A Tactical Cornucopia

Today I happened to be looking back in one of my old diaries, and discovered an entry about something I had completely forgotten. September 26, 1979: Today I played my first game with a chess calculator, which is owned by a guy named Robin whom I know. I am very...

Easy card game, hard math problem

Today the New York Times Numberplay blog features a card game that I co-invented, along with a mathematical problem: What is the best strategy? Here are the rules for “Stern-Mackenzie One-Round War.” The game requires three people, one of whom serves only...

Silly rating stuff

The ratings for the Bay Area International chess tournament were posted on the USCF website today, and I discovered something quite surprising. Here is a list of the players with established USCF ratings (this excludes, for example, the Chinese players) who had the...