It was a strange day that ended with a bad loss.
The New Jersey State Chess Federation listed me as an alternate delegate. I asked them to do this because as of Thursday, I didn't think we had any delegates from New Jersey. I turned out to be wrong, but that is okay.
Most of my friends in the New Jersey chess scene, the CrossFit scene, Ultimate Frisbee, work, & other interests & places probably would not describe me as a boring person. However, during the delegates meeting, I felt like the most boring person in the room. It seems like most of the delegates talked multiple times throughout committee reports, motions, amendments, etc. Some delegates did strange stuff - several were on laptops surfing the USCF Forums, one was cutting nails (I heard the nail cutter, sadly & disgustingly), side conversations were drowning out the speakers in the back. We only got through 3 of the 7 delegates agenda pages with two sessions down & one session to go.
I found the Uno restaurant I wanted to go to yesterday, where I ended up at Twin Peaks instead. I looked at the create a deep dish pizza section & realized that pepperoni, chicken, & hamburger were available as toppings. Since I was allowed three toppings, I put all of those on & ordered a chocolate dessert drink to go with it.
There were trolley issues getting to & leaving Uno. The break of the delegates session was roughly 12pm. I got to Uno at 1pm, & at 155pm, the trolley text said 41 & 54 minutes. So I walked the 2+ miles back & was 30 minutes late to the second session.
I forgot to mention in the delegates summary of the two sessions that it felt strange that several times, a presenter modified his/her own motion before presenting it to the delegates. All delegates received a delegate book which contains the motions intended to be introduced. But more than half of them were amended by the original sponsor/co-sponsor! I think that's strange.
After the session, I went up to my room & got downstairs to the playing room. I ran into the Executive Director of the USCF along the way. She was really nice & thanked me for my feedback on the USCF Website. She promised to talk to me tomorrow about it.
The game itself was strange. I developed a small stomachache in the first ten moves that may have been caused by the dessert drink. But I digress. He played the Scotch game, & despite my knight vs. his Bishop, I seemed to get a better game because his pressure wasn't much. I briefly toyed with forcing a repetition of position on the 21st move, which he says he would have accepted given the tournament situation. Both of us had 4 points after 7 rounds. However, I correctly thought that I should try to win this. Unfortunately, I hurried my knight to a good square only to overlook another exchange sacrifice. This time, the Bishop springs to life, & I end up having only a Rook for the Queen, which then got picked off.
Well see what tomorrow brings. I need to win to finish with a plus score, & must avoid losing to finish with a negative score. The updated pgn link is posted below.
KEC's US Open Games - Rounds 1-8
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