Food and drinks

I switch on the computer. A few moments later I am playing blitz on Playches with a long expired account (sorry for the players willing to chat because I don't want to pay for that). Almost every 5 minutes I get another opponent. German, Spanish, French, American, Russian ,.... are the nationalities of my opponents. After some time I log off and I quickly review the most interesting games with an engine. The web-server automatically saves all the played games in a personal database on my PC which I can consult with a few clicks afterwards.

This is how I regularly have fun while at the same time also practice my chess. What a big difference with the 90-ties when one was obliged to go to a chessclub to play blitz. In my student-years I often played blitz on Friday-evenings in the KGSRL. I looked around in the club and challenged the strongest player(s). At that time quite some strong players hang around: Schalkx, Abolianin, Deleyn, Goormachtigh, Van der Stricht,... All players of 2300 elo or more and also capable to put up a serious fight in blitz as many (all?) names pop up in the hall of fame of the disappeared 24 hours blitz-tournament the Kameleon.

In the first encounters I got beaten up and had to be happy when scoring an occasional point. Now I am not the person to give up easily. At home I checked the systems of my opponents with my very first PC and slowly the tide turned. After some time I surely was a match for the strongest players. During playing blitz a lot of alcohol was consumed by most of the players so regularly those blitz-evenings transformed in exuberant parties till the early morning hours. I remember a lovely anecdote.

Very late in the evening Geert Van der Stricht arrived in the club when there was already a lot of ambiance. Geert wanted to play a few games so we organized a small blitz all-round tournament with 4 players. Last place would mean that you had to treat the others some drink. Easy free drink must have thought Geert as he was the only one still sober but it went pretty differently. In our mutual game my hyper-aggression was initially well thwarted as I was quickly 3 pawns down. However with the missing pawns also a lot of tactics were popping up in the position. Geert missed something and suddenly was mated spectacularly. Schalkx managed to trick him in a similar fashion so the final round wasn't important anymore and Geert had very reluctantly to treat us drinks.

Afterwards I started to believe that maybe it is good to consume some alcohol (moderately of course) for some blitz-games. I experimented with this in the also disappeared international blitz-tournament of Blankenberge. In the middle of the tournament i had 1,5 points more than my closest pursuers but after having some beers in the break, I still managed to not win the tournament. I still got the winning positions with the hyper-aggressive chess but the finishing touch was lacking. The crucial last round of that tournament can be replayed below which I afterwards published as a curiosity on 1 of the very first forums.

[Event "Int. blitztornooi Blankenberge"] [Date "1999 ?"] [White "Brabo"] [Black "Leenhouts, K."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C11"] [PlyCount "52"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bc5 9. Qd2 a6 10. O-O-O O-O 11. h4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 13. Bxc5 Nxc5 14. Qd4 Qc7 15. f5 b4 16. f6 {(Nonsense but in blitz not harmless.)} bxc3 17. Qg4 cxb2 18. Kb1 g6 19. Qg5 Kh8 20. h5 Rg8 21. Bd3 Rb8 $4 {(However this is too slow as now white has a beautiful win.)} 22. Qh6 Nxd3 23. Rxd3 {(I miss the nice win and hereby also the tournament-victory.)} (23. hxg6 fxg6 24. Qxh7 Qxh7 25. Rxh7 Kxh7 26. Rh1#) 23... g5 24. Re3 Bd7 25. Rhh3 Ba4 26. Re2 Bxc2 0-1

So we can state that it is dubious if drinking a bit alcohol is favorable for playing good blitz. I did however in the past regularly drink 1 beer before an official game to become more relaxed. In my article the sadistic exam I earlier already recorded that I have often quite some stress and alcohol helps to calm down. Today I normally try to avoid alcohol during a tournament. I can more easily relativize which decreases the stress and I also feel quicker the negative effects of alcohol compared with 20 years ago when I was still a student. Alcohol quicker tires, it makes the calculations slower and it also influences the much needed night's rest + important game-preparations. In a foreign tournament in which one is often isolated, the temptation is big as beer and/or wine lover but Strong Jan managed to stoically concentrate on the chess, see schaakfabriek. Also our world-champion Magnus Carlsen considers alcohol even a day before a game completely irresponsible, see the guardian.

