Influential Chess Moments....(good or bad)

Can anybody else point the finger at a particuliar moment
in the their career. Good or bad influences?

Blog 4 I'm pretty sure that was a key moment.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Can anybody else point the finger at a particuliar moment
in the their career. Good or bad influences?

Blog 4 I'm pretty sure that was a key moment.

Not sure a four year period counts as a "moment" but 1978-1981 was my particular point in time. I was just starting out in correspondence chess and that year my chess hero, Duncan Suttles, decided to play CC. He played in, and won, the Heilimo Memorial Tournament, being awarded a CC GM title in the process. That was it, I was hooked on correspondence chess and g3 or g6 as my first move.

I've had two good-

December 2008, I learned how to play chess.

January 2010 I got an awesome chess coach.


And one bad-

This guy who is city champion was playing an unrated game against me and proceeds to pull his cell phone out of his pocket and start talking in the middle of the game. I beat him.

The next time we play is a few months later...he does the exact same thing, and he beats me! I absolutely hate being disregarded. I swear to God I'm going to beat him terribly at the city championship next year.

This guy who is city champion was playing an unrated game against me and proceeds to pull his cell phone out of his pocket and start talking in the middle of the game. I beat him.

The next time we play is a few months later...he does the exact same thing, and he beats me! I absolutely hate being disregarded. I swear to God I'm going to beat him terribly at the city championship next year.[/b]

I remember a junior opponent who just munched an apple whilst beating me in a 30 min game. The fact she did not have time to finish her apple before winning still rankles.

Key moments were more personal. Beating my father for the first time, beating him blindfolded a few years later.

I am so disapointed when I see a strong player act up when they
lose to a much weaker player.
Storming off, ripping up the scroe sheet etc etc.

(I once sat there in a snow shower of a score sheet after I swindled someone.)

It's the weaker players moment in the sun and it's tarnished
by sheer bad sportsmanship.
(often regretted much later by the stronger player).

No matter how bad the defeat you have to take on the chin.

Originally posted by greenpawn34

It's the weaker players moment in the sun and it's tarnished
by sheer bad sportsmanship.
(often regretted much later by the stronger player).

Not at all - it's a great moment when your opponent throws a tantrum.

I remember I was in a simul, about five years ago, against Boris Spassky here in the local club which carries his name (he is the godfather of the club). At one point during our game (we had a drawn game in the end) my club friend who sat next to me, put a Duvel beer in front of Spassky's pieces just when he arrived at his board. Spassky, looked at it, then at his move on the board, and said :"good stuff", without a blink of his eyes. Then he made his move. We never knew for sure if he meant the Duvel or my friend's last move. But we can guess, a few rounds later my friend resigned.

Originally posted by DeepThought
Not at all - it's a great moment when your opponent throws a tantrum.

Can't disagree with that. It means you deserved the win, and he knows it.

Richard

Originally posted by Mephisto2
I remember I was in a simul, about five years ago, against Boris Spassky here in the local club which carries his name (he is the godfather of the club). At one point during our game (we had a drawn game in the end) my club friend who sat next to me, put a Duvel beer in front of Spassky's pieces just when he arrived at his board. Spassky, looked at it, the ...[text shortened]... the Duvel or my friend's last move. But we can guess, a few rounds later my friend resigned.

You should've given him that Duvel at the start of the game. It is good stuff (though you brew better in your country - I've just had my first Achel, which is rather delightful), but it is definitely not good for your game. There are stronger ones, sure, but the nasty bit about Duvel is that you don't taste the strength.

Richard

I had 2 wins on Sunday. both sacrificial attacks. i was so pleased and proud of them. Both opponents (roughly equal to my grade) grumbled and muttered about their own errors or that they thought they were winning at some point. Neither congratulated me or even acknowledged a good game.
These are old men. They must realise by now that they are where they are, and errors happen. They wont be world champion. It's just a game. Ho hum.
The day before I had lost both games and made a point of congratulating them.

Re Spassky; what club is that? and is he in better health now?

