There’s a tale of a chef in China who was preparing a delicacy known as cobra soup who was fatally bitten by the decapitated head of one of the snake heads he had chopped off 20 minutes earlier.
In 2007, a man in Washington state chopped the head off a rattlesnake with a shovel and when he bent down to pick it up, the dead snake bit him in the hand; he survived.
In 2014, a man in Australia was bitten by a venomous red-bellied black snake 45 minutes after he had chopped it in half with a shovel. He survived, but reportedly spent two days in intensive care.
Steven Beaupre, a biology professor at the University of Arkansas, explained that snakes are well known for retaining reflexes after death as do many cold-blooded animals. For venomous snakes, such as cobras and rattlesnakes, biting is one of the reflexes that can be activated in the brain even hours after the animal dies.
The bite reflex is stronger in venomous snakes than it is in some other carnivores because these snakes use their bite differently...unlike other biters which kill prey by sinking their teeth into the flesh and holding on, snakes deliver just one extremely quick bite and then move away before getting stepped on. The attacks are lightening fast..rattlesnakes have been known to inject venom into prey in less than two-tenths of a second.
Even after decapitation the snake’s nerves have not stopped functioning. The bodies of snakes have been known to continue rising off the ground in a menacing pose, and even to strike out against a perceived threat.
How can such a thing happen? This eerie phenomenon is caused by the ions, or electrically charged particles, which remain in the nerve cells of a snake for several house after it dies. When the nerve of a newly dead snake is stimulated, the channels in the nerve will open up, allowing ions to pass through. This creates an electrical impulse that enables the muscle to carry out a reflexive action, like a bite.
The bite and injection of poison reflex is triggered by some kind of information that comes into the mouth cavity so it’s likely the people who were bitten by the dead snakes accidentally put a finger in the snake’s mouth which triggered the bite response.
Chessplayers have been known to get snake bit by dead lost opponents. As C.J.S. Purdy observed, tactics are usually brought off by the player with the superior position, but many tactics arise entirely from a mistake by one side. There is no rule that says the player with the superior position can’t be the on making the mistake!
Purdy was quick to point out that if you don’t bother to check for tactics at EVERY move you’ll be constantly making absurd blunders. In ANY position you should look around for possible tactics. Every part of the board must be examined for some accidental feature that may give rise to a tactic.
Frank Marshall said, “Winning a won game is the hardest thing in chess.” And, there are three main reasons why we don’t win won games. 1) We relax thinking the game is won and our opponent will soon resign. As a consequence, we overlook his resources. When we do realize he has resources there may also be a psychological shock that leads us to making mistakes. 2) Sometimes we may know we have a winning advantage be it positional or material, but we simply lack the technique, or we begin seeing ghosts in the position a begin reacting to perceived threats. 3) If it’s an ending we may simply lack the theoretical knowledge of the winning technique.
The Reggio Emilia tournaments were held annually in Reggio Emilia, Italy and were known as Torneo di Capodanno (New Year's tournament) because thay started just after Christmas and ended on the day of Epiphany (January 6th).
Although there were tournaments held beginning in 1947 and became Italy's oldest and most renowned tournament. The last one was held in 2011/2012 and the next edition had to be canceled due to economic reasons.
The 1987/88 tournament was won by Vladimir Tukmakov, but he should have been tied with Alexander Beliavsky except his opponent, Larry Christiansen, swindled him out of a win when Beliavsky got careless.
