by scribe | Jan 3, 2015 | current news, games, people, positions
This weekend I am playing in my first tournament of 2015, appropriately called the New Year Championship (as always, expertly organized by Bay Area Chess). For a local tournament it’s got a super-strong top section, with something like four 2500 players. The...
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 | Dec 19, 2014 | chess clubs, games, people, positions
Doing something is always better than doing nothing, right? Don’t our chess teachers tell us always to have a plan? At Mike Splane’s latest chess party, we looked at a game that will have you seriously questioning that wisdom. The game was Miles-Huebner,...
by scribe | Dec 9, 2014 | chess clubs, current news, openings, people
Today’s chess club at the Aptos Library was one of the best I can remember. We had 18 kids, and everybody seemed to find a good match to play against. In the lesson I talked about an age-old trap: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4? 4. Nxe5?! Qg5 5. Nxf7?? Qxg2 6....
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...
by scribe | Nov 2, 2014 | Chess Lecture, games, people, positions
A couple posts ago, I said I wouldn’t write any more about my game with Sergei Kudrin because I was planning to record a ChessLecture on it, and I didn’t want to post spoilers to my own lecture. However, an interesting point came up near the end that I...
