I play chess. I am attempting to play a rated tournament in all 50 states. I will use #fiftystatesofchess and/or #50statesofchess as my hash tags.
I do CrossFit. I play Ultimate Frisbee.
Other fun activities I might do include tennis, dancing, bowling, volleyball, and basketball.
I took the flyaway bus from LAX to the Van Nuys Flyaway bus terminal. As I neared the terminal, I saw the price of gas in the $4 range for mid-grade & super. Considering I'm used to the prices of gas being somewhere under $3 here in NJ, I'm glad I did not rent a car in California. I am also glad I did not rent a car in California as there seemed to be traffic clogging I-405 frequently, even after 10am on the Friday morning!
One of the things that amused me on this trip was the stunning lack of LA sports team memorabilia actively worn by people. Granted, the Chargers & the Rams are only back in LA within the last year or two, but I only saw one Lakers hat (at Eggslut Venice), one Dodgers hat, & no Clippers gear whatsoever! By contrast, I saw at least 5 Packers gear (hat &/or jacket), three Celtics fans (The Local Peasant - Sherman Oaks), one 49ers fan (The Local Peasant - Sherman Oaks), two Titans hats, & one Trail Blazers hat. I also saw a Falcons fan & a Patriots fan at Mel's Diner.
I went to Valley CrossFit on Friday morning. Coach William was pretty good at introducing me to the class, pointing out where things are, & other introductory stuff. Coach Kris (IG @cleverhandz) taught our 7 am class. She explained everything that we did, from our warmup on the assault bike to the Lions & Lambs sprint work to the Muscle Ups & Progressions & even a little bit about trying new sports - she encouraged us to play basketball if we had time after class. She also had a way of inspiring us as she explained things, & she gave pointers & tips through the workout as necessary. After class, Coach William cleared the space & a few of us played several games of Knockout. This was a really fun CrossFit visit & I recommend dropping in here if you can.
I went to Eggslut Venice off the recommendation of a family member. I thought it was overrated & wasn't worth the trip, though I was amused that it was popular enough for them to have a line outside the door.
Now, in planning this trip, I was delighted to find out that the end of US Route 66 is actually close to Los Angeles. You may well remember that I visited the beginning of US Route 66 in Chicago back in 2015. The End of US Route 66 is in Santa Monica. The driving portion of US Route 66 ends at Lincoln Boulevard & Olympic Boulevard where you can see Mel's Drive-In Diner. But, on the Santa Monica Pier, there is a signpost that says
I explored the Santa Monica Pier & found at least three shops that reference the end of US Route 66. I may have gone a bit crazy, but I bought shirts for my immediate family & myself.
I saw the menu item for a Route 66 Concrete dessert, & I had to get it!
The Route 66 Concrete Frozen Custard Dessert
By the way, you can get this custard at PierBurger.
I did walk over to the driving end of US Route 66, which is only 1.1 miles to the northeast. I took note of Mel's Drive-In Diner as a future eating spot, & then I ordered a Lyft to the La Brea Tar Pits. The La Brea Tar Pits visit was very interesting. It was fun to learn about the different animals that would get trapped, then the other animals trying to eat the trapped animals getting trapped themselves.
Statistical Figure of animals found at Pit 91.
Pit 13
I ran into a bit of an issue after the La Brea Tar Pits. You see, I had left my phone location on because I was using it for Lyft & forgot to turn it off. By the time I was done, my phone was only 28% - & I still had to go to dinner & back to the hotel! I walked to the first phone store I could see, bought a battery pack that said it was fully charged. Being that I have the best luck when traveling, it ran out just after I turned the corner. I walked back to the store, & they said that they would charge it for 15 minutes. So I sat & waited for that time, while simultaneously resting my feet after 8.91 miles of walking to that point.
After that, I walked to a restaurant that I thought would be a good spot to eat dinner, but the restaurant was closed due to an interior utility problem. So, I decided to take a lyft back to the hotel, & eat dinner near there.
The driver was nice enough to charge my phone on the hour drive back. (Yes, Los Angeles has traffic just about all the time it seems.) I had started coughing before I entered the Lyft, & my driver explained that the air in Los Angeles was particularly foul that week. I later learned that the fires up north may have had something to do with it.
I ended up eating at Costa Grande, a restaurant about 1.3 miles east of the chess playing hotel. As I wrote about on my yelp review page, it was a very good place & I am glad I took the time to find it.
The rest of the weekend in Los Angeles was mainly spent eating at a few different places in between chess rounds. Mel's Drive-In: Santa Monica was very good, In-N-Out Burger was not, & Dough Girl was divine. I talked about the first & last of these three places on my yelp page.
