Winning the state, part 3

In part 2 I showed you highlights of my first three games from the 1985 North Carolina Championship. Today I’ll show you the finishing stretch, when I won three in a row to become the unlikely state champion. One thing that strikes me about all three of these...

Winning the state, part 2

Probably the most interesting thing going on in this blog at the moment is our long-running discussion on “Yo, Hallman.” Nevertheless, some people may be interested in seeing some new posts, and I did start this series on my victory in the 1985 North...

Winning the state, part 1

In a recent post I wrote about chess in the Triangle area (Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina) in the 1980s. That inevitably leads to my next topic, which is the two state championships that I managed to win while I lived in Durham. I’ve been...

More thrills and spills in Santa Cruz Cup

The only contest in the world that has lasted longer than Barack Obama vs. Hillary Clinton is the Santa Cruz Cup chess tournament. We got started back in October and we’re still going — but we are now, I think, just one round short of completion. On Sunday...