2003-01-02 - 11:55 p.m.

I Drop One

Today was a busy day as I had to play catch-up for all the time I was away. I had a column to finish and I had bills to pay down in the store, and so on.

I had an important game tonight in the preliminaries of the local chess club championship, but I really had no time to study for it. I took a quick look at what my opponent liked to play, but all I could find that was relevant was a game that I had played against him some years ago. The opening was kind of a hash, so I didn't think he'd play that again.

As it turns out I was right. When I sat down to play him that evening, he played something completely different. It was something I knew pretty well, so I wasn't too concerned.

However a few moves after we left the opening I noticed something was wrong. I was taking a long time thinking and was having a hard time staying focused on the game. I haven't been sleeping well recently, and this was probably having a bad effect on my focus. Soon I was a half hour behind on my clock, and my opponent was not that fast of a thinker.

I had been studying a book on tactics while I was down in Carolina, but that work had obviously done me little good.

I thought I had a slightly inferior position, and he was building up an attack. However, I saw a tactical possibility - his queen was on my kingside, but it didn't have a lot of free squares. I thought I saw a way to trap it, if he let me. To my astonishment, he allowed me to make the move I was thinking of. When I played it he looked startled, then settled in to think. While he was mulling over his move, I looked at the position again and saw that he had a way out - he could threaten my queen and I couldn't take the piece without allowing a checkmate. I would therefore be forced to trade queens, after which he would win a rook for a knight.

Sure enough, he found the saving clause, and I was left with a lost position. As my time dwindled I kept struggling, but it was hopeless. I eventually resigned with about a minute left on my clock.

When I got home I looked at the game with my chess computer. I was definitely lost after my "brilliant" attempt to trap the queen, but the move before I'd missed a chance to win a pawn with a very good chance of victory. Ah, me.

This was a bitter pill to swallow because this is my second loss, and that probably means that I won't make it into the championship finals. I've been in the championship finals every years since 1986, with the exception of 2000 when I didn't play at all.

It still is possible for me to qualify, but it means I have to win all my remaining games. There is an unrated guy in our section and so far he has won all his games, but he hasn't met any of the higher rated yet. His real playing strength is something of a mystery. He doesn't have a U.S. rating, but he's from India and his father is a strong international player. I should be able to beat him, if I don't play like a chimpanzee. That, however, is the rub.

I'm not really that upset about it - if I don't get in, I don't get in. The results you get depend on how well you play, and if I stink, I don't deserve to get in. It's as simple as that.