Some progress...

I have made some progress, but getting to 2000, by the February supplement may be a tall order, but the way I see it, I need just one really good result!

I will not be playing Nov 25-26. I plan to stop by at the Scott Kittsley Quick Chess Festival . I decided not to play because I don't think I could learn much from G/29, and even if I did well, it won't change my regular rating. I am going to try and finish the book on rook endings instead.

My next tournament is the 2006 Illinois Class Championship in Joliet, IL. Dec. 2-3.

I am also thinking about playing in the Wisconsin Memorial in Madison,WI, Dec 9-10

3rd Coast Chess Fest.: Nov 18-19 (Northbrook, IL)

The turn out was very dissapointing, only about 60 players showed up. The prizes were based on a ridiculously high number of 180!

Complete Results

My goals for this tournament were, to get my rating to 1900 (from 1872) and to be one of the prize winners.

I managed to tie for 3rd-4th which was worth $62.50 (the entry fee was $65). I went 3-1 (plus one bye), and gained 3 points to end up at 1875

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There are many things that keep me from getting to 2000. One that I have worked on is not to get discouraged when I am not doing so well, instead I try extra hard to put as many obstacles as possible in front of my opponent. Another is to get over confident when I am doing well, I still need to work on that.

Round 1 Bye

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Round 2 Mehmed Covic (1800) vs Me Loss
It was the first time that I played 5...h5, 6...h4 in this variation of the Caro-Kann. I was in bad shape after playing 9...Nbd7 (e6 was correct) , and White could have won with 19.c4 but I managed to hang in there and win the exchange and get to a winning position, I then got my rook "trapped" (after 54 Bd4) and had to sac a pawn to get it out. The funny thing was the rook was not trapped as with 55...c5 and 56...b4 I was winning easily, but after the White king guards the bishop the situation is less in my favor. I then managed to get in to severe time trouble and lost what was a drawn endgame.

Click here to replay game.

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Round 3 Me vs Jan Suplat (1676) Win

Click here to replay game.

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Round 4 Me vs Nicola Dos Santos (1668) Win

Click here to replay game.

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Round 5 Boris Deriy (1607) vs Me Win

This game was about tactics, imaginary and real.

Imaginary Tactics - played
When I played 15...Bxg3 I thought I would be picking up the bishop on b2 next move, but right after I played it I saw that White has 16.Rf2. But I played the 2 moves 15..Bxg3 and 16...Qb6 + with such authority that it fooled my oponent and he just played 16. kh2

Real Tactics - unplayed
I had 14...Bxg3 and if White plays 15.fxg I pick up the rook with 16...Qd4+, but White has the surprising 15.Bb2 when Black is only slightly better after he playes 16...Bh4 and then 17...Bf6 (after White plays 16.Bxg7 17. Bxh8) . I don't think a human player would find 15. Bb2, it is pretty rare to just attack a pawn when your opponent just took your knight.

Click here to replay game.

Kings Island Open : Nov 11-12 (Mason, OH)

I only played one good game (round 4), but still lost only 2 rating points to finish with 1-1=2 with a rating of 1872.

Complete Results

Round 1
Bye

Round 2 - Me vs MICHAEL A MORRIS (1944) Loss
In this game I could have forced the following position (on move 16) with Black to play:

I thought that the isolated pawn would be a liability, but I think that my active pieces compensate for this and White should be fine. I lost this game because of the move 17. Nh7, for a moment I forgot that rooks can move horizontally too!

Click here to replay game.

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Round 3 - KEVIN MALLOY (1914) vs me Draw
I could have played Kh7 and there are no more checks and Black shold be able to win with the extra piece.

Click here to replay game.

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Round 4 Me vs - MICHAEL CHIANG (1856 ) Win

Click here to replay game.

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Round 5 GEORGE J ELGIN (1771) vs Me Draw

This was a very interesting but frustrating draw. I was clearly winning for most of the game, and then I got into a winning pawn endgame (43...e5). I then blundered with 51...Kg2 and should have lost, but my opponent captured the wrong pawn and the game was drawn. 60. K x b5 wins while K x b4 draws. So instead of gaining about 12 rating points I lost a couple.

Click here to replay game.

