For the past several decade I’ve been working earnestly to hit the magic 2200 rating, the threshold for the “master” title. … More Okay, fine, I get it—I didn’t make it
World-class chess is largely a celebration of great moves (Topalov-Shirov: 47…Bh3!!!). For most of us, though, it’s a series of decent moves punctuated by total stinkers. Boldi (1750) – Slater (2130). Here I found a powerful calculation: 21…Qf6 22.Rf3 Qxd4! 23.Qxd4 Re1+!! winning the queen on d4! [Psst: Derek, you gave up your queen too. So you’re … More Howlers
This game is Bick (2240) – Slater (2130), Golden State Open 2016.
Something terrible and strange is about to happen.
White is about to make his 41st move, meaning both players have just made time control. … More The curious case of the mutual blindspot
There’s something for everyone. There really is. Long, long ago we mentioned competitive Rock Paper Scissors tournaments. You may have seen news or video of 14-year-old Lucas Etter set a world record for solving Rubik’s Cube in less than 5 seconds. Just for fun, here he is doing 2×2 cubes. (Yes those exist too.) I … More Klytus, I’m bored. What plaything can you offer me today?
Watching the Colts punt reminded me of how I played this opening. … More The Indianapolis Colts Punt Formation Opening
This one here is me losing $200 or so :)
Last round, 1st board, a Mechanics Institute G/45. … More Fifth position
In chess, maybe you think of computers as tactics-checkers.
The big revelation to me, as I started using an engine in the past few months, is that tactics are generally the least-valuable thing Stockfish shows me. The really invaluable thing is having a positional-evaluation-checker of 2400+ strength. … More What Stockfish saw* Part 1
