Competing at the Oldest Chess Club in America : Day 1
Hey guys! On September 17-18, 2022, I played at the USCF and FIDE-rated 21st Donnelly Memorial tournament, which was held at the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco. The Mechanics’ Institute houses both the oldest chess club in America and a membership-only two-story library. (As a library member, you receive discounts on tournament registration.) This tournament was a special early-birthday treat from my awesome parents ― it seems like competing in a birthday tournament is fast becoming a tradition. Of course, since I don’t live in the San Francisco Bay Area, my family used this tournament as an excuse to plan a weekend getaway, so I will also share some fun tidbits about our trip that made the whole experience more fulfilling.
Like last year, I hardly slept the night before the trip, because I was filled with nervous excitement, yet I somehow was quite energetic. After an enjoyable car ride, we arrived at the Mechanics’ Institute over an hour early. This gave us plenty of time to explore the building, notably the historic chess room. The whole building was a charming reminder of the past, from the spiral staircase and the old-fashioned elevators to the pay phone booth that sadly didn’t work. 😔
However, easily the most captivating part of the building was the chess room on the fourth floor and the adjacent skittles room. The moment you step inside these rooms, you feel like you’re walking into a piece of chess history. In the skittles room, there are pictures of games that were played around the world throughout the decades, by famous and obscure players, old and young players, and of course, many of the games that were played at Mechanics’ Institute. World champions such as Bobby Fischer, Emanuel Lasker, and Mikhail Tal, and other legendary players such as Samuel Reshevskey, Reuben Fine, and Fabiano Caruana have graced the presence of this historic famous club.
Besides the historical photography tour, the chess room displayed articles and magazines that mentioned the club. I particularly enjoyed reading an excerpt from Chess Life magazine that detailed an online match between players from the Mechanics' Institute against players from the famous Marshall Chess Club in New York, founded by the legendary Frank Marshall. Sadly, the Mechanics’ team lost, but it was an intense, fun-filled match. To add a more personal touch, The Mechanics’ Institute also displayed letters that they received in their cozy chess room. There were also several small bookshelves that held chess books and a couple of unique chess sets. Overall, I really enjoyed exploring the chess room, whilst waiting for my first round to start.
I played in the U2000 division for this tournament. My first round opponent was an older gentleman whose rating was 1725; since I entered the tournament with a 1508 rating, I was delighted with the challenge.
Round 1:
I’m up two pawns, but his attack looks scary. Can you find the defense that I did to stop his counterplay, and then stop his threat of repetition?
And just like that, the game is over!
What a game! I still can’t believe he hung that tactic, but even after that move, he still found great counterplay; I’m proud that I managed to find a practical path through these complications. The post-mortem analysis was rather brief, but the main thing I learned, is that a5 is a playable, but not dangerous, sideline.
In between rounds, my family and I went on a brief walk to get some lunch. Fun fact: we saw at least 5 Street View cars (the cars that map Google Maps) pass our window while we were eating ― I have no idea why there were so many, lol... After lunch, we hung around the building before Round 2. For Round 2, I was paired with a 1739 12-year-old. I know that he’s technically not a prodigy, but I was still fairly nervous at the prospect of facing someone who was younger and higher rated than me, and likely had far better tactical vision. But I was also eager for the challenge, and the prospect of rating gains. Let’s see how the game turned out!
Round 2:
Well, that was a relief! The game was a draw, but it was an interesting game against a higher rated opponent. I felt extremely satisfied with the quick and unstressful result, and my chance of winning a prize was promising! We also had an enjoyable analysis session, and this is where my opponent really impressed me: He out-calculated me in almost every line that I considered, even proposing moves that I didn’t think of, and did all of this while using less time! He rattled off these lines rather quickly with excellent accuracy, confirming my fears about his superior tactical vision; I have little doubt that if the game had gone down a more complicated route, I would have lost. Based on our game and post-mortem analysis, I figured that he would do well in the tournament, especially considering that he was already 1.5/2. He ended up tying for 2nd, with 4/5, so I’d say that my prediction was accurate.
During the break after my second round, my family and I went to the Ghirardelli store located about a block away from the tournament site, near the Montgomery BART station. We bought a lovely tin that can hold about sixteen chocolates of your choosing, and we each ordered a delicious hot chocolate with amazingly creamy whipped cream.
When we returned to the Mechanics’ Institute, we still had some time before I began my third round. First, I tortured myself by looking at the library that I could not enter. (I did this several times, for some inexplicable reason, because as an avid book lover, the library looked like a perfect place to relax in between rounds. I need to come up with an ingenious and subtle strategy to get my parents to buy a family membership for the library. Any ideas?). Then I played a few blitz games, but I was not able to play too many games because the skittles room is tiny and people were using the tables for other purposes.
After my break, I prepared for my third round game, which was against an 1846 opponent. Given my luck against higher rated opposition thus far, I was not unduly worried; in fact, I was excited about the extremely high chances of winning a prize if I won or drew.
Round 3:
Well, in my defense, he had played e4 against a 2100 opponent in the National Open and crushed him, and I kind of walked into his pet line, so what was I to do? We analyzed the game briefly afterward ―what little there was to analyze ― and then I packed up for the evening. I met my dad outside of the building, and we walked back to our hotel for the evening. We stayed in a classy four-star hotel so that the entire family would enjoy the weekend getaway. We enjoyed a nice dinner in the lobby restaurant before retiring to our room. I enjoyed the excellent view from our room before going to bed.
So to recap the first day, I went 1.5/3 against far higher rated competitors which makes me still in contention for prize money, so chess-wise, the day was a success! I also enjoyed the whole experience of playing in such a storied club and chatting with some of the local chess community members. The whole family enjoyed the trip, especially my mom, as she was thinking about having me compete in a tournament in San Francisco for nearly a year because we were highly recommended to compete here by some other players at another tournament. (I’m glad I did it now though instead of earlier in my career because I feel I wouldn’t have been able to fully enjoy the experience at that time.) My parents and my little brother also did a lot of walking, but it’s all part of the experience, hehehe! (Ironically, I probably burned more calories than them while sitting around playing chess all day! 😁) It was also nice to enjoy San Francisco in a fresh way; my mom told me that she had never spent the night in San Francisco despite spending her entire childhood in the Bay Area! All in all, it was an amazing first day, and I couldn’t wait for the next day!
To be continued…
