Senior Open, round 3 report

So far the U.S. Senior Open has gone strictly according to form. We have 52 entrants, and the top four players by rating are GM Larry Christiansen, GM Boris Gulko, IM Joe Bradford, and GM Larry Kaufman. After three rounds, these gentlemen are tied for first with 3-0 score, and they are the only ones at 3-0. Now, however, things will get interesting, as they have to play each other.

Meanwhile, I have a 2-1 score. My games also have gone strictly according to form. I beat a 1500 player, lost to Kaufman, and beat a 1700 player. As you know from my Chess Lecture, I wanted to focus less on results, less on hitting the bull’s-eye and more on just letting the chess happen. Inb the first two rounds I fell far short of this goal. My loss to Kaufman was completely unnecessary. I think I had a defensible position, but I had only 5 minutes left to something like 45 minutes for him. No surprise, I fell into the first available tactical trick. However, I was quite a bit happier with my game this morning. My time management was still not perfect, but it was better. By the time I got under 5 minutes I had already reached a winning queen-and-pawn endgame — a pawn up, and it was difficult for my opponent to avoid being checkmated or allowing a queen trade. He made life easy for me and allowed the checkmate.

Round four starts in about ten minutes.  This is really a key round, as I have a very winnable pairing (White against a 2200 player). However, I will once again strive not to focus on the result, but just on playing good chess. It means a lot to me that I have all of you supporting me — I will keep reminding myself of that at the critical moments of the game.