....did not occur on December 31st. I passed on my usual New Year's Eve "cracktion" fix at "Your Last Blunder of ____". That's because I had to make a choice between chess and cycling. After several years hiatus, I've renewed my passion for cycling. Before I started writing this chess blog, I wrote a triathlon/ cycling log. Still Tri-ing After All These Years. A number of things led to my lack of enthusiasm for cycling and doing triathlons. It's a long story that I don't want to bore you with. Chess and Tae Kwon Do filled up a lot of the time I used to devote to cycling and triathlons.
I started cycling again this spring with the idea of simply improving my physical conditioning for Tae Kwon Do and chess. I never thought I would get back to the cycling condition I was in back in 2005, but I have. It's been gratifying to know that six years older I could still ride fast. So with the temperature being the 50s on December 31st, I chose to go riding with my weekend training group.
In my last post I referred to the light at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't a train coming the other direction culminating in one of my infamous train wreck stories. I finally got my rating back over 1800 for the first time since 1996. I had two good tournaments in a row. I went 3-0 in one tournament to go from 1703 to 1774. Three days later I played at the Marshall Chess Club and finally broke my 14 game losing steak at the club. I got an even score and jumped from 1774 to 1810.
It would have been nice to end 2011 with my rating at 1810, unfortunately the following week there was an odd number at my club and I had to put myself into the tournament. It was one of those nights where I did not feel like playing. I was tired, and admittedly I think I wanted to sit on my 1800 rating for awhile. I started out with two horrible games where I got smashed. I thought to myself "Here we go again. Back to playing like an idiot." However in the last round I managed to redeem myself with this entertaining game.
CrRddell-pw.pgn
It wasn't a brilliant game, but it at least stopped the bleeding of rating points. I dropped 19 points to end 2011 at 1791. Not a bad finish considering miserable my record was for most of 2011. I did recoup a few points in my first tournament of 2012. I didn't play any more games before the cut off for the February rating list so my published rating will be 1796. I don't plan to play in any under 1800 sections any time soon. In fact I'm not even playing in an Under 1900 section any time soon.
I'm off to Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon to play in the Liberty Bell Open. Like last year I'm planning to play in the Under 2100 section. I can't make it down in time to play all the rounds of the three day schedule. Instead of subjecting myself to the insanity of playing 4 games at game/35 in the two day schedule on Sunday, I'm taking byes for the first two rounds and then playing five rounds at the more civilized time control of 40/2 SD/1. Even though I've had some good results at the faster time controls, I'm looking forward to having time to really think.
Stay tuned.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Light At The End of The Tunnel
I told you it wouldn't be three months before you would hear from me again. In fact it's actually less then three weeks. When I last posted I was bemoaning the fact that I seemed to have totally forgotten how play the game. From September 12th to December 1st I made it down to the Marshall Chess Club four times to play in the Thursday Night "cracktion" tournament, otherwise known as "Four Rated Games Tonight!" or once a month "10 Grand Prix Points Tonight!" I played a total of 13 games, and I won a total of zero games. Yep, you read that correctly. Zero wins! 13 losses! Not a draw in sight. Most of the games were miserable games where I got a lousy position early on and get crushed either very quickly or slowly grounded down.
If anyone is half-way decent at math he might notice that 4 rated games tonight x 4 = 16. So what happened to the other 3 games? One night I opted for the pre-emptive last round bye since I was the lowest rated player and didn't want to deal with possibly getting a bye in round 2 or 3. The other two times, I dropped out so I could make an earlier train. What happened to the woman who refused to drop out when having a bad tournament? She left the building in disgust. One night I resigned after dropping a pawn early because I didn't feel like playing out a long drawn out game down a pawn. Instead I made the 10:32 train. That's two hours earlier then if I stayed and played the last round.
On that early train ride home I seriously started asking myself "Why are you doing this? You spend $11 on train fare, another $4.50 on the subway, and a $25 entry fee. Why travel into Manhattan to get abused over the chess board? You can stay home and play Monday evenings in White Plains. So why?"
I concluded there were several reasons why I needed those trips to the Marshall Chess Club. I don't need them every week like I was doing the last few years. I needed them at least once a month to remind myself what it's like to see and attempt to play real chess. I need to spend time hanging out with chess players over the age 30. When one spends her days teaching chess to kindergartners, first and second graders after awhile it's easy to forget what real chess is. The other big reason to go to the Marshall is, I'm not in charge. I don't have to deal with the players whining about which ratings are being used, or why they got two blacks in a row, or one player calling another player an @$$ #%!*. I can simply show up, pay my entry fee and let Steve deal with the knuckleheads.
