I Learned My Lesson, RE:Jet Lag

Last summer I had returned from Susan Polgar's Budapest Chess and Culture tour on a Sunday and attempted to play chess on Monday. It was not a pretty picture as I went 0-3. The last round game came to an abrupt and ugly conclusion. It was the battle of the zeros between Silvio and I. We had reached this position after 30 moves.


Silvio played 31. e5? Black to move and lose. 31...Re8?? (31...Qxe5+ gives black a second pawn with check and a very strong position.) 32. Bd5+ Kh8 33. Qxg3 1-0. Unlike the two earlier games in that tournament I had no clock issues. I had almost 10 minutes left when I played Re8. Silvio's comment after the game was priceless. He said "We're the Two Dwarfs. Sleepy and Dopey." I couldn't have said it better.

Having learned from last year's fiasco I resisted the urge to go to Marshall over the weekend and instead waited three days before attempting any serious chess after a long trip involving many time zones. I thought after a few weeks with no tournaments at the club that we'd get a decent turnout. No such luck. We ended out with a single quad of the regulars Silvio, Ben and myself, and a rare appearance on a Monday night of King Kong.

I wasn't playing horrible chess, but my play was sluggish and in the first round I got into absurd time pressure against Silvio. At the point that we stopped keeping track of the moves he had around four and half minutes and I had four seconds. At one point he could have repeated the position which I was perfectly willing to accept, but he chose not to. I guess he figured the time advantage would be enough. Given my history with him with little time left on the clock, he should have known better.

Even though the forcing the queen trade allows him to double my extra pawns I thought it was my best shot at winning. We reached this position.


pw-sr ending 071408.pgn

Click plus sign to view position.

I messed up big time with the pawn push on f5. Kevin was quick to point out at the end that a4 holds for black. I should play a4 first, then I have the tempo I need to force him away from the queening square. Fortunately me for me my opponent missed a4 also. With 3 seconds left on my clock I got the mate.

That game had taken a lot out of me both mentally and physically. My stomach was twisted in knots my breathing was similar to what happens when I'm having a panic attack. The physical sensations were similar to those I experienced the night of my "adult's worst nightmare" tournament. I'm not sure why I was having such physical reactions. I've had plenty of games that have finished with wild time scrambles before. It wasn't like I was going to go 0-3 in this tournament against a bunch of kids. I'd already won a game, and next up was a kid who I have 5 wins and a draw against. If Kevin is my King Kong, I may be Ben's Godzilla. Somehow I keep finding ways to win against him in positions he should at least have drawn if not won.

Last night's game was no different then our previous encounters. It usually starts with him falling way behind on the clock, and then me catching up later on. This was probably his best game against me, and I thought that this was going to be the time that he finally got this monkey off his back. It didn't help that at one point I had forgotten to press my clock. We had been rattling off a series of moves, and suddenly he goes into a deep think. I'm staring at the board trying to figure out what he's thinking about, then I glance at the clock and notice my time is running. Did he make a move, and I didn't notice? Nope. I simply had forgotten to press the clock. He was trying to catch a breather on my time.

At the point that we stopped keeping score the position looked like this.

It seemed as though I was in a lot of trouble, being down a pawn and his having connected passed pawns on the queen side. Also he had around two minutes versus my 50 seconds. Somehow in the midst of the ensuing time scramble we reached this position, allowing me to win his bishop.

I did give the knight back several moves later to eliminate one of his pawns and then converted my king side majority for the win with 18 seconds to spare.

So after two crazy time pressure packed wins it came down to Polly VS King Kong XIV for all the marbles. The walloping $35 prize fund.

Special thanks and credit goes to Liquid Egg Product for his fine artwork above. I had the idea, and he had the necessary skills to put it together for me. Thanks Donnie!

One one post I made about previous encounters with King Kong one person made the following comment: "Polly, unless there's a pattern to the chess in your games against King Kong, don't worry about "How to beat him?" Just play chess. Also, against youths, I've personally found that the more boring the game the more likely they are to lose interest and transition into bad (often positionally lost) situations.So, just play boring chess! Signed,Just another 1700 player".

After two hair raising close calls I was ready for some quiet and boring chess. But the above poster's stratagy doesn't work with kids who have increased their rating over 200 points in a year's period. To make that type of steady improvement they don't do it on tactics alone. They also have learned to play solid positional chess. There are no spectacular fireworks in this game. It's just solid play with a more active knight versus a jet lagged bishop.


polly-kevin071408.pgn


Click plus sign to view game.

Chalk up another one for King Kong.

Shameless Plug Time!!!

Last year I put up a post with a picture of me wearing a lot less then I would during a chess tournament. Don't get excited. No bikini shot. Sorry guys I was walking a marathon. The picture was in response to Edwin's and DK's sexy babe pics. Here is another picture from that same race.





