A Little Freaked Out
This is Round 2. My first shot at a master. Apparently he is a legend in the Seattle chess scene. His name is Viktors Pupols. I played the opening terribly. Then recovered well and had a better game until he forced a draw. This game is probably the least eventful of the bunch.
Surprise! I'm hosting the game here.
Hope you like the format, I like it much better but it was a little tedious to get it to work. Still not that bad, if anyone wants tips let me know.
This was my first result against a master. This game is also very significant because it guaranteed that I would earn a FIDE norm. In order to get a FIDE rating you must play 3 FIDE rated players and earn 1 point out of 3. Then you must complete 6 more games (I read on the comments to one of iw's posts that you then have to score .5 out of your next 3, but I have not found this anywhere else). So I have 6 after this tournament but if I hadn't scored 1 point in my first three I don't think they would have counted. I'm not entirely sure of the rules but it's not that important since I fit all of the above criteria I just need 3 more games.
I was very happy with my 2 draws, even though I hate draws. It was a good way to start the tournament. I didn't really know what to expect for Round 3 the next morning. I figured I probably wouldn't necessarily play a stronger player and that I might get an easier game. Guess you're going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out...
Surprise! I'm hosting the game here.
Hope you like the format, I like it much better but it was a little tedious to get it to work. Still not that bad, if anyone wants tips let me know.
This was my first result against a master. This game is also very significant because it guaranteed that I would earn a FIDE norm. In order to get a FIDE rating you must play 3 FIDE rated players and earn 1 point out of 3. Then you must complete 6 more games (I read on the comments to one of iw's posts that you then have to score .5 out of your next 3, but I have not found this anywhere else). So I have 6 after this tournament but if I hadn't scored 1 point in my first three I don't think they would have counted. I'm not entirely sure of the rules but it's not that important since I fit all of the above criteria I just need 3 more games.
I was very happy with my 2 draws, even though I hate draws. It was a good way to start the tournament. I didn't really know what to expect for Round 3 the next morning. I figured I probably wouldn't necessarily play a stronger player and that I might get an easier game. Guess you're going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out...
And about the ChessBase game presentation format, i always disliked the fact that the games can only be viewd from White's point of view. I prefer Chess Viewer Deluxe to present games. chessgames.com started using it now too.
dk - Thanks. I was a little out of my element in this game because of the subtlety. In most of my games things are wild and crazy and that's when I feel at home.
I think your opponent was too relaxed. After a commital move like Qb6, he should have been more agressive of your weak queen side. The fact that he wasn't gave you a chance to equalize. I suspect he was trying to go for a "quicker" kill on the king side rather than the static advantage of material and space on the queen side.
It gave you the chance to equalize... well done. Nice that you could recover from a positional misjudgement like Bf4 against such a strong advisary.
But what do i know... ;)
Love the new format. I've been wanting to use Chessbase's publishing function, but not being able to integrate it into Blogger has kept me from doing so. Using Google Pages for it is a good idea, I'm gonna give it a try as well.
bp - thanks for the comments. i thought that at least he should have put a rook on the open file, this would have severely limited my options. he definitely had a stronger position and it would make more sense to go after the pawns.
nemo - hang in there. hard work off the board will always be rewarded on the board.
chessaholic - it felt really good to know that i had outplayed him to the point where he wanted a draw. i was literally shocked when i came back to the board and he had sacrificed on g2. i thought maybe he found some voodoo or something and i was going to lose. then he started repeating and i realized he didn't really have much of a choice.
soapstone - that weird post on iw's blog is the only reason that i'm familiar with them. before that i had no idea. do you have a fide rating?
Drunknknite, as I recall there was some bad Tom Cruz movie where the last of the Samurai showed how to use years of mental training and swordsmanship against such weapons:
Die Gloriously!
Not much to say except super game, especially recovering from a bleh opening.
It seems like Black was OK eating that Pawn (concluded after 12 seconds of analysis.)