Living the Dream: A Coincidence Diary

V During a tournament in Roquetas de Mar in January 2013 I spotted an unusual possible stalemate saving resource in an ending for my opponent, Azerbaijani Grandmaster Mirzoev. I had this position as White - Play continued 62...c3 A critical alternative was 62...Re8+ when white can reach a won queen ending after 63 Re4 Kxe4+ 64 Kxe4 c3 65 axb4+ Kd6 66 g7 axb2 68 g8=Q b1=Q 69 Qd8+ and the a pawn drops off. But I noted that in this line white should avoid the smartarse trick of an x-ray check after 65...Kxb4 66 g7?? since after 66...cxb2 67 g8=Q b1=Q 68 Qb8+ black has the dastardly resource of 68...Ka3! 69 Qxb1 and stalemate! (See Diagram below.) Instead, of course, 66 bxc3+ wins easily. Endgame study enthusiast, Fide Master Paul Lamford, said he found the stalemate idea cute. It was news to him, even with his considerable experience and expertise in that specific area of chess. Well, at a Rapids event in Carboneras in August 2013 I got the position in the lower of the two diagrams...

On May 18th, 2013, I noted that Pam Ayres and someone else, whom I did not follow, had retweeted a tweet that I had sent to Pam the previous day. It was a whimsical observation re horses and Catherine the Great. - 18 May: @PamAyres You sound like Catherine the Great, Pam... One of the retweeters was Paul Fletcher - Paul Fletcher @FleTwitcher18 May@JamesPlaskett just saw one of your tweets retweeted. Bit of a surprise because we went to school together #bms #amillionyearsago That prompted me to confess to having thrown a stone at school that had hit his head - He responded with - Paul Fletcher @FleTwitcher18 May@JamesPlaskett OMG it was YOU! I didn't ever know, or even guess. Apology accepted, even if its a little late ;-) #stillscarred And the chat continued with his enclosing a shot of the, still extant, scar I had caused on his head... Paul Fletcher @FleTwitcher18 MayYou did this to me @JamesPlaskett pic.twitter.com/ffq6Za4dBl I tweeted that I would be writing up the c...

Around 11:20 on the evening of February 22nd 2013 I was viewing an e mail link that my wife had just sent me. She had been disputing an earlier statistic that I had advanced where Sam Harris had cited 38% of British Muslims supporting the death penalty for any apostate. It may be heard here at 3:00 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVYfADAnw8&list=PL45FAA00C0F2F490E I had sent her one link to Harris on Youtube where he gave a high % and was now moved to e mail her across (she was actually in an adjacent room!) another one where he gave a still higher figure. She was not enthusiastic about Harris and sent me across this link - http://www.loonwatch.com/tag/sam-harris/ I began reading it, and did not find it very supportive of her negativity.  Whilst I did so I happened to have a Youtube link continuing to play in the background.  When I reached this point in the loonwatch piece - There is no vice in having once been religious, for we all of us inherit our mythologies f...