Wisconsin Veterans : Nov 4-5 (Oshkosh, WI)

I finished with 4/5 and tied for 2nd-5th, worth $52.50 and a new rating of 1874.

James Coons with 3.5/5 took home the trophy for the highest finishing person over 50.

Results

First place winner Daniel Lindquist 4.5/5, $170

Top 2 seeds on the left. Kelly Borman, Souvick Roychoudhury.

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My Results
Rnd 1 - Win Timothy Hiddemen (1130) vs Me

Click here to replay game.

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Rnd 2 - bye

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Rnd 3 - Win Me vs R. Hollenhorst (1500 )

Click here to replay game.

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Rnd 4 - Draw Kelly Borman (2003) vs Me .

This was an exciting game. With 19...Be7 I would have had the advantage. The sac on e6 does not work for White, and that was what he was going to do. After 20 Bxe6 fxe6. 21 Rxe6 Qf7 Black wins

Click here to replay game.

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Rnd 5 - Win Me vs John Phythyon (1900)

Click here to replay game.

Etc.

I went to the Waukesha Chess Club today. They were concluding a g/29 tournament and needed a house player for the last round, I decided to play since it was only quick rated.

Click here to replay game.

This w-end I plan to play in the Wiconsin Veterans Tournamet.

The w-end of the 11th is the King's Island Open. I have not decided if I will play there. If I can get at least one more person to go with me I will.

Caption Time

Governor's Cup : Oct 27-29 (Sioux Falls,SD)

I played in the U2000 section and tied for 2nd-3rd.That was worth $400. I also got my rating up to 1856.

Here are the results.

This was a great, well directed tournament and I recommend it highly. One of the highlights was the “chess social” that was held at the Knudson residence. Where else would mere patzers like us get to hang out with GMs and IMs while partaking in a sumptuous spread?

I got into time trouble in all my games, but managed 3.5/4. (I took a bye in the first round to finish 4/5). The main reason I am getting into time trouble is that I am trying to be careful in order to minimize errors, but this is counter productive since the lack of time introduces errors later in the game.

CAMILLA BAGINSKAITE (Left)

ALEX YERMOLINSKY (Right)

ALEXANDER IVANOV SERGEY KUDRIN (Left)

chess social

A good result

I finally had a good result. I went 4-0 with a performance rating of 2000 in the Waukesha Chess Club 4 round swiss, which should bring my rating upto 1841, but that loss from the other tournament that I taked about in my last post will cost me about 25 points, so I will be around 1816 when that gets rated. Still, 3 tournaments in a row where I stay above my floor is good for me.

My next tournament is the Governor's Cup in South Dakota. Driving a total of about 16 hours might seem like a crazy idea, but I am making an exception since I have always wanted to play in the tornament.

Game replay

This is the win from yesterday. I missed Rxf7, but other than that I was happy with my play. I got into time trouble again and had to play the last 10 moves with less than 8 min.

A frustrating loss

A little background:

I know it’s silly to be concerned so much about ratings, but I can't help it. I finally managed to get my rating above the floor albeit by just 6 points. But I had the possibility of getting it even higher because I am currently playing in two local events:

Event 1 – Event ends Oct/17th

Game 1 Win 1250
Game 2 Win 1550
Game 3 Win 1900
Game 4 Win 1600

Event 2 Event ends Oct/18th

Game 1 loss 1900
Game 2 Draw 1800
Game 3 Loss 1733 - The game I am taking about.

When you are close to your floor the order in which the events get rated is important. For instance If I have 1 bad and 1 good performance. If the bad one gets rated first, I get to keep the points form the good one, but if the good one gets rated first I don’t. In this situation I have the latter case. (Event 2 has an official end date of 10/18 although I played the game yesterday)

Mistakes and other observations I made in this game:

1) I got over-confident after getting a great position. Mentally, I had already marked a 1 in the win column pretty early in the game.

2) When confronted with an unexpected move (20 ..Qe5) I panicked and did not look hard enough for a refutation. I should have done what Jose Gatica recommends in these situations - Walk away from the board so you can mentally adjust. With 21. Qd3 I am still winning. But this 2 move sequence Qd3, Qd4 is very hard to find in time trouble.