It's been a strange year for me chess wise. I skipped the US Open and the New York State Championships for the first time in years. I spent Labor day weekend in San Diego celebrating my niece's 30th birthday. I could have played in the Southern California Labor Day weekend tournament. It was in San Diego. I actually contemplated playing the two day schedule, but decided just hanging out with my nieces and nephew would be be more fun. After my last trip in October with my sisters, I decided I had taken enough plane flights. There was nowhere I wanted to go. The thought briefly entered my mind to find a state that I haven't played in, but that will have to wait. I'm stuck at 26 and counting.
Although I'm doing a lot of non-chess activity. I've gone back to riding my bike and contemplating a triathlon comeback for next year. I'm working towards my Second Dan Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. That also will probably come next year.
I will end this post by sharing a game played a few Mondays ago. It was another case of muddling through the opening and trying to hang on for dear life as my opponent tried to attack the crap out me from the Black side. On that particular night I ended every game with one or less seconds on my clock. Unfortunately it's not a complete score sheet, but I do have a diagram of the final position. Don't ask me how we got to that position from where the notation stopped.
pw-aabrams112811.pgn
Having survived an unsound sac with one second on my clock, I managed to bang out another who knows how more moves to arrive at this final position. A flurry of rook and queen checks allowed me to arrive at this lovely finish.
Despite going down to the Marshall that same week and losing another three games, I felt perhaps there was a little fight left me. Also knowing why I wanted to be there helped make peace with the inner demons who ask "Why bother?"
The answer to "Why Bother?" came in a most surprising manner. Stay tuned....
If anyone is half-way decent at math he might notice that 4 rated games tonight x 4 = 16. So what happened to the other 3 games? One night I opted for the pre-emptive last round bye since I was the lowest rated player and didn't want to deal with possibly getting a bye in round 2 or 3. The other two times, I dropped out so I could make an earlier train. What happened to the woman who refused to drop out when having a bad tournament? She left the building in disgust. One night I resigned after dropping a pawn early because I didn't feel like playing out a long drawn out game down a pawn. Instead I made the 10:32 train. That's two hours earlier then if I stayed and played the last round.
On that early train ride home I seriously started asking myself "Why are you doing this? You spend $11 on train fare, another $4.50 on the subway, and a $25 entry fee. Why travel into Manhattan to get abused over the chess board? You can stay home and play Monday evenings in White Plains. So why?"
I concluded there were several reasons why I needed those trips to the Marshall Chess Club. I don't need them every week like I was doing the last few years. I needed them at least once a month to remind myself what it's like to see and attempt to play real chess. I need to spend time hanging out with chess players over the age 30. When one spends her days teaching chess to kindergartners, first and second graders after awhile it's easy to forget what real chess is. The other big reason to go to the Marshall is, I'm not in charge. I don't have to deal with the players whining about which ratings are being used, or why they got two blacks in a row, or one player calling another player an @$$ #%!*. I can simply show up, pay my entry fee and let Steve deal with the knuckleheads.
It's been a strange year for me chess wise. I skipped the US Open and the New York State Championships for the first time in years. I spent Labor day weekend in San Diego celebrating my niece's 30th birthday. I could have played in the Southern California Labor Day weekend tournament. It was in San Diego. I actually contemplated playing the two day schedule, but decided just hanging out with my nieces and nephew would be be more fun. After my last trip in October with my sisters, I decided I had taken enough plane flights. There was nowhere I wanted to go. The thought briefly entered my mind to find a state that I haven't played in, but that will have to wait. I'm stuck at 26 and counting.
Although I'm doing a lot of non-chess activity. I've gone back to riding my bike and contemplating a triathlon comeback for next year. I'm working towards my Second Dan Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. That also will probably come next year.
I will end this post by sharing a game played a few Mondays ago. It was another case of muddling through the opening and trying to hang on for dear life as my opponent tried to attack the crap out me from the Black side. On that particular night I ended every game with one or less seconds on my clock. Unfortunately it's not a complete score sheet, but I do have a diagram of the final position. Don't ask me how we got to that position from where the notation stopped.
pw-aabrams112811.pgn
Having survived an unsound sac with one second on my clock, I managed to bang out another who knows how more moves to arrive at this final position. A flurry of rook and queen checks allowed me to arrive at this lovely finish.
Despite going down to the Marshall that same week and losing another three games, I felt perhaps there was a little fight left me. Also knowing why I wanted to be there helped make peace with the inner demons who ask "Why bother?"
The answer to "Why Bother?" came in a most surprising manner. Stay tuned....
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Chess?!
Let's see, I think I remember that game. That's the one with the little horsey that moves in an L shape and can jump over other pieces, right? Bishops are the pointy headed guys that move diagonal, and rooks are those castle like things that move straight? The queen can move like the castle and pointy headed guy? The king...that's the piece that can't get captured? Then there's those round headed guys that cheat because they move one way and capture another way. Pawns? Okay I've got my games squared away.
