evanvwk's Blog

• 318,979,564,000?

  I have often heard it said that the total number of possible combinations in the first four moves of a chess game (that is, each player making four moves) is 318,979,564,000. I don't find this implausible, but I'm curious how this is calculated. D... | Read More

  • evanvwk
  • | Apr 25, 2012
  • | 85 views
  • | 2 comments

• New York Times chess video

  Here's a link to a cool vid from the New York Times about our favorite game: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/11/17/arts/design/100000001178611/from-elephants-to-bishops.html | Read More

  • evanvwk
  • | Nov 18, 2011
  • | 204 views
  • | 1 comment

• Down with quitters!

  Probably all of us have had the experience in Live Chess of facing an opponent who, recognizing his/her situation as hopeless, just lets the clock run out rather than acting honorably (fighting till the end or resigning). I move that we who are o... | Read More

  • evanvwk
  • | Nov 6, 2011
  • | 169 views
  • | 2 comments

• O death, where is thy fianchetto?

  A little nod to Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. http://waynocartoons.blogspot.com/2011/08/these-cards-are-marked.html | Read More

  • evanvwk
  • | Nov 4, 2011
  • | 116 views
  • | 0 comments

• Material gains vs. position

  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36   Here's a kind of mistake I myself make very frequently. It was interesting for me to be on the other side of the equation of a player getting... | Read More

  • evanvwk
  • | Nov 4, 2011
  • | 155 views
  • | 2 comments

• An interesting mate

  In a recent 10-minute blitz, I was on the receiving end of one of the more interesting checkmates I've seen in a while. Kudos, jonathan297. | Read More

  • evanvwk
  • | Aug 26, 2011
  • | 218 views
  • | 4 comments

• My first OTB tourney

  I learned to play chess here on chess.com not quite three years ago, and probably 99 ½ % of my chess experience has been on this wonderful website. So it was a real treat for me this past weekend to play in my very first OTB tournament — a Rate... | Read More

  • evanvwk
  • | Mar 28, 2011
  • | 248 views
  • | 4 comments

• The web

  Yes, sometimes technology can deepen our isolation and create new problems. But my own experience with the internet is that it can be an extraordinary means of fostering deeper human interconnection on a global scale. This wonderful video illustr... | Read More

  • evanvwk
  • | May 13, 2009
  • | 331 views
  • | 4 comments

• Being a Stoic good sport

  In the six months that I've been a member of chess.com, I've played innumerable games, both live and correspondence, with people all over the world. Not only is this site a great place to learn about chess, it's also a wonderful venue to meet some... | Read More

  • evanvwk
  • | Apr 17, 2009
  • | 233 views
  • | 2 comments