Progress Report
This in reply to those correspondents who ask me how my two chess games with Philidor are going. We have taken them at a very gentle pace and have only reached the El Alamein stage: the end of the beginning. Both games are variations on the Ruy Lopez. With Black I find myself playing (1 didn't mean to) a Steinitz Defence Deferred, and my position looks to me hideously confined. The other is more cheerful. 'Philidor has em- barked on the Classical Defence, which he de- scribes unkindly in one of his books as a good defence for a strong player to play against a weaker opponent. He tells me that so far we have been following Albin-Steinitz 1896, but he pro- poses to improve on Steinitz. Rather nervously I regard this as gamesmanship and believe my position is better. The trouble is I have no clear idea what to do next.
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