Zzzzzzzz When's the next round of sleep begin?I guess for me the sleep round came at 10:50 pm. I just can't explain what had happened. I went into round 4 with a 1-2 score against higher rated opposition. Two experts and and a 1950. I lost to the experts and beat the 1950 in a very nice rook and pawn ending. In the last round I'm playing an 1854. His results have been rather ragged lately, and he's been picked off by some lower rated players. Maybe I thought I got pick hom off too. However when one is totally oblivious to where the opponent's pieces are, and where they're going, trouble is brewing.
Here it is. Given the ugly nature of the game, I've changed my color scheme. Go ahead, have a good laugh. I think it set a record for time elapsed. Less the 12 minutes for the entire game.
Polly - FrankP111308.pgn
Don't ask because I really can't explain it. My mind was not there,
12 comments:
Dont look at ratings or player's history. They both say something about the past but not the present.
I was (am) guilty of it to. I look(ed) to much to my opponent's rating. So i was (am) playing against the ghost of the past.
Recently i adjusted my behaviour at the board. No matter who i am playing i am always doing my best, no matter his/her results and rating and my recent results and rating.
Every game stands on it's own, it has no connection with past or future. It's when the game is played you have to stand, hold, your ground. It's not before or after the game you have to defend or prove yourself, it's during the game.
It's not that I consciously say to myself, I'm going to win because he's lost to people lower then me, or he's not much higher then me.
I try to play the board, not the rating.
In this particular game we had copied each other in the trades of the king bishops. I think I got lulled into a false sense of sameness about fianchetto lines against in the English. When he played Nh4 I was expecting f5 since that's what normally happens after the knight moves to the edge. That's why I played e4. I didn't consider that he's play Qg4, and forgot that after e4 my knight is defended only by the king. Qg5 is the losing move, but at the time I made it I was only thinking about trying to trade queens.
My moves were a total disconnect from the reality of the position and his threats.
Owie! At first, 14.e4 looks a bit unambitious but solid... but that's not the reality at all. 15.Qg5?? - Let's blame it on jetlag. All your hopping about the US must have some effect on your play, right? ;)
"When he played Nh4 I was expecting f5 since that's what normally happens after the knight moves to the edge."
I have lost games that way aswell. I now know better then expecting 'what normally happens'. Now i am drained and sometimes even have a headache after playing a game due to analysing every move i play, finding or expecting nothing normal. Playing chess is hard work.
"My moves were a total disconnect from the reality of the position and his threats."
Do you know the reason for this? Fatigue? Not in your normal concentration mode? Not enough rest between games? Something that worried you like bad shoes, pain in your finger, ...?
Like & Tiger: I can't blame it on jet lag. I've been home since the beginning of November.
The schedule for this tournament can be rough though. If the rounds are behind schedule then one doesn't get much rest between games. My Round two game went right to the end. Both of us were under a minute. My third round game emded ahead of time, so I some time to recover.
I can't pinpoint the reason for just missing everything about the position. Like I said in my title I think my brain had been hijacked. Physically I was there, mentally I was on planet Alpha-Centurian. Beam me up Scotty!
Actually, Koala's eat a lot of Eucolyptus leaves...which get tehm stoned... so... munching and sitting is about all they do.
Polly, if it makes you feel better.
2 days ago at my Club Final competition, I walked right into an opening trap and lost my Rook in a Sicilian Dragon. Painful..... - if that makes you feel any better - kinda hard to play on a whole Rook down from move 15 onwards.... ouch ouch ouch.
:)
Ok, I admit it, I'm a sucker for looking at my opponent's ratings and adjusting my behaviour as well.
Tanc: I think we all take rating into consideration whether we're doing it consciously or deep in our subconscious. If it isn't rating we're considering it may be our past history with the opponent, age, reputation, gender, etc.
PS. I hope you like my koala picture. That fellow I shot at the Taronga Zoo. The other koala picture in an earlier post was in the San Diego Zoo.
Ouch. I miss those tricky queen-knight mating nuggets all the time.
BDK: As you probably noticed from my rather lengthy replies on your knowledge post, I have this thing about knights. LOL
Your suspicions about the koala are accurate. You should see them when they're at LaBare.
nice pix!
ah yes, the beloved Koala bear, does nothing all day except eat and sleep and make baby koalas. :)
i want that kind of life too.
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