by scribe | Nov 13, 2020 | Chess Life, people, positions, ruminations
Friend and long-time follower of this blog, Mike Splane, sent in excellent comments on my two most recent posts, which I think both warrant some more discussion. First, commenting on my Transition post, he says: “I totally agree that you got much stronger...
by scribe | Nov 11, 2020 | games, openings, ruminations
“In my mind I’m going to Carolina…” For anyone who has lived in North Carolina, James Taylor’s song is a little bit of an anthem. Perhaps like “Sweet Home Alabama” for people who live in that state. When you drive down I-95,...
by scribe | Nov 8, 2020 | chess clubs, people, ruminations, tournaments
In the spring of 1983 I earned my doctorate from Princeton University, and after a somewhat nail-biting job search I landed a one-year position in the math department at Duke University. After a year it turned into a tenure-track position, and I ended up staying at...
by scribe | Oct 17, 2020 | games, off-topic, openings, ruminations, tournaments
After spending three posts on 1978, a huge year in my chess life and my personal life, let’s move on to 1979. It was my last year of college (spring) and first year of graduate school (fall), and a very strange year. Coming back from Russia to America, I felt...
by scribe | Oct 7, 2020 | chess clubs, Chess Life, off-topic, people, ruminations, tournaments
In the fall of 1978, I joined a group of 35 American students for a semester abroad in Leningrad, Russia. I had been studying the Russian language since my junior year of high school, and chess was one of the main reasons (at first). When I was at Phillips Academy, I...
by scribe | Oct 2, 2020 | 2012 world championship, people, ruminations
Chessbase had an interesting column yesterday about the ten highest-rated players of all time, in which they tracked down the exact games where they hit their rating peaks. It’s an interesting list, and I’ll give you the condensed version here (without the...
