by scribe | Oct 1, 2011 | current news, games, literature
After writing only two blog posts in September (one of them not even about chess), I promise to pay a little bit more attention to my blog this month. First, let me start with a small announcement: Andres Hortillosa’s SmartChess app for the iPhone/iPad is now on...
by scribe | Aug 24, 2011 | games, openings, positions, tournaments
I want to show you a game today that is a mystery in more ways than one. Here is Mystery Number One. This game was played about a month ago. One player is a grandmaster who is very active in American chess. The other player is 17 years old, has a provisional USCF...
by scribe | Aug 22, 2011 | games, openings, positions
Last weekend, at one of his chess parties, Mike Splane showed us the following miniature game where he won in 13 moves (!) against the Fort Knox Variation of the French Defense. Oh, were you expecting instructions for breaking into the U.S. Bullion Depository? Sorry,...
by scribe | Jul 24, 2011 | games, people, positions
Yesterday I got together with two old friends and one new one for some chess at Barnes and Noble in San Jose. The “old friends” were Gjon Feinstein and Cailen Melville, and the “new friend” was Uyanga Byambaa, a student from Mongolia whom Gjon...
by scribe | Jul 6, 2011 | games, openings, positions
This must be Computer Chess Month for me, because I’m going to write my third entry in a row about that topic. This afternoon I played another interesting … no, change that, mind-bending game against Shredder 12. This one I lost on time, but I had kind of...
by scribe | Jun 19, 2011 | Chess Lecture, current news, games, openings
Many of you have probably already seen the game from earlier this month where Viswanathan Anand destroyed Alexei Shirov (as Black!) in 17 moves. However, I feel as if I should say something about it because it is an ultra-rare appearance in top-level chess of an...