LESSONS: Pulling a Judkins

Judkins was a guy I played a few times while I was just getting out of college and he was in the midst of it.

It was the 4th round of a local tourney and I seemed to be cruising along comfortably to victory. Most likely I was trying to determine who I would be playing for the last round (and the bucks!) when the following position arose. And much to my wondering eyes, his 14th move appeared:

Was I seeing things? He couldn't be serious! Here was somebody who seemed to have found a way of combining the twin follies of "castling into it" and "walking into it."

Perhaps I even entertained the notion that he was about to resign, and would do so as soon as I played 15 h5. Only he didn't.

What made this one truly a lesson for me--I mean, besides the resourcefulness, ingenuity and determination displayed by my opponent--was the complete wrongheadedness of my approach over the next several moves. I went through them in a sort of haze, as though saying to myself, "This can't work...it must be wrong..." And by the time I snapped out of it, my position was worse.

Well, somehow I managed to hold things together and in his time trouble (yet another burden a stout defense often has to bear) he let it slip at the end. (Yay, I finally managed to win one of these things!) :D Anyway, the lesson is clear: not just to always keep fighting, but--if you're on the receiving end of things (so to speak)--to take your time and think things through and don't imagine that the win will come automatically just because your opponent plays some odd-looking defense.

Incidentally, that game made such an impression on me that ever since I have used the phrase in the title to refer to anyone who manages truly Beamonesque levels of creativity. :)