by scribe | Dec 22, 2014 | chess clubs, games, positions
In a comment on my most recent post, Hal Bogner used the delightful sobriquet “high-class abacus” to describe chess computers. Quoth Hal: “What’s with this worship of high-class abacus evaluations of positions in which their evaluations are in...
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 12, 2014 | chess clubs, games, openings, positions
At Mike Splane’s last chess party, the question came up: “Is one bad move enough to lose a game?” Of course the answer is yes, if the move is really, really bad, like hanging a rook or a queen. But in games between more or less experienced players,...
by scribe | Aug 26, 2014 | chess clubs, games, positions, ruminations
At Mike Splane’s chess party I showed a game I played against Paul Richter (a teen-aged expert and soon-to-be master, with a rating around 2180) that I’m also planning to give a ChessLecture on. The game had a beautiful finish, but I also had a curious...
by scribe | Jun 23, 2014 | chess clubs, endings, games, people
Yesterday Mike Splane hosted another chess party that was devoted specifically to endgames. Uyanga Byambaa brought a fascinating game that she played in the recent U.S. Women’s Open in Las Vegas. She was Black against an unrated (!) player named Elena Rodriguez,...
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