addendum

so earlier i wrote that i was playing the ruy lopez v. sicilian and ruy, the austrian attaq v. pirc/etc. and i have changed and am going to play the same advanced system v. the caro, french and ...e6 sicilian. i think i can get away with this caro-line

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.c3 e6 5.Be3 Qb6 6.Qb3



play it like an advanced French. i will try it, likely i won't get a caro but why not give it a try. there's no insane pawn pushes or anti-positional things and i'm pretty well defended against his dark square bishop and the inevitable ...c5 push

no more fucking around...

okay it's time to draw the proverbial line in the sand. i am playing 1.e4 in this tournament. i will likely play Bb5 v. all sicilian lines except for c3 v. 2. ...e6 and go for an advanced French. needless to say i will play the advanced french. austrian attaq v. the pirc and the ruy lopez. so basically i have three systems as white (word botwinnik). ruy lopez (v. ruy and sicilian) advanced french (v. french and e6 sicilian) and austrian attaq (v. garbage). probably i'll stick with the panov v. the caro-kann and just wing it v. the scandinavian. i can't even think if i'm forgetting anything. i don't have the bollocks to play the cochrane gambit v. the petroff. i decided to play the 2....d6 3.Bb5+ lines wasn't the end of the world. if it's lazy and drawish so be it...i'm just looking to survive. i am going to book up a bit v. the scandinavian. a bit. as black i'm going for nimzo, QID (no more fucking QGD bitch) and caro. i will play the grünfeld v. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 and 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 if they allow me. i'm in the middle of moving over to 8th street so better to decide this now with less than a month, than when i'm living out of boxes for the next couple of weeks. amanda got a job in town which is cool, i will invite her and jason over for drinks sometime.

armando shows the way...

armando recommended "play Ne4 followed by d5 v. the tromp...eventually both players will loose (sp) a tempo"

i will try it.

armando also recommended watching over Lazaro Bruzon's games. he said "You will find them boring, but he plays the balance theory to perfection, just like Capa. the balance theory consist of keeping the position at a balance estate, whomever breaks the balance is at risk...that is what happen to morozevich yesterday. He did not understand Bruzon".

chess ideas

okay i have a couple new ideas

1. 1.d4, 2.Nf3 just like Kirk. i think it's not a half bad idea. i may even play 2.c4 against 1.d4 d5 we'll have to see. the idea is to play 2.Nf3 against 1. ...Nf6. i need to get comfortable in the queen's gambit declined just like i am in the ruy lopez as white.

2. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5!? as Black. i think it could work. 3.e3 cxd4 4.exd4 d5 is a CK Exchange. 3.d5 b5! is the original benko gambit. 3.c4 e6 aims for either a benoni or a tarrasch defense depending. again i'm going far too deep here, but i think this would be playable enough, except for the benoni things. we'll have to see.

the big deal here is the return to 1.d4

what against the dutch i wonder? i could always just develop. i'll ponder.

morozevich is in last place at Corus Wijk Aan Zee. looks good on him...he's a jerk ass

caro it is

i've decided against 1.e4 e5 and decided to make THE RETURN OF THE CARO stay tuned

clin-ton

so i went over and "analyzed" with clinton, which basically means drinking some beers and pushing the pieces around the board. when i showed him my games from the barrie tournament he was amazed at how upset i was that i missed tactics, and he was like "everyone misses some tactics". do i hold myself to too high a standard, that is impossible to live up to? that would explain why i'm never satisfied with a game. maybe i should aim for realistic expectations...i'm a 1600 player at this point. let me be happy with a 1600 result. too hard ;)

also he showed me a game he played with the Cochrane Gambit





i always thought it was garbage but is it worse than the Allgaier gambit i doubt it. and it is tricky. maybe i'll give it a second look eventually ;) plus if i do a little research i'll never get a petroff at the tournament so i figure it's a win win situation.

also i was worried that clin-ton was catching up to me, but when i saw his games i'm still significantly stronger which is important to me, because i'm trying to improve ASAP

3/5 in barrie

a couple of things before i start talking about barrie

• my goal is to get to 1600 in 2005, which i think is doable. basically i'll need an 1800 performance in the U2000 approximately to get the 80 points i need. something to shoot for
  
• i need to figure out my lines. with 1.e4 basically i'm fine v. 1. ...c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 and 2. ...e6 but i need lines v. the Dragon and Najdorf. I played the Dragon as White v. an Expert yesterday and i remember thinking (thank god he didn't play the Najdorf). i think i may play 6.f4 v. both and see how it goes.
  
