Fake It, 'Til You Make It
Fake It, 'Til You Make It
“I'd rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right.”
Last Friday, 9/2/16 I played round 1 of a 7 round tournament held at a local chess club. I'm excited that I now live close to a club, I've never lived within 15 minutes of a chess club before...so I guess I'll be playing a lot more chess now! This tournament is all open and I'm the 3rd highest player at the tournament. This means I'm going to play someone around the middle of field; at least rating wise.
Before the game my opponent asked, "are you a master?" And I responded, "yup" and then awkwardly chuckled as my opponent seemed to be defeated before move 1. This happens from time to time especially from adults. I've never understood this thinking. When I was 1600 I loved playing experts and masters because I had nothing to lose. I'd try my best, but in the back of my mind I always wanted to attack. No matter how calm someone looks when you sac a piece against them, just trust me, they are freaking out inside. Especially if you are 400+ lower rated, because if the master ends up winning we get a measly 1 rating point for our troubles. While if we lose we can lose upwards to 30 points!
Below is the game, together with the one tactical shot of the game. The important thing to note was that I used 1 hour and 45 minutes (we had a time control of Game in 1 hour and 50 minutes w/ 5 second delay) and my opponent used only 17 minutes! You're not usually going to beat a higher rated player like that. My opponent did play well at points, but if he took his time, I'm not sure I would have found a way to get through his defenses. Sometimes you have to fake it, til you make it!
How did Black win his pawn back?
