Last night I couldn't get settled for a night in the house. I was pacing the floors, compulsively cleaning, and generally looking for something to do. I believe this was cause by some emotional issues brought on by a letter form my former employer. Distraction was call for! So I call Ken Fee from The Chess Club to inquire into the late night Blitz Tournament. Yes, there was a tournament. There were six players signed up already with more expected, and he would not start it until I arrived. Now it is a forty minute drive from my home in Leavenworth, Kansas, to the club in Kansas City, Missouri, and it was 9:45 PM.
My arrival at The Chess Club at 10:30 was expected, and I was promptly greeted by Ken, who by the way relieved me of $10. Oh, boy. Late night blitz action with...oh, my god...all the higher rated players in the club. Great. How the hell am I supposed to win any money against these guys, and what about my rating? Crap!! I was intimidated to say the least.
The first round was paired, and the clocks started at 11:00 PM. Blitz is so much different than the slow time control games. I think you can get an advantage against stronger players if you have a repertoire for it. I choose to use the one I use for all my tournament games, but with some modifications. Aggression is key. Get the initiative and pound away at some weakness. All out King side assaults often work, but they must succeed to win. I find I have a knack for relieving my opponent of their Queen. I do this on a regular basis, and against experience players. My downfall is that I can't manage to win in only 5 minutes.
My first games I played a very experienced 1750+ player. He has been at it for years...very fast on the clock. I had the White pieces, and chose to play the Scotch. By move 10 I had a clear advantage, and soon I would win his Queen. Near the end he had 11 seconds on the clock, and all I needed to do is play good moves. I didn't. I was checkmated with 6 seconds left on his clock. Sadly I had over a minute and twenty seven seconds. This would be the pattern my eight games. Only twice did I suffer a quick defeat, and these were against much stronger players.
The tournament went on until 1:30 AM. My score was a dismal 3/8. The good news is that I found a small boost to my rating (1294 to 1299). The bad news is that I never had a chance to unleash some of these checkmating tactics I have been studying. I will continue to train and hope the day will come when I will see the possibility in the position to launch an irresistible attack.
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