I played three 45/10 games on FICS last night. I figured I need at least one or two days a week of playing time. I played against a 1750, 1560 and 1670 player in succession. A curious thing entered my mind when I was playing the games. That is to say, In the first ten moves, I already knew the probable outcome of the match. It still early in the middle-game no exchange yet, but somehow, I just "felt" their strenght. I felt the game is already decided, we just dont know it yet(Hence the title of today's blog). To explain further, Lets compare the moves of my three opponents. The 1750 guy consistently made deadly threats, I was under-pressure all
the time. He saw refutations on my moves, and generally forced me to react to his. Ultimately, on move 20, I was down a piece. The 1550 guy on the other hand, made moves that I thought are pointless. I was able to develop easily, and was not in trouble most of the game. The 1670 guy, now this one I think is near my strenght. Until the endgame, the position remained balanced. I parried his tactical shots, just like he parried mine.

A Trap
Now, whats the score? did I went 1.5/3 (A win, a loss, and a draw). Well this should be the case, and this is what I felt during those games. Except that, at some point in all these games, a time would come when I just knew what the opponent wanted. And I knew it a couple of moves before it happened. So in each case, I wasted a ton of clock time trying to find a refutation. And I did find them. Another name for them maybe simple traps, and one that the enemy should not fall into normally, but I think that somehow they got blinded. Why? because everything went according to what they saw. I let them play their variation. I mean, for at least two moves, everything was going according to their plan, and when they lowered the sword, when they played the main point of the combination, the "trap" took into effect and
boom - I won just like that.

A Lesson
In other wods, I went 3-0. But I don't consider my game to be satisfactory. Relying on traps is very risky (The 1750 guy really outplayed me). On the otherhand, the games serves as a lesson to me too. I does not mean that if the game is going according to the variation I saw, it does not mean it is good for me. I should double check whether there is a "sting" in the tail. This may save a couple of points in the future.

Although, of course I don't usually take my own advice (Of course).