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...