by scribe | Feb 5, 2013 | chess clubs, people, positions
Amazing chess club today at the Aptos Library! First, we had 22 kids and once again had to use just about every set in the house. And it isn’t just that we are getting more kids in the past; it also seems to me as if they understand chess better. The quality of...
by scribe | Jan 31, 2013 | current news, people, ruminations
To my surprise (and pleasure), two non-chess-playing friends e-mailed me a link to the same New York Times article. Nicholas Kristof, a regular op-ed columnist and former Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote a column today about Elizabeth Spiegel and her national champion...
by scribe | Jan 26, 2013 | games, openings, people, positions, tournaments
I could write about my own recent games, but it’s so much more fun and interesting to write about Cailen’s adventures in the Class A section of the Golden State Open. First, I’d like to show you just the beginning of his last-round game. He went into...
by scribe | Jan 15, 2013 | 2012 world championship, endings, games, off-topic, people, ruminations, tournaments
I had to miss a few days because of work, specifically a math conference in San Diego where I was invited to give a talk and do a book signing for The Universe in Zero Words. Unexpectedly, at the book signing I met a fellow chess player! I’ve mentioned Simon...
by scribe | Jan 6, 2013 | current news, people, ruminations
Happy New Year, loyal readers! I bring good tidings! This weekend I played in my first tournament of the new year and felt as if I really turned a corner. The first two rounds were abysmal, as I drew a class-A player and lost to an expert, but then I got more serious...
by scribe | Dec 25, 2012 | Chess Lecture, games, people, ruminations
Today I recorded my first ChessLecture in more than two months. And there’s a story behind it that I’d like to tell. One of the “behind-the-scenes” guys at ChessLecture is the man who does the recordings, whose name is Rich Pearl. He lives in...
