Wednesday Night Chess

Jim and I played 5 games tonight. I ended up winning 3 out of 5 games. The last 3 games were really quite good. Two of them, Jim came back from a losing position to win. Here's one where I made a psychological blunder. I am playing Black, and Jim just captured my Knight on f6.

I was so worried about the pawn and the threat of another capture with discovered check that I did not take the time to think through what would happen if I allowed it to happen. So, my move should have been Rxe1, and it turns out that if he takes the pawn on g7 with check, I could simply move my King to g8. As a result, I would remain in the lead with a fairly straightforward win. Instead, I blundered and took the pawn with my Rook, leading to disaster.

Now, here's a game I wound up winning as a result of a sneak attack. I am once again Black, and the game is fairly even at this point.

I decide to play a bit deceptively, and I move Bc6 to threaten his queen. But, that threat isn't all that scary. Jim can either move the Queen to safety, or he can take the Bishop with his Knight. But, my move was not much more than a ruse. The real threat is the mate in 2 that I am set up for with my latest move. Fortunately, Jim overlooked the real danger, and captured the Bishop with his Knight. The rest (all of 2 moves) is history.