It's been awhile since I've had to think about King Kong as an opponent. The last few times I've played in the WCA Friday Action he has not been there. Not that it's mattered, my combined score in those past two events is 0 wins 5 losses and 1 draw. It's ceased bothering me since the rating range from top to bottom is less then 100 points. I'm usually number two or three in the top quad. So instead of having Harry as number one in the section it was back to Kevin holding that spot. One of these days I'm going get bounced out of that top quad when all the kids rated over 1700 show up on the same night.
In the first round I played Kapil again. Once again I was black and had to deal with his Maroczy Bind. I didn't like the position I got earlier in the month, so I tried a different line. As the cleaned up expression goes, different day, same old stuff. Instead of getting a crushing attack, he won two pawns and then just ground it out. In the meantime King Kong was up a pawn against Josh, but as he put it "I got too fancy." and walked into a nasty pin. The next time I looked Josh had promoted and mated with a queen and rook.
King Kong may have been suffering from what I refer to as "Saratoga Syndrome". That's what I call what happened to me after I won the tournament in Saratoga Springs. I was afraid of playing and losing rating points. When I played, I was tentative and sure enough I tossed all those hard won points in my next two events. He went 4-0 at the Marshall over the weekend and gained a bunch of points putting him over 1900 for the first time. I know he was concerned about his rating because before the first round had started he was discussing how many points he'd lose if he went 2-1 in the quad. He figured he'd still be around 1900.
I wasn't sure what to expect in our game after he blew the game against Josh. Would he have a melt down or take out all his frustrations with me? At least I had white. In all my games with him when I've been white I've had good positions before imploding. I debated between c4 or d4. I finally opted for d4. He surprised me when he castled queen side, but didn't follow that up with a king side pawn storm. He usually plays more aggressively then he did, and instead of creating a weakness in my castled position he made a pawn push that allowed me to win a pawn.
I've learned with him to not get overly excited about being up a pawn. I've lost too many games against these kids when I'm winning because I've lost focus or just haven't been able to finish it. My game against Kapil earlier the month was a stark reminder of that. I was up two pawns, but let my advantage slip away, and got crushed. I wanted to try to avoid that situation in this game so I went for the queen trade after winning the pawn. Even with the queens off the board I was almost expecting the worst. He had doubled his rooks on the f file with 30...Rdf8, and I was concerned about how I would defend the f2 square. After much analysis and debate I said the hell with trying to hold f2, I was going after his 7th with Re1 followed by Ree7. Given my history with him I knew sitting back and defending would be asking for trouble. I was going to go for my own attack. I figured if nothing else I'd force a pair of rooks off the board if he played Rf7.
He went for his attack on f2 with Nd3. I wasn't afraid of losing the pawn on f2 since I was going to pick up the b7 pawn with check. After his 33rd move he offered me a draw. I was a little surprised by it since he rarely offers draws. He's also not one of those kids who offers a draw when they're about to lose. I wasn't ready for a draw. After I played 35. Nxc6+ he was apologetic about the draw offer. He said that he had not seen the mate coming when he made the offer.
I'd like to say there was a happy ending to this tournament. One would hope that by getting King Kong off my back I'd be totally inspired for my last round game. Nope! For the third tournament in a row I played Josh in the last round, and for the third time I'd lose the toss for color and end out with black. When Josh was in 2nd grade, he played wild attacking chess and moved way too fast. The first time we played he tried to out blitz me in my time trouble and blundered. As he matured he slowed down, but then went into very boring games where he'd trade down to very drawish endings. Often he'd do that even when he had a lead in development. As a 4th grader he's gone back to more aggressive play.
