Generally speaking, I haven’t made much progress since May. I’ve added a few countries to my passport, I’ve made strides toward the “Megaphone” achievement, and I’ve wasted a bit of time on bullet. Today, however, I FINALLY made it to the Legend ...
Since my post in February, I have made some further progress. I have now attained 132/144 chess.com "Achievements", the latest being "Printing Press", "Friend Me", and "Award Magnet".I am actively pursuing "Team Pillar" and, as a consequence, I ha...
Lately, I have been focusing my attention on chess.com "Achievements". Currently, I have attained 129/144 of them. Some are unattainable without a premium membership (not to worry, chess.com, I shall return as a premium member eventually). On the...
I don’t have much on my chess mind these days. I truly find it difficult to get in the headspace for chess and, generally, I feel my OTB and live chess results reflect a steady decline in the quality of my play as a result. However, I was pleased ...
An interesting tactical finish to an online game. Rapid time controls.
Game analysis, as prepared at the time. No computer assistance. Black develops a dark-squared complex; White takes advantage. The players involved are roughly Class A/Category 1. Hacks hacking.
"Plans for Advanced Players" and "Master-Path Plans" seem to have been released today: https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory For those interested, the years-long wait is finally over.
Perhaps better known for his tactical magic, Tal demonstrates some lesser-touted endgame finesse while defeating Spassky en route to the Soviet Championship title. This classic is Carlsen-esque in its execution and must certainly be familiar to th...
Analysis of a game position in which the tactical motif known as the fishing pole was employed. Although White ultimately won the game, Black overlooked resources available in his position.
An ugly online game I want to take a look at later.
Analysis of another skittles game. Again, without computer assistance. This was at an informal club in Thunder Bay, which meets on Sundays from roughly 1pm-4pm in the Starbucks at Chapters. I had not visited this club before, but I think I will ag...
A number of years ago, I recall seeing a video by Yasser Seirawan in which he lectured to the beginner and intermediate crowd. Invariably, his analyses always seemed to end with something along the lines of "and, White (or Black, as the case may b...
I have yet to create a blog post. This is my first. After some time away from "competitive" chess, I had the (gratefully accepted) opportunity to play a semi-serious game over the phone with a man named Phil Heyland. We have played a couple of t...
