Bill Brock Blogs!

In an auspicious development for the chess blogosphere, veteran Chicago chess expert and former Illinois Chess Association President Bill Brock has just established the Chicago Chess Blog, which will focus on anything and everything related to chess locally. This is good news. Bill is a strong player, a trove of knowledge about Chicago chess from having lived and played here for many years, and an inveterate and outstanding annotator, among many other things. He’s already filled the site with a prolific assortment of game analyses in just the first few weeks.

And in a move that I think bodes well for the blog’s success, Bill has decided not to go it alone but to invite an assortment of prominent Chicago-area chess players, organizers, bloggers, and fans to join him as regular contributors. Some less prominent ones, too, like me.

Please check it out.

Photos by johnnyscars on flickr.

Why We Blog

“Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.”

Jessica Wapner

Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan