Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

A game, Lord Byron?


14 April 2021 - 09:23

Who knows what he thought when Henry James Byron wrote at Our boys his famous answer “Life is too short for chess.” Perhaps I was thinking of his father's cousin, the great poet Lord Byron, who quickly made those of this world. The first time he had sex was at age 9, published his first poem at age 19, traveled all over Europe and died at age 36 in Greece. The fever and the ill-done extractions had been due to the symbol of romanticism dying so young.

In Lord Byron's carpe diem lifestyle, there was no room for chess or the protagonist of Henry James Byron's theater. Life was too short. Even the fiercest chess player will accept this, although they will look for another meaning for the quote. Life is not long enough for chess, for mastering the game.

Chess has the curse of the wheel of the witch. The deeper you delve into the game, the more precision you lack to learn. We can make continuous progress, hoping that one day we will be satisfied, but along the way we will find other obstacles. Sooner or later, we'll have to recognize that not one or two lives, chess cannot be fully controlled, and ours will be an endless learning process.

"Sooner or later we'll have to recognize that not one or two lives, not even chess is fully controlled, and ours will be an endless learning process."

For example, endroke. At first it seems like a simple thing. When the king and the tower have not moved by the initial paintings, the first can take two steps to one side and the tower of that corner is placed on the other side. Precisely, beginners are often repeated that one of the first things to do in the game is to put the king under cover, for which it is best to get rid of it as soon as possible and take it aside.

But there will be a point where exceptions will appear, and then it is over. For example, by looking carefully at the games of the leading players, we will learn that there are exceptions to the orders for the king to be guided as soon as possible. In one of the most spectacular chess games, Anderssen-Kieseritzky, the German teacher did not take note of it and yet beat his rival in 23 plays.

Someone might say that Adolf Anderssen is a symbol of the romantic game style and his parties are not modélic. There are many other cases. In the seventh match of Cap₡-Alekhine, the Cuban champion of the world did not move from the initial frame throughout the match and was imposed on 28 plays. Capablanca was the most orthodox of the Orthodox players, which shows that the principles such as the endroaching have many cracks. What's more, we can almost say that exceptions triumph over chess rules.

I think something similar happens with languages. At a given moment, we will realize that as we approach knowledge, we have to take into account smaller and smaller nuances. The consequence will be like the one that came out in chess: even if we strive, we will never succeed in mastering a language. Did I write to submit again? Euskaltzaindia has this form as a limit, better if she had put her to study well.

The order of the phrases shows infinite nuances. Both in chess and in rapid sighting is one of the basic principles of order languages. In Basque, without going any further, the Subject – Complementary – The Word (S-O-A) is learned in neutral order and, despite the new methods, in the initial steps this type of sentence prevails: The child is in the cradle, Irati has bought a new van, Thomas has passed the test.

"These ruptures of principles make languages and chess attractive, as they move away from rigidity and make way for creativity."

Well, in reading high-level texts it is clear that writers often do not use this criterion. Without having to swallow the entire corpus, just take a newspaper or any book to get the cracks out of the S-O-A succession. In the anthological story, Iban Zaldua repeatedly breaks the unmarked order of leaving the verb in the last position: “In the face of this, the narrators diagnosed him with an invasion of intestinal worms, a fluvial novel composed of five volumes.”

Once again, there will be those who say that Iban Zaldua has his own style and that his works are not framed in traditional methods. There are more examples. In the book Aitaren etxea by Karmele Jaio the verb is not always in the last position and last year he won the Euskadi Prize, equivalent to the world championship in Basque letters. What the hell, then? Will we never learn our own language? I suspect that life is too short also for languages. Between exceptions and nuances, we will always have something to see, something to think about and something to learn.

We don't get angry. And it's that these breaks of principle are the ones that make languages and chess attractive, as they move away from rigidity and make way for creativity. Creativity makes the world more enjoyable and, in the end, every sentence or play is a work of creation.

If life is short, let's build a wider world. With words and pieces. With our imagination. A game, Lord Byron?

Bidali zure iritzi artikuluak iritzia@argia.eus helbide elektronikora

ARGIAk ez du zertan bat etorri artikuluen edukiarekin. Idatzien gehienezko luzera 4.500 karakterekoa da (espazioak barne). Idazkera aldetik gutxieneko zuzentasun bat beharrezkoa da: batetik, ARGIAk ezin du hartu zuzenketa sakona egiteko lanik; bestetik, egitekotan edukia nahi gabe aldatzeko arriskua dago. ARGIAk azaleko zuzenketak edo moldaketak egingo dizkie artikuluei, behar izanez gero.


