960
| I started playing chess 960 about a half year ago. I played about 2 dozen games, then sort of drifted away from it. Yesterday, I played my first game in about 4 months. I try to play at 5/0 controls when I can, and this game was no different. 960 played at blitz speeds requires a far different way of managing time. In regular blitz the opening moves are played rather fast since they're usually known and one saves up time in the opening to use later when more thinking is necessary. But in 960, how to open is really more difficult and time consuming to me than the middle game, and, as the game progresses, time trouble becomes my natural state. In the game below, think the opening on my part was much better than my opponents' but, while I achieved a greatly superior position, I had very little time to figure out a way to exploit it. I almost threw away the whole game, and probably would have if my opponent hadn't also started to feel the pinch of time. I was able to convert my advantage into a win, but in a rather mundane fashion. A great position shouldn't have to end up mundane. But here's the game for what it's worth. |