By the way, walking around Los Angeles was more dangerous than I thought. There is no space between the stop line & the crosswalk, the drivers here are even worse about not respecting pedestrians in crosswalks as compared to here in New Jersey, & the yellow painted crosswalks do nothing to help that problem.
I got off to a slow start, losing & drawing (where I might have been able to win the drawn game earlier), before charging back to a 3.0/5 round score. It wasn't enough to win money, but at least I played better after Round 3 started.
[Event "LA Open"]
[Site "Los Angeles"]
[Date "2018.11.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Oldham, David"]
[Black "Chen, Kevin E."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "1967"]
[BlackElo "1961"]
[Annotator "Chen,Kevin E."]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2018.11.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.10"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. c4 O-O 8. Nc3
Nxc3 9. bxc3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c6 11. h3 Bf5 12. O-O Nd7 13. Re1 Nb6 14. Bb3 Qc7
15. Ne5 Bd6 16. Qf3 Bg6 17. Nxg6 hxg6 {In this position, it is best for White
to take advantage of the f-pawn being pinned.} 18. c4 $6 (18. Bg5) (18. Qg4)
18... Rae8 19. Bg5 c5 20. d5 {closes the diagonal for White's light Bishop.} (
20. dxc5 Bxc5 21. Bf4 {allows White to use h2 as an escape square for his King.
}) 20... Qd7 21. Re3 Rxe3 22. fxe3 $6 (22. Qxe3 Re8) (22. Bxe3) 22... Re8 23.
Rf1 Be5 24. Bf4 f6 {with the Light Bishop blocked, I have no qualms about this
move.} 25. e4 $6 Nc8 26. Qd1 Bxf4 27. Rxf4 Re5 28. Ba4 Qe7 29. Qg4 Nd6 30. Bd7
$6 {[#] I knew this move was wrong, but I didn't know how to exploit it as I
was in time trouble & missed an interference shot.} g5 $6 ({Fritz 11 SE:} 30...
f5 31. exf5 (31. Be6+ Rxe6 {is even worse for White}) 31... Qxd7 32. Qxg6 Rxf5
33. Rxf5 Nxf5 34. Qh5 Nd6 35. Qh4 b6 36. Kh2 Qf5 37. Qd8+ Qf8 38. Qh4 Qf6 39.
Qxf6 gxf6 40. Kg3 Nxc4 41. Kf4 Kf7 42. h4 Ke7 {-2.92/26}) 31. Rf1 Rxe4 ({
Fritz 11 SE:} 31... g6 32. Be6+ Kg7 33. Rc1 Rxe4 34. Qg3 b6 35. a4 Nxc4 36. Qb8
f5 37. Rf1 Qf6 38. Qxa7+ Kh6 39. Kh1 g4 40. hxg4 Rxg4 41. Rf3 Qa1+ 42. Kh2 Qe5+
{-1.69/19}) 32. Be6+ Kf8 33. Qxg5 b6 34. Qg6 Rxe6 {time pressure issue} 35.
dxe6 Qxe6 {I really just wanted to create some play with the Knight & Queen vs.
the King} 36. Qg3 Nxc4 37. Qb8+ Kf7 38. Qxa7+ Kg6 39. Qa4 Qe3+ 40. Kh1 Nd2 41.
Qg4+ Kf7 42. Rd1 Kg8 43. Qd7 Ne4 {[#]} 44. Qe6+ $2 ({Fritz 11 SE:} 44. Qd5+ Kh7
45. Qh5+ {wins instantly with either Rd8# or White playing a Rook vs. Knight
ending.}) 44... Kh7 45. Qf5+ Kh6 $1 46. Kh2 {all other moves to avoid the
repetition of position lose to a knight fork!} (46. g4 Ng3+) (46. Qd7 Nf2+) (
46. Qf3 Qxf3 47. gxf3 Nf2+ 48. Kg2 Nxd1) 46... Qg3+ 47. Kg1 (47. Kh1 Nf2+ 48.
Kg1 Nxd1) 47... Qe3+ 48. Kh2 (48. Kf1 Ng3#) 48... Qg3+ 1/2-1/2
I forgot to mention in the post-analysis that the ...g6 move was purely to avoid setting my king & f-pawn up in a pin.
I'm glad I talked to the concierge about the flyaway bus after the tournament, as that allowed me to sleep an extra half hour to take the 3:30am bus. I wasn't happy about Denver announcing that the return flight to EWR has been delayed due to air traffic control, but there wasn't much I could do. The delay was 2:30, but I still got back in time to do some stuff.
