Simaltaneous Game Experince

Last night I experieneced my first game in a simul event.
Being totally crap (ELO1375) I was playing a player with EL2200, needless to say I went down fast !!
Some points:
I was unnervred/overawed (sp) by opponent of this strength!
Deciding on your move and having to wait was strange !
The physcological(sp) effect of the other player standing over the board whilst you are sat (teacher/pupil)
Looking at the other games even much stronger players were amazed by the depth of his moves, a lot of them not what mere mortals would have thought to play !!

Players of this strength come from a parallel universe !
Awesome !!

Any other thoughts on playing in simul events ?
What's it like to be the GM going round ?

Originally posted by Tinmart69
Last night I experieneced my first game in a simul event.
Being totally crap (ELO1375) I was playing a player with EL2200, needless to say I went down fast !!
Some points:
I was unnervred/overawed (sp) by opponent of this strength!
Deciding on your move and having to wait was strange !
The physcological(sp) effect of the other player standing over th ...[text shortened]... !

Any other thoughts on playing in simul events ?
What's it like to be the GM going round ?

I'm about 1000 points below GMs, though I have one draw against an IM (two GM norms) out of four tries in the annual simul he gives in River City.

I'm also about 1000 points above the third graders I teach chess to, and played 20 at once last spring (19 wins, one loss). I must say that it was terrifically stimulating and a lot of fun. I was surprised that I was able to develop plans in most games and keep the plans straight as I went round the room.

I played GM Raymond Keene once in a simul. He played Queen's Pawn openings on all 20 games, and Queen's Gambits when black made it possible. I played a Slav Defence (2...c6) which I thought I knew in some depth, but he was all over me and I was lucky to actually survive the opening intact. A tremendous experience though. Needless to say I lost pretty quickly!

The rules of a simul usually state that you must move as soom as the GM gets to your board whilst he, of course, can take as long as he likes.

I had the pleasure of playing a Russian GM many years ago and imagine my pleasure at being in the last 10 of 40 players (the GM having won 30) and finding myself in a won position (a whole N up with my opponent having no compensation).

Imagine my dismay when he moved very rapidly in his other 9 games before getting back to me and I had to move straight away. He took his time in replying then moved quickly in the other 9. This happened for about 10 moves. He virtually forced me to play lightning whilst he took his time. Of course I made a mistake and we were soon back on level terms where upon he took his time over the other 9 games but now that extra time was no use to me, my advantage had gone.

Eventually I lost and the GM won 40 -0.

Was that fair. I suppose so. Thats the rules of a simul and after all he did have 40 games to play which was the only reasopn I got a N up in the first place.

It only goes to show, you can be graded 2050 (ELO - OTB, my rating at that time) get a N odds against a 2550 player and still lose. A humbling experience. These guys play is at an all together different level.

A few years ago I played in a simul against a strong FIDE master. (I think he's an International Master now.) We played into an opening which I knew fairly well, so for about 9 or 10 moves I was doing quite well. It was a closed position, and most of the material was still on the board so I guess it was fairly complicated at that point. (Sorry, I no longer recall what opening had been played, but he opened as White with d4.)

On one of his turns the master quickly reached out for a piece, then pulled his hand back and went into a fairly long think. On the next couple of turns he also stood for a long time at my board before moving. At this point a large crowd had gathered around me, thinking that something special was happening. I had no idea what was going on, and didn't understand why he was taking so long at my board.

The next time he came around to my board he stopped and spoke to me, saying something like "What I was taking so much time over was trying to calculate whether I had mate in 6 or mate in 7. It's now mate in four." Then he played a check and waited for my reply. The crowd laughed with delight, myself included, and watched as he finished me off. That was great fun! 🙄