Chess

Magician Derren Brown plays against nine chess grandmasters simultaneously

07.14.2011

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video From the “Trick of The Mind” series aired in the UK. The clip here is taken directly from Season 1 — Episode 1. It explains for the most part how he did achieve the feat, and the trick is quite clever. Don’t get [...]

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Chess Life Magazine, 1995-98

07.03.2011

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Chess bios

01.31.2011

I just found a folder full of static HTML files on my server that were posted on this site back in the nineties. They are the biographies of some of the best chess grandmasters including Alexander Alekhine, Francois-Andre Danican Philidor, Paul Morphy, Siegbert Tarrasch, Emanuel Lasker, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, Akiba Kivolovic Rubinstein, Aron Nimzowitsch, Jose [...]

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My old man’s birthday present to me

01.21.2011

I turn 42 years old next Monday, January 24. A couple weeks ago, my old man gave me a call and informed me that I’m now the age he was when I was a senior in high school. [PAUSE; GULP] After tripping on that concept together for a few moments, he said that he made [...]

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Chess enthusiasts bragging in an empty lobby

10.25.2010

A group of chess enthusiasts who had checked in to a hotel were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. ”But why?” they asked. ”Because,” the manager said. ”I can’t stand chess nuts boasting in an open [...]

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Mark Zuckerberg vs. Bobby Fischer

09.30.2010

David Fincher’s decade-defining film The Social Network opens tomorrow. Roger Ebert — an embracer of both Facebook and Twitter — loves the film, and has posted a review that compares Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg to World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. [Zuckerberg] reminds me of the chess prodigy Bobby Fischer. There may be a touch of [...]

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Anand defends title as world chess champion

05.11.2010

Viswanathan Anand, the current world champion, exploited a blunder made by challenger Veselin Topalov to win the 12th and final game of their title match today in Sofia, Bulgaria. He remains world champ. How long Anand will remain champion is another question. He is 40, an age when chess players usually begin to decline. Last [...]

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The future face of chess

09.09.2008

→ Meet Norway’s 17-year-old Magnus Carlsen, currently ranked #6 in the world. (Cool number!) Magnus has been a grandmaster since the age of 13, a status that has been getting reached by younger and younger players since the advent of chess databases. You know, Magnus, in my day, we had to read books barefoot through [...]

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