Game Of The Week
This week’s game comes from my first weekend chess tournament. It was the first time I played with a slow time control (any time control that allows a certain number of moves in a specific amount of time then has additional time for the rest of the game). It was also my biggest upset in a slow game. I haven’t done better since.
In fact, I have only pulled off 4 more upsets in slow games in the past 8 years. That seems low to me, but it does seem to explain why I have only gained about 34 rating points per year.
It also seems to indicate to me that chess is more than just finding the right move. It is about managing stress. I had no rating in this game and didn’t know I was lower rated. I didn’t worry about making mistakes as I figured I could overcome them and I did. It wasn’t a big deal I won at the time.
Now, I realize it is still my biggest upset in slow games.
I wish I could take that old mindset into every game now, but it just doesn’t work like that.
A couple weeks ago I played 3 people in a round robin tournament. Two were lower rated, and I won them both feeling like there was never a chance I was going to lose. But against the higher rated, I felt much different. I wanted to play perfect and found myself second-guessing everything. One mistake and it would be over and it was.
Of course, now when I remind myself not to think about the ratings, my brain says to me, “You mean the 300 point rating difference, that huge difference, don’t remind you about all those points? Ok, don’t think about the 300 points then. Are you thinking about the 300 points?”
It is no wonder I haven’t had a bigger upset since then.
“It’s been a long time since I’d rock and roll. It’s been a long time since I did the stroll. Let me get back, let me get back; let me get back, baby, where I come from. It’s been a long time, been a long time, been a long, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time, yes it has…”
(J. Bonham, J. Jones, J. Page, R. Plant)
 |
| Black to move |
Rock And Roll
[Event "Colorado Springs Open"]
[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]
[Date "1998.03.07"]
[Round "2.10"]
[White "Johnson, Debra"]
[Black "Anderson, Paul"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "1753"]
[BlackElo "1618"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "1998.03.07"]
1. d4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bf4 Nf6 6. e3 Bg4 7. h3 Be6 8. c5
Nbd7 9. Bd3 b6 10. b4 Nh5 11. cxb6 Nxf4 12. exf4 Qxb6 13. O-O Bxd4 14. Na4 Qxb4
15. Rb1 Bxf2+ 16. Rxf2 Qxf4 17. Ba6 Rb8 18. Rxb8+ Qxb8 19. Nd4 Qd6 20. Bb7 Nb8
21. Qf3 O-O 22. Nc5 Bd7 23. Na6 Nxa6 24. Bxa6 c5 25. Bb7 cxd4 26. Bxd5 Be6 27.
Bxe6 Qxe6 28. Re2 Qd6 29. Qb7 Re8 30. Qxa7 e5 31. Rf2 Re7 32. Qa8+ Kg7 33. Qe4
d3 34. Rd2 Rd7 35. g4 Qd4+ 36. Qxd4 Rxd4 37. Kf2 e4 38. Ke3 Ra4 39. Kf4 Kf6 40.
a3 g5+ 41. Ke3 Ke5 42. Rb2 Rxa3 43. Rb5+ Ke6 44. Kxe4 d2 45. Re5+ Kf6 46. Rf5+
Kg6 47. Rd5 Rxh3 48. Rxd2 Rg3 49. Rd6+ f6 50. Rd8 Rxg4+ 51. Kf3 Rf4+ 52. Kg3 h5
53. Rd5 h4+ 54. Kh3 Rf3+ 55. Kg2 g4 56. Rd4 f5 57. Ra4 Rb3 58. Rf4 Rb2+ 59. Kg1
Kg5 60. Rf1 g3 61. Ra1 h3 62. Re1 Kg4 63. Kh1 f4 64. Ra1 Re2 65. Kg1 h2+ 66.
Kh1 Kh3 0-1
This Week In Chess
Tuesday May 8, 2007
On May 1, the CSCC had 12 members in attendance. The participants played in the double, round robin, handicap blitz tournament (G5). The handicap is a reduction in time for the higher rated player to increase the odds of the lower rated player winning. For every 100 points of ratings difference the higher rated player’s clock is reduced 1 minute to a minimum of 1 minute.
Therefore, the maximum handicap would be 5 minutes for the lower rated player versus 1 minute for the higher rated player. In my case, as the highest rated in the group, I played 3 opponents with only 1 minute on my clock, 1 opponent with 2 minutes, and 1 opponent with 3 minutes. My opponents always had 5 minutes, and surprisingly enough, the more time I had the worse my results.
However, I managed to tie Glenn Miller at the top with one match left to be played. Joe Pahk was one point behind with only Dean Brown left to play. Everyone crowed around the board to witness the outcome. Dean had just suffered a 13 second mate and a 17 second mate in his last two matches against 1 minute opponents and was beginning to realize the value of playing the clock.
Of course, he only had a minute edge over Joe. That wasn’t enough of a handicap as Dean lost on time in the first game and passed up winning Joe’s queen for a drawn second game (which everyone else standing around saw) giving Joe Pahk clear first. Here are the results:
Player Score
Joe Pahk 7.5
Paul Anderson 7.0
Glenn Miller 7.0
Robert Jertberg 4.0
Dean Brown 2.5
Joe Richter 2.0
Comments From Email
Ray Fourzan, Tuesday, May 01, 2007 11:19 AM
When I was in high school, I was captain of the chess team. One day a new student asks me to teach him how to play, so I give him a quick lesson. Then he asks me to play him a game. I thought I would go easy on him since it was he first game ever, just to encourage him, you know. I got sloppy, and he got lucky. Result: he won our first game against each other. I quickly set up the board for a re-match, but he said no. "What do you mean you don't want to play again," I asked briskly,"you just got lucky and I want to play you again." "I know that I got lucky," he responded," and if I play you again, you will surely win. So I am not going to play you again." No matter how much I ranted and raved, he refused to play me again. For the rest of the year, I hounded him and chased after him, but he never, not even to this day, played me again. Watch out for those beginners! Ray Fourzan, El Paso, TX
[Comment is about this newsletter: https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2007/04/redemption.html]
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