When Goethe said, “Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at,” he wasn't thinking about chess, and he certainly wasn't thinking about Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Tal—but in the Candidates Tourname... Read more »
Chess has had its share of prodigies who astounded (and confounded) their seniors. Capablanca whupping his father at age four and Sammy Reshevsky going on tour as a young boy are two who went on to claim their place among the all time greats ... Read more »
Almost everybody who ever studied a chess primer has seen the Immortal Game—a spectacular sacrificial binge Adolf Anderssen (pictured) perpetrated on Lionel Kieseritzky in London, in 1851. As good as he was, Anderssen wasn'... Read more »
One of the secrets of Napoleon's success was his unwavering attention to the task at hand. He certainly didn't allow external frip-frappery to distract him. When he played chess against Madame de Remusat (Elisabeth le Michaud d&#... Read more »
When Napoleon said that you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs he might have been talking about his style of playing chess as much as his ruthlessness in war. In this game against General Bertrand, Napoleon—who had the white... Read more »
Sometimes draws are obvious. Stalemate is one, insufficient mating material another, perpetual check a third. Three-time repetition can be a little harder to see and I've only once had a game that applied the 50-move rule. Most draws ar... Read more »
In the musical classic, Kismet, the young caliph (portrayed by Vic Damone in the movie) disguised himself as a commoner and went walking in the market place. It might be feasible for a flesh-and-blood ruler to do that but on the chessboard it&... Read more »
In Catch 22 when Joseph Heller wrote, “Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them,” he might have been looking at the way I play chess. The other day I drew a low-rated opp... Read more »
When you're good at something, and you know that you're good, it does wonders for your self-confidence. Sometimes it might be better not to make a song and dance about it. Some years ago I interviewed a man named Emmanuel Margolin on my c... Read more »
It's always great to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but it can be painful indeed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. In a NSWCA rapid play tournament I thought I had played well against a guy named Blair Mandla, and since he ... Read more »
DozyAustralia
You won't find any advanced chess analysis here, but there'll be plenty of stories about chess and chess players -- often with an off-beat twist.
Feel free to add your comments (pro or con, I don't mind which) or drop me a message.
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The following chess stories appear on my personal web page, Tomorrowland. Some of them have already been published on chess.com, others have not. Click on the links to read them.
A Kind of Immortality
Chess for Grasshoppers
Chess Genie
Chess on the Internet
Chess with Mother Goose
It's About Time
Logic: The Knight's Tour
Maroczy Chess Club
New South Wales Open
Starting a Chess Club
Sweet and Sour Chess
Sydney Simuls
Xmas 2004: Natural Ability
Xmas 2005: The Santa Gambit
Xmas 2006: Die Götterdämmerung
Xmas 2008: Santa's Mate
Yogi Berra, Chess Guru
Mating Positions & Traps
The best selection of Mating Positions and Opening Traps I've seen anywhere can be found in Le Blog de la Batgirl.
They're well worth a visit.
To play through them, click on the link and locate them in the sidebar box at the right of her blog.