How to lose a winning game

Fair bloody dinkum.

I should write a book on how to lose a winning game. In my first game i was winning..... whould have won a piece..... instead i went the wrong way.... walked right into a clearly seeable tactic that lost me the exchange. Thats ok, i have N+4 pawns v R and 2 pawns..... I had an opportunity to draw but i thought i could get my pawns through. Nope i lost the knight. So I lost a game that i should have won, the game went for ages so i had about half an hour t'il the next game. I was stuffed already. Perhaps i should listen to my mother and go to bed a little bit earlier on tournament nights. In my second game i come up against someone again rated lower than me and again i stuffed up. I missed how she could win an exchange by threatening the knight and queen smother mate combination. Bugger me. What the hell is wrong with me?

I lose my first game and i feel quite down in the dumps. I lose my second game and i feel even more depressed. I've been feeling a bit more depressed lately since my brother died...... maybe i should see a counsellor or something. Anyhow thats not what we're here to talk about.

I do not know who is leading the tournaments because i was pissed off with my self and left the building. I will give everyone an update tomorrow morning before the round starts....

Grade Matches

While i'm here i'll dicuss the Grade matches.

Under 1600
In round two the North sydney Grizzly Bears had to travel the long journey to Campbelltown.... And it must have had an effect on them. Campbelltown won 4-0. Our board one had a forfeit as the North Sydney board one thought that they had to play on the Tuesday instead of the monday. 1-0 to campbelltown.

Secondly Mick Rogosic won in his usual fianchettoing, axe wielding way. 2-0.

Then a while passed until i defeated Norm Greenwood in an interesting KR+7pawns v KR+7pawns endgame. My rook had the more dominant position which enabled my king to infiltrate norms position. My pawns were also more advanced than his. I picked off a pawn, then gave up two to clear a path for promotion. 3-0

Finally Peter Brennan had an interesting engame and was eventually able to block out the black king in order to promote his rooks pawn - the only other piece on the board other than the two kings. 4-0 Campbelltown

However, where the Grizzlies failed, the Brown bears took revenge. We lost on boards 1,2 and 4, and Peter Brennan was lucky to win on board 3.

This week coming we travel to St George to play Wollongong.

The Under 2000 team are doing reasonably well. They are currently coming 2nd behind St. george but only half a point in front of Parramatta and Manly.

NSW OPEN! RU READY?

Hello all!

Sorry i haven't blogged for almost a month.

Today the NSW Open starts. I am here early so i thought i would cover the NSW in depth, round by round. There is a chess cafe right next to the venue that is slightly on the expensive side but not as expensive as the internet cafe at Victor Lodge at Canberra.

Well, IMHO it has been a pretty disappointing early entry list. I would have expected much more to enter. Perhaps it has something to do with the location. The NSW Open is being held at the Hakoah club in Bondi Beach. The rounds will finish so late that i have decided to get accomodation for a tournament in sydney. i would not be able to get home to have an adequate amount of sleep. I think this venue would be a turn off for a number of players from the west. I wonder how many rooty hill members will be playing in this tournament (Other than maybe Shane Burgess... who is really from Parramatta). I hope there is at least two. There will be at least two from Campbelltown, Myself and Jamie Boyce, who is a promising junior and generally plays above his rating. He came equal second with Johny Bolens in the 2005 Fischers Ghost tournament.

Anyhow i'm excited to be playing in this event.

Speak to y'all later.