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.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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.
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