In round 5, I crashed and burned. I’ll attribute it to fatigue after the grueling round 4 game, but it wasn’t pretty. I grabbed a pawn in the opening that was poison. I knew it too; so, I don’t know what possessed me to snatch it. The best defense would have left me in a game an exchange down with no compensation and an inferior position. So, I tried to stave off the coming disaster with a different idea, but got mated in 15 moves.
I took a quick look at my round 4 loss and still feel I had good chances to win it. I’ll analyze it fully and post it here later. One thing I did find in my quick look was that I missed a beautiful knight sac that would have given me a swift and crushing victory. I guess I just wasn’t in a good chess place yesterday.
On the other hand, my friend Harvey Reed is doing well. He has 3.5 after five round which given the strength of play here at Foxwoods is quite respectable. I also saw Mark Fins last night. He came in via the 3-day schedule. He had 2.5 after round 4.
Today is the final day of the tournament. I am determined to make it a day of better chess than yesterday.
Comments