As the U.S. Championship begins perhaps a new era later this month, IM Jesse Kraai mourns the elegant atmosphere of the recent West Coast championships.

In many Pirc setups, if Black makes a mistake and allows White to play e5, Black will find his position busted. Despite missing this, our selected player this month still manages to find the win.

A successful gambit depends on staying ahead a tempo or two. So offering a gambit when you’re already a tempo behind leads to results that are not at all puzzling as “puzzle king” Sam Loyd discovers.

New FIDE Title Holders

In March, Chess Life reported on five new FIDE titleholders. For various bureaucratic reasons, FIDE only announced the following titles in March: Stephen Muhammad of Georgia and John Bartholomew of Minnesota (but currently attending the University of Texas at Dallas) have been named International Masters.

The USCF offers its congratulations to these deserving players!