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 | Jun 14, 2020 | Chess Life, endings, games, literature
In the past I’ve mentioned the “Four Endgames of the Apocalypse,” the four supposedly “elementary” yet ferociously difficult endgames that even grandmasters screw up sometimes: K+Q versus K+R; K+B+N versus K; K+R+B versus K+R; and K+Q+RP...
by scribe | Feb 3, 2020 | current news, endings, positions, PRO Chess League
For the California Unicorns, this week’s PRO Chess League match was one that they were expected to win. Their opponents, the Brazil Capybaras, were in seventh place in the Western Conference, and they don’t have any super-GMs. Quite a change from last...
by scribe | Oct 7, 2019 | chess clubs, endings, people, positions
Yesterday’s chess party at Mike Splane’s house turned into an endgame workshop, because both Mike Arne and Paulo Santanna came prepared with some beautiful positions. Ironically, both of them went to Spain this summer but they didn’t play in the same events. Mike Arne...
by scribe | Feb 7, 2019 | chess clubs, current news, people, positions, PRO Chess League
Crucial position in Xu-Naroditsky. Black to move. First, let’s get one thing straight. Avalanches never happen in Berkeley. Reason one: There’s no snow. But yesterday, for the first time since 2011, there was snow in the mountains to the east of San Francisco (the...
