"fs" wrote in message news:fPr5d.3699$8H1.874@trnddc08...
I rarely play online but when I do, I play blitz on Gameknot. But tonight
I was bored and for some reason I thought I'd visit Yahoo. To my horror,
I
lost 4 games against 1200(Yahoo) players. :_( I just started playing
this
year, but I hoped I was better than that! I beat the U1400 county
champion
in a rapid at the club last week! This was my last Yahoo game (I'm
black):

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 {I call this opening the "Yahoo attack"} 2...Nc6 3. Bb5
Nf6
4. Qf3 Nd4 5. Qd3 Nxb5 6. Qxb5 Be7 7. Qxe5 O-O 8. d3 d6 9. Qg3 Re8 10. Bh6
g6 11. Nf3 Ng4 {Dang it, I missed 11...Nh5!} 12. Bd2 c6 13. h3 Nf6 14. Bh6
Nh5 15. Qh2 d5 16. O-O Bd6 17. Qh1 Qc7 {I noticed 17...Qb6 right after I
moved DOH!} 18. Nbd2 Nf4 19. Bxf4 Bxf4 20. e5 Qb6 21. d4 Bxd2 22. Nxd2
Qxd4
23. Nf3 Qxb2 24. Qh2 Bf5 25. Qf4 Qxc2 26. Qh6 f6?? 27. exf6 Rf8?? {with
0:00 on my clock} 28. Qg7# 1-0
A thought for this type of game. Normally, you wouldn't want to give up
your e-pawn, but Black will waste several moves and likely get into trouble
if you play
2. Nf3 Qe5 3. Be7, followed by 4. O-O. Develop by chasing the black Q from
the centre, and you should find that you have a fine game ahead of you.

GB

"Bob Newell" wrote in message
...
On 2004-09-26, fs wrote:

Why should I like chess so much, but have no talent for it? Why should
I
be so inconsistant? It's just not right. I know I need to do some
tactics

I have a great love for chess and checkers, and I'm bad at both. But if
in a sense you compete with yourself - and define 'winning' as learning
and improving, no matter how many games you objectively lose - you can
have a great time.

Yeah, I think I lost sight of that last night. One of my proudest games
was one I lost against a 1900USCF player. I fought all the way down to a
rook and pawns endgame. But last night, I had that "Why must I lose to
these idiots?" feeling.


There is a good sports analogy. I also love cycling but I know I will
never be a racer let alone a race winner. But I still derive pleasure,
healthful exercise, and the satisfaction of steady improvement.

(I would also suggest that the 'silver bullets' *are* however
inconsistent with the goal of improvement!)

I don't know... my brother-in-law swears I play better ;-) It's the
William Winter effect.

Beware when playing online on Yahoo. Cheating is rampant there and Yahoo
does nothing to try and curb it. By cheating, I mean that people use chess
software to make their moves for them. If you want to play online with
relatively little risk of playing someone who is cheating, play on the
PlayChess server or ICC.

Amos.

"fs" wrote in message news:fPr5d.3699$8H1.874@trnddc08...
I rarely play online but when I do, I play blitz on Gameknot. But tonight
I was bored and for some reason I thought I'd visit Yahoo. To my horror,
I
lost 4 games against 1200(Yahoo) players. :_( I just started playing
this
year, but I hoped I was better than that! I beat the U1400 county
champion
in a rapid at the club last week! This was my last Yahoo game (I'm
black):

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 {I call this opening the "Yahoo attack"} 2...Nc6 3. Bb5
Nf6
4. Qf3 Nd4 5. Qd3 Nxb5 6. Qxb5 Be7 7. Qxe5 O-O 8. d3 d6 9. Qg3 Re8 10. Bh6
g6 11. Nf3 Ng4 {Dang it, I missed 11...Nh5!} 12. Bd2 c6 13. h3 Nf6 14. Bh6
Nh5 15. Qh2 d5 16. O-O Bd6 17. Qh1 Qc7 {I noticed 17...Qb6 right after I
moved DOH!} 18. Nbd2 Nf4 19. Bxf4 Bxf4 20. e5 Qb6 21. d4 Bxd2 22. Nxd2
Qxd4
23. Nf3 Qxb2 24. Qh2 Bf5 25. Qf4 Qxc2 26. Qh6 f6?? 27. exf6 Rf8?? {with
0:00 on my clock} 28. Qg7# 1-0

Ok, it was a blitz and I had a Silver Bullet in me, but after that loss I
felt really discouraged. I played with the dogs for a bit and headed to
the kitchen for another Bullet, but my little 12" analysis set was on the
kitchen table with my Excalibur Talking LCD Chess handheld next to it, so
I
fire it up for one more 10-min game.

I was practicing an endgame earlier, and forgot that I left it on "Hard"
level. AFAIKT, that's around 1700 USCF, but somehow I came back from
being
two pawns down and drew the game. Whaa? Talking LCD gives you a 10-sec
increment to compensate for move entry, so maybe the extra time helped me
dramatically, but as I cracked open my second bullet I started feeling
even
more discouraged.

Why should I like chess so much, but have no talent for it? Why should I
be so inconsistant? It's just not right. I know I need to do some
tactics
drills, so I ordered "Sharpen Your Tactics" last week and plan to do the
easy probs several times and go from there (like Heisman recommends), but
I'm still feeling down about this. Can anybody cheer me up? Jeez, I'm
going to get another bullet.

On 2004-09-26, fs wrote:

a G/20 pace. Playing tournaments would surely be a great experience, but
it's hard to get away for an entire weekend to play chess. What do you

I will share with you my trick for finding time to get away for an
afternoon, day, or weekend: register for the event as far ahead of time
as possible, and be certain to PAY IN ADVANCE. If a hotel is required,
book it right away with a credit card guarantee.

If you've already laid out your cash, you'll find time to go there!