Chess players most memorable moments

[Ghostwheel]

I don't have a record of all of the moves, but I once castled (Queen side) my opponent into checkmate. I had sacrificed my Queen and advanced my Pawns and Knights rather aggressively. My Bishops had the flanks.

My opponent usually beat me.

He never beat me again.

:smallcool:

[Killer Angel]

Once, in the qualification rounds for a regional tournament, i reproduced almost exactly an ouverture of Capablanca, luring my adversary to take my queen, leaving him open to a checkmate at the 7th move.
My adversary was in the (low) ranking of national masters, and didn't saw the mechanic of the trap, but he smelled it. He lose 5 minutes (was a "semi-lampo" tournament, with a total of 15 minutes for each of us), then he didn't take the queen, instead he proceeded to demolish me with a classic tactic.
At the end, after my explanation, makes me compliments.

Sadly, the real merit goes to Capablanca... :smallredface:

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

I actually have two most memorable Chess moments.

The first is when my friend had returned from M.I.T. and believing himself some kind of Chess champion. I was a TERRIBLE player, but he cleaned my game up rather nicely, making me a formidable opponent. Well, after just a little research, I discovered how to mate someone in a mere four moves. I did this too him and he was utterly shocked. He kept saying, "No. No." Then he would keep turning the board around to see it from various angles to verify if my declaration of Checkmate was accurate.

It doesn't quite end there. Every time thereafter, when I would go to his place for a few rounds of Chess, the board would be set up in advance, exactly as it was on that seemingly instant win. And every time, he would point at it and say, "Never again!" :smallbiggrin:

The other memorable moment occurred shortly after my very first move to AZ back in the mid-90's. I was job hunting, and stumble across a local high school's display of its players who were looking for donations so they could go to the regional championships. A young man asked me to play a round to show off his skills, so I sat down across from him and the contest was on. He became a little too aggressive with his queen, so I nabbed her with what appeared to be a poorly protected bishop. (Those knights are sneaky, I tell ya!) From there, I decimated his side of the board with my queen as his teacher looked on, mating him only after chasing down his king.

Well, his teacher began a brief lecture to this poor kid, explaining how he lost to me, and what he should have done differently. Mollified, the kid then asked if I would play just one more game. He needed to prove to his instructor that he'd learned his lesson. Alas, I couldn't give him that other game, and left with these parting words of wisdom, "I'm sorry kid, but the best way to remain a champion is to win once and never play again." :smalltongue:

While I'm here, I have a neat Chess exercise for all you players out there. Take all of the pawns from one side of the board and imagine that each one is a queen. On the empty board, try to set up your eight "queens" in such a way so that none of the others can capture another. It sounds easy, until you actually give it a shot. It took me quite a bit of time to figure out the solution, and would likely take just as much time to get it again. :smallwink:

[rakkoon]

Did that exercise in a LARP once. Full plated paladin of the Destroyer looking at the chessboard. Fun.

I'm a pure amateur but personally liked this one a lot, I checkmated my father with noth sides only losing pawns.
It was Knightmate Chess btw, same as regular chess except that the kings and knights swap places, and the object is to checkmate the knight.


http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy329/rakkoony/knightmate.jpg

[hamishspence]

Well, after just a little research, I discovered how to mate someone in a mere four moves.

Would that be the fairly famous Scholar's Mate?

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

Would that be the fairly famous Scholar's Mate?
I've heard it under numerous names, but the most common used, I believe, is "The Fool's Mate."

[evil-frosty]

I have heard it called Blitzkrieg, but ya usually i hear the wrong thing.

[Thufir]

I've heard it under numerous names, but the most common used, I believe, is "The Fool's Mate."

Incorrect. Proper name is Scholar's Mate.
Fool's Mate is when you mate someone in 2 moves as black. May still count if you do it in 3 moves as white. Requires a co-operative opponent, rather than just one who doesn't actively interfere with your plan, as in Scholar's Mate.

