Decoy tactic on overworked queen!

This was the position I reached on move 24 in a game at the club against one of the kids at the club ( EDIT 7/5/2007 Needed to take care of my minor's annonymity). It's white to move and win ( I had white)

I must add that my opponent was only 13... but he was bragging to to his friends ( and my daughter) that he could beat me.

I looked at the position and saw that his queen was overworked ( his king was cramped, his bishop was pinned, his rook on f5 was stuck... lots of "seeds of tactical distruction" ) . The queen was needed to prevent me from doing Rxg6+ followed by Qh8+ and Qg7# The queen was also needed to stop the looming threat of Qg7#.

I played 25.e4! he would have been better off taking my bishop with the rook instead of what happened next. 25...dxe4 26. Rd7! He chose not to take my rook. instead he played 26...Re7 27. Rd8+ Re8 28. Rxe8+ Qxe8 29. Qg7#

Chess Bully at large. A points a point. Huzzah!

BP

Refresher course

As a result of my recent slump... I decided to do an eigth circle of doom with CT-ART. Since I completed the seven circles in May and then STOPPED, my calculation skills seemed to be waning. Starting at ground zero. I hope to reset the bad trend.

The Polgar Brick has been a supplement... but I find it not as fulfilling as the actual interaction of the CT-ART ( or similar) program.

I've been focusing too much on opening preparation this summer with dimminishing returns. As for the quest with Strategy 2.0, I can't seem to find my stride. I've done quite a few problems relating to Pawn structures ( which has the highest number of problems) but since I can't test according to level like CT-ART its hard to get into gear. I may pick up Convetika's end game CD ... later this fall.

The sword's dull, rusty and heavy... need to get back into shape.

...And the Ugly

I found out STEVE LEARNS CHESS posted our double queen blunder game on his site here:

http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/2006/08/02/29

of course ...I was the last to blunder.

When bleary eyes deceieve thee. It was a homer moment ( "D'OH!") not a proud one for a Knight who's finsished the circles of death.

Mid Summer Slump

So close... yet so far. Earlier in the month my rating at USCF was 1698 following the Stamford CT Northeast Open. I was 2 points away from 1700 ( a goal I have set for my self this summer) then.. I played more tournaments.

First, I went to a one day event in Marlboro on Sunday July 23rd. Four G55's had me finished with only 1.5 points. My rating dropped only a few points to 1692 ( playing in the open section has its advantages)... then the monthly tally from the club's tournament kicked me... after another non stellar performance ... I dropped to 1687... AND THEN... I played at the COntinental Open over the past weekend.

It was a 6 round event... after losing my first three games I reentered for more abuse and lost a 4th game. I won 2 games and lost the last round becuase of a blunder in teh end game... handing my won position over to the opponent. I dropped 30 more rating points with that performance.

THEN.. Last night I was playing someone 200 points lower rated than me. In a skirmish of tactics versus tactics... he offered his queen to me ... but I didn't see the offer until AFTER I moved my king... which allowed him to take MY Queen. Grant it, I had lost power the previous night and had little sleep ( Sleep apnea) and found out my wife lost her job that day. Sure I can make excuses ... but I still have friggin blind spots. These losses are going to leave scars.

I felt like my brain went on vacation and forgot to tell me. My non stellar perfromance losing 6 out of the last 8 games played seems to stem from various problems. For one thing, I found myself paired against someone I beat at a previous tournament ... my prepared opening was stale and HE had a sharper line prepared for mine! In other instances ... it was BlunderProne Strikes again. Some were lost due to pure miscalculation in a middle game tactic.

I find that after doing the seven circles I needed to revamp my openings because I kept getting tripped up over move orders and not really having a good understanding of them. Then, as I put more effort into the opening ...my calculations slip on my tactics... last night I purely lost my vision skills... argh! Its like I have only so much brain... and if I study one area the other has to leak.

Slumping