by scribe | Jan 6, 2015 | current news, games, positions, ruminations, tournaments
It’s an age-old question: is chess truly just a game of skill, or is there luck involved too? Here is perhaps the most crucial position I faced in the New Year Championship tournament last weekend. It’s round five, and I’m playing back against Ivan...
by scribe | Jan 5, 2015 | current news, ruminations, tournaments
Back when I first joined the USCF, in 1972, you had to wait months to find out your new rating after you played in a tournament. Nowadays, if the tournament directors do their job quickly enough, you can find out overnight. In fact, Michael Aigner found out even...
by scribe | Dec 26, 2014 | Chess Lecture, ruminations
I don’t mean to alarm you or anything, because my chess life isn’t over. I am planning to play next weekend, in fact. However, I have definitely played my last rated game of 2014, and that inspired me to go to my member page at uschess.org to see how I did...
by scribe | Dec 24, 2014 | chess clubs, people, ruminations, Uncategorized
I have a question for other chess teachers/coaches, especially those who work with kids: How much intervention is acceptable, for teaching purposes, in a friendly game between two kids? Here’s the particular situation that arose in a game yesterday at the Aptos...
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...