I am proud to say I've never fallen prey to either.

Finest moments... I've had some decent results against good players, even without them doing stupid things... I'll have to take a look through my scorebooks...

[ForzaFiori]

The first time I got the Scholar's Mate to work on an opponent that wasn't just a horrible player to begin with, was amazing.

Oh, and then there was the time I had an amazing come back. I had 1 rook, 1 knight, 2 pawns, and my king, to my opponents 2 rooks, queen and (i think) 3 pawns, and king obviously. sacrificed the rook to get the queen, got both pawns across for a queen and a rook, and checkmated him after taking all his pieces and chasing him for a while.

[Shishnarfne]

I'd have to say my hard-earned draw against a master in the state championship tournament has to be my finest moment over-the-board. Due to the time increment, by the time it was over, the next (and final) round was past due to start. The other master in the event clinched first that round when I held my opponent to a draw. Needless to say, he was quite excited to hear the result.

[Player_Zero]

This one time, I beat my sister at chess.

[Kobold-Bard]

Managed to beat my cousin in 4 moves. No idea how it happened, he just looked down and there was nothing he could do.

He proceeded to beat me 4 times in a row just to make sure it was a fluke and he wasn't getting worse or something.

[Prime32]

Once placed my opponent in check via castling. And when he tried to escape my rook, I moved my king up to attack him, resulting in checkmate.

[Rutskarn]

This one time, I beat my sister at chess.

My story's a bit like that, only she beat me and then I threw a bishop at her head.

[Aedilred]

When very young and overconfident, I once tried Fool's Mate on a visiting chess tutor (Master-level; not sure which level mind). He showed me why it wouldn't work, then let me take the move back so long as I promised never, ever, to try that again on anybody. I so promised, and to this day I never have.

At a later date, during one match for the school, my opponent tried the same on me. He was black, I was white and already largely committed to the Austrian Attack (I liked this opening, largely because it was pretty obscure). The look on his face as I proceeded to take him apart was absolutely priceless.

I don't have any memories of particularly brilliant moves. I tended to play largely instinctively; I suffer from a kind of tunnel vision with ideas so when I planned too far ahead I tended to come unstuck when things went wrong. I do recall one moment, though, where a sequence of about fifteen moves unfolded themselves before me that would hand me the game; one of those moments of piercing insight I really wish I had more often.

To be honest, most of my competitive opposition was not of the calibre (neither, to be fair, was I) where brilliant games were likely. My favourite games were cagey ones, where both players developed cautiously and sized each other up before committing themselves to any serious attacks. Most of my opponents tended to start trading pieces aggressively as soon as the option became available, which seemed to me to defeat the object of the game rather.

Alas, I couldn't give him that other game, and left with these parting words of wisdom, "I'm sorry kid, but the best way to remain a champion is to win once and never play again."
Given that that was the attitude of arguably the greatest chess player of all time, that's a pretty awesome piece of advice.

[308HTR]

Back in the halcyon days of my youth, I used to play chess with my girlfriend at the time. Every afternoon, I threw the game by setting up obvious moves and leaving valuable pieces exposed. Our last game, I exploited her false sense of security and ROFLPWNED her. Then I broke up with her. "Becca, we're done here. For good." Then there were some tears and I skulked off. Then I returned for my chess set. Good times.

[Pyrian]

Most of my opponents tended to start trading pieces aggressively as soon as the option became available, which seemed to me to defeat the object of the game rather.I've played against people like this; they were basically better at the end game and preferred to get there as quickly as possible. I found the tendency to be exploitable. I could tempt them into trades that looked even on the surface or short term, but ended up in my favor through "surprise" openings or position.

[snoopy13a]

Most of my opponents tended to start trading pieces aggressively as soon as the option became available, which seemed to me to defeat the object of the game rather.



