At the club, this month, in my section 50% of the participants are under 15 years of age. I am playing in the U2000 section. ALL of these kids are rated higher than 1600 USCF with half of them at or over 1700.
I was surrounded by kids last night. To the left, to the right and even behind me were kids. I felt like the odd uncle who nobody thought to invite for Thanksgiving dinner but decided to show up. I got seated at the kid table. Like the kids in Lord of the Flies, they sure figured out how to hunt a wild ( old rather) bore ( yeah... boar) like me. Once again, directly opposite of my white pieces was none other than my 60 pound nemesis from Whoville.
Last month I played 1.d4 against her. This month I played 1.e4 and faced the white side of a caro-kann. Again, I was not prepared for my fancy variation of 1.e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Nc5! .... But I was not ready... brain too pre-occupied with other things like family and life. I played 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. N1e2 I like this line because it's different. h6 7. Nf4 Bh7 8. Bc4 e6 9. O-O Nf6 10. Re1 Be7 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12.Nxe6 Qd7 13. Nxg7+ Kf7 This is an actual variation in this opening and I played it because it was cool and that I was also good at recalling the first 13 moves like I knew this line cold!
The problem was, I forgot move 14 and how to get out of this. I have a 3 for one deal leaving black with an exposed king. Had i played it right ( 14. Ne6 ) I might have faired better and possibly would have picked up the h-pawn to boot. Instead I played 14. N7h5 Bg6 15. Nxf6 Bxf6 16. c3 Na6 17. Nh5 Nc7 18.Qf3 Qf5 19. Nf4 Nd5 20. g4
That seemed cool and it did push her back to d7. But I exchanged down and gave the intiative away
Qd7 21. Nxg6 Kxg6
I couldn't find anything better than the following which really gave her back some play as she used the open files like a person fishing in a barrel. 22. Bd2 Raf8 23. Qh3 Qf7 24. Qd3+Kg7 25. c4 Bg5 26. Re2 Nf4 27. Bxf4 Qxf4 28. h3 h5 29. Rf1 hxg4 30. Re6
My position was desparate. I played this like a blitz move hoping she'd continue taking my pawns with her pawn. My demise shortly followed.
Rxh3 31. Rg6+ Kh8 32. Qxh3+ gxh3 0-1
Point goes to who-ville
5 comments:
George - another great title/metaphor for your post :) Regarding Cindy Lou there, I really think she's incredibly talented. If she continues to develop her mean streak, she'll go far. No shame in losing a few of those battles, particularly since you also win a few!
ditto. never dull george!
good so see you persevering.
i never hear from you any more, but respect the silence, and let you know that i dont expect it. some new demarkation put down by you known to you now exists, but i avoid borderline spam as you wish. :)
its just great when it comes, your feedback that is.
... its getting colder here, and snow hit the Cascade passes two days ago heavily. snow and ice, october 2nd! and wont just melt away... here at sea level, it is all fine, but an hour away it is cold and white.
did you see much of Mexico City?
enough for now, and just to wish you and family well, dk
rumor has it she's been training with Horton, who, as you know is rated like, 2900...so it stands to reason she got a bit better since last time....
CL: That may be true... but as I understand Horton... he had GREAT listening skills. :)
The next time I play in the Friday Quads at the Westchester Chess Academy I will be thinking about "Lord of the Flies". It's a perfect analogy for how I feel when the three other players in my quad don't even add up to my age. The name of the nerdy kid with the glasses escapes me at this moment, but when after getting blown out 0-3 in one quad, I feel his pain.
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