Online Chess

[JJB]

Does anyone play? I play at chessmaniacs.com My username is JBarton. Check it out and let me know if you sign up or already play there.

[Bree]

Originally Posted by JJB

Does anyone play? I play at chessmaniacs.com My username is JBarton. Check it out and let me know if you sign up or already play there.

I used to play chess. I decided that I wanted to become good at something and chose chess. No particular reason. It just seemed cooler than checkers. I started studying books and became fiendishly interested in chess... obsessed is more like it. I used to study chess theory and games day and night during a year that I dropped out of college. When I returned I kept studying chess even more than my courses. I was fanatical about chess.

The first time that I ever played against a human being was in the University Chess tournament. I guess that was a major sandbag. Nobody knew who I was. I was the last person in the world that they would expect to make it into the finals. And I could have won but I made a touch move mistake in a won position. So I had to tip my king over. I felt awful silly but very happy to take a second place trophy which I still have somewhere in the house.

The guy who won and I became good friends and used to like to go down to the bar and play speed chess. We once did a demo together. We had a great turnout and played 40 boards each at the school. That was actually a lot of fun. It is much easier than you would imagine. People make dumb moves no matter how much time they have. For us it was Eat, Pay, Get Out chess. I won 37, lost 2, and drew 1.

Played in the US Open once. Got to play against the former US Open champion Al Sandrin. He was blind. Man oh man... it hurt to lose to a blind guy. I thought that a really heavy attack game with great complexity would be too much for him to handle. So I built a very strong position and started the attack with a sacrifice. It was a real slugfest. Lots of people were around the board watching.

To his great credit, Al beat back everything I threw at him with precision, vision, and excellence. By the time the smoke cleared, I was busted and resigned.

I should have known better. The clue should have been when he didn't use the special board and pieces for blind folks where they lock into clips on the board. He simply took the two tips of his little fingers touched the corners of the plastic board and grabbed his piece and plunked it down where he wanted it to be taking whatever he wanted to take.

Darn blind guy was a chess machine. He saw the board better than I did.

And then I almost got beat by a 13 year old prodigy!! I had to fight like a wolverine to escape with my life and a draw in that one. And the kid didn't even want to accept the offer after 68 moves and two days of play. Finally he realized that he could not win and shook hands. That was rough.

I was lucky enough to win against a gal who eventuially won the US Women's Championship... Diane Savereide. She messed up a King's Indian Defense that got all locked up but with strong advantage to White in space and development. I was there like a hawk watching over the valley for any mistaken movement. I pounced on a pawn and that was all I needed. She still fought tenaciously and wasn't very happy about losing!! I was pretty lucky she slipped up because she went on to become a very good player. LOL!

Anyways... I decided that this wasn't the game for me... just too brutal on the psyche. Plus it wears you out big time!! So I gave it up back in the late 80's. I like shooting better.

Anyway there are some chess stories for ya.

[Kent]

Gameknot.com

I go by Kent2