Hello to a New Journal, Farewell to a Friend

The Journal of Chess Research is a new scholarly or academic journal that will feature scientific articles and studies centered around chess. In some ways, this project is a more formalized and serious version of this blog itself (with a much more impressive board of editors and potential authors). The journal itself was featured in another chess publication, Chess Life (official magazine of the USCF) in a recent issue. You can also read more about this project at their website or at Susan Polgar’s excellent blog. 

            Speaking of excellent blogs, one of my favorite chess authors and friend, Michael Goeller, is hanging up his hat with regards to the Kenilworthian. You can read about his decision to do so, and a reflection on his amazing blogging journey, at his final post, The End of Chess Blogging. His articles were always interesting, well written, well researched, and very enjoyable to read. For at least one reader (myself), his writing will be sorely missed.

            I may be reaching my own end of chess blogging; work commitments to both teaching and research continue to prevent me from making consistent posts. I will be sacrificing time that could be used for Science on the Squares in order to revive my other blog, Just Me and Eubacteria, which is more in-line with my professional interests. Towards this end, I have removed some of the content from this blog, scrubbing out broken links and images where I can. I may occasionally post a game or analysis here or there, but regretfully these posts will be few and far in-between.  

A Scientific Approach to Chess

For a blog about Chess and Science, you might expect more articles about the intersection between the two. Indeed, I have occasionally written here about research articles that have involved chess (such as studying the physiology of players during a game, the Einstellung effect), even including my own efforts in exploring mutual information in chess. Usually, chess is used as a vehicle in science to study physiology, memory, or decision making in general. However, I think it is worth exploring a truly scientific approach to Chess.

In its essence, Science is about gaining useful knowledge in a systematic way to solve problems. Chess players engage in a similar activity all the time, if even subconsciously, studying games and reading literature to build a model of the game in their mind that can be applied to making decisions at the board. Likewise, scientific knowledge about the natural world has informed incredible advances in technology for a wide range of industries.

Below I suggest different ways in which the scientific method can be applied to different aspects of chess. I encourage any interested readers to take up the challenge of performing chess research, following the principles featured in the rest of the article. I intend on making this blog a vehicle for such research, and welcome submissions of original research to this blog (or at least posts that link to your analysis). Perhaps Science on the Squares can become the first real scientific journal of chessology (or chessonomics?)

Do you think that such a method will prove useful and yield insights? Is it too slow and laborious? Have you made any discoveries in Chessology? Please share your thoughts and comments below, or contact me directly. 

Back in Blogging Action

A quick news update: After a long hiatus, I am back in blogging action at Science on the Squares. In fact, I will be resuscitate all of my other blogs and social media accounts, after a long hiatus due to a career transition (I am now an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department of Kingsborough Community College.)

I have attempted to repair many aspects of this blog, fixing broken links and images. (If you find something I missed, please let me know). Due to my new position, I will be posting here probably only once or twice a month. However, I have setup a more static chess website at http://djcamenares.x10.mx/chess/; as of posting it is still under construction.

In the next few posts, I will finish posting a series of Chess Words puzzles that I had intended to upload. I will not continue the other puzzle series, for now. You can also look forward to some analysis on the Grivas Sicilian, which is already present at my static page. (In particular, a fun gambit line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Be3?!) Stay Tuned!