Paul Lillebo

Paul Lillebo, life-long chess lover, is a retired biologist and earlier U.S. naval aviator with a recent master's degree in early American history, who divides his time between Oslo, Norway and North Carolina, USA. 

To date his greatest claim to chess fame is winning the Northern California Class A (1800-2000 Elo) championship in 1995, with a peak rating of 1978. 

Recent news

Stalemate: the long and the Short of it (3)

9/22/2014 – GM Nigel Short thinks we should abandon the "stupid rule" of stalemate, where the attacking side has completely immobilized the enemy but does not win. Paul Lillebo has been showing us that the stalemate rule adds a valuable dimension to chess, providing a last saving chance for the defending side, or a last stumbling block for the attacker. He shows us examples from top level play.

Stalemate: the long and the Short of it (2)

8/23/2014 – Recently English GM Nigel Short expressed the view that we should abandon the "stupid rule" of stalemate, where the attacking side has completely immobilized the enemy but does not win the game. Paul Lillebo believes that the possibility of stalemate adds a valuable dimension to chess, leading to complex theory that is not mechanical. He illustrates this with some interesting examples.

Stalemate: the long and the Short of it

8/2/2014 – English GM Nigel Short is known for his strong views and his controversial, often very provocative articles. He recently expressed the view that the "stupid rule" of stalemate, where the attacking side has completely immobilized the enemy but does not win the game, should be abandoned. Our expert Paul Lillebo, an admitted Short fan, begs to differ – and gives sound reasons for this.

World Champions – reclaiming a lost century (2)

4/24/2014 – In part one of his article Paul Lillebo claimed that the list of “official” world champions of chess, which begins in 1886 with the Steinitz-Zukertort match, does not do justice to the several earlier masters who were acclaimed by their contemporaries as the champion of chess. To the two masters from part one, Philidor and La Bourdonnais, he adds three more who were supreme in their time.

World Champions – reclaiming a lost century

4/6/2014 – The players of Asian board games like Shogi and Go honor their champions at least as far back as the 1600s. Chess, on the other hand, crowned its first official World Champion in 1886, although the game has been around since the 6th century. The chess community recognizes sixteen title holders – too few for historian Paul Lillebo, who proposes we include five earlier champions.
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