by scribe | Feb 28, 2015 | Chess Lecture, games, openings
My last post on the French Defense, a few days ago, attracted more comments than any post I’ve written for at least a couple years. So let’s continue the conversation. One of the commenters (Brian Wall, I’m looking at you) asked, “What...
by scribe | Feb 26, 2015 | openings, ruminations
About 50 years ago, the Yugoslav chess magazine Chess Informant introduced a new classification system for chess openings. For chess players it was like the invention of the metric system: it systematized the nomenclature that varied wildly from country to country....
by scribe | Feb 23, 2015 | chess clubs, openings, positions
Yesterday I met for a short chess session with Gjon Feinstein, Mike Splane, and Eric Montany. Mike showed us a game he played at the Kolty Chess Club last week that features a new variation he is exploring in the French. He played it against an expert named Lev (I...
by scribe | Feb 17, 2015 | chess clubs, current news, people, tournaments
Last weekend there were two big chess events in California, and I didn’t go to either of them. Nevertheless, Facebook kept me abreast of some of the things happening in both tournaments, and I have some big landmarks to report. The U.S. Amateur Team Championship...
by scribe | Feb 16, 2015 | openings, ruminations
What do you think? Good? Bad? Ridiculous? It seems to me that with the move 1. a3, White is saying to his opponent, “I will agree to play Black, and I believe that in any opening you might choose to play, I will be able to find a variation in which a3 is a...