The trip was an interesting trip. As the CrossFit Games was in Madison, Wisconsin, somewhere around 10 miles from the US Chess Open on the same week, I made arrangements to go to both. The plan was to take a Lyft ride to the Games & a Lyft ride back to the chess playing hotel. [Lyft is a ride-sharing service similar to Uber, in case you didn't know.]
I flew into Chicago Midway on Tuesday & drove up to Madison. For some reason, when I planned this trip, I completely missed that Southwest flies to Milwaukee. I might have done that instead as Milwaukee is only 1.5 hours from Madison, rather than the 2.5 - 3 hours to Chicago. Since I was driving up from Chicago, I took a quick stop at Level 257 since they had free bowling on Mondays - Thursdays during the daytime (you only had to pay for renting shoes, but I had my own shoes...) & I had $5 on my card I wanted to use up.
The second stop on the trip was the Beloit Travel Wisconsin Welcome Center. Two years ago, I made a similar stop at a rest stop & picked up a map that persuaded me to pursue the Garfield Statue Hunt in Indianapolis. So, I did the same thing & identified a few different places to go: Nitty Gritty, Dotty Dumpling's Dowry, & Ehlenbach's Cheese Chalet. As Ehlenbach's was only a half hour or less up the road from Madison & they were still going to be open when I got there, I made the trip detour.
So Ehlenbach's Cheese Chalet (https://ehlenbachscheese.com/) is family owned & operated. Now, being on vacation, I wasn't going to buy or order cheese to send home since I don't usually eat a lot of cheese. However, I did pick up a pair of cheese coasters for a Packers fan, some double chocolate chip cookies produced by a local farm, & a bag of pretzels produced by the store. The last two items were for emergency tournament eating.
I had planned to travel straight to the hotel in Middleton (the US Open Chess Hotel was just north of the Madison border in Middleton) after the cheese chalet. However, my traveling bad luck that I typically experience out of New Jersey decided to strike right there. A message popped up on the dashboard saying that the air pressure was low in one of the tires. I pull over at a gas station, trying to figure out how I'm going to tell which tire was triggering the message. Well, a tire with a missing tire cap would suffice. I drove to an advance auto parts store to take care of that problem, but boy, that could have been a lot worse. (And yes, the cap was on the tire when I left the airport.)
I next drove to Nitty Gritty in Middleton, as the Rest Area Map made a claim about burgers & birthday celebrations. I went to this place & the very first question that a host asked me was, "Is it your birthday today?" When I said no, the host did not hide disappointment on his face. They apparently have celebrated over 700,000 birthdays since 1985, with their oldest patron being I think 108 & their youngest patron born just the day before.
While at Nitty Gritty, I discovered a local soda called Blumer's Cream Soda. This soda was sweet enough to drink, not too sweet to overpower, & can be used to fake drinking alcohol even better than ginger ale with no ice & an orange slice. I so wish I could bring some home to to NJ, but I guess I have to wait.
CrossFit Games - Day 1
When I got to the CrossFit Games, my lyft driver dropped me off at the wrong spot - I think he dropped me off at the spot for athletes, organizers, etc. It took me a bit to find the back of the line. The line seemed long - maybe a 1/4 mile, but once it moved, it moved pretty quickly.
I crossed the road & noticed that there was a maroon banner that said finish. Since this happened to be the finish line for the Criterion, I decided to watch the Women's & Men's Criterion. This was a hard event to watch live as you really only saw the athletes drive by at the point you are standing at. Thankfully, the voice of Sean Woodland & the other commentators carried through on the microphones & you could hear them describe a few of the events that happened on the course at other points, such as the chain coming off of Pat Vellner's bike. It was still awesome to cheer for different athletes as they passed by, like Marquan Jones. (Center biker)
Marquan Jones is my sister's CrossFit Coach at CrossFit Roseland. My sister gave me a shirt with his name on it, so if you look at replays of the Criterion event, you might be able to see me there.
The grounds at the CrossFit Games are pretty large. (See picture below)
I approached my Day 1 Visit of the CrossFit Games similar to how I like to visit the US Open for Chess: Try to go to as many different events as possible, visit all the different areas, see what is around. I was very lucky with my Day 1 visit, as even though I did not have Coliseum access, most of the events were not in the Coliseum. I got to see at least one heat of every event except for Team event 1 - the Bike Deadlift. (The Bike Deadlift was at the same time as the Criterion, so I couldn't watch them both)
I watched Doubles & Oly for the Masters in the Age Group Pavilion, & one of the athletes (Terry Howard) actually gave me a high five after his attempt at finishing double unders & squat cleans finished. It was fun to watch this guy & cheer for him as he attempted to finish his double unders & cleans. (This was the 50+ bracket, which did 4 rounds of double unders & squat cleans - also 14-15. 16-17 & 35-49 did double unders & squat snatches.)
