Battling Kushan

  Kushan Tyagi from Ames, Iowa is the 32nd ranked 12 year old chess player in the country. I was able to play him 2 games on the chess.com web site. Chess.com is a great site for chess players. I post pictures of the chess events I direct on it for free and it allows you to play a form of correspondence chess. Correspondence chess differs from over the board chess or internet chess in that the players normally have 3 days to make each move. This can make games take months, but it also allows you time to really consider each move. I think playing this form of chess makes me a better players in over the board chess. I played in the 2006 Iowa e-mail chess championships and made the finals. In the finals, I was outclassed and did not win a single game (losing 2 and drawing 6). I was a hard player to beat, but had no conception on how to outplay my opponents.

  When Kushan and I played, it was my only correspondence game. He was playing 30 or 40 games at the same time. This proved to be a tremendous advantage to me. In over the board play, Kushan would beat me 9 or 10 out of 10 times, but with the handicap I was getting, I liked my chances.

  In the rematch, Kushan would be White and I knew he would be spend more time to even the score.

  A hard earned draw. One thing to remember when playing an impatient player in correspondence chess is to take your time and maybe your opponent will hang a queen!