Drake won against Pitts. Drake is now in clear second place. Baniel vs. Macaspac was fairly even but now Macaspac has some serious winning chances. Baniel seemed to have overestimated his chances in a drawn game. Now, he is fighting for a draw.
Macaspac won as I predicted. Now, he is 6-0. His path to the crown is now set. He just has to avoid accidents in the remaining five rounds. Drake is now clearly second. Baniel and Pitts follow in third and fourth places, respectively.
Round 3 is underway. It took us (mostly Ron Braud) only two rounds to figure out a way to start the round on time. We try to do things on time that being the Army way. You can watch the ongoing action live here in Monroi. Today, we started exactly at 0800 hours.
I am returning back to Memphis shortly after the start of Round 4 (2 pm). So you will not see any blogging from me until tonight. When I get home, I will blog more on specific games with some light analysis.
West – Corona (0-1), Black won on time in a somewhat even position with Black having the better chances. White failed to execute his 40th move before time control.
Two exciting games are still being fought out on the board, Macaspac-West and Duke-Pitts this very minute. These two games could end as upsets. The other games finished fairly early.
Round 2 games are underway. The last two games finished with Pitts and Macaspac turning the tables against their respective lower-rated opponents. This is where experience comes in. Both players know that most lower-rated players will eventually make a blunder or choose an inferior move towards the end as long as counter play is kept alive.
Twelve players will compete in the annual All-Army Chess Championship at Fort Myer in Arlington, VA starting tomorrow, May 11th. The top six placers will form this year’s Army Chess Team to play in the Inter-Service Chess Championship next month. This year’s batch is somewhat weaker based on ratings compared to the bygone years, but the over the board struggle will not be a cake walk as some of these higher rated players will quickly find out. Many of these players are underrated because of the obvious dearth of over the board tournament opportunities, a peculiarity familiar only to military chess players.
Undeserved thrill is how I would characterize my sentiments towards this follow up to the inaugural issue of my column. If you are new to this column, please consider reading the first installment to facilitate a proper introduction to what is to follow. The first one lays out plainly the underlying philosophy that this column is about.
Only a handful of chess authors truly understand the best method of mastering tactics. Most authors believe, as evidenced by the books and software available in the market, that puzzle exercises and solving them are the best approach to learning tactics. They could never be so wrong. The best way to learn tactics for most people is to actually learn them by seeing the transition point in its entirety from the opening phase to the beginning point of the puzzle.
