State #11 - Mississippi

I had been thinking about this blogpost for a while.  It is not usual for authors to present a game where the author loses.  However, when the opponent goes on to win the tournament, that feels like a justifiable exception, even if the game lasted only 18 moves.

(There really isn't much to say from my point of view from the actual game.  I played too loose in a tight game & went from slightly worse to dead lost in two moves.)

I had achieved a similar position a few years ago, where I blunted White's attack by trading off first the minor pieces, then forced an endgame where I used the e-file to good effect.  I haven't really gotten good results since, so it may be time to explore castling long to avoid this attacking setup.

My fourth round featured a game where my opponent mixed up ideas, playing closed opening moves when the position was fairly open.  I used this opportunity to grab a pawn & hold on.

I would like to comment that the Mississippi Chess Association members that I saw there were very accommodating.  Chief TD Mark Nicholas & Assistant TD Jeff Hensley were very kind, & ran a pretty good tournament.  Virtually all the local players that I got to talk to were very nice.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/115931459677/
Misissippi Chess Link via Facebook

There were a few tidbits about the tournament that I found interesting:

• The highest rating according to the wall chart was 2004, so anyone can really win the tournament.

• The players in Mississippi don't get to play rated tournament chess as often as we do here (As a reminder, I live & play in New Jersey.).  I believe I heard the Chief TD remind the players before Round 1 that it is touch-move.  (For the non-chess players, if you touch a piece, you must move it.)  I've only heard the touch-move rule mentioned in scholastic tournaments here at home, but I guess you have to adjust to your clientele.  (I have no problem with the reminder itself, just so you know.)
• The MCA holds their annual business meeting in between rounds of their state tournament.  I have a feeling that in states with smaller chess playing populations, it is popular to have your business meetings (where you elect officers, etc.) in between rounds of the state tournament, knowing that a large percentage of your players will be there to vote on issues.  If I remember correctly, Utah did this as well when I was there in 2014.

This concludes my year of traveling to new states for 2015 for #fiftystatesofchess.  If things go according to plan, Massachusetts, Delaware, & Montana may be on deck.

Other Non-Chess Topics

The roads in Mississippi are not very well constructed.  Light drizzle/rain caused some roads to have lots of standing puddles.  Drivers in Mississippi also like to accelerate all the time & get uncomfortable if you set your cruise control to a certain speed.  Luckily, there usually are so few drivers that driving around isn't a problem.  Pass them or they pass you; either way, you never see them again.  You could go 60+ miles without hitting traffic signals along the correct roads.  (I-61, anyone?)  When you do hit them, they tend to be uncoordinated.  I have a higher appreciation of cross-section drainage slopes in road design after driving 750+/- miles in Mississippi.

Vicksburg National Military Park is one of the important battle sites of the Civil War.  Vicksburg was dominated by cannon fire on both sides.  As you drive through the park, the

cannons can be seen pretty much everywhere.  It was interesting that the veterans of this battle went back in the early 1900s to mark out the locations where they fought; this became one of the most accurate historical sites in the country. This park is a drive-through park where you can spend 2-4 hours in it.  As you drive through, they let you know when you enter Union Lines & Confederate Lines.  I wish they had a few more walking paths to the educational structures, but I guess you can't control everything.  The hardest part to get to is the surrender interview site structure.  If you plan your trip, you will know where you can park on the main road & then take a short walk to the surrender interview site structure.  $8 for park entrance, no other charges to drive yourself through the park.

I also traveled to Birthplace of Kermit the Frog Museum.  Jim Henson was born in Greenville, MS but was raised for part of his childhood in Leland, MS.  He brought to life many, many characters.  I can't imagine growing up without Kermit the Frog & Big Bird from the Muppets & Sesame Street, respectively.  He was a very nice man with a vast imagination.  The museum itself is a small museum - it takes 30-60 minutes to go through.  The lady working at the museum indicated that they are photo-friendly museum & that visitors come from all over the world.  A group of people from Germany came in about 20 minutes after I did.  This was a great place to see pictures of Jim Henson, his family, & many of the different characters that he created.  No charge to enter, though donations & purchases are encouraged.

Additional trip photos can now be seen here.

Statistic of the return flight home: My flight from Memphis to Chicago Midway had 8 wheelchair people & 3 dogs.  I can't remember previously seeing more than two of the either category on any flight!

Edited 2015.11.01 10:24 PM because I found some additional trip notes of random interest that I forgot to mention.

Someone was playing Mario Kart Double Dash on the plane from EWR to MSP & actually tried to go underwater on the Daisy Cruiser Course.  I'll have to investigate this path.

The airport massage therapist at MSP I visited has actually been to 45 out of the 50 states, so it was fun to hear her describe selected states she visited.

Churches are so prevalent in Mississippi that there are warning signs for churches on some part of US 61!