So I was going into this one with a win and a loss, both against players rated higher than me. I was hoping for at least a draw in the final round, but it wasn't meant to be. My opponent had 300 rating points on me. I gave him a good fight, but...
There was one thing quite different about this tournament from prior years. In the previous tournaments, I always played in the U1600 division, and so I always picked up points and did well here. But this year, my rating was over 1600. So I'm i...
I was pretty excited to get a new tournament underway today. Unfortunately, my first effort was a loss, but every game was a good battle against a higher rated opponent. In this one, I was solving one tactical problem and I walked into a bigger ...
After my win against a weak opponent in Round 3, I was hoping to finish the tournament against a player who was closer to my rating. No such luck. In fact, I was rated a whopping 1400 points above my young nemesis for the last round. 'Like taki...
Bitter after two losses, I found myself playing on the very last table in the room. My opponent couldn't have been more than a freshman in high school. He looked nervous. And he looked green. The results weren't pretty, but I really needed a w...
Another loss for me, this time in the KIA. My opponent chose an unusual defense for black that got me out of my comfort zone early. After I sac'd the exchange for an attack that didn't work, I just ran out of time to defend.
My opponent was rated 400 points higher than me, so the ending isn't much of a surprise. What was a surprise was how he was able to defeat my KID setup. I really thought I played it well, but he found a way to exploit my understanding. I was in...
It's been awhile since I actually posted one of these. This was a fun KIA, where both sides had similar ideas. Black walked into a pin that was risky for white to take - will all that air around the white king be fatal? Click through the moves ...
The opponents had virtually the same rating, and it quite an interesting battle. I got a good attack with the KIA, but my opponent held on and kept up the fight.
This was a good game, but also one filled with mistakes! I made a very ugly move at the end and allowed my opponent to get a second queen. But he made an even uglier one and got mated!
I haven't lost in awhile. I lost this one on time, as I'm sure my last few moves will demonstrate. I'm going to post this before checking with Fritz, so we'll let the humans figure out what happened here.
Both sides made mistakes and missed opportunities in this game. It was a good game, but not one I'm going to hang on the fridge! EDIT: My notes for move 40. c5+! didn't save, and I wanted to explain that move. That exclam is Fritz's, not mine. ...
This was a win, and my opponent was a good player. But there were a couple of places where he moved very quickly - both in spots that got him in trouble. Time control was 15/10. EDIT: On move 12, my notes should say 'Fritz preferred Qf6.'
It was an interesting game, and I should liked to have finished it. But my opponent offered me a draw just as he was starting to invade my side of the board. He was the higher rated player, so I took it. Comments are from Fritz 13. Time contro...
When 1. Nf3 is met by f5, it definitely shakes things up. I thought the KIA could be played against anything, but it didn't seem to work here. After playing a few of the normal KIA moves, I ended up pushing to d4 to pen in black's DSB. And I we...
I should have lost this game, no doubt about it. I have clearly forgotten how to play the KID with Nbd7, and will brush up on it today. (Who knows, maybe I'll switch back to the main line.) After an early blunder, I was down a piece for the who...
Let's be clear. This was not a good game. My opponent made an early mistake, and then just threw his pieces at me, hoping I would collapse under the pressure. I wouldn't even bother to post it, except that I haven't posted in awhile and this is...
This was an odd Pirc that started with 1. d4. I was actually going for a KID setup, and belatedly realized white had transposed! There's some vaguely 150 type stuff from white, but it's all very disorganized. On my end, I don't think that Pirc ...
Another Live win. I think I'm starting to figure this KIA thing out! I did blunder toward the end, and literally stumbled into a win. But I had the upper hand for much of the game. Time was 15/0.
I've got the summer off, and it's nice to play some morning chess. Here is a KIA I won - I got an attack going on the kingside, and my opponent panicked and miscalculated.
I won this game, but I clearly could play the opening better. I need to study lines involving black adopting a DSB fiancetto. I ended up on the defensive for a good part of the game, until I caught my opponent in a tactical trap. It was nice to...
Ok. The computer was killing me. I made a couple of bad decisions, and was heavily paying the price for it. And then suddenly, out of the blue, the computer sacs a rook. And then proceeds to lose. I think I know why - I actually got it into a...
Have at it, folks. I know where a few things went wrong. I thought I was winning for awhile. We'll see if you agree.
This was a pretty interesting game, and a win for me. I did go down the exchange partway through, by not paying attention. But then I got a good kingside attack going, and my opponent ended up sacing his queen to save the game, but it wasn't eno...
Inspired by my friend rkd1, I thought I would post a game in the blog and see what happens. This was a game in Live, 15 minutes with a 10 second increment. KIA and I'm white. I'm still a little rusty with the opening - it was a good battle to t...
