Triple Play
Yesterday I had a slow day at work so I was able to annotate my other two games from the Western Class and my game from Thursday. They're all after the break...
Game 1
This is the game from the first round of the Western Class. He played the Pirc, which I love playing against, it's hard for Black to equalize. I get a winning attack and blow it returning the game to equality. We both make a lot of mistakes but I honestly have no losing chances until I blow a chance to win my opponent's queen and then blunder in the endgame. I played well overall but I made some silly mistakes.
This was a very disappointing loss but I learned from this game and the next game that it is not like they are seeing a lot more than me, I am outplaying myself.
Game 2
This is the game from the third round of the Western Class, it actually features the same opening as the game below from Shoemaker. For some reason I was afraid to play a normal kingside attack against this kid (turns out he's the 11th best 13 year old in the nation, but he looks older). I ended up just defending which is not my style at all and even though I kept it even for a long time I end up in a bad endgame which he handled very well.
Again a tough loss, but I learned from it and played a different strategy when Eric Shoemaker decided to abandon his regular 1...e5 in favor of the Dragon in our first game (although there will certainly be many more I'm pretty confident he will never play this opening again).
Game 3
The Class A Championship has been interesting to say the least, one player dropped out so now everybody has to take a bye. Eric had his bye already, so he was one point behind me, but if I had lost he would have a chance to take the lead next week during my bye week. I managed to win on time (only the third time this has happened in my experience) in what is probably a won endgame, but there was a lot of work to do. I should have probably won well before the time control if I had just played like myself, but I was hesitant. The analysis of this game has helped restore my confidence.
No losing chances at all in this game. Although I avoided double-edged lines that were obviously in my favor. I am not happy with this game.
Unfortunately, the tournament in LA set my rating back 30 points, so I may still lose the race to expert yet. However, maybe I needed the set back to get back to studying, I had this weird feeling that my play couldn't get any better over the last few weeks (isn't getting any better from studying may be a better way to put this) but there is obviously a lot of room for improvement. So I'm spending today with a few grandmasters in my room over the board.
Game 1
This is the game from the first round of the Western Class. He played the Pirc, which I love playing against, it's hard for Black to equalize. I get a winning attack and blow it returning the game to equality. We both make a lot of mistakes but I honestly have no losing chances until I blow a chance to win my opponent's queen and then blunder in the endgame. I played well overall but I made some silly mistakes.
This was a very disappointing loss but I learned from this game and the next game that it is not like they are seeing a lot more than me, I am outplaying myself.
Game 2
This is the game from the third round of the Western Class, it actually features the same opening as the game below from Shoemaker. For some reason I was afraid to play a normal kingside attack against this kid (turns out he's the 11th best 13 year old in the nation, but he looks older). I ended up just defending which is not my style at all and even though I kept it even for a long time I end up in a bad endgame which he handled very well.
Again a tough loss, but I learned from it and played a different strategy when Eric Shoemaker decided to abandon his regular 1...e5 in favor of the Dragon in our first game (although there will certainly be many more I'm pretty confident he will never play this opening again).
Game 3
The Class A Championship has been interesting to say the least, one player dropped out so now everybody has to take a bye. Eric had his bye already, so he was one point behind me, but if I had lost he would have a chance to take the lead next week during my bye week. I managed to win on time (only the third time this has happened in my experience) in what is probably a won endgame, but there was a lot of work to do. I should have probably won well before the time control if I had just played like myself, but I was hesitant. The analysis of this game has helped restore my confidence.
No losing chances at all in this game. Although I avoided double-edged lines that were obviously in my favor. I am not happy with this game.
Unfortunately, the tournament in LA set my rating back 30 points, so I may still lose the race to expert yet. However, maybe I needed the set back to get back to studying, I had this weird feeling that my play couldn't get any better over the last few weeks (isn't getting any better from studying may be a better way to put this) but there is obviously a lot of room for improvement. So I'm spending today with a few grandmasters in my room over the board.