Over and Over again

Hmm, I wonder if when Klymaxx sang "Still Say Yes" they were thinking about chess? Probably not, and yet here I find myself singing that song in my head while thinking about chess. Then again, they named themselves Klymaxx, so I don't think it should really matter to me what they were thinking. In fact, I don't care. Let's not talk about it again. Thanks!

So, I played 2 quick games of chess tonight when I got home from my guitar lesson. When I say quick, I mean that they were both G/15. The first game is what I'm going to share because, well, I had a little problem in the 2nd game. It was a great game, against a similarly rated opponent which, if you're familiar with on-line chess, means absolutely nothing. I was starting to feel a little uncertain. Like I was getting beat. So I slapped myself in the face a few times (not really), told myself to get a grip, and looked at the position with an eye towards trying to identify the imbalances. I finally formulated what I felt was a solid plan with exciting possibilities. It was like a overcame a hurdle that had been blocking me for a long time. It was such a great feeling. In the past when faced with similar situations I'd simply play moves that looked OK without being able to fully formulate a reasonable plan based upon such factors. At that point, when I was about to make my move, I noticed that I had lost my connection to the ICC, and therefore lost the game by forfeit. When Garth said that "some of gods greatest gifts are unanswered prayeres" I'm guessing that he wasn't thinking about chess either.

The game I'm going to share is primarily for the tactics. Not that the game itself was a tactical slugfest, it wasn't. But due to the fact that my opponent missed some of my tactical possibilities, I was able to play them. I hope you enjoy! (I had some strange issue uploading images tonight, otherwise I was going to add a few diagrams to go along with the game)

[Event "ICC 15 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2005.10.19"]
[Round "-"]
[White "RASMALAI"]
[Black "EdBorowski"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1708"]
[BlackElo "1946"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Grand Prix attack"]
[ECO "B21"]
[NIC "SI.48"]
[Time "21:23:50"]
[TimeControl "900+0"]
1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qd8 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bc4 e6 7. O-O Nf6 8.d3 Bd6 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Nc6 11. Re1 O-O 12. g4 Qc7 13. g5 Nd4 14. Qf2 Nh515. Rf1 a6 16. Ne4 Bxf4 17. Bxf4 Nxf4 18. Qxf4 Ne2+ 19. Kh1 Nxf4 20. Rae1 b521. Bb3 Nxh3 22. Rf3 Nf4 23. Ref1 e5 24. Ng3 a5 25. a3 a4 26. Ba2 b4 27.R1f2 Rab8 28. Rh2 Qc6 29. Ne4 bxa3 30. bxa3 Rb2 31. Bc4 Rb1+ {White resigns}0-1