My first win against a master (in a simul)
Today I had the honor of playing FM David Lucky, the reigning Idaho state champion, in a twenty-board simul. Amazingly, I was able to survive an unfamiliar opening, find a tactic to win a pawn, trap his rook to pick up the exchange, and hold on to win the endgame in 82 moves! Every other challenger lost; after about move 60, I was the last man standing.
Normally I like to play higher-rated players because the pressure to win rests squarely on my opponent, but when I gain a big advantage like I did in this game, that situation reverses dramatically and the stress to "not screw it up" is overwhelming. I'm proud that I finally managed to hold on and win with a good position against a superior opponent.
I still haven't annotated the game, but I'll get to that tomorrow.
Normally I like to play higher-rated players because the pressure to win rests squarely on my opponent, but when I gain a big advantage like I did in this game, that situation reverses dramatically and the stress to "not screw it up" is overwhelming. I'm proud that I finally managed to hold on and win with a good position against a superior opponent.
I still haven't annotated the game, but I'll get to that tomorrow.
