HAHAHAAHAHAH that commentary is priceless....

afraid to commit?

You know this 34 minutes of recorded "silence" as "art" is just rubbish eh?

Although it <is> true, as Duchamp said, that <chess is a school of silence>.

After last week's adventures, I finally understand what Scott Walker meant when he sang "I'd punch a donkey on the streets of Galway".

That was a sweet game you posted.

Why not send it in to CG.com?

That's one of the perks of you being a <real person> with a <real rating>.

At least *somebody* understands me.

<SPIRIT OF COUNTER-ATTACKING KORCHNOI> or <S.O.C.K.> AWARD ?

1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O Nf6 8. Re1 Be7 9. e5 Nd7 10. c3 O-O 11. Nf1 Re8 12. h4 h6 13. h5 b5 14. Nf1h2 c4 15. Ng4 Nc5 16. Bf1 Qa5 17. Be3 Nxd3 18. Bxd3 cxd3 19. Qxd3 Qa4 20. Nxh6+ gxh6 21. Bxh6 Qg4 22. Kg2 d4 23. Re4 Qxh5 24. Rh1 Qg6 25. Rhh4 Bxh4 26. Nxh4 Nxe5 0-1

basically one blows one's trumpet until one is told to put a SOCK in it

Sage advice, your majesty. I thought Queens were meant to receive sage advice (also parsley, rosemary, thyme, etc) rather than dish it out, but that's as maybe.

I used to play 1.c4 all the time. Then I decided that 1.Nf3 was a sort of Englishman in disguise - like Sir Richard Burton sneaking into Mecca disguised as an Islamic. And thus a way of avoiding certain lines and being ready to transpose into others.

Also, the only book I had on the English was (a) very old, (b) out of date, and (c) lost. Not much use as a preparatory device, really.

But now I have Karpov's book on the English -- which isn't really the utter crap I said it was before ... just that it's a games collection, not an opening book. And I bought *another* book on the English while in Galway.

We've already seen a won position that <mack> managed to lose. Here's one of mine. Maybe not so totally won, but my refusal to accept that my opponent was up to anything more devious than trying to swindle a draw goes a long way towards explaining my complacency.

We start with this position. I'm White. I'm a clear pawn up, with no problems. I can win another one, at the cost of letting the black queen penetrate my kingside. So I go for it. This, btw, was a semi-rapid game. It was round one, with an uneven number of entrants; as the lowest-rated player, I was awarded a bye - and a point, briefly putting me into the tournament lead. Then somebody failed to show up. I agreed to a hastily rejigged game against his opponent (who could also have simply claimed a walkover). This is true chess madness: instead of taking a point *each*, we sit down to play -- with just over an hour each on the clocks, sudden death. He's rated about 2090. And I'm winning.

click for larger view

So I play ...
19.f3 Bh3
20.Bxh3 Qxh3
21.Nxa4 Nh5

Mission accomplished, 2nd pawn snaffled. But now black has ideas like ...Nxg3 followed by a perpetual. Maybe I should have let him take it now before he got a chance to become more ambitious.

22.Bf2!?

The defence I had planned. There's nothing really wrong with it, as long as I find a crucial move later on. But 22.Rf2 is better.

22 ...Ra6!

The start of an incredible journey: rook-lift squared.

23.b3?!

Not taking things seriously enough. I still think I'm two pawns up with a defensible kingside. Which is true, but it ain't as easy as I think it is.

23 ... Rf6
24.Rc3 Rf4!

Ouch. It clearly can't be taken, because once a black knight gets to f4 white gets mated. Notice the horrible lack of communication between the white pieces -- the Q and N are far away on the queenside, the Rf1 is undefended, etc. But I have a winning move in this position, along with a maybe-playable move, and a lot of losing moves. I picked the maybe-playable one, and got thumped by another brilliant reply.

25.g4?! Rf5!

click for larger view

Later analysis revealed that 25.Be1! wins for white. It holds everything together for long enough to get my pieces back into play. Missing this, I play 25.g4 -- which my opponent, as it happens, also thought was my best move. Neither of us saw 25.Be1. After 25...Rf5 - a beautiful self-fork - white should still be winning after 26.Bc5, says Fritz. But I was starting to edge into time-trouble - not having begun with a huge amount of it, and having used the majority of it to get this far - so I chickened out with a line that apparently gave him a draw.

26.gxh5? Rg5+
27.Bg3

Expecting 27...Rxg3+ and perpetual check, I now offered a draw. And got a shock when my opponent gave it a minute's thought ... and played on.

27 ... gxh5
28.f4

Instead, 28.Kf2 still leaves White with good winning chances, but I'm thoroughly rattled by his refusal of the draw. The rest is unedifying.

28 ... exf4
29.Rxf4 h4
30.e5?! hxg3
31.Rxg3 Bxg5
32.Rxg5+ hxg5
33.Rf2 Rc8

Black is winning. I lasted another ten painful moves before resigning.

Heroic defence, my posterior. Winning a won game, ditto.

It was only after a similar experience in the next round -- advantage turning to ashes, turning to loss -- that I understood that initiative is vastly more important than mere material, and lashed out with the 17-move win that involved leaving pieces en prise.

its worse than catching your boyfriend with a bag over the charwoman.....

You should actually congratulate yourself on having great chess intuition, especially since you showed white really could hold off the attack with best play.

There is nothing better than snapping off a few pawns when your opponent is charging full on with an attack...and then deftly sidestepping everything to wind up with the advantage!