hardcore pawnography

first, tour news. stage 5 was pretty damn exciting, a mountain stage with a sprint finish. saturday the mountains really begin, and the race gets crazy. cancellara maintains the yellow jersey. awesome.

k, so after much drinking and more self loathing than all the gonzo papers and shark hunts combined, and many hours on the chess tactics server, i won a game. really won it. against someone internet rated in the 1800’s. a big ego boost. granted the guy was probably doing other things while playing me or maybe sleepy or whatnot, but i managed to steal a win. i’m proud, damn proud. the game went something like this:

you can cut and paste into the PGN viewer provided to your RIGHT (thanks edwin) if you want to follow along with the 17 quick moves.

4 knights defense, i am black.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. d3 O-O
6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 d6 8. h3 Ne7 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Qd2 Kh7
11. Nh4 Bxh3 12. gxh3 Rg8+ 13. Kh2 Ng6 14. Nf5 Nf4 15. Rg1 Rxg1
16. Kxg1 Qg8+ 17. Ng3 Qxg3+
0-1

standard boring ass opening up to move 5 (i somehow didn’t botch it up), on move 6 he pins the horse so i tickle him with the pawn. he doesn’t take, oh no, and on move 8 he moves h3. ok, i see this and think “i will sac my bishop and take this pawn to open shit up. it WILL happen. so i unpin on move 8 with the other horse. move 9 he DOES take, and i take with the pawn, opening up the g file. good, i want a direct link to his king, and i already planned on taking the h pawn. his queen to d2, i move my king to h7 to guard the pawn, but also to make way for the rook. oh yeah, i’m trembling with excitement. his horse to h4 and BAM MOTHERFUCKER, my bishop for your pawn and an open file. i think it’s a fair trade (i also lose way more games than i win, so there is that).

move 12 i check with the rook, his horse to f5, my horse to f4. this blocks the queen from the mate, and i also want to check with the rook on g2. he puts his rook on g1, and this is what i want. i take it, no thought, knowing it will put his king on g1. it’s over now, i know it. i check with the queen and he tries to block with the horse on g3. if you are following, do you see it? here is a pic, the board is flipped, it’s how i see it, it’s my (black’s) move:

it might be obvious to you all, but not to me, at first. this is where the chess tactics server came into play. i didn’t panic, i realized the pawn was pinned and the horse was mine, free and clear. i took it and white resigned.

it felt good, it felt like how i used to play, i need to feel that and play like that all the damn time. i hope i play like that next weekend.