STL $5 Satellite (Round 3)

 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bb4+ 5. c3 dxc3 6. bxc3 Be7 7. Qd5 d6 8.
Qxf7+ * 1 - 0

STL $5 Satellite (Round 2)

 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. d3 a6 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8. f5
Qc7 9. O-O g6 10. Qe2 Ng4 11. h3 Ne5 12. Nxe5 dxe5 13. Qf2 gxf5 14. Qxf5 e6 15.
Qh5 c4 16. Be3 b5 17. Rf6 cxd3 18. cxd3 b4 19. Ne2 Qe7 20. Raf1 O-O-O 21. Qxf7
Qxf7 22. Rxf7 Bb5 23. Ba7 Bd7 24. Bb6 Re8 25. Rc1+ Kb7 26. Ba5 * 1 - 0

STL $5 Satellite (Round 1)

 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. exd6 cxd6 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bxd7+ Qxd7 7. Nf3 Nc6
8. O-O g6 9. Ng5 Qf5 10. c4 Nb6 11. Na3 Qd7 12. Qf3 Nd8 13. c5 Nc8 14. Nc4 Bg7
15. cxd6 Nxd6 16. Ne5 Qf5 17. Qb3 Bxe5 18. dxe5 Qxe5 19. Bd2 Qf5 20. Rac1 Ne4
21. Qa4+ Nc6 22. Nxe4 O-O 23. Ng3 Qd5 24. Bc3 Qg5 25. Rfe1 Rfe8 26. h4 Qd5 27.
Qf4 e5 28. Qh6 Ne7 29. Rxe5 Qd6 30. Rd5 *1-0

MegaMind Championship 10.16.2021 (Round 3, Win as Black)

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Bd3 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3
Nbd7 9. c3 Re8 10. Re1 e5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Rd1 Qe7 15.
Nd2 e4 16. Bxe4 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Qxe4 18. Qxe4 Rxe4 *

And I finally win a game.  I requested a half-point-bye for the 4th and final round and left for home in not a very good mood.  We shall go on.

All three of my opponents were very young kids rated at the beginner level.  I'm a bit rusty to say the least.

- Lizzi

MegaMind Championship 10.16.2021 (Round 2, Loss as White)

 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nxd4 5. Qxd4 d6 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8.
Nc3 O-O 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. Qxd5 c6 11. Qh5 g6 12. Qh6 Bf6 13. Qe3 c5 14. Bc4 Bd4
15. Qf3 Be5 16. Bh6 Qh4 17. g3 Qxh6 18. Qb3 Bh3 19. Rfe1 Bg4 *

I blundered my dark-squared Bishop on move 16. and it was all over from there.

- Lizzi

MegaMind Championship 10.16.2021 (Round 1, Loss as Black)

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. Nf3 e6 5. e3 g5 6. Bg3 h5 7. h3 Nxg3 8. fxg3
Bd6 9. Ne5 Bxe5 10. dxe5 c5 11. Nc3 a6 12. g4 h4 13. Qf3 Nd7 14. O-O-O Nxe5 15.
Qf2 b5 16. Ne2 Bb7 17. e4 Qa5 18. Kb1 Nd7 19. exd5 Bxd5 20. Nc3 O-O-O 21. Nxd5
exd5 22. Qxf7 d4 23. Bd3 Rhe8 24. Bf5 Qc7 25. Rhe1 Rxe1 26. Rxe1 c4 27. Re8 Rxe8
28. Qxe8+ Qd8 29. Bxd7+ Kc7 30. Qxd8+ Kxd8 *

I forgot how to play the Trompowsky and immediately overlooked the standard reply of 3.Bf4 with ...c5 instead of ...d5 !!  

I let my opponent get after my King.  I blundered a piece.  I lost.  The kid was rated around 1000 ELO

This is what happens when you go long periods of time without playing, my friends!

- Lizzi

Upcoming Tournament

 I'm going to play in the Megamind G/30 USCF rated chess tournament this weekend on Saturday, 10.16.2021.  It will be my first chess tournament in well over a half a year.  I did this strictly out of boredom.  But, who knows what may come out of it?  Maybe, I'll make some new friends or meet a girl.  IDK.  Or maybe I'll even win all three rounds and get first place (this has happened before).

This tournament is at the Saint Louis Chess Club.  It is their first standard rated Over-The- Board tournament since all this Corona shit started.  Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.  It's a 36-player tournament, I'll upload my games here at my blog.

I took lessons from the Iranian Chess Queen - Derakshani.  She's younger than my step-sister and is already an International Master.  She gave me some good general tips for guidance.  One thing she told me that really hit me, "I don't think chess players ever really quit playing chess".  Amen!  We all go long periods of time without playing but almost always come back to the game!  

Wish me luck!

I Lost !!!

