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Jun-26-21
 | | FSR: Regarding your famous (well, sort of) game against Drunken Master, GM Erwin L'Ami comments in his chessable course on the Caro-Kann on the line that was played in your game. After 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.d4, he remarks, <4...dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 Qxd4 White refutes this in great style with 7.Be3! Qxb2 8.Bc4! [so far as in Drunken Master-Thomson] Sacrificing two rooks! If Black takes them with 8...Qxa1+ 9.Ke2 Qxh1 mate is unavoidable. 10.Qxf7+ Kd8 11.Qxf8+ Kc7 12.Bf4+ Kb6 13.Qd8#> He instead recommends 4...Nf6 5.Bd3 e6 6.O-O Be7 7.Re1 O-O=. |
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Oct-20-21
 | | keypusher: < FSR: Regarding your famous (well, sort of) game against Drunken Master, GM Erwin L'Ami comments in his chessable course on the Caro-Kann on the line that was played in your game. After 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.d4, he remarks, <4...dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 Qxd4 White refutes this in great style with 7.Be3! Qxb2 8.Bc4! [so far as in Drunken Master-Thomson] Sacrificing two rooks! If Black takes them with 8...Qxa1+ 9.Ke2 Qxh1 mate is unavoidable. 10.Qxf7+ Kd8 11.Qxf8+ Kc7 12.Bf4+ Kb6 13.Qd8#> He instead recommends 4...Nf6 5.Bd3 e6 6.O-O Be7 7.Re1 O-O=.> Thanks! Just uploaded a clock simul loss to Alex Fishbein, hopefully they'll add it soon. Feel free to weigh in when they do! |
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Oct-20-21
 | | Stonehenge: Here it is:
Fishbein vs S Thomson, 2021. |
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Oct-20-21
| | keypusher: <Stonehenge> Thanks, that was quick! |
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Oct-05-22
 | | chancho: Saengil Chukha Hamnida! |
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Nov-02-22
| | keypusher: Hey thanks, chancho! |
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Feb-18-23
| | keypusher: Endgame follies:
click for larger viewThis was a 45 minute game with a five-second increment. I was down to a couple minutes, but still had some time to think. I played 56….b3 57.ab a3 58.b4 a2 59.Bxa2 Nxa2 60.b5 Nb4 and my opponent forced an immediate draw with 61.e5+!. On a Tuesday around here I would certainly have seen 56….Nxa2 57.Bxa2 b3 and Black is getting a new queen. Funnily enough, this only works because the bishop can’t retreat any further on the a2-g8 diagonal. If there was a white square on the other side of a1 the bishop could still stop the pawns. But as it is, if 58.Bb1 a3. Since I started playing OTB again I’ve been struck by how few games have been decided by endings (as opposed to by giant clanging blunders). But it looks like I can’t neglect endgames either….although to be sure, this game was decided by a giant clanging blunder. |
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Feb-19-23
 | | perfidious: <keypusher>, the outcome was unfortunate for you, but with all the nervous tension, understandable. |
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Feb-19-23
| | keypusher: <perfidious> pretty sure you or Fusilli or FSR or Rookfile or Honza, etc. would have seen …Nxa2 in a split second, Alan. |
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Feb-19-23
| | perfidious: <keypusher>, most likely you are right about that--and definitely if it were presented as a POTD--but under game conditions, I have seen stranger misses than that by stronger players than you, or I. |
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Feb-19-23
| | keypusher: ...should have added <diceman> to that list, he whacked me good a couple of times online. Of course Defi too. And stone free and many others. |
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Feb-19-23
| | FSR: <keypusher: . . . Funnily enough, this only works because the bishop can’t retreat any further on the a2-g8 diagonal. If there was a white square on the other side of a1 the bishop could still stop the pawns.> I never thought of that. It's a familiar combination, but it only works when the pawn the knight is capturing is on the a or h file, for the reason you noted. Shift the constellation of pieces a file to the right and ...Nxb2 would be a blunder since the bishop can retreat to a1. |
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Feb-19-23
| | perfidious: <FSR....Chess is hard.> There are doubtless those who will call me a Luddite--and they may well have a point--but it annoys me no end when kibitzers post a string of analysis from Stockfish/Rybka/Wotsit, proclaiming divine insight into the position. Give me concrete reasoning any day--even if it be faulty in some way--over baldly, uncritically spewing out analyses from Fishie. If my eyes have not glazed over after seeing such crap, in typical middlegame positions, I ask myself why the silicon monstah came to its evaluation, as I do playing poker when the software recommends what are referred to as 'mixed' strategies. |
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Feb-19-23
| | FSR: And yes, as <perfidious> says, one can miss the most obvious things under game conditions. Sometimes I look at some nice blitz game I've won, and think "If I can do that with five minutes for the game, why don't I play better when I have 18 times as long?" Chess is hard. Last Thursday, I was playing first board for my team in the Chicago Industrial Chess League. The opposing team was from Northwestern University. I had Black in the position below. My opponent was a FIDE Master with a USCF rating of 2391. He has misplayed the opening. 
