Welcome to Dana Mackenzie’s chess blog! I am a national master, two-time former champion of North Carolina, and a regular lecturer at www.chesslecture.com. Don’t let all of that stuff impress you, though. Deep down inside, I’m just an ordinary player. I don’t play chess for money or glory, just for the love of the game.
In “real life,” I’m a freelance science writer. My latest book, The Universe in Zero Words, a history and celebration of 24 great equations in math and science, was published in April 2012 by Princeton University Press. I also wrote The Big Splat, or How Our Moon Came to Be (Wiley, 2003). Because this is a chess blog I won’t say any more about them here, but please visit my main website if you want to learn more. I may write a chess book someday, too. This blog is actually a small step towards that goal.
Other irrelevant information:
- I’m now into my second half-century.
- I’m left-handed.
- I don’t wear the glasses you see in the photo any more. (I started needing bifocals. Sigh.)
- My favorite writer is P.G. Wodehouse, and my favorite poet is Hayden Carruth.
- My favorite openings are the King’s Gambit and Bryntse Gambit as White, the Two Knights Defense and the Bird Variation of the Ruy Lopez as Black.
- My lifetime record against world champions is 1½-½. Yes, really. Here are the particulars:
Dana Mackenzie 1, Belle (World Computer Champion) 0. 1983 US Amateur Team Championship.
Gustavo Hernandez (World Under-18 Champion) ½, Dana Mackenzie ½. 1988 Continental Open.
If you’d like to read even more about me (why??), click here to go to the chess biography on my main web page. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the blog!
