I decided somewhat last minute to take a trip to Morgantown on May 2nd for the May Day Tournament. Adonis was going, Kevin was going and Dave was going. I was planning on playing in the reserve section of the tournament (U1800) as I was now officially 1710 (and unofficially 1744). It was going to cost me only $35 (although if I would have decided to play earlier - it would only cost me $25), but for the experience of playing new people, I thought it would be worth it.
Well, of course - I could not sleep the night before - something about gearing up to play tournament strength chess does not sit well with my psyche - and ended up getting up at 6:30 on approximately 3 hours of sleep. Kevin was picking me up at 7:20 and we were meeting with Mike from the club who was going to drive us down. We headed out around 8:05 from Parkway Centre Mall with Kevin, Adonis, Mike and I in one car. I kept reminding everyone just how tired I was.
One funny thing happened as we got close to the site - Mike made a wrong turn, Kevin knew Mike made a wrong turn, but said nothing for about 5 minutes, until Mike pulled over and they both realized that we were heading the wrong way. It reminded me of the time we went to the Liberty Bell and the GPS dropped us off in the woods telling us "[We] had arrived at our destination," when it was clear that we had not.
So we got to the site eventually, and I was ready to enter the Reserve section. But, there were only 6 people registered in the reserve section. And nobody even close to the 1800 limit. And the tournament director was talking about disbanding the Reserve section. So this changed things a little bit. I entered the open section. By the time the tournament started - there were, I believe, 8 people who made the trek from pittsburgh, and exactly 28 people enetered in the tournament (which was the mark to meet for the $500 prize pool). Perfect!
Round one was a quick game of successive blunders, one of mine being the second to last, and I won. Surprisingly, Kevin and Adonis had poor results in round 1, and would be playing down for the next few rounds. (Which will come back to haunt me, of course)
Round 2. Moving round (sort of like Moving Day in golf, but something I just made up). I am playing the #2 ranked player (officially ranked, because Adonis is the #2 unofficially). Man do I misplay the opening. Its a dragon, without Bc4 for White - so, as Kevin instructed me on the carride up, when I play a dragon without Bc4, I should play d5. So, having no clue why I should play d5, I play d5, and instantly lose a pawn. And trade off everything but 2 bishops and a rook. So now I am in an endgame, a pawn down. Against a 2000+ player. But I play on. And on. And he gets into some time pressure. And misses some major ideas. And now I am drawn. I mean drawn. There is no way for him to win.
Round 3. I have 1 1/2 points after 2 rounds. And as a reward? I play Adonis. Well, whatever. I did not come to lose without a fight!!! So I fight. I like my position, but I misplay it, and as a result, I lose a pawn. Not the end of the world, but not where I wanted to be. Plus, I am the one in time trouble. Something to note: prior to the game, Adonis claimed that he would mate me on move 32. He was wrong. The game went much longer and along a much different path than he anticipated. But in the end I lost. With 22 seconds on my clock, I failed to see what was going on and I lost.
Round 4. Now with 1 1/2 points after 3 rounds, I am lost as far as the prize money goes. For some reason, I feel losing round 2 would have given me better chances than drawing, but I wouldn't trade that draw for the world. So I am paired against an 18 year old 1600 who has played every game against a player from Pittsburgh. Another Dragon, but with a totally different piece placement, due to a move order finesse I have been working on. Namely, 3 ... Nf6. Really, this move is of little practical value, but I play it with a smile, because everyone always stops and thinks after I play it. In any event, I play a tactic and double his pawns in front of his castled king, and then I play another tactic, win a pawn, and head for an endgame. My opponent then gives up another pawn to get it to Queen and 6 versus Queen and 4. I then give one back to make it King and 3 versus King and 2. Then I promptly make moves to give him a draw if he wants it, which he fails to find and I win. I finish with 2 1/2.
Quite the tournament on the whole. I am very glad I decided to make the trip and I look forward to playing more tournaments in the sister state. Thanks to Mike for driving our crew, and thanks to everyone who convinced me to go. I hope that some of the players that I met take me up on the offer to come to the Burgh and play a few tourneys here. We shall see. Until next time - keep it real.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Future post!!!
So, good news - there will be an update to this blog soon - I am going to Morgantown this weekend for a tournament! I have been enjoying chess more and more - and this is now B Class Chess Blogging, but I see no point in updating the title. Let's go for A Class Chess Blogging!!!!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The USATE (final part)
Ok. So it's time to finally square away what happened in New Jersey. I went to sleep on Sunday night feeling a little upset about the way I had played thus far, and displeased with my results for the team's sake. 1-3 was not where I wanted to be.
When I woke up the final morning I felt good. The team won the morning match pretty handily, and I won my game in a misplayed Dragon, in a King and Pawn endgame. It should have been a draw, but my opponent misplayed it slightly, and a draw became a win for me. It ended with a sweet problem-like finish where I stalemated his king, he was forced to give away two of his three remaining pawns, and I let the third one go and headed for a promotion mate.
