Day trip to Volendam and Hoorn

Our club - En Passant

Make sure that next time you visit Holland, you won't miss two beautiful cities in the North of the country: Volendam and Hoorn! I had the chance to see them both yesterday, in a day trip with the members of my new Dutch chess club: En Passant. Our sponsor, Jan Hopman, gave us the opportunity to know each other better and to have a wonderful boat trip from Volendam to Hoorn. I knew that Holland is a very beautiful country, but not that beautiful! See for yourself...

Decision fatigue in chess

Does the following scenario sound familiar to you? You're playing a game. You are not tired nor distracted. You are not tense nor in time trouble. You don't feel any psychological pressure due to various reasons. Quite the opposite: you are fit and happy to play. You have time and you can use it. You might even think for half an hour for your next move - plenty of time to figure out all kind of possible complications. And yet...a mistake arises on the horizon! "How could I have possibly played that move?! - you might think later on. "How could I have been so careless in my calculations?! I was thinking for so long and I suddenly played a move without looking too much at it?!"...

Chess Crosswords

DONALD K. MCKIM'S
CHESS MISCELLANIES:

Answers:

Chess Simuls

Inspired by yesterday's event: my husband's simul in Heemskerk, Holland, I decided to write about...simuls. For those with little chess knowledge, it seems incredible that only one person can play simultaneously with even more than 20 players! And quite successfully:) For the more experienced players though, it's not so uncommon that a GM can face up to 40 (or more) players at once. After all, besides playing in tournaments, lectures and simuls are on almost every GM's agenda, to allow others to enjoy their skill and knowledge.

Chess Study!

While waiting for Vlissingen games to start, I was browsing a very nice book: "Chess Study Composition", written by the Romanian - Emilian Dobrescu. I recently received it as a present from Yochanan Afek and I like it a lot. I will surely come back with more examples in the future!
For now, just a small teaser, which is kind of difficult by the way:

Can you hold a draw with White?

Solution: