My Sudden Success:
From Chess Patzer to 2200 in One Day
(Continued)
Game 2
After game
1,
I walk around for a couple hours lightheaded, waiting for the
next round to begin. When the pairings are posted, I see that
I'm up against someone rated 1925 (I later find out that he used
to be consistently above 2000--just like I am!).
Event: Region VI, Rd. 1, Minneapolis, MN
White: Opponent2 (1925)
Black: Brent Edwards
1.e4 e5
While I had prepared both the Evan's gambit and the Smith-Morra
Gambit as White, I had prepared nothing as Black, choosing to
improvise.
2.f4 exf4
Don't mind if I do; thanks for the pawn! I'm ahead already!
3.Nf3 Nf6
4.e5 Ng4
Moving my Knight twice in the opening--a no-no
5.d4 d6
6.Bxf4 dxe5
What the hell am I doing?
7.Qe2
Hmm, didn't take the e-pawn, which I expected him to take.
 7.Qe2,
and White piles on the pressure early
7.... f6
8.dxe5 fxe5
9.h3
Again, he doesn't take the pawn.
9.... Be7
Take my Knight and I take your Bishop, mothertupper!
10.Bg3 Nf6
You win again, Mr. Bond. You may have taken the pawn now,
but...but...well, nothing really.
 10...Nf6--would
you take my pawn and get it over with?!
11.Nc3 Nc6
Okay, clear the Queenside for castling. King's too exposed.
12.Bxe5 Nxe5
13.Nxe5 Be6
Ready to castle.
 13...Be6,
and I'll be safe once I castle
14.Rd1 Nd5
Maybe I should've played 14...Bd6. I'm starting to sweat; what
if he plays Qh5, responding to my g6 with Nxg6?
15.g3
Huh? One of those mysterious Master moves.Gotta get my Queen out
of the way so I can castle, but Qd6 allows Qb5+ which is ugly.
The next move protects the Knight on d5, keeps pieces off of b5,
and opens up space for my Queen.
15.... c6
16.Nxc6
Got...to...castle...Got...to...castle...
 After
16.Nxc6, it's all starting to fall apart
16.... bxc6
17.Qxe6
I consider resigning, but decide to stick it out since we both
had about 15 minutes left to make 13 moves each. I try to
relieve the pressure with an exchange of Queens.
17.... Qd6
With 17...Qd6, I try to relieve the unbearable pressure
18.Nxd5
I look at my opponent with a shocked expression. He appears
calm. Without hesitation, I accept this gift from the gods.
18.... Qxe6+
My opponent picks up his Knight, intending to fork my Queen and
King, and then he sees that he's in check. His breath escapes in
a long sigh and a low moan.
19.Resigns
I apologize to him since I feel so guilty about the way in which
I won--he'd been kicking my ass up until the very end. He's
gratious and compliments me, adding that the game explains why
he's no longer above 2000.
After two games, I have a preliminary rating over 2170.
Again, I consider retiring from competitive chess forever
("Yes, I stopped playing years ago. I found that the
pressure of keeping up my near-2200 rating was getting too much
for me. It's just a game, afterall."). Foolishly, I
continue.
I let major pieces hang in the opening moves of my next two
games, losing miserably, and win my last game, giving me a final
preliminary rating of around 1880.
The tournament was one long
headrush, and definitely spoiled my expectations for future
events. The tournaments that followed produced more mundane
results, and success was more hard fought with more games
against bottom dwellers. But, for one beautiful weekend, I had tasted
the sweet success of chess stardom and had kibitzed with the gods.
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