Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! That old Princeton cheer is apropos as the Princeton University A team posted the only 6-0 score to take last month’s Amateur Team East Championship at its traditional home in Parsippany, N.J.
It has been a bit of a fallow period for the past few centuries or so, but Italian chess may finally be experiencing its Renaissance.
Through centuries of theoretical investigation and practical results, the relative value of the pieces on the board has been pretty firmly established. If the pawn has a value of one, then the minor pieces (knights and bishops) are worth a little more than three pawns, the rook five, and the queen somewhere between 9.5 and 10. In many games with players of even moderate strength, a material edge of plus-one — a single pawn — is enough to produce a winning advantage.
Congratulations to the U.S. Chess Center and its founder, David Mehler, who will be honored for their work with area youths at the U.S. Chess Federation 2012 annual awards next month in Vancouver, Wash.
Some of the top stars of the game are in action in events around the globe this week, but the best performance could be that turned in by a player who hasn't been a factor on the world stage for more than a decade.
