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A chess endgame study is a crafted position posed as a puzzle with the stipulation to win or draw. They must have a correct and unique solution, be original, and can exhibit such features as beauty, economy, clarity, theme, surprise, flow, and besides being logically sound they should have a raison d’être instead of simply being correct. They can be didactic, teaching technique, or reveal a hitherto unexplored facet of the game or they can be...
artistic and natural (for instance, illuminating a novel checkmate or stalemate), or romantic, unveiling a bizarre or an unexpected manoeuvre or outcome.
A study is technically not a problem requiring a solution but a segment of a game that can be played through for enjoyment.
There has been no intent to show so-called best works, although hopefully this collection is a representative survey of worthy...examples from an oeuvre that is twice this size. The studies are arranged in sections broadly by thematic content, and within that, by force: those with fewest and weakest white pieces preceding compositions with more white pieces that are stronger.
An endgame study is part of a microcosm, inhabiting a small perfect world where art and science are fused, and mathematical rigour and a clockmaker’s precision are combined with poetic grace and the elegance of a ballerina to forge conceptual beauty. Where repetitive geometric motifs are employed they are a form of kinetic art, where the originality, wit, surprise, economy, thematic content, and even humour, of the objet d’art offer a vision that transcends chess as a game, placing it into the realms of art.
Poetry in Chess Emil Melnichenko
Emil Melnichenko Poetry in Chess
Poetry in chess—a collection of studies by New Zealand composer Emil Melnichenko—introduces the reader to the fascinating world of chess endgame studies, showcasing beautiful ideas in chess that are seen only rarely in games played over the board. Most of these compositions are previously published in international chess journals to which a number of previously unpublished studies have been added from his vault.
PURCHASE -
The first book in the Birdland trilogy is a quirky fairy tale that spills from 9 year old Lucy's imagination.
When she departs Birdland the world she has imagined into existence is left in her wake to make sense of itself.
In Book Two, Falde, a castaway falls into the space left by Lucy's departure and the fairy tale spirals off through darker terrain.This version of Lucy, in losing her memory and identity, has reasserted her innocence, albeit an innocence that is coloured by awareness. As she moves between imaginary and “real” landscapes, she intuits reality as a construct created by those around her—a shared delusion that she glides over.
Pierrot, a Birdlander is the pilgrim, the one who loses his beliefs as he journeys, but gains a deeper consciousness.Book Three, Aves, traces the fortunes of a group of Birdland academics who interpret the world around them through a narrow lens. They stumble through a litany of errors without ever being forced to re-evaluate their world view. Aves is a catalogue of conceit, cunning and intrigue, self-referenced truths and pomposity.
Birdland is a fable spied through three lenses.BIRDLAND is an illustrated novel across three books bound under one cover. The first, Birdland, is a fairy tale world seen through the eyes of Lucy, a child adventuring with her dog.
In Book Two Lucy is a castaway with no memory or identity. With no cultural imprint people dressed—and identifying—as birds seems ridiculous. But there is more to this world than meets the eye. Before she can solve the riddle of Birdland and her identity she is compelled to escape to the 'real' world. There her memories return; reality is less than she hoped for.
In Book Three, left to their own devices, a group of bird academics create chaos.Birdland Luciwa Peregrine
Luciwa Peregrine Birdland
Set in a birdless land whose inhabitants pretend to be birds, Lucy's journey through Birdland moves from magical reality to something deeper. Birdland is an allegorical tale about loss of innocence, otherness and reality as a shared construct. Pierrot is the archetypal migrant, asked to swap his culture for another but losing both in the transaction. Lucy has no culture—for her, the flight from reality has always been home.
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Exploring political and economic change through collaboration
Reimaging the future
Unleashing the power of people working to a common goal
When People Unite examines collaborative efforts to develop economic and political systems that avoid extreme wealth disparity in search of more just and equitable outcomes social structures. Researching these concepts Johannes organized a series of citizen-led town-hall style meetings, challenging people from across political divides to listen to one another and brainstorm new approaches to governance and economic management.
Bryce Johannes When People Unite
Bryce Johannes When People Unite
When People Unite is a timely call to make "government of, for and by the people". In the United States a system has evolved to keep the populace divided and unorganised, to maintain a broken status quo. Johannes argues that only through collaboration at a grass roots level can this fragmented society find a way to reset without bloodshed. He presents an alternate vision for how government and the economy could work.
PURCHASE