3) Did not look hard enough for tactics 15. B x c6 wins.

4) I was taking to Jose Gaticca about me getting into time trouble often. The obseravation he made is that becuase I am not tactically up to par, I take too long thinking about tactcal posibilties (even then I miss things). To really improve I have to train myself tactically so the ideas come to me without having to spend too much time. To address this issue, I am currently reading a book that Tim Crouse recomended. The is book called Understanding Chess Tactics . This book does a great job in breaking down tactical ideas.


5) What I was thinking just before/after the blunder.
"Can the Queen get out of the pin and cover all the knight escape routes" I didn't look hard enough and did not find 20 ..Qe5. So when he played it I panicked. What's ironic is that although there is such a square it still does not work becaouse of 21. Qd3, so my initial assessment was correct after all!

"There was such a square, now I am lost"
"I should have not played Nxb5"
"I should have just put pressure on the c pawn"

What I should have been thinking:

"Okay I didn't expect 20 ..Qe5, don't panic, calm down, look for a refutation" If I had done that I would probably have found 21. Qd3

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The number of actual points I lose for this loss depends on the result of my round four game in the other event. According to my calculations:

Win 1854 1828 26
Draw 1831 1800 25
Loss 1818 1800 18

Column 2 Rating after good event
Column 3 Rating after bad event
Column 4 number of points this game cost.

Caption Time

Midwest Class Championships Oct -13-15

Results
Ehlvest wins clear first with 4.5/5 beats Shulman in the last round

The top contenders were:
2679 GM Yuri Shulman
2666 GM Jaan Ehlvest
2573 GM Dmitry Gurevich
2500 IM Stanislav Smetankin
2456 IM Angelo Young
2445 FM Mehmed Pasalic
2435 FM Ruslan Ahundov
Smetankin, Gurevich, Ahundov - Playing in the 2 day event (Smetankin, Gurvich win, Ahundov loses to Ehlvest )
Shulman vs Nienart - 3 day event round 2 - Shulman wins

Ehlvest

Magdalena Matyszewska 1984 (highest rated female player)

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The father and son Karklins

Andrew Karklins 2311

Erik Karklins 2026 He is over 90 years old and maintains an expert rating!

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4th round clash of the Eriks. Age difference around 70! years. Erik Santarius wins this and draws the last round to finish clear first in the U2200 and wins $1000.

I finished 3/5 (first round bye, 3rd round forfeit win) U2000

Rnd 2.Me (1800) - Bartlett,R (1733) [D30]Midwest Class, 14.10.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 h6 8.Bh4 0-0 9.Nc3 c6 [9...c5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.0-0] 10.0-0 b5 11.Bd3 Bb7 12.Rc1 a5 13.Bg3 Nh5 14.Be5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 [15.Nxe5 Nf6 16.Qf3] 15...g6 16.Ne4 [16.Qc2 Qe8 17.Nd4±] 16...Qb6 17.Nd4 Rad8 18.Qe2 Nf4 19.exf4 Rxd4 20.Qe3 Rfd8 21.Bb1 c5 22.Nf6+ Kg7 23.a3 Qc7 24.Ne4?? [24.Qxd4 Wins] 24...Bxe4 25.Bxe4 a4 26.g3 Qa5 27.Bc2 b4 28.axb4 cxb4 29.Ra1 b3 30.Bxb3 Qd2?? [30...Rd3 Wins for Black] 31.Qxd2 [31.Bxa4 Qxe3 32.fxe3 Rd2 33.b3] 31...Rxd2 32.Bxa4 Rxb2 33.Rab1 Rdd2 34.Rxb2 Rxb2 ½-½

I think I had a decent opening, I should have played 16.Qc2 and would have had a good game. We both got into time trouble and made many gross blunders. I could have won with 24.Qxd4 and he could have won with 30...Rd3

