Chess in Israel

At eight o'clock this morning 200 Israeli warplanes began striking targets in Iran as part of Operation Roaring Lion. A couple hours later Iran retaliated with missiles into Israel, setting off air raid sirens throughout the country. It is unclear if the war will last days or weeks, but it is already resulting in school cancellations and other disruptions. We still have internet, however, and that means I can still play chess; and today I played a Blitz game on Lichess that I feel merits analysis. Opponent was one Arariboia, rated 1613 out of Brazil. Our game was casual and featured multiple lead changes. I resigned after thirty-eight moves, but as late as move 34 the engine indicates I had a winning position. Position 1: White to move Assigned the white pieces, I opened 1.d4 and Black replied 1...d5 . After 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 we were in a standard Queen's Gambit Declined position, whereupon Black played the annoying 4...Nbd7 and the game continued 5.e3 c6 6.Nf3...

Today marked four weeks since my laparoscopic bilateral inguinal hernia repair surgery. I was making major strides in my recovery until yesterday, while on recess supervision in our school's soccer field, a student kicked a soccer ball straight into my groin. Worse than the pain of the accident, from which I was reeling for hours but which has mostly subsided, has been fear that the ball's impact dislodged and/or tore my mesh implants and that I will need to undergo another operation. In light of the accident, my postop followup, which was originally scheduled for 6½ weeks out, has been bumped up to 4½ weeks. All I have been able to think about since yesterday has been the potential damage to my implants, and it was with this emotional turmoil that I arrived at the chess club today for rounds 7 and 8 of the 2026 Winter League . My round-7 opponent was a no-show and I was awarded a win by forfeit; but in round 8 , although I succeeded in shutting out the noise of yesterday...

Yesterday marked a fortnight since my laparoscopic hernia repair surgery. Despite being off painkillers for more than a week and mostly sleeping well at night, I still experience waves of discomfort and am slow moving around. This morning was my first time wearing shoes with laces since the operation; and although I continue to suppress urges to cough and sneeze, I have started allowing myself to laugh more freely. Jerusalem's annual winter chess league, or C-League , which consists of ten rounds and in which six clubs are competing this year, kicked off on 15 January and will conclude on 12 March. I missed the first four rounds on account of a trip to Italy and the operation, hence yesterday was my first appearance. I ended the evening with a win in round five followed by a loss in round six , and the games are analyzed below a-la the Studer method. The time control was 50+10. Position 1: White to move Assigned the white pieces in the first game, I opened 1.d4 , and after...

A day will come when the medical profession discovers a better way to deal with hernias than cutting a person open and sewing their tissues and skin back together. It has been a week since my laparoscopic surgery to repair a bilateral inguinal hernia, and although I can now shower, go for short walks and cook meals without the need for painkillers, I’m still slow getting out of bed, sitting and standing, and dressing myself. Going to work is out of the question and there's little I can do outside the house besides sit on a bench in the sun. That means more time directed toward chess. Some of that time, naturally, is wasted on random YouTube videos and mindless Blitz games that contribute nothing to my improvement, but some of it is spent reading, solving puzzles, and analyzing games. Having completed one attempt at applying the Studer method to a game, and feeling satisfied with the process and the result, this report analyzes another casual Blitz game, played earlier today on ...

What is the greatest impediment to chess improvement? In my case, it is ego. After a win, my ego wants to stare through the screen at my opponent and laugh in his face; after a loss, it wants to smash and curse and retreat into a corner. That attitude is inimical to improvement. What is conducive to improvement is composure, a forward-looking mindset that approaches each game played not as a gladiator fight to the death but as a learning opportunity. In November 2025 GM Noel Studer released a YouTube video titled "How to Analyze Your Chess Games." In it he stressed the importance of reviewing one's games with the goal of identifying key mistakes and learning from them. In pursuing that goal, however, Studer cautions against blind reliance on chess engines that act like human coaches, instead proposing a more thorough and growth-oriented self-analysis method that involves the evaluation bar, the engine's lines and a specific set of questions. Studer's method...