Not only did I play a Grandmaster—in this case WGM Adriana Nikolova—I have a “1” in the result’s column against her! Well, I do technically. I don’t like unearned victories and that’s exactly what this was. It was a mistake. This was the first tim...
(Mr. Moore is second from the left, this picture of the US Armed Forces Chess Team was taken in 1987.) For Round 2 of the September Chess Tournament in San Antonio (a round is played every Wednesday), I played Mr. Bobby Moore, a self-described...
What a game! This one was a real nail-biter, and I think there are lessons to be found. Fresh off of reading significant portions of The Amateur's Mind by IM Jeremy Silman, I found myself utilizing several of his most important concepts duri...
With a last name like Bourgeois, one would think I’d be a natural to play the French as Black—Jamais! I’ll play the Spanish, I’ll play the Italian, I’ll even play the Sicilian, but never the French, and this game is a reason why. This is one Frogg...
As I promised, I'm posting an analysis of a game I had at the San Antonio Scrimmage. I hope my opponent will keep playing!
I analyze the games I lose, but often I only store the ones I win. After all, I won. That means I played perfectly, right? Wrong! as these games illustrate. In both I overlooked something (a lot of somethings), but manage to win anyway. Any comme...
It’s the last round of the tournament. I’m White. My opponent allows me to play the Scotch! I’ve had great success with the Scotch Game lately, so I’m hopeful, but then—I lose in fewer than 30 moves. My philosophy towards losing has changed drama...
I can’t believe it! My first victory against a 1900+ player! Let me just take one moment to bask in the glow under Nike’s victory wreath… Now, back to reality. Things like this always come with a caveat. My very strong opponent, who has had an...
As I sip on a little bit of Johnnie Walker in a toast to my worthy opponent, I keep thinking there is nothing like a good Scotch (and Scotch game). My opponent put up quite a fight, but I managed to squeak by. He lost some time trying to find an e...
I love the bishop pair. In an open board a pair of bishops can be devastating. In two recent games, both only 19 moves long, I obtained the bishop pair and used them to inflict holy hell upon my opponent! You might like this pair of bishop pairs: ...
I'm at the board, this past Wednesday, round four out of five, my opponent is rated 1551. For this tournament, we play one rated game per week. I'm White. My rating is 1201. The time control is G90 with a 5-second delay. This is my third game agai...
There I was. Ten paces from certain death. My opponent had me dead to rights. Hmmmm—a draw! Yeah, that’s the ticket! Unlike the Wild West, getting your opponent to agree to a draw is a good thing. In this game I was lost. No doubt about it. Down...
Since coming back from Italy, I have had quite a losing streak. I have not been able to put up a decent game for months. The only game I’ve won has been a result of my opponent not showing up. This week however, I finally managed to pull a convinc...
I play my favorite opponent again—my former boss. This time however, I’m keeping this game a secret from my wife (see Avoiding the Doghouse). There will be no interfering females with this contest!! I’ve lost two games against this opponent, so I ...
In this game, I'm playing my former boss again, who is up 2-1 against me. I took the losses in stride--I'm happy to play a solid game, win or lose. He is a great opponent, and we seem pretty evenly matched. I deserved to get burned in my first los...
I’ve finally done it! With this game, I break through the 1800 barrier. Only time will tell if I’m here to stay or it’s just a brief visit. Barrier or not, I played a tough opponent, rated lower, but it felt as though we were very evenly matched. ...
I've been working on problems in the book, Grandmaster Preparation, Calculation, with very little success. That changed this morning. You might find my internal voice, which I capture while working on these problems in order to examine my thinking...
Two weeks ago I attended the Chess festival at Marostica, Italy. The chess festival at Marostica tells the story of the daughter of Taddeo Parisio Marostica. Two noblemen contend to marry the beautiful, blonde-haired daughter of the Lord of Maros...
I offer this game not as a way to "pile on" my hapless opponent, but as a way to help him! He is playing 333 online games at this time (it was over 350 a week ago), so I seriously doubt that he has much time for a post mortem analysis:
My former boss and I played a slow game at work. We'll make a move or two per day--usually during lunchtime or a break. This game is a short, but we played it over a couple weeks. It ends with such a pretty mate, I just had to show it.
Not only did my worthy opponent take advantage of my dubious play by opening up a fresh can of Whoopass upon my person, he threw the emptied can at me afterwards for good measure. But this game is interesting to me for another reason. While I some...
There are a ton of “Mornings With…” programs out there. I have my own favorite—Mornings with Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual. Now, I have never before been a fan of the endgame. In fact, I think I hated end games before. But reading Dvoretsky is like t...
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…,” I had no idea that the opening of A Tale of Two Cities, truly a masterpie...
Well, in my case it’s probably uncontrollable laughter, but anyhow, I managed to win a game with her help. This game appears to have lessons for both sides. I discovered that my old, bad, chess habits are very difficult to eradicate. For the most ...
Throughout the week I have been looking forward to my first 45/45 tournament game of the New Year. I got up early to play. My opponent opened his year right by promptly punishing me for my dubious play. I got schooled in this game and there may be...