Rnd 4 Me (1800) - Magness,T (1857) [B11]Midwest Class (4), 15.10.2006
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.h3 Bh5 [ 4...Bxf3 5.Qxf3 e6 6.d3 Nf6 7.Bd2 Nbd7 8.g4 Qb6 9.0-0-0 d4 10.Ne2 Bb4 11.g5 Bxd2+ 12.Rxd2 Ng8] 5.exd5 cxd5 6.g4 Bg6 7.Bb5+ Nc6 8.Ne5 Rc8 9.d4 e6 10.h4 f6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Qd3 Nge7 13.Be3 a6 14.Ba4 Qa5 15.0-0-0 b5 16.Bb3 Nb4 17.Qd2 Ng8 18.a3 Nc6 19.Qd3 Kd7 20.Qxg6 Nge7 21.Qd3 b4 22.Na4 Ng8 [ 22...bxa3 23.Nc5+ Ke8 24.bxa3 Qxa3+ 25.Kd2 Nb4] 23.Bd2 Bd6 24.Rde1 Rb8 25.g5 Qd8 26.Qe3 Qe7 27.Bxd5 exd5 [ 27...bxa3 28.Bxe6+ Kd8 29.Qe4 axb2+ 30.Kb1] 28.Qh3+ Kd8 29.Rxe7 Ngxe7 30.Qe6 Kc7 31.axb4 Nxb4 32.Nc5 Rhd8 33.Bxb4 Rxb4 34.Nxa6+ Kb7 35.Nxb4 Bxb4 36.gxf6 gxf6 1-0

I was not familiar with this variation of the Caro Kann. I didn't wan't to give up the 2 bishops on move 4, but looks like that was the best move.

Surprisingly Black is okay after 12...f5

Rnd 5 Me (1800) - Blackman,W (1893) [D21]Midwest Class (5), 15.10.2006
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 a6 3.c4 dxc4 4.a4 [ 4.e3 b5 5.a4 c6] 4...c6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.e3 Be6 7.Ne5 Nbd7 8.Nxc4 Bxc4 9.Bxc4 Nb6 10.Bd3 e6 11.0-0 Be7 12.Bd2 a5 [ 12...e5 13.a5 exd4 14.exd4 Nbd5 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Qg4] 13.Qe2 0-0 14.Ne4 Nbd5 15.Nxf6+ Nxf6 16.Bc3 Qc7 17.Rac1 Rfd8 18.f4 Bd6 19.Be1 Nd5 20.Rf3 g6 21.g4 Nxf4 [ 21...f5 22.g5 ( 22.gxf5 exf5 23.Qg2 Qe7 24.Bf2) ] 22.exf4 Bxf4 23.Rc4 Rd5 24.Qf2 Bd6 25.Bd2 [ 25.Be4 Rg5 26.Qh4 Be7 27.Bg3 Qd8 28.Qh6] 25...Bf8 26.Qh4 Rad8 27.Rh3 f5 28.gxf5 exf5 29.Bf4 [ 29.Rc1 Rxd4 30.Bc4+ Kh8 31.Bc3; 29.Bg5 R8d7; 29.Rc3 Rxd4 ( 29...Kh8 30.Bg5 R8d6 31.Bc4 Rxd4 32.Bf6+ Rxf6 33.Qxf6+ Bg7 34.Rxh7+ Kxh7 35.Rh3+ Bh6 36.Be6) 30.Bc4+ Kh8 31.Qf6+ Bg7 32.Rxh7+ Kxh7 33.Rh3+ Rh4 34.Rxh4+ Bh6 35.Rxh6#] 29...Qf7 [ 29...Qg7 30.Be5 Be7 31.Bxg7 ( 31.Qf4 Bf6) 31...Bxh4 32.Be5] 30.Be5 [ 30.Bg5 R8d7 31.Rc2 Rxd4 32.Bc4 Rxh4 33.Bxf7+ Kxf7 ( 33...Rxf7 34.Rxh4) 34.Rxh4] 30...Bd6 31.Qxd8+ 1-0

Black had a = game before he gave up the knight

Corpus Christi - Texas

Took part in a fun-event in Corpus Christi, Texas, The Susan Polgar Giant Chess Set Tournament. (For teams of three)

The UT Brownsville team showed up, and they decided to have two teams one with their coach GM Gilberto Hernandez and the other with IM Daniel Fernandez.

The competition was lopsided to say the least with basically 400 rated players competing against GM/IM for the same prizes.

