by scribe | Jun 9, 2019 | chess clubs, current news, games, PRO Chess League
The second week of the PRO Summer Chess League went a whole lot better for me, and a whole lot worse for the team. Quick refresher: the summer league is an offshoot of the main (winter) league. One big difference is that fans can participate and score points for their...
by scribe | Mar 23, 2019 | Chess Lecture, games, positions
This week I played a game against the computer that featured two of my favorite strategic themes. The unbreakable pin is, of course, well known. The second concept, the Long March, is one that I named but of course didn’t invent. It’s simply the plan of marching the...
by scribe | Dec 30, 2017 | current news, games, people, positions, tournaments
This morning I got a reminder in Facebook of a blog post I wrote exactly two years ago, called How to Beat a Grandmaster. My friend Robin Cunningham, a FIDE Master, was at that moment playing in the Hastings Masters tournament in England, which traditionally bridges...
by scribe | Apr 27, 2017 | current news, positions, PRO Chess League, tournaments
The Reykjavik Open concluded today, and the winner was not too big a surprise: it was Anish Giri, who went into the tournament with the highest rating. However, the way he won was definitely a surprise; going into round eight he was half a point behind the leaders....
by scribe | Mar 4, 2017 | current news, endings, games, people, positions
Yesterday I found out on Facebook that Walter Shipman had died. I guess it’s not too much of a surprise, as he was 87 years old, but he is one of those few people who seem determined to keep on going forever. Somehow that plan never seems to work, but he gave it...