• i seriously need to figure out what i'm playing as Black. there are two choices...a) 1.d4 d5 which i have to figure out what to play v. the colle and the veresov and b)1.d4 Nf6 which i only need to figure out what to play v. the tromp. then there's a myriad of decisions about what to play after 2.c4 in both lines, but there's time for that
  
• i am definitely putting a ban on blitz until that time...sure it's relaxing and makes me get used to middlegame positions. maybe i'll still play some blitz v. kirk but not on ICC/FICS. i'll do tactics whenever i get the craving
  

okay i have mixed feelings about my performance in barrie. sure i finished with 3/5 but i didn't play that well. i had initiative in the first game v. the expert, but my position fell apart. will need to go over that game with a fine tooth comb. second round, the guy asked "is this where the queen and king go?" so i played the king's gambit v. him :) third round, i lost all sense of urgency and allowed the guy to mate me horribly in 20 moves in the richter-veresov which pissed me off. round four, i had a better position but missed a couple tactics as black but still won when he hung a piece. round five, i battled and won an endgame.

kirk claimed my games were crappy but he missed as much as i did in his. i just need more games and less crap to get a serious frame of mind. after that easy victory in round two, i was just making moves in round three and was punished mercilessly. not acceptable. the good thing though is that the guy i beat relatively handily in the last round was rated 1580, so i mean 1600 is there if i want it. my goal is to go up about 100 points a year which is a lot, but i mean it's doable. i tried to talk kirk into playing up and he's not sure but i think he should. the bonus points is hard to figure out on the CFC site. basically you get more for having an 1800 performance winning 5 games v. 1400 players, than having an 1800 performance winning 2.5 games v. 1800 players, than having an 1800 performance.

also i was thinking about putting the breaks on OMGP vol. 3 it takes forever to do anything and move over to bronstein temporarily. or maybe not. just it's not proceeding as quickly as i would have liked. maybe i'll put my nose to the proverbial grindstone today and get through

they like me, they really like me!

i entered a new article on schemingmind.com based on my london tournament and people seemed to like it. which is cool.

i just returned from a tournament in barrie yesterday and it went okay...i scored 3/5, kirk scored 3½/5 and played impressively and clin-ton scored 3/5 even. i'll write more later

sweet victory

i luckily won game three on the black side of an open lopez. he had a free piece but he played the wrong continuation :( doesn't matter, i'm back in business. and you know what i'm gonna play? king's freaking gambit...wish me luck. now it's just a matter of 3.Bc4 or trying to unass senor muzio. probably 3.Bc4. actually i changed my mind. i'm gonna play 3.Nf3 and hope for the muzio. of course he won't play it, he'll play the fischer defense instead and i'm gonna play the main line as in Day-Berry and whup his candy ass

match w/ kirk

me and kirk are having a four game match and he's killing me. i've gotten beat in 46 moves (the game was over in 20) and 17 moves. the first game i played a passive Schlechter-Grünfeld and the second game i botched up the white side of a QGD. i need to pay attention and remember that he's a comfort player and i have to play aggressively. i *need* to win with black today. i wonder if he will try 1.e4 or 1.d4 today. if he does play 1.d4, i'm going to an exchange grunny with him or maybe i should try the QGA. i want to get some queenside play. maybe i'll just memorize some theory and try that. there is an interesting Botwinnik-Euwe game because i don't figure kirk will go to D29, he will play a4 stopping b5. the problem is what to play if he plays 1.e4. i want to play 1. ...e5 but the problem is that he seems to have a fascination with 3.Bc4 so i guess i can always just play my line in the two knights