After Terry Howard's heat, I walked around some & came back to the Age Group Pavilion. The next event I watched was the 50+ Masters Women doing two 40-foot handstand walks sandwiching 20 wall balls. I talked to another fan in a random lane, & it turned out that not only was her mother competing, but she was competing next. So, I ended up joining this fan & cheering for Monique Londeree. It was thrilling to cheer for Monique - she did well with the handstand walks.
I went back to North Park to watch the 30 Muscle Ups Event. The individuals had 5 minutes to complete 30 ring muscle ups & cross the finish line. I tried to take additional pictures & videos, but my phone overheated & the camera function didn't work.
I dropped by the Airrosti booth, & gave my information in case I won a prize. They had me do an instagram post on my account (@thekecmaster) & used the hashtag #airrosti. They left me a comment that I won a foam roller, so I knew that my return trip on Saturday would involve picking up the foam roller. (Don't worry, we will revisit the foam roller later in this post.)
Thursday - Day 1 of the US Chess Open
I entered the 4-Day Section of the US Open, as I knew I wanted to visit the CrossFit games & I did not want to take two 1/2 point byes just to do so. The 4-Day Section was very strong - by my count, there were 9 Grandmasters in this schedule alone, as compared to 10 combined in the traditional 9-day (1 game a day schedule) & the 6-day schedule.
Time trouble was a big problem for me in this tournament. In the first 5 rounds, except for the 4th round when I trapped my opponent's Queen, the most amount of time I had at the end of a game was 5 minutes 39 seconds. The first 6 rounds of the 4-day schedule were of the G/60, 5 second delay time control, so you played 4 rounds on Thursday & two rounds on Friday afternoon at this faster time control before merging for Round 7 on Friday night at the standard time control of 40/120 SD/60, 5 second delay. It's a tough schedule, & I think the only way I would play this schedule again is if the US Open returned to New Jersey, as I would rather use my vacation day traveling the rest of this country.
It should be noted that I did have a forfeit win in the 6th round as my opponent withdrew from the tournament, but did it way too late where pairings could not have been adjusted. I should have been lucky for the start of the 7th round, but my time trouble woes continued & played into the end result as I only had 3 seconds left to make my 40th move. (My opponent was even worse...only two seconds.) It was unfortunate as I thought I played a decent game with my first attempt that I can recall using the exchange variation against the French. The link takes you to my notes & the diagram below is for quickly playing it through.
[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Madison"]
[Date "2018.08.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Chen, Kevin E."]
[Black "Thangavel, Gokul"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "1937"]
[BlackElo "2099"]
[Annotator "Chen,Kevin E."]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2018.08.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.10"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 {Spur of the moment, I decided to try to play for a win from
an equal position. Equal positions don't necessarily mean automatic draws.} 3.
exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. h3 Nbd7 {Hinders his development
unnecessarily.} (7... Be6) 8. Re1 h6 9. c4 (9. b3 c6 10. c4 {is another idea})
9... dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nb6 11. Bb3 c6 12. Nc3 a5 13. a3 Nbd5 $6 (13... Bf5) 14.
Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Bxd5 cxd5 16. Qd3 b6 17. Ne5 Qh4 {This was after a nearly
47-minute think} (17... Ba6 18. Qf5) 18. Nf3 (18. Bd2 Ba6 19. Qe3 Rae8) 18...
Qf6 19. Bd2 Ba6 20. Qe3 a4 21. Ne5 Bb5 22. Ng4 Qg6 23. Qf3 Rfd8 (23... Qd3 {
was what I was afraid of}) 24. Re3 Bc4 25. Rae1 f6 $2 26. Re6 Bf8 {[#] At this
point, I had 12 minutes to his 5 minutes. I knew that the quickest way to win
was a sacrifice to rip the Kingside open. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong one.
} 27. Bxh6 (27. Nxf6+ gxf6 (27... Kf7 28. Ng4+) (27... Kh8 28. Ng4 Qh7) 28.
Rxf6 Qd3 29. Qg4+ Kh8 30. Bxh6) ({Fritz 11 SE: 1)} 27. Nxf6+ gxf6 28. Rxf6 Qh7
29. Qg3+ Kh8 30. Ree6 Ra7 31. Rxf8+ Rxf8 32. Rxh6 Qxh6 33. Bxh6 Re8 34. Qg6 Rg8
35. Qh5 Rga8 36. Bf4+ Kg8 37. Be5 Kf8 38. Qh6+ Kf7 39. Qxb6 {4.40/20}) ({
Fritz 11 SE: 2)} 27. Nxh6+ Kh8 28. Nf5 Bb3 29. Nh4 Qh7 30. Qg4 Bc2 31. Rxb6
Rdb8 32. Rxb8 Rxb8 33. Bb4 Bxb4 34. axb4 g5 35. Nf3 Qf7 36. h4 gxh4 37. Qxh4+
Bh7 38. Qf4 Rxb4 39. Ne5 {2.28/20}) 27... Rd6 {Granted, I'm still up a pawn,
but this conversion is not easy.} 28. Rxd6 Bxd6 29. Bf4 Bf8 30. Ne3 Qd3 {
draw offered. I declined.} 31. Rc1 b5 (31... Rc8 32. Nxd5 Qxf3 33. gxf3 Ba6 34.
