A Change of Mind

Last night I played the fourth and final round in one in one of my toughest tournaments.  I was paired against two masters, on 2100 rated player and this final game against a very strong 1800 player.  Having scored 1.5 points so far, even a loss would still provide me the strongest performance rating in an event and earn me the final 2nd Category Norm (for whatever that means).

As the game progressed I really enjoyed my position.  It had a number of inblances, many to my liking.  I had some good attacking lines and had activated most of my pieces.  I had used that advantge to gain a really good attack on Black's king but then I failed at one thing, not "having a change of mind."

There reached a point in the game where I needed to convert the position to winning endgame but for some reason I looked at the move and then decided against it choosing a move that pretty much lost instantly.  Maybe it just takes a few of these close games to remember that when it looks like your main ideas are no longer working that you need to step back and take a clean look at the board.  Review what is infront of you now without taking considerations for the prevouse moves.

If I could have done that reset, if you will, I'm sure I would have found the correct move to make.

But my hat off to Aaron, he did well in teaching me a lesson that I hope not to forget.

Play online chess

First Win Over a Master

Last week at the club I was paired against a Master.  This isn't uncommon for me as my rating falls into the middle of the pack so under Swiss pairing rules that gives me good odds of being paired against a Master in the first round.  I guess I could add that this was the third round of the event and the second Master I was faced.

Well here is the game with my notes.  Please feel free to add in any thoughts.  I didn't use a computer to evaluate the positions so these are just my thoughts.

Play online chess

A Changing Point

It has been a long time since I have posted, but then there hasn't been a whole lot to post about.  Overall my play has been pretty weak and over the past six months my rating has done one thing, go down.

I have lost some games where I was up pieces and others where I just couldn't figure my way out of the opening and pretty much lost by the 10th move of the game.  Of all things, that bugs me the most.   All that said however, I am currently preparing for one of the most pivotal games that I have played all year long.  In a few days I will face off against Aaron Krause who is a very strong 1800 player.  If I manage to pull a draw I will conclude this four round event with 2.5 points but even more importantly, with the strongest performance I have ever had in a tournament.

I do believe that all three games that I have played in this tournament are more than worthy of being posted here and I will see to that upon the conclusion of the event, but I think it is worthwhile for me to consider my preperation at this point.  After all preperation is key to any successful endever.

So, to start I have done a few things:
1)  I pulled all the games that I have played against Aaron using 1. d4 (my chosen opening move).  This amounted to only one game.
2)  I contacted two other club players that I thought might be able to provide me similar games against Aaron.  This added one more game to my list.
3)  In both of these games Aaron played similar openings which leads me to the sequence that I will start to study.
4)  I pulled my copy of the MCO and "The Kaufman Repertoire for Black and White" off the shelf to look at.
5)  I ran the first ten moves of each game through Stockfish to see what moves and ideas come from that.
6)  Reviewed my past game with Aaron in detail.

The best I know of now is that I will be seeking a game that looks something like Kernes Defense: 1. d4 e6 2. c4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7.

So, if any viewers here use this opening and know of any major pitfalls or traps, I would love to hear them.

Have fun...