by scribe | Jan 3, 2015 | current news, games, people, positions
This weekend I am playing in my first tournament of 2015, appropriately called the New Year Championship (as always, expertly organized by Bay Area Chess). For a local tournament it’s got a super-strong top section, with something like four 2500 players. The...
by scribe | Dec 31, 2014 | current news, games, positions
Well, it’s December 31, a day that gets no respect because everybody is looking toward the new year. But it’s a perfect day for an “odds and ends” blog post, and that’s what I’m doing today. Everything today is either an odd or an...
by scribe | Dec 10, 2014 | Chess Lecture, current news, games, tournaments
Thanks to Gjon Feinstein and Mike Splane for telling me that GM Melikset Khachiyan has posted a lecture on chess.com about the game that we played in the recent Reno tournament. If you’re a member of chess.com (and you should be, because membership is free), go...
by scribe | Dec 9, 2014 | chess clubs, current news, openings, people
Today’s chess club at the Aptos Library was one of the best I can remember. We had 18 kids, and everybody seemed to find a good match to play against. In the lesson I talked about an age-old trap: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4? 4. Nxe5?! Qg5 5. Nxf7?? Qxg2 6....
by scribe | Nov 23, 2014 | current news, ruminations, tournaments
Today, as I expect most readers of this blog know already, Magnus Carlsen won the 11th game of his match with Viswanathan Anand to retain his world championship title. The final score of the match was 6½-4½ (+3 – 1 =7 for Carlsen). What can I say? I think the...
by scribe | Nov 11, 2014 | current news, people, ruminations
Today a seismic shift happened in the world championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand. Vishy finally won a game! Last year, you might remember, Carlsen defeated Anand without even losing a single game. Even though Anand went into the match as the...