At the time I was not looking for donations because my fundraising was done for the year. It's a new year, and once again I will spending the third weekend in October in San Francisco doing the Nike Women's Marathon on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

In response to last year's post, I received the following comment:

Glenn Wilson said...
Next year maybe I'll make a shameless plug.

Please do (and now you'll be able to say that it is by request!).



So at Glenn's request here is my shameless plug for a wonderful cause that I've been involved with since 2003.


http://pages.teamintraining.org/wch/nikesf08/pwrighton4

Thanks!

She's Back!!

It's around 10:30 pm in New York, but despite very little sleep my body thinks it's 11:30 am tomorrow. I just got back from Korea. It was an amazing trip. I saw some totally awesome things.

View from the near the top of Seonunsan Provincial Park. Yes that is Buddha carved into the pocks.

My guess is Smokey the Bear's Korean counterpart.

What better place for a lotus pose in front of a lotus patch. I know I'm cheating because my legs aren't on top. Sorry I'm not that flexible.

I only had internet access in Seoul so no time to blog or check other people's blogs. I did not get a chance to go to the chess club in Seoul. Even though I was in the city on the night it met, our group had received tickets to see Nanta. I did not want to miss our dinner and show.

I brought a chess set with me, but no one in our group seemed to play. I was reduced to playing the pathetic program that's part of the in flight entertainment system. I had lots of choices in terms of movies, music, and games. I decided I give the chess program a try. Even on "hard" it was pretty pathetic. The first game I won in around 15 moves. I couldn't remember all of the moves, so I played again. The program put up a little more of a fight, but I still crushed it despite having been on the plane for over 6 hours with another 6 hours to go. I was going to put it up as a Wacky Wednesday" post, but was too tired to put into Chess Base at the time.

airplane-pw070108.pgn

Those are just a few pictures from the trip. I've a gazillian pivs and will post more, and talk about the trip. However I just wanted eveone to know I survived. I just don't want to see boiled white rice and kimchi any time too soon.

I'm fading! Over and out........ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

Me and My Big Mouth! - Edited

Last night was the the Chess Center of New York's 21st Annual Thursday Night Action Championship. This tournament is different from the regular Thursday night tournament in that there are two sections instead of the normal one section. The sections are Open and Under 2200. Not counting the re-entries and house players there were 57 players. The Open section had 23 players alone, including 6 Grandmasters. There are many Thursdays where the one section doesn't even have 23 players. This is one of those tournaments where playing up is an invitation to a first or second round bye to a patzer like me. Can anyone say "Shark bait"?

Since it's such a large tournament for a Thursday night Steve always has someone assist him. This time Andre Harding was helping him. Andre often subs for Steve when he's directing another tournament or inputting 300 kids' names into his computer for the Greater NY Scholastics. Andre sees me come in and he asks "Under 2200"? I tell him yes. I should have stopped at yes, but instead I go on to say "I don't want to deal with bye issues. In this section I shouldn't get the bye. If I'm getting a bye in this section, then I deserve it."

"You figuring 2-2 or maybe 2.5?" Andre asks.

"Yes. 2-2 is about right." The last two years I've had two wins and two losses, so that seemed like a reasonable score to reach.

The typical pairing sequence in this tournament for me has been I get paired up in the first round, and then make the break and get paired down in the second round. In 2006 I lost round 1, won in round 2, pulled an upset in round 3 and then lost in round 4. I actually gained a few rating points. Last year I got paired up in round 1 and lost, but in round two had the misfortune of getting paired down against Robert Hess' brother Peter who was rated 1450 at the time. It was one of those games where I was actually up a pawn but an insipid knight retreat on my part lead to serious ugliness. Being 0-2 lead to getting paired down the next two rounds against lower rated kids. I managed to beat the two kids and maintain a bit of dignity though I did toss ratings points since I was not sitting on my floor for a change.

So back to 2008's event. The top half seemed a little stronger this year. Last year the break was around 1750. This year a 1900 got paired up in round one. In the first round I'm paired against Nagib Gebran rated 2042. Despite my 0-5 record against him I usually give him a fight. Not this night. My game was just butt ass ugly. I got crushed with White. Ouch! I hate when that happens. We were one of the first games done. That gave me plenty of time to stare at the pairings and wall chart and try to figure out whether I was going to make the break or not. I fell smack into the middle so it was possible to go either way depending on number of draws, round 1/2 point byes and upsets. I decided I wasn't even going to try to figure it out. I didn't want to know. I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of just making the break and getting paired against a kid with a published rating of 960 who was actually high 1100s.

