50 Years of Chess: Year 30

The year 2001 is one I’ll always remember for two trips, neither having anything to do with chess. The first one was a trip to Santa Fe, where I was scheduled to interview Stuart Kauffman for Discover magazine. This was a super exciting opportunity, as Discover...

What Would Daisy Do?

Recently I had a kibitzer for one of my chess games against the computer. As we all know, man versus computer is an uneven battle. But a little bit of canine assistance can even up the odds! Daisy and Dana — Shredder (2220) 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 d4 3. d4 d6 4. f4...

Luck or Skill?

It’s an age-old question: is chess truly just a game of skill, or is there luck involved too? Here is perhaps the most crucial position I faced in the New Year Championship tournament last weekend. It’s round five, and I’m playing back against Ivan...

Siamese Twin Knights

On Saturday I played my third game in the Saturday Knights Marathon at Bay Area Chess. With so few players in the tournament (only four on Saturday), Thadeus and I knew that it was inevitable that we would play each other, and this gave me a chance to prepare for both...