If you are a hobby player, you might never have played with a chess clock yet. These little gadgets really add another level of complexity to your fight against an opponent. The additional dimension of time is always ready to break your neck in a complicated situation: you either spend all your time, which means you lose immediately, or you play too quickly and make a severe fault.
The latter happens a lot, even if no clock is involved and you enjoy a nice game of chess against a friend. So here is my advice for this section beforehand: Take your time, even if you are directly attacked by your opponent and think that you know exactly what to do. If you are in check and see only one escape, try to look over the whole board and fathom your possibilities. Often a second alternative shows up that gives you more counterplay, or even the initiative sometimes.
In the next two games that are presented, I fail to see a better continuation because I do not have enough time. In both situations, only a few seconds are left to make the 40th move for the first time control. I was forced to draw quickly...you are not, so try to sit back and think twice!
