I'm back to tournament play after a few years! Of course I've still been playing and teaching online. But there's a big difference to playing on a digital board versus playing on a real board, with real plastic or wooden pieces. With a real cloc...
Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I've blogged. The world has been hectic, and busy, chaotic - but one should always make some time to play chess! I've been teaching, but wanted to get back into tournament chess, and so in the last couple...
Hi! My name is Avrahom ("Abe" for short). I've been teaching chess for over 5 years. I'm rated 1902 USCF and I give chess lessons both in-person and online. I'm extremely beneficial for players in the beginner-intermediate stage, and also to advan...
In this game, I was very confident, for some reason. I felt I had bypassed the "opening" and I now know how to play directly into the middlegame. What I mean is that I am already so familiar with these Catalan positions that I'm already looking...
In the last round of this tournament, I sought to play for a win right from the start. My opponent played an irregular opening, and I was much better in the middlegame. He managed to trade down into an endgame where I had no attack, but he was st...
In this fourth round, I was ready for a slugfest against White, but he played a quieter positional line of the Sicilian. Perhaps I was lulled into security by knowing I had achieved full equality out of the opening, and I made a slow positional m...
In the third round, I was finally able to use my beloved Catalan against an 1800+ player! Right out of the opening I regained my pawn and felt I was way better, but I didn't see a clear way through. After some innacurate and slow moves by my opp...
In the second round, I faced an older player who played very unambitiously in the opening. Achieving sterile equality, I offered a draw before I nodded off to sleep. My opponent agreed. Thoughts for next round: I played the opening well as Black...
In this game, I learned that the player with the OUTSIDE PASSED PAWN wins the King and pawn endgame! Good lesson ...
In the first round of this tournament, my opponent played a very dodgy opening as Black. I feel I consolidated well, and I came into the middlegame with a solid 3-pawn advantage. However, my opponent had very active and annoying counterplay. He h...
A cute, fun blitz game.
In this game, I learned that one must play very sharply in a Najdorf ...