OMGP vol. 3

i think it's absolutely fantastic. i've gone through a bunch of petrosian games (taking a break now) and i think i enjoy his style. it's alot easier for someone to try and be patient and be alert for opportunities than play like tal and force the issue constantly. i think petrosian may be a good influence...of course by the time i get to spassky and through bronstein i'll be back to my old romantic ways. i don't mind his stuff though

merry ho ho

so i got Kasparov's Great Predecessors Volume 3 featuring Petrosian and Spassky and Bronstein's "Sorceror's Apprentice" which are both great books and I will eat them up. Merry Christmas

2004 in review (2)

and of course my win v. JM would go in my good games from the year

ironically, all my "good games" were with white, and 3/4 i opened 1.f4. interesting :) and all my "bad games" were with black. and here i was always worried about my white openings instead of black :)

now for the bad games

COS - CS
Owen Sound Spring (4) 2004
B53 - Sicilian, Chekhover variation

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nc3 g6 9. Bg5 Bg7 10. Qd3 O-O 11. Rad1 Bb7 12. e5 dxe5 13. Qxd8 Rfxd8 14. Rxd8+ Rxd8 15. Nxe5 {Black to move and lose} 15... Rd2 ?? 16. Bxd2 1-0

terrible

another bad one was against "fridge" who is rated about 1000...even though i won i played terribly

Fridge - CS
Owen Sound Summer (1.2)
A07 - Réti

1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. d3 O-O 6. O-O c6 7. b3 Qa5 8. Bb2 Ne8 9. Qd2 Bg4 10. e4 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 d4 12. Nb1 Qxd2 13. Nxd2 c5 14. Rac1 e5 15. Nc4 b5 16. Nd2 Nd6 17. c3 f5 18. cxd4 cxd4 19. Rc2 Nd7 20. exf5 Nxf5 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 22. Rfc1 Nb6 23. Ba3 h6 24. Bc5 Nd5 25. f4 Nc3 26. Nf3 exf4 27. gxf4 Re8 28. Bxd4 Ne2+ 29. Rxe2 Rxe2 30. Rc8+ Kh7 31. Rc7 Nxd4 32. Nxd4 Re3 33. f5 Kg8 34. Ne6 Be5 35. Rc8+ Kf7 36. Rf8+ Ke7 37. Rg8 gxf5 38. Nc5 Bd4 39. Rg7+ Bxg7 0-1

my final terrible game was against TK at the london tournament (see below). other than these three games my play was relatively consistent in 2004. here's hoping i crack 1600 in 2005. there's two ways i can do that. one, play well enough to gain enough points to 1600 at kitchener (not likely). work on stuff and go down to london in the summer or something and get them (more likely). hans jung said in en passant that people should play 100 tournament games a year. i played 26 this year and my all time high was 39. i need to play more often.

merry christmas everyone.

2004 in review

(to start, i am only doing this now because hopefully on saturday i will get some chess books and start devouring them. what's happened since i last wrote...i finished Chernev's Capablanca book, i played some blitz. me and kirk are going to the february Kitchener tournament and i'm likely going to barrie in january for a warm up. we've decided on 1.Nf3 and the accelerated dragon as our main weapons. i'm gonna play U2000 and he's gonna play U1600...you can play within 200 points of your rating so i'm playing up...don't like playing millions of kids. i'm likely gonna get my ass handed to me, but it's gonna be a barometer)

so now on to my best (and worst) games of 2004.

Here was one of my favorite games from last year's Kitchener tournament. I was playing in the U1700 and I was at 2-0...

C.Sadler - CT
Kitchener Winter U1700 2004
B78 - Sicilian : Dragon, Yugoslav variation

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 d6 (7...
O-O 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. Bc4 Rc8 11. Bb3 a6 12. h4 = Na5 13. Bh6 Nxb3+ 14. Nxb3 Ne8 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. h5 Rh8 17. hxg6 fxg6 18. e5 Be6 19. Nd4 Bg8 20. Qh6+ Kf7 21. e6+ Kf6 22. Ne4+ Ke5 23. Qg5# 1-0

a fun little miniature. i lost my next game in round 4, mostly because i was hungover and then drew in round 5 to finish with 3½/5 and get some prize money.

