Brief Encounter - Back On The Big Screen

It's quite remarkable to be able to see one of your favourite old films on the big screen. To help in the summer celebrations of the 'Best of British', we were given a rare and unmissable opportunity of seeing one of the very best of all at the local Cineworld establishment.

Starting out as one of Noël Coward's plays in his 'Tonight at 8.30' review, the film keeps the core of the story but expands and embellishes it in great style. The change of title from the play's 'Still Life' to the film's 'Brief Encounter' lends it a more romantic appeal from the very start and the repeated strains of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto tug at the heartstrings and loosen the tear ducts with astonishing ease.

The first sight of Milford Junction leads us into the pivotal location of the railway station refreshment room. Indeed, this was the sole location for 'Still Life', but the film allows the viewer to witness directly the events leading up to the love shared between two otherwise happily married people, Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) and Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard, in his first major role...his inexperience compared to his co-star's clearly marked out in their respectives salaries of £12,000 and £500!), including the chance meetings in town, the trips to the cinema and other furtive misdemeanours.

Director David Lean pulls off a major improvement on the play with his idea of starting the story at the end and having Laura Jesson tell the story in her own voice. This allows the tension and emotion to develop and build up throughout the whole of the 86 minutes. The innocent start (Dr. Harvey removes an irritant from Laura's eye)...the happiness caused by a chance subsequent meeting...the developing closeness...the fear of being seen together and the inevitability of the growing emotional bond prior to the admission of having fallen in love with each other ('the beginning of the end...').

Suddenly, the story comes full circle as we come fully up to date with the opening scene. Every look, every touch now carries enormous resonance and significance as the inevitable parting of the ways, with the lovers hoping to share their last few precious moments together, is shattered and ruined by bothersome, gossipy Dolly Messiter.

The middle class accents of the principal players, coupled with the typical comic relief supplied by 'the working class' (including an on-form Stanley Holloway) can tend to grate with a modern audience, but most other aspects of the film hold up remarkably well considering it's UK release date of 26th November 1945.

In some ways, it was a very different world then. In other ways, of course, it's still exactly the same. After all, we've all been there, haven't we? And I don't mean Milford Junction....

If you have never seen this moving film then you really are missing out on something very special indeed.

26-30

UNCUT! columns 26-30 now archived....diagrams and other bits and pieces will be added later.

More Archived UNCUTS!

Hello everyone,

Several more UNCUT! columns have been added to the archive. There will be 60 in all when they are all copied over.

I'm still playing around with some of the formats; diagrams will be added in due course.

More new stuff soon so stay tuned!

New Stuff!

Hello everyone,

Please find two new columns enclosed for your perusal and enjoyment: 'Entertainment' and 'Book Reviews 26'. Post some comments by all means!

Entertainment!

Entertainment!

Sometimes - just sometimes - chess players like to spend an occasional evening away from the board of squares and seek their thrills and spills elsewhere.

In a period of particularly non-competitive spirit, I recently chanced a number of different ways in my quest to be entertained.

First up: a unique footballing treat in the form of a friendly match between second division Darlington and Premiership Sunderland. Darlington’s quest for play-off glory at the end of last season had not so much fizzled out as had been extinguished just as surely as it had been dumped right in the middle of the North Sea. Could their pre-season rebuilding strengthen them enough to give the Championship champions a run for our ticket money? Well...not really.

The waterlogged pitch didn’t even level the playing field; the skill-gap glared like a bald head at a Rockabilly reunion. Sunderland should have scored in the first minute and it was only a matter of time before the back of the home net bulged. In fact, Darlington, not short of effort, did well to hold the Black Cats to a mere 0-2 score line. Grim stuff. The black and white men could be in for a very tricky season.

The next slab of entertainment was much better. Have you ever seen Blondie in concert? They were sensational at Harrogate, from the moment they launched into ‘Dreaming’ to the second they finished their explosive encore. Clem Burke must be one of the most under-rated drummers in history. He has to be seen - and heard - to be believed. With his massive drum kit surrounded by Perspex to avoid deafening the rest of the band, he hammered away all night, more often than not leading the songs in and closing them out with a last rumble and smash. Every now and then he would hurl a drumstick high in the air and then catch it on the way down and continue with his pounding.

The whole band was on great form and all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying what they were doing. Debbie Harry is, of course, the focal point. She oozes ‘cool’ and class and has the audience permanently in the palm of her hand. For the first few songs her hair was perfectly styled and in place. Just before ‘Accidents Never Happen’ she slipped on a head band and ruffled her hair, punk-style. The audience went wild.

All the favourite songs were there, including ‘Heart of Glass‘, ‘Atomic‘, ‘Hanging on the Telephone’ and ‘Rapture‘. The two most recent albums were represented by ‘Screaming Skin’, ‘Good Boys’ and, of course, ‘Maria’.

After the last tour, rumours circulated that Blondie would take to the road no more. I’m delighted the information was inaccurate. On this form, they could go on forever but next time they are in town make absolutely sure you get to see them. You’ll thank me for it!

Two nights at the Saltburn Comedy Festival completed a busy week. The invited acts were all trying out their shows for the forthcoming Edinburgh Festival.

I was unable to get a ticket for the first night of the Festival and the second night, featuring Norman Lovett, clashed with the football.

Festivals can often be a bit of a curate’s egg and this one was no exception. The first of the two nights is best described as ‘disappointing’. Swearing may well have its place in comedy; in the right context and used sparingly it can certainly emphasise a joke, punctuate a punchline and provide a cue for laughter. Used indiscriminately, fired around every couple of seconds like so many bullets from a drunk’s machine gun, they achieve the dubious distinction of becoming intensely irritating and dreadfully dull at one and the same time. Still, many other people in the audience seemed happy enough to laugh on cue so it’s probably a case of ‘to each, his own’.

