Cedar Rapids Leatherjackets 2015 - Part 2

We spent the night at Best Western Plus Longbranch Hotel.  Part of the hotel was under renovation, but it was quiet.  I managed to get a relatively decent night's sleep considering that I usually don't sleep as well in hotels.  

Sunday morning we made our way to the dining room where we enjoyed a continental breakfast of eggs, sausages, french toast, fruit, and cake.  It was good and filling, though not spectacular.  After breakfast we played a few games of table soccer before leaving.  The one thing that surprised me  was that the stairs and walkways were apparently not heated, though the rest of the building was warm.  Regardless, it was a nice place to stay.

Back at the tournament, I was paired against Thomas Gaul (1825) for the third round.  He was delayed, and by the time he could arrive, he had already lost over an half hour off his clock, which put him at a disadvantage.  

The game progressed quickly.  I most likely allowed too much trading when complication would have been preferable.  At move 30, Mr. Gaul noted that I had made the mistake of setting the clock for a 30 second simple delay instead of the required 30 second increment, so the TD furnished a new clock, and added more time to each of our clocks.  

At that point, Mr. Gaul offered a draw.  I knew a draw was all I could realistically hope for out of the position, but I declined and played on.  My reasoning was that I would not be winning the tournament anyway, and I needed to practice my endgames.  But by move 44, the game was a dead draw.  

We ate lunch, and I persuaded my two travelling companions to join me in touring the National Czech & Slovak museum a few minutes away.  The museum (pictured above) will be addressed in a subsequent post.  

In the final round, I was matched against Steven Patterson (1747).  I went all out for a huge pawn center--usually not my style--and it worked!

I don't know what I was thinking on move 25 when I took the pawn instead of the bishop--I don't even remember considering the latter possibility.  Perhaps I was unconsciously suffering from mental exhaustion.  In later moves, the back rank mating threat of Rb1 worried me, but I had a definite advantage, and after a hard fight, my opponent resigned.

James Hodina faces Arshaq Saleem

In the end, I tied for the U1800 prize with 2.5 points out of 4 and won $30.00, which was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.  I finished the tournament with a resolve to thoroughly reinforce my endgame studies.  Studying tactics would likely help as well.  However, endgames are more finite.  I figure if I know how to handle any endgame, then I should be able to draw just about any opponent, since I believe I already can survive until an endgame or at least until the late mid-game...but easier said than done!

In any case, it was a very enjoyable tournament, and if you play chess and live in the Midwest, you should consider participating next year.  You won't be disappointed.

Congrats to Dan Brashaw, Valeriy Kosokin, and Arshaq Saleem for winning the Open, and to David Taylor for winning the Reserve.  Many thanks to James Hodina for organizing this fun event, to Shawn Kmetz for directing, and to Robert Keating for hosting.