Drew game 3 (45 45)

I accepted a draw in round 3(new window). I was up a passed pawn and queens were still on the board but down on my clock against a stronger opponent. I was starting to get nervous and after the game saw that my current plans had fatal flaws. He offered me a draw with 13+ minutes on his clock and I had a little more than 3. I missed a tactic that would have let me get an exchange (26...Rb2). Hopefully we won't forfeit on board 1 and can still win the round.

I won my 4th correspondence game with Matt and started 3 new games with Matt, DutchDefence and DreadPirateJosh. I will probably win my game with Josh. Still trying to figure out how to apply my chess knowledge in less time. I still play blitz on my lunch hour when I don't have anything going on. My blitz rating is going up but it hasn't translated to thinking faster yet.

Update

Forgot to mention that the horrible moves at the end of the game vs sixkiller were due to time shortage.
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I have been pretty busy lately with the holidays and all. I have not been studying my tactical problems as much as I would like but still am spending a fair amount of time on my chess studies. I have also been hanging out some with a new chess buddy, Matthew Bennett. We have been playing some correspondence games and I am undefeated so far 3-0. In shorter games we are about even in wins. I like correspondence because I have all the time in the world to consider tactics and strategy. Amazing how you can still miss things though. If anyone else wants to play some let me know. I played a G45 4 round swiss tournament and lost 3 of my 4 games. I should have won 2 but blundered trying not to get behind in time and got checkmated. I need to learn how to apply my chess knowledge in less time.

In one of the knights tourneys I played CelticDeath (game/new window) I thought I played well till I evaluated my game with Crafty. I had been playing too aggressively and decided to work on playing a safer game. I won a piece early on then missed several mates in 1 trying to regroup my pieces as Silman says you are supposed to do when you gain an advantage. Just goes to show there are no absolute rules in chess.

So far I am 0-2 for this 45 45 tourney. In my first game(new window) vs twinders I played pretty well considering he totally dismantled me the last time we played. I had a drawn position but could not figure out how to get it with the time left on my clock. Roman showed me how to convert a bishop's pawn to a rook pawn to get the draw. In my second game(new window) I played ok, taking too long on a couple moves where it would have been more advantageous to just make a decision. I took a long time deciding on what side to castle and could really have used that time later in the game. I missed a subtle tactical strike also 33... Bxc5.

I have also finished my level 40 problems some time ago but haven't had time to blog about it. I am currently working the level 20 problems a second time and plan to start my 7 circles for real when I finish those.