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Scholastic Chess GatewayScholastic Chess GatewayThis Scholastic Chess blog is dedicated to providing a gateway to chess tournaments, clubs, instruction and useful websites for school-age chess players and their families throughout the United States. If you're a chess enthusiast or the parent, coac 
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Pick Your Fantasy Team for the U.S. Men's and Women's Championships!
2008-05-08 02:54:00 Info received from Chess Life Online ... Effective immediately, the 2008 Fantasy Chess Competition, run by Chess Life Online, is now open for registration. Contestants enter 7-player teams (that must have a rating average of 2555 or below) from the Frank Berry U.S. Championship roster, and compete for prizes such as Monroi PCMs and extensions to their USCF memberships. The contest makes More About: Team , Championships , Pick
Review: The Art of Bisguier: Selected Games 1961-2003
2008-05-07 05:54:00 My latest review is online this week at ChessCafe, covering the delightful book The Art of Bisguier: Selected Games 1961-2003. The review begins: In The Art of Bisguier: Selected Games 1961-2003, there are one hundred of GM Arthur Bisguier’s annotated games from this period. But it is much more than a games collection; what really adds to the value of the book are the personal comments from More About: Review
Understanding the Lucena Position
2008-05-04 06:01:00 This is a typical Lucena position. Let's address two questions right off the bat: 1) Who was Lucena? 2) Why is this position important to me? Answer to #1: Luis Ramirez de Lucena was a Spanish author credited with discovering the secrets of the Lucena position, although it apparently does not appear in the book he published in 1497. Answer to #2: Rook endings are very common, and a proper More About: Understanding , Position
Review: Practical Endgame Play – Mastering the Basics
2008-04-30 05:03:00 The best sellers seem to be books on openings, but most chess teachers advise becoming competent in endgame play before devoting too much time to opening strategies. Practical Endgame Play is a bit lean when it comes to bare pawn endings, but excellent for the very common rook endings. My review is now online at ChessCafe; here is a brief snippet of the book taken from the author's coverage of More About: Review , Basics , The Basics
10th North American FIDE Invitational
2008-04-25 15:32:00 WFM Alisa Melekhina is having an outstanding tournament, gaining at least a WGM norm, and possibly an IM norm. To see the games, click here. Here is her 2nd round victory, in PGN format, so you can easily copy and paste into your chess engine: [Event "10th North American FIDE Invitational"] [Site "Chicago"] [Date "2008.04.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Melekhina, Alisa"] [Black "Amanov, Mesgen"] [
Nicholas Nip on Live With Regis and Kelly
2008-04-25 05:47:00 Courtesy of Michael Aigner at his fpawn blog, here is the video of 10-year-old national master Nicholas Nip making his appearance on the television program Live With Regis and Kelly :
Major New Chess Club Coming to St. Louis
2008-04-16 05:49:00 Photo: St. Louis Post-Dispatch It's been in the works for awhile now, and I'm told that the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis should be open sometime in June of this year. I drove by the other day and peeked inside - there's a lot of work left to do, but it's a big space (two or three stories) with parking next door. The renovation and initial funding is coming from local businessman More About: Major , St Louis
Another chess video site
2008-04-14 16:55:00 This is one of the videos you can find at the Chess theBlitzer site. I haven't thoroughly checked it out yet, but on first glance, it looks interesting, with links to a number of YouTube chess videos. More About: Video , Site
Chess: The Universal Game
2008-04-10 06:20:00 There are two things I find especially appealing about chess: 1) The nearly endless intellectual stimulation it offers, and 2) The fact that age, gender, physical size, financial status, and pretty much any other demographic indicators are relatively irrelevant to what one can attain in chess. This isn't entirely true, of course, since some factors can offer some advantages, but by and large, More About: Chess , Game , Universal
Scholastic Chess Column Online at ChessCafe
2008-04-09 07:36:00 Gary and Ray Robson Jonathan Hilton (center) with relatives In our April Scholastic Chess column, we heard from Ray Robson's father from Iceland, where Ray earned his fourth(!) IM norm and indeed is now IM-elect Ray Robson. It seems that one of his previous norms was disallowed, so instead of complaining, Ray went out and just grabbed another norm. I've included one of his games from the More About: Online , Column
The Nationals Are Coming, The Nationals Are Coming!
