Iowa Open Chess Tournament 2014: Part 1

On the morning of August 16th, Papa, my brother, one of my sisters, and I started our drive to Coralville, Iowa.  On the way we stopped at Casey's (a convenience store) for donuts for breakfast.



We reached the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center where the tournament was to be held, walked in, and climbed the stairs to the second floor.  We let the tournament director know we were there and greeted our tournament friends. 

In past years I have always played in the Reserve section (U1600), but since my rating was 1637, this time I had to play in the Open.  The time control was 90 minutes with a 30 second increment; 3 games were played on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.

My first game was against Steven Cusumano (1763) of Nebraska.  We both took our time and played a very even match until he outsmarted me in the endgame.  I resigned after 80 moves.  I was so confident I could hold a draw.  I should have, and I could have even at the end if he had a light squared bishop instead of a dark squared one.








I enjoyed playing against my skilled opponent.  What I learned is it's time for me to get back to reading Silman's Endgame Course.  Several years ago I read up to (and slightly beyond) the endgames for my rating level at the time, but if I want to have a chance playing against 1700ers, I need to do some reviewing and pick up where I left off.

The rest of my family were playing in the Reserve section (a few last games from that section are pictured below).  Papa came out of the first two rounds with 2 wins, and my sister and brother each had a win and a draw.  While I was still playing they went to McDonalds for lunch and thoughtfully brought a hamburger back with them for me.  By the time I was done with my game they had already started their 2nd round, and unfortunately the hamburger was cold, so I skipped it.  



I took a short walk and stepped outside to look at the pond by the hotel and get my blood circulating again.  Then I bought a bottle of water and a couple energy bars and snacked in the lobby.  For a few minutes I watched the games of my family members.  Next I went to the skittles room and talked with a gentleman who had travelled all the way from Kansas City with his friends who were playing in the tournament, but he, although a chess player, wasn't playing.  For me it would take a lot of self control to travel 300+ miles to a chess tournament and then just watch!  I also got to talk with my friend Ana who was recently pictured in Chess Life.

Pretty soon one of the chess players from Nebraska, Ana, another player, and I started playing bughouse.  I was delighted since bughouse is my favorite chess variant.  My partner and I won the first few games to the frustration of our opponents...then he had to leave and we lost 1 game be forfeiture.  Next I partnered with Ana, and the Nebraska player partnered Gokul which made for some pretty interesting games (they won some and we won others).

Soon it was time for the next round.  This time I was paired against Archy Coolidge (1386 P4).  I didn't get a look at his rating, making it hard on myself mentally.  Some players do best not knowing the ratings of their opponents, but I don't think I'm one of them.  Throughout the game I was thinking, "If this is a 1700er I'd be doing good to draw, but if this is a 1300er losing would be pretty terrible!"  As my positioned worsened I finally took a look at his rating..."Ah!  I have to win this game!"  But by then it was too late.



I was very comfortable playing my beloved Sicilian--in fact too comfortable.  I sped through the moves, and as I have told my teammates on FICS, if you play fast, you lose fast.  Not fun.  I didn't actually lose till the endgame, but my opponent played very well.  Lessons learned: Study endgames and slow down!

My family and I took a walk in front of the Marriot and then drove to Taco Johns and went through the drive-thru.  I ate a burrito for supper, and we mentally prepared for our last round of the day.  It was time to try to put a lesson learned in the first rounds to use. 

Stay tuned: Part 2 will be posted soon!