Sometimes I feel like I've totally forgotten how to play chess. I know how the pieces move, but lately I just don't know what to do with them. Have I been overexposed to six year old kids that no matter how many times I tell them only knights can jump, still move bishops without moving any pawns? Maybe it's the kid who no matter how many times I tell him to move the e or d pawn first, insists on playing 1. h4 followed by 2. Rh2. I suppose it's fitting that I lost last night to someone who opened 1. a4. I think he really wanted to be black so he wasted a move to let me be "white". Not that I can blame him. The two games I played as white were just butt ass ugly. Maybe he figured he have an easier time against me if he just tossed the tempo and pretended to be "black". I didn't disappoint. I tossed the exchange on move 23, and by move 25 managed to turn my disadvantage into a full rook.
Right now I'm wrestling with what I want from chess. I've got some ideas. I think I finally figured out why I subject myself to trips to New City to get smashed by experts and A players on Thursday nights. More on my midnight musings on Metro North in my next post. Yes there will be a next post, and it won't take another 3 months for it to appear. I just wanted get a few words out to let people know, I am amongst the living.
Sometimes I feel like I've totally forgotten how to play chess. I know how the pieces move, but lately I just don't know what to do with them. Have I been overexposed to six year old kids that no matter how many times I tell them only knights can jump, still move bishops without moving any pawns? Maybe it's the kid who no matter how many times I tell him to move the e or d pawn first, insists on playing 1. h4 followed by 2. Rh2. I suppose it's fitting that I lost last night to someone who opened 1. a4. I think he really wanted to be black so he wasted a move to let me be "white". Not that I can blame him. The two games I played as white were just butt ass ugly. Maybe he figured he have an easier time against me if he just tossed the tempo and pretended to be "black". I didn't disappoint. I tossed the exchange on move 23, and by move 25 managed to turn my disadvantage into a full rook.
Right now I'm wrestling with what I want from chess. I've got some ideas. I think I finally figured out why I subject myself to trips to New City to get smashed by experts and A players on Thursday nights. More on my midnight musings on Metro North in my next post. Yes there will be a next post, and it won't take another 3 months for it to appear. I just wanted get a few words out to let people know, I am amongst the living.
Friday, September 16, 2011
In Case You Were Wondering......
....where my blog posts on the US Open are, there aren't any. It's not because I didn't feel like writing about my usual US Open agony. There was no US Open agony because instead of agonizing over whether or not I should take a bye in round 7 after cramming in six games on Thursday and Friday, I was doing this....
Instead of spending Saturday and Sunday trapped inside sitting in delegates meetings I was doing this...
The only agonizing had been in May when I found out my Uncle Charlie's 90th birthday celebration was going to be the same weekend as the US Open. There really wasn't that much agonizing. Let's see.... Orlando, Florida or North Hatley, Canada in August? Let's see... Sitting in a hotel at the Orlando airport for 5 days playing chess and attending meetings, or spending 4 days at a charming inn in Canada on a beautiful lake hanging out with family and friends.
Yes dear readers, I do have a life outside of chess. The US Open comes around once a year. A 90th birthday only comes around once in the person's lifetime. That's assuming he or she lasts that long. Sadly I did not get to celebrate a 90th birthday for either of my parents, so when I still have relatives who reach that milestone it's worth traveling far away from the chess scene to celebrate with them.
In case you think this is just a filler piece while I work on my New York State Championship posts, let me set the record straight. You'll have to wait until 2012 at the earliest for my next report on the New York State Championship. That's because when I was in Canada with my sister, I decided I would spend Labor Day weekend in San Diego with her, instead of in her empty house in Albany while playing in the state championship.
This was the summer of all things not chess. I played at my club here and there. I made a token appearance at the Marshall for Thursday cracktion. Almost a year later I played Black against Scot Mc Elheny again. Although the result was the same, it was a much longer game. Maybe this should be filed under Freaky Friday.
SMcElheny-pw081111.pgn
Alas summer chess vacation is over. I direct my first scholastic tournament this weekend, and I start teaching my first chess classes next week. Last night I showed my face at the Marshall once again. I think they wondered if I was still alive. Rumors of my chess death are greatly exaggerated. Expect to see more blog posts as I try to figure out if I really can play this infernal game called chess.
Celebrating Uncle Charlie's 90th birthday
Instead of spending Saturday and Sunday trapped inside sitting in delegates meetings I was doing this...
Swimming in Lake Massiwhippy
And this...
Listening to jazz on Sunday afternoon.
