Return to Action

I’m back! Not only back to writing my blog, but back to actually playing tournament chess. Last night I played my first tournament game in 10 months, at the Kolty Chess Club Championship in Campbell, California. I’m not exactly sure why it’s taken me so long to try...

Weaknesses

Lately I have been going through a book called “It’s Your Move!” by Chris Ward with some of my chess club students. I like the concept of this book very much. It consists of 150 positions from grandmaster games, in which students are supposed to come up with the best...

Endgame Workshop

Yesterday’s chess party at Mike Splane’s house turned into an endgame workshop, because both Mike Arne and Paulo Santanna came prepared with some beautiful positions. Ironically, both of them went to Spain this summer but they didn’t play in the same events. Mike Arne...

I’m Back!

Ryder, Emmy, me and Atlee at the state championship. It’s been a month since I posted here, so I would like to reassure anybody who’s wondering that I have not fallen off the face of the earth! The above photo was taken three weeks ago at the Northern...

Learning the Right Lessons

Today I went to cheer on two of my students in the Aptos Library Chess Club, Emmy and Ryder, who were playing in their second rated tournament. They are a sister-brother pair. I was very curious to see how they would do, because in their first rated tournament (the...

Last Computer Game for 2019

If January 1 is a good time for resolutions, then July 1 is a good time for semi-resolutions. I’ve decided that it’s time for me to do away with playing chess against the computer, at least for the rest of the year. One thing that crystallized this decision for me was...