Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Mid Summer Slump

So close... yet so far. Earlier in the month my rating at USCF was 1698 following the Stamford CT Northeast Open. I was 2 points away from 1700 ( a goal I have set for my self this summer) then.. I played more tournaments.

First, I went to a one day event in Marlboro on Sunday July 23rd. Four G55's had me finished with only 1.5 points. My rating dropped only a few points to 1692 ( playing in the open section has its advantages)... then the monthly tally from the club's tournament kicked me... after another non stellar performance ... I dropped to 1687... AND THEN... I played at the COntinental Open over the past weekend.

It was a 6 round event... after losing my first three games I reentered for more abuse and lost a 4th game. I won 2 games and lost the last round becuase of a blunder in teh end game... handing my won position over to the opponent. I dropped 30 more rating points with that performance.

THEN.. Last night I was playing someone 200 points lower rated than me. In a skirmish of tactics versus tactics... he offered his queen to me ... but I didn't see the offer until AFTER I moved my king... which allowed him to take MY Queen. Grant it, I had lost power the previous night and had little sleep ( Sleep apnea) and found out my wife lost her job that day. Sure I can make excuses ... but I still have friggin blind spots. These losses are going to leave scars.

I felt like my brain went on vacation and forgot to tell me. My non stellar perfromance losing 6 out of the last 8 games played seems to stem from various problems. For one thing, I found myself paired against someone I beat at a previous tournament ... my prepared opening was stale and HE had a sharper line prepared for mine! In other instances ... it was BlunderProne Strikes again. Some were lost due to pure miscalculation in a middle game tactic.

I find that after doing the seven circles I needed to revamp my openings because I kept getting tripped up over move orders and not really having a good understanding of them. Then, as I put more effort into the opening ...my calculations slip on my tactics... last night I purely lost my vision skills... argh! Its like I have only so much brain... and if I study one area the other has to leak.

Slumping

2 comments:

H.K. said...

At least with a slump, there's only one place to go, UP!

Anonymous said...

George,

You can live vicariously through me :) I beat Pellows thanks to your tip about him using the London system. These kids just can't handle the Dutch!

here's the game:

[Event "MCC August '06"]
[Site "Natick, MA USA"]
[Date "2006-08-08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Pellows, Bennett"]
[Black "Phelps, Matt"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bf4 Nf6 4. c4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Qb3 O-O 7. e3 h6 8.
Be2 Qe8 9. O-O-O a6 10. h3 Nbd7 11. Rhg1 c5 12. d5 Ne4 13. Nxe4 fxe4 14.
Nd2 Nf6 15. g4 g5 16. Bg3 Rb8 17. Qc2 b5 18. cxb5 Nxd5 19. Qxe4 Nf6 20. Qc2
Bd7 21. Nc4 Bxb5 22. Nxd6 exd6 23. Bxd6 Bxe2 24. Qxe2 Qf7 25. Bxb8 Rxb8 26.
b3 Ne4 27. Rdf1 Qf6 {"After this, just 'White Resigns.'" - Ilya Krasik}
28. Qc4+ Kh8 29. Qxe4 Qb2+ 30. Kd1 Rd8+ 0-1