Chuckle x 2

Post #22,640 by ben_tilly 12/28/01 5:38:35 PM Reply	Chuckle x 2 Try ICC. It doesn't take long before you get to know people, and the online rating system (plus talent pool) virtually guarantees that it won't take long for you to find even games. Unless, of course, you can beat grandmasters with impunity... Cheers, Ben
Post #22,645 by wharris2 12/28/01 7:35:04 PM Reply	Re: Chuckle x 2 Unless, of course, you can beat grandmasters with impunity... I laughed for 15 minutes, I held a grandmaster (Dzinzi) at arm's length once but he overwhelmed me in the end. I have put up a couple of good fights against GMs but (wry chuckle) they've always bashed me. "Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it." -- Donald Knuth
Post #23,183 by ben_tilly 1/4/02 9:01:51 PM Reply	Do you mean Roman Dzindzichashvili? If so then he is the one I saw play a computer in a 1 0 game out past 70 moves, then win on time. The only time I have seen a computer lose on the clock, and damn was I impressed. This was on ICC perhaps 4 years ago. Cheers, Ben
Post #23,199 by wharris2 1/4/02 11:48:27 PM Reply	Do you mean Roman Dzindzichashvili? Yup, it was Roman. I played him oh gawd ages ago, something like the 1982 Chicago Open. I had to play him in the first round (one of those unlucky accelerated pairings) and had one of the most excellent "central pawns blocked solid by active pieces" positions I think I've ever had. Something like his (black) pawns on d4 and e5, blocked by my knight on e4 and a bishop on d3. My knight controlled a lot of important squares, my bishop protected others; he had a bad fianchettoed bishop on g7 and I had a good passed pawn on the queenside. After twenty years, I forget what exactly went wrong, but I had him sweating for a while... if I remember correctly, I think I even made the time control with an advantage, but I collapsed soon after that. Alas, as a GM he was quick to exploit my mistake (whatever it was) after a hard 5-hour fight. The irony was (if I remember correctly) he lost in the next round. I console myself by thinking I tired him out for his next opponent. :=( I think the best player I've ever actually beaten was a 2405 IM from Brazil in the 1986 World Open. "Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it." -- Donald Knuth
Post #64,514 by deSitter 11/22/02 1:02:35 PM Reply	Re: Do you mean Roman Dzindzichashvili? I can almost see the advantage you had. As you know, when you have that kind of advantage you have to exploit it fast. It's easy to say to yourself "I've got this killer position and I'll sit on it like a mattress full of money!". That happened to me once. Against a good player, you know your initiative on one side will be met by one on the other, so you have to adjust from being comfortable with a "won" position into being ready to actually win it, which will involve too much hard thinking. There was a great game Pillsbury-Tarrasch Hastings 1895, where Pillsbury got a big advantage in the center in a QGD. His going over to the King side attack while thwarting Tarrasch on the Queen side is a textbook example of how to exploit an advantage in the center. -drl I'm so happy I could scalp someone. Mark Twain
Post #64,628 by wharris2 11/23/02 7:00:58 AM Reply	Hard to tell when you should sit or when you should run In the tournament I played in last weekend, against GM Maurice Ashley, I had a fairly good grip on the position against the Pirc, but I played too aggressively, which allowed counterplay, and ... well, that was that. I didn't see a critical knight fork (queen, bishop, and pawn) but by that time I'd lost pretty much all of my early advantage anyway. At least I made him sweat a little bit. My third round game, my opponent played 1.d4 Nf3 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3, which is a lesser variation that (even in my best playing days) I wouldn't have known much about. I screwed up that game pretty well. :-(

Welcome to IWETHEY!