If one goes back to the early days of this blog he might recall that 2007 ended on a rather strange note in Saratoga Springs. After all how often is it that a player can enter a tournament, play two titled players, score a half a point, and win a class prize? Only happens when 6 players show up for a tournament with 6 guaranteed prizes. But that wasn't even the strangest part of that weekend. What can I say about a tournament where the ages of my first four opponents added up to 40? Plenty, when I write this and that on the subject.
I summarized the weekend by writing; "I'm just so glad I traveled 175 miles and spent 2 nights in a hotel to play three players from my local clubs. We could have all stayed home and played a quad in my living room." It's funny that I wrote that, because less then a year and half later that's almost what we did. However it wasn't a quad and it wasn't in my living room. Instead it was a ten player Swiss in another person's living room. My three opponents were the same three kids that play in my local chess clubs. The order in which I played them was slightly different, but unfortunately the results were the same. At least now they're higher rated.
The most interesting game was my second round against Jacob. We haven't played each other since our game in Saratoga Springs. This game was certainly a lot livelier then our last one. All I can say about it is; "Look gift queens in the mouth."
PollyW-JacobS.pgn
Showing posts with label Saratoga Springs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saratoga Springs. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Empire State Open - Day 2 Closing the Joint Down: Edited
For the second tournament this week I'd play brothers in back to back rounds. On Monday it was Giancarlo Dell'Orto followed by older brother Dario. Over the weekend it was older brother Michael Brooks, followed by younger brother Will. It wasn't an overly exciting game. On move 32 we had 6 pawns each and bishop against a knight. He offered a draw, which I accepted. The combination of not having slept all that well, and a 9:00 AM round start made the draw offer attractive. It gave me time to relax and just hang out with some of the kids from my area. I ended out watching a totally insipid Adam Sandler movie with them. Nothing like a dumb movie to take one's mind off of chess for a few hours.
Going into the last round I had 2.5 points. That was 2.5 more points then I had last year going into the last round, so I really couldn't complain. If I won the last round I'd have a good shot at a portion of the under 1800 money. However I knew it was likely I'd be paired up, so I'd have my work cut out for me. Sure enough I was paired against a 1899 who had 3 points. If he won he'd have a shot at a portion of the place money. We both had reasons to go all out.
Sometimes the body can't keep up with the mind, and it takes some extra measures to try to get things moving. I often struggle with the long time limits because I get restless if my opponent is taking a lot of time. Since the advent of 40/2, G/1 time limits I don't think I've played the full six hour session. My typical games at that time control usually last between 2.5 and 4 hours. Sometimes I'll have a game that will approach 5 hours. My last round game at this year's US Amateur Team was probably my longest game at that time control. It went close to 5.5 hours
Often players will talk about falling asleep during a game, and missing a strong move. Usually they're speaking figuratively when referring to falling asleep. In my case I was literally falling asleep during the early part of my last round game. My opponent would go into a deep think, and I close my eyes. I would start dreaming about other positions or about something totally unrelated to chess. Even when it was my move I would sometimes drift off and couldn't stay focused on the position. All the traveling around and sleeping in strange beds was catching up with me.
I tried walking around when it wasn't my move, but every time I sat down the urge to close my eyes would come over me. When my eyes would close I'd start falling asleep. It was obvious that if I didn't do something about my drowsiness I'd make some horrendous blunder. As it was I was having trouble finding the right moves. I missed winning a pawn on move 16 because I couldn't find the defense to the fork that occurs after I capture the pawn. There was a simple move that holds both pieces, but since I didn't see it I opted not to take the pawn. That pawn would be annoying later on.
As my opponent went into another deep think I decided the only way I was going to wake myself up was to get some caffeine into me. I debated about whether I should send someone out to get tea for me, or get it myself. I find half the time people botch up my order when I ask them get me a cup of tea. They forget that I asked for it black, with no sugar so they end out bringing me tea with milk in it. I decided it would probably be easier for me to run across the street and get it myself then to explain to someone how I like it.
One of the great things about this location is there's a gas station across the street with a big convenience store where you can get cheap sandwiches and cheap coffee or tea. I'm not a big fan of overpriced tea and coffee. I go over and get a 20 oz cup of Earl Grey tea for $1.69. The same thing down the street would have cost $4.00. My trip over and back probably took about 10 minutes, but my opponent still had not moved. I think the combination of getting a little fresh air and some caffeine into my system helped me wake up.
All around us games are finishing and ours has barely begun. We're both using a lot of time. Now that I'm awake I'm actually looking at the board, and not dreaming about some other position. Being awake can sometimes be dangerous, especially when one discovers that the position induced by the sleepy portion of the game isn't very good. I found myself tied up in knots by his knight sitting on d6 guarded by that e pawn that I neglected to take 10 moves ago. I decided the knight had to go, even if it cost me my rook. I knew I'd get at least one pawn for the exchange, and maybe even two.
We both overlooked the fact that he can sac the exchange back in a couple of moves and run his passed pawn down to d8. However there would be no story if that had happened. Instead I’d be writing something to the effect of “I had a last round meltdown.” Been there, done that, have written about it, don’t need to write about it again. Instead I was able to get two pawns for the exchange and things got interesting after that.
In a rare show of patience on my part I was actually using all of my time on the first time control. Usually if my opponent has used almost all of his two hours, I’ve probably only used an hour by the time we hit 40 moves. This was a different game for me. I had taken a chance with my exchange sacrifice, and it was paying off. No matter what was going to happen I was going to keep things interesting. I think I finally had gotten fed up with my wimpy play against the Brooks brothers.
