Saturday, October 18, 2008

Indiana State Championships Under Way

So, Garrett, Ben, and I are at the State champs in Logansport. Nate is also playing, though he's not staying with us. I'll give you a taste of my games. This one was from the second round. I'll post the rest later.

Rampley-Lewis.pgn


And there you have it. Certainly not error free, though not a horrible game. I'm using my time better, though I'm still not doing comprehensive safety checks every move. As usual, I did have a disappointing loss (in some ways the best of the three I've played), and I'll post that tomorrow.

Garrett is rolling the open section, 3-0. Took out GaterNation in the last round, like 4 non theoretical moves in a Dragon. Ben beat Jim Dean on time, after which Jim promptly withdrew. I would have too. Losing on time sucks ass, and I wouldn't have wanted to drive here from Ft Wayne three nights if I wasn't going to win any money. Funnily enough, the field is so weak that Dean probably still would have won 1st. I'll post more about this this coming week, maybe from the Cleveland Clinic. Wish me luck on the surgery.

Monday, October 6, 2008

I drew a WGM in 15 minute ICC chess. Huzzah.

I assume she was drunk. It was however one of my first successful theoretical outings against the English, against which I have recently learned some theory as I contemplate playing it from the white side.

Not much can be said about a 15 minute game. It wasn't perfect from either side, I should have won, here it is:

WGM Maryana-TovarischFoma.pgn


Standard Fritz annotations. The story of the game is that when I realized I was winning I went a little apeshit, since even in a 15 minute game being much better against a titled player is no small thing for me. I played the endgame (obviously) horribly, but so it goes. At least I drew.