After my big win I was content to play safe chess and try for a draw. I figured an even score in this quad would gain me a few rating points. Trying not to lose is a bad mindset, especially when playing a kid who is looking to gain as many points as possible and get back over 1700 again. I was a little too anxious to trade down. Unfortunately getting the queens off the board did nothing for my position. I ended out not being to castle and gave him all the play. I dropped a pawn, and then a piece. Another potentially good tournament bites the dust. C'est la vie.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
MDC Action Edited
I thought by playing in the Action tournament I'd be far away from AK, but he dropped out the three day event and entered the action tournament. Oh well, can't win them all. I decided at this point I had to stop being annoyed by him. His fourth round opponent last night told him off, so perhaps he'd be a little gentler on the pieces this time around.
I got paired way down in round one. I was on the next to last board. When I'm paired down that far down it either means I a pathetically low rated player or I'm playing an unrated. I'm not sure which is worse. Playing a really low rated player can either be a total blow out, or they can surprise you, and put a serious fight before going down. No matter what it's annoying because there not much to gain from the win. Playing an unrated player is no bargain either. You just don't know what to expect. They could be a really strong player with an unpublished rating or they could be a total fish.
My opponent is an older man with a Eastern European name. I didn't make the connection to the last name when I wrote it down. Before the round had started I took a few pictures of the top board players in the Open Section. I looked at the pairings so I knew who it was I had taken pictures of. This was one of the pictures I took.
This is Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan. He's originally from Armenia and lives in the Los Angeles area. He coaches many of the talented young juniors in the Los Angeles area, including AK. He tied for 1st with 5 points out of 6. I didn't make the connection when I saw that my first round opponent on the next to last board in the action was named Zaven Khachiyan. Note to self: Beware of unrated players with the same last name as GM playing in same place. I had no clue that he is the father of GM Khachiyan. All I saw was I got paired way down against an older guy who was either low rated or unrated. I'm not sure if knowing who he was would have helped or not, but perhaps I wouldn't tried for some of the little cheap shots.
Ouch! That was not the way I wanted to start the tournament. Now having lost in round one I was going to get paired way down. This time I played an 1200 who was trying to mate me right from the get go. One's gotta love adult players who try for variations on the Scholar's Mate.
I won my next two games including one against an eight year old who was far better behaved then some of the other kids I had seen over the weekend. He didn't slam the pieces, adjust constantly, tap the clock excessively or do all those other annoying things that I see way too many kids do. He did make two of those wishful thinking draw offers. Somehow when a cute little eight year old kid makes a draw offer it's not as annoying when a 12 year old does the same thing. He fought hard to the end. I felt bad because he burst into tears when I mated him.
It would have been a nice tournament for me if I had not played like a total idiot in the last round. I finally got paired up against a 2200, but didn't put up much of a fight. Maybe I should have taken a last round bye in that section! Racing back to play my last round in the Lina Grumette tournament gave me a convenient excuse to resign quickly and be done with the ugliness.
I got paired way down in round one. I was on the next to last board. When I'm paired down that far down it either means I a pathetically low rated player or I'm playing an unrated. I'm not sure which is worse. Playing a really low rated player can either be a total blow out, or they can surprise you, and put a serious fight before going down. No matter what it's annoying because there not much to gain from the win. Playing an unrated player is no bargain either. You just don't know what to expect. They could be a really strong player with an unpublished rating or they could be a total fish.
My opponent is an older man with a Eastern European name. I didn't make the connection to the last name when I wrote it down. Before the round had started I took a few pictures of the top board players in the Open Section. I looked at the pairings so I knew who it was I had taken pictures of. This was one of the pictures I took.
This is Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan. He's originally from Armenia and lives in the Los Angeles area. He coaches many of the talented young juniors in the Los Angeles area, including AK. He tied for 1st with 5 points out of 6. I didn't make the connection when I saw that my first round opponent on the next to last board in the action was named Zaven Khachiyan. Note to self: Beware of unrated players with the same last name as GM playing in same place. I had no clue that he is the father of GM Khachiyan. All I saw was I got paired way down against an older guy who was either low rated or unrated. I'm not sure if knowing who he was would have helped or not, but perhaps I wouldn't tried for some of the little cheap shots.
