Lessons at the library

While the rest of the chess world is focused on the FIDE elections and on the World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, and American chess is focused on the US Chess League, I’ve been enjoying a chess break. No study, no tournaments, no ChessLectures (with...

Ilyumzhinov Re-Elected

… or at least that is what the official website of the World Chess Olympiad says. After all the political and legal machinations, the vote was not all that close. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov won re-election as president of FIDE, the international chess federation, by...

Various and sundry topics

§ 1. “Various and sundry” is an idiom my mother used to say a lot … I haven’t heard it in years and years, and then it popped into my head as a title for today’s post. It’s a phrase that probably started as a joke (because the two...

Withdrawing

My chess catastrophes continued this weekend at the CalChess Labor Day Classic. I scored ½ point in the first 4 rounds (one draw, three losses) and was so discouraged that I felt it was necessary to withdraw early. I couldn’t bring myself to get up early and...