Getting Creamed

I went over to my in-law's place.

Father-in-law (henceforth nicknamed as FIL) promptly brought out his chess set and we started playing.... and consequently got creamed.... TWICE (no prizes for guessing who got the short end of the stick). The final board layouts were too embarassing to be shown here....

Essentially, I started out fine and midway through the middle game, I lost a minor piece (goodbye, my beloved Knight) and it was pretty much downhill from there on.

The second game was better, not much better but better. In my eagerness to take a rook, I lost my king.... have you ever seen a grown man, wide eyed open with two hands on the cheeks, mouth agape and shaking head at the same time? Think of Edvard Munch painting's The Scream... (see insert) yup, that's me.

So I borrowed a book from the local library called: Starting Out: The Sicilian by Emms.

That's it.... the Sicilian (otherwise known as the Italian Opening) - the favourite opening espoused by ex world champion Garry Kasparov.

Hey, I should be able to play better now once I've digested this, shouldn't I?