Day 2 of the North Carolina Closed

Day two was an opponrtunity for me to seize control of the A Division of the North Carolina Closed.... and seize it I did. I felt I played crisply throughout. Obviously not perfectly.... but I made very few mistakes and hit on a couple of good sacrifices.

My first gme was against Jeff Walsh, a retired marine from Camp Lejeune. The last time I played Jeff was about 17 years ago at a USO Open tournament in Jacksonville. I got drubbed pretty badly back then and gave up the King's Gambit as a result. Today I got my rematch. I surprised him when I played 12. c5! and was able to leverage that and the other queenside pawns thanks to a very active light-squared bishop.

The following round I played the lowest rated player in the section. In a class pure tournament though, that doesn't mean much and he pulled of an upset in his only game (he had a round one bye). I played my typical Stonewall Dutch, which he didn't handle well. I got a big attack and after a nice combination ended up ahead with a queen and two pawns for two knights.

So I'm now the only 3-0 in my section.

Oh.... and I got elected Vice-President of the North Carolina Chess Association today. So far with all of my goals met, I can be pretty loose tomorrow.... At least I hope I am loose...