The Only Chess I Get

My only chess fix these days is 1-minute bullet on the Internet Chess Club. Twenty games or so per night is about enough. You play so many of these that chances are some unsuspecting IM will fall flat at your mercy. And that's exactly what happened to this guy (whose name I've anonymised).

Well, OK, it's only bullet, but his normal blitz rating is 2600+ and I beat him twice in a row!

ICC 1 0
Internet Chess Club
(My Opponent)
The Closet Grandmaster
B13

1. e3 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. exd4 d5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. c3 e6 7. Nbd2 Bd6 8. h3 Bh5 9. Nf1 Nf6 10. Ng3 Bg6 11. O-O Qc7 12. Ne2 O-O-O 13. b4 Ne4 14. a4 Ne7 15. Be3 Kb8 16. a5 Nxc3 17. Nxc3 Qxc3 18. Bxg6 hxg6 19. b5 Nf5 20. Re1 Rc8 21. a6 b6 22. Rc1 Nxe3 23. fxe3 Qb4 24. Qd3 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 Rc8 26. Rxc8+ Kxc8 27. Qc2+ Kd8 28. Qc6 Qb1+ 29. Kf2 Qb2+ 30. Kf1 Qa1+ 31. Ke2 Qa2+ 32. Nd2 Qa3 {White forfeits on time} 0-1

Hopefully it won't be long before I finally get back to some over-the-board action. A Tokyo-based reader informs me that a new chess club will open very near to where I live! Thank Caissa for that.

If there's something I truly miss, it is the dance of pieces all about the board and punctuated by the slamming of clocks. I miss the feel and the sounds of it all.

Actually, there's supposed to be a tournament tomorrow. But I'm off to some festival, instead, where the Yakuza apparently show their tattoos. I plan to photograph them. If you guys don't hear from me again, you'll know why.