Iowa Open Chess Tournament 2016 - Part 2

Going to sleep early Sunday morning I was so exhausted it would have been impossible for our room at the Marriott to feel uncomfortable.  I enjoyed a pleasant repose, and the hotel curtains blocked the light of dawn out so well I could have slept in for hours.  But...I had an unfinished mission!

Charity, Daniel, and I stopped at McDonald's for breakfast, and then we pulled into a convenience store where I purchased pastries and *cheap* granola bars.  All day Saturday I had been eating granola bars from the hotel's concessions (above).  And believe me, they are as expensive as they are delicious!  

Paying $3 a bar, and then not having them prove sufficient brain food for me to actually win my games just wasn't cutting it.  So, before I went broke on eating granola bars, I switched to the generic $1 ones.

Back at the playing hall, I found myself facing Gokul Thangavel (1943).  I have wonderful memories of a game in the distant past where I beat Gokul before he "got good."  But that was many years ago.  

This time we had a relatively uneventful game with no blunders by either side.  We reached a near-even endgame, and Gokul offered a draw (he later mentioned he had homework to do).  I happily accepted.

My travelling companions and I ate lunch and enjoyed walking around the hotel grounds.

My final opponent was Kevin Ho (1822), and I got my third Sicilian opening of the tournament, this time as white.  I was not expecting 13. Rxc3?!

The position started getting awkward after I played 25. Bxc4.  I placed my rooks less than ideally, and moved them back and forth without making progress.  Ho handled the situation well, and things went from bad to worse for me until the game ended.  Kevin is a skillful player.

My only consolation proved to be getting a little revenge with the help of NM James Neal against Kevin Ho and his unwitting partner NM Jacob Furfine a few weeks later when we tested out bughouse on chess.com... 

In my post about last year's tournament, I mentioned that this venue has a squeaky floor, and that Nike tennis shoes squeak the most.  Well...guess what?!  I disregarded my own advice on what brand not to wear...and Nike tennis shoes still are the squeakiest shoes to wear to the Iowa Open.  I did notice a few Nike tennis shoe styles that didn't squeak, however, so next year I'm either going to have to find special chess-tournament-style Nikes--or I'm going to have to get some ballet flats.

I was super glad I remembered to bring a sweater.  The Marriott has a very strong air conditioner.

Daniel and I both finished with 1.5 out of 5, which was slightly disappointing, but we performed in accordance with our ratings...and both had some very interesting games.

Charity joined in the open section Sunday and won one of her two open games.

The Iowa Open was, as always, a very well-directed tournament. It was great to have the opportunity to watch strong players compete, and the location was very spacious and comfortable.

Congratulations to IMs Nagle and Brooks who both finished with 4.5 out of 5 points to win the Iowa Open, and many thanks to Mark Capron for his expert work in organizing and directing the event and to Eric Vigil and the other TDs who helped everything run smoothly.  Bravo!  Well done.