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Cover Story / The Struggle


I was burnt out, worn out, and chessed out. I was playing tournaments at an all-time low rate.


out. I was playing tournaments at an all-time low rate, once every few months at absolute most. And even then, I struggled to find motivation. The wall was there, and I’d hit it like a crash test dummy at full speed and found no give. I often thought I’d just quit. If I couldn’t play up to my own standards, what was the point?


THE 61ST IOWA OPEN


That’s the Midwest, I guess, lots of distant (or not so) relations and farm imagery. Truth be told, Alan was closer with my mother and sister than me.


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But I recall a specific Labor Day, maybe 10 years ago, at the old Guebert residence in Delavan, Illinois, a large, white classic American construct complete with a porch and workspace above the garage, when all the males were inside watching NASCAR and their better halves were outside lounging in the early September evening and Alan and I were somewhere in between. And I, a college undergrad, told him about a short story I was trying to work out and write and he, a national


crunches a pita chip. “Just keep going.”


ometime in April this year, Alan Guebert, an old family friend and fantastic columnist, completed a book of memoirs, mainly from his youth, The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey.


columnist with a readership larger than I could understand, listened, gave ideas, encouragement, enthusiasm. It meant a lot, then. It was one of those conversations you just sort


of remember, even if you don’t know specifically why, or attach any great significance to it. This spring, my mother and sister went to his book release. They


brought me back a signed copy of The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey, first edition. Inside were two messages, the first from Alan: “Pete, I did it. Now you, brother.” And the second from his daughter and editor: “The secret is not to stop.”


In 2013, at a three-year low of 2202, after a 73-point rating plunge and the gentle ribbing from McEntee, I wanted to stop.


on d6 and e5, is clear (following well-known positional rules), White should try to preempt that with c2-c4 followed by c4-c5: 16. c4 b4 17. c5!


17. c3 Bxd2 18. Qxd2 Qa5 19. c4?


dark squares after the trade of dark square bishops.


19. ... d6 20. b3 e5?! Not horrible, but since Black always has the


option to play ... e5, it was perhaps best to stay flexible with 20. ... Qc5.


21. Ra2 h6?!


I was two points away from bouncing off my rating floor for the first time ever. The following Monday, when the tourna ment report was released I


received two texts—the first, from my good friend Tim McEntee which read, “2203” and the second from my training partner, Gopal Menon which contained one character: “?” Tim had the boasting rights for the first time in several years. By one


point. Now, August 2015, I drive twenty-some miles east of Louisville to


complete a four-and-a-half-hour Friday night sprint from Bloomington to Shelbyville and am looking out my Holiday Inn Express fourth floor window at the wasteland that is rural Kentucky. I decide to message the tournament organizer, Michael Johnson, “Am I seriously in a dry county?” “I’d ask the hotel,” he responds. “Not everything can be Googled.” “Lies,” I fire back instantly. “Google is omniscient.”


15. ... 0-0 16. Rfe1 Rfd8 17. Bf1 Nf8 18. Qb3 Ng6 19. Rcd1 Nd7 20. Nb1 Nde5 21. Nxe5 Nxe5 22. Nd2 Bf6 23. Ba1 Bc6 24. Qe3 a5 25. Nf3 Nxf3+ 26. Qxf3 Bxa1 27. Rxa1 e5


(see diagram next box, next page)


28. Qe3 Bd7 29. Rac1 Be6 30. Rc3 Qa7 31. Rec1 axb4 32. axb4 Rc6 33. Qd2 Qc7 34. Be2 h6 35. Qe3 Rc8


19. c4 now is a serious positional error which


loses all of White’s advantage. Apart from losing tempo (a2-a4 then c2-c3-c4), there’s more: this move not only leaves White short of valuable pawn breaks which would help target Black’s potential weaknesses, it also makes the d3-bishop a rather sad piece. Black therefore proceeds with the aforementioned plan of putting pawns on


22 March 2016 | Chess Life


22. Bf1? Playing without purpose. Perhaps White recon -


ciled himself to a quiet maneuvering game. (22.


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