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2021.10.07"]
[Round "?"]
[White "cterlizzi"]
[Black "kamenozrout"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1853E"]
[BlackElo "2121"]
[ECO "C44"]
[TimeControl "900"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. c3 Nf6 6. e5 d5 7. exf6 dxc4 8.
fxg7 Rg8 9. Qe2+ Be6 10. Ng5 d3 11. Qe4 Qd5 12. Qxd5 Bxd5 13. Nxh7 O-O-O 14.
Nf6 Rxg7 15. Nxd5 Rxd5 16. Bf4 Rxg2 17. Bg3 Ne5 18. Nd2 f6 19. Rd1 Ng4 20.
Ne4 Rf5 21. Nxc5 Nxf2 22. Bxf2 Rfxf2 23. Rb1 Re2+ 24. Kd1 Rd2+ 25. Ke1 Rxb2
26. Rxb2 Rxb2 27. Rf1 b6 28. Na6 Re2+ 29. Kd1 Rxa2 30. Rxf6 Rxa6 31. h4 Ra1+
32. Kd2 Ra2+ 33. Kd1 Rh2 34. Rf4 b5 35. Rd4 Rc2 36. h5 Rxc3 37. h6 Ra3 38. h7
Ra1+ 39. Kd2 Rh1 {cterlizzi resigns} 0-1

I had several winning chances here...

it's been fun...

 

My First Game in a LOOOONG Time

 

If I Was Given $20,000...

You hear people ask the question, if someone gave you a million dollars what would you do with it?  The idea is, as we all know, that what you would do with a million dollars is what you should be doing for a living.  This question is asked to find out what you should do with your life.  If you would travel if given a million dollars, then you should travel for a living, like..be a truck driver or flight attendent.  Or, you'll hear people ask, if you were given $1,000 what would you do with it?  The idea of this is to figure out the best way to maximize and manage what money you do get.  But, I have been thinking.. if I was given $20,000 what would I do with it.  I mean, who knows, maybe I can win 20 large at the casino.  But, if I got 20 large, I'll tell you what I wouldn't do.  I wouldn't buy a new car.  New cars tend to turn in to pieces of junk 5- 10 years later, and you end up being left with next to nothing.  

If I was given $20,000 I would spend about $2,200 - $3,000 on some flashy clothes and a little bit of gold jewelry.  I'm a bit of a dapper (sort of).  I would spend close to that much to pay off some debt that I owe.  Now, I have about $15,000.  With that, I could buy residency in Thailand.  But, I'm not sure that's what I would do with it... maybe, but probably not.  I would probably then put around $10,000 in my brokerage account and invest in some REITs to get a few hundred dollars in returns every so-often.  Half of what is left would be spent on some computer hardware and software and the other half (about $2,000 - $3,000) would sit in my bank account for emergency funds.  

If I had $20,000 ...I imagine that's what I would do with it.  

I got my Cultured Monk Media business cards yesterday that I ordered from VistaPrint.  Groovy!

- Lizzi 

 

My Amazon Kindle Chess Book

Yes, I uploaded my first ebook that is about chess. Here is the link to my Kindle book - "What You Need to Know Before Your First Chess Tournament".  Please read, rate and review!  All of my Kindle books are available for purchase for $1.75 regardless of the length in page numbers with the exception of my (short) memoir which you can buy for 99 cents.  

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and it looks like this saying can now apply to my official chess career.  I don't believe I will play in any more tournaments.  I streamed a video on Twitch.TV about why I'm giving up the game.  Essentially, it all comes down to focusing.  Unless you are an elite chess professional, there's just no money in the game.  Chess has been good to me, I'll still play and broadcast online games from time to time and I willl still keep up the posts here at this blog.

Don't forget to check out all of my web presence through the links at the footer of this blog - "Terlizzi:  Life & Games".  'till next time, friends!

- Lizzi

I Gave In To Consumerism

I got my check from work last Friday. I went out to the mall and Best Buy and bought a bunch of stuff that I don't need. *Sigh* How foolish! I gave in to the American way of consumerism. I learned that the temporary high of buying a ton of stuff I don't need quickly wears off and you are left with a vapid and dull aftertaste. I bought an iPhone 12 with unlimited data, HBO Max, and I also bought some shoes and more stuff for my computer. I didn't need any of it, of course. In my head, however, I had a justification for everything I was buying. What am I to do if I'm not going out buying things I don't need? Isn't that what living is? This is what we have been indoctrinated to believe at a very young age here in America! Well, there are plenty of things I could have done. I have a lot of books here in my apartment that I've always meant to get around to read. Instead, I thought of more books to buy on Amazon. Or, I could have spent that money to pay off part of the loan I took out from my bank a cuople weeks ago! Oh well, lesson learned. I've revised to do better. I won't buy with my next work check those new Ray Ban sunglasses I looked at on Amazon.com. I won't buy more clothing from VANS. I won't go back to the mall for a while.