Round six. The final round. If I was going to break even on this tourney I was going to have to win Round six. But before the round started, I won the 82nd volume of Informant, because I was wearing a Steeler shirt. But, of course I was wearing a Steeler shirt - that is all I wore - all weekend. You gotta represent!
So we were playing up this round, and I was playing an 1800+. I had the white pieces. I, of course, chose the KIA. My opponent blundered his 18th move, and dropped a knight. Sweet, right? I think not. He got incredible pressure down the d-file, and I gave him back a pawn to lighten the load. Then I gave him back another pawn to get it down to 2 knights + 5 pawns v. 1 knight + 7 pawns. This was going to be a classic 2 knights v 1 knight endgame! (of course there is nothing 'classic' about this endgame - it is rare and I am going to have to learn it as I go).
By the way - all three of my teammates are finished with their games. Adonis won, Kevin drew, and Daniel lost. So, my team needs me to pull this off. Here comes my chance to make good on my earlier promise. If I win - we win. If I draw - we draw. If I lose - we lose. Early in this endgame I think all three outcomes are possible. His knight is well placed and my knights are on b1 and f1. I try to improve my king position. I fail. I try to improve my knights and I fail. So finally I conceive a plan to temporarily sack a pawn, and invade his position with my knights - boy I really hope this works. It does, as he takes the pawn and I get knight activity for the first time, in a long time.
So we whittle the position down to one pawn a piece(a-pawn for me/h-pawn for him) and my two knights versus his knight. This is nervous. My initial idea is to sack a knight for his pawn and run my king and knight over toward my pawn, force his knight in front of my pawn and then remove all of his knight's retreat squares with my king and knight. I am still not sure if this would have worked. (Even though Fritz says it would have, I am unsure.)
But a problem finish was reached instead. One in which I forked his king and knight with a check, giving up both of my knights for his knight in order to promote two ahead of him (it had to be two because my king was on d5 (and if I promote one ahead he promotes with check and my queen is lost.)
Here is the image:
I am just happy it is over. What a game!!!
After the match we are starving! We settle on Fudruckers for the meal, but the navigation system turns a 10 minute drive into a 25-30 minute drive. We finally get to Fudruckers and here is what we look like:
Now THAT is a satisfied team!!!
Thanks everyone for all of your support early on when I struggled. I hope I made up for it.
Also - big thanks to Runan for driving us all weekend. And a big thanks to Dan's family for putting us up for the weekend. It had to be the best chess experience that I have ever had.
When I woke up the final morning I felt good. The team won the morning match pretty handily, and I won my game in a misplayed Dragon, in a King and Pawn endgame. It should have been a draw, but my opponent misplayed it slightly, and a draw became a win for me. It ended with a sweet problem-like finish where I stalemated his king, he was forced to give away two of his three remaining pawns, and I let the third one go and headed for a promotion mate.
Round six. The final round. If I was going to break even on this tourney I was going to have to win Round six. But before the round started, I won the 82nd volume of Informant, because I was wearing a Steeler shirt. But, of course I was wearing a Steeler shirt - that is all I wore - all weekend. You gotta represent!
So we were playing up this round, and I was playing an 1800+. I had the white pieces. I, of course, chose the KIA. My opponent blundered his 18th move, and dropped a knight. Sweet, right? I think not. He got incredible pressure down the d-file, and I gave him back a pawn to lighten the load. Then I gave him back another pawn to get it down to 2 knights + 5 pawns v. 1 knight + 7 pawns. This was going to be a classic 2 knights v 1 knight endgame! (of course there is nothing 'classic' about this endgame - it is rare and I am going to have to learn it as I go).
By the way - all three of my teammates are finished with their games. Adonis won, Kevin drew, and Daniel lost. So, my team needs me to pull this off. Here comes my chance to make good on my earlier promise. If I win - we win. If I draw - we draw. If I lose - we lose. Early in this endgame I think all three outcomes are possible. His knight is well placed and my knights are on b1 and f1. I try to improve my king position. I fail. I try to improve my knights and I fail. So finally I conceive a plan to temporarily sack a pawn, and invade his position with my knights - boy I really hope this works. It does, as he takes the pawn and I get knight activity for the first time, in a long time.
So we whittle the position down to one pawn a piece(a-pawn for me/h-pawn for him) and my two knights versus his knight. This is nervous. My initial idea is to sack a knight for his pawn and run my king and knight over toward my pawn, force his knight in front of my pawn and then remove all of his knight's retreat squares with my king and knight. I am still not sure if this would have worked. (Even though Fritz says it would have, I am unsure.)
But a problem finish was reached instead. One in which I forked his king and knight with a check, giving up both of my knights for his knight in order to promote two ahead of him (it had to be two because my king was on d5 (and if I promote one ahead he promotes with check and my queen is lost.)
Here is the image:
I am just happy it is over. What a game!!!
After the match we are starving! We settle on Fudruckers for the meal, but the navigation system turns a 10 minute drive into a 25-30 minute drive. We finally get to Fudruckers and here is what we look like:
Now THAT is a satisfied team!!!
Thanks everyone for all of your support early on when I struggled. I hope I made up for it.
