The cheating coach redux

A few of you might remember a post I wrote last year about a really cool math problem that a friend sent to me. For those who don’t remember, here it is again: Two chess teams are going to play a chess match. The best players on each team are supposed to play on...

“Lisa” Debuts!

Lisa, Jesse Kraai’s Great American Chess Novel, is now available through Amazon.com! Even more than the Great American Chess Novel, it’s the Greater San Francisco Bay Chess Novel. Astute readers will notice several local personalities in the novel —...

My First Chess Book(s)

Last August I wrote a post called My First Chess Set/Board/Clock. But for some reason I didn’t think of writing the obvious sequel, about my first chess books. What does a player’s first chess book say about him or her? What kind of impact does it have on...

Origin of chess cleared up

The Time Lords invented it! That’s what Doctor Who said on TV last night, and if you can’t trust a fictional time-traveler, well then, whom can you trust? For those readers who haven’t watched BBC or followed science fiction for the last 50 years,...