Good Mistakes and Bad Mistakes

One of the kids who has been coming longest to the Aptos Library Chess Club is named Alex. He’s maybe 12 or 13 years old. Over the years he has gotten more interested in chess and less interested in making trouble, and he has now reached the point where he is...

Failure Modes

In my latest Matrix Chess game against the computer I failed in an interesting way that actually involved winning the game. See what you think. Position after 15. Nb5. Black to move. FEN: rn1qk2r/pp4p1/3bb1P1/1N1p1p2/3Pp2p/5P1P/PPP1N1K1/R1BQ1R2 b kq – 0 15...

Luck or Skill?

It’s an age-old question: is chess truly just a game of skill, or is there luck involved too? Here is perhaps the most crucial position I faced in the New Year Championship tournament last weekend. It’s round five, and I’m playing back against Ivan...

Chutzpah

A couple posts ago, I said I wouldn’t write any more about my game with Sergei Kudrin because I was planning to record a ChessLecture on it, and I didn’t want to post spoilers to my own lecture. However, an interesting point came up near the end that I...