The only agonizing had been in May when I found out my Uncle Charlie's 90th birthday celebration was going to be the same weekend as the US Open. There really wasn't that much agonizing. Let's see.... Orlando, Florida or North Hatley, Canada in August? Let's see... Sitting in a hotel at the Orlando airport for 5 days playing chess and attending meetings, or spending 4 days at a charming inn in Canada on a beautiful lake hanging out with family and friends.
In case you think this is just a filler piece while I work on my New York State Championship posts, let me set the record straight. You'll have to wait until 2012 at the earliest for my next report on the New York State Championship. That's because when I was in Canada with my sister, I decided I would spend Labor Day weekend in San Diego with her, instead of in her empty house in Albany while playing in the state championship.
This was the summer of all things not chess. I played at my club here and there. I made a token appearance at the Marshall for Thursday cracktion. Almost a year later I played Black against Scot Mc Elheny again. Although the result was the same, it was a much longer game. Maybe this should be filed under Freaky Friday.
SMcElheny-pw081111.pgn
Alas summer chess vacation is over. I direct my first scholastic tournament this weekend, and I start teaching my first chess classes next week. Last night I showed my face at the Marshall once again. I think they wondered if I was still alive. Rumors of my chess death are greatly exaggerated. Expect to see more blog posts as I try to figure out if I really can play this infernal game called chess.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
On the Road, but Not for Chess!
I leave shortly for Brussels in about an hour. No great chess plans on the agenda though one of my readers did give me a few suggestions of chess cafes. One I've been to on my last trip to Amsterdam, and I was not successful in getting any games. Maybe this time I'll have better luck if I visit there again.
A lot has happened in the chess world that I was not part of. I skipped this year's Thursday Night Action Championship. I was in no mood to deal with the angst of which section to play in. The previous Thursday got me fed up with chess. I realize I'm not going to improve until I do some work on my game. Right now I don't feel like working on my game. I have too much else going on. Read this post at my other blog and you'll understand.
The week before I went down to the Marshall for Thursday's 4 Rated Games Tonight! It had been a month since I last played down there. I figured I should show my face before people thought I had died. Since Josh and dad weren't going I had to take the train down to Grand Central and then catch the subway down to Greenwich Village. $5.95 for the train and $2.25 for the subway each way. On top of that there's the $25 entry fee. $16.40 + $25 = $41.40 for an evening of "entertainment".
My evening's entertainment featured getting smacked around in round 1 by a 2100. In between rounds I got into a bit of a heated discussion with a player who had dropped out a tournament at my club. I wasn't the director that night. When I run tournaments at my club I either play or don't play depending on whether it's odd or even. I can either put myself in if the number is odd or take myself out to keep it even. I was rather annoyed that he withdrew that night because it caused the number to be odd so someone got a bye. I was even more annoyed that it was him because I had put a rule in requiring players over 1900 to play all the rounds. I did that because this particular player ended out getting a bye in the last round when a kid took a bye in the last round. He was pissed off because he wanted to play all 3 rounds. I let him know that I did not like the fact that he dropped out of the tournament causing someone to get a bye.
He took offense at my criticizing him for dropping out. This was not the first time we've exchanged words under not such nice circumstances. So what happens? I have to play him in the next round. I hate when I have to play someone who I've had a dispute with. It just makes things a little uncomfortable. Outside of the perfunctory hand shake and "good luck" at the beginning nothing else was said. The game did not get off to a great start. I managed to lose the exchange early. However some how I managed to battle back and draw the game, but not before losing a piece. That part of the game did not get recorded because we both had seconds left on our clock.
Here's the game.
pw-by61611.pgn
I was happy to pull out the draw under those circumstances. Yes it would have been nice to beat the guy, but a draw against a higher rated player was also acceptable. Round 3 I got paired up again and lost. I was also paired up in round 4. That game was particularly annoying because the opponent gave up a pawn early. It didn't seem like he was getting any huge jump in development from the pawn gambit. In fact I felt I had an excellent position with passed a and b pawns. Somehow I let the position slip away and he got all kinds of counter play and went on to win.
Here is that game:
pw-JCuscianna61611.pgn
For $41.40 I got to lose three games, draw one, lose another 13 rating points and get into an argument. Who needs that crap? On the train ride back I realized that I'm making myself crazy with this kind of play. I'm making the same mistakes out of the opening and I'm missing simple tactics. Why do I need to do this to myself? Until I invest some time into my game things aren't going to change. The time limit isn't necessarily the issue. Many of the mistakes are coming before the clock is a factor.
I decided unless I'm getting a ride down to the Marshall I'm not going to play.
To be continued....
A lot has happened in the chess world that I was not part of. I skipped this year's Thursday Night Action Championship. I was in no mood to deal with the angst of which section to play in. The previous Thursday got me fed up with chess. I realize I'm not going to improve until I do some work on my game. Right now I don't feel like working on my game. I have too much else going on. Read this post at my other blog and you'll understand.