Also - big thanks to Runan for driving us all weekend. And a big thanks to Dan's family for putting us up for the weekend. It had to be the best chess experience that I have ever had.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The USATE (part 3)
So I know it has been a while since I last updated this blog, but I was waiting for some photographs. I have them now.
Before round four, I believe we all went back to the house to relax. I took a nap and some people played some basketball. When we arrived back at the hotel we had little time before our next game. We looked at the pairings and we were up against another tough team consisting of four pretty young kids. Daniel was paired against a 2150 rated 15 year old, and I was paired against a 2012 rated player.
My game was over the quickest. I played the KIA, played very tough, but he played better, and was able to quell my attack (I tried to swindle him, and after the match he confessed that he almost fell for it), and once he did that he got the initiative. I fought on, eventually accepting a piece sacrifice, and refusing to give the material back to avoid a mate (because, I did not see the mate), and resigned facing imminent mate. A very interesting thing happened after the game. Not only did my opponent know the KIA, but he had prepared against it because it had defeated him so many times. First time I had run into that situation. In spite of his preparation, I had chances and I felt that I played one of my better games of the tournament up to this point. (Which wasn't that hard to do)
My game was the least interesting of the four.
Adonis came up with a crazy sacrifice in his game that didn't work, although it was close, and was left with a queen and some extra pawns versus 2 rooks and a bishop. He fought long and hard, but eventually when his 2 central passers fell, he resigned.
Kevin was two pawns down in a rook and pawn ending and drew his game. What an instructive endgame he played, because at some point he could have regained a pawn, reducing the scope of his rook, but he left the material out there, and used his rook's activity to maintain threats which eventually ensured the draw. For those of you who know Clyde, it is my opinion that Clyde would be proud of this endgame.
And the final game in our group had to be the most interesting. Dan got into mutual time trouble with his opponent, and it looked like his opponent had all of the attacking chances. But Dan's dragon bishop held back defensively the entire game, and even though his opponent had 3 majors bearing down on Dan's king, nothing ever came of the attack. And with seconds to spare they both made time control and Dan prevailed!
Wow! What a match. We lost, but we were supposed to lose. And two of our teammates had played heroically. I was the only one who was truly lost before move 30. We probably were not going to win the U1800 section with 2 losses, unless we won on tiebreaks, but we still had some serious fighting to do. Stay tuned for my chance to make good on an earlier promise, and stay tuned to hear what I won!
Before round four, I believe we all went back to the house to relax. I took a nap and some people played some basketball. When we arrived back at the hotel we had little time before our next game. We looked at the pairings and we were up against another tough team consisting of four pretty young kids. Daniel was paired against a 2150 rated 15 year old, and I was paired against a 2012 rated player.
My game was over the quickest. I played the KIA, played very tough, but he played better, and was able to quell my attack (I tried to swindle him, and after the match he confessed that he almost fell for it), and once he did that he got the initiative. I fought on, eventually accepting a piece sacrifice, and refusing to give the material back to avoid a mate (because, I did not see the mate), and resigned facing imminent mate. A very interesting thing happened after the game. Not only did my opponent know the KIA, but he had prepared against it because it had defeated him so many times. First time I had run into that situation. In spite of his preparation, I had chances and I felt that I played one of my better games of the tournament up to this point. (Which wasn't that hard to do)
My game was the least interesting of the four.
Adonis came up with a crazy sacrifice in his game that didn't work, although it was close, and was left with a queen and some extra pawns versus 2 rooks and a bishop. He fought long and hard, but eventually when his 2 central passers fell, he resigned.
Kevin was two pawns down in a rook and pawn ending and drew his game. What an instructive endgame he played, because at some point he could have regained a pawn, reducing the scope of his rook, but he left the material out there, and used his rook's activity to maintain threats which eventually ensured the draw. For those of you who know Clyde, it is my opinion that Clyde would be proud of this endgame.
And the final game in our group had to be the most interesting. Dan got into mutual time trouble with his opponent, and it looked like his opponent had all of the attacking chances. But Dan's dragon bishop held back defensively the entire game, and even though his opponent had 3 majors bearing down on Dan's king, nothing ever came of the attack. And with seconds to spare they both made time control and Dan prevailed!
Wow! What a match. We lost, but we were supposed to lose. And two of our teammates had played heroically. I was the only one who was truly lost before move 30. We probably were not going to win the U1800 section with 2 losses, unless we won on tiebreaks, but we still had some serious fighting to do. Stay tuned for my chance to make good on an earlier promise, and stay tuned to hear what I won!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The USATE (part 2)
Round 2 was rather uneventful. Our team played down, and went 3-1. Of course I was the only loss. I didn't play very well on day 1, and I promised the team that if they needed me, in a later round - with the match on the line - that I would be there for them. I was just hoping that I could live up to that promise.
We went back to Daniel's house, I was rather dejected. I was the only player without a win on the team, and I was feeling like I let them down. Daniel wanted me to put the day behind me, and if there is one thing that I learned in Philadelphia, it is that I have to put bad losses (or draws) behind me. So, I tried to get a good night's sleep.
