Nova Daily - 21 March 2026: Random connections
Hi!
Semi-good news from my personal laptop: it now switches on. But that's about it. I can go two ways. One is a dead end, the other is an infinite loop. So there's more work to be done.
Random connections
When I'm in a conversation about Magnus slamming the table and hear the phrase "The whole world is watching", my thoughts wander off to a Within Temptation song by that name, which brings up strong memories to a friend of mine who used to be so depressed that I prefer not to expand on it here. Then I wonder how she is these days, and I remember that she celebrates her birthday on 14 March. Luckily she still can, and she's doing much better now. For two consecutive 14 March's I met up with a close friend who also knows her. I remember how funny and to-the-point she was when last year we congratulated her with her birthday and she replied "You two also congratulations with my birthday!" And this year she again had a funny remark to send.
So before I know it, I've lost the plot of the conversation I'm in, and I find myself thinking a complete non-sequitur like "Humour is a strong weapon, but it can turn into a shield. Best not let it get to that point." And then I listen back to the conversation, and the rest are still on the initial topic of whether Magnus showed respect or not during and immediately after that table slam.
It's also fun to make random connections. When I'm watching an orchestra perform, one of the most childish things I like to do is to see if I can spot a familiar face among the musicians. Some politician playing the bassoon. Hugh Laurie on second violin. Nigel Short playing the tuba. Fits him, too: he can hide behind the valves when he doesn't have notes to play. Levon Aronian on a killing spree in Angels & Demons. I can't be the only chess-player who has noticed. Check it out:
Is that Aronian, yes or yes?
Chess games
Time to get back on track with analysing some of the games that I had played and selected over the week. It's too many games to do all at the same time, so I'll present a portion here and do the rest tomorrow.
Let's start with yesterday's game, because it's still fresh in my head. This is the game that got me over 2400 rapid.
Then there are several games that I had to analyse based on my own research in the variations to one of my games earlier this week.
So, what to take away from these two games? The fact is that even in the endgame, white's position is very promising. The uncomfortable reality for black is that the control over the d-file is simply very strong, and the vulnerability of the d6-square in the vicinity of black's king in conjunction with the lead in development constitutes a real advantage to white. Maybe with all best defence, black might be able to save the game, but it's not an enviable task for a human being.
