by scribe | Jan 13, 2014 | current news, literature, off-topic
Today the New York Times Numberplay blog features a card game that I co-invented, along with a mathematical problem: What is the best strategy? Here are the rules for “Stern-Mackenzie One-Round War.” The game requires three people, one of whom serves only...
by scribe | Jan 11, 2014 | current news, ruminations, tournaments
The ratings for the Bay Area International chess tournament were posted on the USCF website today, and I discovered something quite surprising. Here is a list of the players with established USCF ratings (this excludes, for example, the Chinese players) who had the...
by scribe | Jan 9, 2014 | chess clubs, Chess Lecture, current news, openings, people, tournaments
The Bay Area International is now in the books, and it ended in a similar way to the North American Open the preceding week: with a huge logjam of people at the top. Six people — grandmasters Anton Kovalyov, Wei Yi, Sam Shankland, Bartlomiej Macieja, Daniel...
by scribe | Jan 7, 2014 | current news, games, tournaments
Well, it seems to happen to me once in every tournament: a marathon battle of nerves that ends up being the last game in the round to finish. So last night it was no surprise when I played a 93-move epic battle against Damir Studen that ended up in a draw. In the...
by scribe | Jan 6, 2014 | chess clubs, Chess Lecture, current news, people, tournaments
We’re now entering the “European” phase of the Bay Area International, with just one game a day for the last three rounds. (It’s a week-long tournament, with 1 game the first day, 2 the second, then 1-2-1-1-1.) This is almost the first time...
by scribe | Jan 5, 2014 | current news, games, positions, tournaments
Well, I knew going into this tournament that there would be good moments and bad moments. Today had both of them. In the morning round I finally won my first game, a thrilling if imperfect battle against Bela Evans. I was really pumped about that (you’ll see why...
