Pomp and circumstance

Today I played my last game in the Santa Cruz Cup. After disappointing losses in my last two games, I was playing Black against Ilan Benjamin. With a win I would finish third; a draw or loss would relegate me to fourth place. Coincidentally, this was also graduation...

Winning the state, part 2

Probably the most interesting thing going on in this blog at the moment is our long-running discussion on “Yo, Hallman.” Nevertheless, some people may be interested in seeing some new posts, and I did start this series on my victory in the 1985 North...

A decent tournament, finally

Today was Memorial Day in the U.S., a holiday that is often considered the informal beginning of summer. The Memorial Day weekend is an ideal time for three-day chess tournaments, which range in size from huge (the Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic in Los Angeles) to...

Various updates

Today Alexey Root, in her blog on the MonRoi website, addressed the question I asked in my last post: should I should be satisfied with offering a non-rated tournament for the kids in my library chess club, or should I should try to get them into rated chess? I...