Ouch! That was not the way I wanted to start the tournament. Now having lost in round one I was going to get paired way down. This time I played an 1200 who was trying to mate me right from the get go. One's gotta love adult players who try for variations on the Scholar's Mate.
I won my next two games including one against an eight year old who was far better behaved then some of the other kids I had seen over the weekend. He didn't slam the pieces, adjust constantly, tap the clock excessively or do all those other annoying things that I see way too many kids do. He did make two of those wishful thinking draw offers. Somehow when a cute little eight year old kid makes a draw offer it's not as annoying when a 12 year old does the same thing. He fought hard to the end. I felt bad because he burst into tears when I mated him.
It would have been a nice tournament for me if I had not played like a total idiot in the last round. I finally got paired up against a 2200, but didn't put up much of a fight. Maybe I should have taken a last round bye in that section! Racing back to play my last round in the Lina Grumette tournament gave me a convenient excuse to resign quickly and be done with the ugliness.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic Round 6
I did not sleep on the plane coming home so I was totally fried by the time I got home. I swear if I hear that damn female recorded voice with the security reminders one more time I'm going to ......never mind. Best left unsaid. I will let you fill in the rest of the setence any way you like. The last day was chess junkie heaven for me. Six games of chess in one day. One slow game and five action games. In the main event I took a 1/2 point bye for round five. The pre-emptive bye stratagy was most effective. I would have gotten a bye in round two. That was the round that I was 55 minutes late for, and I don't think they would have found me a house player having showed up that late. I drew my round six game in the main tournament. Once again I had a win where I just couldn't get it done.
I accepted a draw on move 82. Fritz rated white plus over minus with 2.08, but it was unclear even to Fritz how to convert. Here's one of the lines Fritz came up with. 83. Qa8+ Kh7 84. Ke7 Bg6 85. Qa4 Rh5 86. e6 Rf5 87. Qg4 Rd5 88. Qg1 Rf589. Kd7 Rd5+ 90. Kc7 Be8 91. Qb1+ Bg6 92. Qb4 Re5 93. e7 Bf7 94. Kc8 Re3 95.Kd7 Rd3+ 96. Kc7 Re3 97. Qd6 Re1 98. Kd8 Kg8 99. Kd7 Re2.
I wanted to give the queen back for bishop and rook, but not have to give up the e pawn in the process. I couldn't find a way to force the e pawn through. Even though I still had over an hour on the clock. He had two hours, and I had a plane to catch. Sometimes one reaches a point where it's time to declare victory and go home. Though in this case it was declare a draw, and go play bughouse with my teenage opponent and his friends. As I was sac-ing pieces, dropping knights on annoying squares and flushing the opponent's king out into the open one of the players declared, "Finally an adult who understands bughouse theory!" The innder child got to have some time before having to go sit in the airport waiting for her flight to go home.
I accepted a draw on move 82. Fritz rated white plus over minus with 2.08, but it was unclear even to Fritz how to convert. Here's one of the lines Fritz came up with. 83. Qa8+ Kh7 84. Ke7 Bg6 85. Qa4 Rh5 86. e6 Rf5 87. Qg4 Rd5 88. Qg1 Rf589. Kd7 Rd5+ 90. Kc7 Be8 91. Qb1+ Bg6 92. Qb4 Re5 93. e7 Bf7 94. Kc8 Re3 95.Kd7 Rd3+ 96. Kc7 Re3 97. Qd6 Re1 98. Kd8 Kg8 99. Kd7 Re2.
I wanted to give the queen back for bishop and rook, but not have to give up the e pawn in the process. I couldn't find a way to force the e pawn through. Even though I still had over an hour on the clock. He had two hours, and I had a plane to catch. Sometimes one reaches a point where it's time to declare victory and go home. Though in this case it was declare a draw, and go play bughouse with my teenage opponent and his friends. As I was sac-ing pieces, dropping knights on annoying squares and flushing the opponent's king out into the open one of the players declared, "Finally an adult who understands bughouse theory!" The innder child got to have some time before having to go sit in the airport waiting for her flight to go home.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic Rd. 4
This will be the last post until I get back. Tomorrow I get my cracktion fix so ther will be no time between rounds to post games and updates. It's probably just as well. Maybe my mind come out of the blog so to speak.
