A Missed Opportunity

I had planned to play at the CyChess Sunday, but the forecast of 1 to 3 inches of snow derailed my plans. There was no snow and my caution was in vain, but I did have a nice consolation prize watching my favorite football team, the New York Giants beat the hated Dallas Cowboys to claw their way back to a game behind the ‘boys and the Eagles in the division. Maybe they can get hot and win it all like they did 2 years ago. They were only a wild card that year also.

  For my chess year I went +9 -5 =8 in standard time controls, gaining 13 rating points. I lost 8 quick rating points, owing mostly to my only scoring a draw in my last 3 games against Jaleb Jay, who I outrate by 400+ points. All in all, a successful year. Here is my best game from 2009 - a win against Gerald Hawkins in the 2009 Iowa Class B championship on May 23rd. I had just lost a game to Gerald 6 days previously in the most excruciating fashion by winning a piece and then going to pieces and resigning 4 moves later so this was a large measure of vindication.

pgn4web chessboards courtesy of pgn4web.casaschi.net