Every round Steve announces the time control and reminds players to make sure their clocks are set correctly. I’ve heard the announcement so many times I tend to tune it out. Since I have a bunch of preset time controls programmed into memory it’s very easy to select the one I need. On a one time control game such as G/60 it’s easy to tell whether or not the clock is set correctly. On a two control game it’s possible that not all the settings are correct. The first time control may be set properly, but unless you look you won’t know whether the second one is correct or not. I had not looked so when my opponent made his 40th move I was horrified to notice that the clock only added 40 minutes to his time. I didn’t want to mess with the clock until I made my 40th move.
Once I made my move I stopped the clock and told my opponent what had happened. He had noticed the time was wrong also. I added the extra 20 minutes to each side. I’m always mortified when something like that happens. I’m one who certainly should know to always check the clock before starting. I’m not sure how the second time control ended out with only 40 minutes. I don’t recall playing in any tournament with that as a second control. However I’ve loaned my clock to kids at times, and who knows what they do with the settings. The text in italics I wrote when I first published this post. Since writing this, I suddenly remembered where the G/40 secondary time control came from. The Blackstone Chess Festival Open had the very strange time limit of 40/80, G/40 with a 15 second delay. I only remembered about it after participating in this discussion on the USCF Forums. I guess in the first game at the slow time control I didn’t get to the second control otherwise I would have noticed the error. I don't use this clock much for multiple time control events, so it's not too surprising that I had a setting left from an August tournament. Those 20 extra minutes would be used by both of us.
From move 41 to 50 it was a lot of maneuvering with the queens. I knew eventually one my queen side pawns would fall, but I was hoping I’d pick up his a pawn, and keep things even. I messed up and he got the c pawn, but I started getting play. In the mean time there are only 2 or 3 games left.
I had built a fortress around my king, but it left my knight totally out of play. Finally I decided I would open the h file even though I risked his getting his queen and rook in there. It got crazy after that, and all the games were done. Everyone was watching. It was a wild finish, but unfortunately I ran out of time before I could find the move that holds everything.
The loss cost me $150, but it was the most fun I’ve had in a chess game in a long time. As I was getting ready to leave Steve was raging on me because he had to write a bunch of $20 checks for the tie for 2nd 1800 instead one check for $150. Sigh. I would liked to have pulled it out, but I froze at the end.
Originally I was going to drive back home after the last round, but since it approaching 10 pm and I had a 3 hour drive ahead of me, I opted to go back to my sister’s house. Hubby would have get himself to the airport the next day.
SRomero - PW122708.pgn
This is the final position when my flag fell.
Going into the last round I had 2.5 points. That was 2.5 more points then I had last year going into the last round, so I really couldn't complain. If I won the last round I'd have a good shot at a portion of the under 1800 money. However I knew it was likely I'd be paired up, so I'd have my work cut out for me. Sure enough I was paired against a 1899 who had 3 points. If he won he'd have a shot at a portion of the place money. We both had reasons to go all out.
Sometimes the body can't keep up with the mind, and it takes some extra measures to try to get things moving. I often struggle with the long time limits because I get restless if my opponent is taking a lot of time. Since the advent of 40/2, G/1 time limits I don't think I've played the full six hour session. My typical games at that time control usually last between 2.5 and 4 hours. Sometimes I'll have a game that will approach 5 hours. My last round game at this year's US Amateur Team was probably my longest game at that time control. It went close to 5.5 hours
Often players will talk about falling asleep during a game, and missing a strong move. Usually they're speaking figuratively when referring to falling asleep. In my case I was literally falling asleep during the early part of my last round game. My opponent would go into a deep think, and I close my eyes. I would start dreaming about other positions or about something totally unrelated to chess. Even when it was my move I would sometimes drift off and couldn't stay focused on the position. All the traveling around and sleeping in strange beds was catching up with me.
I tried walking around when it wasn't my move, but every time I sat down the urge to close my eyes would come over me. When my eyes would close I'd start falling asleep. It was obvious that if I didn't do something about my drowsiness I'd make some horrendous blunder. As it was I was having trouble finding the right moves. I missed winning a pawn on move 16 because I couldn't find the defense to the fork that occurs after I capture the pawn. There was a simple move that holds both pieces, but since I didn't see it I opted not to take the pawn. That pawn would be annoying later on.
As my opponent went into another deep think I decided the only way I was going to wake myself up was to get some caffeine into me. I debated about whether I should send someone out to get tea for me, or get it myself. I find half the time people botch up my order when I ask them get me a cup of tea. They forget that I asked for it black, with no sugar so they end out bringing me tea with milk in it. I decided it would probably be easier for me to run across the street and get it myself then to explain to someone how I like it.
One of the great things about this location is there's a gas station across the street with a big convenience store where you can get cheap sandwiches and cheap coffee or tea. I'm not a big fan of overpriced tea and coffee. I go over and get a 20 oz cup of Earl Grey tea for $1.69. The same thing down the street would have cost $4.00. My trip over and back probably took about 10 minutes, but my opponent still had not moved. I think the combination of getting a little fresh air and some caffeine into my system helped me wake up.
All around us games are finishing and ours has barely begun. We're both using a lot of time. Now that I'm awake I'm actually looking at the board, and not dreaming about some other position. Being awake can sometimes be dangerous, especially when one discovers that the position induced by the sleepy portion of the game isn't very good. I found myself tied up in knots by his knight sitting on d6 guarded by that e pawn that I neglected to take 10 moves ago. I decided the knight had to go, even if it cost me my rook. I knew I'd get at least one pawn for the exchange, and maybe even two.
