Blog

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center is proud of its association with the Boy Scouts of America, and this year’s first Boy Scout Merit Badge Day, held on January 18th, was a great example of the mutual respect and support between the two organizations. The January event  handed out 52 new Chess Merit Badges to Scouts, making it one of the largest sessions since the CCSCSL held the initial launch event in September 2011. Since then, more than 60,000 Chess Merit Badges have been awarded nationally.

I really enjoyed another Resident GM rotation -- the Saint Louis Chess Club has become a second home for me. I have spent lots of time here in the past two and a half years, and I really enjoy each of my visits. I am looking forward to coming back at the end of March for the 2015 U.S. Championship.

Before I leave, I wanted to annotate a game for the Musings of a Resident GM Blog. I played a six-game match against GM Julio Becerra on Deceber 8-10 in Lawrence, Kansas, and I managed to win 4.5-1.5. Here is one of my best games:

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis warmly welcomes back GM Varuzhan Akobian as its Resident Grandmaster through January 18.

Two Games That Ended a Career

By GM Ben Finegold

You know, one of the top players in the world from 1987-1990 was GM Mikhail Gurevich. Although you may not have heard of him, almost everyone else in the world thought he was No. 3 on the planet -- behind Kasparov and Karpov. Mikhail won many tournaments, had a great strategical understanding, and great opening knowledge.  He was a solid player: he didn’t take too many risks, but he didn’t play a lot of boring draws, either.