Up early in the morning on day 2. Not as early as Daniel, Kevin and Adonis, who went out to play basketball (only after they woke me up to tell me that I was snoring), but early enough. I wandered downstairs to check out the family's chess library, and it is amazing, let me tell you. For a private collection to be this thorough just stuns me. Daniel's mom is up and cooking the team breakfast - have I told you how awesome these people are? The guys are back from the basketball game, and apparently Kevin won some 2 bounce with some pretty acrobatic shots (but Adonis dunked on Kevin, so I am assured that it's all good).
After breakfast I start blitzing with Adonis to work on my technique, but we get run off the board, because it is time to head out.
Day 2. Round 3. This had to be the round that generated the most conversation and laughter for the rest of the tournament. We played a team that consisted of young kids (I mean tiny kids). Well, most of us did. Daniel played someone in their teens. Adonis and sat next to each other on boards 3 and 4. Adonis' opponent asked him what his rating was, so he told the kid - 1950. And his opponent's face dropped 3 feet, which meant it fell to his feet, and when Adonis asked him his rating, he said that he didn't know.
I think my opponent was even younger, and he had that blond hair that only super young children have, and his mother was standing off to the side looking so proud (and sorry). Oh, I almost forgot- the first 2 moves of the game - 1.e4 c5 2.Qh5. He was white. I promptly excused myself for about ten minutes, and returned to the board, composed and ready to play.
So about half way into our game, my opponent leans across the table and whispers - "My rating is 561." I slapped my forehead. Adonis is taking a lot of time on one of his moves, and his opponent leans across the table and whispers "You know your rating is 1100 points higher than mine?" I couldn't help but laugh. I also kept saying these two things for the rest of the day.
At some point my opponent randomly picked up one of his rooks, and I lean over the table to advise him not to do that, and he whispers "adjust." I don't make him move it, but I do tell him that he should never touch his pieces like that. Eventually I mate my opponent in the middle of the board. Adonis gets into a drawn endgame. But he wins. Kevin wins. Daniel draws.
Stay tuned for the fireworks of round 4. I must say that round three brought me the most smiles looking back on the tournament. It is great to see very young children playing in real events. It means that the future of chess is secure. Sometimes when I look at the population of the Pittsburgh Chess Club, I worry about the future of chess. We just don't have the super young kids to replace us older folk. I am glad to see children out in numbers at the USATE.
We went back to Daniel's house, I was rather dejected. I was the only player without a win on the team, and I was feeling like I let them down. Daniel wanted me to put the day behind me, and if there is one thing that I learned in Philadelphia, it is that I have to put bad losses (or draws) behind me. So, I tried to get a good night's sleep.
Up early in the morning on day 2. Not as early as Daniel, Kevin and Adonis, who went out to play basketball (only after they woke me up to tell me that I was snoring), but early enough. I wandered downstairs to check out the family's chess library, and it is amazing, let me tell you. For a private collection to be this thorough just stuns me. Daniel's mom is up and cooking the team breakfast - have I told you how awesome these people are? The guys are back from the basketball game, and apparently Kevin won some 2 bounce with some pretty acrobatic shots (but Adonis dunked on Kevin, so I am assured that it's all good).
After breakfast I start blitzing with Adonis to work on my technique, but we get run off the board, because it is time to head out.
Day 2. Round 3. This had to be the round that generated the most conversation and laughter for the rest of the tournament. We played a team that consisted of young kids (I mean tiny kids). Well, most of us did. Daniel played someone in their teens. Adonis and sat next to each other on boards 3 and 4. Adonis' opponent asked him what his rating was, so he told the kid - 1950. And his opponent's face dropped 3 feet, which meant it fell to his feet, and when Adonis asked him his rating, he said that he didn't know.
I think my opponent was even younger, and he had that blond hair that only super young children have, and his mother was standing off to the side looking so proud (and sorry). Oh, I almost forgot- the first 2 moves of the game - 1.e4 c5 2.Qh5. He was white. I promptly excused myself for about ten minutes, and returned to the board, composed and ready to play.
So about half way into our game, my opponent leans across the table and whispers - "My rating is 561." I slapped my forehead. Adonis is taking a lot of time on one of his moves, and his opponent leans across the table and whispers "You know your rating is 1100 points higher than mine?" I couldn't help but laugh. I also kept saying these two things for the rest of the day.
At some point my opponent randomly picked up one of his rooks, and I lean over the table to advise him not to do that, and he whispers "adjust." I don't make him move it, but I do tell him that he should never touch his pieces like that. Eventually I mate my opponent in the middle of the board. Adonis gets into a drawn endgame. But he wins. Kevin wins. Daniel draws.
Stay tuned for the fireworks of round 4. I must say that round three brought me the most smiles looking back on the tournament. It is great to see very young children playing in real events. It means that the future of chess is secure. Sometimes when I look at the population of the Pittsburgh Chess Club, I worry about the future of chess. We just don't have the super young kids to replace us older folk. I am glad to see children out in numbers at the USATE.
Friday, February 20, 2009
The USATE (part 1)
Where do I even begin this? How about at the time when I realized I was going to play in the event - that seems as good a place as any.
