Friday Coffee…
LEONARD COHEN
R.I.P.
“Feels so good to wake up in the morning by myself Cup of coffee in the kitchen, fire up a little danger to my health Ah, they’re selling freedom everywhere, it’s flying off the shelf, Yeah, they’re selling freedom everywhere but love, That’s something else…”
(Feels so Good–L.Cohen)
Leonard Cohen was born some 20 years before me in the same city as me, Westmount (Montreal), on the 21st of September 1934. A poet, singer, song-writer, author and artist, Cohen was one of the few genuine super-stars of his generation.
When I was a young man living in Montreal, I moved close to St.Laurent Street, which was close to the mountain, its parks and residents loved the bohemian lifestyle of The Plateau, as it was called. That Cohen lived in that area was also easy to understand. I remember seeing him walk down St.Laurent on occasion, shopping for food or what not. I was tempted from time to time to go up to him and ask his autograph, but resisted each time. Another time we were eating in the same restaurant one winter evening, and I was again tempted to get his autograph. Again I resisted.
Now Cohen is dead and while that autograph might be worth something, I am glad that I resisted the many temptations. It was obvious that Cohen valued his privacy far away the world of superstardom, and I was not one to show dis-respect to the man’s wishes. Besides, the real Leonard Cohen lives on in his works…
”Good Greek Coffee” by Leonard Cohen
World Chess Championship begins TODAY!
Today we will see if the American media is going to cover the FIDE world championship with the respect that it deserves, or whether main stream media will simply ignore it like they ignored the victory of the US team in Baku earlier this year.
Yesterday at the opening ceremony held at the Plaza Hotel in NYC, not a single major American news service was in attendence. However, today the NYTimes,(scroll way down…) as well as the online version of ABC as well as USToday mentioned the match. GettyImages published some photos: LINK
Worth mentioning also that the president of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, was not allowed to attend. His visa request was turned down, something that the Russian government vigorously protested.
In any case, some match details are worth repeating. Best of 12 games, the first to score 6.5 wins the title. In the event of a 6-6 tie, some tie-break games at reduced time controls. The time control in the regular games is 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 20 moves in 50 minutes, followed by 15 minutes to finish (plus 30′ per move).
Carlsen plays with White in G1 (photo courtesy of organizers; Plaza Hotel)
Games are played in pairs, followed by a rest day: G1 today; G2 tomorrow, then a rest day. G3 the following day, and G4 the next. Then another rest day, ETC. The only exception is ThanksGiving and ThanksGiving weekend. G12 is on the 28th. If need be, tiebreaks will be held on the 30th.
Readers will be able to follow the games LIVE at numerous sites on the web (the NYC-organizers have failed in getting an injunction to prevent 3rd-parties broadcast the moves). Just check the right sidebar (Online LIVE chess) for a few of the many sites. Games start at 14 hours local time (19 hours London time)
May the best man win!
