Friday Night Fun

Wow, just wow. I had a blast at my friend's house. I spent about five hours there. He seems about my strength but he is much stronger in tactics. I was able to match him on positional play so I gave him a run for his money. He says he can beat most computer chess programs so that would explain his agressive style of play. In our first game he mated me with a version of the scholar's mate. Quite embarrassing. I came back to beat him the next two games, then lost the next two, and won the last one with a stronger position in the ending. The last game was unreal because I was down about three or four points but came up with a tactic that forced him to trade pieces until I was left with a knight. From there my better pawn structures gave me the win. I'm glad I found someone to play against on a regular basis. We are planning to get together more often for some friendly games. This gives me more incentive to study hard before our next match.

The bad thing is I wasn't able to do my drills today. I'll do them before I go to bed tonight, I promise. Tomorrow I'm starting my pre-seven-circles plan and combining it with the last couple of days of the micro drills.