Back to school part 2 (round 3)

I had white last night against Jenshiang Hong at the MCC. A somewhat boring game in which I made two tactical miscalculations. First, I entered a series of exchanges which I thought would win me a pawn, but instead just gave me doubled c pawns (half open on the b file) and a position where I had to defend.

The second was worse. I missed a very simple tactic that would have won my opponent's d pawn, making my own d pawn passed. I think that this would have given me a winning position. Instead we locked our pawns, traded everything off, and agreed to a draw. I'm disappointed with myself.

Things worked out just right such that I'm paired against the section leader next week (James P Williams, the only one with 3/3) and it looks like I'll have white. If I win then I will have at least a share of first place. Board two in the section features two other players with 2.5 points, so it would likely be a two way tie for first.

The last few weeks have hammered home that I need to spend a lot more time on tactics. I've been skating my on my opening and strategic knowledge, but tactical sharpness fades a lot faster than those other parts, and I need to do my homework this week.

Always easier said than done.

Back to school!

Well, not really, but the September swiss tournament at the MetroWest Chess Club is dubbed "Back to School Swiss." I could use some going back to school, though....

Last night I played Robert Matthews (for the second time in the last 3 weeks) and the third time overall. I'm now +3 against him, but I'm not sure that I deserve a plus score against him at all. All of my games with him have featured a number of positional mistakes on my part and a larger mistake on his part. I'll take my wins where I can get them, but it doesn't make me feel all that confident.

So far for September I'm 2/2. If the provisional pairings hold up (and I think they should, since section leaders normally show up to play) I'll have white against Jenshiang Hong. I'd love to win this game and give myself a chance to win this section in two weeks...

I've been slacking off a little lately, when it comes to chess, and it's showing. I'm basically doing no work at home between games and relying on the knowledge I have already. It's been working ok...I've won 10/12 since returning from my spring hiatus, but I can't expect my wits to carry me through the late rounds against folks with good scores.

So, this week, back to tactics. Also, any MCC folks know what Mr. Hong plays as black? He has 3 games in the MCC game collection, but all as white (his repertoire looks a little like mine from that side of the board...). I should never quote statistics, since it only gets me in trouble and makes me under/over confident, but I'm a numbers nut, so here we go: I'm +13 in games with white against lower rated players (+13 =0 -0, in fact) so I feel that I should have a good chance next week. I need to work to make sure that I'm sharp, though....

Anyway, since I have those numbers handy and I find them kind of interesting, here's the full set:

• Against higher rated opposition
  • As white: 50% (8.5/17)
  • As black: 26% (5/19)
  • Total: 37.5% (13.5/36)
• Against lower rated opposition:
  • As white: 100% (13/13)
  • As black: 79% (11/14)
  • Total: 89% (24/27)

Clearly my black opening play is a little shoddy, and good players are absolutely hammering me for it. Does this mean I should work more on black openings or that I have some fear of black that needs to be overcome?