Even with the merge I had to sit next to AK (annoying kid). All the other rounds he was sitting on my right. This time he was on my left so his score book was right next to my clock. He has one of those bound hardcover scorebooks that seem to be so popular with the kids. I hate the damn things. They take up so much space on the table, and a lot of kids make such a production over writing their move down and hiding it from the opponent. Sometimes I'd like to strangle the person who brought one of those back from the London Chess Centre and told the Rochester Chess Center they shold make their own and sell them. What's wrong with the old spiral bound pads that don't take up huge amounts of space? (End of rant.)
I asked him to move it over some but it was still in my space. I should have been clearer about where he should put his score book. No that's not what I meant. Just simply draw an imaginary line down the table between my clock and his clock. All his stuff should be to the left of the imaginary line. It wasn't like the boards were jammed on top of each other. I guess I don't like my personal chess space infringed upon. Does that make me a little strange?
I admit it. I allowed him and his father to become a distraction. Every time his father stood behind me to watch his son's game I'd stand up so he'd have to move. It was rather juvenile on my part, but I was annoyed especially since the board to his son's left was empty. He could have stood there and not bothered anyone. I should have tuned the two of them out, but sometimes I just let people's behavior get under my skin.
This game sucked. I got my knight trapped, and I only got a pawn for it. I had no play for being down material. I fidldled around for another 20 moves, but then i just gave up. Too many pieces were getting traded and he had all the play. Here's the game. Not much to say about it.
Besides judging from the total lack of comments my last three posts have gotten, I think nobody is home. Anyone out there? Am I writing to myself? Phew! I managed to get this done before my connection ran out.
Dear Diary,
I suck at chess! Nobody likes me anymore.
Love, Polly
Even with the merge I had to sit next to AK (annoying kid). All the other rounds he was sitting on my right. This time he was on my left so his score book was right next to my clock. He has one of those bound hardcover scorebooks that seem to be so popular with the kids. I hate the damn things. They take up so much space on the table, and a lot of kids make such a production over writing their move down and hiding it from the opponent. Sometimes I'd like to strangle the person who brought one of those back from the London Chess Centre and told the Rochester Chess Center they shold make their own and sell them. What's wrong with the old spiral bound pads that don't take up huge amounts of space? (End of rant.)
I asked him to move it over some but it was still in my space. I should have been clearer about where he should put his score book. No that's not what I meant. Just simply draw an imaginary line down the table between my clock and his clock. All his stuff should be to the left of the imaginary line. It wasn't like the boards were jammed on top of each other. I guess I don't like my personal chess space infringed upon. Does that make me a little strange?
I admit it. I allowed him and his father to become a distraction. Every time his father stood behind me to watch his son's game I'd stand up so he'd have to move. It was rather juvenile on my part, but I was annoyed especially since the board to his son's left was empty. He could have stood there and not bothered anyone. I should have tuned the two of them out, but sometimes I just let people's behavior get under my skin.
This game sucked. I got my knight trapped, and I only got a pawn for it. I had no play for being down material. I fidldled around for another 20 moves, but then i just gave up. Too many pieces were getting traded and he had all the play. Here's the game. Not much to say about it.
Besides judging from the total lack of comments my last three posts have gotten, I think nobody is home. Anyone out there? Am I writing to myself? Phew! I managed to get this done before my connection ran out.
Dear Diary,
I suck at chess! Nobody likes me anymore.
