No rush, don’t waste your time unless you can spare it.

In general, not as many people seem willing to post draws or losses on their blogs, or they have a decided preference for posting wins.

I was laughing at a blog the other day, Chesstiger had replied that he wanted to see their games against stronger players. It looked to me like crappy analysis by the blogger (bad moves) against an opponent a few hundred points weaker, so naturally they won regardless. No response given to Chesstiger’s suggestion.

So in my last game, I played a 1900 player at 20 10. He took my knight on d4 with NxN on move 4, that is like taking Nxd4 in the Sicilian, it’s not really an opening. hehe. He had 21 minutes left and I had 20 when I had beaten him through a full game, endgame and all. So I don’t take FICS rating seriously anymore.

Okay, back to OTB. Yes, there are players with the same modus-operandi of “Come and get me!” chess. Luckily, Kurt, my opponent in round 2 was nice about it and let me have the draw.

In my 3rd round, I never even saw his rook sac in that particular situation, looking for the draw. He was at 12 or 13 minutes, then didn’t play it until about 2 or 3 minutes were left on his clock. So, it does take time and determination to find those moves, even when seemingly left with nothing to look for but desperate moves.

There was a 1650 player who accepted a draw from a 1900 player, then me and Kurt showed him a win. Kurt showed him the first move, but I pointed out how it was winning. I razzed the poor guy a bit after that, saying that was the A players best move of the game. hehe.

If there is one benefit of asking for a draw OTB, you feel compelled to answer it right way. The guy asked me for a draw in game 3, so I immediately said “I want to try something first, see if it leads to something” and made my move an instant later.

You’ll have to be wary of little boys offering you draws next time. haha. I am sorry, that was cruel of me. That totally bites, you work way too hard to let that fate befall your games. Well, we both did the same thing then, let a win slip away, which is probably a lot easier to allow psychologically than a loss.

Man, I’ve totally felt that way before too, giving the other player the benefit of the doubt as they plead for mercy. But I would evaluate it thoroughly, and if I thought it was in fact a draw I think I would give it to them, and not be a total sh*thead about it and make them prove it to me – unless perhaps it was the 3rd round where a big pot of gold was riding on the outcome.

The 10 minutes on the clock would not be a big deal in my games, but it would in your G/90 format (I get 30/90 SD 30). I made a joke about the Botvinnik rule myself the other day, we were talking about poor tournament conditions somewhere.

Please, post the game, I’m dying to know what you were planning on playing. You can’t say that you would have played it though, just as easily could have changed your mind – I do that quit a bit over moves OTB. For that matter, you could post all your games of the tournament.

I played on Sunday – … still shaking my head. I played with 280 lower rated boy, being up a pawn went to K+Ps ending with protected passed pawn, was sure it’s a passport to win. Then made one move and thought that I missed a win. He offered a draw, I agreed and then he showed me that there was a forced win, 2 pawns sac – I didn’t see it. I was very upset, until today I found out that if I would continue as I planned (not playing that move) I would actually lose ( Crafty gives me ~-3). Can you believe it ? I am a bit ashamed of this game, maybe will still post it. Exactly as I said above – “just waiting until I lose silly in some endgame”. Also was late 10 minutes and the boy “put” it on the clock. It kind of ticked me off with that Botvinnik rule, I lost my concentration and didn’t restore it until end of the game.

I’m a bit fried, not in the analytical sense, but in the needing to get my inspiration back sense. I should have won my second game, but burn-out hit me hard all of a sudden. I’m glad I escaped it with a draw, knowing how toasted/overcome I felt at the time. Instead, I just threw away all my initiative but held on.

I just put Crafty in analysis mode and created this game in < 5 minutes. It’s Ne7 in the Milner-Barry Gambit (Bd3) of the French Def. – looks like Black should be able to draw.

Look at Crafty’s evaluations “Oh, no don’t play _that_ move, you’ll kill yourself!” I don’t know why people still trust computers explicitly/fully. The other day a guy said he didn’t know endgames and said Crafty only gave his position +.4, and I had to tell him how he should have played it for a win, as I had botched it myself by trying something too aggressive but which I knew might lose (knight ending with passed pawn).

OTH, I just used Crafty to fix a hole in one of my Scotch lines. I find it much harder to play the Scotch or even the Sicilian, than the French where I am comfortable from other side.

I almost posted this one Fr. Adv game where I won as White against strong opponent. I botched the move order, played Nc3 instead of castling, then he played f6. Botched because I couldn’t defend d4 in time other than to play Na5, kicking the queen on b6. Went down a pawn but won the game, but had acheived positional equality with knight posted in front of the backward pawn hole.

Shoot, that’s not even a bad pawn loss. I am going to try learning the Scotch Gambit; tried it the other day, and I knew I was botching it, but got great pressure, tried to give the second pawn away but he wouldn’t take it. Black is supposed to play d5, but I know a lot of players are timid. I even screwed up again, but he flinched and reacted defensively. hehe. That is easy compared to the non-gambit Scotch.

Oh, the biggest problem with on-line chess is I have to look at the screen intently and it burns my eyes, they become red after hours and hours of chess and stay red. Since I already look at the computer anyway for what I do, it adds too much to eye-fatigue.

Of course other problems are losing, then playing to get rating points back when you start playing at anyone’s time controls, then you win a bunch of games you didn’t notice weren’t rated (what is up with these people requesting unrated standard and blitz? Be e a man! hehe)

I rarely come across players I feel are really strong online. Rule of thumb is more like players who are waiting for me to have a lapse of concentration, and when I am tired, sure enough I do. So I keep playing and keep dropping all kinds of stuff, it’s funny after a while, like my brain is back to the en-prise mode of when I first started playing chess, brain sort of loses it’s ability to look for the other guy’s one-mover threat.

I don’t know about seeing strong endgames online, it’s usually me doing those, if either of us do. When I am not tired I play well, but that only proves that I am not tired. hehe.

Yeah, the opening. If I could get my opponents to find my holes and then just agree to a draw or abort, that would be great. I’ve asked for more draws lately, but White will play on in an even position just because they are White, and that is when I just fry my eyes, staying alive, spending too much time going through the motions of an entire long game. I still learn from those games, but I will lose by rushing them as by then I am trying to look at code and type in some code and play chess at the same time, and so lose because I am not going to sit there online like it means that much to me. hehe.

That phase is done for now. OTB, and studying opening theory or games on a regular chess-board is still okay for me.

I don’t know why I played all those games anyway. hehe. It’s nice, when I do play at the local club, the long time controls. I’ve looked at other states such as Colorado, even the Marshall in NY, and it’s mostly all like G/60 at these places or G/90. I’ve definitely been spoiled.