by scribe | May 16, 2021 | games, openings, tournaments
What a strange year 2005 was for me over the chessboard. It had some really high highs and some really low lows. In April, I won the biggest cash prize (up to that point) of my life, taking first place in the Expert section at the Far West Open in Reno. In May I...
by scribe | May 5, 2021 | Chess Lecture, games, off-topic, positions, ruminations
It’s still inspiring to look back at my diary for 2003. So many great things were happening that year. My first book, The Big Splat, or How Our Moon Came to Be, was published in April, and like any first-time author I was alternating between the heights of...
by scribe | Jun 1, 2019 | chess clubs, current news, endings, positions, PRO Chess League
Okay, I admit it, I’m a dinosaur. The whole chess world plays online chess, and I don’t. The last time I played online was maybe 15 years ago. But I thought it might be fun to give it another try, especially in the PRO Chess Summer League, competing as part of a team....
by scribe | Apr 26, 2017 | Chess Lecture, current news, endings, games, people, positions
Six years ago I wrote a post called Master Class, about a class taught by Varuzhan Akobian at the Berkeley Chess School, which I went to along with several of my chess friends. In the comment thread after my post there was a lively debate over whether the class was...
by scribe | Apr 8, 2017 | Chess Life, current news, endings, games, positions
In my last entry I wrote about how exciting it is to win a game that you were just hoping to draw. The outcome of this year’s U.S. Championship might end up being determined by just such a game. Round nine. Varuzhan Akobian versus Fabiano Caruana. Akobian...