2008-04-03 05:44:00 Elizabeth Vicary; Photo: Betsy Dynako The spring national scholastic championships are just about here. The 2008 National Junior High School Championship takes place first, from April 4-6, in Dallas. On April 18-20, the 2008 National High School Championship is scheduled in Atlanta, while the 2008 National Elementary School Championship will be battled in Pittsburgh from May 9-11. Elizabeth More About: Nationals
Review: How to Play Chess Endgames
2008-03-26 03:32:00 For about the next week, my review of How to Play Chess Endgames is at the ChessCafe homepage. It's also permanently archived here. Here's a brief excerpt of my review: This book, billed as the companion volume to Fundamental Chess Endgames, seeks to impart this elusive and intangible ‘feel’ to its readers. Rather than providing an encyclopedic approach to every reasonable R+3P vs. R+2P More About: Review
Elizabeth Vicary Chess Blog
2008-03-16 08:20:00 Elizabeth VicaryPhoto: Betsy Dynako/Chess Life Online Elizabeth Vicary, teacher and chess coach at Brooklyn's I.S. 318, is quite the animated writer. You can find her work frequently at Chess Life Online and in the pages of Chess Life magazine. She now has her own chess blog, which became an instant hit. It includes topics (even chess sometimes) from a perspective you just won't find elsewhere, More About: Blog , Elizabeth
The Brooklyn Defense?
2008-03-16 08:08:00 Michael Goeller maintains the excellent Kenilworthian blog and has written an interesting article about an absurd-looking opening, one which GM Joel Benjamin has dubbed "The Brooklyn Defense ." Goeller writes that "Benjamin clearly did the most to convince people that this seemingly preposterous opening might actually be playable." The Brooklyn Defense occurs with the moves 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 2.Ng8.
Mark Dvoretsky Annotation
2008-03-16 04:08:00 World-class trainer Mark Dvoretsky is best known for his endgame work, but this month at ChessCafe he annotates a 1908 Tarrasch-Lasker game, including comments from Victor Kortchnoi and Richard Reti. Here's just a brief excerpt: "Any other player would probably have lost this game. But Lasker, correctly assessing the position, once again followed his beloved psychological path. His next move
Latest Scholastic Chess Column Online
2008-03-12 16:54:00 Abby Marshall (left) and Rilwan Ameen, her bughouse partnerPhoto: Elizabeth Vicary My March Scholastic Chess column at ChessCafe is now online. It features selected coverage of the 2008 U.S. Amateur Team championships, with annotated games from Abby Marshall and Robby Adamson. Any time you have Abby annotate a game, there's a good chance that you'll have some lively commentary. This time she More About: Online , Column
Just a Bit of Snow!
2008-03-06 06:21:00 So what if there's a bit of snow on the ground (10 inches)? Taking a break from chess for a moment, I'm outside with my brother to try a little hoops. I'm in the hat. When I tell people I took my kids sledding, they think "What a wonderful dad!" They don't know that I'm one of the kids, too. More About: Snow
Review: From London to Elista
2008-03-05 14:22:00 This is a great book. Here's a very brief excerpt of my review at ChessCafe: Imagine sitting in on all the practices, film analysis and strategy sessions of a Super Bowl team for the two weeks prior to the championship game, and then sitting with the team during the game itself. You would have the kind of inside access football fans would love to experience but precious few actually do. This More About: London , Review
Review: Chess on the Edge
2008-02-27 06:31:00 My latest book review for Chess Cafe is now online, at their main review page, for the next week. It can also be seen in their archives. I found the three-volume compilation of over 500 GM Duncan Suttles games to be quite instructive and entertaining. Every single game is annotated, most of them extensively, with primarily textual explanations rather than endless variations. If you're looking More About: Review , The Edge , Edge
"Danailov – Topalov Busted: Sign System Cracked!"
