I have quite some trepidation as I start writing this post, because I will have to judge the pythons!¹ Their flying circus is perhaps the greatest comedic television show ever and possibly the most influential one, although I’m guessing most directors were too baffled by it to try to emulate it, probably because it’s too silly. And in the fifth episode, Eric Idle can be seen at the chessboard, opposite a silent John Cleese.

He has just given a check with his knight when a police officer comes in, looking for certain substances. While Idle is trying to figure out what is happening, Cleese remains idle.

And that’s a large problem, because he’s a large man, obscuring a large part of the board.²

And I’m not even sure that the part I’ve reproduced above is really accurate. The positions shouldn’t be too far of, but the pythons are using non-standard pieces and they may be having some crisis of identity.

But now for something completely different. The chess scene doesn’t really go anywhere. In fact there are no further moves. But for once I’m not going to complain about that. Nor am I going to protest the lack of attention to the board. I’m just too attached to the Flying circus. By now, some of the pythons have passed on, are no more, or have ceased to be, so we will never get another. But at least we’ve already got one.

Now excuse me while I’m off to play the grand piano.³

Realism: 3/5 There’s nothing wrong with it that an extensive post cannot prolong.

Probable winner: Very hard to say, as most of white’s pieces are probably out of view. Maybe black?

<sup>1. [Water: 67, Green tree:78,  Ball: 89, Reticulated: 87.] ↩
2. [The machine that goes ‘pawn’.] ↩
3. [This is the easiest blog post ever: I can just coast on the python jokes.] ↩</sup>