22 Jan 2013: in which the Pirate gets blitzed !

CHESS CLUB had an unusual Tuesday session due to the Chess Pirate's piratical travel plans later in the week.

Having at long last successfully defended The Shiny against a malarial Gabridoodle, the Pirate's winning streak came to an end today.  Incredibly, this happened when the Gabridoodle won the tie-breaking blitz game and despite the fact that he'd inhaled cleaning chemical fumes before arriving and was then treated to a hefty dose of the Pirate's sparkly              -themed nail polish.

In CLUB business, the idea of affiliation with the USCF was briefly discussed.  It was decided that we might join if it is free or if the cost is very small.  However, it was also agreed that the USCF and its members probably wouldn't like Salem CHESS CLUB very much.  Subsequent research reveals that affiliation costs $40 per year, a figure no doubt far too steep for the CLUB.

In other CLUB business, there was talk of organizing a large chess jamboree in the near future.  Stay tuned !

Game 1: Chess Pirate - Gabridoodle, ½-½
Time control: 10 minutes each

Despite on-going malaria issues and the aforementioned huffing, the Gabridoodle was in better form, successfully parrying the Chess Pirate's aggressive early thrusts.  At move 10, the Pirate committed a flagrant touch-move rule violation -- but hey, this is a "friendly" game !  Her frustration showed again on the next move, when she castled using a shiv !  At move 17, after the Pirate made a routine recapture, the Gabridoodle said, "That doesn't intimidate me !"  The Pirate's response was, "Then I'm not doing it right !"  Awhile later, a confounding pawn move made by the Gabridoodle brought forth this gem from the Chess Pirate: "I need to move my queen away from your stupid Bishop.  Stupid bishop !"  The game continued with neither player achieving a decisive edge.  At move 56, well beyond the point where the game became drawish, the Pirate demanded, "Take it !  Don't waste my time !"  This marathon finally ended with stalemate after move 64.  As shown in the diagram, there wasn't much left on the board.

Game 2: Gabridoodle - Chess Pirate, 1-0
Time control: 10 minutes each

While the Gabridoodle played somewhat less briskly than usual in game one, he came alive for the tie-breaking blitz game.  Normally, the ever-impulsive Pirate has the edge when time runs short, but today was a different story.  The Pirate blundered away her queen in the early going and the Gabridoodle's queen was then able to rampage and methodically gobble up material.  Eventually, he checkmated the Pirate with about 2 minutes to spare on his clock.