Impulse Control

July 28, 2014

After my epic fail yesterday against Josiah Stearman… number two 10-year-old in the country Josiah Stearman, that is… I just had to go over the game and see what I did wrong. It’s actually a very complicated question. But let’s get to the position where the game finally, irrevocably became an Epic Fail. FEN: r3qr1k/ppp3Rp/3p3P/3Ppb2/2PnNp2/8/PP2BPP1/R2QK3 […]

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No Fool Like an Old Fool

July 27, 2014

The title is a line from a song you wouldn’t know, by a singer you wouldn’t know. It’s a line that came to mind this afternoon, as I was driving home from my latest tournament, the People’s Tournament. There are some tournaments I often play well in, like the Reno tournaments. And then there are […]

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Training with Shredder

July 23, 2014

Lately I’ve been playing more frequently against the computer program Shredder, with a purpose. After my last tournament I had a feeling that I was not getting enough practice in winning superior positions. In fact, playing against Shredder set at its maximum strength, I was hardly ever even getting a superior position. So I came […]

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Anatomy of a Miracle

July 21, 2014

At yesterday’s chess party at Mike Splane’s house, Bryon Doyle showed one of his two miraculous wins from the recent Sacramento Championship, where he tied for first place with his girlfriend Uyanga Byambaa. (Uyanga was also at the party and showed one of her games.) Bryon said over and over that he was just lucky […]

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The Seventh Samurai

July 12, 2014

Not long ago I wrote here jokingly about the fact that the U.S. has “too many” young players getting IM and GM norms. I hope everyone realizes I wasn’t serious… This is a true golden era of American chess. Today I was browsing the list of the top 100 juniors in the world, and I […]

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2014 Sacramento Championship Results

July 7, 2014

I’m back from my three days and two nights in Sacramento. For me, the tournament was a Learning Experience. That’s another way of saying that it didn’t go as well as I had hoped. Strangely enough, though, I enjoyed it and I will definitely consider playing in this tournament next year. I really liked the […]

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Where the 2171’s are

July 5, 2014

In my first 18 years of living in California, I somehow never played a single chess game in Sacramento, the state capital. There are a few reasons. First, it’s a three-hour drive. I can’t commute between home and the tournament, as I can if the tournament is in the Bay Area. Second, there have never […]

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What Might Have Been

June 30, 2014

Last week Gjon Feinstein asked me, “Can we go over a couple of my games on your computer?” This request was a surprise to me. He is a chess teacher, so he knows full well that computer analysis can be fool’s gold. I don’t think he even owns a computer chess program. Nevertheless, I think […]

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Unique Opportunities

June 23, 2014

Yesterday Mike Splane hosted another chess party that was devoted specifically to endgames. Uyanga Byambaa brought a fascinating game that she played in the recent U.S. Women’s Open in Las Vegas. She was Black against an unrated (!) player named Elena Rodriguez, a ringer who ended up tied for first at 4-1 and got a […]

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Where’s Dana?

June 16, 2014

… I’m back! Sorry about the two weeks with no posts (and the four weeks with not very many posts). I don’t really have an excuse, but I do have an explanation. First there was my 25th anniversary trip to Hawaii. Kay and I went to the Big Island, renting a cottage near Hilo. It […]

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