The most despairing games

April 14, 2019

Book cover of Apostilles or the useful and the futile (1972), by Robert Mallet

“What is most despairing is not the impossible, but rather the failure to achieve the possible.”

(Apostille ou l’utile et le futile, Gallimard, 1972)

Robert Mallet, French writer (1915-2002)

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White is on the verge of victory…

…and yet loses!! What happened?!?

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All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

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Serial winner, serial killer?

April 7, 2019

“Now who’s the boss?” (｀∀´)Ψ

“A winner is a losers’ maker.”

Albert Jacquard, French geneticist (1925-2013)

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Every winner should help its opponent to become a better player.
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11)

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All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Quiescence

January 13, 2019

A set of Abalone marbles thrown on an Abalone board:
no past, but many possible futures…

“Quiescence is only a self-contained movement,
often more uncanny than movement itself.”

(WHAT IS A THING?, Winter 1935-1936,
A. Various Ways of Questioning About the Thing,
10. The Historicity (Geschichtlichkeit) of the Definition of the Thing)
[translated by W.B. Barton, Jr. and Vera Deutsch]

Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (1889-1976)

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Who starts? With which colour? The choice is yours!

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All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Play here and now

December 23, 2018

Allan Watts

“This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”

(The Essence of Alan Watts, 1977)

Allan Watts, British-American philosopher (1915-1973)

O

Enso (‘circle’) by Bankei Yotaku (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

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All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Every game is unique.

December 16, 2018

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave recording his game during a tournament.

“A game is never an unchanged reproduction of another game already played in the past.”

(Joueur d’échecs*, p.30, Fayard, october 2017)

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, French chess grandmaster (1990-)

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* Chess player

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (MVL) on Wikipedia

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s website

All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Do you really love it?

December 1, 2018

Magnus Carlsen at age 26

“Without the element of enjoyment,
it is not worth trying to excel at anything.”

Magnus Carlsen,
Norwegian chess grandmaster,
current World Chess Champion (1990-)

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World Chess Championship 2018 on Wikipedia

All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

Something vs. nothing

Statue of G.W. Leibniz in the Leipzig University courtyard

“Why is there something rather than nothing? After all, nothing is simpler and easier than something.”

(The Principles of Nature and Grace, Based on Reason, 1714)

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German polymath and philosopher (1646-1716)

All quotes in the Dictionnary of quotes.

°°°°°°

Nothing:

… (x_x)

°

Something!

Let’s talk, let’s play! (^_^)

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