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Do you think that luck plays a part in chess, or is it purely a game of skill? As one of my opponents said recently, “Chess is a game of cool calculation; luck has nothing to do with it.”
If chess were played solely on the chessboard and ... | Read More
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As the millennium approached I was the breakfast announcer on AIR-FM, a community radio station in Sydney's west. I'd been thinking about the Seven Wonders of the World and realised that there were, in fact, twenty-one of them—seven each from... | Read More
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Somebody once said that if your boss offers you a bonus to get a job finished on time that's incentive; if he threatens dismissal, that's motivation. My boss went a bit farther than either of those—he once threatened me with death.
It was a ... | Read More
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Have you noticed that sometimes people who have spent a great deal of time on chess.com suddenly disappear for a while? I've just had a break myself and it extended much longer than intended—probably about six weeks.
Of course I wasn't comple... | Read More
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In 1987 I competed in the World Veteran Games in Melbourne. It was a wonderful experience and brought together athletes of all abilities, ranging from world champions to people who run like crabs. It's an experience akin to the Olympic Games for... | Read More
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I just read Phil-from-Blayney's entertaining forum post about Why OTB will always be best.
Phil's obvious enthusiasm -- and it bubbles through in this thread -- underlines his opening contention that OTB will "always be best".
While I would ar... | Read More
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In choosing games for my recent Spanish post (Duke of Plaza Toro) I selected a group of brevities won by Black, basically because I never play the white side of the Lopez. No doubt this would have been disappointing for all the Spanish aficionad... | Read More
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When my Russian friend Pavel asked me to write about the Spanish Opening I needed a wrinkle because I had never played it—never as white anyway—so I thought I'd ask that celebrated, cultivated, underrated Spanish nobleman, the Duke of ... | Read More
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When the last king has been laid to rest and I go to play on that Big Chessboard in the Sky St. Peter will ask what I have done to merit entry and I'll say, “I once taught a wealthy man how to play chess.”
That's no easy task and even St. P... | Read More
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A few years ago I was working at a festival in an Australian country town. At 9.00 when the doors opened I was talking to my friend Richard, a man with a deep love of philology. Only one person came through the doors, walked around looking at ... | Read More