Turning around a bad streak

NightHawk0085

Feb 9, 2012, 6:13 PM | 0

I had advertised the chess club I participate at several months ago. Apparently, the message has worked and brought some new members! I welcome those who did show up and anyone else who is considering attending. I'll repeat where the club is located for the reader's convenience.

It's in Highland, IN, USA at the meijer store (off of Rte 41). We play in the cafe area and the conditions do become cold - so dress appropriately!

I reintroduce the club (which is always G/20 with no delay or increments) because one of the new members most likely found my previous blog post regarding the advertisement and felt that the ad was partially unclear. He mentioned that the blog vaguely asks for "skilled players" and was not sure how to interpret that phrase. I agree with his statement and I wish to clarify that here: The players at the club (those who are USCF rated anyways, this is not a requirement) are generally rated between 1300-1800 USCF, with some exceptions up and down. One of the new players said his live chess rating here on chess.com fluctuated between 1100-1200 and his level of play fits in at our club (although he has not been tested against the strongest players that we have to offer). If you are of expert or master strength, you may not be challenged enough by us, but are welcome to participate! If your main weapon is the Scholar's Mate and praying that it works, we may be too strong for you.

Okay, I will submit my 3 club games from 01/24/2012. As usual, the time control is G/20 with no delay or increment. As the title has referenced, I am finally beginning to have good results (today, I actually won all 3 games played). My games aren't the most accurate but an inaccurate win counts the same as an accurate one! Game #1 is the most interesting due to a couple of missed opportunities by my opponent. Game #2 has few notes due to an early blunder by my opponent, costing him a minor piece. Game #3 is interesting as well - I play an opponent who I've never played at the club before. The end result displays some neat calculation on my part.

Game 2 is against the club director, R.L.. He is known for playing too fast at times, making moves instantaneously. This causes him to fall victim to a common chess blunder, hallucinating the existance of a tactic!

The third and final game is played against an opponent I've never had the chance to battle with before. He is not new to the club and is well-known amongst the other players. I knew he had a more positional style but otherwise, I didn't know him at all as a chess player. As a side note, he is the father of my first round opponent above! Unfortunately for Mr. T.S., he consumes so much time on the clock that it affects the quality of his moves and falls for a big tactic at the end. I really like this game because it showcases a situation where one has to accept that a current plan is doomed to fail and it is a good idea to switch to another plan. Here, I was able to do just that. I wanted to build up for a kingside attack, but realized that he is too well-defended. So I switched gears and played on the queenside, where I can invoke weaknesses.

Edit: Without re-doing my first game in this blog, my first opponent does have a rating of 1392, but the rating is outdated by a decade and does not respectfully display his playing strength (he would probably be higher rated).

Turning around a bad streak

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