UT Brownsville finished 1st-2nd(Surprise! Surprise!)
We finished tied for 3rd-4th (4th on tie breaks), but the organizers decided not to split the prize money, but give it to the 3rd place team(based on tie breaks)

The 3rd place team lead by Bill Wheeler was very generous and decided to split the prize money with us.

That's it!

I have played 10 tournaments in a row in which I have not been able to get off my floor. It's time to stop playing so much and figure out how I can improve.

When I started playing rated chess I got my rating up to the mid 1800s pretty quickly, then I it was stuck from 1600 - 1700 for almost 15 years. Then last year I managed to get my rating up to 1880, but since then I have been stuck at my floor of 1800 (This is a floor based on prize money, not rating) . If not for the floor I would be back in the 1600-1700 range. Is history repeating itself? It might be another 15 years before I see my rating go over 1800 again!

Encouraged by the results of last year I decided to set a goal for myself. To get to 2000 by the February 2007 rating supplement.

My plan

Phase 1) Play lots of rated games
Phase 2) Go over the games with a coach and study (tactics mainly , endgames, grand master games in the openings I play)

I am done with phase 1 I have more than enough games to go over. I didn't expect any rating gains, but a few points would have been nice. There were many instances where it came down to the last round. May be I should start skipping the last round!

I am going to look at my last 100 games and pay special attention to the last 50 losses.

For the month of October I plan to play in two main events, The Midwest Class in Chicago and the Governor's Cup in Sioux Falls. I will be taking first round byes in both so that's only 8 games. I also plan to play another 6 games at local chess clubs. That's a total of 14. (I averaged 28 games/month for last 3 months).

Greg Knutson Memorial - Sep 23-23

Top seeds :

1) ALEXANDER BETANELI 2280
2) JOSEPH P RICHARDS 2036
3) LUO, BRIAN J 1972

Two of the nations top juniors are here.
Velikanov the nations #2 eight year old.
Luo the nations #1 nine year old.

Betaneli vs Luo in round 5 (Betaneli won)








"I am impressed to see kids like Ray Robson, Daniel Naroditsky and Brian Lou. All of them have the potential to become not only strong, but leading American grandmasters....."

-Gary Kasparov (page 39 September 2006 Chess Life)

Velikanov has a +1-0=1 record against Luo.

Touranament results

Cardenas, Jayne,new comer Zeeshaun and I made the trip from Milwaukee

Round 2
me vs Betaneli loss
I had a great game against Betaneli, but it came at a cost; bad time management. I made a critical error right before time control. But I was happy with way I played upto then.

This and that

A few days ago I had a dream that I had suddenly become a better player. I had two relatively easy wins against a 1600 and 1700 right after that. I was almost starting to believe my dream, but was brought back to earth pretty quickly. I had a couple of losses to an expert and an A player and then only scored 1-3=1 at the Iowa Open. One win in seven games!

Today was the last game at the Waukesha Team Tournament. I was paired against the 9-0, eight year old Alexander Velikanov.

I don't think many people gave me a chance, (Including myself) but I managed to win.

I was going to play the Caro Kann which I used to play, instead of my new defense to e4 the Qd6 Scandinavian. But I was surprised when he played 1.d4 which I have never seen him play. He then followed that up with e3, Bd3 and f4.

It was a classic case of good Knight vs bad Bishop.

Game replay

Check out this great application by Wayne Zimmerle

Iowa Open - Sep 16-17

Burgess beats Betaneli to tie for first(Along with Robert Raynolds). Remarkable come back by Burgess after he was upset in the first round by a 1700 player. This 1700 player Dan Brashaw had a great tournament. 2 wins and 3 draws agains very tough competition.

Cardenas had a chance to tie for first, but lost to Raynolds in the last round.

Complete Results

My problem is that when it comes to chess I am caught in two minds.

1) I really enjoy playing in tournaments.

2) I want to become a better player.

I am obviously playing far too much and not doing much when it comes to # 2 above. Playing so much without studying will have a negative impact (Jose Gatica). Since I am making the same kinds of mistakes over and over.