I first heard about the USATE (that's United States Amateur Team East) through several members of our chess club. Actually, that's not exactly true - I read about it in Chess Life, but I first thought about actually playing in the event when some members of the Pittsburgh Chess Club approached me with tentative plans to formulate teams and road trip to New Jersey. I would say it was 10% that I would play at that time, because we were about to head to Philly and play in the Liberty Bell Open. What I was thinking was - if I win substantial money in Philly, I can afford to play in the USATE, if not - I probably cannot. Well - we know I didn't win in Philly, so I assumed that the USATE was off.
Then I was approached again, this time by Daniel, and he gave us a new proposition - we stay at his parent's house - about a half hour from the site, for free. Now that's what I am talking about! So now it was on - I would be going to NJ for the tourney and the team would be Kevin, Daniel, Adonis and myself. With those three players on the team - I would be on board 4! I agreed in a heartbeat. Actually, I randomly saw Daniel walking on the road on the following day, and agreed at that time, but for our purposes - I agreed in a heartbeat.
In the van on the way out (we left at around 7pm) after the team watched Dark Knight, we tried our hands at some blindfold chess. I am not very good at blindfold chess, but I was able to make it about 20 moves before I was completely lost against Daniel. Then Daniel played Adonis. And they made it to an endgame - Rook and pawns - when Daniel finally pulled off a spectacular tactic to brush off Adonis' King and win his rook. I was actually able to follow most of the game without a board! (I just had to keep on verifying the piece locations.)
We arrived late and headed off to bed. A special thank you to both Daniel's Parents for hosting our team, and Kevin's dad for driving our team.
Game 1. We arrive about an hour early at the hotel - I am so excited because there are literally about a thousand people playing in this tournament. First round pits us against a team consisting of an IM (that's international master!!) and 3 experts. Daniel is playing the IM on board 1. The expert playing me disposes of me rather quickly. I get a bad position and have to drop some material, but I don't get any better and I am lost. I resign, feeling bad about letting the team down, but I don't think I was ever in that game. Meanwhile - Kevin's game is over - he lost, Adonis looks like he is winning his game and Daniel is in a fantastic Knight and pawn endgame, down one pawn. But then the IM sacks his Knight for Daniel's pawn, and tries to take advantage of how close his King is to Dan's other pawns, but the whole thing backfires, and Dan gets a draw against an IM in the opening round! Kevin, Daniel and I go to lunch, and come back to discover that Adonis is still playing his first round match, and he is in a drawn endgame. He tries to win for a while, before he accepts the truth, and we lose our first round 3-1.
Not a great beginning, but we were supposed to lose that round, and our board 1 is now Highly Confident! Man is this thing fun!
I first heard about the USATE (that's United States Amateur Team East) through several members of our chess club. Actually, that's not exactly true - I read about it in Chess Life, but I first thought about actually playing in the event when some members of the Pittsburgh Chess Club approached me with tentative plans to formulate teams and road trip to New Jersey. I would say it was 10% that I would play at that time, because we were about to head to Philly and play in the Liberty Bell Open. What I was thinking was - if I win substantial money in Philly, I can afford to play in the USATE, if not - I probably cannot. Well - we know I didn't win in Philly, so I assumed that the USATE was off.
Then I was approached again, this time by Daniel, and he gave us a new proposition - we stay at his parent's house - about a half hour from the site, for free. Now that's what I am talking about! So now it was on - I would be going to NJ for the tourney and the team would be Kevin, Daniel, Adonis and myself. With those three players on the team - I would be on board 4! I agreed in a heartbeat. Actually, I randomly saw Daniel walking on the road on the following day, and agreed at that time, but for our purposes - I agreed in a heartbeat.
In the van on the way out (we left at around 7pm) after the team watched Dark Knight, we tried our hands at some blindfold chess. I am not very good at blindfold chess, but I was able to make it about 20 moves before I was completely lost against Daniel. Then Daniel played Adonis. And they made it to an endgame - Rook and pawns - when Daniel finally pulled off a spectacular tactic to brush off Adonis' King and win his rook. I was actually able to follow most of the game without a board! (I just had to keep on verifying the piece locations.)
We arrived late and headed off to bed. A special thank you to both Daniel's Parents for hosting our team, and Kevin's dad for driving our team.
Game 1. We arrive about an hour early at the hotel - I am so excited because there are literally about a thousand people playing in this tournament. First round pits us against a team consisting of an IM (that's international master!!) and 3 experts. Daniel is playing the IM on board 1. The expert playing me disposes of me rather quickly. I get a bad position and have to drop some material, but I don't get any better and I am lost. I resign, feeling bad about letting the team down, but I don't think I was ever in that game. Meanwhile - Kevin's game is over - he lost, Adonis looks like he is winning his game and Daniel is in a fantastic Knight and pawn endgame, down one pawn. But then the IM sacks his Knight for Daniel's pawn, and tries to take advantage of how close his King is to Dan's other pawns, but the whole thing backfires, and Dan gets a draw against an IM in the opening round! Kevin, Daniel and I go to lunch, and come back to discover that Adonis is still playing his first round match, and he is in a drawn endgame. He tries to win for a while, before he accepts the truth, and we lose our first round 3-1.