This next one wasn't the greatest game, but i really enjoyed it. He could've improved all over the place

C.Sadler - AC
Owen Sound Summer Active (2.2) 2004
B09 - Pirc : Austrian Attack

1. f4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e4 Bg7 5. d4 b6 6. Bb5+ Nbd7 7. e5 dxe5 8. fxe5 Nh5 9. O-O f5 10. e6 Nhf6 11. Bg5 a6 12. exd7+ Nxd7 13. Bxd7+ Bxd7 14. Re1 Bf8
15. Nd5 h6 16. Nxe7 Bxe7 17. Rxe7+ Qxe7 18. Bxe7 Kxe7 19. Ne5 g5 20. Ng6+ 1-0

A third game was also from that tournament, vs. a visitor from Kitchener. I had improvements all over the place, but I basically led from pillar to post.

C.Sadler - TK
Owen Sound Summer Active (5.1) 2004
B06 - Modern : Pseudo-Austrian attack

1. f4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Nc3 Nd7 5. Nf3 e5 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. Bc4 Ne7 8. O-O O-O 9.fxe5 Nxe5 10. Qxd8 Rxd8 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Rxf7 Nc6 13. Bg5 Rd4 14. Raf1 Bf5 15. exf5 Rxc4 16. fxg6 Bd4+ 17. Kh1 hxg6 18. Rxc7 Re8 19. Nd5 Rc5 20. Nf6+ Bxf6 21. Bxf6 Rf5 22. Kg1 Rxf1+ 23. Kxf1 Rf8 24. Rg7+ Kh8 25. Rf7+ Kg8 26. Rxf8+ Kxf8 27. Ke2 Kf7 28. Bc3 Ke6 29. Kf3 b5 30. h4 b4 31. Bd2 Nd4+ 32. Ke3 Nxc2+ 33. Kd3 b3 34. axb3 Na1 35. g4 Nxb3 36. Kc3 Nc5 37. Kc4 Ne4 38. Be3 a6 39. b4 Nf6 40. Kc5 Nxg4 41. Bc1 Ne5 42. Kb6 Nd3 43. Bd2 Kf5 44. Kxa6 Kg4 45. b5 Kxh4 46. Be3 Nb4+ 47. Kb6 Nd5+ 48. Kc5
Nc7 49. b6 Na6+ 50. Kb5 Nb8 51. b7 Nd7 52. Kc6 1-0

oops gotta get ready for work

more good and bad to follow

$46,130

Your salary in this position will be $46,130.00

This temporary assignment will commence December 5th, 2004 for a one year duration

You have been placed at step one, Grade 5 of the non-union salary scale. Your salary will increase at the completion of each 1950 hours

oh craig is happy

ultra accelerated dragon

why not just try 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 i was always worried about 3.c3 but Capablanca gave a good try with 3. ...d5! in Merenyi-Capablanca. I'll have to try it out. 4.exd5 Qxd5 gets into a position i don't necessarily like to be in, but Hamdouchi and Kudrin gave it a couple goes in the FIDE Championship (1 win WHite, 1 win Black, 1 draw) so i'll have to take a look at that as well

idea

if i get this new job, and i have wednesdays off i want to have CFC rated stuff on wednesdays. i was thinking instead of active, play like 4 game matches every month versus people with similar ratings. e.g. both v. shah, me v. kirk, kees. v. clinton, etc. it's superior to the show up active thing because then you're not taking on someone the same strength, either win easily or lose easily. it's an idea

what we're gonna play

so kirk came home from Buffalo and we decided to play 1.Nf3 as White and 1.e4 e5 and 1.d4 d5 as Black. I may try 1.d4 e6 or 1. ...c6 because I don't like the Colle but we'll have to see. I convinced Kirk to try and go to the Ontario Open this year (2005) because it's in Ottawa where there's places to stay. I believe that Kirk has to get better for me to improve because we play so much. He disagreed but we'll see

what to do what to do?

so kirk wants to play the same things as me, or vice versa ;) in any case i'm not sure what to play. he mentioned like a dragon/KID kinda thing and both play 1.e4, but i would rather play 1.d4/1.Nf3 to tell the truth. the accelerated dragon isn't bad (want to avoid the yugoslav) but i was hoping to start playing the giucio as black. in any case...

