Feeling conflicted

I had a couple of very strange experiences last Wednesday evening. Wednesday is the club night for the ANU Chess Club, and as I normally function as the "House man", I am never sure whether I will get a game or not. It turns out that my services were required, and I did play.
But just before the game started I noticed that my wedding ring wasn't on my finger. This came as a substantial shock, as I have worn it since I was married almost 20 years ago. Not knowing at what point it disappeared I had a quick look around, before starting the round, and my own game. For the first part of the game I was torn between finding the best moves, and finding the ring. Eventually the game reached a point where I needed to focus, so the missing ring was pushed to the back of my mind. In spite of, or even because of, the missing ring, I didn't play any horrible moves, and reached a position where I had an advantage on the kingside. At this point the second strange thing occurred. Not finding a breakthrough on that side of the board, I looked instead at the queenside, which is something I almost never do. Playing b3, followed by a3, I was able to land a rook on the 7th rank, which gave me a clear cut advantage. By now the missing ring had been put into the "deal with it later" file, and after returning once again to the kingside, I was able to open up the position and reach a winning ending.
While I was pleased with the game, I am still missing the ring. The only other consolation from all this is the fact that the ring simply slipped off my finger is evidence that regular bike riding and a better diet is having an effect, positively on my weight, although negatively on my marriage.

(** A happy update to this post. Some extra searching of my laptop bag located the missing ring. Not sure how it fell off, but at least I recovered the ring, and still have a nice win to show for it)


Press,Shaun - Butler,Brian [B26]
Autumn Swiss, 10.06.2015