Can you believe it, Los Angeles at Golden State this Saturday has playoff implications, insofar as the team that wins that game shall be #8 in the standings. The Sparks have won eight of nine, and seem to have kicked that ridiculous habit of taking off one quarter per game. I’ve missed most of Los Angeles’ turnaround. I’m not as close to finishing this book of my chess teacher’s teachings as I thought, and time is running out. I’m either dying or fading fast, and I won’t be able to put this book together in a mad rush — I …
Month: August 2025
Playing the right way
Basketball coaches often talk about “playing the right way”. Execute sound fundamentals as an individual, cooperatively create and use space as a teammate, be heard and be polite, play hard and play clean, and so on. Winning is swell, but it really oughta take a back seat to playing the right way (in real life and beer commercials, winning is what matters most, which is a societal flaw). Chess is the same way, but the difference is that most chess coaches think teaching kids to play the right way is drilling them in master practice. Master practice is the right …
Los Altos library sale
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is one of the very few beginner’s books that’s evergreen and excellent, so it kinda sucked to find it at a library sale for $1, because that means it’s not in the library.There’s a cool solo RPG system Wretched and Alone, in which you are, well, wretched and alone in various settings. Draw cards from a standard deck to find what’s trying to kill you that day, deal with it, and journal it. It’s optional though suggested that the player have a Jenga set (or something like that) nearby to represent the character’s gradual (or sudden) …