Congratulations! And stay away from bears
Wyoming Closed Game Analysis
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Went to the Wyoming Closed, my second OTB tournament
Round 1
The first round did not come without a hint of sadness. Mr. Uptain, my opponent, had a son, Mark Uptain, who was recently killed by a bear on a hunting trip. The whole Uptain family was very active in the Wyoming chess crowd. Tom played well, far above someone of his rating.
Round 2
I found out that I was playing a guy called Tim Schoessler. I got really nervous before the match after I realized that he had just won the Montanna Open and Wyoming Closed twice. We played a very interesting game, though not without mistakes.
Round 3
Round 3 was the first time I ever played a CM, CM Dan Joelson. He made me even more nervous after I realized that he was a CM and that he was an 18-time winner of the Wyoming Closed.
Round 4
I couldn't believe that I beat Mr. Joelson with the black pieces. Now, I had the black pieces for the third time in a row, against the third highest rated player of the tournament who had won two championship titles. Was that some kind of practical joke?
Round 5
I realized that all I needed was a draw to secure victory in the last round. I had just beaten the three top players of the tournament (as Mr. Schoessler put it, I beat the three people that have a combined 22 state championship titles in a row all with black pieces) so I wasn't too nervous about this game. Mr. Hoffman throughout the tournament would give my dad updates on my games after his games finished, so I already knew Mr. Hoffman quite well. Right before this game, my dad pulled me aside, and since he doesn't play chess, he told me this pleasant story about a snowboarder who was going to win the Olympics but failed the very last jump. (Thanks Dad, inspiring story for the last round!).
If you're interested, you may want to visit these two blog posts:
https://www.chess.com/blog/will_1234567890/wyoming-closed-championship-my-2nd-otb-tournament
https://www.chess.com/blog/will_1234567890/my-first-us-otb-tournament-the-eastern-idaho-chess-open