I had nothing to worry about. I got paired up against Moshe Uminer, rated 2039. He's another one of those players on my usual suspects list who clearly has my number. I have 1 win, 1 draw and 13 losses against the guy. We have pretty close games that often result in a time scramble, however this was not the night I'd double my number of wins or draws against him. Chalk up loss number 14. At least it lasted longer then the first round, and wasn't so ugly.

Okay, so I've started off the same way as last year, 0-2. No need to panic. Also I knew I won't play the 900 since I was the top of the score group and he was the bottom. There was a possibility I would end out with the lowest 1/2 pointer, but no I ended out with a fellow no pointer, Eric Hecht.

There are times when it does not pay to be the higher ranked player. When you and your opponent are both due the same color and all other things being equal, the higher ranked gets the due color. This is great when you're due white. It sucks when you're due black and you have a crappy record with the black pieces against your lower rated opponent. I knew what was in store for me. I'd see him offer up his c3 pawn. At the moment I'm refusing the gambit. I'm not overly happy with the positions I'm getting, but sure beats getting crushed out of the opening. This game was more like the games we used to have when it would come down to somebody being short on time. I was one the one fighting the clock, and a difficult position.

Note: When I first published this article I seemed to have had some technical issues with Chess Flash. On my Explorer browser I was getting nothing showing, and all my Mac Safari browser I was getting a game of LikeForests. I think I got it fixed so there should be my round three game. Sorry for the confusion. If anyone came across this post after I wrote that note they'd find no game at all. It seemed to have gone into a black hole. Here it is almost a year later, and I notice. Here is the game. Really!

EricH-Polly W062608.pgn


After the game was over I saw Andre and he asked how I was doing in the tournament. I held up my hand in the shape of a zero. He asked "What happened?" I told him about getting paired up twice and then getting paired down against Eric. His reaction was "Oh no! He's the worst possible player to get paired down against. I hate having to play him." Andre has also been victimized by his wild attacking style, and also feels he's under rated.

So then I'm looking at the wall chart to see whether my words of bravado at the beginning would come back to haunt me. Any other zeros lower rated then me? Yes, but taking requested last round 1/2 point bye. Odd or even number of drop outs and last round 1/2 point byes? At the same time the quirky 1100 player who always arrives around this time looking to be a house player comes in and asks if he'll be needed as a filler. I told him if there was going to be a bye needing an opponent, it was going to be me, and no he would not be needed because I was not waiting around, but was going to make the 11:14 train instead.

I have my Thursday night routine worked out precisely. I know exactly what time I need to leave the Marshall in order to make to Union Square in time to catch the subway back to Grand Central. I know what time the subway is pulling into Union Square. I even know whether it's an express or a local. Whether I'm going to catch the 12:30 train (Yessss! No byes!) or the the 11:14 train (Oh crap, I sucked!) I've got the timing down to a science.

With the rounds running a few minutes late I had to be ready to race out the door if I had the dreaded "Please Wait". It would suck to get the bye, miss the 11:14, and have to wait for the 11:45. Knock on wood, I've never missed the train at 11:14 or 12:30. I try not to hover over tournament directors when they're doing the pairings. I hate it when players do it to me when I'm directing. However once Steve started printing the pairings I asked "odd or even?" He knew what I meant by the question and said "please wait." I said good night to him and told Andre "It says please wait, but I'm not waiting. Oh and by the way. I guess I was right when I said if i get the bye in this section then I deserved it!" Note to self: Next year keep your mouth shut about projected score.

If being a NYC pedestrian ever became an Olympic sport, I'd probably win a medal. The object of a NYC pedestrian is to make it from point A to point B without getting hit by a car or bike messenger going the wrong way on a one way street, and being able to cross a street or avenue without having to wait for a light. It's this precise timing at intersections that makes it possible for me to walk from W 10th St and Fifth Avenue to 14th St. and Broadway in five minutes. It also helps that I can walk fast. That's a good thing because the express was pulling into Union Square just as I walked down the stairs to the subway platform. For the first time that night I wasn't in time trouble.

Wonderful Wacky Wednesday!

A slight name change because the game I'm presenting is wacky, but it was from a wonderful US Amateur Team East where my team won the Under 1900 prize with 4.5 points. In 1989 I had the privilege of playing Third Board on a team with Art Bisguier on Board One, a random pick up player on Board Two, and Don Maddox on Board Four. I can't remember what had happened to our original board two, but the day of the tournament we got a replacement whose name I can't remember. In fact I can't remember who our original board two was supposed to be. For those readers who may not have been born in 1989 or don't remember who Don Maddox was. He was the editor for Chess Life for a time in the 80s. He was also one of the developers of ChessBase.