London games

C.Sadler (1499) - JM (2004)
London (1) 2004 G/60
A03 - Bird's Opening

Jane drove me to this tournament, which I had decided to play 1.f4 as White, and the Open Lopez and Nimzo as Black. It was supposed to be split into the Open and U1700 but they merged them into one section. I took on the number four seed in the first round. After the game he told me "I don't know that opening very well" :)

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 c5
I don't believe this is the strongest. In the Bird Black should be encourage White to play d4. The way he plays allows me to develop my light squared bishop relatively easily.
3.e3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Bd7 5.b3 Nf6 6.Bb2 e6 7.O-O
All this has been pretty straightforward so far.
7. ... Qc7!?
This move was the first one that wasn't "theory". 7. ...Be7 and 7. ...Bd6 have been played here before. I think he was trying to threaten queenside castling, but I don't think that was realistic.
8.Bxc6
I was thinking about 8.Bxf6 gxf6 but I was worried about the impending kingside attack on the g-file. He was rated 500 points higher than me, so I'm sure he could take advantage of the open file better than I could defend. It's sad but true. Plus positionally, my dark squared bishop was the best piece on the board
8. ...Bxc6
If 8. ...Qxc6 I was going to play 9.Ne5 and get a perfect square for the knight, with tempo, e.g. 9. ...Qc7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 is favored by the computer, but again, I didn't like the open g-file. This may be okay though
9.Be5 Bd6 10.Nc3
Keep on developing
10. ...Bxe5 11.Nxe5 Nd7?!
Obviously simpler to play like this v. a patzer like me, but Fritz liked 11. ...d4! opening lines towards my king 12.exd4 cxd4 13.Ne2 Rd8 for instance looks very strong
12.d4!
This strong move, kicking at c5, gave me some initiative
12. ... O-O 13.Ne2 Rac8
13. ...f6 was recommended on Chessgames.com as well as on the next mvoe. The knight is too powerful here
14.Rc1
During the game I thought I might try 14.Nxd7 Bxd7 15.dxc5 Qxc5 16.Qd4 with the idea of making the bishop the worst piece on the board, but I think this is okay for Black
14. ...Nxe5?
Maybe individually this move isn't that bad, but the plan he has is terrible. Opening up the f-file, allowing me to have a pawn on e5. A kingside attack is inevitable
15.fxe5 Qa5
Seeking queenside counterplay
16.a4 c5 17.Nf4 b5?!
If he would have seen what was happening 17. ...g6 would have been best, but I can still get my pieces in there
18.Nh5! Qc3 19.Qf3 bxa5 20.Qg3
20.Nxg7! wins immediately as well, as was pointed out by Maoam on chessgames.com 20. ...Kxg7 21.Qf6+ Kg8 22.Rf3 or 20. ...axb3 21.Nh5 f5 22.Qg3+ Kf7 23.Qg7+ Ke8 24.Nf6+ etc.
20. ...g6 21.Nf6+ Kg7 22.Nh5+ =
and I offered a draw here because he can get a perpetual. If he doesn't take the perpetual he's in trouble. Since he was 500 points higher than me and arrogant he said "nyet" and played ...
22. ...Kh8 23.Nf6 axb3?? 24.Qh3!
I had calculated this a lot earlier, opening up the g- and h-file similar to play in the infamous Oll-Ulibin (okay i'm flattering myself here)
24. ...h5 25.Nxh5 gxh5 26.Qxh5+ Kg7 27.Qg5+ Kh7 28.Rf31-0
I was very happy with this game. A second expert scalp for me. This proves that CT-ART works because I saw this mate a bunch of moves earlier. I'm upset I missed the winning 20.Nxg7! but it shows I have stuff to work on still.

