En Passant

Whatever happened to

pachinko?

I give up

How do they do it?

If curling is featured in the winter Olympics,

shouldn't the summer Olympics include the sport of shuffleboarding?

Not a big deal, but a CBS error nonetheless

On CBS-TV's "Cold Case" this evening, detectives solve a 1963 murder by recognizing a contemporary note "Nf3  Nc6" as being chess notation for part of the Ruy Lopez opening.  One problem -- Back in 1963 few American chessplayers used, or recognized, "algebraic notation" for chess moves.  The 1963 version would have been "N-KB3  N-QB3."

Remember when the Bambino's 60, followed by Maris's asterisk

and Hank Aaron's record four-baggers really meant something?  Today's "records" don't.  Thanks to greed and drugs, most baseball stats will require footnotes and ample qualification.

Life imitates chess, says Garry Kasparov correctly

in today's Wall Street Journal.

The news about chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer

just gets sadder and sadder and sadder.

Ever wonder why so few women play tournament-level chess?

The Wall Street Journal has a partial answer.

Maybe he's just being modest

An attorney, in a full-page ad in today's Wall Street Journal, likens his skills to a "chess grandmaster's ability to think several moves ahead."  Not much of a boast.  Every competitive chessplayer can think several moves ahead.  A grandmaster can analyze well beyond.

You have five minutes

What is the smallest whole number that when divided by 3 leaves a remainder of 1, when divided by 4 leaves a remainder of 2, and when divided by 5 leaves a remainder of 3?  Answer.