Not a great beginning, but we were supposed to lose that round, and our board 1 is now Highly Confident! Man is this thing fun!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Quick update about the future
The next major blogging will be about the USATE. So excited. Wish us luck - It is me, Daniel, Kevin and Adonis. I am on board four. And these guys I am with are all great players, so I am hoping we can snag the U1800 (I bring us way down, and I am proud of it). Wish us luck.
Philly (final)
So, I told you that the 5th round was being run during the AFC Championship Game, right? That did not make playing chess very easy. I should have taken that bye, but I came all the way to Philadelphia to play chess, not to watch football. So I didn't take that bye.
I might as well have taken that bye. I was not ready to play chess, my mind was elsewhere and I was not able to get beyond that. I kept on running out to the lobby to watch some football and coming back into the tournament room saying "What is this? What am I doing?" In fact, I started pressing once the football started- trying for a super knock-out attack. Of course that backfired. I lost. I deserved to lose.
But the Steelers won!!!!!! We were going to the Super Bowl!!!!!! Not bad for a team that was the worst 1 loss team earlier in the year (Michellangelo's words - not mine. You probably know him - he helped the Pittsburgh Chess Club greatly via a matching donation through his business in the middle of December). Not bad for a team facing the NFL's hardest schedule at the start of the year. But I digress. This is a chess blog.
Round Six. I am truly exhausted. I don't even show up to play. My body showed up, but as I look over the scoresheet I have no idea what I was thinking when I played these moves. Of course I lose. It would have been sick if I started this way and won. That is what I think I thought at some point when I was deluded into thinking I was good. If that makes any sense.
Round 7. This one is sort of the key to my tournament. If I pull out a win here - I can go 3.5/7 and salvage something out of a good start and mediocre middle. When I first started this tournament - I was at the bottom of the barrel - I used to be the big fish, but now I was the small one. The main thing is - I want to have to change the name of this blog. Change it to B Class Chess. And then A Class Chess. 3.5/7 gets me close to that goal. 2.5/7 does not.
Queen Pawn Opening. He drops a pawn on move 16. He gets a bad bishop. I hem him in. I slowly tighten the noose. He resigns on move 44. And what could have been disaster, what should have been disaster, has turned into a moderately successful tournament. At least I am moving in the right direction.
Big congratulations to Kevin!!!! He won the U1900 section. But amazingly, he did it on his own. He came into the last round with 4.5 and his opponent had 5.5. Therefore, in order to take the top prize, Kevin had to win (to get his score to 5.5 and to keep his opponent's score at 5.5, so they would split the top prize). Of course, his opponent offered Kevin a draw prior to the start of the round and Kevin declined guaranteed prize money for the right to fight for top prize money. Excellent fighting spirit Kevin!!!!
Great tournament - so glad I came. I learned a few things about myself. Like - if the Steelers are playing in an elimination game trying to get into the super bowl, I cannot turn off my inner fan's desire to watch that game. Even though I am doing something I love. And I also learned "Kf5". And I also learned - when I make a mistake and get a result that I am not expecting, I must tune out that voice that is screaming about what happened. And focus on what is happening now.
Oh yeah, what is that "Mysterious Ticking Noise?"
I might as well have taken that bye. I was not ready to play chess, my mind was elsewhere and I was not able to get beyond that. I kept on running out to the lobby to watch some football and coming back into the tournament room saying "What is this? What am I doing?" In fact, I started pressing once the football started- trying for a super knock-out attack. Of course that backfired. I lost. I deserved to lose.
But the Steelers won!!!!!! We were going to the Super Bowl!!!!!! Not bad for a team that was the worst 1 loss team earlier in the year (Michellangelo's words - not mine. You probably know him - he helped the Pittsburgh Chess Club greatly via a matching donation through his business in the middle of December). Not bad for a team facing the NFL's hardest schedule at the start of the year. But I digress. This is a chess blog.
Round Six. I am truly exhausted. I don't even show up to play. My body showed up, but as I look over the scoresheet I have no idea what I was thinking when I played these moves. Of course I lose. It would have been sick if I started this way and won. That is what I think I thought at some point when I was deluded into thinking I was good. If that makes any sense.
Round 7. This one is sort of the key to my tournament. If I pull out a win here - I can go 3.5/7 and salvage something out of a good start and mediocre middle. When I first started this tournament - I was at the bottom of the barrel - I used to be the big fish, but now I was the small one. The main thing is - I want to have to change the name of this blog. Change it to B Class Chess. And then A Class Chess. 3.5/7 gets me close to that goal. 2.5/7 does not.
Queen Pawn Opening. He drops a pawn on move 16. He gets a bad bishop. I hem him in. I slowly tighten the noose. He resigns on move 44. And what could have been disaster, what should have been disaster, has turned into a moderately successful tournament. At least I am moving in the right direction.