Because I'm not very good, I tend to do this :smalltongue:

I also hate the opposing player's knights. So, I look to make bishop for knight or knight for knight trades ASAP.

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

I can't believe I forgot this one!

That friend that I'd beaten with the Fools - *ahem* - Scholar's Mate...? Whenever either of us would be putting the other in a precarious position on the board, we would quote the original Star Wars movies. For example, I was lucky enough to post a knight at one point, and because I didn't seem to want to move it for any reason but defense, my friend set up a neat little triple-fork for said knight, which included his queen, if I moved it once. As I made that move, I said, "Calrissian, take the princess and the wookie to my ship," making a popping sound with the final P just for laughs.

His favored line, by the way, was, "And now, your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden rebel base."

:smallbiggrin:

[Yarram]

I actually have two most memorable Chess moments.

The first is when my friend had returned from M.I.T. and believing himself some kind of Chess champion. I was a TERRIBLE player, but he cleaned my game up rather nicely, making me a formidable opponent. Well, after just a little research, I discovered how to mate someone in a mere four moves. I did this too him and he was utterly shocked. He kept saying, "No. No." Then he would keep turning the board around to see it from various angles to verify if my declaration of Checkmate was accurate.

Wow. Are you serious? You're talking about putting the queen on the Kings Bishops Pawn right?
He was terrible too.
That's the one that you use on people who think they're good but they're not, over and over again...

I haven't played chess in a while, but I was an addict when I was younger... Probably the most interesting finish was when I was in a school competition, and had the advantage, but could see that my opponent had the opportunity to force a draw, and so I offered him a draw, which he accepted.
On one hand, had he screwed up, I could have won, but on the other hand, that's not what I want in chess.
Taking a piece because they forgot that they were moving it undefended into my attack zone is a horrible way to win.


Most of my opponents tended to start trading pieces aggressively as soon as the option became available, which seemed to me to defeat the object of the game rather.
I tend to do this as part of my attack plan. I'll sacrifice pieces to force my opponent to break up blockades, so when we both have the same pieces left I'll have the positional advantage.

[Egiam]

Wow. I feel like an utter beginner right now.

Is there a good book or website that can teach me what an "Austrian" opening is, and all of these other technicalities?

I really just play casually, but putting effort into joining the ranks of the chess masters sounds like a fun challenge. This thread makes me tempted to join my local club.

[Kobold-Bard]

Wow. I feel like an utter beginner right now.

Is there a good book or website that can teach me what an "Austrian" opening is, and all of these other technicalities?

I really just play casually, but putting effort into joining the ranks of the chess masters sounds like a fun challenge. This thread makes me tempted to join my local club.

Google (because I had no idea chess moves had actual names :smallredface:) is determined that there's no such thing. There's a Russian Opening, Austrian Attack and an Austrian Defence. But no Austrian Opening.

[rakkoon]

(there making it all up, go along with it)

The wookie opening isn't that great, I always use the classic Jedi defense against it, if it was good enough for Kasparov, it's good enough for me

[Asta Kask]

I like the Sicilian Defense myself. It's aggressive and gives me an opportunity to quote the Godfather.

"Give this job to Clemenza."

*Moves knight*

[Egiam]

Well, in my defense, I do know how to use fools/scholars mate and Blitzkrieg.

[Capt Spanner]

I often play The Basman (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1026344) opening* - especially against experienced players, who mostly haven't seen it before.

The way I play it tends to leave a fianchettoed bishop aimed at the king for long periods of the game, and has a habit of suddenly clearing the centre so this bishop suddenly comes into play. It's a really devious thing most players miss until too late.

I used to work with Mike Basman as my boss, running chess tournaments for kids. Mike Basman is the IM who developed the Basman opening (although he refers to it as the Creepy Crawly opening). Top chess players are strange.