Love, Polly
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic Rd. 3
I was sure I was going to end out playing the annoying kid since we had the same score and the colors were right. I was fully prepared to tell him off if he slammed pieces during our game, and tell his father to stop hovering behind me. However my result had been put in wrong so I ended out playing a new player who entered the section today with two zero point byes. I pointed out the incorrect result to the TD. He assured me the pairing would have been the same anyway. At first glance I thought he was right, but after looking more carefully at the pairings I'm not sure that's correct. My second round opponent got paired as a win so he played a one instead of a 1/2. Annoying kid got paired against the low 1. With the correct scores the two higher 1/2s play each other and I drop to the zero. But the colors are bad since the two higher 1/2 are both due black. Most likely my 2nd round opponent drops to the zero and I play white against AK (annoying kid.)
Instead I got to play a very nice woman who I underestimated when I was up a piece for a pawn. More on that later. AK's opponent didn't put up with the slamming piece nonsense at all. About 10 minuts into the round he told AK that how he was playing was very rude. I wanted to give the guy a high five for setting him straight, but I refrained.
This seems to be my weekend to just try different stuff. Since I've been getting some better games with d4 I played that instead of c4. Instead of a straight Colle set up, I played Bf4 on move 3. I liked my position out of the opening. In some ways it was similar to the set up I had against Steve the other night. I was looking at the same idea of winning the d pawn. However this time I wasn't dancing around the center with my knights and trying to deal with an undeveloped bishop. I won a bishop for a pawn by move 17 so I liked my chances.
The only problem is when I like my chances, that's when my mind starts to wander a bit. On move 21 I'm salivating over the open f file and sticking my rook on f7. This is where in the midst of my analysis stray thoughts such as "I really didn't want to get paired down, but if I win this game I'll get a good pairing tonight." start getting in the way. It's also the point that my mind goes into a "blog". That's a potential blog article induced fog. I start thinking about what I'm going to write about and lose focus on my analysis. Maybe this blogging as I go stuff isn't so good. This is also the point where I think I took my opponent a little too lightly since she had played some conservative responses to some of my moves. After I played 21. Rf7 she responded with Qg5, followed by Qg3. The annoying Qh2+ put the kibosh on trying to double the rooks on the f file.
I think part of the mind in a blog issue is because one of my regular readers from this area is playing in the tournament. Shout out to Saul! We had met a few months ago when he was visiting New York and came to the Marshall. I'm flattered by how much he enjoys my blog and he actually can quote things I've written. We've talked in between rounds and he's taken great interest in watching my games and sitting in on some of my post mortems. I feel like I have my own blog groupie. Some how knowing that one of my readers is seeing the live action even before it's written is a little distracting.
At move 25 the position becomes complex as my opponent's queen is deep in my territory, but I still have all this pressure on my opponent's 7th rank. I spent 25 minutes thinking about what I should do. Do I keep trying to attack, or do I move the king off f1 and away from the g2 pawn. I saw that if I left the king on f1 that she had Qh1+ skewing my a1 rook. However I felt she didn't have time to wander off to the queen side to go material grabbing when I have so much play on the king side. I didn't give enough consideration to 26...Qxa1. I spent most of the 25 minutes looking at all the other possible responses to my various moves. I finally thought to myself, "Go for it!" and played 25. Ne6?? Unfortunately in my superficial analysis of 25...Qh1+ 26. Ke2 Qxa1 I over looked the eventual Qxb2+ forcing the repetition.
The round starts in 25 minutes. I will be there on time. The three day and two day schedules merge this round. Hopefully I'm not sitting next to or paired against AK.
Instead I got to play a very nice woman who I underestimated when I was up a piece for a pawn. More on that later. AK's opponent didn't put up with the slamming piece nonsense at all. About 10 minuts into the round he told AK that how he was playing was very rude. I wanted to give the guy a high five for setting him straight, but I refrained.
This seems to be my weekend to just try different stuff. Since I've been getting some better games with d4 I played that instead of c4. Instead of a straight Colle set up, I played Bf4 on move 3. I liked my position out of the opening. In some ways it was similar to the set up I had against Steve the other night. I was looking at the same idea of winning the d pawn. However this time I wasn't dancing around the center with my knights and trying to deal with an undeveloped bishop. I won a bishop for a pawn by move 17 so I liked my chances.
