Best of CLO 2007-#3
February 5, 2008
joshfriedellead.jpgThe #3 article in the Best of CLO 2007 competition goes to Diary of a Samford Scholar: European Fall, Part I andPart II , by Josh Friedel. Judges loved Josh's candor, humor and the insight into a young IM's lifestyle. Josh also earns the distinction as Chess Life Online writer  of the year, because as a contributor he got more points  than any other writer, for this piece and the #9 article of the year, "Pruess Wins GM Norm in France." There's a good chance that if Josh had only wrote one of the articles, it would have scored even higher as several judges expressed difficulty in choosing between the two. So congratulations to Josh, Chess Life Online writer of the year!


The judges sound off
To learn more about the judges, read "Meet the Judges." 

"Great anecdotes of two promising players' romp around Europe. Made me sick with jealousy."-  Michael Klein

"I laughed my head off while reading this article...The Nutella incident, the comment about the dinners, the chess ... Josh gives the reader five games in Part 1 alone!!  Wow!  The only thing lacking was a lot of analysis of the games, but the glimpse into this journey with David Pruess had me wishing I could have tagged along.  I literally busted out laughing when I re-read the part of the article where Josh talked about once having to brush his teeth with two fingers using a bar of soap while staying at the YMCA.  Hilarious!!  And the entire part of the story about losing a K and R v. K and N endgame on time ... I felt so bad for Josh as I read that.  Josh's diary articles have quickly become something I will read immediately whenever they appear"- Michael Cornett

"Experience Friedel's tournament life in his intimate account of two European chess tournaments."- Alexey Root