Tactics Time Chess Newsletter: Wardrobe Malfunction
Published: Thu, 02/20/14
| Newsletter Issue Wardrobe Malfunction | Tactics Time | ||||||||||
| Wardrobe Malfunction | |||||||||||
his position comes from the kindle book "Chess Superminatures" by Nick Pelling, which I am really enjoying.
In the position on the right it is Black to move.
Answer below.
Today I would like to talk about a story from the Winter Olympics that are currently going on in Sochi, Russia.
The U.S. speed skating team was blaming their poor performances on their suits.
Now this whole story seems completely ridiculous to me. First of all, the suits were never tested in any kind of real competition. Why? Because the U.S. was afraid of the technology being "stolen".
These guys had 4 years to prepare, and no one thought it might be a good idea to try out these suits before the Olympics started? Really?! Even after the U.S. switched back to the "old" suits - they still finished poorly.
Now as someone who has played hundreds of rated chess games, and tournaments, I am no stranger to people making excuses, whining, and deflecting blame away from themselves.
Recently in Colorado Chess, I have noticed even more of this going on than ever.
Recently there was a teenager, Justice Myers who had a crushing performance, during the January 2014 Wednesday night Panera Bread tournament in Colorado Springs.
You can see this remarkable performance here: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201401297372-14975165
Justice went from 1278 to 1533 in one tournament, winning every game against much stronger opponents.
After this his opponents were making excuses as lame as the US Speed Skaters.
One of his opponents, rated in the 1800s, complained that he had to play the Black pieces against Justice.
An 1800 player blaming his loss on the fact that he had to play Black against a 1200??
Are you kidding me?
C'mon MAN!
Sure, having the White pieces is an advantage when Grandmasters are playing, but when we are talking about class players, and a 600 point rating difference, this is ridiculous!
Scott Massey joked "I have never beaten a healthy chess player".
I think that it is very important to learn to take responsibility for things in life, and not always look for excuses.
Don't blame the equipment, don't blame the playing conditions, don't blame the pairings, don't blame the TD, don't blame the color assignments. Blame YOURSELF if you lose.
Upsets happen. No one wins every single game, and we all make mistakes. As Chris Berman says, "That's why they play the game". If the higher rated player always won, there would be no point in playing.
I lost to a 1000 rated player earlier this year - Devon Wall, Life Master Brian Wall's son. Am I ashamed of this? No. Sh*t Happens. I made mistakes, and Devon punished me. He played well, and I didn't. He deserved to win, and I deserved to lose. No excuses.
And even in the rare case that you do have a valid excuse - no one wants to hear it. Just say "It wasn't my day" or "I got outplayed". People will respect this a lot more.
Here is the complete game [Event "?"] [Site "USSR"] [Date "1978.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Lysenko, A."] [Black "Voronova, T."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B01"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 e5 5. Qe2 Nc6 6. d5 Bb4 7. Qc4 Nd4 8. Bd3 b5 0-1 You can play through this game here: http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2014/2/16/Game281906380.html
Answer: 8...b5! traps the White Queen
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
 P.S. speaking of winter sports - I took a day off of work, and went snowboarding today at Copper Mountain with my long time chess friends Pete Short and Francisco Baltier. Good times!
   Like Tactics Time on Facebook.
 Read the Tactics Time Kindle eBook.  If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them! Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read? Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!
© Copyright 2011-2014 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.
| |||||||||||
It is a poor workman who blames his tools - by Anonymous 
