by scribe | Mar 20, 2019 | current news, endings, positions, PRO Chess League
With the San Francisco Mechanics not qualifying for the PRO Chess League playoffs, I didn’t watch the playoffs last night. It was my loss, because I missed the chance to watch in real time what one fan called “the best 60 seconds in PRO Chess League history” and what...
by scribe | Mar 12, 2019 | chess clubs, current news, people, positions, PRO Chess League
Tonight was the final night of the regular season for half of the teams in the PRO Chess League. For the San Francisco Mechanics, it was our last chance to make an improbable comeback and qualify for the playoffs. To recap the whole season to this point, we started...
by scribe | Mar 11, 2019 | chess clubs, current news, people, positions, ruminations
This weekend two of my protégés at the Aptos Library Chess Club, Emmy and Ryder Pimentel, ventured into the world of rated chess for the first time. And they did it in a reallllly big way: they played in the CalChess Super State Championships, a scholastic tournament...
by scribe | Mar 10, 2019 | current news, endings, people, positions, PRO Chess League
Ordinarily we think of the endgame as a time when our kings are safe from checkmate, and they can roam with impunity around the board. But in complex endgames (where each side has two or more pieces, or a queen) it isn’t necessarily so. There are three ways in which...
by scribe | Mar 7, 2019 | current news, endings, people, PRO Chess League
Someone get David Pruess an ice-cold Yoo-Hoo, because he’s gonna need it. The San Francisco Mechanics’ manager was speechless after our unbelievable last-round meltdown last night. He looked like Sheldon Cooper in the TV show “Big Bang Theory,” who wrote a paper he...
by scribe | Feb 27, 2019 | chess clubs, current news, people, PRO Chess League
Here are a couple of fun reaction photos that I took last night during the San Francisco-Dallas PRO Chess League match, which the Mechanics won by a 10-6 score. David and Andy are just a little bit enthused. The commentators for most of our matches have been David...
