by scribe | Mar 18, 2012 | games, openings, positions
… Therefore I must be a beginner! Gjon Feinstein came over last night to play some speed chess and watch a couple lectures on ICC. We played four or five speed games (at a time control of game in 8 minutes, which perhaps for some people does not count as blitz)....
by scribe | Mar 14, 2012 | chess clubs, games, positions, tournaments
By far the most interesting game we analyzed during Mike Splane’s last chess party was a game from the U.S. Amateur Team West that was shown by Barry Curto. By the way, before I get into that game, I’d like to respond to Mike’s comment on my last...
by scribe | Mar 12, 2012 | chess clubs, games, positions
Yesterday I learned a new chess principle, which very likely did not exist until yesterday. It’s called the Mike Splane Principle of Activating the Most Pieces. The occasion was another of Mike’s chess parties. I presented one of my games from the recent...
by scribe | Mar 7, 2012 | chess clubs, positions, ruminations
Yesterday we had a rather small crew at the Aptos Public Library chess club — only six kids. But it was a good group, and we had some well-played and competitive games. During lesson time I put up the following position, #281 in John Emms’ Ultimate Chess...
by scribe | Feb 29, 2012 | Chess Lecture, games, people, positions, tournaments
Leap Day gives me one more chance to write a blog post in February this year, and also one more chance to show a game from the U.S. Amateur Team West. Yesterday I recorded a ChessLecture about Todd Rumph’s game in round six of the tournament, where he saved a...
by scribe | Feb 24, 2012 | Chess Life, current news, people, tournaments
I just got a comment on my previous post asking if I could put up a picture of my winning team at the USAT-W. It just so happens that Steven Gaffagan sent me an e-mail this morning with a picture! This was taken on his cell phone, so the quality is not too great....
by scribe | Feb 21, 2012 | Uncategorized
I know my faithful readers want to hear more about my team’s victory at the US Amateur Team West this weekend. And of course you want games! I don’t have any of my teammates’ games, but I can show you my game in the last round that gave us the...
by scribe | Feb 20, 2012 | current news, tournaments
This weekend I played in the U.S. Amateur Team West tournament, which was organized by Salman Azhar and held in Santa Clara. Curiously, it was my first time playing in this tournament, even though I’ve lived in California for nearly 16 years. It was worth the...
by scribe | Feb 13, 2012 | Chess Lecture, endings, people, positions
Last week I said I was going to show you two interesting endgames. I want to keep my promise, but the second endgame I’m going to show you is not the one I originally intended! The change in plans is because I’m going to lecture on that one for...
by scribe | Feb 7, 2012 | current news, off-topic, ruminations
I’m going to go off-topic today to post a little gripe about language. As you know, I’m a writer, so it pains me to see words used to mean things that they aren’t supposed to mean! I read an article this morning with a subhead: “Conservatives...
