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First, a candidate for Move of the Year:

Black to move

Sam Copeland reporting for Chess.com has the rest of the story.

In other news, the USCF has a Couch Potato's Guide to the World Chess Championship, written by GM Ian Rogers. It's quite a good read, and I recommend it. I may even try the cheesecake recipe.

I also have a couple of comments on the Carlsen-Karjakin match that starts Friday in NYC. First, the games will be at 2 PM Eastern, which is perfect for those of us in the Club.

Second, the betting odds favor Magnus heavily. If you're a betting man (or woman), and have access to a (legal) book, I'd recommend betting on Sergey. Yes, Magnus should be the favorite, but I don't think he should be favored by more than three to one, tops, and possibly only two to one. If I had spare cash and access, I'd bet on Sergey just because I think the EV is good. That said, if I had to be the rent money, I'd bet on Magnus, because he's Magnus. But I've heard the odds are as much as 8 to 1, and that's just absurd.

Finally, one last note. I now have a TD license, and the Club is looking into running some rated events. Perhaps just quick quads or small quick swisses, perhaps ladders, and maybe eventually larger events. We still have a couple of minor administrative issues to work out. We'll let you know when we get going.

A helpful bit of advice

Soon I'm going to take the plunge and apply for the Club Level Tournament Director title to start running quads and such at the club. To that end I'm starting to dig into USCF fora for tournament direction issues. I just saw some helpful advice for any tournament director. From one tmagchesspgh comes the following:

When I became a tournament director at age 18, the old gentlemen who showed me the ropes informed me that half of the job of a TD was public relations. You had to know your clientele and how to bring them back for future tournaments and maybe as members of the club. You never knew who might walk in to play. [emphasis added]

I will try to keep that in mind!

Speaking of funny stuff on Twitter

Greg Shahade has taken over the USCF's Twitter feed during the Nationals Tournament (for schoolchildren). He tweets the following:

I just saw someone resign for his opponent. He reached across the board, knocked over his King, and said "you resign".His opponent disagreed

— US Chess (@USChess) May 8, 2016

World Rapid & World Blitz Championship Coverage

I commend this article from GM Ian Rogers, writing for the USCF, covering the awful experience for the fans on-site in Berlin. (The online experience had a couple of glitches, but was mostly excellent. Chess24.com knows their stuff, and GM Jan Gustafsson is fantastic with his live commentary.)

Also, check out this video of Magnus Carlsen loosing his cool. We've all been there! The video, and much more, can be found in Peter Doggers' report for Chess.com.