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The fault is mine but the credit yours. It's easy, and it's fun, to toss
out a 'brilliant' idea for a strange CV in an offhand remark, but to
actually make it work, that can sometimes be hard work. 

One criticism. and one only: Basingstoke. Where is it in the rules? I
suggest that in order to offer a draw one must say 'Basingstoke'.

In the same vein, should one wish to announce check (not required by the
current laws of FIDE Chess), one should say 'Beware! Beware! Beware!'

(((((((((((((( it just occurred to me in a 17th level digression tat the
actor who delivers this line is usually anything but gaunt. ))))...)))

'Inky clouds like funeral shrouds sail over the midnight skies' -- isn't
that some of the finest poetry in musical theater (second only to 'svani'
per sempre un sogno d'amore')? 

Just like the chessboard in my head, I have a record player in my head, and
Ruddigore Chess has moved me to put that platter onto the turntable of my
mind; and for this if nothing else it would deserve an excellent rating. It
is said that one's favorite G-and-S opereta is always the one most recently
attended (exception being perhaps the overperformed but excellent Pirates
-- NYGASP recently gave my lifetime best Pirates, far exceeding DC in
London (and please note: if you know Pirates you gotta see Il
Trovatore!!)).

Listening to Ruddigore again, what a pleasure, and the theme of G-and-S
Chess, well, hey, what's next? I once hitchhiked to Penzance from
Stonehenge, and although of pirates I saw not one there, yet I wait in
breathless anticipation for

Pirates Chess. With different armies, no less. Instead of Bishops, the
Pirates have a Pair of Docs, Doctor Einstein and Doctor Schweitzer (unless
you despise Marxism), the Q is a nursemaid, and Frederick is a semi-neutral
piece who, being the Slave of Duty, can belong to either side according to
the argument most recently presented.