New series on ChessLecture

You heard about it here first! In my next ChessLecture (which should go up either tomorrow or sometime this week), I will announce a new series that will begin in January 2008, called “Learn from your Fellow Amateurs.” I’m going to ask ChessLecture...

Thursday night at chess club

Okay, time for me to interrupt the melodrama over the word “melodrama” by posting a new blog entry! For the first time since I started this blog in October, I went to the Santa Cruz chess club last night. I’ve been just a little bit too busy with...

Thinking about books

Some of you have probably noticed that on my profile page, I mentioned that I would like to write a book about chess and see this blog as a small step in that direction. I’ve recently been discussing this topic by e-mail with one of our regular readers, and I...

World championship — how much do you care?

As many of you probably know by now, Gata Kamsky of the U.S. won the World Cup this weekend by beating Alexei Shirov in a four-game match. He will thus get a chance to play Veselin Topalov in a world championship qualifier match next year. I’m excited for...