We both overlooked the fact that he can sac the exchange back in a couple of moves and run his passed pawn down to d8. However there would be no story if that had happened. Instead I’d be writing something to the effect of “I had a last round meltdown.” Been there, done that, have written about it, don’t need to write about it again. Instead I was able to get two pawns for the exchange and things got interesting after that.
In a rare show of patience on my part I was actually using all of my time on the first time control. Usually if my opponent has used almost all of his two hours, I’ve probably only used an hour by the time we hit 40 moves. This was a different game for me. I had taken a chance with my exchange sacrifice, and it was paying off. No matter what was going to happen I was going to keep things interesting. I think I finally had gotten fed up with my wimpy play against the Brooks brothers.
Every round Steve announces the time control and reminds players to make sure their clocks are set correctly. I’ve heard the announcement so many times I tend to tune it out. Since I have a bunch of preset time controls programmed into memory it’s very easy to select the one I need. On a one time control game such as G/60 it’s easy to tell whether or not the clock is set correctly. On a two control game it’s possible that not all the settings are correct. The first time control may be set properly, but unless you look you won’t know whether the second one is correct or not. I had not looked so when my opponent made his 40th move I was horrified to notice that the clock only added 40 minutes to his time. I didn’t want to mess with the clock until I made my 40th move.
Once I made my move I stopped the clock and told my opponent what had happened. He had noticed the time was wrong also. I added the extra 20 minutes to each side. I’m always mortified when something like that happens. I’m one who certainly should know to always check the clock before starting. I’m not sure how the second time control ended out with only 40 minutes. I don’t recall playing in any tournament with that as a second control. However I’ve loaned my clock to kids at times, and who knows what they do with the settings. The text in italics I wrote when I first published this post. Since writing this, I suddenly remembered where the G/40 secondary time control came from. The Blackstone Chess Festival Open had the very strange time limit of 40/80, G/40 with a 15 second delay. I only remembered about it after participating in this discussion on the USCF Forums. I guess in the first game at the slow time control I didn’t get to the second control otherwise I would have noticed the error. I don't use this clock much for multiple time control events, so it's not too surprising that I had a setting left from an August tournament. Those 20 extra minutes would be used by both of us.
From move 41 to 50 it was a lot of maneuvering with the queens. I knew eventually one my queen side pawns would fall, but I was hoping I’d pick up his a pawn, and keep things even. I messed up and he got the c pawn, but I started getting play. In the mean time there are only 2 or 3 games left.
I had built a fortress around my king, but it left my knight totally out of play. Finally I decided I would open the h file even though I risked his getting his queen and rook in there. It got crazy after that, and all the games were done. Everyone was watching. It was a wild finish, but unfortunately I ran out of time before I could find the move that holds everything.
The loss cost me $150, but it was the most fun I’ve had in a chess game in a long time. As I was getting ready to leave Steve was raging on me because he had to write a bunch of $20 checks for the tie for 2nd 1800 instead one check for $150. Sigh. I would liked to have pulled it out, but I froze at the end.
Originally I was going to drive back home after the last round, but since it approaching 10 pm and I had a 3 hour drive ahead of me, I opted to go back to my sister’s house. Hubby would have get himself to the airport the next day.
SRomero - PW122708.pgn
This is the final position when my flag fell.
Position after 60. Kg2
f6 is my best shot here. I just couldn't find it quick enough. A possible continuation would be 60... f6 61. Rd2 (61. Qh4 Qd5+ 62. Kg1 Nf4 63. Rxf4 g5) 61... Qa4 62. Qh4 Qc6+63. Kf2 Nf4 64. Qg3 Qc7.
The photo below indicates a fitting end to my weekend. Somehow I managed to dump my water glass. Fortunately I managed not to dump it on the board, a camera or computer. Maybe there is hope for me after all.
I'm finishing this post at the Marshall Chess Club where I just got through playing in "Your Last Blunder of 2008". I guess it was fitting that I blundered away a win in the last round and ended out with a draw. It could have been worse. I could have lost!
PS: My actual last blunder of 2008 was forgetting to put the memory card back in my camera, so all the pictures I took during the Marshall Chess Club New Years eve party were being saved to a black hole. Duh!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Empire State Open - Day 1
It's taken me a few days to posting about this tournament. By the time I had arrived in Saratoga Springs I had traveled from my house to Albany, from Albany to South Jersey, South Jersey to North Jersey, back to Albany, and then up to Saratoga Springs. Visiting family for the holidays followed by a chess tournament can be exhausting. During that time I spent the night in two different hotels and two different guest rooms at my sister's and friend's houses. It was good to sleep in my own bed last night!
After last year's fiasco, I was looking for signs that this year would be different. The first sign came in the first round when I got paired up against an adult, instead paired down against a little kid. I played adults the first two rounds, and had a 1/2 point more then I did last year after 4 rounds. That's a vast improvement since I started 0-4 last year! In round three I got the inevitable kid pairing, but I didn't really mind. I played one of the girls from New York City that I've played before and have a winning record against. She played a little wildly at the beginning, and paid for it later.