My most memorable incident ever came at the penultimate round of the UK Chess Challenge. I was tournament director for one of the U9 categories. The kids had been in and seated, and the parents had been kicked out and play had just commenced. I did a quick round to catch players who hadn't arrived, so their opponents can be re-paired. As I did so, I nearly stepped on something large, and pink left in the aisle.

It was a baby.

It looked really, really confused.

There wasn't any protocol I knew to follow here. Mike Basman (FIDE International Master) was in the next row.

Me: Mike. There's a baby in the aisle.
Mike: A baby?
Me: Yes.
Mike: ...

I will never know what thought ran through his head to make him ask:

Mike: What kind of baby?
Me: One of the small child variety.
Mike: I'll come and take a look.


In any case, Mike Basman came round, and picked up this baby. (Carefully - he needed to appear to love all children but at the same time really didn't want this kid dribbling on his only suit.) The section next to mine was sandwiched between me and lost property, and was run by very broody 25 year old. She leapt at the chance of looking after the baby, and since she was next to lost property, we put out an announcement:

"If you are missing a baby, please report to lost property."

The baby was claimed. It was the fathers fault.


*It's a modern opening. Instead of the usual strategy (1. Grab the centre; 2. Reinforce your position there; 3. Push home your strategic advantage) you instead play 1. Build a foundation to take the centre; 2. Smash the unreinforced centre your opponent set up; 3. Cut them down as they retreat, until the battlefield runs red with their blood.

[SDF]

I'm really good at chess. When I was younger (like 8) I sat at the top of the library chess club hierarchy thing for a while then got bored and stopped going. Won a town chess tournament. Beat all my friends multiple times. More recently I've gotten into the habit of getting drunk and playing chess. I was at a party a few weeks ago and some kid brought a fancy glass set over, wanting to play people. I was pretty far gone and lost my queen early on, but I finagled my way to a win. I shook the kids hand and said, "Nice game." One of my friends saw this and walked over mistakenly congratulating the kid on beating me. :smalltongue:

I taught my little brother to play and he has a decent aptitude. When he was 11 he was playing our doctor and tried to give the guy pointers while he played him... The doc said something like, "Let me play my own game." so my brother started mocking him, then mated him in two moves.

[Player_Zero]

My story's a bit like that, only she beat me and then I threw a bishop at her head.

My sister beat you at chess?

Well... Yeah. I can see that actually.

[Rutskarn]

My sister beat you at chess?

Well... Yeah. I can see that actually.

She's a real firecracker.

[Gem Flower]

He he, my school tournament in grade four. I got some guy to forfeit to me because I was making a face that made it seem like I had a master plan. It was awesome. :smallbiggrin:

[Runestar]

Been a while since I last played, but I think my most memorable finishing move was when I sacrificed a queen to force my opponent into surrounding his king with pieces (thus rendering it immobile), then moving my knight up to check him (which became a checkmate, since the king could not move).

He was actually quite smug because he really thought I had made a blunder and lost my queen. Then he saw the knight and was like....crap...:smalleek:

[Hazyshade]

Having an opponent resign a position that had been completely won for about 20 moves because he didn't see that his rook on the 2nd rank was laterally defending the checkmate.
Getting a winning position against the county champion and eventually letting him off with a draw, when I was an unrated junior.

[Green Bean]

Forgetting to call check in because I was too happy about trading a pawn for a queen. And then losing a few turns later because of that. In the last game of an inter-school tournament. That we lost by one win. Yeah, things aren't always memorable for good reasons.

[Archonic Energy]

when i was at college there was an arrogant person who thought he was good at everything.

after beating most of the class he challenged me.
now most of the class didn't know how to play chess particularly well, having watched most of his games i had an idea how good he was, so i thought i'd give it a go...

the class gathered to watch, as did one of our teachers.

i won. i'm not saying it was an easy win but it was a win. when we got back to class the teacher set the board up from 3 moves behind where the game finished, and asked us to carry on, this time as the other sides i was now on the side that he lost on. he copied the move i had made where upon i mated him... he was annoyed, and stormed off "for a smoke".

good times!

