by scribe | Oct 19, 2012 | current news, games, positions, tournaments
One round down, and the Western States Open started on a positive note for me. I drew against a 2400 player named Alexander Kretchetov in only 20 moves. Before you say “grandmaster draw,” take a look at the final position. FEN:...
by scribe | Jun 14, 2012 | games, people, positions
Yesterday I got together with Gjon Feinstein, Cailen Melville and Thadeus Frei for some skittles chess and analysis. Cailen showed us one of his recent games. As so often happens, we got completely sidetracked by analyzing variations that never happened. It usually...
by scribe | Apr 11, 2012 | Chess Lecture, endings, games, positions, tournaments
I’d like to show you my longest and hardest-fought game from last weekend’s tournament in Reno. I have decided that I won’t give a lecture on it, partly because it’s too long and partly because there are too many mistakes. But it is still a...
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 | 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...