Author-player Nathan Rose at Rome chess tournament, December, 2023

I “met” online Nathan Rose, a New Zealand native who currently lives in Georgia (the country that is), after having read a few months ago volume 1 of his great little book.  

That followed with his 2nd volume, another great little reference book which I use quite a lot during my own chess games.  

A treat as he emailed me to tell me that he'd be coming in December to Rome for a chess tournament, his very first time to the Eternal City.  

We hooked up, shared some thoughts on this GREAT game, saw him in action and also managed to take him around to see the sights and sounds of Rome.  And hats off to Nathan as out of 9 games he won 7 and also a medal to go along with his victories (there were about 200 players at the tournament including several girls and women, indeed a positive sign for a game which has been SO dominated by men). 

It was by the way the 4th chess event that I’ve so far photographed.