The only problem is when I like my chances, that's when my mind starts to wander a bit. On move 21 I'm salivating over the open f file and sticking my rook on f7. This is where in the midst of my analysis stray thoughts such as "I really didn't want to get paired down, but if I win this game I'll get a good pairing tonight." start getting in the way. It's also the point that my mind goes into a "blog". That's a potential blog article induced fog. I start thinking about what I'm going to write about and lose focus on my analysis. Maybe this blogging as I go stuff isn't so good. This is also the point where I think I took my opponent a little too lightly since she had played some conservative responses to some of my moves. After I played 21. Rf7 she responded with Qg5, followed by Qg3. The annoying Qh2+ put the kibosh on trying to double the rooks on the f file.
I think part of the mind in a blog issue is because one of my regular readers from this area is playing in the tournament. Shout out to Saul! We had met a few months ago when he was visiting New York and came to the Marshall. I'm flattered by how much he enjoys my blog and he actually can quote things I've written. We've talked in between rounds and he's taken great interest in watching my games and sitting in on some of my post mortems. I feel like I have my own blog groupie. Some how knowing that one of my readers is seeing the live action even before it's written is a little distracting.
At move 25 the position becomes complex as my opponent's queen is deep in my territory, but I still have all this pressure on my opponent's 7th rank. I spent 25 minutes thinking about what I should do. Do I keep trying to attack, or do I move the king off f1 and away from the g2 pawn. I saw that if I left the king on f1 that she had Qh1+ skewing my a1 rook. However I felt she didn't have time to wander off to the queen side to go material grabbing when I have so much play on the king side. I didn't give enough consideration to 26...Qxa1. I spent most of the 25 minutes looking at all the other possible responses to my various moves. I finally thought to myself, "Go for it!" and played 25. Ne6?? Unfortunately in my superficial analysis of 25...Qh1+ 26. Ke2 Qxa1 I over looked the eventual Qxb2+ forcing the repetition.
The round starts in 25 minutes. I will be there on time. The three day and two day schedules merge this round. Hopefully I'm not sitting next to or paired against AK.
Polly In LA LA Land
"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!"
I have to remind myself I'm in California. They do things a little different around here, and the passing of time and distance isn't the same as it is in New York. Be prepared for a much longer walk then planned when a bellman tells you just to walk down to Sepulvida Blvd and walk three blocks to get to the closest supermarket. "It will take about 15 minutes." 15 to minutes to where? Sepulvida? 3 blocks? Who are they kidding? Three blocks in the land of giants? I'm a New Yorker. There are street blocks and avenue blocks. These were not either. So what I expected to be a 45 minute food run ended out being more like 90 minutes. Oops!
I didn't mind the long walk. It was sunny and finally had warmed up. It was so cold yesterday I felt like I was still in New York. In fact it was warmer in New York then it was in "sunny California". Go figure. But there was one major issue in terms of time and distance. I thought since the first round was at 10:30 the second round would be at 5:30. Most tournaments I play in with six hours of playing time usually have one hour between rounds. So when I arrived back at the hotel at 5:50 I thought "Okay I'm going to be 25 minutes late for the round. No big deal. I almost never use all my time in the first control." I went up to my room, dropped off the food, and got my chess bag. The message light on my phone was blinking, but I paid it no mind. Usually it's message from the manager saying "Welcome to the Hilton. Enjoy your stay." Anyone who really wants to reach m calls me on my cell phone. Though I leave it off during my rounds because I get no reception and only drain the battery. I had turned on when I got back to my hotel room, but I forgot to take it with me when I went out.
I get downstairs, calmly walk up to the pairings, write down my opponent's name and head into the room. Someone asked me if I was alright. I said I was fine. I told the TD I had walked to Ralph's Supermarket and it took longer then I thought. He said "you walked to Ralph's? That takes about 40 minutes!"
