CATFISH DAYS! Yup, that’s a catfish! What does that have to do with chess or learning about chess, or anything else that I normally write about? Why, if you live in or near Minnesota, and it’s July, then it has everything to do with chess. T...
Ok, so it's that time of year. You know, when everyone is asking what your resolutions are for next year. What big things are we going to achieve? Over the years I've made lots of resolutions. But I've kept very few of them. Why? Largely I th...
Ouch!! Tough lesson learned yesterday at the hands of a player one class ahead of me at the club. Of course the resignation was entirely premature. But I could not find Qa4. I just didn't see it. My computer evaluates the position as 0.04 in fa...
One of the frequent comments we hear from more advanced players is that those of us trying to improve below the master level should avoid studying openings. They comment that it is not a productive use of our time, that memorizing lines that never...
Yup, that's me standing between the legendary chess.com IM contingent at the Chicago Open. Danny and David were kind enough to invite me along to celebrate David Petty's (aka PinkHamster) fantastic victory. We chatted about chess, the world champi...
One of the ways I spend my study time is learning about the ideas within the opening lines I play. It is a common enough canard that novice players are wasting their time studying opening lines but that they should learn the ideas behind an openin...
Well, I have to admit that I chickened out of my game yesterday. It was a typical thursday night at the chess club, I was paired against an improving adult player like myself, and it promised to be a pretty good match. Early in the game I thought...
Have you ever had an epipheny about your own behavior? Not about something really horrific that you do, but just a habit you might have that you know you should break, but you can never seem to? I had one of those today about one of my worst o...
I had an interesting game on Thursday night at the chess club. I hope someone finds this entertaining.
So here I sit, a sub-1600 OTB player trying to come back into chess pushing 45 years of age and after being away from serious chess for 10 years. I have to confess that the task before me is quite daunting, if not entirely intimidating. I am as...
