by scribe | Sep 23, 2017 | current news, endings, positions
In my last post, I looked at the K and Q versus K and R endgames, one of the four endgames of the Apocalypse, which occurred in both of the semifinal matches of the World Cup, and I introduced a couple of new ideas or at least new terminology, the “seesaw...
by scribe | Sep 21, 2017 | current news, endings, literature, positions, tournaments
Watching the World Cup is just like watching a master class in endgames! We’ve already had three matches decided by very difficult K+R versus K+B endgames, with equal pawns on both sides. Today, in the semifinal round, the masters decided to teach us a class in...
by scribe | Sep 13, 2017 | current news, endings, people, tournaments
People who know I have a Ph.D. in math often think that mathematics must help me in chess. But I have to tell them: not really. Having a mathematical mind is somewhat useful: in both subjects, it’s good to be able to hold in your mind long strings of “if...
by scribe | Sep 8, 2017 | current news, endings, positions, tournaments
The playoffs of round 2 in the World Cup happened today, and as you’d expect with closer matchups and faster time controls, there were a few upsets. Probably the most notable one was Hao Wang over Boris Gelfand. Even though the rating difference wasn’t so...
by scribe | Jul 16, 2017 | current news, endings, people, positions, tournaments
Three years ago I wrote a post called The Seventh Samurai, which was motivated by the fact that I had looked at the list of the 100 top juniors in the world and saw seven Americans on the list. One of the names, Akshat Chandra, was unfamiliar to me then (though quite...
by scribe | Apr 26, 2017 | Chess Lecture, current news, endings, games, people, positions
Six years ago I wrote a post called Master Class, about a class taught by Varuzhan Akobian at the Berkeley Chess School, which I went to along with several of my chess friends. In the comment thread after my post there was a lively debate over whether the class was...
