‘In a game built on infinities, there follows a dizzying array of subsequent sidelines and complications. For this reason, the French Defence isn’t much taught to beginners.’

Nicholas Pearson on chess tournaments, both local and global: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Great fun today hosting a festive kimjang at Windmill Community Gardens in Margate, chatting brassicas and vinegar and explosions and making a sprout and chestnut kimchi

Just posted: my talk on the Analytical Engine
edmundgriffiths.com/analyt.html

Got around to posting this talk on ghost stories, from last month
edmundgriffiths.com/ghoststory.h...

This week’s notes: leafnotes.substack.com/p/261124

All hail Ding Liren! ♟️

If you're around in Oxford next week, & you're looking for a Marxist talk on C19th calculating engines, you're in luck

This week’s notes: leafnotes.substack.com/p/191124

This may look like an instrument of torture but it is in fact a set of portable metal weighing scales for checking the weight of a cricket ball. Made in Bombay, it belonged to HD Billimoria, an Indian umpire who stood in 17 first-class matches between 1940 and 1954

Anyone having problems with avatars? Mine is uploaded and saved but it is showing up blank