Next To Last Mistake

End of June post, just made it :) Next post will be in late July. I am trying to put together a lesson plan for a chess camp for scholastic players, and I will be gone on a trip in early July, ending with playing in the Columbus (Ohio) Open.

I finished a video of a game from the Rochester Grand Summer Open. The title is from Tartakover's saying,  "The winner of the game is the player who makes the next to last mistake." Here is the game in a replayer.

Rochester Summer Open 2011 results

I am a little in shock. The field was very strong, and I scored 3.5 out of 5, including a win and a draw against experts for a class A norm. I made a really stupid blunder early against IM Sean Nagel, so I missed a great chance for an educational game.


All four of my positive results had some element of time pressure on my opponent, I did much better at controlling my time. My practice with the move method may be working. Though I seem to have reached a plateau on chesstempo.com in the low 1800s the tactics practice may be helping, too.


My endgame seems a little stronger.


I will be on vacation for a while. I expect to play in the Columbus Open (Ohio) in early July. I may get one video made before the end of June, otherwise, stop in in mid-July for updates.

What's a pawn got to do with it.

I have made a new video with a topic of opening gambits/pawn sacrifices/losses, perhaps all unintentional.

It covers two game openings and a whole game. It is 50 mins long.