Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Agony column, installment 357

I think it was Raymond Floyd who once wrote an article for Sports Illustrated titled something like, "How Can a Pro Miss an Eighteen-Inch Putt?" I'm certainly no pro at chess, but I'd like to think I'm expert enough not to lose a bishop vs. knight ending when I have the bishop and I'm up two clean pawns with zero compensation.  Reality and "what I'd like to think" are two different things...

(The attentive reader may recall that I was the recipient of a similar gift in the final round of Kings Island 2012: the "equalizing injustice of chess" is a useful fantasy to maintain at times like these....)  I tried to squeeze my opponent in a dead equal position when we were both playing on delay, and received the loss I richly deserved.  Stubborn defense is often rewarded against careless play!

2 comments:

Frederick Rhine said...

Ouch. btw, you were playing on delay, not increment. As I've said, delay sucks.

Bill Brock said...

Fixed, thanks (and I guess that is slightly less embarrassing!)