Saint Nicholas ( Santa Claus), bishop of Myra in Asia Minor (nowadays Anatolia, the part of modern Turkey that lies in Asia) in the 4th century A.D., is the patron saint of Russia, of Greece and of young people.
In the Netherlands and in Flanders, St Nicholas distributes gifts on the eve of his birthday, December 6th , to people who have been good throughout the year. For this reason, he is loved especially by children, who celebrate his birthday and sing songs in his honour. How the 1600 years-old Saint manages to accomplish his immense task remains one of the world's great unsolved mysteries.
Usually, St Nicholas writes poems to accompany his presents. However, it is forgivable that the Saint's poetry is not of a professional quality, because of the many gifts he brings. The following are the verses he composed for this website (© 2005, H. van Haeringen).
Superchess
The new challenge: Superchess
a new game
to entertain,
in the main
much the same
as Western chess
The well-known six
of the classical game
make up a good mix
including the powerful dame
But one finds
that different kinds
are scoring well,
valued no less
than men of chess,
so these should also tell
Especially the creation
of the combination
of any chess piece and the Knight
will also play all right
Thus was the dawn
of the new game Superchess,
in which the Knight plus pawn
was valued less
so let's this one exclude
New is the so-called prelude:
a phase before the actual game
the rest remaining much the same
The prelude starts when
four superchessmen:
Amazon, Empress,
Veteran and Princess,
commence their mission
by entering the position,
thus, before the actual fight,
reinforcing the armies' might
So in Superchess
these new men are incorporated
and very well integrated
with the pieces of classical chess
In Superchess more variation
no need of preparation
and because of the latter
it's now only a matter
of being eclectic
finding the best tactic
and winning strategy
lacking any opening theory
Not excellent memorization
and weeks of preparation
but superior play
will now decide
who finally may
enjoy the winner's pride
In conclusion
it's not a delusion
Time is ripe
for playing this game
of such a beautiful type
and world-wide spreading
the name and fame
of this poem's heading
Regarding the sponsordom
please see coruschess dot com:
chess stars at the firmament
of the Corus Chess Tournament
including a special new event:
the Dutch Open Superchess Championship
which, as the latest trend,
is there currently hip
Leiden's LCPL is a lab on pathology
in particular of the womb
that is, on cervical cytology
In its "De Bolster"-room
there are classes
currently also on Superchess
where with great eagerness
every student passes
They are sponsored by the LCPL
please see lcpl dot nl
Mathilde Boon invented
being innovative and talented,
a better way of fixing
After years of mixing,
research and frustrations,
having tried many combinations,
she concluded that the fixative should be
certainly formalin-free,
determined the right alcoholic mix
and modestly baptized it BoonFix
At various stands
in the Netherlands
December 5th, 2005
Nicholas, Saint, and still alive