Sunday, August 11, 2019

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once about 5am and woke/got up at 7:40.  Yikes!  I’ve got to be across town at the stadium in 100 minutes.

I showered, dressed, had a bowl of cereal and left the apt.  I walked down the hill and quickly caught a taxi.  I arrived at the chess league 8 minutes before the start.  I had the Black pieces against a young man rated 1436 and we played a version of the Sicilian defense.  He soon was attacking me and I fought bitterly to fight him off.  In the middle game I got my own attack going and he made a wrong move and I checked his king and picked up his rook.  He resigned on the 48^th move.  Now, I’m 4-3 so at least I’m guaranteed of finishing 50% for the tournament.

It was 11:30 and the next round starts at 1pm so I walked to Tropical restaurant in Obispo mall where I had their menu of the day for 11mil.

I arrived back at the tournament 8 minutes before the start.  I had the White pieces against an unrated young man.  I played the English system and he was soon in trouble.  I attacked his queen again and again and then his king and he resigned on the 40^th move.  So, I finished 5 wins, 3 losses and 1 bye.  With my supposed rating of 1667 I lost to a 1879, 1917 and an unrated.  I won against a 1460, 1436 and 3 unrated players.

Teresa was going to La Ceja with a friend today so I took a taxi to Viva Envigado.  I was hot so I went to Cine Colombia and after sitting in the Juan Valdez area for about 30 minutes I didn’t feel any cooler so I went into the Platinum area.  I was feeling better about 20 minutes later so I went down to Todo Fresa where I had a café con leche and an almond crescent roll.

I returned to the apt and Teresa was napping in the 2^nd bedroom.  She woke up about an hour later and I gave her the good news – I won my last 2 games.  I would recommend we go out to celebrate but we’ve got all those leftover ribs.

With a score of 5-3 it appears the time I spent studying tactics and learning new openings is paying off.  I entered my games into my Stockfish chess database, had it analyze my games for blunders and made notes on my score sheets.  Now, I’ll try to forget about chess for a week or two.  I certainly have other things to do for awhile starting with buying a new cellphone.

Teresa was watching the news and at an aerial exhibition in Medellin today 2 soldiers fell to their deaths.  They were hanging on a rope from a helicopter with a Colombian flag.

Among new US movie releases…

Yikes, I lost the audio on my headphones.  I’m hoping it will be back tomorrow after I boot my computer.

I finished reading John Grisham’s The Whistler on my Nook.

8,789 steps today.

Joke of the day

An old man was eating in a truck stop when three bikers walked in. 

The first walked up to the old man, pushed his cigarette into the old man's pie and then took a seat at the counter.

The second walked up to the old man, spit into the old man's milk and then he took a seat at the counter.

The third walked up to the old man, turned over the old man's plate, and then he took a seat at the counter.

Onlookers were completely shocked at the men's behavior, but the old man didn't seem to be fazed in the slightest.

Without a word of protest, he quietly left the diner. 

Shortly thereafter, one of the bikers said to the waitress, "Humph, not much of a man, was he?" 

The waitress replied, "Not much of a truck driver either. He just backed his truck over three motorcycles."