The week before I went down to the Marshall for Thursday's 4 Rated Games Tonight! It had been a month since I last played down there. I figured I should show my face before people thought I had died. Since Josh and dad weren't going I had to take the train down to Grand Central and then catch the subway down to Greenwich Village. $5.95 for the train and $2.25 for the subway each way. On top of that there's the $25 entry fee. $16.40 + $25 = $41.40 for an evening of "entertainment".
My evening's entertainment featured getting smacked around in round 1 by a 2100. In between rounds I got into a bit of a heated discussion with a player who had dropped out a tournament at my club. I wasn't the director that night. When I run tournaments at my club I either play or don't play depending on whether it's odd or even. I can either put myself in if the number is odd or take myself out to keep it even. I was rather annoyed that he withdrew that night because it caused the number to be odd so someone got a bye. I was even more annoyed that it was him because I had put a rule in requiring players over 1900 to play all the rounds. I did that because this particular player ended out getting a bye in the last round when a kid took a bye in the last round. He was pissed off because he wanted to play all 3 rounds. I let him know that I did not like the fact that he dropped out of the tournament causing someone to get a bye.
He took offense at my criticizing him for dropping out. This was not the first time we've exchanged words under not such nice circumstances. So what happens? I have to play him in the next round. I hate when I have to play someone who I've had a dispute with. It just makes things a little uncomfortable. Outside of the perfunctory hand shake and "good luck" at the beginning nothing else was said. The game did not get off to a great start. I managed to lose the exchange early. However some how I managed to battle back and draw the game, but not before losing a piece. That part of the game did not get recorded because we both had seconds left on our clock.
Here's the game.
pw-by61611.pgn
I was happy to pull out the draw under those circumstances. Yes it would have been nice to beat the guy, but a draw against a higher rated player was also acceptable. Round 3 I got paired up again and lost. I was also paired up in round 4. That game was particularly annoying because the opponent gave up a pawn early. It didn't seem like he was getting any huge jump in development from the pawn gambit. In fact I felt I had an excellent position with passed a and b pawns. Somehow I let the position slip away and he got all kinds of counter play and went on to win.
Here is that game:
pw-JCuscianna61611.pgn
For $41.40 I got to lose three games, draw one, lose another 13 rating points and get into an argument. Who needs that crap? On the train ride back I realized that I'm making myself crazy with this kind of play. I'm making the same mistakes out of the opening and I'm missing simple tactics. Why do I need to do this to myself? Until I invest some time into my game things aren't going to change. The time limit isn't necessarily the issue. Many of the mistakes are coming before the clock is a factor.
I decided unless I'm getting a ride down to the Marshall I'm not going to play.
To be continued....
Friday, June 24, 2011
Reflections on Deflection
I mentioned in my last post about my two wins in Fremont using the same tactic. In a rather different style of posting for me, I'm going to do an instructional post. Lately my games have been rather blah. I fumble through the opening, muddle through the middle game, and depending on how I survived the middle game, I may or may not been able to hold the position for a win or draw. It's been rather depressing to watch my games unfold in a similar pattern game after game. It's also been rather boring. I really need to shake up my chess if I want to get out of this rut I've been in. However at the moment I'm not overwhelmingly motivated to do so. Perhaps a separate post on life as a "Jack of all trades, master of none" is in order, but I digress.
For the entire month of April I did not play one single game of "cracktion". Every single game I played in April was at a time limit of G/85 or slower. I played in the Bob Peretz Chess Club Championship and the Westchester Chess Club Championship. The latter just finished a couple of weeks ago. Sad to say it was nothing like the 2009 championship. Losing rounds 5 and 6 to the two guys who who end out as co-champions did not help matters.
In mid-May I ventured down to the Marshall Chess Club for the weekly "cracktion" tournament. In the first round I was paired against IM Ilye Figler. This was my 13th game against him and like 11 of my previous encounters with him, I lost. My only draw with him was back in 1997. He got the IM title last year at the NY International at the tender age of 63. Yes there is hope for those who are not under rated little munchkins. I felt like I was holding my own out of the opening. However things fell apart after I played the rather insipid move of 15...c6. Looking back at the game I don't even remember why I played the move. Was I afraid of 16. d5? More to the point, was it one of those "I don't know what to do so I'll just make a random pawn move and see what happens" moments?
![]()
I totally missed 16. Bxh6! I chose not to play 16...gxh6 allowing 17. Rxf6. I felt if I was going to play down a pawn against an IM I should keep the pawns around my king somewhat intact so I opted to play 16...Nh5, a move that would have been better then c6. The game continued 17.Bf4 Nxg3 18.Bxg3 Rad8 19.Rae1 Bh5 20.e5 Bg6 21.Bxg6 Nxg6 22. e6 to reach the position below.
