6 Qd7 21. Nd4 Rh5 22. Qd2 Rg5 23. Qxg5 Qe7 24. Qxf5 Rd8 25. Kf2 Bc8 26. Qc2 c6 27. Re1 Qg5 28. b3 Qg3+ 29. Kf1 Kf7 30. Bd3 Re8 31. Re2 Qg5 32. Bf5 Bxf5 33. Nxf5 Re6 34. Nd4 Nd3 35. Nxe6 Qc1+ 36. Qxc1 Nxc1 37. Nd8+ 1-0

Now, for the climax! Do enjoy Dolannes Melody and if you like it, I’ve got a link – Grumpy Boss’s blog – where you can download it from rapidshare. But you also have to download the Rar-software to unzip it…good luck, it’s worth doing it for a wonderful piece of music like this, and you not only get the one track, but the complete album! Follow the link.
Dolannes Melody
Jean-Claude Borelly

http://grumpyscorner.blogspot.com/2007/08/jean-claude-borelly-dolannes-melody.html

This is the Youtube-movie with Dolannes Melody.

The Piano version

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A Very English Day

 

 

23 April = St George’s Day…and…we want to believe …as this is unknown… Shakespeare’s birthday. Not only his birthday…but also the day he died!

Read HERE more about St George’s Day.
Who was St George?

St. George is the patron saint of England. His emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the flag of England, and part of the British flag. St George’s emblem was adopted by Richard The Lion Heart and brought to England in the 12th century. The king’s soldiers wore it on their tunics to avoid confusion in battle.Like England, every country in the UK has its own patron saint who in times of great peril is called upon to help save the country from its enemies.
Who was the real St George and what did he do to become England’s patron saint?

St George was a brave Roman soldier who protested against the Romans’ torture of Christians and died for his beliefs. The popularity of St George in England stems from the time of the early Crusades when it is said that the Normans saw him in a vision and were victorious.

Dragon-Slaying Patron Saint of England

One of the best-known stories about Saint George is his fight with a dragon. But it is highly unlikely that he ever fought a dragon, and even more unlikely that he ever actually visited England. Despite this, St George is known throughout the world as the dragon-slaying patron saint of England.

 

       Image and info from this link…. http:// www. woodlands-junior. kent. sch.uk /customs /stgeorge . html

When I was at Secondary School, we studied  Hamlet… and for our exams we also had to learn many quotes..I can remember I had a list of about 50 or more…and… we had to know exactly in which Act/Scene…etc that quote could be found!! A nightmare! ..to study all those quotes, because you never knew which quotes you would get asked! Quotes that I remember well……. “To be…or not to be….” and a few more……”A little more than kin, and less than kind, Frailty, thy name is woman! Give thy thoughts no tongue. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice…Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”… Shakespeare was also a chess player!

 

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616)[a] was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist.[1] He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon” (or simply “The Bard”). His surviving works consist of 38 plays,[b] 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.[2]

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare’s private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.[3]

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare’s.

Continue reading HERE about Shakespeare and…on THIS LINK

you will find all his works. Please click HERE for more quotes.

Comedies
 All’s Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
The Comedy of Errors
Cymbeline
Love’s Labours Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter’s Tale

History
Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, part 3
Henry VIII
King John
Richard II
Richard III

Tragedies
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus

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