You may be aware of the airport issues in Newark Airport. We were delayed probably around 30 minutes. Unfortunately, my scheduled connection in Charlotte had a layover of only 30 minutes. The only reason I made my connection was my connecting flight was delayed itself - & I still had to run & hear the gate agent call my name as I approached. At least the flight attendant let me sit in the wrong seat (I was scheduled for 21D, but it was occupied on a partially empty flight, so she just said, "sit here so we can take off.") & I got to enjoy an empty half row sitting in 20D.
Once I got to Omaha, I noticed that there was construction everywhere. I found out earlier today from my friend (who is from Nebraska) that there are two seasons: Winter Season, & Construction Season. And since it was 80 degrees with lots of concrete pavement, it was construction virtually everywhere, even the airport!!
Friday
On my way to Breakfast at Good Lookin', I parked right in front of Great Harvest Bread Co. After finishing my salmon sandwich, I picked up a few scones so I could eat small in case I didn't get to eat lunch properly.
I made my way over to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. It's a fascinating pedestrian bridge connecting Omaha Nebraska & Council Bluffs Iowa, & I got some really good pictures on it.
I ate one of the scones while walking through Gene Leahy Mall (& playing pickup ping pong with random people as there were a pair of outdoor tables there).
After that short stop, I went to Lauritzen Gardens & walked all over most of the place. There were a lot of nice plants & plant structures there.
There was an oddity at the Lauritzen Gardens Cafe in that the credit card machine was not working. All those people who didn't have cash on hand had to give their credit card information to be charged later. Good thing I saw this & kept my lunch small (soup & water bottle) so I could pay in cash.
After Lauritzen Gardens, I visited a few more random places including Old Candy Shop & took a few more pictures before going to Crossfit at FitFarm Omaha.
So I visited FitFarm Omaha the previous day, & it was open gym. But the coaches & a few other members were very welcoming, & I was lucky to come back on Friday for class. I enjoyed both their day-after-Murph WOD (plus my own 12 minute every 45 seconds on the 45 seconds strength piece) on Thursday followed by the Elizabeth WOD plus bonus jumping on Friday.
At some point afterward, I visited the Drover to eat some steak, something Omaha is known for. I was hesitant to visit initially as it was mentioned in a food review portion of a visitor's brochure & I distrust professional review pieces after finding out one of them rated a place in Hoboken as a great place when I disliked that place's food immensely. (No, you're not getting the name of that place from me online officially. I am giving it the Voldemort treatment of not saying its name.). However, a few locals I ran into & worked out with gave positive word of mouth mentions, so I figured I would go. I really enjoyed the steak I had, but the picture I took of it was terrible. (Remember, I am only good at taking pictures of signs & traffic signals. Pictures of everything else are subject to meh.)
The tournament occurred in Lincoln on Saturday & Sunday, so I was driving from Omaha to Lincoln & back each day. On Sunday early morning, I discovered that my charging cable broke (phone connected to the rental car's USB wasn't charging), so I had to make a trip to Walmart to buy a new one. I missed parts of the lecture on the history of the US Open from 1975, but was able to participate when they talked about a certain chess player infamous in my time that also played in that tournament. They did talk about players from that tournament, including Pal Benko & Joel Benjamin, & Yasser Seirawan, & they went over one or two games that I didn't catch until the endgame.
Aside: I perked up at the brief discussion of these three players as I remember reading Benko's endgames in Chess Life a few decades ago & I was lucky enough to see Benjamin a few times at NJ Opens & the US Amateur Team East. Seirawan authored Winning Chess Strategies, a book I read that started my journey from the 1100 to the 1300 ratings in the 2000 years before discovering the two Comprehensive Chess Course series books from Lev Alburt.
I had some strange tournament play. I won Rounds 1 & 3 against lower rateds, lost Rounds 2 & 4 versus Masters, including Round 4 when I had an active chance at winning the game in an unbalanced position, & then drew Round 5 against a lower rated. (Post Tournament Rating Change = -9)
Additional Oddities:
- Round 1, for the first time in a long time (ever?) I failed to hit the clock after making a move. This cost me a few minutes, but I eventually caught on.
- Round 3, I forgot for a few minutes how to execute the Lucena position. I will show this game in a moment & you will see my round trip before my brain turned back on.
- Round 4, I accidentally distracted my opponent during his move, something I never did before & I am embarrassed about to this day.
- Post tournament: Board signing frenzy was in effect. Picture eventually to follow.
Despite my roundabout trip late in the game, I think you will enjoy the Rook ending I have for you.
This is my game play summary:
Round 1, my opponent overlooked a simple fork, letting me win an exchange.
Round 2, I got caught with a piece out of play for the majority of the game.
Round 3 was the Lucena position with temporary Forgetful Jones striking.
Round 4 was a missed move in a double open king position. (I am still analyzing this, but I am certain it might be published by Nebraska State Chess Association.)
Round 5 I couldn't get a forced win out of the ending after my opponent tried to do nothing aggressive early.
I did have a nice chat after Round 4 with my opponent about that game, & he actually shared stories of his earlier tournament playing days (pre-computer), including adjournments. So I never grew up on adjournments, having always had sudden death time controls in chess. (I have joked with others in the past especially during arguments that I grew up with football (NFL), chess, & smash brothers & they all had sudden death. The game will end.) My new friend told me about an adjournment where his first round was adjourned (he wrote his move in a sealed envelope) & he couldn't resume the game until after the 3rd or 4th round. Had sudden death time controls existed back then, he likely would have won the game. But given days to study, his opponent was able to study the position more & won the game upon resumption.
Also interesting is that many players in other states that I have talked to that played in the US Amateur Team East Tournament in Parsippany loved their experience playing in it. Hearing the positive reviews of this tournament makes me thank my lucky stars every year that I live only 25 minutes away from it & can play in it every year.
After I finished Round 5, two of the grandmasters at the tournament signed as many boards as they could before leaving on a plane to their next stop, India if my ears overheard correctly. The other two grandmasters were there & also signed the boards. I mentioned the board signing because two kids started trying to get people besides the grandmasters to sign their boards. The chief TD signed their boards, then the kids asked me to sign their boards, as well as my 5th round opponent. Of course I obliged, & I got the two kids to take a picture of me after I signed their boards.
I had some more air travel issues, this time at Dallas Fort Worth. According to my fellow passenger, before I arrived, the connecting flight to EWR was in Terminal D. When I arrived, it was Gate C8, then C7, then C6, then C7. While waiting, it changed back to D18!! But at least I made it home.
Here are the updated maps of my journey.
I guess it's time to sign off. Until next time, enjoy this latest #fiftystatesofchess blogpost.
