by scribe | Mar 9, 2010 | chess clubs, games, positions, ruminations
Gjon Feinstein, my friend who makes his living teaching chess, has a great way to get kids over the hump of not wanting to put their pieces next to the opponent’s king, even if it would win the game. He calls it the “in-your-face” checkmate. Today,...
by scribe | Feb 17, 2010 | games, literature, people
Last week I received an autographed copy of Andres Hortillosa’s new book, Improve Your Chess At Any Age, which he generously mailed to me. Ever since then, I’ve been debating whether to post a review of it. I greatly admire what Andres has done and I also...
by scribe | Feb 16, 2010 | endings, games, people, tournaments
Yesterday the 36th (almost) Annual Peoples Tournament concluded. It was pretty much of a lost weekend for me, or perhaps I should say a drawn weekend. After my excellent start, a win against Michael Aigner, I then spun my wheels with four straight draws before losing...
by scribe | Feb 14, 2010 | games, tournaments
In my last tournament I played against Michael Aigner in round one and lost, which prompted me to write this entry comparing our “rivalry” to Sylvester versus Tweety Bird. At that point my lifetime record against him stood at 1 win, 7 losses, and 1 draw,...
by scribe | Jan 21, 2010 | games, openings, people
A few days ago I got a very interesting and pleasant surprise, a comment on my blog from a player I used to know back in North Carolina. His name is Rich Jackson, and he was responding to this post where I analyzed a game we played in the 1987 state championship. The...
by scribe | Dec 2, 2009 | Chess Lecture, games, positions, tournaments
Tortoise and Hare sat down to play a game of chess. (If you don’t like fables, “Tortoise” is me, Dana Mackenzie. “Hare” is an expert named Arthur Liou. The date was November 29, and the occasion was round five of the CalChess State...