Not drinking any alcohol doesn't mean drinking nothing at all. Surely when games last more than 3 hours, it is very important to drink. It is something which I dare sometimes to neglect if I only have an eye for the position. Terrible headache after a game is something which I experienced already a few times even in such a degree that I was forced to take a painkiller like 'dafalgan'. Bringing a bottle of water to the tournament-hall is surely not redundant but some organizers don't permit this.

Also paying attention to nutrition becomes more and more important when becoming older. I sometimes hear teams eating copiously in a restaurant just before an interclub-match but I am pretty sure this influences the results. The concentration fades and also the toilet must be visited more regularly during the game. By the way with the prevailing mistrust to cheating I almost don't dare anymore to go to the toilet. This fear is not completely unfair as recently was proven, see schaaksite. Currently I only eat lightly before a game which does mean that I need to eat when a game lasts long.

An interclub-game can last in Belgium maximally 6 hours so I always take some sandwiches and fruit in case the game drags beyond 18h or 4 hours play. At the beginning some of my team-mates were surprised when I unpacked my food but today I see more and more team-mates following my example as often locally there is little or nothing to buy. Marcel I once gave a sandwich when he was looking very hungry.

For the last round of the interclubs I had a dilemma. The club organized the same evening of the playing-round a feast at which everybody was strongly insisted to participate. Normally I am the first one to subscribe to such parties but I smelled a rat. To bring food myself and eat this at 18h would spoil my appetite. Besides the menu was already fixed and you had to pay in advance so barely eating anything would be really pity. Finally the party would start already at 18h so what if you as only player had to continue till 20h. In the end I let myself persuade to participate and hoped for the best but it went of course very wrong.

[Event "Interclub Deurne - KGSRL"] [Date "2014"] [White "Brabo"] [Black "Michiels, B."] [Result "*"] [ECO "C11"] [WhiteElo "2336"] [BlackElo "2510"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "4q2k/pp4pp/2bQ4/2P2p2/5N2/8/PPP3PK/8 w - - 0 31"] [PlyCount "23"] 31. Ne6 {(Here I had interrupted my article "The Modern French deel 2". At home I had checked this position for a few minutes with an engine and concluded that a draw was inevitable but black still needed some accuracy.)} h6 32. Qe5 {(I want to force the draw to be in time for the dinner which started at 18h. There is nothing wrong with it but does show that I was not thinking anymore of winning.)} Qf7 33. Qb8 Qe8 $4 {(Kh7 would immediately draw but black as fresh grandmaster of course wants to win, forces the position and hereby commits a big blunder.)} 34. Qe5 $4 {(I repeat the moves which fully matches my urge to draw but this misses a unique chance.)} (34. Qxe8 Bxe8 35. Nd8 Bc6 {(Relinquishing the pawn with Kg8 is a better practical try but objectively it is also a lost endgame.)} 36. Nxc6 bxc6 37. b4 a6 38. c4 Kg8 39. b5 axb5 40. cxb5 cxb5 41. c6 Kf7 42. c7 $18) 34... Qf7 35. Qb8 Qg8 36. Nf8 {(Naturally I had seen Qd6 or Qe5 and I do not risk anything but I want a draw now.)} Qd5 37. Ng6 Kh7 38. Nf8 Kg8 39. Ng6 {(I knew there existed a repetition with Nd7 as I had seen this during my preparation but with the ticking clock I did not manage to calculate all the variations. With the threatening mate on g2 in the end I did not dare to play the move and chose for a different solution.)} (39. Nd7 Kf7 40. Qf8 Kg6 41. Qe8 Kg5 (41... Kh7 42. Nf8 Kh8 43. Ng6 Kh7 44. Nf8 Kg8 45. Nd7 Kh7 46. Nf8 $11) 42. Qe7 Kh5 ( 42... Kf4 43. Qh4 Ke3 44. Qe1 Kd4 45. Qc3 Ke4 46. Qf3 Kd4 47. Qd3# {(A lovely variation only discovered after the game.)}) 43. Qe2 Kh4 44. Qe1 Kh5 45. Qe2 Kh4 $11 ) 39... Kf7 40. Ne5 Kf6 41. Nxc6 bxc6 42. Qxa7 {(Because I do not see how to force a draw, I take as an advanced payment the pawn. As the Belgain IM Geert Van der Stricht correctly remarked, only black can still win in this position. Black can at any moment force the draw while white needs to be accurate to achieve the draw. I was very angry on myself because at home I already found out that I certainly did not want to play this type of position.)} (42. Qf8 {(Less materialistic and probably a bit more practical than the chosen continuation.)} Kg6 (42... Qf7 43. Qxf7 Kxf7 44. b4 Ke6 45. c4 g5 46. b5 Kd7 47. Kg3 h5 48. Kf3 $11 ) 43. Qe8 Kh7 44. b4 Qc4 45. Qxc6 Qh4 46. Kg1 Qxb4 47. Qd6 Qb1 48. Kh2 Qxc2 49. c6 $11 {(De c-pion obliges black to give a perpetual check.}) *

