I'm going to try something different for the Chess Club newsletter. I don't claim to be a great chess player or a great annotator. What I'm going to do is share my thinking process during a game for laughs or for study, whatever gets your attention. We all think and play chess differently. If we didn't, no one would win a game!

Well, here goes on my game against Ed Terwilliger in a 3M League matchup in 1990. [Ed and I were both 1800 USCF rated players at the time of this game.] I finally get to play White in this tournament. Ed studies up on me, and he thinks I'm going to play the English Opening with 1.c4. So I'l1 [surprise] him by playing something unexpected.....

I like positional or strategic chess better than slam-bang wide open tactics, so I won't play 1. e4, which leads into 15 million book lines 20 or 30 moves deep in the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defense! My first move along with others like 1.Nf3 or 1.c4 or l.d4 transposes most of the time into middle games to my liking.

He wasted time thinking about that on his first move! He's floundering already. Heh! Heh!

Hmm...Ed's not going to be aggressive. Well I can play that way too.

I'll let Ed think I'm wimpy, but this clears e2 for my KN to develop and prepare for the push d4 in the center at the right moment.

What kind of a move is that? Now he's got to move his N again so he can get his KB out. Waste of time.

Develops my N, prepares d4 and gets my K ready to castle into safety. What a great move!

Hey! Not bad. He's starting to play good chess. So he's going to develop his bishop to g7. This could put a crimp on my Q-side development. I better keep an eye on my QR so it doesn't get attacked by his B.

He didn't play d5 which would have slowed my Qside development. OK. I'll grab the center.

Look at Ed's QB. It's totally blocked in and useless. I like it!

Challenging the center. Fits my plan. I was going to play b3 anyway, so I could develop my B to b2.

So, he's trying to open lines for his pieces...develop his QB after e5. Smart chess.

Hey. His position is starting to look pretty good. But his QB is still backward.

I don't feel too good about this move. Now my QP is frozen because of Bxb2. Maybe I can develop my Q to c2 or b3 and protect the B.

What kind of a move is that?? He must be getting ready to push to b5. Well, I'll stop that!

Well, I have to stop Nb4, but now I wasted a move (tempo) here by moving my B twice to get it to a3.

I should've played Bxb4 right away instead of trying to win a pawn later. My rook sure looks exposed right now. My QP is frozen again.

What a mess now because I didn't play Bxb4 right away. I can't take dxc5 because I lose my QR, and I can't play Bxb4 now because Ed gets a passed, protected b-pawn then. Phewy.

Well, now my QR is covered up again, and I'm threatening dxc5 now.

Ed thinks he wins a P here, but I get it back a few moves later, with a tactical salvo on his Q. He should have played b6 here making room for his B on b7 to oppose my good KB.

Now my WB looks pretty powerful on the long g2 diagonal, so Ed is going to neutralize by putting his B on c6. Ed's bishop finally comes alive in the game.

I was hoping Ed would play Bxb5 so I could play Rxb5 attacking his b7 pawn with both my R and my B. No such luck. But, now my N is as well posted as it probably can be in this position.

I've got nothing better here than to double up on the b-file to try and win Ed's b7 pawn. I can't play Bxc6 because after bxc6 my N is pinned (moving it would lose my R on b4). But now with my rooks doubled I do threaten Bxc6 gaining a passed QR pawn.

Nuts! Ed must have seen all of this. (Later Ed told me he really didn't see during the game that my N was pinned until I got my rooks doubled up.

What a crummy place for the N. But, I can't centralize it with Nd6 because Ed would chase it with his Be5. I'm trying to be sneaky here with Na3 hoping Ed won't see my threat of pawn to a5. His pawn is pinned, otherwise I win his R. But now Ed gets his way and can play Bd4!

I've got to get my N off the lousy edge of the board and give it more scope in the middle. I can do this and at the same time attack Ed's B with Nc2.

Well, Ed has consolidated very nicely on the Q-side. He's been quite resourceful lately in this game.

I can still try for a5 since his P on b6 is still pinned.

Phooey. Now my pawn push threat is gone.

I might as well push it anyway, and get a passed c-pawn, Maybe that will be enough to equalize Ed's strong B against my poorly placed N.

Well, the game looks pretty even now, with a slight position advantage to Ed. But I have a passed pawn that he will have to pay attention to. Wait a minute here! My clock says I'm behind Ed by 7 or 8 minutes, and there's only about 15 minutes left to finish this game before my flag falls!! I better speed up my moves here and catch up on time. I don't want to be way behind when there is only 5 minutes left to play the game. Lousy time controls! They'll do you in every time!

I better protect that passed pawn as much as I can.

What's this? Ed should be moving his K over to the a-side where the passed pawn is, and where the action is likely to be. Where does he think he's going?

I have to get as many of my pawns onto white squares as possible, so his bishop has no targets!

Nuts! He figured out where his K needs to go.

I would sure like to go to a7 with my R so I can keep Ed's K on the back rank, but his crummy, good B is covering the a7 square.

What's this? Did Ed goof up? I can win his f-pawn with check on a7! Go for it!!

Oh Garbage! I forgot his B has that square covered. That'll teach me to play hastily without thinking, even if I am in time trouble.

Boy! That really ticks me off! I lose at least a drawn game because I'm in time trouble! There's no justice! I played good, hard chess for two solid hours, and I throw the whole thing away on one lousy, stinky move!! The clock really is a factor in today's chess.