Monday, February 02, 2009

Sleep Deprivation: The Enemy of Good Chess

Tactics

I'm working the day shift this week which means trying to go to bed early, getting up even earlier to go workout at the gym (3:30am) and then putting in 12 hours at work while trying to stay awake.

All that spells disaster when I try to work on tactics. I attempted 23 problems today and got 10 correct. What a train wreck.

Logical Chess

I read through game 17 today. I was dozing off while reading through it. I learned something about the need to defend the c-file if you are Black and White plays the Queen's Gambit. That's all I gleaned from that game.

Chess Memories

While surfing the Web trying to stay awake, I found my elementary school's website. The students there are participating in an after-school chess program. This reminded me of when I won the 6th grade chess tournament. It wasn't a very big tournament ... maybe 6 or 8 kids played. Well, I made it to the championship game. On the day I was to play the big game, I decided to break the unofficial record of drinking 13 pints (little cartons) of milk at lunch. I suceeded, but felt horrible afterwards. The game went on anyway. Although I had to excuse myself a few times during the game to use the restroom, I was able to pull off the victory. What fun memories!

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