[truemane]

I don't have a memorable move. But I have a memorable moment. When I was in uni I had a very good friend who was (and is) very good at chess. When I was in uni I was absolutely terrible at chess. Utterly rancid. We played frequently. He always won. Always.

We lost touch. We caught up with each other one day on facebook and after some natter we played a game of chess.

Now, in the intervening years I won't say I've become good (I haven't, I don't have the right mind for chess) but I've at least learned some of the fundamentals and some basic strategies.

And we played. Good game. Fairly basic. Both opening with the King's Pawn. Both wrestling for control over the centre. Both with a short castle. Nothing unusual. Nothing off-the-wall.

Now, I had a knight that I had placed in a very good position and was threatening the centre of the board and was hampering his position very effectively while I developed quite openly behind it.

He moved a Bishop up to threaten the Knight. I either move the knight to a much less effective square or let it be taken for no apparent gain.

After some thought I saw that if I lost the knight I could force a series of small trades that would actually put me in a very advantageous position. Rooks on open files, two bishops for his one, etc.

So I did. Ignored the threat and moved a pawn up to threaten another one of his pieces. I sent him the message: "I will officially take that action."

There was a long, long pause. And then, he came back: "You play better than I remember."

My friends, I tell you now, no smile has ever been more smug than my smile was that day. We traded some pieces and he resigned about ten moves later.

Good times were had by all.

[Thufir]

Actually, one of my most memorable moments is still the first time I beat Sushi Monster, since that's when my view of him started to change from 'Unbeatable giant' to 'Rival'.
Not to mention I could still reproduce the game from memory for several years afterwards. I could still have a decent stab at it now.

[tcrudisi]

The last game I played was one of my best. I'm not very good, mind you, but he was my equal in chess. Except this day.

The stars aligned, the groundhog did not see his shadow, Jesus blessed me with foresight.

I was completely and utterly demolishing him. I had lost a few pawns. He had lost almost everything. I'm looking at the board and I realize that I can checkmate him in 4 moves. Oh -- but if I make that first move, he can move his rook down and checkmate me. Okay, don't do that. I begin to set up another, longer-down-the-road checkmate.

About two moves later, I've taken another of his pieces and he's getting ready to concede. Then -- I see it! I can checkmate him in 4 moves! I make the move. Then he moves his rook and checkmates me.

Yeah, I had seen it before. I also have a terrible memory. I've not played since.

[SDF]

He he, my school tournament in grade four. I got some guy to forfeit to me because I was making a face that made it seem like I had a master plan. It was awesome. :smallbiggrin:

Pfft, forget chess. Play poker!

[CrimsonAngel]

I totaly pawned that n00b chess player, lol.

[Rutskarn]

Just played Zero to a draw. I'll take it.

(Technically, I won, as he resigned, but he seems to think it'd end up a draw. Honestly, unless one of us did something stupid, it probably would have.)

[Player_Zero]

I'm rather disappointed I didn't take an early lead in that one. Maybe I should've payed more attention. Complacency was my real enemy. I should challenge HIM to a game of chess!

I made far more mistakes than you. You just wouldn't fall for my half-baked offensives.

[Hazyshade]

Tonight will be memorable for the rather stupid reason that our opponents, whose A and B teams were both playing on the same night, hadn't enough players to make up two teams and chose to have their A team's bottom board play simultaneously on top board for the B team, against me. He sat on a chair between the two boards and switched back and forth between them. I flattened him in half an hour.

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.f4 Bg4 6.Be2 Bxe2 7.Nxe2 h6 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.Qd3 Nd7 10.e5

http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/2szmobk2ttkwg.png

10...Bh4+??

Oh brother.

Top tip when playing two or more opponents simultaneously: try not to be a really terrible player to start with.

