Questions For Our Russian Friends

[palo5]

Originally Posted by vinceprince

Is this something you would like to see more of Palo?

No. There are some situations that justify use of force, but that isn't one of them. Anyway, I'm not a violent person, Vince

[Wendigo]

Originally Posted by vinceprince

https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/cossacks-should-be-allowed-to-flog-gays-siberian-lawmaker-says-25550

Cossacks flogging Gays, very macho.
Is this something you would like to see more of Palo?
If it's traditional, it's OK, right?

I spotted this arcticle
http://archive.spectator.co.uk/artic...e-gay-cossacks

It turns out the gay just referred to happy

Good job too considering the last sentence
"The proper stroke, made at full gallop, stops short of severance and goes just deep"

[Roubignol]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

It sounds like Russia life is not much different than U.S. Our small rural towns are littered with alcoholics and drug addicts.

That's life.
According to French medias, France is the country where people consume the most antidepressant.
Scandinavian and Swiss people are among the people who commit the most suicide.

Alcoholics, drug addicts, in fact all kind of addicts are people who are not really glad.

Schopenhauer wrote: "Human life is the most painful form of life, it goes from suffering to boredom."

I don't know if you have this maxim in English: "Heureux les simples d'esprit." ("Happy the simple-minded") ?

Originally Posted by ellias

Small town Russia..."There's little pay and no entertainment".

Sounds like Putin runs a great country!

They play chess... and quite well.
A chess player rarely gets bored.

[Roubignol]

By the way I've got a question.

I often have seen Eastern European chess players playing in the park in Geneva.
In the past, I often played against ex-Yugoslavian friends.

I also played against the Chess Master Lev Polougaievski... and was destroyed. (What a clown I was, I proposed a Gambit against one of the best players ever.... )
I also have seen several time Kortchnoi playing in Swiss tournaments. He smoked like a chimney.

Is chess still popular in Russia today ?

[Wendigo]

Originally Posted by xyzde69

Is chess still popular in Russia today ?

Not as popular since they killed their kings and queens, locked the bishops away and gave the castles to the Commissars.
They do fairly well though considering they have just the knights defending the pawns

[palo5]

Originally Posted by xyzde69

Is chess still popular in Russia today ?

Yes, very popular, and it's more competitive than ever

Btw, I have an amusing true story for you. Around 1992 there was an International Masters' tournament in Spain and they advertized it in Germany as "IM-Treff in Spanien"

Of course, people who weren't familiar with chess titles understood that abbreviation completely wrong, because everyone in Germany knew that IM stood for Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter, or Stasi Informant. They thought the amateur spies were taking a holiday in the sun

[Mosco Vito]

Originally Posted by xyzde69

By the way I've got a question.

I often have seen Eastern European chess players playing in the park in Geneva.
In the past, I often played against ex-Yugoslavian friends.

I also played against the Chess Master Lev Polougaievski... and was destroyed. (What a clown I was, I proposed a Gambit against one of the best players ever.... )
I also have seen several time Kortchnoi playing in Swiss tournaments. He smoked like a chimney.

Is chess still popular in Russia today ?

Recently, chess lessons have become mandatory in Russian schools.

[Brecht]

Originally Posted by xyzde69

I also played against the Chess Master Lev Polougaievski... and was destroyed.

You know what they say: Ein Springer am Rand bringt Kummer und Schand'.

Originally Posted by Mosco Vito

Recently, chess lessons have become mandatory in Russian schools.

I thought it already was in Soviet times? Like hockey, chess was a national sport in the USSR.

[Mosco Vito]

No, in Soviet era chess was a kind of elective and was taught in special sections. I went to this section already in post-Soviet times (1994). It was located in the district "House of Pioneers".

[Nobody1]

Originally Posted by Brecht

You know what they say: Ein Springer am Rand bringt Kummer und Schand'.

Could still be useful after an enemy castling to break the king's cover. The knight is offered as a sacrifice. I have met very few players who could resist this temptation.

However, I am just an occasional hobby player. I play more out of inner instinct than sophisticated calculation. In chess, I prefer street fight.