Friday, June 22, 2007

The Best Excuse for a Loss, EVER

Well, I lost my game at the Reno CC Summer Swiss last night to Ricardo Arteaga (1543) but at least it was quite exciting--he played the Philidor Defense (look Ma, I'm a king pawn player now!) and I sacrificed a bishop at f7 on move 6! It was all very tricky as I won an exchange, but would the knight escape (we've all been there before)? And every move was tactics, tactics without a break until move 31, when I blundered a piece. And in the interest of full disclosure I must report that my opponent used about 30 minutes for the entire game. He looked like he was a fish in water, while I agonized and calculated away.

Anyhow, just a few hours before the game my Dr. called with the news that a series of blood tests have revealed that I'm suffering from a pretty big deficit in thyroid function--which may go a long way toward explaining why I haven't had any stamina lately, and after about 20 well-played moves I begin to make so many errors. In a couple of days they're going to try me on some pills, which are expected to boost my functioning.

Seriously, I don't think I can blame all my losses on this--last night's game only lasted two hours! Eighty minutes used for me, 30 for him. Anyway, I'm probably going to take two or three weeks away from the grind of tournament play and just study, do some internet chess and have fun. Then we'll see how it's going, and I expect to get back into the serious "chess for blood."

Meanwhile, the blog will be more interesting because readers won't have to wade through my mediocre tournament efforts--after I post the three that haven't made it up here yet...(and just when will that be? ed.)

I'm pretty excited about the future, plus I have the best excuse ever for any recent errors in the past! Talk about the best of both worlds...

3 comments:

wang said...

Well I hope everything goes well with your treatment. I am looking forward to your "mediocre" tournament results as they will inspire me, as I am still trying to reach the exalted heights of mediocre chess!

Unknown said...

Hi Robert, I hope the new treatment works. It seems to me you're sacrificing too much of the time when the position calls for something else, possibly to avoid the later hour of play.

I almost sac'd the exchange in my last game with Ryba, but couldn't see a win after that, so I just kept up the pressure.

If you sac a piece, there must be something at the end of it.

Bear Down!

If you have to, choose a role model, someone you would like to play like, either professionally or at the club.

My role models are: Anatoly Karpov, Vasily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand.

Anonymous said...

Hi Robert.
You didn´t give the moves, but "Philidor" plus "sac on f7" sounds pretty much like that line where the white knight ends up on a8. This has been known to theory for a long time not to be good for white.