In this tournament I lost to a 2300 player in the first round. (No time trouble)

In the second round I could only manage a draw against a 1666 player after obtaining the following position as black: (Time trouble) In round 3 I lost to a 1523 player (Who is actually much better and beat a 1943 player in the first round) I had this position as White, but could not come up with a good plan. (Time trouble)
I finally had a win aginst a 1732 player in round 4. I just played e5 (I am black) and right after that saw that White could play Rxh2. But I can then play Qf5 and it gets pretty complicated. (No time trouble)

Round 5 : Made the wrong move in the opening and it was all down hill from there. I am suposed to bring the Q bishop to g4. (6.....Bg4)
(12) Johnson,K (1677) - Me (1800) [B01]Iowa Open (5), 17.09.2006
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 a6 6.Bd3 b5? [ 6...Bg4 7.Ne4 Nxe4 8.Bxe4 Nc6] 7.Ne4 Nxe4 8.Bxe4 Nc6 9.0-0 [ 9.Bf4 Qf6 10.Be5 Qh6 11.Bxc7] 9...Bb7 10.c3 Na5 11.Qc2 e6 12.Ne5 c5 13.Bf4 Qb6 14.dxc5 Bxc5 [ 14...Bxe4 15.Qxe4 Qb7 16.c6] 15.b4 Bxf2+ 16.Rxf2 Nc6 17.Nxf7 Rf8 18.Nd6+ Ke7 19.Qd2 Rad8 20.Bg5+ Rf6 21.Bxf6+ gxf6 22.Qf4 Rxd6 23.Qxf6+ Kd7 24.Kh1 Ne7 25.Bxb7 Qxb7 26.Qg7 Qd5 27.Raf1 Qd1 28.h3 1-0

My Games

Caption Time

Dream etc.

I had a dream a couple of days ago that I had suddenly become a better player! Since then I have played 2 rated games (G/90), and in both cases I won pretty handily. (against a 1600 and 1700). I am almost beginning to believe my dream. But I am sure that I will be brought down to earth in short order.

In the first game I got my pieces well developed and the attack netted me a pawn. Although I was pretty sure that I could have gotten more, (move 12) I decided to go into the end game a solid pawn up. Later I managed to weaken black's pawn structure and then get a knight on to the great f4 square. I have been reading Irving Chernev's "Capablanca's Best Chess Endings", and was reminded of some of them in this game, especially when black finds him self in zugzwang after he runs out of pawn moves around move 36. Even patzers like us can have a good day once in a while!

In the next game my opponent makes a not so good move against the center counter. 2. e5, and got himself in trouble with my bishops causing havoc on the queen side.

Game Link

Both these games are part of a 5 round double round robin. I only have a 4-4=0 score so far. The story of the event is 8 year old Alexander Velikanov. He is 9-0. With only one game remaining against me. All the other adults in the club are rooting for me. I can't let an 8 year old go 10-0! After this tournament gets rated he should be the highest ranked 8-year old in the nation!

Here is Alxander's last game. (He is playing white)

If you have any pointers for me please let me know. I usually play the Qd6 Scandinavian, I played it against Alexander a few weeks ago and got a great game out of the opening, but lost in the end. I don't think he will play the same way again. He is very good tactically and has a lot off opening knowledge. He is thought to have an expert level knowlede of rook endings and to be almost as good in pawn endings. I thought of playing the Caro Kann (Which I used to play) But by me switching openings just for him, I might find myself in more trouble. He has a coach and they prepare for specific opponent's by going through their openings. When I played white against him a few weeks ago, he knew more about the opening that I did!

Can you think of a caption for this picture?

Michigan Open

The playing site. The very nice Radisson Plaza Hotel
Top seed Torman, Eric (2454) (right) who re-entered the 2 day schedule after losing in round 3. He has 3.5/4. All schedules merge for the next round (5)

I took a first round by.

Round 2 : Loss
I was paired agianst near master Seth Homa. He was upset by a 1900 player in the first round. I thought I had an even game but could not hold.

