After game 2 I was officially tired. And hungry. Very hungry. And then I got a call from Kevin's father - we were going to Wendy's. So I grabbed Federico and ran out front to catch my ride to eat. The most amazing thing is that, even with all the chess being played during the tournament, there were always people playing chess in the lobby, in the skittles room, and in Coaster's. I passed them all on the way to my lunch.
There was no tax on fast food (but apparently they told me there was a tax on drinks)! I could not believe it. I have never paid less than a dollar for anything on the 99 cent value menu. And now I was. I took it as a good sign. When we got back to the resort, we found out that Kevin lost his second game, in a position that he should have won. And David had gone 1-1 for his two 75 minute games. Many of us had achieved 1 point after two rounds. I thought this would go another way when I set out on this adventure, but now it looked like Pittsburgh wasn't going to win much at all.
Of course, I am not telling you about GM Alexander Shabolov in all of this. He has two points after round two and he is from Pittsburgh. The truth is, I don't really know him. I know of him, and I have seen him before, but I have never spoken with him. He runs in another circle. Or at least that is what I tell myself. Anyway, he is a top player, and I am pulling for him, but I am not going to say much about him.
Game three is fast approaching and I need to center myself. I play some pinball - and replace some of my high scores with new high scores. (The tilt mechanism is turned off, so I can slide the machine all over the floor without tilting it. Too easy.) Now its time to play chess.
I find my pairing and find my seat. I am glad I am sitting across from an adult. His name is Michael. He has three kids. David is playing Michael's son. I have the white pieces and I open with the KIA. I know it is not the strongest opening, but I have my reasons for playing it. I get a little lost in the opening, and I drop a pawn, but I have plenty of compensation. Early in the middle game, Michael misses a tactic and I get my pawn back. He is very cramped, and my goal becomes maintaining that cramp. I go astray when I see a way to win a pawn, and as soon as I win it, I have a lost game. But, he looks very strained. His son and his two daughters have come over to our game. They are watching, and I try to be nice to them so they will enjoy the game. I offer him a draw (when I am pretty much dead) and he declines. Ten moves later I have turned the tables, and I win. It was a pretty finish. We both made our share of mistakes, but neither one of us "blundered." Chess is like baseball, and I won in extra innings on a lucky bounce. I can deal with it though. Michael is very kind. He knows he had a win, and something went wrong. But we don't go over our game. It's time for a Miller Lite and then I am off to bed.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
King's Island Open (part 2)
With game 1 under my belt I made my way around the resort. GM Arthur Bisguier was going over some games, but I didn't want to show him mine, because I heard he doesn't like to look at wins. But I did want to watch his analysis. I got antsy and I got hungry and I wanted a beer. I should have gone to my room, watched Sportscenter and gone to sleep. Instead I went to Coasters and had a beer. Then I got some snacks from the store off to the side of the check-in counter. (I also bought toothpaste, Pop Tarts, and a Full Throttle for the morning - I wish they had Redbull instead.)
Then I headed off to the arcade for some more pinball, put up 4/4 high scores on the machine and made my way to my room. It was absolutely freezing. I don't know what they were thinking, but apparently my A/C had been turned on. Mind you, it's the middle of November in Cincinnati. It is not warm out. Anyway, I put the heat on and pulled out my Endgame book. Its part of my routine, to read some chess books before sleep. I don't know how much it helps my chess, but it usually helps me sleep. Not this night though.
I was up until after 1 am and tossing and turning throughout the night after that. I guess I was more excited than I thought. Anyway - I finally couldn't take it any more - I got up at 7:30 and made my way to the exercise room. I got on the bike and rode for a half hour. Followed by some more pinball and then a shower. Then I made my way to the lobby where I saw David. It was about 9 am. He told me he lost his game the night before, I saw what had happened - a knight fork of his King, Queen and Rook. Brutal. He was reentering the tourney (which was an option). Which meant two game / 75s and then a return to the normal time control of 40 moves / 120 minutes and Sudden Death in 60 minutes. He had a long day ahead of him, but I thought he could handle it.
After breakfast I got ready for round 2. Found my pairing. Made my way to my board. My opponent, a man named Bruce, was there waiting for me. The board was set. I had black. Before we started Bruce said something to the effect of - 'I should be playing in the U1300, but they made me play in the U1500. I wish I wasn't playing adults who knew what they were doing.' My radar was up. This was going to be tough.