![]()
I guess I didn't get quite get the tactical idea of deflection down the first time so I foolishly accepted the pawn he offered. 22...fxe6? 23.Qxg6 Qd5 24.Be5 Rd7 25.Rxf8+ Kxf8 26.Rf1+ Kg8 27.Qe8+ Kh7 28.Rf8 Black resigns.
Many a wise chess teacher has said "Learn from your mistakes." This not so wise chess teacher has told her students the same thing. Do I always follow my own advice? We won't go there. However I did manage to use this very same tactic, not once but twice a few weeks later.
In the first round of CalChess State Championship I got paired against the first of four opponents under the age of 13 that I would face over the weekend. She was only 8 years old. She played very solidly and I had to wonder if I was going to cough up a 1/2 point in the very first round. I had played 27...Nf4 with the idea playing 28...Nxh3 if she didn't play 28. Kh2 or moving the knight. She played 28. a4 to reach the position below.
![]()
I took my time to make sure there was no counter play if I took the pawn on h3. Noting that I'm taking with check and can retreat to f4 afterward I play 28...Nxh3+. I'm up a pawn, but I still had a lot of work ahead of me. Just like I did in the Bob Peretz Club Championship, I had to grind out a rook and pawn ending. She offered me several draws which I turned down. She was going to have to prove to me that she could hold the ending. She couldn't hold and finally on move 65 I mated her in a queen and king ending.
I could have mated her on move 64, but I think I was fixated on avoiding stalemates and missed both moves that mate in the position below.
![]()
I missed 64...Qe2# and 64...Qc1#. Instead I played 64...Qc2. 65. Kf1 Qf2#. Good thing there wasn't a 50 move rule claim in the making. That would have been very embarrassing.
The next two games would two exercises in ugliness. The total number of moves in the two games combined was less then the number of moves played in the first round. Since neither game falls into the theme of this post I'm not bothering to show them.
In round 4 I finally get to play someone who may actually be older then me. If I had added up the ages of my first 3 opponents and multiplied by 2 the total might have come close to my age.
Once again I came across a position where I could take a "protected" pawn for free. We reached the following position after Black played 25...Re8.
![]()
Once again an advanced h pawn was just begging to be taken. The position was very similar to the one from the first round. However there were a few differences. First, there were a lot more pieces on the board. Second, at first glance it appears Black can counter with 26...Nfxd5. In reality there is no counter play for Black because moving the knight off of f6 opens up the long diagonal for White's queen. I played 26. Bxh6 expecting the game to continue 26...gxh6 27. Qxf6 and then face a long grind trying to convert the pawn advantage. Much to my surprise Black countered with 26...Nfxd5?? I had to double check and make sure I wasn't imagining things with the move 27. Qxg7# Yes it really was mate. For a change I would be the beneficiary of a very short game.
I would like to say that winning in such a manner inspired me to go 2-0 on Monday and limit the damage of my rocky 2-2 start. Monday morning I started off by hanging a pawn on move 7 because I reversed the move order. 41 moves later I squeezed out a draw against my young under rated opponent. Round 6 I still could salvage a plus 1 or even score with a win or a draw. Unfortunately I was done in by White's very active rooks and the game came to an abrupt end with my playing 40...Kh8? in the following position.
![]()
I presume my readers can do a better job of finding the mate then I did. I suppose the bright side of getting mated on move 41 was not having to try to hold the position after 40...Kf8 41. Rxg6.
The one thing I learned from this tournament is play up a section. Northern California has even more under rated kids then Southern California. However Northern California chess parents aren't psychotic like some of the Southern California chess parents I've encountered.
That's it for my chess travels for the time being. My next trip will be with the chess widower of my life. We cashed in a bunch of frequent flier miles and will be spending time in Belgium and Netherlands. Perhaps my Belgium readers can steer me to a chess cafe in Brussels or Bruge.
For the entire month of April I did not play one single game of "cracktion". Every single game I played in April was at a time limit of G/85 or slower. I played in the Bob Peretz Chess Club Championship and the Westchester Chess Club Championship. The latter just finished a couple of weeks ago. Sad to say it was nothing like the 2009 championship. Losing rounds 5 and 6 to the two guys who who end out as co-champions did not help matters.
In mid-May I ventured down to the Marshall Chess Club for the weekly "cracktion" tournament. In the first round I was paired against IM Ilye Figler. This was my 13th game against him and like 11 of my previous encounters with him, I lost. My only draw with him was back in 1997. He got the IM title last year at the NY International at the tender age of 63. Yes there is hope for those who are not under rated little munchkins. I felt like I was holding my own out of the opening. However things fell apart after I played the rather insipid move of 15...c6. Looking back at the game I don't even remember why I played the move. Was I afraid of 16. d5? More to the point, was it one of those "I don't know what to do so I'll just make a random pawn move and see what happens" moments?
