US Senior Open!

I had a great time at the US Senior Open last weekend. While I experienced the "Swiss Blues" (three games against much higher-rated opponents, all of which I lost, and three games against much lower-rated players, all of which I won, resulting in an even score and no meaningful rating change), it was a truly memorable event for a number of reasons—not least of which was that I got to witness Kraai-sensei win the entire event, qualifying for the US Senior Closed Championship in St. Louis next year! Congratulations, Jesse!

The Pre-Tournament Rest Day: It's Good to Be King.

This year I decided to go to Elmhurst early and give myself a rest day between my eight-hour driving day and the start of the tournament. I headed over to what I later learned to be one of the "big three" brick-and-mortar chess shops remaining in the US, It's Good to Be King.

I spent some time chatting with the owners, Tom and Marguerite, who were super-nice and very helpful folks. We talked chess shops, tournaments, and local chess culture. I really enjoyed meeting them. I actually went into the shop with a specific purpose, seeking a new board of appropriate dimensions for a library-size set I inherited from my grandfather, and they had just what I needed.

Old pieces, new board.

That's currently the set I'm using for sweat-work in the chess corner of my study at home. If you're ever in the Chicago area and have the time, I highly recommend a visit to It's Good to Be King!

Day One: Rounds One and Two.

The first highlight on day one was getting to chat a bit with Kraai-sensei. The second was playing my first grandmaster ever in OTB play, GM Nikola Mitkov. That was my first-round game, and I lost to him, of course. But that was to be expected, and I look forward to analyzing the game in the coming days. Round two, I played down and won. For all these games, I've only put in raw scores, or the occasional preliminary thought (I'll post complete analysis later).

Day Two: Rounds Three and Four.

Day three I got to hang out with Jesse a bit more and, at breakfast, GM Alex Yermolinsky came over and joined us, which was really cool (obviously he was coming to talk to Jesse – I was just privileged to sit in). GM Yermolinsky is a great story-teller, with an endless supply of entertaining tales to tell about all sorts of famous players and his own experiences. I really just sat mesmerized, mouth shut and ears open, taking in the chess history and chess culture. 

Once the games got started, I lost to a NM in round three, though after being slightly worse much of the game, I did manage to make him grimace and take a bit more time for a few moves. We  both agreed after the game that it had gotten pretty tense and spicy there for a moment, and that made me feel pretty good about the game despite the loss. In round four, I won again against a lower-rated opponent. Even-steven.

I caught up with Kraai-sensei before going to dinner after round four, as he was sitting down to do a post-mortem with his fourth-round opponent. While they were analyzing, GM Alex Fishbein came up and joined in. It was quite the experience having a front-row seat to a post-mortem between two GMs and a FM (more on high-level post-mortems a bit later). 

Day 3: Rounds Five and Six.

Once more I started the day with a loss to a higher-rated opponent in round five. This was a bummer because I saw what was inevitable in round six: a must-win situation against a lower-rated opponent. That would mean no chance of a rating gain for me (1800 USCF still remains just beyond my fingertips), and would also mean that if I messed things up, I could take a substantial rating hit. Fortunately, I won my final round game fairly convincingly, maintained an even score for the event, and maintained my rating.

Again after round six I got to observe a high-level post-mortem, this time involving GM Yermolinsky and his final-round opponent, with GMs Kraai and Fishbein contributing. Watching three GMs do a post-mortem is mind-boggling. Like I told some of my friends afterward, I was obviously unable to contribute anything at all to those high-level post-mortems. It was so fast that it took all my ability just to follow what they were saying, which I mostly managed. But, for an amateur, watching a group of GMs do a post-mortem is like riding a runaway horse. You have absolutely no control over the beast and you know it, but if you use all your effort, you can just manage to hang on and not get thrown off. In the end, it was just a remarkable thing to get to witness first-hand.

Overall, it was a great tournament both off and on the board. Off the board, of course, for obvious reasons! But over the board, too, my result was much better than last year. This year's score of 3/6 was literally double my score of 1.5/6 last time around. I managed to avoid any losses to players under 2000 this time, in contrast with last year where I lost to not only an 1800, but also to a 1500 and a 1300 (which led to my all-time lowest established rating of 1528). So there was clear improvement. Given the strength of the field, and my past history with this event, I'll call this year's US Senior a success over the board, even if I didn't increase my rating.