so not to leave readers in wonder:
just had a different position in my head than existed on the board; I saw this Ke5 idea but we were moving so fast I did not realize where his King was, this was totally my fault not a result of any strange K placement. Well I must have realized Ke5 was illegal obviously, but yeah, I made my move by hand instead of by head so I cannot explain it. I had been playing on the increment with 6 seconds on my clock for about 30 moves and by the end Gata had a little over a minute remaining.
anyway this is a thread about my match with CP and not to recount my most brilliant blunders so good luck and chess to him.
recall reading that CP was rated CFC 2080 though kids improve quite fast I've noted (especially in New Jersey)
i'm from eastern PA, my rating is 2232 USCF, 2031 FIDE, my best acheivement to date probably getting 5 pts at the Million Chess Open last year and winning the U2200 section in some tournament in Maryland (also last year, Regan runs good events PS). And drawing Yudasin at the team tournament this year and blowing a dead draw against Kamsky last year, though I have my fair share of stories of OTB tragedies. And I beat my first GM Bryan Smith last year after showing up late. I haven't played in many big events as I don't like playing in tournaments that last more than a day or two in general. I will post my game against Yudasin below.
I know I could be a much higher rated player if I was not so stupid sometimes. Like instead of trying to be creative and winning brilliantly, I just was somewhat more practical and focused on getting one line correct. Or if I knew more stuff (playing boring, simple positions or studying more Karpov games, etc) or was a bit more focused and professional. no regrets however, I really have enjoyed my chess experience and it is so cool to have played some of the elite players. and i was a 1400 player back in early 2009 so I could have never expected this future then.
not sure how many games we're going to do. CP suggested best of 12. thaaat's fine with me. we're playing at 3:00 PM EST today (tuesday 4/19) on the live chess server 25 minutes with a 10 second increment. i'm treating the games as training games of course but i will be doing my best to find good moves and i have no doubt the games will be entertaining to me regardless of the evenness of the quality and the results.
feel free to leave feedback, however misguided, informative, constructive, positive or provocative, preferably something fun, that's what we're here for. that, and also to learn.