Second Blog, Same as the First Blog, Except Center-Counter
So, so, so. I played my first classical time control game since September 2014, The US Masters. I have played a couple action games, but those don't count. I decided at the last minute to play in the 5 round, weekly perpetual FIDE Monday tournament at the Marshall. My roommate talked me into it. What surprised me about playing last night is chess games usually give me such strong panic attacks. That's really why I don't play anymore. I can't breathe at the board. I decided to play last night because I was having a panic attack. I was hoping that a game of chess would take my mind off of some less than positive thoughts. It worked. I sat down and it was like real life had disapeared. I think I am going to chase that feeling!
The play from me wasn't that great. I'll start working again. Get stronger. Tactics, familiar play, etc... I never equalized in the game and that bothered me. I usually pride myself on the fact that I can equalize with black, mostly because I play openings that don't lead to dynamic complications and instead are pretty quiet. I might get outplayed later or choose the wrong plan, but I at least had a chance. That didn't happen against a lower rated player. I won't blame rust, but instead blame a nice dynamic plan from my opponent. I wasn't familiar with it and he cited the Federchuk-Bauer game to me in the postgame. He probably deserved more than 1/2 a point. Lucky for me deserve has nothing to do with chess.
Anyway, enjoy the annotated game. I plan on playing at least the next Monday, hopefully all 5 or 6 rounds and will include each game in a blog post. Maybe this will even spur me on to play the Eastern Open at the end of the year in DC or Liberty Bell in Philly. Actually, if every blog post I get between now and Christmas can get 1000 views, I'll play one of those tournaments. Lol, nice hidden excuse for me.
Some similar games in this variation of the Scandinavian. Has Brian Smith written a blog post on "Someone and the Scandinavian"? Is there a video series on it that is the quality of Tatev Abrahamyan's "French Series" (the best chess.com video series ever. I only stopped playing the French because players with the White pieces put pawns on e5 and then try to mate me).
Bonus Scandinavian Puzzle. If you're playing Black, you gotta be quick or be dead. White's initiative is always present.