Back to the topic. One of my earliest memories is an evening standard book on the 1972 Fischer Spassky match. A couple of pages before each game was devoted to the goings on behind the scenes, and then the annotated game. At 10 years old there were parts of both that mystified me. Then i got a Morphy masterpieces book and i think that was my ondoing. I so much wanted to recreate something like that, but just didnt have the ability. My swashbuckle just...er buckled.

Originally posted by greenerpawn
Re Spassky; what club is that? and is he in better health now?

The 'Boris Spassky Schaakclub' in Schilde, near Antwerp, Belgium. Back in 1955 the World Youth Championship took place in Antwerp. The organiser had taken care of 18 year young Boris. It was his first match abroad, he owned nothing, not even a chessboard or a raincoat. Boris Spassky won. A year later, Hendrik Baelen (the organizer) created that new club, and he asked Spassky if he would be the godfather of the club and would agree that the club's name referred to him. Spassky had attended already the 25th jubileum, and the game I played was during the 50th jubileum. He is a most kind person, and very accessible to everyone.

All I know about his present health is that he is still in intensive care, but in stable condition, and back in France.

Originally posted by Mephisto2
The 'Boris Spassky Schaakclub' in Schilde, near Antwerp, Belgium. Back in 1955 the World Youth Championship took place in Antwerp. The organiser had taken care of 18 year young Boris. It was his first match abroad, he owned nothing, not even a chessboard or a raincoat. Boris Spassky won. A year later, Hendrik Baelen (the organizer) created that new club, a ...[text shortened]... nt health is that he is still in intensive care, but in stable condition, and back in France.

Thank you.
He seems well loved everywhere. I saw him via an internet transmission at Gibralta last year commenting on some live games. I loved his turn of phrase; "chucky" for check. "terrorism" for attcking moves. Lightening quick analysis and he also recalled a game of his from 1957 which was similar to one of the current live games.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Can anybody else point the finger at a particuliar moment
in the their career. Good or bad influences?

Blog 4 I'm pretty sure that was a key moment.

It was some time in the early 1990's and I was a newly rated USCF 1500 player. I was playing a 1950 player. I had played the King's Indian Attack, and had a clearly winning bishop endgame. Clear to everyone but me, that is.

The was a large group of players watching the game, as they smelled blood in the water and a pending upset.

I proceeded to play badly and lose it, and a friend of mine (a 2150 player on his way to Senior Master status) immediately said "Paul, you played that endgame horribly. You really need to study endgames."

I was very embarrassed, but I bought a copy of Paul Keres' Practical Chess Endings and played through it- starting with the chapter on bishop endings, of course.

It was time well spent, as now I am locally considered to be a player one needs to beat in the middlegame, as I score well in the ending now.

Keres' book had a tremendous influence on me, and it is not by accident that I have often referred to the game Smyslov-Keres USSR Ch 1951 on the site, as it is one of the example bishop endings in his book, and I have the game permanently etched in my "chess RAM".

At the risk of boring and annoying GP with an ending, here's the game in full for anyone interested:

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
It was some time in the early 1990's and I was a newly rated USCF 1500 player. I was playing a 1950 player. I had played the King's Indian Attack, and had a clearly winning bishop endgame. Clear to everyone but me, that is.

The was a large group of players watching the game, as they smelled blood in the water and a pending upset.

I proceeded to ...[text shortened]... h5 49. Kg3 h4+ 50. Kf2 Bf5 51. Kg2 Kf6 52. Kh2 Ke6 0-1[/pgn]

Who were the players in that game: curious as white played extremely weakly in the 2nd half? I would be suicidal to lose white's position from about move 25! It is instructive however and definitely the sort of knowledge I was hoovering up 20 odd years ago!

DISCOVERING WOMEN AND WINE........
and being saved from trying to fog my meagre talent to become an yet another random IM (like many of my friends did/attempted) One friend did make it to OTB 2599 GM, but fortunately I knew his speed of calculation was something I would never have, thus saving me from any futile endeavours!