by scribe | Dec 6, 2018 | games, people, positions
Here’s a question for my esteemed readers. What sub-2700 player do you consider to be the best for an amateur to study? Why? Well, for any player the answer is “Study your own games.” But we’re not allowing that answer. The reason I’m...
by scribe | Nov 24, 2018 | 2018 world championship, endings, games, people
Grandmasters will probably describe today’s eleventh game of the World Championship Match as “a boring draw.” However, I disagree! I think that this was a perfect game for introductory to intermediate players to study. The game was replete with...
by scribe | Sep 25, 2016 | current news, positions, ruminations
One of my teammates at this year’s US Amateur Team tournament, Larry Smith, has an interesting semi-blog. It isn’t publicly accessible like a blog is, but he sends out chess-related e-mails a few times a week to a couple dozen people on his distribution...
by scribe | Dec 9, 2014 | chess clubs, current news, openings, people
Today’s chess club at the Aptos Library was one of the best I can remember. We had 18 kids, and everybody seemed to find a good match to play against. In the lesson I talked about an age-old trap: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4? 4. Nxe5?! Qg5 5. Nxf7?? Qxg2 6....
by scribe | Feb 15, 2013 | Chess Lecture, endings, games, positions
Two of my most intense and difficult wins of the past year both happened against the same person, who also happens to be a reader of this blog: Praveen Narayanan. By coincidence, I spent the morning studying the game I call Praveen II (though perhaps he would call it...