Round 3 had gone better for my comrades: Ivan and Tim got back on track with wins, and Don managed a draw. With a good last day, we could all get positive results. For me, no matter how this day turned out, the final result would be a plus score. If you had told me before the tournament I’d earn 3 out of 5 points, I’d have been ecstatic. But with 3 points in 3 games, the perception completely changes. Now it would be a bit of a disappointment not to place in the money!
Clearly, this final day would be the greatest struggle if a high place were possible, starting against what was probably my strongest opponent yet. We chatted a bit before the game…apparently, he used to be around Expert strength and has only recently been playing again. Although there’s not much USCF history to verify, at the time I took his word for it. Presumably, he was a rusty player, but with a superior understanding of the game.
I did NOT expect to play well. And in fact, I did make some serious mistakes. But at this level, it’s not always about who plays the best. Sometimes, being a little tenacious gives you some unexpected, undeserved chances…
(show chess board)
(hide chess board)
Cool beans! Now you just need to challenge Deep Blue 🙂
If only! And I think they dismantled Deep Blue for parts already 😀
I’m curious. Does cheating happen at the level you’re playing at? Have you heard of people cheating at any of your tournaments? Did one of your opponents cheat? Did you cheat? 🙂
Yea! Did anyone take long bathroom breaks??
Yes, there was one kid who was cheating! You can read the whole story from Rocky Rook. In general, the game is clean, though. I haven’t encountered anyone suspicious personally.
There’s a famous story from a few years back, the Indian guy who hid a Bluetooth device in his cap. He is only somewhat stronger than me.
Here’s one of the strange things…out of all the players in the hall, I probably got up and moved around the most. I’m eternally thirsty, so got plenty of water, which meant I went to the bathroom about 4 times a game. Plus, there were three other games I’d get up and watch.
FORTUNATELY, my play is poor enough to make it obvious I wasn’t using computer help.
Why would someone cheat at chess? It’s not the type of “sport” that makes people say “Did you see that chess match yesterday? It was awesome!” I don’t think chess masters make as much $ as soccer players. If I’m gonna cheat at anything it would be a world famous sport such as soccer. It’s too much effort to cheat at chess because the payoff is not worth it. Sports stars can sorta get away with cheating but with chess it’s extremely humiliating if you get caught.
Much like Korean girls go after the star WOW players… people would cheat at Chess to become Chess stars which in turn would nab you women from many of the former Soviet republics.
I thought it was star Starcraft players for Koreans? Especially Bisu. Actually, you female readers should have a look; even as a straight guy I would say Bisu’s pretty darn good-looking.