Friday, March 09, 2007

Match Game 4, Pearson-Kesti 0-1...A Game of Extraordinary Lameosity (On My Part)

Don't tell me that lameosity is not a word; do you know Shakespeare used hundreds of new words in his works? It very well describes my play in this game last night, which leaves me down 3-1 in a six-game match for the Reno CC Class B Ch.

IMPRESSIONS: After a nearly symmetrical position arose out of a Queen's Indian, I had a slight edge, but in a tense middlegame I threw away a pawn for nebulous compensation. Now that could have been overcome, but in very mild time pressure (around 10 minutes for six moves) I forgot that his Bishop move was CHECK, picked up a Rook to make a capture and thus had to move the Rook to block the check, losing the exchange and completely wrecking my position, which he mopped up within a few more moves.

That's Lameosity.

Not good, not good at all.

I'm supposed to be a competent chess player, but in four games of the match I've made exactly one truly awful blunder per game (including the game I won), and that's simply not going to get it done against a good player. It's pretty maddening, since I've made a big effort to work on my game lately. Perhaps four games just isn't enough time to get back in the swing of things after a six-month layoff, but I'd better get going immediately or the match will be lost.

I'm finding it tough to stay focused in the third hour of play, and my vigilance and 'blundercheck' seems to slip around that time, so I guess I must devise some sort of cue to stay in the routine each and every move, or else I'll be stuck right where I am for the foreseeable future.

I'll post the game ASAP, which may not be for a couple of days if I'm on the road this weekend.

Excelsior!

UPDATE: Game 4 of the match:

[Event "Match, Reno CC Class B Ch"]
[Site "Reno, NV"]
[Date "2007.03.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Pearson, Robert"]
[Black "Kesti, Steve"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1600"]
[BlackElo "1764"]
[ECO "E14"]
[Annotator "R. Pearson"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. Bd3 d5 6. O-O Nbd7 7. b3 c5 8. Bb2 Bd6 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Ne5 Qc7 11. f4 Ne4 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Bc2 { White's manuvers have created some imbalances, but the game seems equal here. } Rad8 14. Qg4 f5 15. Qe2 { Qh5!? } cxd4 16. exd4 Rf6 17. Rac1 Rh6 18. b4? { a3 then b4, of course--this pawn 'sacrifice' doesn't lead to anything. } Bxb4 19. Bb3 Nxe5 20. fxe5 Qe7 21. c5 { Maybe Qe3 is better, but White has gone into desperate tactics mode already. } bxc5 22. a3 Ba5 23. Rxc5 Bb6 24. Rc2 Bxd4+ 25. Rf2?? { White forgot it was CHECK and tried to go Rxf5--what can one say except that it is the kind of embarrassing moment we all went through...when we were beginners. Not in the Class B Ch.! } Bxf2+ 26. Qxf2 Rd1+ { The rest is silence...White plays on hoping for a miracle back-ranker, but the odds are a million to one. } 27. Qf1 Rxf1+ 28. Kxf1 Rxh2 29. Bc3 Rh1+ 30. Ke2 Ba6+ 31. Kf2 Qh4+ 32. Ke3 Qg3+ 33. Kd4 Qd3+ 34. Kc5 Qb5+ 35. Kd6 Qxb3 0-1




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