Czech mates

I came accross this car in Dawson st, Dublin, in December last year. It is advertising Pražský beer (from Prague). This pun has already been seen before in examples such as the sexy girl in a T-Shirt asking to Czech it out.

Alfred J. Kwak

A nice screenshot of lovely Alfred J. Kwak playing chess.
I remember watching the show years ago. It must be 1989-1991 as the Wikipedia article says.

Sacrifice (demotivational poster)

SACRIFICE
"Your role may be thankless, but if you're willing to give your all, you just might bring success to those who outlast you."

Demotivational poster found in despair.com , thanks to "9 good things the Internet has ruined for ever".

History Knight

The silhouette of a Knight made from letters. In bold, years and names of countries. Indeed it is interesting to have a look to what is written.

Bobby Fischer and Osama Bin Laden

Yesterday we mentioned the times in which Bobby Fischer was arrested at Narita Airport in Tokyo. Also from 2005, we have this comic strip by Corky in Star Bulletin (I assume) in which Osama Bin Laden congratulates himself for not being chased by the U.S. full-power, as the former World Chess Champion was.

Bobby Fischer's Icelandic passport

I took this picture from Chessbase, around the time in which Fischer was arrested in Tokyo and finally the passport was issued by the Icelandic authorities- say February 2005, as per the image - . One thing struck me. How can a country issue a passport for a stateless person? I'm not an expert in international law at all, just curious to find out if Fischer obtained the Icelandic citizenship.

Tower of London

Excuse me for the low quality of the picture. This is a fantasy chess set that was being sold at the souvenir shop of the Tower of London.
I actually saw it from the outside and hence the reflections. It is a Lego-like medieval-themed set, appropriate in relation to the place in which it can be purchased

The Monarchs of Strategy

This is an autopromotion ad that appeared in the Spanish pop-science magazine Muy Interesante in 2006. It is advertising a special edition dedicated to ths Catholic Monarchs; Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Their marriage was instrumental in merging both kingdoms and creating the biggest empire of their time.

King and Queen are represented as the equivalent chess pieces, on top of a chessboard whose shape is in the form of a map of Spain. It is actually the current map of Spain, as when they got married in 1469 there were 5 Kingdoms in the territory of the Iberian peninsula. Apart from Castile and Aragon, there were Portugal, who has remained independent, Granada the last Muslim kingdom in Western Europe, conquered by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492 and Navarre, annexed by Ferdinand in 1512.

A significant milestone for the history of chess happened in Spain at that time. In this era of transition from the Middle to the Modern Age, chess was living its own transition from old to modern rules. In this context, Lucena published one of the oldest chess books in Salamanca in 1497.

Lewis chessmen

These are pictures of the Lewis chessmen. Actually, only the first one is. The other two are a reproduction that can be bought at the shop of the British Museum in London. There are many things to say about this figures, but I recommend you to read, at least, the Wikipedia article.

Fantasy chess

This chess set owes something to the fantasy games such as Dungeons and Dragons and similar. No idea about the name of the set or where it can be bought

The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, by Raymond Smullyan (cover)

Nice cover of The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holms by Raymond Smullyan, a book that I strongly recommend.

The frontpage is a nice problem, worth trying to solve. A good appetizer for the rest of the book.

Spanish royal family

Spanish frame from the humor weekly magazine "El Jueves" (The Thursday).

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía appear as King and Queen, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia are bishops, the King's daughters (Infantas) Elena and Cristina are Knights and their husbands Marichalar and Urdangarín are the Rooks.

This was published after it was unveiled the King would have his 8th grandchild. And the joke goes like:

"Okay, now you can stop having children. We are just enough for chess"

Drawcula

Drawcula, a nightmare of horror! The horror produced by (especially short) draws in a tribute to the famous Bela Lugosi interpretation of Dracula.
This, in historical terms, recent drawphobia is to say the least a controversial point of view, but it is nice that the reformers bring us such nice images as this one, seen here.

Sensual chess

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Chess enlightment

A vignette from the great xkcd. I will not comment.
Original source, here.

Fidel Castro playing chess

Comandante Fidel Castro is a chess aficionado as "Che" Guevara also was.
Chess has been promoted in Cuba after the revolution and we can consider Capablanca's country a power in the world of chess.
Unknown to me where the picture was taken and who the guy is.

X European women's chess championship

This is the logo of the X European chess championship in which some of the most important female players of Europe will take part in this month of March 2009 in Saint Petersburg. You can check the official page here . Saint Petersburg has been a very important city in the history of chess. Even its former name, Leningrad, survives for chess players in the form of a variation of the Dutch Defence.

I like this blue logo a lot. We have a checkered background and also a Queen, which represents both the feminity of the participants and the important piece. Her hair seems to form a river. Is it the Neva River? and what is that tower with a spire on top? is it a Rook? Is it the tower in the Fortress of Peter and Paul?

Best luck to all the players. May their moves bring more beauty to our game, as this logo has already done.