by scribe | Feb 23, 2021 | endings, games, off-topic, people, ruminations
If you asked me what tournament that I’ve played in was the most fun or the most rewarding, the list would be very short. My first rated tournament. The tournament I played in Russia in 1978. My two North Carolina championships, of course. The 2006 Western...
by scribe | Feb 16, 2021 | endings, games, off-topic, openings, people, ruminations, tournaments
It was the best of time in 1994, and it was the worst of times. I’ll start with the “best,” and then get to the “worst.” At the end of 1993, as I wrote in my last post, I had four good tournaments in a row, and my good fortune continued...
by scribe | Jan 5, 2021 | endings, games, off-topic, tournaments
My second year in Ohio was a great time in my life, but not such a great time for my chess. Some of the good things: Kay and I had bought our first house, which was an easy one-mile walk from my office on campus. She was absorbed in sprucing the place up, repainting...
by scribe | Dec 9, 2020 | chess clubs, off-topic, ruminations, tournaments
I have two fantasies about what happens when we die. My first fantasy is that we get to have three questions answered about our lives. We get unimpeachable, God’s-eye view answers to three things that we could never find out when we were alive. Maybe it would be...
by scribe | Dec 1, 2020 | current news, literature, off-topic, people, ruminations
Taking a one-post break from my retrospective series to jot down my thoughts on “Queen’s Gambit,” the television series on Netflix. I know I’m way behind, because I like to take my television in small doses, so everyone else has already...
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...
