Failure to Learn

This morning I played in a USCF rated online chess event that I had learned about via email a couple of weeks ago. I finished tied for first, winning the top prize (a virtual trophy) on tiebreaks. The event cost a mere $5 and the entry fees went back to the players in the form of one-year membership extensions. These membership extensions are based on random drawing of numbers after the event concludes.

See information about these thrice-weekly tournaments at Events4Chess.com.

In the second round, my failure of imagination unnecessarily extended the length of the game, and even led to an equal position as my opponent and I exchanged blunders. Ironically, the critical move that I could have played at least four times in the course of the game had come up in a Greco game that I used with my chess students in last week's lesson.

The position from Greco.

White to move

Two positions from my game.

White to move

White to move