GM Jekyll & Patser Hyde

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am a class chess player. That means I play like Jekyll/Hyde. Sometimes I am sharp like a knife. Other times I am dull like a spoon.

It reminds me of an old zen story where the master was always holding up one finger to explain enlightenment. One disciple used to imitate him by holding up his finger the same way.

One day the master catches him doing it. He tells him he has it all wrong. He cuts off the disciples finger! Then the master makes the familiar gesture and looks at the disciple. In that moment the student reaches enlightenment.

So much for zen stories. I think everyone should read Brian Victoria's Zen at War for an education on the nature of religions.

In my imagination my hero Ulf Andersson plays 1Nf3. He sees me play 1.Nf3 and in anger and horror, he sweeps the pieces off the board. After setting them up again he plays 1.Nf3. And I get enlightenment! I understand that I cannot play 1.Nf3 like Ulf plays Nf3 until I can play endgames like Ulf does.

Then I bow to the great Master Ulf, and play, 1.e4. Nigel Short comes into the room and sweeps my pieces off the table. How could I assume I can play 1.e4?

Perhaps I should open with 1.h4?

Chess Cube

I have been playing on chess cube. I am not being too serious and annotating my games. I am just playing and having fun. I do take note of the opening, and where I got screwed up. If I get blown off the board, I look for where I went astray.

I am playing the Caro-Kann and Slav as black, and the Queen's Gambit main lines if I ever get them as white.

First of all by just seeking any old 15 minute game I discovered that I play black about 80% of the time. Mostly these have been Caro-Kann exchange variations. I got blown off the board against an advance with an early g4. And the Slavs have all been exchanges. I have fared more poorly than I expected against it. As White it has been a Queen's Gambit Accepted every time but once.

When I signed up for the (free) account I said I was serious. So I was given a starting rating of 1800. In my first several games, I saw it dive to the 1690's. But I have slowly gotten used to the (for me) fast 15 minute games, and my openings and I have climbed into the upper 1700s.

It is just a game.

Tartakower said "Every Chess player should have a hobby."