by scribe | Dec 6, 2013 | literature, off-topic, ruminations, tournaments
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...
by scribe | Nov 21, 2013 | current news, openings, ruminations, tournaments
Pigs could still fly, dodos could still walk the Earth, and Viswanathan Anand could still save his world championship match against Magnus Carlsen. But I wouldn’t bet on it! Carlsen now leads the best-of-twelve match by 6-3, and needs only one more draw to...
by scribe | Sep 3, 2013 | current news, endings, positions, ruminations, tournaments
In my last two posts I wrote about two of my “great escapes” in the 2013 CalChess Labor Day Championship. (The first was a game I won against Myagmarsuren after blundering or sacrificing the exchange; in the second I drewm against Rand after being 3 pawns...
by scribe | Aug 10, 2013 | current news, ruminations, tournaments
The FIDE World Cup starts tomorrow in Tromsø, Norway, and I was excited to see at the official Web page that you can fill out a bracket to predict the winners. Although I think the knockout format (with two-game matches followed by tiebreaks) is dreadful for actually...
by scribe | Jul 15, 2013 | Chess Lecture, ruminations, tournaments
Me, that’s who! I took a look back at my 1977 diary to see if it said anything about the rating jump I wrote about in my last blog post. And in fact, I did write something that was unintentionally hilarious. To set the stage: In September 1976 I played a...
by scribe | Jul 14, 2013 | people, ruminations, tournaments
It’s not my intention to turn this blog into a Conrad Holt Admiration Society, but after I wrote yesterday’s post I did a little bit of sleuthing that showed me just how unusual his chess career has been, compared to other U.S. juniors. Of course...