Polly - Lilia 122708.pgn
In round four I played Michael Brooks. He was my last round opponent at the Saratoga Open when I already had the section won. Our game in that tournament was a wild one that ended out a draw. This game was another one with tactical shots. I managed not to blunder anything, and won a pawn. We reached a knight and pawns ending. He offered me a draw in this position:
I probably should declined the draw offer and played more moves. However I was tired and was having trouble counting out even the simplest variation with the knight trade, so I opted to take the draw. It's a simple win if he takes my c pawn and allows me to trade knights. 37. Nxc4? Nxc4 38. Kxc4 Kh4 39. Kb5 Kxh3 40. Ka6 h5 41. Kxa7 h4 42. a4 Kg2 43. a5 h3 44. a6 h2 45. Kb8 h1=Q 46. a7 Qb1+ 47. Kc7 Qa2 48. Kb8 Qg8+ 49. Kb7 Kxf2 50. a8=Q Qxa8+ 51. Kxa8 f5 52. Ka7 f4 53. Kb6 f3 54. Kc5 Ke3 55. Kd5 f2 56. Ke5 f1=Q
I didn't expect him to make that trade, and with knights on the board I don't think I can do much with the extra pawn. 36... Kg5 37. Ke4 Kh4 38. f4 Nc6 39. Nxc4 Ne7 is one possible continuation. With all the pawns being isolated I didn't think there was a win.
Michael and his brother Will were part of a group of Vermonters who came to play in Saratoga. One member of the Vermont contingent was Ben Karren, a student at UVM. He was wearing a UVM Chess tee shirt. I introduced myself and told him I had founded the UVM chess club back in 1974 during my sophomore year. He had started up a chess club again in 2007. We were comparing notes on who still played at the Burlington Chess Club that I would have played when I was there.
Founder 1974 & Re-Founder 2007
University of Vermont Chess Club
I give up on trying to center the caption! If anyone can explain why when I try to center the caption it puts the center code at the top of the page and centers the paragraphs instead of the caption I'd appreciate it. I am severely HTML challenged, and can't get it to work.
After last year's fiasco, I was looking for signs that this year would be different. The first sign came in the first round when I got paired up against an adult, instead paired down against a little kid. I played adults the first two rounds, and had a 1/2 point more then I did last year after 4 rounds. That's a vast improvement since I started 0-4 last year! In round three I got the inevitable kid pairing, but I didn't really mind. I played one of the girls from New York City that I've played before and have a winning record against. She played a little wildly at the beginning, and paid for it later.
Polly - Lilia 122708.pgn
In round four I played Michael Brooks. He was my last round opponent at the Saratoga Open when I already had the section won. Our game in that tournament was a wild one that ended out a draw. This game was another one with tactical shots. I managed not to blunder anything, and won a pawn. We reached a knight and pawns ending. He offered me a draw in this position:
I probably should declined the draw offer and played more moves. However I was tired and was having trouble counting out even the simplest variation with the knight trade, so I opted to take the draw. It's a simple win if he takes my c pawn and allows me to trade knights. 37. Nxc4? Nxc4 38. Kxc4 Kh4 39. Kb5 Kxh3 40. Ka6 h5 41. Kxa7 h4 42. a4 Kg2 43. a5 h3 44. a6 h2 45. Kb8 h1=Q 46. a7 Qb1+ 47. Kc7 Qa2 48. Kb8 Qg8+ 49. Kb7 Kxf2 50. a8=Q Qxa8+ 51. Kxa8 f5 52. Ka7 f4 53. Kb6 f3 54. Kc5 Ke3 55. Kd5 f2 56. Ke5 f1=Q
I didn't expect him to make that trade, and with knights on the board I don't think I can do much with the extra pawn. 36... Kg5 37. Ke4 Kh4 38. f4 Nc6 39. Nxc4 Ne7 is one possible continuation. With all the pawns being isolated I didn't think there was a win.
Michael and his brother Will were part of a group of Vermonters who came to play in Saratoga. One member of the Vermont contingent was Ben Karren, a student at UVM. He was wearing a UVM Chess tee shirt. I introduced myself and told him I had founded the UVM chess club back in 1974 during my sophomore year. He had started up a chess club again in 2007. We were comparing notes on who still played at the Burlington Chess Club that I would have played when I was there.
Founder 1974 & Re-Founder 2007University of Vermont Chess Club
I give up on trying to center the caption! If anyone can explain why when I try to center the caption it puts the center code at the top of the page and centers the paragraphs instead of the caption I'd appreciate it. I am severely HTML challenged, and can't get it to work.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wacky Wednesday: Mind Games & Superstitions in Saratoga
This is not my typical Wacky Wednesday fare, but some of the things I did this past weekend were pretty wacky.
When one finds oneself in an unfamiliar spot, sometimes one has to use what ever little trick to help get through uncharted territory. Sitting on board one at 3-0 after one day's play definitely was a new experience for me. Of all the multi-day events I've played in over the years I've only won two of them. I think in both cases I tied for first with 3.5 out of 4. Those two events were thirty years ago. I don't even remember if I was nervous going into the last day.
Years ago I had other little superstitions and rituals related to chess besides the direction I'd sit in the playing room. Most of them had to do with "lucky pens" and the color ink of those pens. If I lost writing with blue ink, I'd change to black for the next round. What ever pen I won with I'd make sure to keep using it until I lost with it. When it came to ink red was always a bad color for me. I would always lose if I kept score with red ink. When I went on a long losing streak after having my white Mon Roi swapped for a red one, I was thinking maybe the red ink thing had transferred itself to my Mon Roi. That proved to be false much to my relief.
I've had my favorite chess pins that I wear to tournaments, and my assorted chess shirts, sweaters and vests. I've never felt that any one item has been lucky or unlucky. I know some players have had their lucky shirt, and some athletes are well known for their lucky undershirts. Saturday night I was thinking maybe I shouldn't change my clothing for Sunday's rounds. I thought it was kind of silly thinking on my part, but I did decide to wear the same pants and jacket on Sunday. I also made sure that I wore the same pins on Sunday, and put them in the exact same place on the other shirt I wore.