We played an interesting game. I sacked a pawn early. I thought it would get me a piece, but it didn't - it only got me in trouble. In fact, after the game I showed the opening to Federico, and he liked the sack, but felt I got too greedy with it. Since I was trying to win a piece, I missed the chance to take both his bishops off the board for a rook and a pawn. He was right, and I was too greedy for my own good. Then I sacked again, this time a piece for a pawn, but he ignored it and threatened my queen with a very nice in-between move that I had missed. In the end, all told, I had sacrificed the exchange, and now I was playing for a draw. I couldn't do it. I had lost my second game, and now I could no longer reasonably think I could win this tournament.
It was actually a relief! I could sleep now. I could relax. I could enjoy the chess being played and I could cheer for my friends.
Then I headed off to the arcade for some more pinball, put up 4/4 high scores on the machine and made my way to my room. It was absolutely freezing. I don't know what they were thinking, but apparently my A/C had been turned on. Mind you, it's the middle of November in Cincinnati. It is not warm out. Anyway, I put the heat on and pulled out my Endgame book. Its part of my routine, to read some chess books before sleep. I don't know how much it helps my chess, but it usually helps me sleep. Not this night though.
I was up until after 1 am and tossing and turning throughout the night after that. I guess I was more excited than I thought. Anyway - I finally couldn't take it any more - I got up at 7:30 and made my way to the exercise room. I got on the bike and rode for a half hour. Followed by some more pinball and then a shower. Then I made my way to the lobby where I saw David. It was about 9 am. He told me he lost his game the night before, I saw what had happened - a knight fork of his King, Queen and Rook. Brutal. He was reentering the tourney (which was an option). Which meant two game / 75s and then a return to the normal time control of 40 moves / 120 minutes and Sudden Death in 60 minutes. He had a long day ahead of him, but I thought he could handle it.
After breakfast I got ready for round 2. Found my pairing. Made my way to my board. My opponent, a man named Bruce, was there waiting for me. The board was set. I had black. Before we started Bruce said something to the effect of - 'I should be playing in the U1300, but they made me play in the U1500. I wish I wasn't playing adults who knew what they were doing.' My radar was up. This was going to be tough.
We played an interesting game. I sacked a pawn early. I thought it would get me a piece, but it didn't - it only got me in trouble. In fact, after the game I showed the opening to Federico, and he liked the sack, but felt I got too greedy with it. Since I was trying to win a piece, I missed the chance to take both his bishops off the board for a rook and a pawn. He was right, and I was too greedy for my own good. Then I sacked again, this time a piece for a pawn, but he ignored it and threatened my queen with a very nice in-between move that I had missed. In the end, all told, I had sacrificed the exchange, and now I was playing for a draw. I couldn't do it. I had lost my second game, and now I could no longer reasonably think I could win this tournament.
It was actually a relief! I could sleep now. I could relax. I could enjoy the chess being played and I could cheer for my friends.
Monday, November 17, 2008
The King's Island Open (part 1)
Well, I am back in Pittsburgh, after the King's Island Open. That was my first large tournament, and it was quite an experience. Most chess blogs seem to have games and analysis, but I am not going to go that route. I am going to relive the chess and non-chess without specific moves and without any analysis.
I carpooled to the event with Kevin and Jack, a pair junior members of the Pittsburgh Chess Club. Their father drove, I rode shotgun, and the children rode in the back of the minivan. We departed from the steps of the chess club at precisely 1 pm on Friday, November 14th. It was our plan not to stop at all, and to eat sandwiches in the car. We succeeded. There was some chess discussion, but for the most part the discussions were about the NFL and our favorite team, the Steelers.
We walked through the entrance of the King's Island Resort right on time, 5:30 pm. I was planning on napping for an hour and waking up refreshed for my first round at 7 pm. Failure. My sister had booked the room with her credit card, and I paid her back already, and we had to go through a procedure of verifying that which took over a half an hour, and I didn't have time for that nap. (I would have slept in the car, but I can't sleep in cars). So I drank a Full Throttle energy drink and played some pinball to relax.
