My Blog

Dit jibt et nuur in Berlin...
06. January 2026

Dit jibt et nuur in Berlin...

The former Berlin Tempelhof Airport gained legendary fame in 1948/49, when 'Raisin Bombers' landed every 90 seconds to supply the population. Today, the Tempelhofer Feld is used for something entirely different—for example, for chess.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect
25. September 2025

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which individuals with low ability or limited knowledge in a certain area tend to overestimate their own competence, while those with higher expertise are often more aware...

Did Nakamura cheat?
24. September 2025

Did Nakamura cheat?

Impressive article from Monica Brown. Never heared of prosecutor’s fallacy or Cromwell's rule before. But it is all well explained.

Torre & Cavallo – an Italian crash course for chess players
23. September 2025

Torre & Cavallo – an Italian crash course for chess players

How to learn Italian with a chess magazine.

A chess trip down memory lane in the shadow of Mount Whitney
13. July 2025

A chess trip down memory lane in the shadow of Mount Whitney

Chess Tournaments in Whitney's shadow

EICC 2025
02. April 2025

EICC 2025

I just returned from Romania, where I played in the European Chess Championship. From a sporting perspective, the tournament was a disaster for me—I’ve never played such a bad tournament. But despite that, I still enjoyed participating. I also had the opportunity to explore Romania a bit. I’ve summarized my impressions in an article.

State Secretary Honors Beuel Veteran for 60th Club Anniversary
31. January 2025

State Secretary Honors Beuel Veteran for 60th Club Anniversary

A special anniversary was on the agenda this year at the Schachclub Bonn Beuel. Our long-standing member Hans-Bernd von der Lippe is celebrating his 60th club anniversary. He joined one of our predecessor clubs, the Dollendorfer Schachklub von 1946, as an eight-year-old in 1965 and has remained loyal to our club to this day. Such an occasion must, of course, be duly celebrated. Fortunately, we received support in doing so. Andrea Milz is the State Secretary for Sport and Volunteering in North Rhine-Westphalia and, by virtue of this office, predestined to perform such honors. However, she also has a special connection to the sport of chess and our club. As a teenager, she also joined the Dollendorfer Schachklub and was coached back then by the youth warden at the time, Hans-Bernd von der Lippe. That is why she spontaneously agreed when we asked her about conducting the ceremony.

The Tricky Rook & Bishop vs. Rook Endgame
05. December 2024

The Tricky Rook & Bishop vs. Rook Endgame

The rook and bishop vs. rook endgame is, with few exceptions, a draw. So much for the theory. The defensive methods are actually well known, yet they don't always work in practice, as could be observed at the last European Championship.

EICC 2024
17. November 2024

EICC 2024

After playing in the European Singles Championships in Serbia last year, I quickly decided to take part again this year. So I traveled to Montenegro at the beginning of November, checked out the country's tourist highlights and then traveled to the tournament venue in Petrovac. I have published an article about my impressions of Montenegro and the tournament.

Is there actually a home-field advantage in chess team matches?
17. October 2024

Is there actually a home-field advantage in chess team matches?

To answer this question I collected data from the chess site Schachbundesliga Ergebnisdienst and saved it to a Kaggle file. Later I analyzed and found out that there is a slight home filed advantage, but much lower them in other sport competitions. For details check an article on Chessbase.