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?"