So recently there has been some buzz on the USCF forums about college chess (a discussion you know I can’t keep my big nose out of). I want to go on record as saying that I played college chess and saw firsthand the difficulty that the current situation creates. Read more →
Category: Chess
Remembering 2013
I meant to publish this post in early January; unfortunately it was not ready then. I got tied up with a lot of other things and unfortunately this post fell by the wayside. In 2008 the chess world lost Fischer; In 2010 the chess world lost Vassily Smyslov, in 2013 we lost Robert Byrne. The chess world also lost: GM… Read more →
2014 Marchand Recap
This past weekend was the 36th Marchand Open tournament. We hold the Marchand every year in Rochester, NY to honor the memory of Dr. Erich Marchand, who was a prolific author and player in his time. In my previous post I mentioned that there was a chance that GM Gata Kamsky would be playing. Gata did end up playing and… Read more →
Gata Kamsky to Play In Rochester!
Hello everyone, breaking news here in Rochester: Current US Champ Gata Kamsky is going to be playing in the Marchand! Gata Kamsky is the second highest rated player in the US and the 40th highest rated player in the world. In 1996 Kamsky challenged Anatoly Karpov in a 20 game match for the FIDE championship losing +3 =9 -6. In… Read more →
2014 Candidates Preview
Today I’m going to be running through the list of candidates and what I perceive to be their respective chances for winning the tournament. Last year it was fairly easy to determine who would be the next challenger; Magnus Carlsen was a clear favorite and Levon Aronian was the number two choice. For a while that seemed to be playing… Read more →
Checkmate to your Queen Sir!
Today I’d like to spend some time talking about my second favorite kind of checkmate; the ever elusive “Queen Mate”. This typically happens when the queen is trapped by a piece of lesser value (usually minor pieces and pawns do this quite well). I have some examples to show and then (in breaking with some previous posts) I’m going to… Read more →
Opening Survey: The Nikolayev Gambit
Hello everyone, today I am very pleased to present to you the first ever opening survey on this site. Many other publications have done a fantastic job of bringing to you the main lines and ideas that present themselves in modern opening practice. Today we will be examining what has become known as the “Nikolayev Gambit” named (aptly so) after… Read more →
2014 Chesapeake Open
Before I begin my discussion on the Chesapeake Open it is with sadness that we note the passing of Vugar Gashimov who passed this weekend. Vugar was a very strong player who was known for his dynamic play especially in the Benoni (one of the few top players who regularly incorporated it into his repertoire). Here is a Benoni game… Read more →
10 Games from 2013
Hello everyone, continuing the format of the “Top 10 list” I present to you 10 games from 2013. I had trouble creating a title for this page because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say about these games: are these the best games from 2013? Are these the most memorable games from 2013? Tough questions, but I intend on… Read more →
The Most Important Opening Novelties From The Modern World Championships
Hello everyone, today I wish to present to you what I’ve been working on the last few weeks: The top 10 most important opening novelties from the Modern World Championships. I was inspired to create this after witnessing what I would perceive to be the death of the modern opening preparation perpetrated by Magnus Carlsen (who I firmly believe is… Read more →