Rxc8 Bxc8 35. Nxb6 Bxh3 36. Nxa4) 32. Rxc4 {Sadly, I had less than a minute
here & my opponent had about 1 minute & a half after his reply, so this game
devolved.} (32. Nxc4 Qxf3 (32... bxc4 $4 33. Qxd5+ Kh8 34. Qxa8) 33. gxf3 bxc4)
({Fritz 11 SE:} 32. Rxc4 dxc4 33. Qd5+ Kh7 34. Qxa8 c3 35. bxc3 Bxa3 36. Nd5
Qb1+ 37. Kh2 Bc1 38. Bxc1 Qxc1 39. Qb7 a3 40. Nxf6+ Kg6 41. Nd5 Qb2 42. Nf4+
Kf6 43. Qf3 Kg5 44. Ne6+ {4.81/19}) 32... dxc4 (32... bxc4 $4 33. Qxd5+ Kh7 34.
Qxa8) 33. Qxa8 $2 (33. Qd5+ Kh7 34. Qxa8) 33... Qb1+ 34. Kh2 Qxb2 35. Bd6 Qxf2
36. Qxf8+ Kh7 37. Ng4 ({Fritz 11 SE:} 37. Nd5 Qe2 38. Qf7 Qxg2+ 39. Kxg2 b4 40.
axb4 Kh6 41. Bf4+ g5 42. Nxf6 gxf4 43. Qh7+ Kg5 44. Ne4# {#18/18}) 37... Qxd4
38. Bg3 $2 (38. Bb4 Qf4+ 39. Kg1 Qc1+ 40. Kf2 (40. Kh2 Qf4+ {is an easy
perpetual}) 40... Qc2+ 41. Kf3 Qd3+ 42. Ne3 {stops all the checks. In time
pressure, white likely has a perpetual.}) 38... c3 39. Qf7 c2 40. Qh5+ Kg8 {
3 seconds for me, 2 seconds for him from the first time control.} 41. Qe8+ {
I sadly offered the draw here. I realize now that there had to be a way out
for me in this position, but my brain was fried after being in time pressure
each of the previous rounds plus this one.} (41. Qe8+ {Fritz 11 SE:} Kh7 42.
Qc8 Qb2 43. Bf4 b4 44. axb4 a3 45. Bd2 a2 46. Nxf6+ gxf6 47. Bc3 c1=Q 48. Qf5+
Kg8 49. Qg6+ Kf8 50. Qxf6+ Ke8 51. Bxb2 Qc7+ 52. Kg1 Qa7+ 53. Kf1 Qa4 54. Qe6+
Kd8 55. Bf6+ Kc7 56. Be5+ {4.51/21}) 1/2-1/2
Before I forget, I should mention that I visited Mickie's Dairy Bar for breakfast on Friday morning. It is a good place to eat at, but make sure you have cash on you as they don't take credit cards. The atmosphere resembles a college town atmosphere, which is appropriate since the University of Wisconsin-Madison is pretty much right next door.
Since I knew that the Saturday Round 8 game didn't start until 7 pm, I made a return trip to the CrossFit games.
I watched the Jump Finish Event for the Masters women, but I didn't exactly preview all of the athletes that would be at the games. I was very surprised to see 2013 CrossFit Games champion Samantha Briggs competing in the Masters division, mainly because I didn't think she was that old. I happened to be standing only two to three lanes away, so I had an excellent view as I watched her win this heat, which turned out to be an event win. See https://games.crossfit.com/workouts/games/2018?division=18 for the full workout descriptions of the muscle ups, back squats, & box jumpovers.
After I watched Briggs, I walked over to North Park to hang out at the finish line & try to cheer on Marquan Jones during the Triplus (Swim, Paddleboard, Run).
I headed back to the Age Pavilion to check out more of the Jump Finish Event when I happened to catch up with the same fan who was cheering for her mother Monique Londeree (Instagram: mo_molonderee) on Wednesday. So I cheered for her again during Jump Finish. Monique struggled a little bit during this event, but it was fascinating to watch her fight through & eventually do as many muscle ups as she could. Her coach was to my left giving her tips to remember as she did the muscle ups. She fought really hard & I loved watching her perform, even if she didn't finish the event. She gave it her all & that's all anyone could ask for. I gave her a high five after her heat.
