by scribe | Jan 16, 2021 | Chess Lecture, Chess Life, games, people
As we move to 1992 in my retrospective look at my chess career, I face a dilemma. In 1990 and 1991 I had trouble finding any good games to show you, but in 1992 I have the opposite problem — too many good games. There’s one that, in my notebook, I call a...
by scribe | Dec 7, 2020 | Chess Life, games, people, tournaments
The year 1987 was one when everything started coming together for me in chess. Even now, going over my games and results from that year, it’s gratifying to see the years and years of effort at improvement starting to bear fruit. Of course, there was plenty more...
by scribe | Nov 28, 2020 | Chess Life, endings, games, openings
For 1986, I’ve decided to show you yet another game I played against a fellow North Carolina champion. This series is becoming a who’s-who of North Carolina chess! First I showed you a game against Matt Noble (co-champion, 2002), then a trifecta of games...
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 | Oct 26, 2020 | Chess Life, off-topic, people
No chess in this post. In 1980 and 1981, I took a two-year sabbatical from chess while real life clobbered me over the head. I actually did play in one tournament in January 1980 (six games, but I only have the moves for four of them). I thought of showing one of the...
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...