by scribe | Sep 24, 2014 | current news, games, openings, positions
It’s extremely thrilling when the World Champion plays your favorite opening. However, it’s somewhat less than thrilling when he loses with it. So it was both exciting and discouraging to read that Magnus Carlsen had played the Bird Variation of the Ruy...
by scribe | Aug 14, 2014 | current news, tournaments
The last round of the Chess Olympiad is in the books and, no surprise, China won. They beat Poland, 3-1, making any discussion of tiebreaks academic. As I mentioned in my previous entry, they completed the event with only one loss out of 44 games, a truly dominating...
by scribe | Mar 29, 2014 | current news, ruminations, tournaments
As most of my readers probably know already, Viswanathan Anand, the former world champion who was dethroned last year by Magnus Carlsen, has earned a rematch with Carlsen by winning the Candidates in dominating fashion. The tournament isn’t even over yet, but...
by scribe | Feb 5, 2014 | current news, games, people
… But some speed chess games stick with you more than others. I just found out via Facebook that there’s a video on YouTube of a 5-minute game that Vinay Bhat played against Magnus Carlsen during the latter’s visit to the Bay Area on January 14....
by scribe | Dec 30, 2013 | current news, people, ruminations
Just over a year ago, Magnus Carlsen made his first appearance in the Bay Area, an (apparently) hastily arranged and under-promoted event that left chess players wishing for more. Well, our wish has come true. Magnus is coming to Silicon Valley in January, and he has...
