The 'Sofia rules’, eliminating draw offers until the move 40, have been a welcome change in top level events, discouraging the players to opt out of a fight early in the game. So how about some ‘Dubai Rules’ to spark a kindred sp...
April started with a heartbreak: a dire defeat from a completely winning position against an opponent who now can be said to ‘have my number’. In the first round of the monthly tournament at the Slow Chess League I got paired with the ...
In February, following a modest showing in the Slow Chess League's 2018 Championship, I played one of my worst and one of my best games in the last few years. The first game ended prematurely when I failed to summon the strength to go on after a m...
After a lucky 3rd round draw against a stronger opponent I had 2.5/3 under my belt, which meant I was half a point shy of what I was aiming for coming into the 4th round, because I estimated that if I wanted to reach the fifth and final round with...
In January 2019 The Slow Chess League organized its second annual championship tournament in which 25 players with ratings ranging from 774 to 1890 played a 5-round Swiss tournament here at Chess.com's live servers over 5 weeks. It was by far the ...
A few weeks ago on the Slow Chess League I played two difficult Caro-Kann games as Black, one after the other. In both games I was busted in the opening and had to fight for my life with my king in the middle, my pieces cramped on the back rank, a...
Last week in the Slow Chess League I won two games in very different fashions. In the first one, after my opponent blundered a pawn on move 3 (or perhaps, played an exteremly dubious gambit) I kept grabbing pawns until the game transformed into 'E...
I've prioritized study of master games some time ago, and I think slowly but surely I'm getting the returns. The effects are rather internal than external for the time being, that is, there has not been a great jump in my rating or perhaps not any...
Before the 4th round of the Slow Chess League championship the score in my last 5 live games was a sad minus 2 (3 draws and 2 losses). I felt I was improving in my studies; I was having a good run in my tactics training and when I studied Capablan...
In the 3rd round of the Slow Chess League Championship 2017 tournament, I suffered a heartbreaking loss in the longest chess battle I've ever had that exceeded 4 hours and 100 moves. What was particularly afflicting is that I knew it was supposed ...
In 2017 I’d got a little lucky and had managed to qualify for the Slow Chess League Championship 2017, which is being played out in the first five weeks of 2018. I was, and still am, so excited about this tournament! It is the most serious t...
This week I was paired with SirIvanhoe: fellow moderator, and the person making a lot of things happen at the Slow Chess League. A quick look at the game might give the impression that you could hear a pin drop until the very end, ...
New practice: I'll start posting CAPS scores on every game I play and blog about. In both of the last two games I played at the Slow Chess League, I got a piece up quite early in the game. But although I carried the material advantage over into ...
In a game in which I lost the opening battle as white and ended up with a questionable pawn structure, I overlooked a simple tactical shot and was swept off the board in the matter of a few moves. Here's the game annotated in detail, and the criti...
No, it's not the Pro Chess League, nor the Speed Chess Championship, as awesome as those big events are. It's the Slow Chess League. OK, I'll admit that might not be true for everyone, so let me qualify the headline's st...
I had to take some time away from chess to prepare for a conference, and on my return I was quite out of form. I lost the first game after coming back and sinked down the 1500 line, and then barely pushed my head above it for a breath by winning t...
Yesterday I was trying to solve this chess puzzle and I got it wrong in a way that I found really interesting and significant. In terms of "brute best moves" I analysed most lines well enough, even reached the correct evaluation of the position, y...
In my second loss in a row, I failed both strategically and tactically. On the former front, I thought my position was very easy to play and I wouldn't have too many problems executing a very simple plan (relocating pieces to the kingside), evalua...
My first loss of the year is particularly disappointing since it's against a player who is rated a class below me, and it was one of those frustrating losses where I was under pressure the whole game and almost never felt I had a real chance to wi...
After a heartbreaking loss I had more than a month ago, I decided I'd never, ever play a game of live chess against a human being. Well, the pain gradually subsided over the long break and I already knew that if I want to ever improve at this thin...
I just went through the new year's resolutions I had blogged back in 2010, and sadly realized I haven't made much progress, really. In fact, I guess it would be fair to say my level of practical level has actually declined. The biggest factors wer...
After yet another long hiatus, I'm very excited to get back to live chess, and especially the wonderfully organized events of the DHLC! Before the first round of the 17th Slow Swiss tournament, I played two black games in the weekly single-game ev...
In my final game for the qualifier tournament at the DHLC, I won again, this time against the highest rated player I have faced so far in the event, but this turned to be the game that I'm least happy with. I will skip further introduction and get...
In the first round of DHLC's qualifier tournament, I was paired with a lower rated opponent, but they had played only two standard games till our encounter, so I didn't exactly know what to expect. On the 2nd round, the rating difference was abou...
After yet another long hiatus, I returned back to online slow games by joining the Dan Heismen Learning Center and participating in the 3rd league qualifier after a few weeks of waiting period. Apparently, showing up for your scheduled games in a ...
