by scribe | Dec 18, 2008 | Chess Lecture, games, positions, tournaments
OMG, will someone please tell this guy which century it is? In round two of the Berkeley International 2008, David Pruess channeled Harry Nelson Pillsbury, circa 1899, with his brilliant 15. Bxh7! combination against Jesse Kraai. But not satisfied with that, in round...
by scribe | Dec 17, 2008 | games, positions, tournaments
Day three of the Berkeley International 2008 saw the grandmasters finally flexing their muscles a little bit. Two of the early surprises, Marc Esserman and Dale Haessel, were taken down by their GM opponents, Izoria and Sharavdorj. Grandmasters Josh Friedel and Vinay...
by scribe | Dec 16, 2008 | games, people, tournaments
The tournament may have drawn players from all over the world, but the best game so far of the Berkeley International was the round two collision between two housemates, David Pruess and Jesse Kraai. Here’s how the action went down: David Pruess — Jesse...
by scribe | Dec 15, 2008 | Chess Lecture, games, people, tournaments
 Yesterday the Berkeley International 2008 chess tournament got started, with a field of 18 players including six grandmasters. Although I am not playing in the tournament (my current FIDE rating being too low to qualify), it isn’t every day that an...
by scribe | Dec 6, 2008 | games, openings
I’d like to continue my series on the Bird Variation now. But first, I need to clarify a little bit of terminology, in response to a comment from Michael Goeller. He suggests calling the whole variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nxd4 ed 5. O-O g6, which...
by scribe | Dec 2, 2008 | Chess Lecture, games, tournaments
As I promised, here is my game from round five of the Thanksgiving Festival. My opponent was Paul Richter, a class A player who looks to be 13 years old or so (but we know how bad I am at estimating ages). It’s just the sort of game that I love, with pieces...