Seth Homa in his trademark outfit

Homa,S (2197) - Me(1800) [B01]MI Open (2), 02.09.2006
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 a6 6.g3 b5 7.Bg2 Bb7 8.0-0 e6 9.Bf4 Qb6 10.a4 b4 11.a5 Qa7 12.Na4 Nd5 13.Bd2 Nd7 14.c4 bxc3 15.bxc3 Be7 16.c4 N5f6 17.Qe2 Ne4 [ 17...0-0 18.d5 Rae8 19.dxe6 fxe6 20.Qxe6+ Kh8 21.Be3 Qa8 22.Nh4] 18.Bf4 Bd6 19.Ne5 Bxe5 20.dxe5 Nec5 21.Bxb7 Qxb7 22.Nxc5 Nxc5 23.Rad1 0-0 24.Bg5 Ne4 25.Qf3 Nc5 26.Qg4 Qe4 27.Qxe4 Nxe4 28.Be7 Rfe8 29.Rd7 Rac8 30.Rfd1 Rxe7 [ 30...f6 31.f3 Ng5 32.Kf2] 31.Rxe7 Nc5 32.Rxc7 1-0

Round 3: Draw against a 1500 (a kid who is having a great tourament)

Round 4 : Win
Finaly a win against a higher rated player. It's amazing the tactics we missed. I could have won right out of the opening with 12...Be4 or 13 ...Qd5, but instead went into an equal middle game. Then I was completely lost, but managed to win in the end.

Skidmore,M (1927) - Me (1800) [B01]MI Open (4), 03.09.2006
1.e4 d5 2.e5 c5 3.Bb5+ Nc6 4.Bxc6+ bxc6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.0-0 e6 7.c3 d4 8.h3 Bh5 9.g4 Bg6 10.cxd4 h5 11.dxc5 hxg4 12.hxg4 Bd3 [ 12...Be4 13.d4 Rh3 14.Nbd2 Qh4 15.Nxe4 Rh1+] 13.Qa4 Bb5 [ 13...Qd5 14.Qf4 Be2] 14.Qe4 Bxc5 15.d4 Bb6 [ 15...Bxf1 16.Qxc6+ Kf8 17.Qxc5+ Ne7 18.Kxf1 Rc8] 16.Re1 Ne7 17.Bg5 Qd7 18.Bxe7 Kxe7 19.a4 Bc4 20.Nc3 Ba5 21.Qe3 Rab8 22.Qg5+ Kf8 23.Qd2 Ke7 [ 23...Bd5] 24.Qg5+ Kf8 25.Kg2 Rxb2 26.Rh1 Rg8 27.Ne4 Bd8 28.Qc1 Rb4 29.Qc3 a5 30.Rab1 Qb7 31.Nd6 [ 31.Nc5] 31...Qa6 32.Rxb4 axb4 33.Qxb4 Bd5 34.Qb8 Ke7 35.Rb1 c5 36.dxc5 Rf8 37.Qb5 [ 37.Nc8+ Ke8] 37...Qa8 38.Qd3 Qxa4 39.Kg3 Bc7 40.Rh1 Qc6 41.Rh7 Qxc5 42.Rxg7 Bxf3 [ 42...Bxd6 43.exd6+ Qxd6+ 44.Kg2 Rh8 45.Rg5 Qf4 46.Rxd5 Qxg4+] 43.Nxf7 Rxf7 44.Rxf7+ Kxf7 45.Qh7+ Ke8 46.Qg8+ Ke7 47.Qg7+ Ke8 48.Qg8+ Ke7 49.Qg7+ Kd8 50.Qg8+ Kd7 51.Qf7+ Qe7 52.Qxf3 Bxe5+ 53.Kg2 Qd6 54.Qf7+ Kc6 55.Qe8+ Kc5 56.Qc8+ Qc6+ 57.Qxc6+ Kxc6 58.Kf3 Kd5 59.g5 Bd4 60.g6 Bf6 61.Kf4 Kd6 62.Kg4 Ke7 63.Kh5 Kf8 64.Kh6 Be5 65.Kh7 Bg7 66.f3 e5 67.f4 e4 0-1

Round 5 : Loss to 1885

Round 6: Draw 1849

Round 7: Loss 1820

I had a chance to gain rating points right upto the last round, but since I lost the game I did not. But I had a great time and made many new friends. The playing conditions were excellent.

Even with 40/2 G/1 I found myself getting into time trouble. In four of the games it was mutual. Reminds me of "The slowness of genius is hard to bear, but the slowness of mediocrity is intolerable. – Henry Thomas Buckle"

Losses and Draws