After eating lunch at Sofra Family Bistro in downtown Middleton, I saw a sculpture that an artist create of Bucky Badger in Builder's clothes, called Bucky the Builder.
Driving around, I stumbled onto Hurts Donut Company, which had a hilarious sign about Dos & Donuts that you just have to read.
The two donuts I ended up eating eventually were
Very delicious donuts. I didn't eat them right away, but I had a feeling that I would eat them during the tournament.
Final Round, Sunday, 3:05 pm start
I would like to point out that a chess player actually died in the final round of the US Open. I will discuss briefly about what happened, but only as much as I actually saw & what I know. I anticipate the US Chess Federation may bring more details to the surface as they know it. Below is the announcement:
I was playing the last round, & thinking about what to do on my 17th move. All of a sudden, I heard a flop, thump, & a medical emergency shout. Players from other areas of the room (yes, even kids) began to flock over to see what was going on as two people nearby started to perform CPR. My opponent & I agreed to stop the clock, & eventually walked away from the area to give space. The TDs were able to direct everyone else away from the area, trying to pause as many clocks as they could. Tables & chairs surrounding the fallen player were moved in an attempt to give space for treatment of the player.
Two people (I believe both were other tournament players but I am not 100% sure) were close to the fallen player were performing CPR, & the nearest TD called 911. The operator, while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive, was giving step by step instructions. Emergency Personnel came, though it took a while for them to get there, maybe 15-20 minutes after the initial medical emergency call.
Emergency personnel took over & kept trying to work on the fallen player. At some point during this process, the chief organizer ordered everyone to clear the room. I remember all the players I was surrounded by hoping first & foremost that the fallen player would be okay, though I did hear secondhand that some players were complaining about others getting free thinking time in their games. I am horrified that these people actually complained about this (I trust & believe my source) & am disgusted with these few players. Hopefully these aren't the majority.
The TDs would come out at semi-regular intervals, asking if players agreed to a draw that the results would be honored on the spot, though no one could get back into the tournament room to retrieve their items until the police/emergency personnel were done. The Chief TD, at 6:30pm, then indicated that play would not resume until at least 8pm. The majority of players decided to get dinner. I stayed back & conversed with a few other players.
We were not permitted back into the room until 7:30-7:45, & play would resume at 8pm, about 3 hours & 25 minutes after the emergency started. The organizer, just before play resumed, indicated that the fallen player had died & asked everyone for a moment of silence. It was really hard to finish the game after that, as I couldn't help but think more about the player dying than the actual game I was playing. It's really shocking to think that a player could die during a chess tournament, & to hear it & watch part of it unfold in front of me really left me unbalanced.
I offered my opponent a draw, but he wanted to play it out since we waited this long & finally got back to the board. He mentioned that if I had offered it right away after the medical emergency, he would have taken it, but I didn't think that the resumption would occur as late as 8:00 when the event first happened. There have been two other medical emergencies similar to this in prior tournaments I played in, but the player in question in those cases survived & the resumption of play was within a half hour.
It didn't really help that he was a local, living 30 minutes away, & I still had to drive back to Chicago. Since I couldn't legitimately resign the game at that point since I thought I had a slight advantage, but my mind was jumbled with hearing a player just drop to the floor, I played the rest of the game in speed mode, using less than 41 minutes over the final 60 moves. I ended up losing the game, & making the long drive back to Chicago so I could fly home the next morning.
-------------------------------------------
The donuts I purchased at Hurts Donuts Company were a bit of fortune, as I didn't get to eat anything else that night/late morning. I left Middleton at or around 10 pm, & the drive back was wet, with lightning & thunderstorms nearby, & hazardous since I-90 was a construction zone. The rest area that I stopped in only had McDonald's open at 12 midnight, & I wasn't waiting on a 20-person line for that. I arrived at my hotel in Chicago on Monday 1:00 am +/- & left it at 5:30 am +/-, shortest hotel stay ever. The foam roller I won was checked in as a second bag, conditionally accepted. However, when I got to Newark, said roller wasn't found. Thankfully Southwest was very nice through the process, filling a lost item form for me, & they found the foam roller on a later plane from Midway to EWR. They offered me a $100 travel voucher if I picked it up, or I could have it delivered. I'm not passing up the travel voucher, so I picked it up on Tuesday along with the voucher.
I just hope my next trip has a better ending, as this will do it for Wisconsin. #fiftystatesofchess
I apologize for the lateness of this post. I didn't get it done the day after I got back, & lots of things have happened since then. But I will try my best to tell you what happened.
