Guess what? I’ve decided to sign up for the National Qualifiers in my country just to try my hand at seeing whether I can qualify to play for the National Championship.
I’ve come to a point in my chess journey to recognise that ELO is a reflection of your chess strength. If you’re strong, you’re strong. Whether you play kids/adults, it doesn’t matter.
Chess is chess. I think on any day, even an amateur can scalp a GM.
For my chess training during this period, I”m going to basically focus on mainly middle/endgames and concentrate on solidifying my opening lines adding a mixture of variety here and there just to keep my opponents guessing.
Both my opponent and I slugged in out in a 49 move draw. Neither of us had clear winning chances. I had prepared a surprise in the Morris countergambit but my opponent responded well OTB.
Ah well, what can you do? Sometimes a draw is a just result.
I have decided to resume my old practice of playing 1-2 rapid games a day with post game analysis and annotations afterwards. Here’s the game I played yesterday. The turning point was when my opponent allowed my king to centralised with great activity in the endgame as compared to his own passive king. Winning games in late middlegames/endgames are off great importance to me as this area is probably the area which I need to improve the most.
The following 2 chess games were played around the time my children were born. They hold a special place in my heart.
My first son was born in 2015. What a year that was. Singapore (the country I’m from) had just celebrated its 50th Year of Independence.
Here is the game played in the hospital right the day before my son was born.
Feed Me Daddy
My wife gave birth to my second son in the year of 2017. Around this time I had played a fantastic game with the White pieces using the Tromposky as White. I decided that this was a fitting game to dedicate to him.
I played this hard fought game recently in the lichess 45|45 league.
I do recommend that any serious adult chess improver play at least 1 game at slow time controls a week to improve their chess. It has done wonders for me.