The final act of the Festival was, for me at the least, the highlight. Jason Manford was a very good stand-up comic, masterful with ad-libs and skilled in the art of dealing with hecklers. It was mainly observation comedy, similar to Peter Kay’s stand-up routines. Very good fun!

For further details of this ambitious Festival, pop along to:

www.saltburncomedyfestival.co.uk

Hopefully there will be a similar event next year.

So, dear readers, did you go to any of these events too? Add a comment and share your thoughts, by all means!

Chess Book Reviews 27

Chess Book Reviews 27

Play 1...Nc6!
By IM Christopher Wisnewski
Everyman Chess

‘Are you constantly struggling with the black pieces?
Can’t make up your mind which openings to play?
Are you for something new: an all-in-one to your problems?
Look no further!’

It’s so tempting to try and find a book to cover every eventuality for a single colour! How much easier one’s chess preparation would be. Can it be that the unlikely looking 1...Nc6 could fit the bill?

Let’s take a look at the suggested repertoire…

IM Wisnewski suggests that against:

a) 1 e4 Nc6 the unusual Nimzowitsch Defence is worth a try; e.g. 2 d4 d5 and now 3 exd5 Qxd5; 3 e5 f6; 3 Nc3 e6 are the recommendations. The latter is an interesting choice; it was recommended in Watson’s recent Secret Weapons volume on the French Defence, although the present work gives a slightly different variation.

b) 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6 and eagle-eyed readers (or even Helen Keller) will be able to spot that it is actually 2...Nc6 that is recommended here. The point is to cut out the messier 1 d4 Nc6 2 d5 lines and therefore limit the amount of material to be studied. Yes, it’s a full-blown Chigorin Defence Black is going for. There has been a lot of interest in this formerly neglected defence and I think it’s only a matter of time before it enjoys a spell of real popularity.

c) 1 c4 Nc6 2 Nc3 e5 leads straight into the main lines of the English Opening, with the English Four Knights being the destination of choice.

d) 1 Nf3 Nc6 is a pushy response, ‘threatening’ 2...e5 followed by a reversed Pirc set-up, in which IM Wisnewski recommends that Black should try a sequence featuring …d5, …f6, …Be6, …Qd7,…0-0-0 and …Bh3 with an attack quick enough to scare any KIA addicts witless.

All very interesting stuff, and written up with great enthusiasm.

There’s a very helpful index at the end of the book, which adopts the unusual method of listing all of the games alphabetically by ‘Black player’ and then repeats the process by ‘White player’. This is informative when one is trying to see which top players take up which side of the argument.

It’s easy to see at a glance that IM Wisnewski has included 15 of his own games, upholding the honour of 1...Nc6. I always like to see that the author has experience, and trust, in the lines he is writing about. For if he doesn’t, then why is he recommending them?

With lots of original analysis and some extremely unusual positions (particularly in the Nimzowitsch Defence section), this could indeed be a an excellent way to put together ‘a complete chess opening repertoire for Black’ and one that would, when mastered, provide you with some fascinating, fresh games.

The Survival Guide to Competitive Chess
By GM John Emms
Everyman Chess

‘Are you making the most of your chess talent?
Do you always perform to the best of your ability?
Do your results match up with your understanding of the game?
If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’ then read on!’

This interesting new book, from one of Everyman’s top authors, takes a novel way of trying to improve the reader’s game. GM Emms really bares his soul by using mistakes - often very costly ones - from his own games. A lot of chess players dread the idea of their mistakes being found out and displayed, but here the author bravely tells all, based on the idea that he can remember his thoughts from his own games and this information can be used to explain the mistakes made.

There are four chapters: ‘In the Heat of the Battle’. ‘Winning, Drawing and Losing’, ‘Clock Control’ and ‘Opening Play’. The titles will give you a clue as to the general content of each chapter.

More specifically, good advice is given on such topics as ‘Check Every Move!’, ‘Avoiding High Risk/Low Reward Tactics’, ‘The Poker Face’, ‘Grinding Out Endgame Wins’, ‘Draw By Reputation’, ‘The Perils of Time-Trouble’, ‘Guarding Against Complacency’ and many others.
Here’s a few random examples of his thought-provoking advice…

To deal with bad positions, GM Emms recommends pretending to yourself that it was someone else who got you into trouble and that you can fight harder - and forget your past mistakes easier - if you imagine you are trying to retrieve the position from someone else’s bad play.

‘Keep it simple, stupid! (KISS)’ is excellent advice to follow when in time-trouble. Remembering this could enable to keep a cool head when the temptation is to lash out to force an adrenalin-fuelled quick decision.

Don’t be afraid of going into endgames, especially dull-looking ones when trying to beat weaker players. If they really are weaker then mistakes will surely happen and it doesn’t matter whether it’s on move 20 or 50.

This is a good book; easy to read, instructive and very informative. The unique method of a strong Grandmaster showing a lot of his worst moments rather than his best is an inspiration to us all. Recommended reading!

For further details about Everyman chess books, please visit: http://www.everymanchess.com/

Happy Reading!
28/7/2007

Archive Update

Lots of UNCUT! columns have been added to the archive (dating back to 2001 and 2002). Steve Henderson is doing an excellent job of helping me transfer the columns across. The UNCUT!s stopped at number 60 so there are plenty still to come. Then there will be 24 issues of book reviews to add, plus a mountain of junior news, reports, games etc to archive.

Expect some brand new content very soon, dear readers!