Wednesday Coffee
Good morning, Wednesday! The last Wednesday of October (why does this sound like a broken record?! ) and Donald Trump has still not dropped the bomb on North Korea! Curiously, Trump is not the only US President to seriously consider this option.
In 1969 Nixon had plans prepared to nuke North Korea in response to North Korea shooting down one of its reconnaissance planes, resulting in the death of all 31 airmen aboard. In the end, Nixon rejected this option as unworkable without a full scale land invastion, something the US was neither willing nor capable of doing at the time.
But Trump’s evil North Korean twin might yet provoke the US into doing something rash that we will all immediately regret. Bookies in England are actually beginning to accept bets on just when this will happen. The smart money is on sometime this year…
Meanwhile, my coffee is not going anywhere
The way I like it: Black as the devil and hot as hell.
Coffee in the News
Did you know that in Canada the coffee served at McDonald’s is quickly over taking Starbucks, Second Cup and Hortons ? I kid you not! According to Maclean’s Magazine. So much for plans of $10-coffee shops and yuppies! The cheap coffee appears to be winning this race…
And one of my readers, Grant Brown, was kind enough to sent me a link to an engaging article on the carcinogenic properties of Glyphosate. In it the author did not miss the opportunity to give a playful kick in the nuts to coffee:
“… pound for pound coffee is more carcinogenic than the herbicide, with the big difference that people pour coffee down their throats every day, which they don’t glyphosate.”
Even studies of potentially lethal substances compare themselves with coffee! Where is scientific objectivity when you need it? Why can’t they give coffee a break (no pun intended )?
Canadian Raja Panjwani writes a great book!
Congrats to IM Raja Panjwani for writing one of the best opening books that I have seen in a while. His ‘The Hyper Accelerated Dragon’ (Thinkers Publishing, 2017) offers the reader thought provoking insight on one of the less popular variations in the Sicilian, including many new ideas and concepts.
Dragon-players are in general a breed apart. They ‘know’ that their favourite opening is risky as hell, but they are willing to go down in flames trying new ideas. The trick is to come up with these new ideas. Fortunately, Raja’s book offers plenty…
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 a6!?
When I first saw this suggestion, I was sceptical, but now – after a lot of fruitless effort trying to reinforce White’s play – I think that Raja is onto a GREAT new idea for Black.
Already I know of one master who has incorporated this line into his repetoire! The fundamental theme here is to begin Black’s Queenside counterplay immediately, seemingly forgetting about advancing his d-pawn, but infact Black keeps the option of later advancing to d5 in one move! Besides, the Bishop is very effective on b7.
I could mention other interesting ideas proposed by Raja, but I think the reader will profit more by getting his hands on this book and exploring it himself. This book is a welcome addition to the smallish family of reliable opening books on the Dragon.
Ling’s Naughty Maoist Angels
- Jian’s website with many of his works of art to browse thru
