Queen Sacrifice: Ruth Haring, 1955-2018

November 30, 2018

I will be brief because I’m still in some shock. I got on Facebook this evening and read several posts saying that Ruth Haring, former USCF president and current US zonal representative, has passed away. The news is also confirmed by a release from the USCF and this article on chess.com, which has some wonderful […]

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Carlsen-Caruana Game 12: Shocking and Disappointing

November 26, 2018

Today’s twelfth game of the world championship match — the last “slow” game — ended abruptly with Magnus Carlsen’s offer of a draw to Fabiano Caruana, in a position where Carlsen had (a) good attacking chances, (b) almost no chance of losing, and (c) a substantial time advantage of 30 minutes versus 10 minutes for […]

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Boring Draw (not)

November 24, 2018

Grandmasters will probably describe today’s eleventh game of the World Championship Match as “a boring draw.” However, I disagree! I think that this was a perfect game for introductory to intermediate players to study. The game was replete with little tactics and decisions that can help you gain an advantage in your games. Of course, […]

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The Real World Intrudes

November 8, 2018

If any of you have visited my book’s page on Amazon recently, you have seen a scary message like this one: “Available only through third-party vendors.” I don’t see that message today, but the page still does not say “In Stock,” nor does it give any hint of how long it will take you to […]

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Reno Lessons, Part One + Fabi-lous Fun!

November 3, 2018

As many of you know, I had a disappointing tournament in Reno last month, and I plan to write at least two or three posts trying to understand the reasons for my failure. But I’d like to start with a “failure” that really wasn’t — it was an exquisite finishing combination by my opponent. Position […]

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Reno Report (2018)

October 23, 2018

What a strange tournament I had this weekend at the Western States Open. But before I talk about my experience, let me recap the bigger picture. The victor was Grandmaster Fidel Corrales Jimenez, with a score of 5-1. He benefited a bit from the fact that the other two grandmasters, Sergey Kudrin and Enrico Sevillano, […]

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The Shampoo and the Mirror

October 19, 2018

This weekend I’m in Reno to play in my second chess tournament of the year, the Western States Open. When I got up this morning I wanted to wash my hair, but I couldn’t find the complimentary bottle of shampoo provided by the hotel. I looked high, I looked low, I looked in the bathroom, […]

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Olympiad Karma

October 5, 2018

Two years ago, American chess fans were justifiably proud and thrilled when our team brought home the gold in the 2016 Chess Olympiad. However, it’s worth remembering that we actually won by the slimmest possible margin on tiebreaks; the outcome of one game on the 25th board made the difference between the U.S. winning on […]

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First Impressions

October 2, 2018

At Mike Splane’s latest chess party this weekend, some of the usual faces were missing, including Gjon Feinstein, who had another commitment. Because he wasn’t there, I thought it would be a fun time to dust off the very first game I ever played against him. The year is 1996. I had just moved to […]

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Requiem for a Gentleman I Never Knew

September 23, 2018

Once upon a time there were two guys who liked to play chess in a park. One of them worked for a tech company, and the other had an idea. Why not build a chess website that would be both a hangout and a database? They didn’t really have a plan for making money, but […]

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