Around 6:50 pm I made my way back to the lobby area and began to bump into the Pittsburgh contingency of the tournament. I saw Adonis who was playing in the U1900 section, in the lobby and I wished him luck. I was looking for Federico (U2100) to let him know I made it and I found him going over openings with David (U1300) in Coasters, the hotel Restaurant. Everyone was excited, I was nervous.
Game 1
I wrote my pairing down in my scorepad and made my way to the banquet hall which was converted into the tournament room. It was loud. Everyone was talking and blitzing and doing last minute preparation. Parents were wishing their children luck and wives/husbands were giving some final encouragements. I was given the White pieces. I sat down across from my opponent, and the director told us to start our clocks (and turn off our cellphones), I reached across the table and shook the hand of my opponent, and he started our clock. I opened with the KIA. Things were very quiet in my game. No big attacks, and no big advantages. At some point I traded off a bishop for a knight on e5. My opponent tried an in-between move - and my adrenaline kicked in. It looked like a mistake. I thought for about ten minutes and I figured out that it was a mistake. I went from even material to a pawn up. He tried for a crushing attack and I won another pawn, forking his rook and bishop. After I won his bishop, he tossed his queen and resigned. Now my adrenaline was really going. I wandered around the tournament room, an enormous feeling of relief washing over me. I hadn't wasted my money. I actually had a chance at this thing.
More to come soon...
I carpooled to the event with Kevin and Jack, a pair junior members of the Pittsburgh Chess Club. Their father drove, I rode shotgun, and the children rode in the back of the minivan. We departed from the steps of the chess club at precisely 1 pm on Friday, November 14th. It was our plan not to stop at all, and to eat sandwiches in the car. We succeeded. There was some chess discussion, but for the most part the discussions were about the NFL and our favorite team, the Steelers.
We walked through the entrance of the King's Island Resort right on time, 5:30 pm. I was planning on napping for an hour and waking up refreshed for my first round at 7 pm. Failure. My sister had booked the room with her credit card, and I paid her back already, and we had to go through a procedure of verifying that which took over a half an hour, and I didn't have time for that nap. (I would have slept in the car, but I can't sleep in cars). So I drank a Full Throttle energy drink and played some pinball to relax.
Around 6:50 pm I made my way back to the lobby area and began to bump into the Pittsburgh contingency of the tournament. I saw Adonis who was playing in the U1900 section, in the lobby and I wished him luck. I was looking for Federico (U2100) to let him know I made it and I found him going over openings with David (U1300) in Coasters, the hotel Restaurant. Everyone was excited, I was nervous.
Game 1
I wrote my pairing down in my scorepad and made my way to the banquet hall which was converted into the tournament room. It was loud. Everyone was talking and blitzing and doing last minute preparation. Parents were wishing their children luck and wives/husbands were giving some final encouragements. I was given the White pieces. I sat down across from my opponent, and the director told us to start our clocks (and turn off our cellphones), I reached across the table and shook the hand of my opponent, and he started our clock. I opened with the KIA. Things were very quiet in my game. No big attacks, and no big advantages. At some point I traded off a bishop for a knight on e5. My opponent tried an in-between move - and my adrenaline kicked in. It looked like a mistake. I thought for about ten minutes and I figured out that it was a mistake. I went from even material to a pawn up. He tried for a crushing attack and I won another pawn, forking his rook and bishop. After I won his bishop, he tossed his queen and resigned. Now my adrenaline was really going. I wandered around the tournament room, an enormous feeling of relief washing over me. I hadn't wasted my money. I actually had a chance at this thing.
More to come soon...
Monday, November 10, 2008
Where it all begins
It all starts in a room in the Pittsburgh Chess Club with a dream and some snacks. See, that's what they call me - 'snacks.' I am not a great player, but like all not-great players, I feel I am underrated. I love the game but sometimes get bored playing it, and because of this I put extra pressures upon myself. Like playing a 50+ move game 120 in 15 minutes. Or sacrificing just because it looks fun. Whatever the case may be, I am going to the Kings Island Open this week, and I am pumped - I have never seen GMs playing GMs before. Plus I can have my game analyzed for free by GM Arthur Bisguier! I am such a noob. It is my goal to win my section, but who knows what will happen. All I know is I am ready to adventure into the world of competitive chess and root around.
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