by scribe | Jan 24, 2019 | current news, PRO Chess League, ruminations
So far in this PRO Chess League Season I’ve been focusing on the San Francisco Mechanics, since they asked me to be their official team blogger. But for a change let’s look at what else has been happening in the rest of the league through the first three weeks. This...
by scribe | Jan 23, 2019 | current news, PRO Chess League
My wife is a big fan of reality television, and has watched almost every episode of the Great British Baking Show and has moved on to watching the not-so-great British interior design show. Even if the shows fail to teach us interior design, they at least educate us...
by scribe | Jan 10, 2019 | current news, openings, people, ruminations, tournaments
The ratings for the 2019 Bay Area International went up on the USCF website this morning, and this gives me an excuse for writing a few more reflections on the chess week that just ended three days ago. The tournament truly lived up to its name as an international....
by scribe | Jan 8, 2019 | current news, people, PRO Chess League, tournaments
Although Google says that San Francisco and San Jose are 48 miles apart, it really is all one metropolitan area: If you drive from one to the other on highway 101 or El Camino Real, you will never have a moment when the urban landscape stops. So when the San Francisco...
by scribe | Jan 7, 2019 | chess clubs, current news, people, tournaments
This morning, as I drove to Burlingame for the last round of the San Francisco International tournament, I felt like a Survivor contestant who has reached the final day of the competition. After eight rounds I was still standing (unlike a lot of people who withdrew...
by scribe | Jan 4, 2019 | current news, games, openings, positions, tournaments
For those who have never heard it, the phrase in the title apparently comes from Edward Lasker in 1913, but it has bounced around from one chess writer to another for the last century. It seems like an appropriate description of what happened to me in the San...
