Thirty-Two Stories

Once every year I take off my chess player and chess coach hat and put on my chess organizer hat. This weekend I directed an unrated chess tournament for kids at the Aptos Public Library. As always, I got a huge amount of help from the library, which provides the...

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...

Learning from the Students

In the most recent meeting of the Aptos Library chess club for kids, I decided to show them a position from a game that I played against Shredder, the computer. (Usually my lessons are taken from the excellent book Tactics Time by Tim Brennan and Anthea Carson, but...

Aptos tournament report

It’s here! The one day out of every year when I turn into a tournament director, at the Aptos Public Library. Before I go any further, I should give credit where credit is overwhelmingly due: to the Aptos Library and to Heather Pereira (the chief librarian) and...