I got to sleep in on Sunday, since the Delegates – miracle of miracles! – had managed to finish up all their business on Saturday. After a late breakfast with John Watson, I tried to clear my head and get ready to play some chess. The round time, as is common, moved up on the final day to 3pm. My opponent came ready to play. I did not. This game is the result.
http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2013/8/7/Game32095973.html
Multiple flaws in my game are on display in this little disaster. My bishop belongs on e7 and not c7; I got carried away with ideas of pushing …e6-e5 and breaking up White’s center, but even there, the bishop should be on e7 to hit the c5 pawn. My calculative abilities, if one can call them abilities, were shocking. I just don’t seem to have the sense of danger that I should. If any readers have ideas on how to train that, I’d be much obliged.
The silver lining is that while Team Hartmann had a miserable event, Team Watson had a very good one. John went 6-1 (plus two half pt byes in rds 1 and 2) to finish at 7-2 and grab a share of the U2400 money. More important than the money was the quality of his play, which was very strong indeed, and all the more impressive given his time away from the competitive arena. There is only one of his games in TWIC, but it’s a fairly good one, and well worth your time to track down. Below is a picture of John analyzing with his rd 9 opponent and other future members of the US Chess Olympic team.
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