Looking back on this it does seem rather silly. Happy Hippo in one of his recent comments wrote the following: "And it is you yourself who will make or break the game, not Lady Luck. Wearing 100 rabbit's foots or horseshoes around your neck ain't gonna help you (albeit it might frighten your opponent into submission). *grin*" He's absolutely right, but sometimes rituals and superstitions help take the edge off. Sunday morning I got down to the playing room early enough so that I could sit in "my chair" on board 1, and set up my equipment. Once I got set up I realized that I had left the red baseball cap I'd been wearing all tournament up in my hotel room. I know it's totally irrational, but I actually raced back to my room and got the cap. How lucky can this cap be? I've worn it on some Thursday nights when I've gone 0-3 and gotten a bye. But for what ever reason I wanted the cap.
After beating the only other 3-0 in my shortest and perhaps "easiest" game all tournament, I started to think I could actually win this tournament. Though every time one of my friends would ask me if I was going 6-0, I'd tell them I didn't want to talk about it. To me talking about 6-0 before the tournament is over is like talking about no hitters in baseball before the game is over. I DON'T WANT TO DISCUSS IT!!! (Covering ears and loudly singing la la la la la la.)
In round 5 I'm the lone 4-0 so I play the highest rated 3-1 I haven't faced yet. Once again I make sure I get to the board first so that I can have my seat. At this point I'm on a roll so why mess with things? Though by now I have a good feeling about my play so where I sit really shouldn't matter. I was so pumped at how round 4 went, that I played aggressively as black. It's probably one of the best games I've played against a Closed Sicilian. I pushed d5 early, and got a good position.
SARATO67.PGN
He resigned once it became clear that stopping my king side pawns was going to cost him his bishop. Now I could relax since I was 1.5 points ahead of the field. Maybe I jinxed myself over the 6-0 when I spoke to our team's top player about whether both of us could go 6-0 or not. He won his last round game. I guess 5.5 - 0.5 was a fitting score for my best result ever in a 6 round tournament, since my worst result in a 6 rounder was the 0.5 - 5.5 I had at last year's New York State Championship. If I went 6-0 maybe the chess gods would have demanded that I go 0-6 some time in the future. :-Þ Perish the thought!!
When one finds oneself in an unfamiliar spot, sometimes one has to use what ever little trick to help get through uncharted territory. Sitting on board one at 3-0 after one day's play definitely was a new experience for me. Of all the multi-day events I've played in over the years I've only won two of them. I think in both cases I tied for first with 3.5 out of 4. Those two events were thirty years ago. I don't even remember if I was nervous going into the last day.
Years ago I had other little superstitions and rituals related to chess besides the direction I'd sit in the playing room. Most of them had to do with "lucky pens" and the color ink of those pens. If I lost writing with blue ink, I'd change to black for the next round. What ever pen I won with I'd make sure to keep using it until I lost with it. When it came to ink red was always a bad color for me. I would always lose if I kept score with red ink. When I went on a long losing streak after having my white Mon Roi swapped for a red one, I was thinking maybe the red ink thing had transferred itself to my Mon Roi. That proved to be false much to my relief.
I've had my favorite chess pins that I wear to tournaments, and my assorted chess shirts, sweaters and vests. I've never felt that any one item has been lucky or unlucky. I know some players have had their lucky shirt, and some athletes are well known for their lucky undershirts. Saturday night I was thinking maybe I shouldn't change my clothing for Sunday's rounds. I thought it was kind of silly thinking on my part, but I did decide to wear the same pants and jacket on Sunday. I also made sure that I wore the same pins on Sunday, and put them in the exact same place on the other shirt I wore.
Looking back on this it does seem rather silly. Happy Hippo in one of his recent comments wrote the following: "And it is you yourself who will make or break the game, not Lady Luck. Wearing 100 rabbit's foots or horseshoes around your neck ain't gonna help you (albeit it might frighten your opponent into submission). *grin*" He's absolutely right, but sometimes rituals and superstitions help take the edge off. Sunday morning I got down to the playing room early enough so that I could sit in "my chair" on board 1, and set up my equipment. Once I got set up I realized that I had left the red baseball cap I'd been wearing all tournament up in my hotel room. I know it's totally irrational, but I actually raced back to my room and got the cap. How lucky can this cap be? I've worn it on some Thursday nights when I've gone 0-3 and gotten a bye. But for what ever reason I wanted the cap.
After beating the only other 3-0 in my shortest and perhaps "easiest" game all tournament, I started to think I could actually win this tournament. Though every time one of my friends would ask me if I was going 6-0, I'd tell them I didn't want to talk about it. To me talking about 6-0 before the tournament is over is like talking about no hitters in baseball before the game is over. I DON'T WANT TO DISCUSS IT!!! (Covering ears and loudly singing la la la la la la.)
In round 5 I'm the lone 4-0 so I play the highest rated 3-1 I haven't faced yet. Once again I make sure I get to the board first so that I can have my seat. At this point I'm on a roll so why mess with things? Though by now I have a good feeling about my play so where I sit really shouldn't matter. I was so pumped at how round 4 went, that I played aggressively as black. It's probably one of the best games I've played against a Closed Sicilian. I pushed d5 early, and got a good position.