2008-02-19 05:21:00 A Chessville article by Robert T. Tuohey finally reveals the truth about the reputed signals that Veselin Topalov's manager provided him. Now we know. More About: System , Sign , Busted , Cracked
February Scholastic Chess Column Online
2008-02-13 15:45:00 My February Scholastic Chess ChessCafe column is now online. It is titled, "2007 Year-End Tournaments, Part Two" and includes three nice master games, two of which are annotated (by Mackenzie Molner and Ray Robson). More About: Online , Column
From London to Elista - review coming soon
2008-02-12 10:22:00 I just finished the New in Chess book From London to Elista - it's quite an interesting read. It covers all three (so far) of Vladimir Kramnik's world championship matches - against Kasparov in 2000, against Leko in 2004, and the infamous "toiletgate" match with Topalov in 2006. It's written by insiders from Kramnik's teams and provides a wonderful view into the preparation that goes into a More About: Review
Chess Life article: A Brief History of the ICC
2008-02-01 20:45:00 February 2008 Chess Life cover I'm not sure if this link will remain valid, but at least for now, my first Chess Life article is online. It appears in print in the February 2008 issue of Chess Life and covers the history of the Internet Chess Club. More About: History , Article
A Pleasant Memory of Bobby Fischer
2008-01-28 05:57:00 I have been critical of the very distasteful rantings of the late Bobby Fischer and have declined to write about him for the most part, although his games remain a remarkable piece of chess beauty. Hans Ree takes us back to a more pleasant time, in his current Dutch Treat column at ChessCafe. The year is 1968 and the story Hans writes about takes place in, of all places, Netanya, Israel. Fischer More About: Memory , Bobby Fischer
IM Irina Krush on Video
2008-01-27 05:12:00 Macauley Peterson has produced a lengthy interview with the animated Irina Krush, at Chess Life Online. It's actually more a case of Irina discussing her performance at the Corus tournament rather than an interview, but it's entertaining, and she discusses a smothered mate she almost delivered at the event. It struck me that I've read much by and about Irina, but had never seen her on video or More About: Video
Michael Weinreb Here and There
2008-01-27 04:26:00 Michael Weinreb One of the best writers I've come across is Michael Weinreb. A sportswriter who readily admits he knew little about chess, he produced the intensively researched and wonderfully written book The Kings of New York (the new paperback version is titled Game of Kings). For his efforts, he won the 2007 Quill Award for the best sports book of the year. You can see his acceptance speech More About: Michael
Knights of the South Bronx available on DVD
2008-01-24 07:07:00 I had a pleasant surprise when visiting my local Sam's Club today. I happened to be passing by an aisle of DVDs when I noticed a familiar name - Knights of the South Bronx , the 2005 story of the New York inner city school coached by David MacEnulty that ultimately won national titles. My January 2006 ChessCafe Scholastic Chess column covered the film. I was surprised to see the DVD for sale More About: Nights
Review: PowerPlay5: Pawns, by GM Daniel King
2008-01-23 07:58:00 My latest review is online for about the next week, at ChessCafe. It covers the excellent PowerPlay5:Pawns DVD by GM Daniel King . My review is also permanently archived here. I have reviewed his DVDs PowerPlay3:Pawn Storm and PowerPlay4:Start Right, and in each of these, I have found King to be very entertaining and informative. More About: Review
Bobby Fischer Dead at 64
2008-01-18 13:56:00 According to an Associated Press report at www.msnbc, former world champion Bobby Fischer died at a Reykjavik (Iceland) hospital on Thursday of an unspecified cause. I'm sure we'll be hearing quite a bit in coming days, celebrating his life and career. Folks, don't idolize this man - he was mentally quite ill. Enjoy his games, revel over their beauty, but don't idolize the person. More About: Dead , Bobby Fischer
Review: Grandmaster Secrets - Winning Quickly at Chess
More articles from this author:2008-01-16 15:18:00 This is another attractive and enjoyable book from Gambit Publications. Here is an excerpt from my review at Chess Cafe: "Grandmaster Secrets : Winning Quickly at Chess is a game compilation of “125 of the finest short decisive grandmaster games of the modern era.” As Nunn notes in his preface, this book is actually an updated edition of his 1999 book 101 Brilliant Chess Miniatures. Nunn has More About: Review 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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