GR translation: he alternates long lethargic backing and filling with bursts of idiot razzle-dazzle

[jochen stremmel]

I would say, metaphorical use of a sailing expression – "back and fill":
trim the sails of a vessel so that the wind alternately fills and spills
out of them, in order to maneuver in a limited space. • zigzag or vacillate
– maneuver in a limited space plus the knights' move.

2015-02-08 8:33 GMT+01:00 Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:

> V576.3-12   Pökler is living in the basement of the town hall. He has some
> coffee heating on a driftwood fire in the stove.
>        “Do you play chess?”
>        Frieda kibitzes. Slothrop, who tends to play more by superstition
> than strategy, is obsessed with protecting his knights, Springer and
> Springer—willing to lose anything else, thinking no more than a move or two
> ahead if that, he alternates long lethargic backing and filling with bursts
> of idiot razzle-dazzle that have Pökler frowning, but not with worry. About
> the time Slothrop loses his queen, “Sa-a-a-y, waitaminute, did you say
> Pökler?”
>
> What is "backing"?  Does it have any specific meaning in chess?
>
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