Here are the most frequently read posts on dana blogs chess for the past year (4/23/2011 to 4/23/2012). This list excludes permanent pages (Profile, Chess Wit & Wisdom, etc.) You can click on any of them if you are interested in reading them.
- Maris’d (original post date: 11/20/2010). 465 views.
- Sam Shankland Quits (7/7/2010). 373 views.
- Russian Chess Names — A Guide for the Perplexed (12/12/2007). 280 views.
- Dana’s Opening Philosophy (7/5/2008). 277 views.
- Creative Collaboration (2/3/2009). 230 views.
- So Near and Yet So Far (11/10/2011). 225 views.
- Master Class (6/28/2011). 204 views.
- Karpov-Fischer (9/19/2008). 196 views.
- More May Madness (5/7/2011). 183 views.
- Queen Sac Variation/Bryntse Gambit update (11/2/2008). 175 views.
The most popular post continues to be the one about receiving my Life Master certificate … along with an asterisk. It’s one of my favorite entries, too. Number two, for no reason that I can understand, is my post about Sam Shankland’s rash and ill-considered “retirement,” which has long since ended and thank goodness. I’m not sure whether people are still reading this post because they actually think it’s breaking news, or if they read it for the schadenfreude of seeing how PO’d Shanky was at not being able to get his grandmaster norms. Poor, poor Sam …
#3 and #4 are evergreens that will probably always be in or near the top ten. #5 is a non-chess post about an accidental collaboration between me and my wife, the quilter. Its persistence near the top makes me think that there are a whole lot more quilters on the web than chess players. This line sums it up: “I’ll bet you never knew that all those sweet old quilters harbored such violent thoughts behind their granny glasses!”
#6 describes a new (and apparently short-lived) TV game show where a team of “geeks” missed out an a million dollars because they couldn’t figure out a clue that any chess player could have solved. #7-#10 are solid chess posts that are good examples of what the blog is about.
It’s interesting that seven of the most-viewed ten posts over the last twelve months were actually written before 2011. However, that’s perhaps not too surprising, because posts written just in the last few months do not have the benefit of a full twelve months of page views.
Enjoy! I will also post a personal top-ten list, but that will take a little bit more time.
