Bermuda International Open - Round 5

Finally we're down to the last round. In the morning we agreed to start the last round an hour late in order to not have to contend with fashion show noise. Besides I think some of the fellows wanted to check out the hot models. Actually the male models were pretty nice looking too. Here are a few shots I took during the fashion show. I decided I would play fashion photographer for awhile. It’s not as easy as it looks. I’m not ready to quit my day job.



Sorry fellows this was bridal fashion show, so no scantily clad babes. I guess skimpy bikinis aren’t party of the wedding party attire. Then I decided I would make my fashion statement.

Run-a-way chess fashion diva?

Being that this is a chess blog, I return to chess. On the top boards it went pretty much as I guessed. As I had predicted it was De Firmian against Cummings. I wasn’t 100% about the remaining top pairings, but Charbonneau against Alex Cherniack, and Ivanov against Ippolito. With Cummings at 4 points and the remaining top players at 3.5, there were going to be no grandmaster draws. The draws on those top boards would be hard fought ones. Charbonneau won his game. Ivanov and Ippolito drew. De Firmian had been up a pawn against Cummings, but time pressure forced him into taking the draw. They were the last game done.

GM De Firmian and IM Cummings down to the bitter end.

On a personal note, I survived a major scare in the last round. I played another new player with an estimated rating. I blundered a pawn and an exchange, and was in deep trouble. However my opponent played one move too fast and I won my pawn and exchange back. A potential big upset turned into a win for me, and brought me back to an even score and a small piece of 3rd place in the under 1800 category.

I will post some of my games in a few days. I'm just trying to catch up with results and pictures.