Amateur Team East 2014 Report Out

I posted a blog on this event last year saying that it was the most fun chess event I had ever been to and 2014 delivered on that hype again! My team, Vitaly Ryabinin (named for a friend who could not attend), consisted of the same 4 teammates from last year: Denys Shmelov (2500) on board 1, Greg Kaden (2129) on board 2, Todd Chase (2068) on Board 3, and myself (2009) on board 4. We finished the tournament 4.5/6 as a team which is a respectable score. If not for our round 5 drubbing by Ferrero Forever, led by Irina Krush, we may have been in contention for being a top team.

This year was extra special as we were paid a visit from none other than Garry Kasparov himself. Below you can see the first 13 minutes or so of his speech. I apologize it wasn’t the entire thing but my phone died. However you still get to hear his opinion on the Budapest Gambit, Magnus Carlsen, and his amazing pregame diet.

Now for chess! I scored 4.5/6 on board 4 which was the minimum expected score for an expert on board 4. Despite weaker competition, I play a few games that I found pretty instructive and cool. Here is the first:

A great event that I can't wait to play in again next year! Please leave your comments!