Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
I'm playing too fast and have made a myriad of blunders so far. Mid-table beckons.
I'm playing too fast and have made a myriad of blunders so far. Mid-table beckons.
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
I so lost the plot this evening in my match against you that I only realised about 3 moves afterwards that I just gave a piece away. I was probably confused by the complicated maths of it: what is a knight minus nothing?Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Hmm, might be too soon to call that at least. I enjoyed the 'Fried Liver' opening we had; it's left me a net two points up but it's entirely likely I won't make full use of that advantage.matt j wrote: I'm playing too fast and have made a myriad of blunders so far. Mid-table beckons.
Another new opening I was pleased to try was against ad hoc, the Albin Countergambit (to the Queen's Gambit). However I have since made a mess of things, blundering into losing a rook (!!), though maybe I can salvage something yet.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
One of matt j's blunders has netted me a major giant-killing scalp as he failed to notice my carefully constructed trap*. Unlucky, matt j.
*I might or might not be being kind to him by describing it this way...Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Nice one, Sam.
Even with me having a queen and a rook advantage, Levin very nearly just mated me.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
That matt j vs sam match - wow!
Biggest upset ever. Out of nowhwere - kerpow! Congratulations Sam! Makes the title a bit more unpredictable too.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Wow. Funnily enough I wanted to come on to compliment Sam on his solid opening 11 moves; a world away from the previous two games.
Edit - aside from getting your bishop trapped by my pawns I suppose, but believe me, I've made that same error dozens of times.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
The chess.com site seems to be struggling a bit at the moment (but not actually down), unless it's a problem just with my server.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
No, it does seem very slow indeed this morningComment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Seems to be ok again now.
The finale of my game with Etienne is doing my head in. He has a knight and rook, I just have a rook but am up on pawns, with four in the three central files. But I can't seem to find a way to get any of them promoted.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Thanks folks (especially Kevchenko). Not sure I deserve much credit though; prior to matt j's final move I was looking at the board thinking 'Okay, basically I'm fucked. I mean, mate's possible if he moves the Queen for some reason, but that's not going to happen...'
I did move the pawn up there in an attempt to threaten the Queen but I didn't think the Queen would get moved to somewhere that unpinned the rook! I'll take it, though.
I am currently in something of a pickle against both Etienne and Smallcaps. And I'm not sure what's happened against EEG, my pawn structure's all over the fucking place.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Well, Matt J and I have just played out the first draw of this tournament.
This should be a brilliant result for me, for two reasons - first, Matt is the highest-scoring player from the previous tournament to play in this one, and second, I was so sure I was going to lose at one point that I contemplated resigning.
But given that Matt seems to have been playing rather below his usual level, based on that being his first half point from 5 finished matches, I now feel like a manager whose team has managed to get a draw against Chelsea ... in the autumn of 2015.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
One of my games already resembles the battle of Rorke's Drift, not helped by me charging my queen up the board, forgetting all about her and seeing her taken by a knight.
I am ever more confident in my prediction that I won't win a single game. I will at least be able to put some quality time to them tonight, I feel a bit like I've been panicked into trying to rush things along so far, when I log on and all 9 games are waiting for my next move.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Is Matt making moves drunk at the moment?
He just took my Queen which is obviously great but, in such a way, that I then took his Queen and there was no back-up move. Obviously, we are both equal now and he is still easily better than me and should win but I was surprised that it wasn't such a straightforward like-for-like take.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
I felt like that. Well, not panicked but excited as I had been playing interminably long games against a computer before this. However, I did notice that the last couple of games, I did improve somewhat when most of the rest were all over.Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote: I feel a bit like I've been panicked into trying to rush things along so far, when I log on and all 9 games are waiting for my next move.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
It's a fairly standard move in that situation, Bored. He gets the advantage that you can't castle now.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
If there is some way that I can prove that you distracted me with that last comment so that you could win our game, I would report you to the authorities whoever they may be. Congratulations. Shortest game in both tournaments?Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
There doesn't seem to be an easy way to check.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
If you go onto the games round-up page, it shows the moves of each game and Levin and Kevchenko's first game was 10 moves so one less than ours. There was a couple of 11 move games in the first one as well.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Christ I need to remember to not play when I've had a few glasses of wine.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Unlucky, EEG. I almost gave myself a headache thinking through every way those last two or three turns could go, and I still wasn't quite sure right up until it happened that I'd really end up with mate.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
OK, I am now officially the Duke of Brunswick, to Sam's Paul Morphy. Merrily and foolishly snapping up minor pieces and disregarding Sam's inexorable build up of a lethal assault with all his remaining pieces.
Unlike Sam's win against Matt J, which relied on a single move blunder, Sam got me into a position where I could see his checkmate coming about 3 moves ahead but could do nothing to stop it.
Congrats Sam. Your results in the first tournament just lulled us into a false sense of security!Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
They lulled me as well, if it's any consolation. When that little end sequence started I had a feeling there ought to be mate somewhere as soon as you moved the King to h8, but kept looking at it and thinking, 'no, he's got just too much material there for me to do this...' and then like you, three moves from the end I thought I saw it.
Tomorrow one of my mates is coming round and I'm going to play chess on an actual real-life chess board for the first time in my life. I think I might be addicted.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
At this stage, having regard to results already in and to the previous form book, I reckon the three joint favourites for the OTF 2 league title would be ad hoc, Etienne and Smallcaps, but anything could happen really.Comment
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Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments
Wow. For someone who never did that as a kid, you have picked it up very well indeed, if that's not too patronising a thing to say.I'm going to play chess on an actual real-life chess board for the first time in my lifeComment
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