Anyway enough of the name dropping. Out of the 28 US Amateur Team tournaments I've played in, this was probably one of my best and most memorable. My score wasn't overwhelmingly great. 3 wins 2 losses and 1 draw. In fact the tournament got off to a pretty crappy start when I lost to a 1397 in the first round. I was rated 1900 at the time. Fortunately the rest of the team did their job and we won the match. Luckily for me somebody else pulled a bigger upset then the 400 points between my opponent and me, so I did not become the victim of the biggest upset for that round. That game does not qualify for WW status, though the final position is notable for where my king ends out. Sad to say I'm black.

In the second round I'm paired against an 1080. The game does not last very long.



Since I was done so early I kept wandering in and out of the playing room to check on my teammates. We were winning that match 2-1 and Bisguier was up a pawn so it seemed as though we should win the match. However somehow in the late hours of a lengthy game, he gave back the pawn and more. He ended out losing so we drew the match.

This was truly a team effort. Every round one of us who would be out rated on his/her respective board would find a way to pull an upset against a higher rated opponent, and help us pull out a win or draw against a tough team. In round three Don Maddux beat a higher rated opponent to help us pull out a draw against a higher rated team. Don was a trooper. The poor guy had a fever and was sick as a dog. On Sunday he went to his doctor in between the third and fourth rounds. What doctor sees patients on a Sunday? Getting to the doctor involved an hour's drive in each direction. We weren't even sure he'd make it back for round four or not.

In round four it was our second board who pulled an upset against a higher rated player. I beat my lower rated opponent and Don lost to his higher rated opponent. Once again Bisguier was up a pawn. When I finished my game I handed Art the result cards and said "We're winning the match 2-1. All we need is a draw." It looked like the game would go on for awhile. About 10 minutes later I see Art come out of the playing room. I asked him what happened. He said, "I took your advice, and offered my opponent a draw which he accepted." So much for their Board One playing it out for the team. I guess he decided a draw against a grandmaster was better then trying to draw the match. Now we were 3-1 heading into Monday's matches.

In round five it was my turn to beat a much higher rated player, allowing us to win the match. This was my first real win against a master. I don't count the finger fehler win against Master X from the 1985 USATE. I actually turned down a draw in an opposite colored bishop ending where I was up a pawn. I felt my king would get in. I was correct. At som point I'll put the game in Chess Base and post it.

In the last round we had a chance to finish 5-1 and be in a tie for 2nd place. We managed a draw against our higher rated opponents for our4.5 points. I drew a master. Not a bad day for me. 1.5 out of 2 against players rated 2250+. I gained 17 rating points that tournament the nice win in round 5 was cancelled out by the ugly round one loss. My other wins and losses cancelled each other out, so the last round draw made the difference.

Riding the Chess Roller Coaster

Sometimes a chess game is like a wild roller coaster ride where you keep going and going until the ride operator says "time's up, gotta get off now." Truth be told, I hate roller coasters. They scare the crap out of me. I hate the steep drops and the sharp turns. Forget about the ones that turn you upside down. There is not enough money in the world to get me on one of those suckers. Closing my eyes doesn't help either, because I've already seen the monster at work. The only one I really like is "Space Mountain" at Disney World. Maybe it's because I can't see what's coming in the dark.

There are times during a game where I feel like I'm going to lose. Either my position sucks so bad that it's inevitable that it's going to collapse, or I'm down material of some sort. Also if I have a history against the player in question that also plays a part in what's running through my mind. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with my win-loss record against the player. It may just be remembering situations from past games. They say that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Sometimes in chess it's better to forget history so we don't repeat it.

In this game it would have been better if I had not remembered all the times that my opponent has executed correctly with less then 5 seconds on his clock. Just maybe not thinking about that would have helped me get off the "I'm going to lose" rollercoaster before it was too late. John and I have played 14 times up to this point. My record is 1 win, 1 draw, 12 losses. He's a master, and for the most part I've had pretty close games with him. Many games have come down to winning a pawn, and then executing the end game correctly. So when I dropped a pawn against him, and it appeared I'd lose another one I thought to myself "Here we go again."

He had a number of moves that make it easy to convert the ending, but in his time pressure he didn't come up with the killer moves. My problem was I thought there was still a win for him, and I just kept playing on instead of offereing a draw that with 2 seconds left on his clock, he probably would have taken. Despite my time edge, it wasn't like I was playing to run him out of time. I was just trying to hold on for dear life, and somewhere I lost focus on my time and the fact that the position was now a dead draw. As several spectators observed, the game had been drawn for at least the last 20 moves. But no, I got too wrapped up in the rollcoaster ride, and couldn't stop in time.

Tournament of LEP'ers II Round 2

Tonight I played Tom in the second round. It was not a very pretty game. I kind of messed up the opening, but fortunately for me Tom didn't take advantage of it. His game went to pieces after hanging his queen.

We'll see what next week brings.