Just before this, I was playing PnTinh (1823) and I was so bummed because I had the advantage and let it slip away with one careless move. I was really kicking myself. It was such a horrible experience to see crafty give you a sizable advantage then swing it to a large negative after the blunder.

The problem is, I couldn't concentrate nearly long enough. Oh, I start well in the beginning. Analyzing all my opponents threats, but then slowly, slowly, ever so slowly by about move twenty my brain starts to shut down. I drift away into some zone and then there is this little thing where if I stay still for a long while, ants begin crawling all about me. They are in my eyes! in my hands! and I need to get them off! get them off!! by moving a piece.

And so I move and I fail.

To paraphrase Mr Heisman, if you play real chess 80% of the time, and play hope chess 20% of the time, you are actually just playing at 20% your capability. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Anyway, I'm glad that in this game I was able to somewhat maintain concentration. A very satisfying win indeed.

(Although, post-analysis with crafty indicated that we both did some very very bad moves. We were doing the obvious move to say the least, and yet the obvious move led to perdition. I need to remind myself that there are always hidden resources in any given position and that unearthing them and forcing myself to search for the 'subtle' will make me a far better player. There are other squares besides that which I was thinking of after all.)