I flew into Bishop International Airport in Flint, arriving between 12 noon & 1 pm. From Airport to Rental Car Terminal was all of 5 minutes or less - it's a small airport. Since everyone else was crowding the luggage area, I decided to get an early start & get my rental car. I picked up my luggage & proceeded to the rental car...which was chock full of smoke. So I went back to the terminal & picked up another car, which was in Spot #21. I thought that my luck was pretty good & that the switch in cars would be a definite good sign.
I drove down to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, just outside of Detroit. I wasn't sure what to expect there, but I did see the dymaxion house, which was advertised in the post-world-war-II era to be a mass-produced, affordable, easily transportable, & environmentally efficient house. Too bad the inventor (Buckminster Fuller) was a bit ahead of his time: I'm sure he might have had a little more traction if he could work his idea now.
I stumbled into some blast from the past items, like a very old traffic light from the early 1900s, the speak & spell toy that I used as a kid, a certificate of authenticity where bunches of Atari games were dumped but later found, the mathematica exhibit.
To be fair, there were many more items to see inside & outside the museum, but time was a limiting factor as they close at 5 pm. You really want to get there in the morning & spend the whole day there.
After the Ford Museum, I was surprisingly tired - my body thought it was 10:00 rather than 5:00 +/-. So I drove the 2 hours to Battle Creek, stopping at both rest stops along the way, & just passed out in my hotel room.
The next day, I drove all the way to Ligonier, Indiana to the Annie Oakley Perfumery. I saw this destination on a map in 2016 when visiting Indiana, but I could not go then. I figured that this was my best chance remaining to go as there was no guarantee I'll be this close (90 minutes +/-) again. I got to try out some mixes (yes, there are some products for men as well) & I chose two items that I liked. I may cover it in an instagram post at some point.
After driving back to Battle Creek, I stopped in at Lux Cafe - I was told that they had good pancakes. I liked their pancakes & liked their omelettes - definitely a good place to eat breakfast. The service was good & the price was good. If you are in the area looking for breakfast or lunch, go there.
I got back to my room intending to walk around Battle Creek as I noticed various sculptures & artwork that I wanted to view & take pictures of. Unfortunately, I was tired again & opted to nap before my first round at 7pm.
After Round 1, I visited Sweets & Meats in Battle Creek. While this place is known for chocolate & jerky, this random visit stood out to me because I got into a random conversation with the cashier. Apparently, this cashier is looking to move soon & is thinking about moving to New Jersey. If he does, I would like to think I may have influenced that with some good points in the conversation. If he doesn't, oh well. I hope his move (wherever he ends up going) is successful.
I ended up eating dinner at a chain called Finley's. For some reason, the server tried to be good, but he was unaware that some of my original dining choices were finished. Finley's felt similar to Famous Dave's, but the portions were smaller.
The next morning, I did walk around Downtown Battle Creek, & ran into the Kellogg House, the Kellogg institute, the Sojourner Truth Statue, the Compass Rose, the Donald Sherrod Plaque, & a few other items.
I was particularly stunned with seeing the Sojourner Truth Statue - While I did know that she was an outspoken abolitionist & a former slave who escaped to freedom in the 1800s, I did not know she lived in Battle Creek, MI the last 26 years of her life. Before she died, she autographed a book owned by local high school student Hattie Johnson in 1980. A plaque of her signature is shown below.
I lost in Round 5, which knocked me out of prize contention. I sincerely thought that I had improved on my Round 2 play, which was the same colors & the same opening, but I allowed the same ...d5 break in Round 2 & my position eventually went down in flames. All my previous games in the last two years has seen the opponent go passive, so I really have to rethink this early Queen development.
I did find it amusing that mistakes made in games (regardless of player) resurfaced in later rounds.
Post finished 2018.03.23 7:20 AM The Battleship Texas I visited Battleship Texas. It is an interesting site featuring a ship that served in both World War I & World War II. The different areas aboard the ship showcased different ideas from an area that resembled a pop culture store, where you can buy listerine, magazines, dentyne, & other pop culture products. It's interesting to see famous name brands today have such different looks back then.
Near the Mail Room, they had a list of censorship regulations. Such a list would extend to social media in this day & age.
NASA Space Center I visited the NASA Space Center. I found the item on computer memory fascinating, as it was one of the first advances of computer size during their time. Also, LOL stood for little old lady who assembled the memory by hand.
They usually packaged their food in such a way that they can add water to it, & they did have a waste management system.
There was a Space vs. Earth Chess Game, & this is the set used in Space.
There were also a trainer used for the Skylab, the first US Space station, and a replica of the Shuttle Independence.