[tcrudisi]

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.f4 Bg4 6.Be2 Bxe2 7.Nxe2 h6 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.Qd3 Nd7 10.e5

http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/2szmobk2ttkwg.png

10...Bh4+??

Would you care to explain how the moves work? I understand how the pieces move and I understand some basic strategies. I'm even capable of thinking several moves ahead. But I have never understood what e4 d6 is. I mean, I see e5 Bh4, but there's no way that pawn can move to either b4 or h4.

[Derjuin]

I was playing against a friend, who really overanalyzes what I do when I play (I generally do not have master plans on how to play, I plan in little chunks) and somehow, in -some- way, we ended up with all four of the knights on one end of the board, in a repeating pattern, in a shape that was identical to the movement of a knight.

It was...the Mega-Knight.

[snoopy13a]

Would you care to explain how the moves work? I understand how the pieces move and I understand some basic strategies. I'm even capable of thinking several moves ahead. But I have never understood what e4 d6 is. I mean, I see e5 Bh4, but there's no way that pawn can move to either b4 or h4.

Bh4 is moving the black bishop to h4 creating a check on the White King. I'm no chess expert but I'm pretty sure that Sushi Monster moved his g pawn to g3 in order to bring his king out of check and thus trapping that black bishop.

This is a Wiki on chess notation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_chess_notation

[Lin Bayaseda]

Hello fellow chess players! Please join ChessitP, the monumental team chess game right here on this site! Assignment to teams is by the last vowel of your username (we're weird that way). If the last vowel of your username is I, O or U, look up "GitP chess match - team White" thread in the Gaming (Other) forum. If it's A, E, or no vowels, look ip team Black instead.

Looking forward to seeing some new faces!

[ThreadKiller]

I don't play chess seriously, but one of my most memorable moments was one time when I played against my sister. We were using a glass set, so the pieces were either clear or opaque. It was my sister's turn, so she decided to make an offensive move - on her own piece! Yeah, I suppose the lighting in the room was dim, but it was so hilarious! :smallbiggrin:

[Strategos]

I was the No.3 player on our school's Chess Team for my last three years of High School, but it was my last year on it that had my most memorable moments, alternatively titled "Why I shouldn't have a Camera."

The first match of the year had us playing around, this was this school's first time in the regional tournament-thing we competed in and their team was composed of four Year 7 Students. They were pretty good but we managed to win the round 4-0. Afterwards we got to friendly chatting and one of them joked that "We only lost because you managed to psych us out, I mean you all wear glasses." And we all had a good laugh at that. In the car ride home our No. 4 said, what would become his catchphrase throughout the year "We thrashed 'em!"

For the second one a little background is in order, and it will be spoilered for length. Our team comes from a town in Central West New South Wales and the other schools for our area varied in distance from about 30 minutes drive being the closest to about 2 hours for the furthest. For this match we travelled to the school furthest from us, who were our region's champions last year. One of the people in my IT class was creating a PowerPoint presentation for the school, a monthly news update kinda thing. and wanted to get some photos for it. So she talked to the teacher and me and I was given the school's digital camera and was tasked with taking some photos.

The match was scheduled to start at around 11:00 am so we got to miss out on most of school that day. The librarian, who was our Organizer and driver, had told us, our parents and the principal that we'd be back at about 4:00 pm, half an hour later than school finished allowing for long games and a lunch break. We got there, met their team, which was was different to the one last year because all of their team members graduated and I asked if I could take some photos while they were playing if I happened to finish up early and they all agreed I took a team picture of them and we started playing. Our No.4 quickly won his match and went outside to eat his lunch. The guy I was playing was very good, better than me to be honest. About an hour in I declared "Checkmate." He looked at the board for a minute agreed and shook my hand, we recorded the results and he went out to lunch.