The next two games weren't quite as good. I will put them in with little comment because I was just terrible. I ran out of energy, which wasn't surprising. If I play in London again, I will go down the night before. It was funny...the TD was asking me where I played, because my win was shocking. I told him mostly the internet, and he was like, yeah a couple of guys mentioned that?! I need to keep a lower profile on the internet i guess lol

C.Sadler (1499) - BVDV (1841)
London (2) 2004 G/60
A03 - Bird's Opening

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bg4
I find these sorts of less ambitious schemes by Black harder to face than outright attempts to "refute" the Bird by ...c5, ...Nc6 and come at me. Watch what kinds of trouble I get in because I can't/don't develop my light squared bishop
4.b3 e6 5.Bb2 Be7 6.c4?
Now of course I get too ambitious with the pawn moves. 6.Be2 taking an unambitious position and castling was the way to go
6. ... O-O 7.d4?
I need to develop! And why did I give up e4?
7. ...Nbd7 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3
Fritz preferred 9.gxf3 taking away e4. Obviously I didn't look at that hard enough
9. ...Ne4 10.Nc3?
I didn't even see the threat...
10. ...Bh4+
10. ...Bb4 may have been even stronger 11.Rc1 Qh4+
11.g3 Nxg3 12.Rg1
This is tough with discovered check. I decided I was going to try and play like Spassky and pretend I "sacrificed" the pawn. I couldn't help but stare at that gaping hole on e4 though.
12. ...Ne4+ 13.Kd1 Nxc3+ 14.Bxc3 c6 15.Kc2
Hoping for freedom over there
15. ...f5 16.Bd3 Nf6 17.Be1 Bxe1 18.Raxe1 Qa5!
A strong move
19.Kb2?? Qd2+ 0-1

Not the greatest game ever. I was going to give up on the Bird, but it wasn't because of my opening, but my idiotic decisions. The Bird is as good as anything else, I just have to remember not to fire out d4 so soon.

TK (1726) - C.Sadler (1499)
London (3) 2004 G/60
A45 - Trompowsky attack

The third round game (I had already decided to go home after this, skipping the fourth round game because I was exhausted) was against I guy that both me and Kirk had played previously in Kitchener. He plays 1.d4 with crap to follow so that soured me before the game even started. Psychology at its finest

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4?!
I need a new anti-Tromp line. I guess this is okay but the follow up is terrible
3.Bf4 e6?
The worst move on the board. Of course I thought I could stop 4.f3 with 4. ...Qh4+?? missing that 5.g3 Nxg3 6.Bxg3!. Stupid me. 3. ...d5 or 3. ...d6 look decent. Maybe ...Ne4 is playable after all
4.f3 Bf6 5.e4 b6
This position has been reached a number of times, but "my novelty" has never been played but rather 5. ...d5, 5. ...c5 and 5. ...Be7 my brain was dead
6.c4 Bb4+
My opponent said he liked this move
7.Kf2!?
Now of course he has an inferior position. So instead of playing a move like 7. ...O-O and just beating him eventually, still high off the first game, I decide to Morphy him in the middle of the board, like a tool. Sneaky gave some good advice on Chessgames.com that I could/should follow

"I can appreciate however, that if you want to play chess professionally you can't just throw a draw away by chasing some fantasy variation in vague hopes of a win. The players who stubbornly say, 'I'm not taking any chances, YOU take the chances' are the ones who finish with plus scores".

Well met Sneaky, well met. In any case, the rest is just terrible after

7. ...Nxe4+?? 8.fxe4 g5 9.Be5 O-O 10.a3 d6? 11.Bg3 Qf6+ 12.Ke2 Bc5 13.e5 Qf5 14.Nc3 Qg4+ 15.Nf3 dxe5 16.Bxe5 Nc6 17.h3! Qf5 18.g4 Qg6 19.dxc5 Rd8 20.Qb1 Qh6 21.Bxc7 Rd7 22.cxb6 axb6 23.Bxb6 Bb7 24.Bg2 Qf6 25.Rf1 Ba6 26.Qe4 Bb7 27.Qe3 Qg6 28.Qxg5 1-0
and I finally ended the pain because once the queens come off I'm toast. The whole game was a waste of both our times. Maybe 2. ...Ne4 v. the Tromp isn't garbage, but my middlegame play was.

So what can I take from the tournament? CT-ART is the way to go! :) Also, I need to get in better physical condition/get a good night's sleep before. Also realize that a slight advantage is good enough out of the opening :)