by scribe | Oct 17, 2011 | chess clubs, endings
This weekend I played (and botched) a pretty cool endgame. Here’s the scene: I’m playing tandem chess at one of Mike Splane’s chess parties. I’m Black, and my teammate is Richard Koepcke, a National Master. Our opponents are Gjon Feinstein...
by scribe | Oct 5, 2011 | chess clubs, games
When I give chess lessons at the Aptos Public Library, it’s always a challenge to make them concise enough. For this age group (roughly 6 to 12) I have found that 15 minutes is about the limit of their attention span, or 20 minutes if the lesson is going well....
by scribe | Aug 13, 2011 | chess clubs, people, positions, ruminations, tournaments
Last night I met with Gjon Feinstein, Mike Splane and Dan Burkhard to go over some recent games. Mike and Dan had just finished playing in the seven-round Kolty Chess Club championship. Dan tied for fourth, with three wins and four draws, and he was very eager to show...
by scribe | May 15, 2011 | chess clubs, positions, tournaments
Yesterday I directed my annual tournament at the Aptos Public Library. This year we had a surprisingly low turnout: 14 players in all, 8 in the 10-and-older section and 6 in the 9-and-younger. Part of the reason was that I was unlucky with the date. Several of the...
by scribe | Mar 28, 2011 | chess clubs, people, ruminations
Anyone who can teach chess to kids has my utter, undivided admiration. This year, for the second time, I am teaching a chess class for five weeks at a local kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school. I was pretty disappointed with how the class went last year, and...
by scribe | Feb 10, 2011 | chess clubs, Chess Lecture, tournaments
OK, let me admit right up front that this may seem like the most egotistical blog post in history. But today it hit me, as I was cleaning the dust off my trophies for the first time in a year: “Why not do a blog post about each of my trophies?” The intent...