I wasn't feeling hungry at the time and had just remembered that I should be taking photos. Without pausing to clean up the board I turned off the flash and went over to take a couple of pictures of the other games. I had a quick look at the board positions while doing so and noticed that they hadn't progressed very far. Moving to the back of the library I asked our Librarian about it. She said that it looked like their No. 1 and No. 2 were playing for a Draw until I won my match, because in the event that each team's First Second and Third games have the same number of points, say two draws (1/2 a point each) and a win (1 point) it goes to the No. 4's game to determine the winner since both I and our No. 4 had won they needed both wins to defeat us.

Now I go outside to eat my lunch and when I finish I return to the library and start reading a book while I wait for the others to finish when my opponent comes back sees our board still set up and makes a move. It turns out it wasn't checkmate after all. By the rules because since we'd both agreed it was Checkmate and the result was recorded I'd be well within my rights to say that it doesn't matter the game's finished. But that just felt wrong to me and instead I agreed to resume our match. 15 minutes later he beats me in close race. At this their other two players slow down again, playing for draws since they're ahead on points.

At 2:30 pm our librarian calls everyone's parents saying that we'll be a bit later returning than we planned. At 3:00 pm Our No.2 ends his game in Stalemate. At 4:00 pm Our No.1 wins his match allowing us to win the Round 2 1/2 - 1 1/2 and our No.1, went out to eat his lunch.

We finally manage to get back to the school at about 6:10 pm, thankfully we all lived in town and no one ended up missing a bus to get home. And it wouldn't have happened if I remembered to clean the board.

We heard from other teams during the year that this seemed to be their main tactic, even in away games, since they were a boarding school and didn't have to worry about being late or anything like that. When they asked how we went against them, to quote our No. 4 "We thrashed 'em!" :smallwink:

Now by the end of it all we were the winners in our region and so made it to the State Championship and, once again I was asked to take some photos of it. Since it's also pretty long I'll spoiler it.
Since the State Championships were held in Sydney we all made our own separate travel arrangements and the hotel my Dad and I stayed at gave me enough time to get their if we skipped breakfast breakfast. On the corner near the venue was a take away shop and they had pre-made chicken rolls for sale. I buy one with exact change an eat it as I walk down the street.

Now my attention is divided between eating my breakfast and making sure the strap on the school's expensive camera doesn't break that I don't notice that the sidewalk's busted up where I'm walking and trip over an exposed piece of concrete. My first thought, and words, is "Ohmygod is the Camera alright?!" Which it was, thankfully. Secondly "Damnit! that was my breakfast." and finally I respond to Dad's question. "Yeah, I'm okay." Dad and a lady walking by help me up. We thank her and she says that it's been like that for a while and that people fall over there a lot.

So I manage to get there on time tough I'm still a little disoriented and hungry. We lose our first match 4-0, our No. 1 player's only loss that I've ever seen btw, and our second and third matches. We break for lunch, pizza paid for by the Committee, and return to the games. Our next game is with the team currently third in ratings while we, with two wins out of twelve games are 8th, last place.

I'm about shake my opponent's hand when their organizer notices that I'm playing black and swaps the roster so I'm playing their No.4, who was the same skill as their No. 3 but better with White. Now I normally play an aggressive black but I'm thinking that this guy is an expert attacker given the change and decide to play a defensive game, something I'm not normally good at but at this point we're so far behind I decide it doesn't matter if I happen to lose my match.

This probably won me the game as it turns out that he was playing White defensively as well and we ended up in a defensive match off where his only option was to either force a Stalemate, something I was glad to do, or trade of a long string of pieces in one part of the board and try to counterattack in a different area trying for a win. Where before we'd spent ages without a single piece lost now we were trading pieces at a rapid pace and at the end of it I was up a Pawn a Knight and a Bishop and got him in Checkmate not long afterwards. We managed to sweep that team 4-0 and did well enough in our other games to come 6th, which wasn't bad considering our terrible position at the start, and it's the best we ever went.

Quoth our No.4: "We thrashed 'em!" :smallbiggrin: