Sunday, June 24, 2007

2007_WMCA_Miller-Borowski


2007_WMCA_Miller-Borowski
Originally uploaded by firstfret
For the final round (4) I was paired against George Miller. George was having an amazing tournament. His only loss going into this game was against Larry Williams in the previous round. Larry is rated over 500 points higher than George - and in their game George was winning. He lost to Larry on time. Wow!

We only needed a 1/2 point in the last round to guarantee our club victory. So I had no doubt that regardless of my result we'd win. With 5 of us, to lose all 5 games was extremely unlikely.

George continued with his amazing play, and in the position shown I was lost. Unfortunately he moved a little too quickly, perhaps concerned about the time trouble from his last game. He blundered into a knight fork, lost his queen, and resigned.

So for my foray back into the world of chess, 3 wins and 1 loss. It felt good. Now I have to keep playing. No year off again!

Now it's time to get some sleep!

Enjoy!

Ed.

2007_WMCA_Borowski-Dould


2007_WMCA_Borowski-Dould
Originally uploaded by firstfret
I had the pleasure of playing John Dould in Round 3. John has been a solid player for many years now. I somehow felt like I was getting picked on. Where did my easy pairings go? I was determined to win this game, so I tried to play aggressively. Although I made some mistakes, I was happy with the end result.

2 wins, 1 loss.

Ed.

2007_WMCA_Montgomery-Borowski


2007_WMCA_Montgomery-Borowski
Originally uploaded by firstfret
In Round 2 I was paired against Parker Montgomery. Parker was an Expert for many years and is always feared OTB. Since Parker was the highest rated player in the event not on our team, I knew this would be the toughest game for me.

In the final position I resigned. I didn't see a way out of it. After the game Parker told me he was surprised that I resigned. That the position was actually drawn. After we went over it for a while, it did appear that Black had some good resources and with best play should be able to draw.

I was a bit shaken up by this and determined to win my next round. Not always a great idea to let emotions come into play.

As a side note, I had Fritz look at the game. I was lost. LOST! So oddly enough I felt better about that.

So after 2 rounds, I'm 1 win, 1 loss.

Ed.

2007_WMCA_Borowski-Hall


2007_WMCA_Borowski-Hall
Originally uploaded by firstfret
The first round started at about 9:15am. As luck would have it, I travel half way across the state just to play my arch rival! Of course, I mean that in the nicest possible way. I first started playing "real" chess against Dave. When Sean and I first started playing chess so many years ago, Dave was the first real tournament chessplayer that we met. Though I usually do pretty well against Dave, bad days are not allowed!

My last tournament was the New York State Championship last September. And having played very little since due to something we'll just call WOW... I was concerned about being nervous playing while trying to get back into the game.

I wasn't - it felt really good. In the picture shown this was the critical position of our game. Dave had been playing great up until this point. After his move Rd5 it unravels quickly.

1-0.

Ed.

A Lot of Things Different


2007 WMCA Club Championship 14
Originally uploaded by firstfret
Getting to the WMCA Club Championship in Fitchburg was a bit of a challenge. What could possibly go wrong with such a well planned trip? Well, my plan consisted of the following:

No WOW the night before
Wake up early (6am)
Drive there
Play chess

Not bad. Seemed like it couldn't fail. Now let me take you back to late last week. I learned that my excise tax wasn't paid. I received a final warrant in the mail. Well - not so bad. I can still drive. The upsetting part was that I paid it in February! I received the warrant in the mail, got a cashiers check, and had it paid. So I have an issue to work out.

So Friday night I stop at my mothers house on my way home from work. I forget what we're talking about, but I pull out my license. Expired! Now that could cause a bit of a problem. It expired on my birthday, which was Tuesday. So I decide it would be bad for me to drive.

After a few phone calls, Larry says he'll pick me up. Kip calls me at 7am to say that I could probably renew my license online. Then Larry comes and Larry, Cliff, and I are off to Fitchburg. Larry mentions that his car leaks some fumes into the car so there might be some breathing issues. We decide to have him drive my truck.

There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the wheel of time, but it was a beginning (Robert Jordan).

Ed.

2007 WMCA Club Championship


2007 WMCA Club Championship 15
Originally uploaded by firstfret
We begin at the end. The 2007 WMCA Champions. It was a fun event, though participation was light. Better yet, I got away from WOW for a day. How often does that happen?

How did I play? I'll be putting up a few more posts with my games from the rounds. So I'll save the details. But overall our entire team did well.

Ed.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

The Improbability Drive

I'm going to play chess today. It's 6:00am and I'm actually out of bed. Wow! No, not that WOW! It's at Fitchburg State College and my ride picks me up at 7. So I should get moving. I was originally going to go myself but a few challenges mysteriously appeared. I found last night that I had a bit of an issue. My drivers license had expired this past Tuesday. Ouch!

I'll post a bit about the tournament later. Enjoy your Saturday!

Ed.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Addicted to ya baby!

http://health.yahoo.com/news/176635

I can see it happening. Addiction. I was there, I know. I didn't go over the top like some people do, but I definitely walked a fine line. It overtook my life. It was amazing! Since I hit level 70 on my main, it has subsided a bit. I didn't want it to. But hey, life goes on.

Assuming I can get Kip to cover for me tomorrow I'm planning to play chess in the 2007 WMCA Western MA Intra Club Championship at Fitchburg State College. I haven't played chess seriously since last year. There was this WOW thing... I've been studying tactics a little bit over the past few weeks, so hopefully I've sharpened up a little bit.

If for some reason I don't go, you can guess what I'll be doing!

Enjoy your Friday, Ed.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

The Strangest Dream

Last night I had the strangest dream... and it made me wonder, "what's wrong with me?". What was this dream about? Chess! If you're familiar with the last 5 months of my life, there's only one thing that I dream about: World of Warcraft. In this dream LW was explaining to me his new chess strategy. It was pretty cool.

Hmm... I might play a game of chess today. Stranger things have happened. But for now, back to bed!

Ed.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The Things

I was looking at shoes tonight. I ordered some shoes at JCPenney a few weeks ago and messed that up. I didn't think I needed to buy wide. We won't go into the details of that one. Anyway, I'm finally getting around to buying some new shoes and decide to do a quick yahoo search before going back to my usual JCPenney. If you know me, perhaps you can imagine my surprise when I came across the following possible selections:

Foot Undies
Foot Thong

I'd share pictures with you, but I have to say that just looking at the words is far too disturbing for me.

-Ed.