Best Checkmate Ever?

by | Mar 20, 2019 | current news, endings, positions, PRO Chess League

With the San Francisco Mechanics not qualifying for the PRO Chess League playoffs, I didn’t watch the playoffs last night. It was my loss, because I missed the chance to watch in real time what one fan called “the best 60 seconds in PRO Chess League history” and what...

Cautionary Tales

by | Mar 10, 2019 | current news, endings, people, positions, PRO Chess League

Ordinarily we think of the endgame as a time when our kings are safe from checkmate, and they can roam with impunity around the board. But in complex endgames (where each side has two or more pieces, or a queen) it isn’t necessarily so. There are three ways in which...

Brutal. Epic. Fail.

by | Mar 7, 2019 | current news, endings, people, PRO Chess League

Someone get David Pruess an ice-cold Yoo-Hoo, because he’s gonna need it. The San Francisco Mechanics’ manager was speechless after our unbelievable last-round meltdown last night. He looked like Sheldon Cooper in the TV show “Big Bang Theory,” who wrote a paper he...

The Highs and the Whews

by | Feb 27, 2019 | chess clubs, current news, people, PRO Chess League

Here are a couple of fun reaction photos that I took last night during the San Francisco-Dallas PRO Chess League match, which the Mechanics won by a 10-6 score. David and Andy are just a little bit enthused. The commentators for most of our matches have been David...

Closer to Fine

by | Feb 26, 2019 | chess clubs, current news, positions, PRO Chess League

When the San Francisco Mechanics started out the season with three losses in three matches, there was some understandable consternation in the City by the Bay. Tears were shed. Bad rap lyrics were written. Hope was abandoned. (One of those three statements is actually...