Czech-German grandmaster Vlastimil Hort died Monday at 81. Hort was one of the best players in the world during the ’60s and ’70s, reaching the candidates matches in 1977, where he was knocked out by former world champion Spassky. Hort is well remembered for declining to win that match by forfeit, and instead giving an ailing Spassky one of his own timeouts. Hort set a record for conducting a simultaneous exhibition of 636 games in 1985. In 2006, he won the senior world championship at chess960 (honest, a senior 960 tournament is something for which I’d rekindle enthusiasm and ambition).

I most dislike playing chess against opponents who used to be my students. If they bought into the methods that my coach taught me, it’s like playing against superior versions of myself — they’ve got everything I gave them, plus whatever else they picked up along the way. If they did not buy in, then I feel additional pressure to smash their stupid faces, in a manner to suggest: See? If you’d gone with the program, you would’ve won this game. I tried retired from over-the-board play, but following my lecture last week, the Kolty club asked me to fill …

I’m playing in an online tournament — a “thematic” — in which every game must begin with the Danish master Severin From’s invention 1. f4 e5. I like these events because as White, I can transpose to a King’s Gambit with 2. e4!, and as Black, the fun is quickly evident: 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 threatens mate in 3. A time control of 3 days per move is leisurely, at which some opponents disappear, or don’t show up at all. One chap timed out from the white side, so the second game of the doubleheader began, and I …