Laptop Blues

What a time for my laptop to give way.

I have put my name up for the Grade matches (playing against other clubs) and it starts pretty soon. In fact, it's next week. Les sent me an email some time back and I've reproduced it below:

"Dear Members,
The above competition starts on 19 May and will continue until 24 July, if you would like to play in a team for Ryde-Eastwood please let me know by return email or talk to Dennis Hale on Wednesday night. You must be a member of NSWCA to play in this competition.


Les Mikolajczyk

Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Chess Club"

So what was I doing with my laptop?

Amongst other things, investigating 3 opening lines.

Line #1: Ruy Lopez - Archangelsk Var. - can't remember the exact line now. I saw this in an old chess mag and it looked promising.

Line #2: French - Winawer Var. - the notes on this variation after a particular 6th (7th?) move order is lost. Bugger. And I can't remember what follows.

Line#3: Nimzo-Indian - Leningrad Var. - I need to borrow that chess book again from the library to figure out what was the idea.

The only thing I have to do is reconstruct my database and opening repertoire. It was the only thing I didn't backup (major duh). The other problem is having to ask re-input all the moves from my tournament score sheets and asking Fritz to redo its magic (ie. blunder check).

A good thing I keep backups of some of the miscellaneous chess stuff onto separate CDs and DVDs.

I did turn up at the club on Wednesday and Bill, Alan, Steven and I played some lightning games (5 minute games). By the 4th game, my mind had tired (my stamina in quick games is terrible) and I was blundering more and more. This teaches me that I have to work on my fitness both mentally and physically as they are crucial to keeping my energy levels up.

To our surprise, David French turned up! David used to be a regular player at the club before he moved to Melbourne and apparently, he's back here in Sydney. So that's all around good news. He hasn't played for some 18 months now and he's definitely rusty. I hope to see him around more often. He's a good player and his presence will be a boost for the club.

I was also informed by Bill that the players for my Club Competition's final playoffs are:

Bill Gletsos (1874)
Arthur Huynh(1837)
Steven Liu (1779)
Lorenzo Escalante (1742)
Joshua Christensen (1651)

Tough crowd.

The only spot left for grabs is either down to me or Vince Chiara (1389). As of now, Vince has a chance to tie me if he manages to beat Arthur in his final round. If he does, we go into a tie breaker.