Final standings:
1) Vladimir Tukmakov 6.0
2-3) Alexander Beliavsky and Larry Christiansen 5.5
4-6) Viktor Korchnoi, Lajos Portisch and Zoltan Ribli 5.0
7) Predrag Nikolic 4.5
8) Ulf Andersson 3.5
9-10) Rafael Vaganian and Jozsef Pintar 2.5
Alexander Beliavsky - Larry Christiansen
Result: 1/2-1/2
Site: Reggio Emilia
Date: 1987
Bogo-Indian
[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 The traditional move for white is 3. Nc3 threatening to set up a big P-center with 4.e4. However, 3.Nf3 or 3.g3 are often played to avoid the Nimzo-Indian. 3...♗b4 4.♗d2 Black has a number of satisfactory moves here: 4...Be7 (by far the most popular), 4...Qe7, 4...c5, 4. ..Bxd2+ (simplest), Bronstein's 4...a5 (interesting) and 4...c5. 4...♕e7 5.♗g2 ♗xd2 6.♕xd2 d6 7.♘c3 O-O 8.♘f3 e5 9.O-O ♖e8 10.e4 ♗g4 11.d5 ♗xf3 12.♗xf3 ♘bd7 13.b4
13.♗g2 didn't lead to anything. 13...a6 14.♖fd1 ♖eb8 15.♗f1 h6 16.f3 ♘h7 17.b4 b6 18.♖dc1 ♖f8 19.♗d3 ♔h8 20.♖ab1 Ning,K (2306)-Kuang,Y (2200)/Daqing CHN 2019
13...a5
13...♖f8 14.a3 g6 15.♗d1 ♔h8 16.♗c2 ♘h5 17.♕e2 ♕g5 18.♕e3 ♕e7 19.♘a4 f5 is equal. Orr,M (2350)-Buchanan,W (2101)/ Edinburgh 1999
14.a3 ♖a6 15.♘b5 ♘b6 16.♖ac1 axb4 17.axb4 ♕d7 18.♕d3 ♖a4 19.♕b3 ♖ea8 20.♖fd1 h5 21.h4 g6 22.♖b1 All of this maneuvering has lead nowhere and a boring draw seems reasonable. Black can keep things even by moving his Rs back and forth on the a-file, but instead he begins probing white's position and ends up very slightly weakening his position. 22...♘g4 23.♗e2 ♕e7 24.♖bc1 c6 25.dxc6 bxc6 26.c5 dxc5 27.bxc5 ♘d7 28.♘d6 ♘df6 This is a costly mistake that allows white to gain a significant advantage.
28...♖d4 results in complications where both sides would have chances. 29.♖xd4 exd4 30.♘xf7 ♘xc5
29.♗c4 ♘xf2 Realizing that he had slipped into an inferior position Christiansen takes desperate measures. Another possibility is that Christiansen is a very dangerous tactician so perhaps he intended this risky attack all along. 30.♔xf2 ♖a3 31.♗xf7 ♔g7 After this the black snake is dead so to speak. Correct was 31...Kf8
31...♔f8 32.♕e6 ♘g4 33.♔g2 ♘e3 34.♔h2 ♕xe6 35.♗xe6 ♘xd1 36.♖xd1 ♖a1 and although white should win black is still fighting.
32.♕e6 ♖a2 33.♔g1
33.♕xa2 was even better, but nobody likes returning their Q. 33...♖xa2 34.♗xa2 ♘g4 35.♔e2 ♕a7 36.♖c2 with more than enough material for the Q.
33...♖8a3 34.♘e8
34.♕xe7 would be disastrous... for white! 34...♖xg3 35.♔f1 ♖f3 36.♔e1 ♖e3 draws!
34...♔h6 (34...♘xe8 35.♕xg6 mates next move.) 35.♘xf6 The Q still can't be taken because of the perpetual check. 35...♖xg3 36.♔h1 ♕xf7 37.♖d7
37.♕xe5 was even stronger. Then if 37...♖h3 38.♔g1 ♖f3 (38...♖hh2 39.♕g5 ♔g7 40.♖d7) 39.♕g5 ♔g7 40.♖d7 winning easily.
37...♕xf6 White has an easy win after he wins the Q. The only problem is he has to surrender his R to do it. (37...♕xe6 38.♖h7#) 38.♕xf6 Not suspecting a thing!
38.♖h7 ♔xh7 39.♕xf6 ♖h3 40.♔g1 ♖g3 41.♔f1 and wins with no difficulty.
38...♖h2 The dead snake bites! Like the men from Australia and Washington, the bite isn't fatal, but Beliavsky has to agree to the draw.
38...♖h2 39.♔xh2 ♖g2 White either has to allow a repitition or a stalemate.
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