Broken Pawn Reserve 2014: Part 2

We finished lunch, and I joined my fellow chess players to play bughouse.  Some of the players in the expert division, including FM Awonder Liang, joined us for a few games.  The bughouse games were fun, but all too soon it was time for Round 3.

My opponent this time was Chirag Jain (1157).  He played the English opening, one of my favorites since it used to be my main opening.  Unfortunately he dropped a pawn and then lost a rook for a bishop and the game was over quickly.  

Since many games were still in progress, I had plenty of time to watch games in both the expert and reserve sections.  I had brought Silman's Reassess Your Chess with me as reading material in case I had some extra time, but watching the games proved to be more interesting.

In the final round, I found myself matched against Edin Divonavic, rated 1920, who had easily beat me in spite of 5 to 8 minutes time odds against him at the Des Moines Time Odds Blitz in June.  I was hoping for revenge, since a win would give me a chance for placing in my rating division. 

I won only by an unfortunate oversight of the Q+B team (Bishops can be useful on the back rank!).  I was surprised, and am sure I will need to do a lot of studying to survive the next time I'm matched against Mr. Divanovic in a tournament!  He's a skillful player and oversights aren't common at his level. 

Papa also managed to win his last game for a score of 2 wins out of 4.  I asked Awonder Liang for his autograph to add to my collection, and he graciously complied. 

My autograph collection currently includes State Representative Pat Grassley, U.S. Representative Steve King, Former State Representative Annette Sweeney, FM Paul Truong, Paul Truong Jr., Anu Bayar, GM Susan Polgar, Columnist Mark Shields, Musician Phil Gould of Sugar and Spice and his wife Debra Gould, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassely,  Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and FM Awonder Liang, as well as piles of notation sheets featuring the autographs of (by now) probably most Iowa chess players.



The last game in the Reserve section ended, and Tony Dutiel and Tim Crouse were crowned co-champions.  Papa tied for first U1400, and I tied for first U1600 (each winning $25).  Papa and Hank played a few interesting games of Ping-Pong.  The expert section games were still in progress when we left; Awonder Liang, Kushan Tyagi, and Robert Reynolds eventually emerged victorious.

On our way home, we went shopping at Mernards for a new thermostat for our central heating, which had stopped working.  We found one and were thankful that it solved our problems--it is less than pleasant to be without heat on a night when it's 20 below zero (F) outside! 

We had a great time at the tournament; many thanks to Hank Anzis for directing!  It was nice to have a tournament so close to home and to see so many chess players we've met at various tournaments over the years.  I'll be hoping for another Broken Pawn tournament next year, if not before!