Yearly G15

Every so often I take a break from serious chess and play some G15. Usually 5 15 to have some time delay. It drops my rating more than 100 points but it's a fun break. Returned to tactics this week, after laying off the puzzles for over a month. Little rusty but it's amazing how much of it sticks.

Just one of those days

Just had one of those days that make you want to quit chess. Played horribly and let my opponent just slap me around like I was his you know what for two whole games. Did I mention he was 200 points lower than me? Yeah, I suck. No soup for you!!

Chapter 2

Finished chapter 2 of "Art of the Checkmate" last week. So far I am really enjoying the book. One of the great thing about seeing these games in their entirety is I understand why some of the opening moves are played.

On the flip-side, I see how weak moves can lead to mate. For example, as a beginner I wrestled with the Knight pin. It was uncomfortable for me to have my KN pinned to the Queen, and for some reason it is a favorite of players rated under 1200. I spent some time trying to figure out a defense to this pin until a Master pointed out that I don't need to worry about it most of the time unless the opponent is threatening something, like winning the QP for example. With the examples of games where Legal's Mate was used I can clearly see the potential weakness of this move. The author even spends a whole page explaining the reasons why this pin can be bad.