I go to my board and notice my clock reads 65 minutes. Huh? What's the time control again? 40/120 G/60. I'm 55 minutes late?? The round started at when? 5:00 PM. In the 36 years I've been playing in tournaments I've never forfeited a game, and I've never been that late before. 40 moves in 65 minutes. A little hairy, but doable. I'm not sure what got into me, but I played the opening totally crazy. Maybe it was due to how late I was, and how far behind on the clock I was going to be. As it turned out the time handicap wasn't much a factor. In fact at one point in the game I was only a few minutes behind on the clock. He used a lot more real time then I did.
Here's the game with not too many notes. I was lucky to draw.
It turns out I had gotten several phone calls from different people wondering where I was. The message on the hotel phone was from Randy Hough telling me I was about to run out of time. Another friend had called me on my cell phone, but since I didn't have it with me I didn't get her call. If I had it with me then I could have had her come pick me up. She assured my opponent that I would come. Better late then never!
Hopefully tomorrow I can make it to the board on time, and hopefully I don't play the obnoxious kid in my section who slams his pieces on every move, has a hovering father and played a position all the way out to mate down a rook and queen. He's way too high rated to be playing out a position like that against a higher rated adult opponent. I got a good chuckle when his opponent retaliated by slapping the queen down on the mating square and screwing it in as he said mate. When I mentioned to one of the locals I thought the kid was obnoxious his comment was "It didn't take you long to figure that out."
Note to self: Rounds are at same times as they were today. 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM.
I have to remind myself I'm in California. They do things a little different around here, and the passing of time and distance isn't the same as it is in New York. Be prepared for a much longer walk then planned when a bellman tells you just to walk down to Sepulvida Blvd and walk three blocks to get to the closest supermarket. "It will take about 15 minutes." 15 to minutes to where? Sepulvida? 3 blocks? Who are they kidding? Three blocks in the land of giants? I'm a New Yorker. There are street blocks and avenue blocks. These were not either. So what I expected to be a 45 minute food run ended out being more like 90 minutes. Oops!
I didn't mind the long walk. It was sunny and finally had warmed up. It was so cold yesterday I felt like I was still in New York. In fact it was warmer in New York then it was in "sunny California". Go figure. But there was one major issue in terms of time and distance. I thought since the first round was at 10:30 the second round would be at 5:30. Most tournaments I play in with six hours of playing time usually have one hour between rounds. So when I arrived back at the hotel at 5:50 I thought "Okay I'm going to be 25 minutes late for the round. No big deal. I almost never use all my time in the first control." I went up to my room, dropped off the food, and got my chess bag. The message light on my phone was blinking, but I paid it no mind. Usually it's message from the manager saying "Welcome to the Hilton. Enjoy your stay." Anyone who really wants to reach m calls me on my cell phone. Though I leave it off during my rounds because I get no reception and only drain the battery. I had turned on when I got back to my hotel room, but I forgot to take it with me when I went out.
I get downstairs, calmly walk up to the pairings, write down my opponent's name and head into the room. Someone asked me if I was alright. I said I was fine. I told the TD I had walked to Ralph's Supermarket and it took longer then I thought. He said "you walked to Ralph's? That takes about 40 minutes!"
I go to my board and notice my clock reads 65 minutes. Huh? What's the time control again? 40/120 G/60. I'm 55 minutes late?? The round started at when? 5:00 PM. In the 36 years I've been playing in tournaments I've never forfeited a game, and I've never been that late before. 40 moves in 65 minutes. A little hairy, but doable. I'm not sure what got into me, but I played the opening totally crazy. Maybe it was due to how late I was, and how far behind on the clock I was going to be. As it turned out the time handicap wasn't much a factor. In fact at one point in the game I was only a few minutes behind on the clock. He used a lot more real time then I did.
Here's the game with not too many notes. I was lucky to draw.
It turns out I had gotten several phone calls from different people wondering where I was. The message on the hotel phone was from Randy Hough telling me I was about to run out of time. Another friend had called me on my cell phone, but since I didn't have it with me I didn't get her call. If I had it with me then I could have had her come pick me up. She assured my opponent that I would come. Better late then never!
