Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Back To OTB Play And Rustiness

I went last night to the North Sydney's Chess Club at Cammeray. Unfortunately, they were having lightning chess which I didn't feel like playing as the time controls were a bit too fast for me.

My brother-in-law Steven did play. Most of the regulars of North Sydney turned up together with Michael Morris, Gareth Charles amongst many others and a few surprise turnups by Johny Bolens and Shane Dibley.

I had gone there to pay for participation of the North Sydney Club Championships which begins next Tuesday. Norman Greenwood has informed me that the draws will be held on Thursday.

So after a 2 year hiatus, I'm going back to playing OTB chess again.

Peter Lay won the Lightning round but the highlight of the round for me was between Michael Morris and Johny Bolens. Michael played a rather unorthodox defense and pulled off a very nice tactical combination that allowed him to win a Knight and from then on, Johny got into trouble and promptly resigned a few moves before he was to get mated.

I'm also planning to play in the Ryde Eastwood Club Championships as well which starts 3 weeks from now. For the next 3 weeks, they'll be playing a Rapid tournament with 3 rounds each. My brother-in-law Steven is turning up tonight so it'll be interesting (because he left the Ryde Eastwood club a few years ago). I plan to play in the Rapids but I am not sure if I can make the drive from my workplace to the club within 15 minutes!

In the meantime, with regards to playing again in tournaments, I don't hope for miracles considering my long layoff from chess and have already anticipated a lot of rustiness to have set in with respect to my chess.

PS: I've almost forgotten most of my opening repertoire as well. Oh dear. :)

2 comments:

  1. Stop all that worry and other excuses!

    All you have to do is show up, have fun, and learn from your mistakes. No pressure, no stress. Just fun and enjoyment.

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  2. Thanks chesstiger. I hear ye! :)

    I did have fun. In the rapids, I got 2/3 for the first week.

    The final game was a loss against Kuru (1603) was painful and inexplicable because in the midst of making moves, I miscalculated badly and lost a piece and it was pretty much downhill from there on.

    My brother-in-law Steven scored 3/3.

    This week is going to be busy. A classical game on Tuesday followed by 3 Rapid games on Wednesday.

    I'll update everyone on the results.

    Thanks for the encouragement!

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