Big congratulations to Kevin!!!! He won the U1900 section. But amazingly, he did it on his own. He came into the last round with 4.5 and his opponent had 5.5. Therefore, in order to take the top prize, Kevin had to win (to get his score to 5.5 and to keep his opponent's score at 5.5, so they would split the top prize). Of course, his opponent offered Kevin a draw prior to the start of the round and Kevin declined guaranteed prize money for the right to fight for top prize money. Excellent fighting spirit Kevin!!!!
Great tournament - so glad I came. I learned a few things about myself. Like - if the Steelers are playing in an elimination game trying to get into the super bowl, I cannot turn off my inner fan's desire to watch that game. Even though I am doing something I love. And I also learned "Kf5". And I also learned - when I make a mistake and get a result that I am not expecting, I must tune out that voice that is screaming about what happened. And focus on what is happening now.
Oh yeah, what is that "Mysterious Ticking Noise?"
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Philly (part 2)
So with round 1 in the books, and chess on my mind, of course I couldn't sleep. This tournament I had a roommate to defray the cost of staying in a hotel, and I thought it might help me get sleep, because I couldn't just watch TV at 1:30 in the morning with somebody else in the room. It didn't matter, I still couldn't sleep. So at about 7 in the morning the sun blasted its way into our room (on the 25th floor - the preferred guest level [I think it was because I complained that I had been assured 2 beds, and they tried to stick me with a bed and a cot]), because we left the blinds all the way open checking out the nice view - and it was very nice.
I said to Dave "I think we should go to the gym." He agreed. But then I tried to stand up and I just didn't feel 100% physically, so I changed my mind. We didn't go to the gym. So we missed a chance at meeting Barack Obama, because word in the chess life is that he was in that gym, at that time, on that day. Why didn't I just go to the gym???
The next three games really belong together. Dave had a bye in round 2, and I had a game. I was feeling my chess this weekend, and I was playing fantastic. I had White again, and I played my KIA. I played it down to an ending where I was up 2 pawns to zero with a rook for each side. The rooks came off - I lost a pawn. Now, place a white king on f4, and a white pawn on b4. Put the black king on f7. It is white to move. Try not to draw this ending. Like I did. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I think I beat myself up for the rest of Saturday and through Sunday's first game. I let one wrong move [Ke5] affect my entire mental state to the point that I missed winning ideas in my next two games, and I drew both of those. I was up a pawn in both of those games as well. Sunday's game was less of an advantage, but I still didn't have any winning ideas. I just kept saying "Kf5" to myself, over and over. After four rounds I had 2.5 points. I could have had 3.5. I could have had 4. But the truth is, I had nobody to blame but myself.
If I remember - Kevin had 4 points after 4 rounds, but it might have been 3. I know he lost one game inexplicably on a loss of a piece. Otherwise - he was playing great. One more thing - Round 5 was to be started at 6:00pm on Sunday. The Steelers/Ravens game was supposed to start at 6:30. I had not requested a bye. You can obviously see where this is going, but you will have to wait till the next installment to see if you are correct.
I said to Dave "I think we should go to the gym." He agreed. But then I tried to stand up and I just didn't feel 100% physically, so I changed my mind. We didn't go to the gym. So we missed a chance at meeting Barack Obama, because word in the chess life is that he was in that gym, at that time, on that day. Why didn't I just go to the gym???
The next three games really belong together. Dave had a bye in round 2, and I had a game. I was feeling my chess this weekend, and I was playing fantastic. I had White again, and I played my KIA. I played it down to an ending where I was up 2 pawns to zero with a rook for each side. The rooks came off - I lost a pawn. Now, place a white king on f4, and a white pawn on b4. Put the black king on f7. It is white to move. Try not to draw this ending. Like I did. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I think I beat myself up for the rest of Saturday and through Sunday's first game. I let one wrong move [Ke5] affect my entire mental state to the point that I missed winning ideas in my next two games, and I drew both of those. I was up a pawn in both of those games as well. Sunday's game was less of an advantage, but I still didn't have any winning ideas. I just kept saying "Kf5" to myself, over and over. After four rounds I had 2.5 points. I could have had 3.5. I could have had 4. But the truth is, I had nobody to blame but myself.
If I remember - Kevin had 4 points after 4 rounds, but it might have been 3. I know he lost one game inexplicably on a loss of a piece. Otherwise - he was playing great. One more thing - Round 5 was to be started at 6:00pm on Sunday. The Steelers/Ravens game was supposed to start at 6:30. I had not requested a bye. You can obviously see where this is going, but you will have to wait till the next installment to see if you are correct.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Philly and all things chess (part 1)
All right, so its been a while, and I have been playing so much chess, that I have been letting this go. But now it's time to make things right. Before I get to Philly, and that awesome four day chess weekend that I spent there, I have a couple things from back home to talk about.
The Pittsburgh Chess Club is hosting its annual club championship tournament. I haven't played in a Tuesday Night tournament in years (at least 15), but since I am chessing out right now (whatever that means) I decided to play. I couldn't be happier. As usual in the first round - us mid-level players get paired against the best of the best, and I played this man named Jeff, who is very good. Well, needless to say - after one of my best openings yet, I had an advantage into the middle game, but I couldn't force it home, and actually went from winning to losing in about ten moves. Well, my favorite part of the story is how I then capitalized on an improper move that Jeff made, and found a perpetual check that led me to a first round draw.
