"Like Pouring Concrete down a HOLY WELL"

 Keep running in circles... story of my life!  I always end up in my GD hometown in Illinois.  Nothing ever goes right!  I don't want to go anywhere for a long time.  I'm tired of all the running around.. it gets me nowhere, just wastes a lot of money.  Sometimes we look too far for the answers without realizing they're right in front of us.  

I spent the last two days camping in the forests of Southern Illinois.  Not much fun for me.  The last night my pills made me sick.  I spent the whole night vomiting.  Those pills do that to me from time to time.  I want off of them.. ALL OF THEM.  I saw a scene in Pawn Sacrifice (The Bobby Fischer movie) where one of Fischer's team members mentioned Bobby taking a pill.. the other responded that that would be like pooring concrete down a Holy well, yes the priest said that to I believe the attorney.  Bobby was weird.  I'm weird.  Bobby would have never taken any psychiatric medications.  I did.  BIG mistake.  My body is addicted to them now.

 I'm getting older, I see many and many things come and go.  When I log into chess servers like FICS and ICC, I am reminded of all the people I used to talk to on there many years ago.  Some of them died, some gave up the game.  Some... who knows???  Those chat rooms were great.  I talked to a lot of people on there regularly.  Only a couple now that I knew since wayyyy back in the day.  Good times.  

 I'm exhausted.. can't think of much to write right now.  I still watch online for upcoming tournaments from the United States Chess Federation.  They are all still getting canceled because of the current pandemic.  USCF has a new online rating feature.  All the tournaments are going online.  I don't care to get an online rating... it's just not the same.  

I'm just waiting for things to move on...

 There will be another day!

 thanks for reading 

- Lizzi 

Winning with the Alekhine (Played at FICS 10.02.2020)

 
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. exd6 exd6 7. Be2 Bf5 8.
O-O Be7 9. a3 Bf6 10. b4 O-O 11. Nc3 Qd7 12. Be3 a5 13. b5 Na7 14. a4 Rad8
15. Qb3 Nac8 16. Rad1 Ne7 17. c5 Nbc8 18. b6 cxb6 19. Bb5 Qc7 20. Bf4 bxc5
21. dxc5 Qxc5 22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. Rxd5 Be6 24. Rxc5 Bxb3 25. Rc7 Bd5 26. Nd2 Ne7
27. Nc4 Ng6 28. Bxd6 Bxc4 29. Bxf8 Bxf1 30. Bxf1 Nxf8 31. Rxb7 Rd7 32. Rb5
Bc3 33. g3 g6 34. Kg2 Rd2 35. h4 Bd4 36. Bc4 Rxf2+ 37. Kh3 Bc3 38. Rb7 Bb4
39. Bd5 Ne6 40. Re7 Bxe7 {SlowDave resigns} 0-1

 Good game, good win, I guess.  But, my opponent blunder his knight on move 28.  I mostly study my Alekhine games to get a better understanding of The Alekhine Defense and how to play it.  I've only played this defense one time in a USCF tournament and it was recently.  That game ended in a draw.

 Note:  Bobby Fischer played the Alekhine Defense on more than one occasion during the 1972 WCC against Spassky

 There will be another tomorrow!

- Lizzi  

A Tough Game I Played on FICS (draw)

[Event "rated standard match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2014.07.28"] [Round "?"] [White "zhujun"] [Black "TERLIZZZI"] [Result "*"] [WhiteElo "1872"] [BlackElo "1776"] [ECO "E91"] [TimeControl "900%2B3"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 a6 7. O-O Nbd7 8. b4 Re8 9. Bb2 e5 10. d5 a5 11. a3 axb4 12. axb4 Rxa1 13. Qxa1 b6 14. Nb5 Nxe4 15. Qa7 Nxf2 16. Rxf2 e4 17. Bxg7 exf3 18. Bxf3 Kxg7 19. Qxc7 Qxc7 20. Nxc7 Re1 21. Rf1 Rxf1 22. Kxf1 Ne5 23. Be2 Bg4 24. Bxg4 Nxg4 25. Nb5 Ne3 26. Kf2 Nxc4 27. Ke2 Kf6 28. Kd3 Ne5 29. Kd4 Ke7 30. h3 f5 31. Nc7 g5 32. Na8 Nd7 33. Nc7 h5 34. Ne6 Kf6 35. Nc7 Ke7 36. Ne6 g4 37. Ng7 gxh3 38. gxh3 Kf6 39. Nxh5 Kg5 40. Ng3 f4 41. Ne4 Kh4 42. Nxd6 Kxh3 43. Ne4 f3 44. Ke3 Kg2 45. Nd2 f2 46. Ke2 Ne5 47. d6 b5 48. Nf1 Kg1 49. Nd2 Kg2 50. Nf1 *'/>

Update 7.12.14

My next tournament is probably going to be the Southern Illinois Summer Open in my hometown on August 16. I, at least, hope to win 2 games out of 3 which should be enough to push into the next rating Class (Class B). Other than that there isn't a whole lot that's new. I'm studying daily on Chess(dot)com. I use it's tactics trainer and it's a really good tool for keeping my game sharp. I go over about 20 - 30 puzzles every day. I also watch a few instructive chess videos on YouTube and I try to play about 2-3 games/week online (I use the Free Internet Chess server available at http://www.freechess.org). And I really have no idea when my next BIG tournament is going to be - maybe in St. Louis. Maybe not. Who knows. I've actually been fairly busy the past few weeks. Stay posted for more updates.