Newton’s First Law of Chess

Two of my most intense and difficult wins of the past year both happened against the same person, who also happens to be a reader of this blog: Praveen Narayanan. By coincidence, I spent the morning studying the game I call Praveen II (though perhaps he would call it...

Immortal Zugzwang — Missed!

I’ve just spent about five hours analyzing the finishing position of my game with Emory Tate from last weekend. Here’s the position: Black to move. White (IM Tate) has just played 24. Ra2 and offered a draw. What should Black do? Let’s ask the...

The Art of Doing Nothing

Yesterday I had a mini-chess salon at my house, with only two guests: Gjon Feinstein and Mike Splane. Gjon has been to my place many times — so many that he even knows which legs of my chess table are loose! For Mike, on the other hand, it was his first visit....