For my first rated tournament after my accident, I chose to play in the Pasadena Chess Club Championship, February 22 to March 29. To begin with, my play was ragged, but I gradually settled down and after an exciting last round win over Axel Muller (which I have analyzed for the next Rank and File) [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 8:32 pm
Tagged with: chess, Croatia Chess, funding, GM Title, gofundme, Grunfeld, IM Tim Taylor, IM Timothy Taylor, Pasadena Chess Club, Slav, Slav-Grunfeld hybrid, Tim Taylor, Timothy Taylor, Willy Mapacpac, World Senior Chess Championship
A few years ago, I was playing in the World Open in Philadelphia when the lights went out. Well, maybe not all the lights—just three quarters of them. Instantly, the entire ballroom was plunged into near total darkness. To me, “darkness” was the operative word—but to the TD that I rushed over to, “near” was [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 11:43 pm
Tagged with: Albert Lee, Auburn Power Open, Brian Morris, chess, Deflecting sacrifice, Four Pawns Attack, French, IM Tim Taylor, IM Timothy Taylor, King's Indian Defense, Liz Taylor, Queen's Gambit, Ruth Haring, Tim Taylor, Timothy Taylor, Two Knights Defense, Walter Browne
Oct 052012
The San Gabriel Valley Championship at the Pasadena Chess Club concludes this Friday, October 5 with the fifth and final round—but I have already clinched at least a tie for first with my 4-0 run, which is all I will play. I’m taking a last round bye as the final round conflicts with the first [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 6:52 am
Tagged with: chess, English, English Opening, IM Tim Taylor, IM Timothy Taylor, Pasadena Chess Club, Reti Opening, San Gabriel Valley Championship, Smyslov, Tim Taylor, Timothy Taylor, Yusheng Xia
In my book, Pawn Sacrifice!, I note that one of the most difficult types is the “Deflecting Sacrifice” where “a pawn is offered to deflect an enemy piece from the main battle” and I further comment that “I don’t have a quality deflective sacrifice among my games—but I will be looking for my chance!” I’m [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 6:52 pm
Tagged with: chess, deflection, Deflective pawn sacrifice, IM Tim Taylor, IM Timothy Taylor, Karpov, La Palma Chess Club, Pawn Sacrifice, Sicilian, Slay the Sicilian, Tim Taylor, Timothy Taylor, Villanueva
The Western Class tournament in Agoura Hills (March 9-11) is coming up in one week. I’ve won in Agoura before, and I usually do well there—but how to play now in this economic climate? There was a time, not so long ago, when the top 25% could all claim to be “well off” as we [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 11:33 pm
Tagged with: 1%, 99%, chess, Los Angeles Chess, Sponsor, Western Class Championship
The La Palma Chess Club Championship, which was played on Friday nights from October 7 to December 2, ended as a crushing victory for me: I scored 7-0! In Fischer’s day this was hardly unheard of, but now, in the time of arranged draws or what Larsen described as “fear and laziness” draws, it’s rare [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 7:48 am
Tagged with: Alekhine Alert, Alekhine Defense, Barry Lazarus, Bob Hutchinson, Craig Faber, Craig Hilby, IM Tim Taylor, IM Timothy Taylor, Joseph Bellinger, King's Gambit, La Palma Chess Club, Mehldad Miralaie, North American Open, Peter Holzer, Scandinavian Defense, Sicilian Opening, Slay the Sicilian, Tim Taylor, Timothy Taylor, Two Knights Game, Western Class Championship
As the title might indicate, the 12th Metropolitan International (November 9-13) in Los Angeles was not a good tournament. But that is such a vast understatement that it’s necessary to go into details about this event, which was the worst run International Tournament I have ever experienced. Let’s start with the Big Lie, as this [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 6:59 am
Tagged with: 12th Metropolitan International, Ankit Gupta, Arbiter, Budapest First Saturday, chess, Dale Haessel, Harutyn Akopian, IM Andranik Matikozyan, IM Tim Taylor, IM Timothy Taylor, Kayden Troff, Konstantin Kavutskiy, Los Angeles Chess, Metropolitan Chess Club, Michael Cassella, Randy Hough, Tatev Abrahamyan, Tim Taylor, Timothy Taylor, Vadim Kudryavtsev, Zhanibek Amanov
The American Open is coming up, and there’s no way I can play without a sponsor. The EF itself is $200 now. The days are gone where IMs could play for “free” with EFs taken out of prize (at least in SCCF events—the club championship in La Palma where I’m playing now is a happy [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 7:03 am
Tagged with: American Open 2011, Casella, chess, IM Tim Taylor, IM Timothy Taylor, Michael Cassella, Sponsor, Tim Taylor, Timothy Taylor
Or, as Maxwell Smart would say, “Missed by that much!” While I won a typically stylish attacking/sacrificial game against Tatev Abrahamyan (given below) I have only myself to blame for not taking clear first. Had I won my last three games I would have cruised easily to the title, but I let myself down with [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 8:35 pm
Tagged with: CA State Championship, Eugene Yanat, Hikaru Nakamura, IM Tim Taylor, IM Timothy Taylor, Los Angeles Chess, Magnus Carlson, Maxwell Smart, SCCF, SCCF State Championship, Sicilian Najdorf, Tatev Abrahamyan, Tim Taylor, Timothy Taylor
Aug 252011
At the recent Metro FIDE International, I had a conversation with a 1900 player that went about like this. He asked me what he should play against his next opponent, a d4 player, and I said, “Try the Budapest Gambit!” 1900: But it’s bad, right? Me: I wrote a book about it! 1900: But it’s [...]
Posted by ChessQueenLiz at 10:33 pm
Tagged with: Adarsh Jayakumar, Budapest Gambit, IM Tim Taylor, IM Timothy Taylor, Los Angeles Chess, Metro FIDE International, Metropolitan Chess Club, opposite color bishop attack, Tim Taylor, Timothy Taylor
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