Hopefully tomorrow I can make it to the board on time, and hopefully I don't play the obnoxious kid in my section who slams his pieces on every move, has a hovering father and played a position all the way out to mate down a rook and queen. He's way too high rated to be playing out a position like that against a higher rated adult opponent. I got a good chuckle when his opponent retaliated by slapping the queen down on the mating square and screwing it in as he said mate. When I mentioned to one of the locals I thought the kid was obnoxious his comment was "It didn't take you long to figure that out."
Note to self: Rounds are at same times as they were today. 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic Rd. 1
As one may have gathered from reading my last few posts I'm in Los Angeles playing chess. There were many different options in terms of possible tournaments this Memorial Day Weekend. So why this one? Certainly there were closer and cheaper options. Cheapest would have been Steve Immitt's weekend swiss at the Marshall. The downside would have been having to play all the same people I play every week there. I could have played in the US Amateur East. The upside would have been getting to put "cheap" New Jersey gas in my tank. The down side would have been playing under rated little kids.
I could have gone to the Chicago Open and hung out with Chess Loser. I wouldn't have had to get on another plane when I arrived at O'Hare. But where in earth is Wheeling, IL? How do you get there from O'Hare without renting a car or spending a fortune on a taxi? I was too lazy to figure that out. Other options were the US Amateur West in Tucson, AZ or Washington Open in Redmond. I'm not sure me and my Mac would be allowed in Microsoft Land. Also there's the how to get there without a car rental thing again. Renting a car to drive to and from a chess tournament is a waste. What does one do at a chess tournament? Play chess, analyze games, eat, drink and sleep. All of that can be done within the confines of the hotel. Those were more interesting venues then the LAX Hilton. Talk about boring locations! Any hotel at an airport tends to be pretty boring since the food and entertainment options are rather limited. Also the view from the room kind of sucks.
I could have gone to the Chicago Open and hung out with Chess Loser. I wouldn't have had to get on another plane when I arrived at O'Hare. But where in earth is Wheeling, IL? How do you get there from O'Hare without renting a car or spending a fortune on a taxi? I was too lazy to figure that out. Other options were the US Amateur West in Tucson, AZ or Washington Open in Redmond. I'm not sure me and my Mac would be allowed in Microsoft Land. Also there's the how to get there without a car rental thing again. Renting a car to drive to and from a chess tournament is a waste. What does one do at a chess tournament? Play chess, analyze games, eat, drink and sleep. All of that can be done within the confines of the hotel. Those were more interesting venues then the LAX Hilton. Talk about boring locations! Any hotel at an airport tends to be pretty boring since the food and entertainment options are rather limited. Also the view from the room kind of sucks.
However one can not beat the ease of getting off an airplane, grabbing her luggage, and jumping on the free hotel shuttle. So here I am for second straight year hanging out at LAX over Memorial Day weekend. Unlike last year when I played in my own section and had a marginal result against randomly rated California players this year I opted to play up. I also took the pre-emptive round 5 1/2 point bye to avoid early full point byes, and to repeat my double dip of playing in Monday's action event.
Some people are crazy enough to try playing their fifth round of the main event while playing in the game/30 at the same time. I may be stupid, bu I'm not crazy. Last year in the second round of the action I played someone who running back and forth between events. The funny thing was he had been assigned the bye in his section in the main event, but accepted a game against a house player. If that had been me, I would have graciously accepted my full point bye, and concentrated on the action games.
In the first round I got apired up against a hgh 1800. It was a slow positional grind. It reminded me of why I hate 6 hour time controls. I should have played the 2 day schedule where I'd have 3 games at G/60. That would have also saved me a night in the hotel, and I bet my airfare would have been cheaper flying on Saturday instead of Friday of Memorial Day weekend. I thought about that after I booked my airfare. Note to self: Look at different tournament schedule options before booking my flight.
Here's the game. Fritz had better ideas then what we looked at during the post mortem.
Hopefully I'll play better in the next round.
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