Everyone who plays chess knows what a journey it can be, especially to progress. Goals are not achieved overnight. More often, it is consistent hard work for an extended period of time that is the difference-maker. From playing chess since I was a...
Hi everyone, My blog can be kind of random at times, with tournament/game experiences, picking out lesser-known but very fun games, and local chess. It's been a few months since the last time I played a tournament. It's been nice to have a littl...
As a wise man once said, "It's over!" And by that, I mean the biggest tournament of the year for Arizona. This last weekend was the scholastic state championships and there was plenty of exciting chess to go around. The tournament took place this...
Hey all! There has a been a lot of exciting chess going on recently with the Candidates Tournament taking place right now. With two games left, it's going to be an exciting race to see if Carlsen can catch Kramnik. Since everyone's interest in ob...
Hey Guys, Hope you're ready to see another ridiculous game. If you've followed my blog before, you may have seen some weird attacks, interesting endgames, or just overall crazy chess. I just played a tournament in which I managed to win 3 games a...
Hi again! It's been a while since my last opening lecture, so I'd like to continue with one of the most fashionable openings today, the English. The English has been championed by players such as Kasparov in must win games and is rapidly rising ...
Hey again, Now that the USCL season has concluded, I thought I would share with you the highlight of my season. With it being Christmas and all, and the New Year approaching, it seems like a good time to reflect on some of my recent chess and som...
Hey guys, I just played a very entertaining game that defintely seems worth sharing. I'm in St. Louis for a GM norm tournament, and even though it's going pretty horrendously, I'm trying to take it in stride. So, back to the game...my opponennt w...
Hey Guys, A few weeks ago I updated the progress of the 2012 season at it's halfway point. Here we are again almost at the completion of the regular season. The season has been full of surprising games, controversy, upsets, and blunders. Pretty m...
Hey guys, Week 5, the halfway point of the US Chess League, is coming up. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the US Chess League, it is the only league set up in the US where different states and cities get to compete against each other. I ...
Hey guys, I'm sure that most of you are following the action but if not this is probably a good place to start. We're almost at the halfway point of the tournament, with 6 more rounds to go. Two teams lead at this point with a perfect 5 out of 5....
Hey guys, How's it going? My last blog post was about an unknown game featuring one of the nicest moves in chess that I've ever seen. I'll continue along the same path this time, but instead about a player that I'm pretty sure most of you haven't...
Hey guys, I'm back again with another game to show you! This time, it is not one of my own games, but a game I analyzed recently. I found it to be very interesting: containing one of the coolest moves I've ever seen. I'm sure you won't be surpri...
Hey everybody, For those of you who haven't seen the banner on the front page of Chess.com, we are reopening Chess.com University. Chess University will be a great way to learn a lot about specific chess topics. If it grows, we will be able to of...
What's up everyone? Hope your chess is going well. I just got back from the Junior High Nationals in San Diego. This was the first scholastic Nationals that I've been to in over 6 or 7 years, and the first I've ever been to as a coach. You couldn...
I guess you could call it a chess hangover, but it took me a week or so to recover from the 14 rated games I had played in the span of 7 days. Now that I'm ready to look back into all the chess I played, I figure it's a good opportunity to analyze...
“The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” I've heard that saying before whenapplied to sports, but I've never had it so perfectly captured in back-to-back chess games.As you might be able to guess from the monkey in my picture, the tourname...