The position evaluated at home as equal, to stumble after playing for a win in our previous mutual game, the fresh grandmaster-title for Bart, lacking any food, the starting festivities,... will surely all have played a role in my behavior of forcing at all costs the draw. A draw was of course much easier to achieve without haste. That young players make such mistake is easier to understand as recently happened in the open championship of Asia.

[Event "13th Asian Continental 2014"] [Site "Sharjah UAE"] [Date "2014.04.22"] [Round "6.8"] [White "Sasikiran, K."] [Black "Debashis, D."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E10"] [WhiteElo "2680"] [BlackElo "2504"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/p7/1p3k2/6r1/3pB2R/1P3KP1/P2b4/8 b - - 0 45"] [PlyCount "36"] {(The position is fully balanced. Quietly waiting and the draw will be a fact but black wants the draw immediately. He takes a risk which he will quickly regret.)} 45... Rxg3 46. Kxg3 Be1 47. Kg4 Bxh4 48. Kxh4 Ke5 49. Bg6 Kf4 50. b4 Ke3 51. b5 d3 52. Kg3 d2 53. Bh5 Kd3 $4 {(The decisive mistake.)} (53... Kd4 $1 54. Kf4 Kc5 55. Be2 d1=Q 56. Bxd1 Kxb5 57. Ke5 Kc5 $11) 54. Kf4 Kc4 (54... Kc2 55.Ke5 d1=Q 56. Bxd1 Kxd1 57.Kd6 Kc2 58.Kc7 Kc3 59.Kb7 Kb4 60.Ka6 Ka4 61.a3 {(Maybe black missed this while playing Kd3.)})55. Be2 {(This wins an extra tempo to let the king approach which defines the difference between win or draw.)} Kb4 56. Ke3 d1=Q 57. a3 Kc5 58. Bxd1 Kxb5 59. Kd4 {(Black runs out of moves.)} Kc6 60. a4 Kc7 61. Kd5 Kb7 62. Be2 Kc7 63. Bb5 1-0

Again an easy avoidable defeat  in which the less experienced player was too eager to draw.

Finally I want to share that I was in the end also the only player having to continue playing till almost 8h. That is not a big surprise as with my average of almost 53 moves per game, I was also by far the most active player. This is fully aligned with my article sofia rules. When I eventually went to the dinner my team-mates already finished and left home. In the French interclub we also had regularly dinners but we always waited till the last player finished with his game. Some members of the board realized that the situation was not correct and sacrificed themselves so I did not have to eat alone which I very much appreciate but I will anyway make some conclusions for the future.

At home I also got support from my wife, cheering me up by telling that I have again a special story for my blog. Yes if you look at it in that way then every disadvantage has an advantage.

Brabo