A Little Competition Between Friends 😱

How do you tell your friends no?

"No," right?

It should be that easy. But when they find out you just started playing chess they smell, well, fresh meat. LOL

My goal was to complete all the lessons in the main part of Chess.com before playing anyone. But while watching tournaments and people play each other on here, it made me curious about what ranking I'm starting with. I learned it takes 4 games to get one. I'm concentrating on only playing Classic for now since I do not recognize or even know what to recognize at this point.

Side Note: My wife and I played a couple of games on the physical board together and won one, each. She got me with the 3-move checkmate. 🤦‍♂️ We are both beginners and thought we would learn the game together. I enjoy her company so much. Anyway...

I  finished doing the Beginner group of lessons when it was getting discussed. I started so strong in saying no...at least I pretended I was. I got halfway through the second set of lessons and finished the chapter on Winning with Tactics. Then, as no surprise to anyone here or anyone who knows me...I caved. The idea of having a ranking at all was too great.

Opponent 1, Game 1  - Nervous as hell!
One of my friends, from Canada, said he used to play in tournaments when he was young. He said he was pretty good at it too. It occurred to me, that maybe I could play him first since it has been a while for him. He had no rating as this was his first time playing on Chess.com as well. The first game was going OK, but it was clear, that I had no idea what I was doing except for one thing! 

I learned about early-game "échec et mats" from my wife and watching chess movies. It was a good thing too, because he went right for one of the 3 move ones. That was about the only planning I did, "How to prevent from looking like a noob within a few moves." But let's face it, I am a NOOB!

I had a chance to set up an exchange of queens. He said, "You really don't want to do that." I thought about it for a second and said, "Well I have no idea what I am doing, but I feel like taking away both of our powerful pieces may help level the playing field for someone like me as it takes one dimension out of the game and is less for me to track." After a while I did end up winning the game (my endgame sucks so bad), he said, "You might have been right about the Queen exchange."

On to game 2

I saw an opportunity to use a multiple pawn exchange in the middle of the board that would put me down material but if it worked out, I would capture his queen with an A-File bishop. The exchange was so messy and fast as I planned it out before making the first move; it went unnoticed. He resigned when he asked where his queen was. I told him I captured a couple of moves ago. I recall him saying, "I'm not playing without my Queen again. How do I resign?" 

My next 3 games were with a player who had a 1228 rating. I've got to be out of my mind. 

Good Knight & Sweet Queens,
Donovan Aris Rush