Greetings from Baltimore, Maryland!
I'm back to full chess mode again after a few weeks off due to my trip and getting sick. I played LEP on Wednesday night, and won. I'll post the game when I get back to New York. Thursday night I played at the Marshall. I thought I was going to have a repeat of my last tournament there since I played the same people in rounds 1 and 2 that I did a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the results were the same. However I did draw in round 3, and got lucky in round 4 against Eric Hecht. We had one of our crazy time scramble games where I went a long time with 1 second on my clock and then he left his king in check. The two minutes, and his having to block the check with his rook saved my butt. I was white against him, and did not have to face his Smith-Morra. I was afraid I was going to play him in round 3 with black. 1.5 - 2.5 gained me the walloping 5 rating points. Big whoop. Though I guess it means when the April rating list comes out I won't be on my floor for whatever it's worth.
I'm in Baltimore this weekend playing in UMBC Open at University of Maryland Baltimore County. I played in the tournament last year and scored 3.5 out of 5 in the under 1800 section. I choked in the last round last year. This year I decided I did not feel like playing random 1400s and choke again, so I entered the Open section. There are few players lower rated then me in the section including a 1200. I'm not sure why he's playing in that section since the next lowest rated player is 1650, but who am I to say anything? So far I'm 1-2. The 1 point was a serious gift. It qualifies as Wacky Wednesday material. Stay tuned.
I'm not on my own computer so I can't upload any games. Not that these games are worth looking at. I'm having trouble staying focused and my play reflects it. I have my laptop with me, but no Internet access on it. I don't dare unplug the Ethernet cable from this computer that I'm on and attach it to my laptop. It would be my luck that after I plugged it back into this machine that my host's Internet would stop working.
After the first round I put the game into Chess Base and let Fritz rip it apart. Fritz says I played like an idiot. I thought my opponent was just playing really good moves, and that I had no play. My problem was, I had no game. I played passively and like a chicken. He played the Smith-Morra and I decided not to take on c3. I figured it would transpose into a c3 Sicilian, except that he didn't take on d4. So I still had an extra pawn, but I let him get too much play, and missed opportunities to beat back his attack and hold on to the pawn.
Tomorrow is another day. My one point has staved off the infamous "please wait" for the time being. Maybe I can scare up another point, and gain another 5 rating points. :-Þ
Don't forget to reset your clocks tonight! Spring ahead!
I'm back to full chess mode again after a few weeks off due to my trip and getting sick. I played LEP on Wednesday night, and won. I'll post the game when I get back to New York. Thursday night I played at the Marshall. I thought I was going to have a repeat of my last tournament there since I played the same people in rounds 1 and 2 that I did a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the results were the same. However I did draw in round 3, and got lucky in round 4 against Eric Hecht. We had one of our crazy time scramble games where I went a long time with 1 second on my clock and then he left his king in check. The two minutes, and his having to block the check with his rook saved my butt. I was white against him, and did not have to face his Smith-Morra. I was afraid I was going to play him in round 3 with black. 1.5 - 2.5 gained me the walloping 5 rating points. Big whoop. Though I guess it means when the April rating list comes out I won't be on my floor for whatever it's worth.
I'm in Baltimore this weekend playing in UMBC Open at University of Maryland Baltimore County. I played in the tournament last year and scored 3.5 out of 5 in the under 1800 section. I choked in the last round last year. This year I decided I did not feel like playing random 1400s and choke again, so I entered the Open section. There are few players lower rated then me in the section including a 1200. I'm not sure why he's playing in that section since the next lowest rated player is 1650, but who am I to say anything? So far I'm 1-2. The 1 point was a serious gift. It qualifies as Wacky Wednesday material. Stay tuned.
I'm not on my own computer so I can't upload any games. Not that these games are worth looking at. I'm having trouble staying focused and my play reflects it. I have my laptop with me, but no Internet access on it. I don't dare unplug the Ethernet cable from this computer that I'm on and attach it to my laptop. It would be my luck that after I plugged it back into this machine that my host's Internet would stop working.
After the first round I put the game into Chess Base and let Fritz rip it apart. Fritz says I played like an idiot. I thought my opponent was just playing really good moves, and that I had no play. My problem was, I had no game. I played passively and like a chicken. He played the Smith-Morra and I decided not to take on c3. I figured it would transpose into a c3 Sicilian, except that he didn't take on d4. So I still had an extra pawn, but I let him get too much play, and missed opportunities to beat back his attack and hold on to the pawn.
Tomorrow is another day. My one point has staved off the infamous "please wait" for the time being. Maybe I can scare up another point, and gain another 5 rating points. :-Þ
Don't forget to reset your clocks tonight! Spring ahead!
2 comments:
Which version of Fritz do you use?
I use Chess Base 9 and it comes with Fritz 5.2. I have to figure out how I can add Fritz 9 since that version probably has a little more punch to it.
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