Position after 15...c6?
I totally missed 16. Bxh6! I chose not to play 16...gxh6 allowing 17. Rxf6. I felt if I was going to play down a pawn against an IM I should keep the pawns around my king somewhat intact so I opted to play 16...Nh5, a move that would have been better then c6. The game continued 17.Bf4 Nxg3 18.Bxg3 Rad8 19.Rae1 Bh5 20.e5 Bg6 21.Bxg6 Nxg6 22. e6 to reach the position below.
I guess I didn't get quite get the tactical idea of deflection down the first time so I foolishly accepted the pawn he offered. 22...fxe6? 23.Qxg6 Qd5 24.Be5 Rd7 25.Rxf8+ Kxf8 26.Rf1+ Kg8 27.Qe8+ Kh7 28.Rf8 Black resigns.
Many a wise chess teacher has said "Learn from your mistakes." This not so wise chess teacher has told her students the same thing. Do I always follow my own advice? We won't go there. However I did manage to use this very same tactic, not once but twice a few weeks later.
In the first round of CalChess State Championship I got paired against the first of four opponents under the age of 13 that I would face over the weekend. She was only 8 years old. She played very solidly and I had to wonder if I was going to cough up a 1/2 point in the very first round. I had played 27...Nf4 with the idea playing 28...Nxh3 if she didn't play 28. Kh2 or moving the knight. She played 28. a4 to reach the position below.
I took my time to make sure there was no counter play if I took the pawn on h3. Noting that I'm taking with check and can retreat to f4 afterward I play 28...Nxh3+. I'm up a pawn, but I still had a lot of work ahead of me. Just like I did in the Bob Peretz Club Championship, I had to grind out a rook and pawn ending. She offered me several draws which I turned down. She was going to have to prove to me that she could hold the ending. She couldn't hold and finally on move 65 I mated her in a queen and king ending.
I could have mated her on move 64, but I think I was fixated on avoiding stalemates and missed both moves that mate in the position below.
Black to move. Mate in one.
I missed 64...Qe2# and 64...Qc1#. Instead I played 64...Qc2. 65. Kf1 Qf2#. Good thing there wasn't a 50 move rule claim in the making. That would have been very embarrassing.
The next two games would two exercises in ugliness. The total number of moves in the two games combined was less then the number of moves played in the first round. Since neither game falls into the theme of this post I'm not bothering to show them.
In round 4 I finally get to play someone who may actually be older then me. If I had added up the ages of my first 3 opponents and multiplied by 2 the total might have come close to my age.
Once again I came across a position where I could take a "protected" pawn for free. We reached the following position after Black played 25...Re8.
Once again an advanced h pawn was just begging to be taken. The position was very similar to the one from the first round. However there were a few differences. First, there were a lot more pieces on the board. Second, at first glance it appears Black can counter with 26...Nfxd5. In reality there is no counter play for Black because moving the knight off of f6 opens up the long diagonal for White's queen. I played 26. Bxh6 expecting the game to continue 26...gxh6 27. Qxf6 and then face a long grind trying to convert the pawn advantage. Much to my surprise Black countered with 26...Nfxd5?? I had to double check and make sure I wasn't imagining things with the move 27. Qxg7# Yes it really was mate. For a change I would be the beneficiary of a very short game.
I would like to say that winning in such a manner inspired me to go 2-0 on Monday and limit the damage of my rocky 2-2 start. Monday morning I started off by hanging a pawn on move 7 because I reversed the move order. 41 moves later I squeezed out a draw against my young under rated opponent. Round 6 I still could salvage a plus 1 or even score with a win or a draw. Unfortunately I was done in by White's very active rooks and the game came to an abrupt end with my playing 40...Kh8? in the following position.
After 40...Kh8? White has mate in 1.
I presume my readers can do a better job of finding the mate then I did. I suppose the bright side of getting mated on move 41 was not having to try to hold the position after 40...Kf8 41. Rxg6.
The one thing I learned from this tournament is play up a section. Northern California has even more under rated kids then Southern California. However Northern California chess parents aren't psychotic like some of the Southern California chess parents I've encountered.
That's it for my chess travels for the time being. My next trip will be with the chess widower of my life. We cashed in a bunch of frequent flier miles and will be spending time in Belgium and Netherlands. Perhaps my Belgium readers can steer me to a chess cafe in Brussels or Bruge.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Where Do I Start?
