I had ideas of what I wanted to do in Hawaii & play on this trip, but execution on this trip was one of the worst all time.
I looked back in my chess career & noticed I have played four events in the week between Christmas & New Year's. 2007 Quad in Somerset, 2008 Quad in Somerset, 2011 NYC 5 Round Tournament (Took a bye during one of the original six rounds), & 2013 NYC 6 Round Tournament. Total Record, 2 Wins, 9 Draws, 6 Losses.
My event end of year struggles continued to Hawaii, where I blew at least 3 games when I had the advantage in the main event (at least one of which I was outright winning) & followed it up with two games in the blitz where I repeated said meltdowns.
I was the low person in the field, so I had a full point bye in the first round as there were an odd number of players in my section for that round. I was assigned an extra rated game against another odd player from a lower section. I lost that game but figured, well, better get the bad play out now than later.
I lost the second round after successfully surrounding a pawn, but didn't realize I didn't have to interpose on the Queen check. After missing my chance to win that pawn, said pawn successfully cracks open my position & I stumble into a mating net.
The position in Round 2 After 27. Rd5 Qb1+, when I played 28. Rd1 by mistake
After blundering into a quick mating attack in Round 3, I finally played fairly well in the late ending to win in Round 4. This time, instead of my patented Knight vs Bishop endings, it is a Queen ending for your enjoyment!
After Round 4, I thought maybe I had a chance to salvage things as I got a big advantage in Round 5, but then I let that slip to a quick tactic & eventually lost.
You can see both games below.
The tournament format was nicely setup, one of my favorites in my career. Joe Hanley (Hanley Chess Academy) organized the tournament into 3 main event days & 1 day for the side events. It went Thursday 12/28 Rounds 1 & 2 10am & 4pm, Friday 12/29 Rounds 3 & 4 10am & 4pm, Saturday 12/30 Rounds 5 & 6 10am & 4pm, & Sunday Action 9:30am Blitz 1:30pm & Quick (I think 4pm) events.
With the time control of G/90 +:30 Increment, there was too much time in between the two rounds, which some of us players not from Hawaii commented to Joe. I did however like the fact that we didn't start too early & the times were the same for each day of the main event. I personally would have liked Rounds 10am & 3pm or even 9am & 2pm.
The strangeness of the field in the Over 1800 Section was, there were no 2000 or higher players. I can't recall very many open sections or top sections I ever played in before not having an expert or higher during the tournament (the only one coming to mind was North Dakota). This, however, resulted in exciting games, even if I was on the wrong end of 2-3 of them. TD Damien Nash ran the Main Event Sections well. If I have a chance to go back & play in this tournament, I probably would.
I have dressed up loosely in cosplay for every chess tournament I participated in since the 2019 A Video Game Con 's last main convention event. I plan on doing so until they come back with their main event or I find out they are done.
Fire Luigi Alternate - Blitz Event
Here are the #fiftystatesofchess maps, with Hawaii being the third biggest negative differential state (-4) in my career (New York -17 & Pennsylvania -24 are the top 2 in this category). This record only considers games where notation is required. I'm going to have to add this note in at some point on the maps, & at some point, I hope to reverse these negatives into positives.
I still made friends amongst a few chess players on this trip, & I hope to see them again soon!
Now we get to the non-chess parts of the trip
For the second trip in a row (see State No. 35 Oregon + Bonus Trip), I was sick. Someone around me got sick, & I ended up sick on the trip because of that & eating something bad on the airplane. So my exploration game was a bit off.
On the plane about to enter Hawaii, there's a survey that everyone has to take to certify that they're not bringing in certain foods or plants into Hawaii. It wasn't a bad or long survey, but it did get my attention as I had never heard of this before & wondered if this was similar to the rule about never speaking of that Brad Pitt Movie.
I dropped in at Crossfit Oahu. The coach who greeted me was in the middle of coaching the 4pm class & would eventually coach the 5pm class. I ended up doing bar dips for the first time so that was exciting, but I did struggle with turkish getups. The facility was nice & the coach was good with adjustments, but I think the coach who led the 6pm class was better.
Wednesday Plan Fail + Pre-Tournament Call Hijinks
I did go to Pearl Harbor Wednesday morning. Out of all the historical sites I have visited in my life, this is one of the top sites for being covered in school. Still, there was still lots & lots of things I didn't know, and this was still a very eye-opening trip. I did take a few pictures & those pictures can be seen in the link below.
I went to Bishop Museum after that. I was told by an outdated reference that there was a daily Hula show there, but there was none that I found. I did enjoy going through the museum though & learning about the past & present for Hawaii, so I still recommend going.
Afterward, I ate dinner at Hula Grill Waikiki (one level above Duke's Waikiki) & this was the Sunset I was lucky enough to be able to see.
There was a pre-tournament zoom call I forgot I wanted to partake in, so I called in while I walked back to the hotel. I dropped by a convenience store on my way back to the hotel while taking part of the zoom call, & I made the mistake of trying to cover the volume with my ear in line while my camera was still active. The host was nice enough to point out that they had a closeup of my ear lol.
On Thursday - Saturday - I ate at a lot of local places, but the walk to the tournament (from my hotel to the Neil S. Blaisdell Center) did not feel like a Hawaii vacation. I felt like I was just in some random city that happened to be close to water. I also had a hotel snafu where I saw a bug in an unusual place, killed it, & dumped the bugged towel outside my room on Wednesday night. I called the front desk & they said that they would advance the housekeeping & clean my room to prevent occurrence. I came back the next night & they did not do so. A different hotel worker saw the note & wouldn't grant the advanced housekeeping request (they don't clean until the 4th day). So, if I ever return to Hawaii, I know never to book at that hotel again. (Which is sad because this is the first hotel in a long time that served breakfast that I ate at & didn't get me sick)
On Sunday morning, after the final round of the main event, I attempted to hike up one of the trails to catch a sunrise. I was late, & unfortunately, I got sick again. I only made it up to an unmarked viewing spot before deciding after about 20 minutes I could go no further.
I went to the Ala Moana Center & found the stage that they do a Daily Hula Show at 5pm.
Unfortunately, I missed my chance to see it as I opted to go to a Luau show at the Aloha Tower that night after the Blitz Event.
These are a few pictures I took before the Luau show started.
I liked the show, but the details around were disappointing - the buffet closed early, the drink menu for the drink tickets was limited. I was hungry afterward & had to go search for additional food later.
Monday - Since my flight was an afternoon flight, I killed a little bit of time at Tropics Mini Golf. (See pictures below.
At select holes, there's a wheel that you can spin to determine how you &/or your opponents are affected. This seems like the type of mini golf course you play with friends or fun characters like Bugs Bunny.
I went back to the Ala Moana Center for lunch & then picked up my bags at the hotel & took off for the airport, where your bags have to through a USDA checkpoint to ensure you're not bringing banned fruits/plants/etc. prior to going to the mainland.
That concludes State No. 36 for me. I probably could have enjoyed this trip more & played better, but it is what it is. The next blog entry is anticipated to be in an NFC South location, unless something changes that I cannot forsee at the moment.
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