Tuesday, February 13, 2007

And Now, Some Chess for Blood

Well, after six months of tournament inactivity I'm back in action this coming Thursday in the Reno CC Class Ch., 'B' section. Interestingly, it will be a match with Steve Kesti, who last year took the B section with 5 straight wins (and a double forfeit in the final round). That's because there are four Experts, four A players, seven C and five D-E signed for the Class Championships, but only us two lonely B players.

Kesti is rated about 1760 to my 1600, but I'm feeling pretty good about my prospects in the match--despite the tournament inactivity, I've been studying at least a little most every day and have done some work on the two games we played last year. I don't necessarily expect him to repeat the same openings, but I do think I've got a good idea of the kind of positions he likes.

About half of my study time has been devoted to the endings, using Muller and Lamprecht's Fundamental Chess Endings, and I am also feeling more confident in this part of the game.

Finally, I've recently reread Jonathan Rowson's Seven Deadly Chess Sins for inspiration and psychological prep, and I think it's been a real help to getting into the spirit of things despite not having played in a rated tournament for about six months.

Whatever the final score of the upcoming contest, I feel that I've done my best to prepare in the time available, so now I'm just going to go out and enjoy the match.

I just recalled, too, that I won the Reno Class C title back in 1985 by winning a match. I know how to do this!

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