Yesterday afternoon, I stopped on the freeway ramp to assist a stranded motorist, who offered me his bling and his watch if I’d help him get to Florida. Too weird to be true, and maybe he was working a scam. The funny thing is I look at ads for watches all day, because if you look at one ad for a gizmo, you’ll see all the ads for gizmos. Maybe I should’ve taken a closer look at that guy’s watch. I noticed a chessplayer wearing a wristwatch last week, and I thought: Who wears a wristwatch these days, when the …
Cal 60 Pacific 52
Last November, I was renting a room in the Adams Point neighborhood in Oakland, walking distance from the 19th St. BART station. A 10-minute BART ride puts one in Downtown Berkeley, walking distance from Haas Pavilion. I needed Pacific to visit Cal *last* season. During the WNBA season, the Golden Bears visited Chase Center one night for a Valkyries game. Coach Smith was working the crowd waiting in line, and I got her attention. Coach Smith kinda knows me, from Stanford and from Cal, but I don’t think she’s ever seen me in the same context twice. Sometimes I’ve been …
UCLA 73 Oklahoma 59
Mismatches like UCLA 87, UCSB 50 and Maryland 87, Maryland-Baltimore County 50 make me wish I’d waited for conference play, but UCLA 73, Oklahoma 59 on Monday makes November watchable (and man, I’m disappointed about missing USC 69, NC State 68 due to spoilage). God help me, I’m allegiant to TWO Los Angeles sports teams. When Gianna Kneepkens entered the transfer portal, I committed myself to whichever team she joined. Honest, I’m OK with her going to UCLA — the Bruins are a Pac-12 all-star team, and Coach Close is the best sideline interview in the NCAA. With practice, any …
Northwestern 67 IU-Indianapolis 64
The Jaguars missed the tying free throw with 7 seconds left, and the host Wildcats survived. Neither team was good at the line. IU Indianapolis shot 67%, Northwestern made 3 for their first 8, then 5-of-7 in the 4th quarter. NU senior forward Grace Sullivan completed a double right after halftime, and finished with 18 and 18. Even at 6-foot-4, Sullivan averaged 4.3 rebounds in 23.6 minutes last year. Until this afternoon, the only team I had any interest in was Menlo HS (Menlo Park, Calif.), with an assistant coach who’s a chess expert. Without reflection or sentiment, I thought …
The 2026 Volkswagen is neither a Karmann nor a Ghia
I haven’t yet heard a Volkswagen enthusiast object to this new car’s name. The Karmann Ghia (1955-74) is the most beautiful car ever made. So simply elegant, sexy and sporty-looking (with that lame but lovely 4-speed air-cooled engine that’s better suited to lawnmowers), the Karmann Ghia was a perfect blend of German engineering and Italian design. After the Volkswagen Beetle was a hit — cute, cheap, reliable — VW thought to make a sister for the Beetle that looked like a sports car. The Carrozzerria Ghia design firm in Turin was tasked with its looks, while VW engineers figured out …
Two triangulation compositions
Every chessplayer will remember being dismissive first than delighted at Reti’s famous 1921 composition. White to play and draw looks like an impossible task, because the black pawn is out of reach, while the c6-pawn can be captured. The triangulation scheme recurs in the second position, which I came across as a tactics puzzle (composition by Ernst Frederick Holm, Deutsche Schachzeitung, Jan. 1913). If Black plays …Bh3-g2, it’s a draw. First White obstructs the bishop.
On National Chess Day
For National Chess Day, I attended a community gathering at the Berkeley Chess Center (yes, it feels just like going to work in a Saturday). I had a conversation with Vinay Bhat, who is the most important player in the world as far as I’m concerned. No one listens to me about improving at chess, but they will listen to the grandmaster. Vinay is Richard Shorman’s greatest success as a teacher, a world-class player who is also an outstanding human being. He shared something US champion Lev Alburt said in one of his books. Alburt and Bhat had early chess …
The chess book I wanted to ban from the library (but didn’t)
I’m a librarian in a chess school. It’s Banned Book Week, so I’ll mention the one time I wanted to ban a book (but didn’t, and didn’t even shelve it so I could not find it later). A chap named Robert J. Richey hit some Bay Area chess clubs years back, promoting his first (there are more than one now, unfortunately) chess book, Blitz Chess Puzzles. I bought one, because if a chess book author is so desperate for sales that he’s going club to club, that dude either needs to sell some books, or be treated at the Burger …
Self-promotion
Chess writer and teacher Frisco Del Rosario talks from his book Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate, and conducts a simultaneous exhibition 5:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Redeeming Grace Lutheran Church classroom, 2495 Cabrillo Lane in Santa Clara. Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate is a sequel to the 1947 classic The Art of Checkmate, using games by the 1920s world champion to illustrate checkmating patterns categorized by Renaud and Kahn. A two-time Kolty Chess Club Players (Campbell, Calif.) champion, Del Rosario augmented The Art of the Checkmate by discovering Capablanca’s Mate — a checkmating pattern unseen by Renaud and Kahn …
Fuzzyologist Jane Goodall 1934-2025
Fuzzyologist Jane Goodall died at 91. She was not a relative of the great chess organizer Mike, but… Mike was in court on a possession charge. Judge heard Mike’s last name, said: Any relation to Jane? Instantly, Mike’s lawyer said: “They’re married, Your Honor”. Case dismissed. “You’re kidding”, I said. “He bought that?!” “That’s what I was paying him for”, Mike said about his counsel’s quick thinking, then shared a riddle. “What do you call a judge with an IQ of 50?” “What.” “Your Honor.”