A chess coach encounters the “300 dpi” mystery

Posted by Steve Eddins, July 17, 2009

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This is a "small world" story for a mid-summer Friday.

Outside work, family, and book writing, I like to play a little tournament chess. I'm just your middle-of-the-pack club player trying to get a bit better, and occasionally I work with a chess coach who goes over my games and tells me about the silly moves I make.

Well, earlier this year my wife called to tell me that my chess coach called the house and was hoping to talk to me that day. That was a bit of a puzzle, since we had no lessons scheduled. What could this be about?

When I called him back, my coach explained that he was working on an advertisement of services to be placed in the program materials for an upcoming national tournament. The printer had notified him that the graphics file he provided wasn't suitable; he needed to send a file that was "300 dpi."

My coach didn't know what that meant, so naturally he did an internet search for terms like "300 dpi." That brought him to my blog post, "Help! My publisher wants a 300 dpi TIFF." After a while, it dawned on him that this "Steve" fellow was actually his student, and he called me to see if I could help.

It made my day to be the "expert" (for a change) in one of our conversations.