Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer is a lively, controvercial figure. Krauthammer is widely known as a conservative, but he is unorthodox to the core. His most important mission as a columnist is to challenge conventional wisdom.

Krauthammer was born in New York City and raised in Montreal. He was educated at McGill University, majoring in political science and economics, Oxford University (Commonwealth Scholar in Politics) and Harvard (M.D. in 1975). He practiced medicine for three years as a resident and then chief resident in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

During the presidential campaign of 1980, Krauthammer served as a speechwriter to Vice President Walter Mondale. He joined The New Republic as a writer and editor in 1981. He writes regular essays for Time magazine, and contributes to several others including The Weekly Standard, The New Republic and The National Interest. He began writing the weekly column for The Washington Post in 1985. It now appears in more than 100 newspapers. You can find links to his most recent articles here.

In 1987 Charles Krauthammer was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. In 1984 he won the National Magazine Award for essays.

Here is his article about the Pariah Chess Club.