Fogo de Chao Steakhouse I ate at Fogo de Chao on Westheimer Road. It was an interesting buffet Brazilian steakhouse with a double-sided green & red coaster. If the green side was up, servers would come with different cuts of meat to your table. Anything you liked, they would put on your plate. If the red side was up, that means your play (or your stomach) was full & they would pass. Nice place, no dress code. A little bit expensive, but definitely worth it. Traffic Traffic in Houston is generally nuts. I-610 & I-45 was full of cars going less than 25 mph more than half the time. I would consider using Uber if I ever get a chance to make a return visit. There was a Rodeo somewhere on the western loop of I-610, which caused some unexpected additional problems, even at 11:30 at night!! Also, their warning signs for work zone areas are more sudden & less conforming than they are back here in NJ. CrossFit Vertigo & Scaled WOD 18.4 Vertigo seemed like an appropriate place because loss of balance could easily be achieved with handstand pushups & handstand walks for the RX athletes. I did this workout scaled, so the handstand pushups were hand release pushups & the handstand walks were bear crawls, which were actually fun. I got 122 scaled reps with an 8:12 tiebreak time. I was very surprised about where I finished the first part (4:24 vs. an expected 6:00 or worse), but that jump from 135# to 185# felt more like 235#.
Coach Kurt was very good & the other athletes were pretty supportive of each other & of me. I would definitely return. Dancesport USA I started to take lessons in ballroom dancing nearly two years ago via a friend from 5th grade who posted a facebook status update looking for guest dancers. I have loved it ever since, & I still go regularly. I wanted to try on this trip to find a ballroom or latin dance place, & I struck gold when I hit another facebook search. This location was hosting Friday night ballroom dancing from 8:00pm - 10:30pm. You pay $10 as a guest & the owner gives you a list of the expected songs & dances, as shown below.
There were some interesting tidbits, such as meeting a Scrabble Tournament Player (min 5,000 new words per year), a couple from Garwood, NJ who moved South because they hated snow, & a visiting couple from Laredo, TX who knew about this place & also dropped in. Since I was the only unpartnered male, I had to walk around to random ladies & ask if they would like to dance to certain songs. A few were not, but most were amenable to it. Apparently the previous week had numerous unpartnered ladies, but I still got some dancing in. And yes, their dance room is at least 2x - 3x the length & 2x-2.5x the width as the studio I dance out of here at home (The Westfield Ballroom). If I did purely Foxtrot Sway tempo on the long side, I would not have to turn the corner at all! Whataburger I was hungry after dancing, so I decided to drop in at a fast food place I don't see at home. I tried the Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich, which was interesting. Fair warning: If you eat in, be prepared to listen to country music nonstop. This chain is extremely popular in Texas. Other Places
Other places I ate of note are Fat Cat Creamery yelp review & Shipley Donuts. It should be noted that Shipley Donuts locations were everywhere, but this may have been the first time that I saw exactly 0 Dunkin Donuts locations while driving around Houston. Chess - Lone Star Open This was an interesting tournament run by Chief TD Korey & the other staff from Cajun Chess with the following link to the Cajun Chess Website. The tournament was run pretty smoothly, & spectators were not allowed in the room. I liked the execution of having the players wear badges so that they are known & allowed to enter playing room. The rounds tended to start a few minutes late, but after suffering through many late starts to rounds in Cream Cheese City, including 20 minutes or longer at the World Open, Philadelphia Open, & National Chess Congress, an average late start of 5 minutes or so at the Lone Star Open is not really going to bother me that much. The U2000 section was full of wild games. One of the contenders was down two Rooks in his game, & came back to win. I'm hoping to look at a copy of that score. The first game is from Round 1. I don't recall playing against the Schliemann before (3. ...f5 in response to the Ruy Lopez), & I remember my good friend Pete telling me that he used it to wipe opponents off the board fairly easily. I made an early opening mistake by castling right away, but once my opponent made his mistake on the 6th move, I pounced on the e-file liked I wanted to & ended up with an extra pawn. The rest of the game is a fairly typical plan of action with Knight vs. Bishop being the main characters. Please note that I am using a new chess game viewer, so please bear with me as I try to get used to it. Game 1
The second game is from the last round. This was actually the third round with which I was surprised by something in the opening (this time, the hyperaccelerated dragon in the Sicilian with the insertion of ...Nc6) in this tournament. My space advantage dissipated, & eventually, my opponent had the roving central pawns. While his exchange sacrifice wasn't fully necessary, it did give the seed for a promising attack on my King. Luckily, his incorrect 26th move allowed me to reposition the heavy artillery & launch my own counterattack. Game 2
