Game 18

stevelco put the smack down on me again and won the series 3-1.  Except for his blunder in game 1, he would have cleaned my clock!

I screwed up royally on 18...a8?? leaving my knight and rook forked.  I was looking at 18...b8, but I was worried about 19. Nb5 ... but I overlooked that in response to that move, I could have played 20...Ra8 and maybe the position is still equal.  Gotta do that blunder check ... can't ever forget it.

I was chatting with Steve after the game and I said to him "you know ... "they" say tactics are what win and lose games ... and i try to work on them ... but when you're in a 3-4 hour game and your at the end, it gets tougher"

And this is what happened in this game ... I just plain got sloppy toward the end ... I still had 20 mins on my clock.

Oh well ... the thought occurred to me after the game that maybe I need to push myself a bit more on my daily tactical study - to push the mental limits - get exhausted a bit (with more tactics) and then train through the mental exhaustion to try to replicate keeping on guard toward the end of the game.

The next 4 game 75/15 series begins Sunday morning with silencehunter ... someone a bit more in my rating range.