In my
introductory post, I mentioned that I couldn't come up with
satisfactory rendition of Glazkov's poem dedicated to Averbakh's
poodle Byasha. This comes up on
page 152 of the English edition of Averbakh's book. I tried rhyming
couplets, first as pentameters, then tetrameters; sometimes iambic,
other times not.
One can't translate poems, one hears this
all the time. Yet, the attempts are made and books written. I was
ticked off by a friend for mutating As I was when twenty-five …
in my first post to And what I was when agéd
twenty-five. Nonetheless, my rendering followed the original
rhyme scheme aabb ccbb ddbb bbcc eeff, used pentameters and
was iambic. The slight loss of accuracy seemed insignificant.
However, this time I admit to being beaten.
The following follows no scheme. I won't
cop out and call this free verse.
At grandmaster Averbakh's
Resides his dog,
Which sits nearby on its haunches,
And is treated to the finest sugar:
The discussion of chess battles,
Of beautiful openings' moves,
Endgame discoveries,
Of studies and three-movers.
And the dog understands it all,
It just doesn't play chess!
And the Russian original?
У гроссмейстера
Авербаха
Проживает
в доме собака,
Он сажает
ее с собой рядом,
Угощает
ее рафинадом,
Рассказывает
о шахматных
битвах,
О красивых
ходах самобытных,
О концовках
и находках,
Об этюдах
и трехходовках.
И собака
все понимает,
Только
в шахматы не
играет!
I offer this as a challenge to my readers.
Can you do better? Should a non-chess player wish to try, a
three-mover is a technical term. It is largely
self-explanatory, a task must be completed in three moves; for
instance, White to play and mate in three. There
is an impishness in the Russian, which it is useful to try and
emulate too.
1 comment:
At Averbakh's dacha
His dog, a tracker,
Sits quietly at his feet.
His reward's a rare treat:
Struggles among old friends,
The latest opening trends,
How famous games have ended,
Studies solved - or mended!
The dogs knows all of it,
But he can't play chess a bit!
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