The Wellsburg Open 2016 - Part 2

After the first round there was plenty of time to relax and eat lunch.  I grabbed a bowl of potato soup, a turkey sandwich, and cake, and headed down to the skittles room.

Clockwise from top left: The venue, the skittles room, Mark Kende, and Angelo Young.

The Wellsburg area has a definite lack of serious chess players.  Last year I put up flyers in all the surrounding towns, and ran an ad in the local newspaper.  The only local players who came were my family and our friend Pastor Jim Hartman from Whitten Community Church.  Everyone else had a long drive.

The Wellsburg Open 2016 - Part 1

"What is your greatest fear?" is a question psychoanalyzing interrogators in espionage series have tried to answer in an effort to force secret agents to reveal their nation's secrets.  The past year has made me wonder if mine is an aversion for lateness.   For months I've had dreams (or shall we say, nightmares) about starting the first round of the Wellsburg Open 15 minutes late.  No one told me that would be a side-effect of tournament organizing.

Late 2015 I decided to host the Wellsburg Open again.  In January I booked the Wellsburg Reformed Church as the venue, posted announcements, and sent invitations to the masters in the surrounding states.