by scribe | Jul 27, 2021 | Chess Lecture, games, openings, ruminations
In Year 35 of this retrospective, I wrote a post called One for the Ages, in which I showed my lifetime masterpiece, Mackenzie-Pruess. In that game I debuted a new opening variation, the Bryntse Gambit (which had been played before in correspondence chess but never,...
by scribe | May 24, 2021 | Chess Lecture, games, literature, openings, people
Many of you know the game I’m going to write about today. Don McLean doesn’t play a concert without “American Pie.” And I’m not going to write a lifetime retrospective of my chess games without my game against David Pruess. It’s...
by scribe | Mar 22, 2021 | endings, games, openings, people, tournaments
One of the best things about living in California is the fact that you’re so close to Hawaii! Close in a relative sense, of course. It’s 2400 miles from San Francisco to Honolulu, which is about the same as the distance from San Francisco to Washington,...
by scribe | Mar 19, 2020 | 2020 world championship, current news, openings, tournaments
The Candidates Tournament hit the “reset” button today as a result of Fabiano Caruana’s unexpected loss to Ding Liren. Caruana, at 1.5 points in 2 rounds, was tied for first; Ding, with 0 points in 2 rounds, was alone in last place. But all of that...
by scribe | Mar 17, 2020 | 2020 world championship, current news, endings, games, positions, tournaments
This year’s Candidates Tournament, which will select the next challenger to Magnus Carlsen for the World Chess Championship, started with a bang. Although some might argue that it was unwise for FIDE and the Russian Chess Federation to proceed with the...