I’m in the Same Class as GM’s!

In the above position I had a decent chance to combat White’s passed P. All I had to do was play 32...Qb2 then after 33.Qc8+ Kg7 34.Qxa6 (of course not 34.d7 Qe2+ 35.Kg1 Qxd1mate) 34...Rd4 and White has his work cut out if he is going to win.

So I played 32...Rf4?? for some reason thinking White would now play 33.Qc8+ and then after 33...Kh7 34.f3 Rxf3+ 35.Kg1 (35.gxf3 Qxf3+ draws by perpetual) 35...Qg5 36.d7 Qe3+ 37.Kh1 Qf4 38.Kg1 Rh3 also draws .

Of course White didn’t play 33.Qc8+?? but instead played 33.Qe8+ and I had to resign because if 33… Kh7 34.Qe3 (to defend f2) 34. …Rxa4 (what else?}35.d7 and the P queens.

That hurt, but even world class GM’s and world champions have made some really stupid blunders, so I can honestly say I’m in company with the world’s best players.

Tartajubow-Ivanovic

The following game was a 10-minute game played on Playchess. My opponent neglected development in favor of gaining a small material advantage. The problem was that in the process his K-side was weakened.

I try the Colle System

I got tired of playing the Torre Attack (1.d4 2.Nf3 3.Bg5) against everything Black played against me so decided to try something else. I'd seen a lot mentioned by generally lower rated players on various sites extolling the virtures of the Colle System. I remained a little skeptical because if Black fianchettoes his f8B then White's standard attacking procedures go right out the window. The other reason I was skeptical was because it looks to me like Black can pin the N at f3 with ...Bg4 which looks annoying. Anyway I was determined to give it a try against a strong opponent in this Queen Alice tournament game.