12/3/2007 – It was a splendid event, here in Hamburg, with a well-known Irish novelist and screenwriter, and his latest book (Ronan Bennett, Zugzwang); with a gorgeous young actress, composer and singer (Vaile); with a double bass wielding grandmaster (Daniel King) and with a music composing and teaching computer program (Ludwig). Join us for an exquisite evening in this pictorial report.
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Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
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An
Evening of Chess, Literature and Music
The players
Vaile
A German singer, composer and TV actress, born Karolin Vaile Fuchs in Hamburg
in 1980. At 13 she sang in a Girl's Band named "Changing Minds". She
attended acting academies in Hamburg and New York, and played small roles in
a number of short movies and TV films. Currently she is to be seen on national
TV in the soap series Marienhof, where she plays the role of "Jessy
Wieland". She has also had parts in a number of episodes of the popular
criminal series Tatort. Vaile has her own English language web
site.
Daniel
J. King
Born in 1963, Daniel King has been a professional chess player for more than
20 years. During that time he has represented his country on many occasions,
including an historic match victory over the Soviet Union in Reykjavik, 1990.
At the same time he has distinguished himself as a coach, helping many of England‘s
younger generation to achieve their potential. Besides his chess career, he
has built up a reputation as a commentator on television, radio and the internet.
He is also an award-winning author of more than 15 books. He has produced numerous
very successful ChessBase DVDs ("Fritz trainers"), both in English
and German, which he speaks fluently.
Ronan
Bennett
Irish novelist and screenwriter. He was born in 1956 and raised in a Catholic
family in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. In 1974 while at school Bennett was
convicted, in a juryless Diplock court, of murdering William Elliott, an Inspector
in the Royal Ulster Constabulary. His conviction was overturned on appeal in
1975 and Bennett was released from Long Kesh prison. Bennett then moved to London.
In 1978 he was arrested for conspiracy to cause explosions and spent 16 months
in prison on remand. He conducted his own defence, and he and his co-defendants
were acquitted in 1979. Bennett studied history at King's College London receiving
a first class honours degree, and later completed his Ph.D. at the college in
1987.
Ronan Bennett has published five novels and two non-fiction works. It was his
third novel The Catastrophist that brought him into the public eye.
Critics hailed the novel, which drew inevitable comparisons to Graham Greene,
Joseph Conrad and John le Carré. It was nominated for the Whitbread Award
in 1998. In 2006, Bennett's new novel, Zugzwang, was published week-by-week
in the British Sunday newspaper The Observer. The novel was written
in weekly installments with new chapters being submitted to the newspaper close
to publication date.
Ludwig
Born in Hamburg late last year, Ludwig is a music composing program concieved
and executed by Matthias Wüllenweber, head of the programming department
of ChessBase (and co-founder of the company). Ludwig uses many of the techniques
we find in computer chess to compose tunes and arrangements: a brute force tree
search, evaluation, cutoffs, pruning. In 2007 Ludwig was developed into a full-fledged
music program that helps people who want to learn a musical instrument by providing
compositions tuned to their level of proficiency. The practice pieces have full
accompaniment, with appropriate instruments, so that the user is playing the
solo part in an orchestra, a string quartet or a big band.
Ludwing was first
presented to a general public during the match Kramnik vs Deep Fritz in
Bonn, Germany, in December 2006. It was presented to the general public in Hamburg,
together with Vladimir Kramnik, Vaile and the German rapper Smudo, in July this
year. Here's the report
on that event.
The evening last Thursday started with a book reading by Ronan Bennett, who
enthralled the audience with a chapter from his latest book "Zugzwang"
– and had people scrambling to buy copies that had been made available
by publisher Bloomsbury.
Anna von Hahn from Bloomsbury, Ronan Bennett, stage host Dr Helmut Pfleger
and GM Daniel King
Zugzwang – By Ronan Bennett
Roiling with class tensions and rife with danger, St. Petersburg during
the twilight of the last czar serves as the chessboard on which Irish
author Bennett (The Catastrophist) stages this heady historical thriller.
The game begins with a bang: the murder of prominent newspaper editor
O.V. Gulko in March 1914, just weeks before the city hosts a glittering
international chess tournament.
Then there's a second slaying. Despite plenty of the usual suspects –
Bolsheviks, pro-German reactionaries, Polish nationalists – the
police start grilling respected psychoanalyst Otto Spethmann and his 18-year-old
daughter. The widower's protestations of innocence cut little ice with
his chief inquisitor, Insp. Mintimer Lychev, a mysterious sort who happens
to share Spethmann's chess enthusiasm. Dr. Spethmann's only hope: using
his analytic skills to crack the case. As he races the clock, he and Lychev
become caught up in a high-stakes battle of wits. The plot packs more
than enough surprises to keep any suspense junkie sated. (Nov.) –
Amazon
At question time Anna von Hahn translates for Ronan Bennett
Ronan Bennett tells the German audience how "Zugzwang" is pronounced
in English: "zoog-zwang" comes close, with the second syllable rhyming
with "rung". Some people stick with "zugg", rhyming with
"bug" for the first syllable.
Daniel King knows the original German pronunciation: tsook-tsvahng.
Vaile and Bennett: the star of German criminal thrillers has a number of
professional questions
After that it is Vaile's turn: the singer and composer has volunteered to
learn how to operate Ludwig there on the stage, in front of a live audience.
Matthias Wüllenweber shows Vaile how simple it is...
Just a few clicks to select proficiency, style and speed, and the music
can start
Matthias and professional musician Jan-Peter Klöpfel play Ludwig's
composition
Did you know that grandmaster Daniel King plays the double bass (which Europeans call the contrabass)? Well now
you do.
The evening ends with Daniel doing what he does best: play chess, in a simul
against the guests
And Vaile? This Monday this talented young lady starts recording her latest album
Links
The latest novel by Ronan Bennett is available in English at Amazon:
Zugzwang: A Novel
by Ronan Bennett
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (October 30, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1596912537
ISBN-13: 978-1596912533
Price: $16.47
Ludwig is currently available in a German version, with the program translated
into English. You can buy it in the German
ChessBase shop. The full English version will be available early next year.
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This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
€49.90
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