MickinMD ★ Posted August 15, 2018 Share #1 Posted August 15, 2018 I won a chess game yesterday that clinched for me one of the three spots in the Championship Round of the "1st Annual Valley Boy Tournament," being done in honor of Scott Maid of the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, who founded Team USA Southeast and stepped down as Team Director last year (but still playing!). It's a real honor and thrill for me to make the finals of this tournament! I spent a lot of time analyzing each move in the 3 days/move game and was -initially- pleased that I had correctly determined I could ignore the threats of my opponent Luis Torres of Puerto Rico (screen name Requecpa) when he resigned after I pushed my pawn to d7 from the position below. But both Luis and I missed a move that would have tied the game! After the game I had the computer world champion, Stockfish 9, do an analysis of the game and it determined my opponent could have engineered a draw by repetition as explained above the 2nd board below. The interactive-game is here: https://www.chess.com/daily/game/199319452 From the position below I pushed my White Pawn to d7, threatening to Queen and checkmate. My opponent resigned and Stockfish, analyzing that I was the equivalent of 25.76 pawns ahead, agreed that he was done for. But Stockfish found one way for Black to draw instead of the move above. From that position he could have forced a triple-repetition of moves and claim a draw: I'll take the good luck! Of course Stockfish 9 is rated at 3500, 450 points higher than Bobby Fischer's greatest-of-all-time peak record of 3050, so it sees almost everything. Stockfish gave me a 2384 for the game, which is equivalent of International Master - which I'd never accomplish in an hour or two game, but I can sometimes play at that level given enough thinking time - in this case 3 days/move and actually spending about an avg. 10-15 minutes/move and sometimes over an hour. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kzoo Posted August 15, 2018 Share #2 Posted August 15, 2018 4 minutes ago, MickinMD said: I won a chess game yesterday that clinched for me one of the three spots in the Championship Round of the "1st Annual Valley Boy Tournament," being done in honor of Scott Maid of the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, who founded Team USA Southeast and stepped down as Team Director last year (but still playing!). It's a real honor and thrill for me to make the finals of this tournament! I spent a lot of time analyzing each move in the 3 days/move game and was -initially- pleased that I had correctly determined I could ignore the threats of my opponent Luis Torres of Puerto Rico (screen name Requecpa) when he resigned after I pushed my pawn to d7 from the position below. But both Luis and I missed a move that would have tied the game! After the game I had the computer world champion, Stockfish 9, do an analysis of the game and it determined my opponent could have engineered a draw by repetition as explained above the 2nd board below. The interactive-game is here: https://www.chess.com/daily/game/199319452 From the position below I pushed my White Pawn to d7, threatening to Queen and checkmate. My opponent resigned and Stockfish, analyzing that I was the equivalent of 25.76 pawns ahead, agreed that he was done for. But Stockfish found one way for Black to draw instead of the move above. From that position he could have forced a triple-repetition of moves and claim a draw: I'll take the good luck! Of course Stockfish 9 is rated at 3500, 450 points higher than Bobby Fischer's greatest-of-all-time peak record of 3050, so it sees almost everything. Stockfish gave me a 2384 for the game, which is equivalent of International Master - which I'd never accomplish in an hour or two game, but I can sometimes play at that level given enough thinking time - in this case 3 days/move and actually spending about an avg. 10-15 minutes/move and sometimes over an hour. Is this more exciting that soccer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickinMD ★ Posted August 15, 2018 Author Share #3 Posted August 15, 2018 4 minutes ago, Kzoo said: Is this more exciting that soccer? Only when it's 0-0 or 1-1 soccer. It's exciting to make a move against a top 5% rated player, wait to see if he whacks you with his next move, then see you're still in a good position. But even when I coached a very good high school chess team, we watched a grandmaster match on TV during one meeting and after a surprising move the announcer, trying to liven-up the atmosphere, said, "There's pandemonium on the chessboard!" My teenagers cracked up and laughed so hard at the absurdity that they made it our team motto! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddmaxx ★ Posted August 15, 2018 Share #4 Posted August 15, 2018 57 minutes ago, Kzoo said: Is this more exciting that soccer? No, but still more exciting than American Football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airehead Posted August 16, 2018 Share #5 Posted August 16, 2018 3 hours ago, MickinMD said: threatening Heavy word to use in chess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie ★ Posted August 16, 2018 Share #6 Posted August 16, 2018 5 hours ago, Kzoo said: Is this more exciting that soccer? Same! Both put me to sleep in seconds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Posted August 16, 2018 Share #7 Posted August 16, 2018 I don't understand too much about chess, but I'm glad you made the Championship round! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now