I decided that in 2022 I’m going all in on chess. I ordered a new set of triple weighted pieces, bought a digital clock, renewed my USCF membership, and started getting back on the scene by going to events around town. Last weekend we were in Denver at the MLK Jr. Memorial Chess Tournament. My first rated tournament in 8 years!
5 rounds with games in 90 minutes (plus delay / increment). These are long games, easily reaching 3 hours each.
Round 1: I have the black pieces against a 1650 rated player. We go into a well-known position after 1. e4 e5. He surprises me by offering a gambit. I deliberate for a while and conclude that going up in material in a lengthy game would surely be advantageous as long as I continue to play accurately. He sacrificed 2 pawns for a better position, and although I held off the attack for a while, he played the right moves and eventually took me out. An engine let me know that I did have a chance to equalize, but I went with a blunder instead 👍. Qc2 not Qd3 you idiot!! The lesson: Greed gets punished on the board. Here is the game:
Round 2: I again have the black pieces. My opponent is a 1550 rated player. He plays a typical Scotch game, which I am familiar with. He was strong, winning, but low on time, and dropped a rook with 26 seconds left on his clock. I followed up with a nasty mate. The lesson: Stay on your clock’s good side. Here’s the game:
Round 3: My first game with the white pieces. My plan was to open with something unorthodox, called the Van Geet or Dunst. Nc3 on move 1. She responded with something I hadn’t spent much time preparing for, and closed the position down, I think with the Dutch. There were no good moves that I could find in our middle game, so when she blundered and allowed me to fork her King and Rook I was stoked. I played it out accurately enough and got my second mate of the tournament. The lesson: Keep your pieces talking to each other. Here’s the game:
Day 2 of the tournament had the last 2 matches. These were still games in 90 minutes but with a 30 second increment on each move.
Round 4: The white pieces! Again I go for Nc3, and it immediately transposes into a Vienna Game. I even went for the gambit! He clearly had not prepared for a Vienna gambit, and spent a ton of time coming up with a defense. In this game, I offered a queen sacrifice while eyeing what would be a forced mate in 2. When I moved my pinned Knight, he laughed and said “Well this will be fun!”. Of course he saw it and instead took my Knight, I took Bishop. This was the most fun game for me, even though I lost control towards the end and didn’t have enough compensation for my attacking position. It crumbled. The lesson: Have a solid backup plan for trickery. Here’s the game:
Round 5: The final round. We’re both 2-2. He has the white pieces and opens with d4. I despise d4 players, always have and always will. They think they’re sophisticated or something. I played absolutely wild in the opening. 3…c5?! I had just watched a YouTube video on a similar opening and must have been inspired. It led to an all out battle though. Seriously high level chess, and it had everything the game offers. I randomly dropped my Knight in a complicated end game thinking I had won a pawn, and he smothered me. I am rusty on this type of analysis. The lesson: You don’t get a point for playing a great game. You get a point for a W. Here’s the game:
It’s at these chess events where I feel most alive. Everything you can experience in life is somehow all there, at the board, across the table, in the hotel elevator, back in the room with your support crew. Sacrifice, love, comedy, greed, creativity, hope, boredom, anger, regret, shame. It’s all there!
“Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do; strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.” – Savielly Tartakower