SARATO67.PGN
He resigned once it became clear that stopping my king side pawns was going to cost him his bishop. Now I could relax since I was 1.5 points ahead of the field. Maybe I jinxed myself over the 6-0 when I spoke to our team's top player about whether both of us could go 6-0 or not. He won his last round game. I guess 5.5 - 0.5 was a fitting score for my best result ever in a 6 round tournament, since my worst result in a 6 rounder was the 0.5 - 5.5 I had at last year's New York State Championship. If I went 6-0 maybe the chess gods would have demanded that I go 0-6 some time in the future. :-Þ Perish the thought!!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Attn: Ending Experts! Is this a draw?
In my 9+10+9+12=40 post I made reference to my third round loss, but wanted to deal with the position in a separate post. The crucial position is rich with possibilities, and I didn't want it to get buried amongst my long winded journey through the mind fields of pint sized chess monsters. Here is the game in it's entirety.
EMPIRE64.PGN
The way I played it out I thought I was dealing with a rook pawn ending. Unfortunately with pawns on the other side I don't have stalemate possibilities. On move 58 we reach a typical rook pawn stalemate position, except I have pawn moves on the king side.
At move 50 for black we reached the position below. My oppenent felt I could have drawn if I had played 50...g5. I had done a count and knew he was promoting before me, but pawn is advanced enought that it doesn't seem like he can stop me from promoting even though he promotes 2 moves earlier then I possibly could.
Here is some of the analysis I looked at with the aid of Fritz. After this little exercise I'm convinced Fritz knows jack shit about endings. From the moment I examined 50...g5, Fritz rated the position +- 7.41. At that point I didn't feel so bad about playing the line I did. A loss is a loss. But look what happens.
EMPIRE64.PGN
The way I played it out I thought I was dealing with a rook pawn ending. Unfortunately with pawns on the other side I don't have stalemate possibilities. On move 58 we reach a typical rook pawn stalemate position, except I have pawn moves on the king side.
At move 50 for black we reached the position below. My oppenent felt I could have drawn if I had played 50...g5. I had done a count and knew he was promoting before me, but pawn is advanced enought that it doesn't seem like he can stop me from promoting even though he promotes 2 moves earlier then I possibly could.
Here is some of the analysis I looked at with the aid of Fritz. After this little exercise I'm convinced Fritz knows jack shit about endings. From the moment I examined 50...g5, Fritz rated the position +- 7.41. At that point I didn't feel so bad about playing the line I did. A loss is a loss. But look what happens.
50... g5 51. hxg5+ hxg5 52. fxg5+ Kxg5 53. Kb5 Kf4 54. Kxa5 Kf3 55. Kb5 Kxf2 56. a5 f4 57. a6 f3 58. a7 Ke2 59. a8=Q f2 60. Qe4+ Kd1 61. Qf3+ Ke1 62. Qe3+ Kf1 63. Kc4 Kg2 64. Qe4+Kh2 65. Qh4+ Kg2 66. Qg4+ Kh1 67. Qf5 After this move Fritz gives White+- 4.62 But look at the evaluation one move later after 67...Kg2 = 0.25 .
I looked at a few different variations, and all of them would give White a huge advantage at first and as long as Black guarded the pawn without going Kf1 Fritz would then rate the position equal.
Here's the million dollar question: Can black hold after 50...g5?
Gentleman, start your engines.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
9+10+9+12=40
After spending Christmas with my family I hung out a few extra days with my sister in the Albany area. From there I headed to Saratoga Springs for the Empire State Open. There were three sections. Open, Under 1900, Under 1500. Then there's also the NY State Grade Championships for K-8. I opted to do the two day schedule. That means the first three games played at G/60 , and then in the fourth round we merge with the three day schedule and play 40/2 followed by G/60. I played in the Under 1900 section. At least I thought I was in that section. Considering the average age of my first four opponents was 10, I feel like I was playing in the 4th grade section of the scholastic tournament. It turns out a lot the kids after seeing the weak competition in their respective grades opted to play in the Empire State Open instead. In case you haven't figured it out the title consists of the ages of my opponents. Unfortunately if you take that last number, stick a hyphen in between the 4 and 0, and reverse them you get my score against said same competition.
I thought about playing up, but there's nothing between Open and Under 1900. When the sections are at 200 point intervals such as under 2000, under 1800, under 1600 then I will play up a section to avoid the under 1600 rated kids who decide to play up. For this tournament only one player under 1900 played up in the Open section, so it would have been a weekend of getting crushed. In hindsight I should have played up. I couldn't have done much worse.
In the first round I get paired against a nine year old kid with a 1500 rating. He comes in with his dad. His dad helps him get settled in, and quietly gives him some words of encouragement before we start. Though for all I know he was telling him "Don't let this lady old enough to be your grandmother beat you." The scene was reminiscent of the many scholastic events I've directed where the parents get their kids seated and set up, and then are hustled out of the playing room by the directors.
This isn't a scholastic event so the parents can stay and watch. For the first hour I didn't really notice whether his dad was watching or not, but later I could tell dad was near by because the kid would look at dad instead of at the board. I think having a parent near by can be distracting for the kid. If I'm watching one of my students play I try to watch from a spot where he can't see me so that he doesn't become distracted by my presence. I almost felt like telling the dad "You're not doing your son any favors by watching. He's looking at you instead of the board."
Then again maybe I should not have been worrying about my opponent being distracted. Sometimes I think it's better not to make checkmate threats that are easily stopped. Especially when the stopping move of f3 followed by e4 allows the opponent to totally dominate the center. Eventually he won a pawn. I don't know where my brain was when we reached this position.