Let's see since I got back from Victoria I've had my hands full. I got back on Tuesday April 26th. On Saturday April 30th we had our school's big Tae Twon Do tournament where I was competing in several events and also taking pictures.
The following weekend I traveled to Dallas for the National Elementary Championships. I wasn't coaching or directing. I just decided to go, hang out, possibly play in the Parents & Friends, and visit my uncle and cousin who live in Dallas. As it turned out I ended out getting work once I got down there. I took pictures and would be writing an article for Chess Life for Kids, and I also ended out coaching a private student whose regular coach had his hands full with his team. He asked me if I would work with the kid over the weekend. That worked out well for me, but my relaxing weekend ended out not being so relaxing.
I barely caught my breath from the weekend in Dallas when I get an email from the editor on Tuesday saying he needed the article that night because his typesetter was going out of the country on Thursday. How the heck was I going to pull off this feat? Normally I have plenty of time to do research, contact parents/coaches, come up with a theme and write the article. I had a flashback to my college days when I was the queen of procrastination. Quite often I would wait until the day before a term paper was due and start writing. I'd be up all night fueled by caffeine laden soda and junk food, and somehow manage to put together a paper that would give me a passing grade. (barely) In this particular case it was not procrastination it was a ultra-short deadline that I wasn't expecting.
To make a long night short, I pulled it off. I had enough information that I was able to cobble together a story that was a little light on story but loaded with pictures. After spending over an hour trying to write an introductory paragraph I finally gave up. I just started writing about each section and putting in as much information as I could about how each of the championship sections played out. I had some background info and one email address. That was enough to get things going. At 6:00 am Wednesday morning I was able to submit and article and lots of pictures. The article came out in the June issue of Chess Life for Kids. Despite the short turn around time on it, I actually thought it came out pretty well.
The club championship from hell finally came to an end, but not without more complications. We did have a clear winner, but there were a number of forfeits in round 6 and I ended out withdrawing to keep numbers even after somebody dropped out for round six. Argh! The good news is I picked up 97 rating points. The bad news is that was 3 points short of breaking 1800 for the first time since 1992. The worst news is I gave back 43 of them to under rated kids from Northern California. That tournament was the last of my three trips I made between Easter weekend and Memorial Day weekend.
That's the short version of how things have been going. I have some interesting games both good and bad. The two games I won in California were won using the same tactic that I lost to a few weeks earlier in New York City. Perhaps I finally managed to learn something from one of my losses.
Here I am in the forms competition.
A rare moment of a decent side kick.
The following weekend I traveled to Dallas for the National Elementary Championships. I wasn't coaching or directing. I just decided to go, hang out, possibly play in the Parents & Friends, and visit my uncle and cousin who live in Dallas. As it turned out I ended out getting work once I got down there. I took pictures and would be writing an article for Chess Life for Kids, and I also ended out coaching a private student whose regular coach had his hands full with his team. He asked me if I would work with the kid over the weekend. That worked out well for me, but my relaxing weekend ended out not being so relaxing.
I barely caught my breath from the weekend in Dallas when I get an email from the editor on Tuesday saying he needed the article that night because his typesetter was going out of the country on Thursday. How the heck was I going to pull off this feat? Normally I have plenty of time to do research, contact parents/coaches, come up with a theme and write the article. I had a flashback to my college days when I was the queen of procrastination. Quite often I would wait until the day before a term paper was due and start writing. I'd be up all night fueled by caffeine laden soda and junk food, and somehow manage to put together a paper that would give me a passing grade. (barely) In this particular case it was not procrastination it was a ultra-short deadline that I wasn't expecting.
To make a long night short, I pulled it off. I had enough information that I was able to cobble together a story that was a little light on story but loaded with pictures. After spending over an hour trying to write an introductory paragraph I finally gave up. I just started writing about each section and putting in as much information as I could about how each of the championship sections played out. I had some background info and one email address. That was enough to get things going. At 6:00 am Wednesday morning I was able to submit and article and lots of pictures. The article came out in the June issue of Chess Life for Kids. Despite the short turn around time on it, I actually thought it came out pretty well.
The club championship from hell finally came to an end, but not without more complications. We did have a clear winner, but there were a number of forfeits in round 6 and I ended out withdrawing to keep numbers even after somebody dropped out for round six. Argh! The good news is I picked up 97 rating points. The bad news is that was 3 points short of breaking 1800 for the first time since 1992. The worst news is I gave back 43 of them to under rated kids from Northern California. That tournament was the last of my three trips I made between Easter weekend and Memorial Day weekend.
That's the short version of how things have been going. I have some interesting games both good and bad. The two games I won in California were won using the same tactic that I lost to a few weeks earlier in New York City. Perhaps I finally managed to learn something from one of my losses.
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