A rock star and John McCain

Over the last couple of days a snippet of news broke out about British rocker Peter Doherty and his so-called chess powers. It looks like he may have wooed his childhood sweetie, Emily Baker, thanks to his impressive chess moves. Gigwise reports.

But guess who else has been hitting the news with "chess" in the headlines? You'd never believe it. John McCain! As far as Bob Rice is concerned, writing in Portfolio, the Republican presidential candidate is a typical Romantic player - you know, full of unexpected turns, attacks, sacs.

McCain is a classic "Romantic-era" player. In fact, he seems a reincarnation of another famous seaman, Captain Evans, a cranky old salt who epitomized the style and who bequeathed the game a popular gambit of the same name. Players like these want to be on the attack 100 percent of the time, love to take chances, and go with their guts rather than overanalyze.

But to a reader of the Christian Science Monitor's "The Vote Blog", McCain's unexpected move yesterday to suspend the campaign was a bit like "accidentally" knocking the pieces over when one is in a losing position. Read here.