I thought about playing up, but there's nothing between Open and Under 1900. When the sections are at 200 point intervals such as under 2000, under 1800, under 1600 then I will play up a section to avoid the under 1600 rated kids who decide to play up. For this tournament only one player under 1900 played up in the Open section, so it would have been a weekend of getting crushed. In hindsight I should have played up. I couldn't have done much worse.
In the first round I get paired against a nine year old kid with a 1500 rating. He comes in with his dad. His dad helps him get settled in, and quietly gives him some words of encouragement before we start. Though for all I know he was telling him "Don't let this lady old enough to be your grandmother beat you." The scene was reminiscent of the many scholastic events I've directed where the parents get their kids seated and set up, and then are hustled out of the playing room by the directors.
This isn't a scholastic event so the parents can stay and watch. For the first hour I didn't really notice whether his dad was watching or not, but later I could tell dad was near by because the kid would look at dad instead of at the board. I think having a parent near by can be distracting for the kid. If I'm watching one of my students play I try to watch from a spot where he can't see me so that he doesn't become distracted by my presence. I almost felt like telling the dad "You're not doing your son any favors by watching. He's looking at you instead of the board."
Then again maybe I should not have been worrying about my opponent being distracted. Sometimes I think it's better not to make checkmate threats that are easily stopped. Especially when the stopping move of f3 followed by e4 allows the opponent to totally dominate the center. Eventually he won a pawn. I don't know where my brain was when we reached this position.
He had just played Qc5. Being down a pawn I didn't really want to simplify, and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to get my attack going again. Like I said before, I have no idea where my brain was, but it sure wasn't looking at the same position that was on the board. I played 37...Qa6??? Oops! Can anyone find mate in two for white? I did after he played his move. That was not how I wanted to start my tournament!
I like traveling to other places so that I can play different people. I get tired of playing the usual suspects. So what happens in round 2? I get paired against Mike the 1600 rated 5th grader who takes my lunch time chess class at his school. Yeh, the same Mike that I beat in a simul at school, but lost to that same evening in the WCA Friday Quads. At least King Kong had the decency to stay in the 5th Grade section so I didn't have to face the possibility of playing him in this tournament.
This particular round really made me feel like I was playing in a scholastic tournament. Mike was not the only kid from my area playing in the "adult" tournament. There were about 8 kids from my neck of the woods playing in my section and the under 1500 section. Since we were all playing the two day schedule we were in a small meeting room away from the scholastic event and the three day schedule of the Empire State Open. When kids are playing in "adult" events they have a tendency to wander around the room and watch their friends play, or if their friend is playing on the adjoining board they'll keep peering over at the other game. Most scholastic events are pretty strict about the kids staying in their seats, and leaving the playing room when they're done. In an event like this one there are no such limitations, so kids take advantage of this freedom to get up and watch other games.
I don't mind people watching as long as they don't stand too close or have a conversation. Since I was playing a kid, I had an audience of kids. Also one of the other kids that I play a lot was playing next to me. He was playing another kid. It seemed like I was surrounded by kids. The game next to us finished before us. The player sitting next to Mike was putting his equipment away. As he picked up his chess board he knocked over Mike's glass of water all over our board. It was Mike's move and the position was getting rather complicated. I had won a pawn early in the game, but now it was getting to the point where I was going to have to give it back.
So here we are in this complex position and there's a big puddle of water on Mike's king side. He looks at the board, and looks at me as if to say "Now what?". I stopped the clock, and we get paper towels to clean up the mess. As we're mopping up the water, pieces are getting knocked over so we take some of the pieces off the board to make sure we get all the water cleaned up. Thank goodness it was only water, and not soda. Also I'm glad we were using Mike's plastic set, not my wood set.
It's times like this that I love my Mon Roi. I was able to set the position back up using the diagram on the unit. I then reversed the view to the black side so that Mike could double check the position and make sure we had set up correctly. When I had first reset the position I had accidentally put a black pawn on f5. Mike noticed the extra pawn. Once we was sure the position was right we continued.
It's a little disconcerting to have something like that happen in the middle of a complicated position. Also in 2007 I had a very poor track record when it comes to inappropriate dispersal of liquids. This year alone I ruined a digital camera and a laptop computer. So I guess given my record versus liquids it should have been no surprise that water all over the chess board would wreck havoc on my focus. We both had to refocus on the game itself. I think I was having more difficulty getting back into the flow of the game. After the flood was when I started falling way behind on time. Here was where it got interesting:
He had just won his pawn back with 33...Bxe3. After 34. Re2 I figured I would regain my pawn advantage when he moved the bishop. He opted to sac the bishop by playing 34...Bxf4. This is how it went from that point. 35. gxf4 Rxc4 36. Rd1 Rxa4 37. Rxd6 Rxf4 38. Ng6 Rf7 39. Ne5?? This was a serious mistake on my part as I missed mate in 4. (39. Rd8+ Kh7 40. Rg2 Rf8 41. Rxf8 e3 42. Rh8#) This stuff happens when one has 10 seconds left!
39... Rc7 40. Re6 Rb4 41. b6 Rc5 42. Nd7 Rd5 43. Ne5 a4 44. Ng4 a3 45. Ne3 Ra5 46. Nc2 Rb2 47. R6xe4 a2 48. Na1 Rxb6 49. Re8+ Kh7 50. R8e3 Rb1 51. Re1 Rxe1 52. Rxe1 b5 53. Kg2 b4 54. Kf2 Ra3 55. h4 Kg6 56. Ke2 b3 57. Kd2 b2 0-1 (White loses on time)
As I was having my time pressure meltdown I had to deal with a kid who must have flunked "spectator etiquette". This kid who I don't even know comes and stands right next to me to watch the game. I tell the kid to step back. So what does he do? He sits down right next to me on the table itself. WTF?? Hello! Since when does one sit on a table where people are playing chess?? At this point I'm ready to snap. I tell the kid to get the hell off the table and stay away. Give me a freaking break! This is not a little second grader. I'd guess he was probably in eighth grade or so. By that age they should know better then to be sitting on tables in the playing room.
