by scribe | Mar 5, 2013 | literature, positions
This morning I had a really cool puzzle idea: Can you create a chess version of rock-paper-scissors? To state the puzzle more precisely, I need to use the old-fashioned English Descriptive Notation, rather than algebraic. The advantage of English Descriptive —...
by scribe | Feb 18, 2013 | off-topic, openings, positions
Some people have pet openings. I have a pet who plays openings. Max sat down at the board after I had made the moves 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. d3 Bg4, and he proceeded to play 7. Rb1! All I can say is, I’ve seen some computer moves...
by scribe | Feb 15, 2013 | Chess Lecture, endings, games, positions
Two of my most intense and difficult wins of the past year both happened against the same person, who also happens to be a reader of this blog: Praveen Narayanan. By coincidence, I spent the morning studying the game I call Praveen II (though perhaps he would call it...
by scribe | Feb 9, 2013 | current news, off-topic, positions, ruminations
When people find out that I am both a mathematician (at least in a former life) and a chess player, they sometimes ask me if mathematics gives me an advantage in playing chess. The answer, alas, is emphatically no. There is a relation between math ability and chess...
by scribe | Feb 5, 2013 | chess clubs, people, positions
Amazing chess club today at the Aptos Library! First, we had 22 kids and once again had to use just about every set in the house. And it isn’t just that we are getting more kids in the past; it also seems to me as if they understand chess better. The quality of...
by scribe | Jan 26, 2013 | games, openings, people, positions, tournaments
I could write about my own recent games, but it’s so much more fun and interesting to write about Cailen’s adventures in the Class A section of the Golden State Open. First, I’d like to show you just the beginning of his last-round game. He went into...