You are interested in the channel: Iritzia
2025-04-02 | Ximun Fuchs
Nora (and how)

The lights of the theater are on. Discreetly, I’m walking on the steps: the school performance is about to begin. The young men run to their seats, full of life and joy. The retreat has the taste of liberation, but this feeling of freedom speaks Spanish or French. This... [+]


Teknologia
Burokraziaz

Wikipedian bilatu dut hitza, eta honela ulertu dut irakurritakoa: errealitatea arrazionalizatzeko metodologia da burokrazia, errealitatea ulergarriago egingo duten kontzeptuetara murrizteko bidean. Errealitatea bera ulertzeko eta kontrolatzeko helburua du, beraz.

Munduko... [+]


2025-04-02 | Ula Iruretagoiena
Territory and architecture
Military urbanism

Egypt ' s urban planning plan for the Gaza Strip has recently been expanded. A drawing shows the streets, buildings and imagery of the future on a reality that still smells of shrapnel and explosives. The urban planning proposal, used as another bomb shot. Individual house... [+]


2025-04-02 | June Fernández
Meloi saltzailea
Zedarriak

Bizitza erdigunean jartzeko abagunea ikusi genuen feministok zein ekologistok Covid-19 pandemia garaian. Ez ginen inozoak, bagenekien boteretsuak eta herritar asko gustura itzuliko zirela betiko normaltasunera. Bereziki, konfinamendu samurra pasa zutenak haien txaletetan edo... [+]


Segurtasuna, etorkinak eta beldurra

Segurtasun falta dagoen irudipena handitu dela azaldu du Eustaten azken txostenak. Gurean, Trapagaranen, Segurtasuna orain, delinkuenteen aurka manifestaziora deitu dute herritar batzuek.

Bi izan dira sentsazio hori zabaltzeko arrazoiak. Batetik, udalak Udaltzaingoaren... [+]


2025-04-02 | Castillo Suárez
The answers to these questions

There are those who subscribe to portals to sell their homes because they would like to buy a house. From time to time they even make appointments to see the houses, and I am sure that the seller knows that these people will not buy the house, not because they find it in the... [+]


Haurtzaroaren denbora

Haurtzaroaren amaiera eleberri distopikoa idatzi zuen Arthur Clarkek, 1953. urtean: jolasteari utzi dion gizarte baten deskribapena. Eta ez al da bereziki haurtzaroa jolasteko garaia? Jolasteko, harritzeko, ikusmiratzeko eta galdera biziak egiteko unea. Ulertzeko tartea zabalik... [+]


2025-04-02 | Cira Crespo
Flag of Spain

The writer Juan Bautista Bilbao Batxi worked in a boat and sent the chronicles of his travels to the newspaper Euzkadi. Thanks to this, we have interesting chronicles in Basque from around the world from the beginning of the 20th century. In June 1915, he made his stop in... [+]


English: the dandruff of all the sticks

From linguistics or glotophobia and, of course, hatred against Basque, we have often seen our Basque become the dandruff of all sticks. Last of all, the president of Kutxabank, Anton Arriola, has been shaking our language and giving us galantas.The President of Kutxabank,

... [+]


There is a link between Euskal Ya and AHT in Navarre

Do not look for this connection from Ezkio or Altsasu, let alone crossing the Ebro River through Castejón. The connection, or rather the connections, between the Basque Y and the AVE of Navarre is already a reality. It is these links in the plural that should concern us and... [+]


April 6, justice for the Basque

Don't make a fuss, don't confront, don't victimize... and obey. As oppressed subjects, in this case as Basques, we talk, how many times have we had to listen to them? Ironically, two years ago, at the Euskalale Independentiston Meeting, Esne Arzallus said: "We have arrived here,... [+]


Borrokak balio du: Israel Premier Tech, ez aurten, ez inoiz

Aurten "Israel Premier Tech" txirrindularitza talde israeldarra ez da Lizarraldeko Miguel Indurain Sari Nagusia lasterketara etorriko. Berri ona da hori Palestinaren askapenaren alde gaudenontzat eta munstro sionistarekin harreman oro etetea nahi dugunontzat, izan... [+]


2025-03-27 | Kontxita Beitia
Atzo bezain ozen! NATO pikutara soldaduskarik ez

Intsumituek denbora luzez egindako borroka gogorra eta mingarria izan zen, baina irabazi zuten, eta garaipen hura behin betikoa izango zela uste genuen, atzera bueltarik gabea. Baina badirudi, politikari batzuen ahotik aterata, eskalada militaristari gorazarre egin eta berriz... [+]


2025-03-26 | Edu Zelaieta Anta
Bakardade tonifikatua

Zenbait estatistikak berretsi dute begiak hondar urteotan ikusten ari zirena: gimnasioak (eta estetika-zentroak eta nolako-edo-halako-terapia eskaintzen duten negozioak) nabarmen ugaldu dira gurean. EITBk plazaratutako datu bat emateko: EAEn 2010-2019 urteen bitartean, zazpi... [+]


Eguneraketa berriak daude