In one of my earliest past incarnations, I was an ancient Persian courtier and game designer. My magnum opus was a grid-based tactical abstract that I called "King Hunt," which became quite fashionable at the time.
Centuries later, in my current life, I recalled these events under hypnosis, and was horrified to realize that MY game — now called "Chess" — is among the world's most popular games and being enjoyed everywhere completely without attribution!
Of course, I immediately contacted the owner of the world's most popular chess website to demand royalties. He refused, but wisely offered me a position in Product.
Here is a diagram where I set Focus but not Begin... Note that the game shows move 10 when the page is loaded, but if you hit the Rewind button, you go all the way back to the beginning of the game (because there is no Start point configured). ...
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So I gambled $2 on an iPad app to help teach my 6-year-old chess, & I must say that I'm very happy with it! Dinosaur Chess seems aimed at kids around 5-10. It does a great job covering the basics, and really keeps its young audience engag...
It's Shatneriffic!!
Hey all,A ways back, I posted (here) about Opening Pro, which was then the only iPhone chess app devoted to chess openings. Last night, I noticed a new product in that category: Chess Openings from Arizona Software. Since it was only $0.99 (a t...
Well, I said I was going to do it - here, if you're interested - so here goes. One twelfth of the way in to 2010, it's high time to reflect on my resolutions, take a hard & objective look at my performance to date, and finally... to start ...
Let's face it: as things stand now, it's hard to read Silman on the bus. Or in bed for that matter. (Every time my wife turns over, she makes a mosh pit of my analysis board.) Sure, if I have a nice diagram to start from, I can follow the ...
The Opening Pro app ($1.99 from Gaussian Knights - view in iTunes) is not the only iPhone chess app to provide guidance through the theoretical thicket of chess openings (see below), but it might be the only one whose primary purpose...
As '09 draws to a close and 2010 looms, there's a buzz in the air. By "air," I'm really referring more specifically to the world of chess blogs, and by "buzz" I mean a renewed enthusiasm for sharing advice, ideas and personal experiences related ...
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." -- Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring. Self-directed students of chess face two common problems: The first is finding enough "spare" time to set aside for training at all. Th...
I've long been a bit nuts for hand-held chess technology... Back in the 20th, I played so many games on my Novag Sapphire that I eventually blew out the LCD. More recently, I got a Palm Z22 PDA exclusively as a hand-held chess computer. Nowaday...
Uncommon Goods has an interesting chess-set for sale here. It doesn't include a board, but you can draw your own, using one of the white Bishops perhaps... Honestly, I can't see parting with $20 for a set this disposable. Also, can yo...
I received a couple of coupon codes from the folks over at Chess House and took an opportunity to re-visit their site to see what was new. Before long, I ended up in their "variants" section. Normally, I don't have too much time for variants, wh...
I was in the book store the other day and I wandered over to see if there were any interesting new chess books in the Games section. There weren't, but they had a shiny new set of manuals for D&D (4th edition, I think it was), and I spent abo...
Chess is an example of something that is just beyond human mental abilities, but not so far beyond them that we cannot make a decent stab at it. We’re very good at language, no better than rats at mazes, and somewhere in between at chess.
– Noam Chomsky
