September 2009 San Jose Bay Area Chess Adult Open (my games + photos)

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4th October 2009, 10:19pm
#1
by SilentWalker
Milpitas, CA United States
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 594

*Note - Title should be:

October 2009 San Jose Bay Area Chess Adult Open (my games + photos)

 

instead of:

September 2009 San Jose Bay Area Chess Adult Open (my games + photos)

 

Hello.

As promised, here is a writeup with pictures of the chess tournament I just participated in.  I was paired in the U1800 section.

Game 1 was a marathon; it went to the very end.  It was a rook endgame and I squeezed out a win.  This would be my first win against a rated USCF player.  I offered him a draw towards the end of the game when we had even material.  He declined, and then offered me a draw when I was in a better position with my pawns advanced up the board, and I declined.  He resigned after the trade of rooks at the end of the game.

Game 2 was right after Game 1, and I was really exhausted.  I should have taken a bye for Game 2, since I have a general rule that I do not play when I am tired, because I usually make stupid mistakes.  Well, guess what, I am a couple moves in and my knight is already in a sticky situation.  I lost on time.

Game 3 was kind of a disappointment because I tried to just play good chess, move my pieces to good squares, and figured something good would happen.  I thought afterwards I probably should have not gone for an attack on the kingside, as I gave my opponent a chance for counterplay with pawns and his tactical trick which I saw during the game, but I did not see far enough, and made a blunder and was checkmated.  Well, at least I got what I deserved Yell

Game 4 was kind of a luck-of-the-draw game, as I was paired against the tournament director for Sunday because there was one opponent short I guess and the tournament director from Saturday was not present.  He had to pick up his kids which he told me about beforehand, was about 30 minutes late to the game which he told me might happen beforehand and his clock was still running so he was down about 30 minutes on the clock after his 1st move and he made a bunch of blitz moves to try and gain back time and get a quick decisive win.  I held on and he ended up resigning after trading his rook for my knight.  I can't consider this a win under regular circumstances, but I did stick it out.  Actually, I was so pissed off with my last game that I almost took a bye for Game 4, so I guess it was a good thing I fought that feeling of defeat and continued with the last game.

Here are pictures from the event:

Before the start of the tournament.  The guy bending

over is Ken Tsao.  I played him in Game 1.

A hallway where I tested to see whether my

digital camara worked inside the building where

the tournament was held.

Some chess players in my section U1800.

1800+ section - the tall guy in the far corner is

NM Dana MacKenzie - Chesslecture.com presenter. 

I got a picture with him which is the last picture

I took.

The guy with the striped shirt

next to him was

named Nelson I think -

I spoke to him a little after.  He was a good guy. 

We spoke after my loss

in Game 3 and he sort of let me get off some steam. 

The guy with the white

polo shirt, don't remember his name,

it is hard to pronounce - begins with

a V I think - he was nice to talk to - we

spoke after my loss in Game 2 -

we were both very exhausted after a full

day of chess - it was good to

 finally use another part of the brain Smile I don't know

the lady's name, but she was also at the Fresno Chess

Tournament I played at.  I said something to her

saying I recognized her from the Fresno Tournament,

and she said she was there.

Another view of the 1800+ section.

Another view of the table with NM Dana MacKenzie.

I guess I was not sure whether I would be able to

get a picture with him, so I wanted to take a closer

picture of him playing.

My photo with NM Dana MacKenzie. Cool

Here are my games from the event:

*Note: Time control for all games 30/90 G/60.

 











5th October 2009, 08:30am
#2
by erik
Mountain View, CA United States
Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 10095

very cool! wish i had been there

13th October 2009, 10:00pm
#3
by SilentWalker
Milpitas, CA United States
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 594

Thanks Erik.  Glad you guys created chess.com so I would have a place to share this stuff!

 

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