Friday, October 12, 2007

Lake Titicaca




I recall back in middle school snickering over the name of this beautiful lake in Peru. It was because we could say out loud in class not one but two naughty words and not get sent home ( again) with the assignment of writing “ I will not say naughty words in class” 100 times. The reason I bring this blast from the past up is an incident at the club that reminded me of what goes on in the head of a pubescent youth. This past Tuesday, after receiving a highly coveted and hard to come by “ hardcore pawnography” sticker, I decided to place this decal on the back of my clock because it fit…. Oh so nice.

I wanted to proudly display this sticker like a race car driver with sponsor decals all over the vehicle, jacket, and hat. I consider my brainpower being sponsored by all the great chess improvement blogs out there. So naturally, when I received my decal, I immediately slapped it on my clock. Like the way I play tactics all too often, I didn’t give it much more thought because the move “looked so cool”.

Like moths to a flame, one by one, the boys had to come and check out my clock. They’d read it, cover their mouths and snicker like the little school boys that they are. I’d give them the “ What? What’s so funny” Look and they’d shake their heads tap a friend and the next would come up.

An adult, who had not seen the sticker, stopped me in the hall and had to relay a bathroom conversation held by two of the youths:

Hormonally Imbalanced Teen1 “ Did you see Duval’s Clock? That was hilarious!”

Hormonally Imbalanced Teen 2 “ Yeah, it was funny, But I thought it was bit immature.”

Having then told me, my friend realized he needed to see what the raucous was about. Upon seeing the “pretty raunchy clock sticker” ( as described by yet another teen), he grinned, shook his head and walked off. What’s so wrong about “ Hardcore Pawnography”? Even the captain of the Boston Blitz commented “ Can’t put that on the mini van.” If surfing can have “Sex Wax”, a well respected brand for surfboard wax, then I declare, Chess can have this one!

Thank you CL for put the Controversy back in chess! I haven’t seen this much commotion since one GM punched the other at a late night disco over a beautiful WGM.


In the spirit of CL, I played this game with Larry and sac’d a bishop early on like I meant it. ( I wasn’t paying attention and by move 11, after making a rote developing move I was faced with a classic central fork of my minor pieces). So I played it like I meant it…and grabbed a GOOD pawn and hung on. I whittled my 1700+ opponent down and rode it to the end game like trying to sneak a Harley home after closing time. I rode it hard and put it away wet as I pulled a miracle draw out of my ass. Below is the PGN:

I had Black and played the Slav:

1.d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Qb3 Qc7 6. Nc3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 e6 8. O-O Bd6 9. h3 O-O 10. Re1 Nbd7 11. e4 Bxh3 12. e5 Bf5 13. exd6 Qxd6 14. Ne5 b5 15. Bf1 Qxd4 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17.Bg5 Ng4 18. Rad1 Qc7 19. g3 h6 20. Bc1 Qe7 21. Ne4 Rad8 22. Bg2 Rxd1 23. Rxd1
Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Qxd8 25. Be3 Qc7 26. Qc3 Qd7 27. Qd4 Qxd4 28. Bxd4 a5 29. Nc5 e5
30. Bc3 b4 31. Bd2 e4 32. Bxe4 Bxe4 33. Nxe4 Ne5 34. Be3 Nd3 35. Bd4 f5 36.
Nd6 c5 37. Be3 Nxb2 38. Bxc5 Nd1 39. Nxf5 Nc3 40. Ne7+ Kf7 41. Nc6 Ne4 42. Bd4
Nc3 43. Bb6 Nxa2 44. Nxa5 Nc3 45. Kf1 Ke6 46. Bd4 g6 47. Bxc3 bxc3 48. Ke2 Kf5
49. Nc4 Ke4 50. Ne3 h5 51. Ng2 c2 52. Kd2 c1=Q 1/2-1/2

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Good for you for sticking it out!

Blue Devil Knight said...

lmao.

I couldn't handle it I'd lose focus on my games :)

wang said...

Damn! Good game. CL is going to be really impressed. Just one point...aren't you a little old to be causing so much controversy :)
I agree with you, it's great that we have someone who can stir it up a bit.

Do you play the semi-slav regularly? How does that work for you? I mean you play the Caro and the Semi-Slav as your defenses, so do the similar pawn structures work to your advantage? I was considering taking up the Caro because I already play the Semi-Slav. Any insight you could give me would be appreciated.

BlunderProne said...

Wang,

Yes I am getting too old to be stirrign it up but... old habits die hard.

As for teh C-K and Slav... I deliberately shose both defenses because of similar positional ideas. I seem to do better with the C-K though. My problem is I try to force either defense to look like the Caro-Slav.. a bastardized version of either. Meanign I like to get the C8 bishop on the other side of the pawn chain before I e6. But sometimes I do it without much regards to my q-side.

I am learning to know when to keep it back in the Slav like when White plays an early e3 and Qb3. In all honesty these c6 defenses area carry over from the days when I used to play the london because it also had similar positional ideas. I've since switched to an 1.e4 game as white and feel I need to revamp my black defenses... I've been ina gambit mood lately.

One last tidbit about the Caro-slav, The Nimzo Indian also has similar setups and is worth studying if you play the Bishop to b4 often.

Hope this helps.

transformation said...

a real squeeze, and just in the nick of time down to Ng2 and f2. nice post, too. thanks, dk

Anonymous said...

i took your lead. i bought a chronos and put my sticker on the back, you are right, they fit perfectly.

BlunderProne said...

All, thanks for the comments.

CL... that sticker is MADE for a CHRONOS ... you should promote that concept!