Boo. I'm scary, right? No, this has fascinatingly little to do with Halloween. I don't "celebrate" that "holiday" at all, anyway. Where was I... Oh, yes. Well, I had to have some sort of catchy opening. I mean, this post is (well, I was abou...
Well, here we are. Or rather, here I am. Or, perhaps, here's what's left of me. In any case, some amount of some person is here. Where is here? Here is one year after that awesome, terrible, thrilling, dreadful thing called the 2016 GM Arnold Den...
Hmm... How should I [end] this? Well, I guess I already have. Welcome, everyone, to this journal [post]. I don't know where I'll go with this — maybe not far at all — but my primary goal is (initially anyway) to [remember] the journey to and unf...
Foreword Salutations from the Fjords! It's been a while, hasn't it? I mean, aside from that little post about the Trinket, I haven't said ought about my chess adventures. And adventures they are indeed, for I've seen the smiles of some exciting...
Hey, everyone. I meant to do this a long time ago, but life got in the way. I wish I had more to say, but for now, here it is, TCU, short and simple: Presenting, the lone, only, and singular Denker trinket I received! From Round 6 against Steven...
So... what of it? What is the final analysis? I'll use the Q&A format. First, for those who don't know the story, let's look at a preliminary question. Q. How did I even get here? A. It all started on March 19th, with the Alabama S...
[Writing six days after-the-fact is not conducive to good memory recall, but I'll do my best. Also, I realize that my links are, for some reason, not working. Any help with that would be appreciated in the comments.] So the 6th round ended. A...
Okay, everybody, here is my final game from the 2016 Denker Tournament of High School Champions. As I said before, I lost to 1472-rated Arkansas: So there it is. I lost this one because, again, I didn't know how to finish my attack. I spent craz...
This is a simple post just to let everybody know that I do plan to post my final game diagram/notation, along with a Denker recap. And some good extra content. That said, I'm not quite sure when exactly I'll be able to get to all that. Jes' be pa...
I'm using a phone to do this again, so I can't post my full game. The quick facts are these: I lost game six to Steven Bellisario, of Arkansas;he was rated 1400-something. As in my game with that 2082 (4th round), I couldn't finish the attack that...
Here I am with round 5. Once more, the short story is that I lost to Abhinav Suresh, of Nebraska, a 1962. I just didn't know the opening as well as I needed to have. I had an okay position, but I thought it was worse; I then acted on that evaluat...
Okay, everyone, sorry this is a bit late, but I was at the venue all day today, and so I could not post my game. So. The quick answer to the elephant in the room is that I lost to New Hampshire, a 2082. However, this may be one of the very best...
Greetings to all. This is now the morning of the 4th day (the 3rd day of the tournament, but the 4th day of my trip). Getting that win last night was good. For round 4, which starts about an hour from now, I am again slated to play against the Bl...
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, maybe that was overkill. Don't care. I won the third round! He spent 13 min...
Short story: I lost to Tennessee, a 2096-rated player. Longer story: So, I had Black. Against Tennessee. (I wonder what he thought of my Crimson Tide golf ball.) His name: Kaleb Ryder Gosdin. His rating: 2096. And here is the game: So, yeah, I ...
Well, it's Day 2. My second game starts in a few hours; I'm tentatively slated to play against the White pieces. After that game is over, I should be able to post it here. Also, between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., there will be a "meet and greet" pizza pa...
Okay, everybody, here is the first installment of my Denker game records. My opponent: NM Gunnar Andersen, of Colorado. His rating: 2225. And now, here is the game itself; ponder at will: I would like everyone to feel free to comment on this gam...
Very soon, I will be getting ready for the Opening Ceremony and the photo session. Some people may not really like picture time, but I'm looking forward to it. Okay. Done with that. I enjoyed it and got to know some of the States who are going to...
[Editor's {Me!} Note: Parts of this post were added on Friday night; such additions are placed in brackets.] As I said in the last post, I plan to update this blog post throughout the day. I'm using a phone to do this at this moment, so my pos...
It's almost here. Of course, I've already said that. But still. Well, I just put myself on 'vacation' here on Chess.com. I've been doing my study method a lot. And I have a headache. This concludes the negativity portion of this post. Last night...
Nothing fancy to start this blog post. I leave for the Denker in less than two days' time. Today will, Lord willing, feature more and greater trip preparations, while I focus my spare time on my studying. I saw this article this morning, and I tho...
Monday is here, and it's time for another post. Well, I did indeed go to that 45|10 tournament a couple of days ago. And I did play that player rated 2261P4. Here is a brief recap: First Round: It was a somewhat simple/quick draw with a 1400-som...
Back again. Just a week left! My coach and I met again yesterday; we analyzed my latest 4 chess tournament games. I had a lot to learn; it was good. In my tournament tomorrow, there's a chance I could face a player rated 2261P4! Officially, he's...
Salutations once more, all! As mentioned in the previous post, I did indeed attend an open tournament this past Saturday. I was not particularly happy with my play, but it wasn't all bad. I went 2/4, with a bye; however, I was able to play and wi...
Hello again, everyone! I finally have something worth sharing. (Hint: not more excuses for why my posts are boring.) Yesterday, (Thursday, July 14) my coach and I sat down to play a long, serious game together. The time control was G/60, d5. We ...
