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.