So can this tournament get any worse for me? Yes. I get paired against another 9 year old. I tossed away a pawn early, but he allowed me to trade off the queens and double his pawns on the kingside. After the first round disaster of leaving the queens on the board, I decided I'd take my chances in the ending, down a pawn. For a change I was the one who had the time advantage. However I found another way to mess up, and lose a game that probably should have been a draw. I'm going to put the diagram and analysis in separate post.
Now we're into the slow time control of 40/2 G/60. In round 4 I played another kid from my area. He's 12, so he's my oldest opponent so far. This is a kid that I taught back in kindergarten, and knew way back then that he had talent. How many kindergartners can explain why his opponent is making certain moves and be correct in his analysis. This isn't the first time I've played Jacob. We've played 13 times before this game. My record against him is 7 wins, 2 losses, and 4 draws. Here's a kid that I actually have a winning record against. He and I have had some interesting games over the years. I've gotten lucky a few times where he's let me off the hook and I gotten a draw or a win out of a seemingly lost position. Sometimes he will appear to be off in another world, or just appear to be bored with what's going on and that has cost him at times.
He had gotten off to a worse start then me. He went 0-2 on Friday in the three day schedule, so he reentered for the two day schedule on Saturday. Like me, he also started out 0-3 on Saturday. I felt kind of bad for him since he was 0-5 for two days of playing. Some kids are pretty resilient and can bounce back from a string of losses. Others don't handle it so well. Jacob is pretty laid back, so I don't think it was bothering him too much. I don't think I've ever seen him have one of those major emotional meltdowns where someone just totally loses it and starts crying over a horrible loss. He and I were joking around with some of the other kids before the pairings went up about how lousy we were playing. Being a TD and understanding the pairing system I had a feeling we were going to be playing. I'm not sure he knew or not.
Playing an accelerated schedule at a faster time limit for 3 games can be pretty draining particularly if every game goes almost the full two hours. It's also tough when you're playing like total crap and losing to 9 and 10 year olds. I kind of wished I had taken a 1/2 point bye for round 4 and hung out with a couple of the parents who were waiting for their kids to finish their 4th round. What would have been better?
A
B
Unfortunately B was the first stop, followed by A. Sigh. This was just one of those games where I just couldn't think straight. I'm not sure if I was feeling sorry for Jacob because he was having a worse tournament then me, or whether I was just psyched out by the prospect of losing to another kid. All I know was I felt like I was just going through the motions. It almost seemed like Jacob was also going through the motions. At times he'd be staring at the game next to ours, wandering around looking at other games, playing with his pencil or just staring off into space. I almost felt like offering him a draw after we traded queens on move 12, but I don't like quick draws so I decided to suck it up and play. 10 moves later I'd end out making a move that brings a different meaning to the phrase, suck it up.
Sometimes we can over focus on one idea, and totally overlook the obvious. We reached the following position after 21...Ne5.
Black's pieces are more active despite my having the bishop pair. I was very concerned with his playing 22...Nc4 attacking the b pawn and the bishop. I got it stuck in my mind that the only way I could save both was to put the bishop on c3. I didn't even consider 23 Rc2 which holds everything. Putting the bishop on c3 is a blunder since he can play d4 and trap it. I figured the only way I could safely put the bishop on c3 was to play e3 first. This way after 23...Nc4, 24. Bc3 he couldn't play 23...d4 because of exd. What I totally missed was after 22. e3 he simply plays ...Nd3 forking the two rooks. I had spent almost four minutes analyzing e3 before playing it. He spent all of about 20 seconds coming up with Nd3. When he picked up the knight I was so sure it was going to c4. When he dropped the knight on d3 I thought I was going to choke on the sour ball I was sucking.
It was tempting to simply resign on the spot, but we had not even been playing for an hour at that point. I really didn't want be one of the first ones out of the room at that point. There was also the possibility that maybe he'd might implode and mess it up, allowing me to escape. Given some of our previous games there was that possibility. Unfortunately after he won the exchange he became more focused on our game, and wasn't spending so much time looking at other games or fiddling with his pencil. My blunder gave him hope that he'd finally stop his losing streak. All it did for me was leave a pit in my stomach, and this sickly feeling that I was getting blown out by opponents averaging age 10. 22 moves later we ended out with the position in picture B. At that point I decided I had enough.
All I could hope for on Sunday was that the number would remain odd and that I'd get a bye and avoid playing the pain in the ass kid who I had to chew out for sitting on the table while watching my game. I did not want to play him after the little lecture I gave him on proper spectator etiquette. It would be just my luck to have him crush me.
As it turned out, I did get a bye and played a house player rated around 2000. I played better against him even though I still lost. In the last round I played another player from my chess club. I finally won a game. This was our 13th game. I guess for once 13 was my lucky number, since up this point my record against him was a pathetic 1 win, 9 losses and 2 draws. I'm just so glad I traveled 175 miles and spent 2 nights in a hotel to play three players from my local clubs. We could have all stayed home and played a quad in my living room.
The craziness would continue on Monday with Steve's "Your Last Blunder of 2007" tournament. That deserves its own post. Stay tuned for further details. This was long enough.
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