by scribe | Apr 5, 2017 | games, positions, ruminations
Chess is a weird game. Sometimes the way to win is to play almost, but not quite, badly enough to lose. Then your opponent gets sucked into trying too hard, and then you can catch them on the rebound. But good luck trying to win that way. It has to be unintentional,...
by scribe | Apr 3, 2017 | off-topic, positions, ruminations
For the last six months I haven’t been posting as much as usual to my blog, because I’ve been working on a (non-chess) book. I’m glad to say that I sent the first draft of the book to my editor today. Though there is still a lot to do, I feel as if I...
by scribe | Mar 18, 2017 | games, positions
Last night I won a game against Shredder in very amusing but also instructive fashion. The computer’s rating was set to 2124. (I’ve found that this rating gives me the best blend of success and challenge; setting the machine to 2300 or 2400 makes me get...
by scribe | Mar 2, 2017 | games, openings, positions, ruminations
Here’s a position that I got to against the computer. What do you think about it? What is White’s plan? Should he attack on the kingside or the queenside or the center? Should he go fast or go slow? Position after 14. … b5. White to move. FEN:...
by scribe | Feb 13, 2017 | current news, games, off-topic, people, positions, ruminations
In honor of our new “alternative facts” universe, I decided to delete my chess rating against Shredder (the computer program) and start over with no rating. After 925 games against it, I was unsatisfied with the fact that my rating had gone below 2000. It...
