Patience, patience, patience

Recently one of my readers asked whether I play against the computer for training or just for fun. I answered that it was probably 75 percent for fun and 25 percent for training. But perhaps I was wrong, because the two are not mutually exclusive! Here’s a game...

The World’s Simplest Card Game

Two years ago I went to Atlanta to attend the “Gathering for Gardner,” a biennial conference on math, magic, games, and puzzles in honor of the late Martin Gardner. I gave an 8-minute talk at the meeting, and the video of my talk has just been posted...

Do Superhuman Moves Exist?

In my last post I asked readers for examples of games with “two shining moments” — in other words, one fantastic, seemingly game-winning move for each player. Mike Splane sent me a link to a game he played against Agnis Kaugars in 1993 that meets the...