House of Cards

Some of you might wondering, “When are you going to write Year 50 of your 50 Years of Chess series?” Patience! We are still in year 50. Actually, I had a plan that went awry. I was going to play in the “Real Bay Area Championship” in Santa...

Weaknesses

Lately I have been going through a book called “It’s Your Move!” by Chris Ward with some of my chess club students. I like the concept of this book very much. It consists of 150 positions from grandmaster games, in which students are supposed to come up with the best...

Unacceptable Interference?

I have a question for other chess teachers/coaches, especially those who work with kids: How much intervention is acceptable, for teaching purposes, in a friendly game between two kids? Here’s the particular situation that arose in a game yesterday at the Aptos...

Bad Trap, Good Lesson

Today’s chess club at the Aptos Library was one of the best I can remember. We had 18 kids, and everybody seemed to find a good match to play against. In the lesson I talked about an age-old trap: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4? 4. Nxe5?! Qg5 5. Nxf7?? Qxg2 6....