First Impressions

At Mike Splane’s latest chess party this weekend, some of the usual faces were missing, including Gjon Feinstein, who had another commitment. Because he wasn’t there, I thought it would be a fun time to dust off the very first game I ever played against...

A Dispatch From the Candy Factory

Do you remember the old I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel get jobs in a candy factory? They set up behind a conveyor belt that brings them the candies, and they are just supposed to wrap each one and put it back on the conveyor belt. Easy-peasy. Then the...

Dream Position

Most of the time, when we talk about a “dream position,” we mean a position that is too good to be true — all the pieces in just the right places, working together like a team. The position below, on the other hand, is an ACTUAL dream position: a...

First game of 2017!

I know this seems like a weird thing to say on May 1, but yesterday I played my first chess against a live human opponent in 2017. I’m not completely sure of this because I might have played a couple of blitz games back in January or February, but I have been so...

Three Blind Mice

The title describes me, Gjon Feinstein and Mike Splane, although in truth Mike should get credit for being only half blind. Yesterday afternoon we got together for some rare weekday chess (usually we meet on weekends), and Mike wanted to show Gjon the two challenge...