click for larger view Had I played 10...Rd8! White would be tied in knots. The move he desperately wants to play, 11.b3, is busted by 11...Ne4! 12.Bxe4 (Stockfish recommends sacking the exchange with 12.Ncxe4) Bxc3 13.Rb1 Na6 and White is in extremis. Instead I played the mindless 10...Nbd7? After 11.b3 White had equalized, since 11...Nd5? would allow 12.cxd5 Bxc3 13.dxe6 Bxa1 14.exd7. After a few more brain-dead moves I got crushed like a child. My idiocy was apparently infectious. Our team lost 5-1. |
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Feb-19-23
 | | Fusilli: <keypusher: <perfidious> pretty sure you or Fusilli or FSR or Rookfile or Honza, etc. would have seen …Nxa2 in a split second, Alan.> If I had faced that position, in my experience, what I would do would be influenced by what I had been thinking all along. If I had gotten mind-stuck in the typical b3, axb3, a3 push, I may have blundered too. That free h-pawn on the other side of the board can make anyone feel overconfident. And, you know, we all blunder in the most absurd situations sometimes. Then we want to put four question marks on our move because two is not self-flagellating enough. It's an ugly feeling. And then there is the aging factor. We are no spring chickens, and stamina declines. But let's leave that for another day... You have the right to lick your wounds and feel the pain. Eventually, you'll stand up, dust up, and go fight again, because you are fighter and that's what we do. Godspeed my friend! |
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Feb-19-23
| | Fusilli: <FSR> <Had I played 10...Rd8!...> Arghhh. A missed opportunity against a strong player. I hate when that happens. |
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Feb-19-23
| | keypusher: <Fusilli> et al. Thanks for those kind words. I think one of the obstacles <FSR> was facing was that you don't expect someone rated nearly 2400 to screw up the opening! |
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Feb-19-23
 | | saffuna: <And yes, as <perfidious> says, one can miss the most obvious things under game conditions.> There's a reason commentators often spot errors that players don't. |
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May-05-23
| | FSR: <keypusher: . . . Here's one I'd like to upload. I don't have the score, but as our Secretary of State might say it is seared -- seared! in my memory. I've mentioned to you before. It was when I lived in England in the early 90s, and for some reason -- perhaps a cholera epidemic -- I was playing first board for Wood Green in a team match. There was a pub next door, to which my opponent repaired after each move (which he took about five seconds on). 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.d4 ed 5.Nxe4 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 Qxd4 7.Be3?! Qxb2 8.Bc4 e6 (8....Qb4+ would have been good here) 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Rab1 Qe5 11.Nxf6+ Qxf6 12.Rxb7 Qxf3 (hurrah, the queens are off!) 13.gf Ba3 14.Rd1 0-0 (blessed relief, followed immediately by...) 15.Rd3 1-0 (...crushing embarassment). My opponent graciously accepted my resignation and headed back to the pub. Maybe one of our English kibitzers could tell me who my opponent was so I could upload the game. He was overweight (natch) and had a beard and a +200 BCF rating. Or we could call him NN or my personal preference, <Drunken Master>.> On Facebook, I posed your query in the British Chess Magazine forum.
Paul McKeown responded: <Possibly the late Colin Crouch, playing for Drunken Knights? The public house would have been downstairs, The Plough, Bloomsbury.He was an International Master and a great writer on chess; also a doctor in social and economic history.> The hyperlink has a photo of Crouch. He was an IM, and looks bearded and overweight. Could be your man. |
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May-05-23
| | keypusher: <FSR> You know, I bet that's correct! I actually have his book, <Magnus Force>. Glad I put a little money in his pocket, though not nearly enough to pay for all the beer he drank during our game. Rest in peace, Drunken Master! And thanks, FSR! |
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May-05-23
| | keypusher: OK, submitted. My feelings are nothing compared to the completeness of the historical record! |
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Oct-05-23
| | chancho: Mr. Thomson has been rather quiet today...
Happy Birthday!
Y que cumplas muchos mas! |
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Oct-05-23
 | | Check It Out: Happy birthday, <keypusher>! |
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Oct-05-23
| | perfidious: Feliz cumpleanos, <Scott>! Had no idea--I pay the sidebar with those stats little mind. |
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| Oct-06-23 | | stone free or die: Hey, isn't it the tradition on <CG> that the birthday boy (or girl) buys a round for the gang?! Happy, happy. |
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