That was both good and bad. Good because it was a draw against a higher rated player, and bad because it meant that next round I would be playing up again. I drew the highest rated player in the tournament for the next round. Well, that was the Tuesday before we left for Philly.
Once again, I have to thank Kevin and his father for their incredible generosity in allowing me to ride out to the Liberty Bell Open in their van. If not for this family, I would never have experienced one large tournament, and now I was experiencing my second. So thank you again.
The ride out was different this time. Another Pittsburgh Chess Club player, and a friend of mine, rode out with us. His name is David. We all watched a movie on Kevin's Laptop - well, actually I couldn't actually see the movie, because I was sitting in the front seat, but it was Lord of the Rings (one of my all time favorites, and - coincidentally - there is a Lord of the Rings pinball machine, also one of my favorites. But I digress.) It made the ride fly by. We arrived in Philly with plenty of time to spare, or so we thought.
For those of you that have not heard, we have a new President of the United States. And that new president just happened to be staying at the same hotel our tournament we were staying in (as well as the same hotel we were playing in). So the traffic was an absolute nightmare right outside the hotel, what with all the precautions being taken. It literally took us over a half an hour from seeing our hotel to being in our hotel.
But we made it. It was time for our first round to begin. I drew a man named Michael (who eventually won our section). Happily I had the white pieces, played my KIA (by the way - it might be time to spice it up a little bit, and add another opening with the white pieces - we shall see) and won the game in about 30 moves. The game had a very interesting final move on my part - sort of like a chess problem. I am not sure if I can put the position into this blog (actually I know it's possible, but I am not sure how to do it). It truly was my intent to never actually include chess diagrams and analysis into this blog, but I have heard enough interest, that I am going to try it. Wish me luck. Anyhow, it was a fantastic start to what was sure to be a fantastic weekend of chess.
Ok - the position is white to move and mate soon (apparently in 6 if black wants to go crazy - but just try to see the idea. I also realize that fritz6 is giving away the move, but I don't care - this is about as good as it gets for me). I made the move and I felt great about it.
The Pittsburgh Chess Club is hosting its annual club championship tournament. I haven't played in a Tuesday Night tournament in years (at least 15), but since I am chessing out right now (whatever that means) I decided to play. I couldn't be happier. As usual in the first round - us mid-level players get paired against the best of the best, and I played this man named Jeff, who is very good. Well, needless to say - after one of my best openings yet, I had an advantage into the middle game, but I couldn't force it home, and actually went from winning to losing in about ten moves. Well, my favorite part of the story is how I then capitalized on an improper move that Jeff made, and found a perpetual check that led me to a first round draw.
That was both good and bad. Good because it was a draw against a higher rated player, and bad because it meant that next round I would be playing up again. I drew the highest rated player in the tournament for the next round. Well, that was the Tuesday before we left for Philly.
Once again, I have to thank Kevin and his father for their incredible generosity in allowing me to ride out to the Liberty Bell Open in their van. If not for this family, I would never have experienced one large tournament, and now I was experiencing my second. So thank you again.
The ride out was different this time. Another Pittsburgh Chess Club player, and a friend of mine, rode out with us. His name is David. We all watched a movie on Kevin's Laptop - well, actually I couldn't actually see the movie, because I was sitting in the front seat, but it was Lord of the Rings (one of my all time favorites, and - coincidentally - there is a Lord of the Rings pinball machine, also one of my favorites. But I digress.) It made the ride fly by. We arrived in Philly with plenty of time to spare, or so we thought.
For those of you that have not heard, we have a new President of the United States. And that new president just happened to be staying at the same hotel our tournament we were staying in (as well as the same hotel we were playing in). So the traffic was an absolute nightmare right outside the hotel, what with all the precautions being taken. It literally took us over a half an hour from seeing our hotel to being in our hotel.
But we made it. It was time for our first round to begin. I drew a man named Michael (who eventually won our section). Happily I had the white pieces, played my KIA (by the way - it might be time to spice it up a little bit, and add another opening with the white pieces - we shall see) and won the game in about 30 moves. The game had a very interesting final move on my part - sort of like a chess problem. I am not sure if I can put the position into this blog (actually I know it's possible, but I am not sure how to do it). It truly was my intent to never actually include chess diagrams and analysis into this blog, but I have heard enough interest, that I am going to try it. Wish me luck. Anyhow, it was a fantastic start to what was sure to be a fantastic weekend of chess.
Ok - the position is white to move and mate soon (apparently in 6 if black wants to go crazy - but just try to see the idea. I also realize that fritz6 is giving away the move, but I don't care - this is about as good as it gets for me). I made the move and I felt great about it.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Quick Hit
I am headed to Philly in about a half hour. Cannot wait to play in the Liberty Bell Open. Will update the blog when I return. Also will talk about the Pittsburgh Chess Club Championship Rounds 1 & 2.
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