Greetings from Iceland! I'm back in this lovely country as a participant in the Reykjavik Open, which has just concluded. I'm staying on a few more days as well to participate in the Icelandic Team Championship (for Godinn-Matar). The ...
The February 2013 FIDE rating list is out, and Magnus Carlsen - the "Mozart of Chess" - once again reigns supreme among the world elite with an otherwordly, record-smashing (his own!) ELO of 2872: Carlsen is so dominant that he could hand the ...
Happy New Year to all! The London Eye I was in London, England for the London Chess Classic, Dec. 1-10. This will go down in history as the event where Magnus Carlsen became the highest rated player of all time at 2861 FIDE, eclipsing Garry K...
(WARNING: Lots of pictures ahead!) From Nov. 6-19 I was in Maribor, Slovenia for the 2012 World Youth Chess Championship (WYCC). The World Youth is an annual 11-round event with multiple age categories: U-8, U-10, U-12, U-16, and U-18, with both ...
I had a frightfully poor tournament at the SPICE Cup Open held in St. Louis, MO, October 16-21. I dropped 25 USCF points and about 20 FIDE points in a tough field (12 GMs, 12 IMs out of 42-players); easily my worst tournament in many, many years. ...
Earlier this month I played in the Noel Skelton Open (Sep. 1-2) in Plymouth, MN. This is a new tournament sponsored by the tournament's namesake: Mr. Noel Skelton. Noel is a USCF expert and businessman who wanted to do something unique to support ...
Wow, is fall already right around the corner? Summer seemed incredibly short, and I don't even have to worry about returning to school (unlike many of my students)! I've had a really nice last month or so (pretty much non-stop chess), and below i...
Ah, the summer chess camp. Often misinterpreted as a threat ("You better be good this summer or I'm sending you away to chess camp") or a punchline ("Oh, you had a blast at adventure camp? Well, I had the time of my life at CHESS CAMP!), insiders ...
99 | EUGENE VARSHAVSKY |5.0 |H 0|X 39|Z 77|X 56|X 49|L 8|X 159|L 41|L 45| NJ | 12575590 / R: 2169 ->2165 | | | | | | | | | | | The first and only time I met Eugene Varsh...
Greetings to all chess fans out there! The World Championship just concluded with a hard-fought victory for Vishy Anand, and I felt inspired to write a bit on my recent tournament experience in the Windy City. I played in the super-strong Chicago...
Immediately after returning from Iceland I flew to my home state to take part in the Minnesota Closed Championship (Mar. 16-18). The MN Closed is a six-player round-robin that determines the official State Champion. I qualified based on my perform...
From March 6-13 I played in a very enjoyable event: the Reykjavik Open, held in the chess-crazy country of Iceland. The Reykjavik Open is a strong international tournament that has built an outstanding reputation over the years. Icelanders are kn...
Last week I took a trip back home to play in the 119th Minnesota Open (Feb. 17-19). This is a tournament I've grown up on (my first Open was in 2000 at age 13), and it's always a real pleasure to play. People come and go in the chess world, but he...
Happy New Year, everyone! I was planning on writing a longer 2011 recap, but I'm going to the Minnesota Wild (NHL hockey) game tonight, so I'll limit myself. Some significant events for me in 2011 (most chess-related): Quit law school in Januar...
Hey all. October was an incredibly busy month for me - tournaments in D.C., Texas, and Michigan, plus teaching, writing, and other obligations. I wrote about the Continental Class Championship and SPICE Cup in this post. Rounding out my month w...
North Carolina Open - Sep. 3-5 Originally I had no intentions to play this tournament - it wasn't even on my radar. Many state championships are held over Labor Day weekend, and the New York Championship in Albany seemed like a very logical choi...
In my last entry I posted my games from the Manhattan Open (Aug. 17-21) with a few quick remarks. I'm not going to analyze these games here, but I did want to discuss my preparation and thoughts about the event. Warnings: lots of introspection a...
After a lackluster US Open, I really wanted to give the Manhattan Open (Aug. 17-21) my best effort. My goal was simple: play fighting, uncompromising chess! I wanted to obtain interesting positions against amateurs and GMs alike. I wanted to do...
Hey all - just got back from the US Open in Orlando and wanted to give you a quick recap of my performance. I decided to play this tourney very last-minute, so I chose the 4-day option. This resulted in a strange schedule: 3 games of G/60 on bot...
Hey all - I haven't played OTB since Philly, but I think an update is definitely in order. The following was an exciting game I played with algerianbishop here on chess.com. The rate of play was 3 days for 1 move. The game itself was rather sho...
Three days after Okoboji, I flew to Philadelphia, PA for the 5th annual Philadelphia Open. It was snowing when I left Minnesota on April 20, but Philly proved to be nice and balmy (one day it even reached 80+ degrees!). I had a good experience a...
This past weekend I played in the Okoboji Open in Okoboji, IA. The Okoboji Open is a great event that has been running for five years thanks to the efforts of Jodene Kruse and Hank Anzis. This year's tournament attracted 26 players in the Open ...
I became enamored with Vladimir Kramnik's games shortly after I graduated high school. In 2005, the 14th World Champion was nearing the tail end of a significant rating decline. Still, he seemed capable of producing masterpieces whenever he sa...
What is modern chess? To me, modern chess is characterized by intensive computer-aided opening preparation, extreme precision in attack and defense, and a willingness to take risks to win with either color. The initiative is at a premium these...
