". . . little shall I grace my cause

In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver . . ."

(William Shakespeare's Othello, I.iii.88-90)

Friday, November 14, 2008

Down to the Wire

It is almost 1:00 a.m. Ohio time. Trevor's game finished about 15 minutes ago, with 35 seconds left on his clock and about 25 minutes left on GM Shabalov's. It was one of the last three games to wrap up tonight.

Trevor resigned. He said Shabalov was about to "queen" a pawn and he--Trevor--would have been at an extreme disadvantage, with very little time remaining on his clock. The players shook hands and proceeded to do a little post-game analysis before everyone headed to bed.

So to be clear: tonight my son, age 16, rating 2164, started 30 minutes down on time against Alexander Shabalov, GM, rating 2632. After 5-1/2 hours of play, Trevor was down 25 minutes on time after holding his own in material and position for longer than almost anyone would have expected. Trevor was not disappointed in the outcome. Well, not much. :-) This was his first time to be paired with a Grandmaster in tournament play--an honor in itself, not to mention a singular learning experience. And to have performed so well and provided his opponent such a high level of play is something he can feel very good about. Mr. Shabalov did not have this win handed to him; he earned it.

Trevor, you rock--as Dad would say--"crazy style." Now if only your mother could acquire even the tiniest sense of direction . . .

2 comments:

Rev. Rick Stuckwisch said...

Kudos to Trevor for holding his own and doing himself and his family proud. Well done! That really is a cool experience.

And look at it this way: Thirty minutes late doesn't sound nearly so bad, in comparison to a 5-1/2 hour game. Half an hour late to a ten minute round of checkers, now that would have been disasterous ;-)

Elephantschild said...

WOW! Good show, Trevor.