Ghostbusters Chess Game

 Flicking past Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on TV today, I caught a human v ghost chess game. Fortunately it looked like a decent representation of a real game, right down to the speed the players were moving at (no clock, but no more than 3 seconds a move). The moves also looked pretty legitimate, so much so, that I had a stab at reconstructing the game. The first few moves are pretty clear (Scotch Four Knights), and the so is the end (Philidors Legacy), so it was just a case of filling in the gaps. What I have tried looks pretty plausible, so unless someone has managed to dissect it frame by frame, this is what I will go with.

Phoebe - Melody (Ghost)
Human v Ghost Match, Russell Square, London (standing in for New York)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Qe7 8. f4 d5 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Ng4 11. Re1 Qc5+ 12. Kh1 Nf2+ 13. Kg1 Nh3+ 14. Kh1 Qg1+ 15. Rxg1 Nf2#

I guess not all rook and pawn endings are drawn

 The 2025 Women's World Championship is underway in China, and game 2 has already thrown up a bit of excitement. After a solid draw in game 1, game 2 was heading in the same direction, until the 'curse of move 40' struck Wenjun Ju. Although she was dropping the b pawn, she missed a way of giving it up for rook activity, and the position went from equal to losing. Despite attempts to complicate the issue by pushing the h pawn, this did not save the game, resulting in a win for Zhongyi Tan.

Tan,Zhongyi (2555) - Ju,Wenjun (2561) [A29]
FIDE Women's world championship match2025 China Shanghai, China (2.1), 04.04.2025

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 h6 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. Bd2 Qd6 11. Bc3 Qe7 12. Nd2 Nd4 13. e3 Nb5 14. a4 Nxc3 15. bxc3 c6 16. a5 Bd7 17. Qb3 Rab8 18. Ne4 Bd6 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. d4 b6 21. axb6 axb6 22. Ra7 Be6 23. Qa4 Rfc8 24. Rb1 Bd5 25. dxe5 Qxe5 26. Qd4 Qxd4 27. exd4 Bxg2 28. Kxg2 b5 29. Re1 Ra8 30. Ree7 Rxa7 31. Rxa7 c5 32. Kf3 cxd4 33. cxd4 Kf8 34. Rb7 Rc3+ 35. Ke4 Rc2 36. Ke3 Rc3+ 37. Kd2 Rf3 38. Ke2 Rf5 39. Ke3 h5 40. f4 Ke8 41. Ke4 Rf6 42. Rxb5 g6 43. d5 Ra6 44. Ke5 f6+ 45. Kd4 Ra2 46. Kc5 Rxh2 47. Rb8+ Kd7 48. Rb7+ Kc8 49. Rg7 g5 50. f5 h4 51. gxh4 gxh4 52. Rh7 h3 53. Kd6 Kb8 54. Kd7 Kb7 55. d6 Kb6 56. Kd8 Rh1 57. d7 h2 58. Rh3 Kb7 59. Rb3+ Ka7 60. Rb2 Ka6 61. Re2 Kb7 62. Ke7 1-0

April fools day

 It might be an age thing, but April Fools Day tends to pass me by more and more. I did catch a couple of chess related ones, although the Carlsen retiring one was pretty obvious. There was one concerning the new BBC Chess Show "Chess Masters: The Endgame" on FB which did catch some people unaware (the contact for the Show was Afo Ools which was a clue).

But elsewhere (away from chess) I did like the installation of floating roundabouts on Sydney Harbour, as a way of helping the traffic flow at the busiest points.