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

[Mark Kohut]

If one has played chess earnestly---and if one has been obsessed--see
Nabokov's The Defense and real life--- as many have been---this bit is
HILARIOUS.

On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 2:33 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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