Round 1 for the DOCA Knights will take place Thursday vs. lehigh Valley.
#gardenstatechessleague
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Garden State Chess League Round 2
The DOCA Knights have defeated Hamilton Chess Club at Hamilton 2.5-1.5 to kick off Round 2 matches.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
KEC vs. MS - one-on-one 8-game match
One of my DOCA Knights teammates has challenged me to a one-on-one match, similar to the World Championship matches.
We have agreed to play 8 games on roughly alternating Friday nights.
We have agreed to play 8 games on roughly alternating Friday nights.
11/7
11/21
12/5
12/19
1/9/15
1/23/15
2/6/15
& 2/20/15.
Scheduling Notes: 1/2 I'm not here, 2/13 is the World Amateur Team Tournament in Parsippany, NJ. (Hint: play in that.)
Start Time 7:30pm
Time Control G/60, 10-second increment.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
The Utah Open + the Conclusion of State # 7 Trip
Photos from the Utah Trip
First off, the link to the tip photos are above. Second, the pgn display of the third round game is above.
The tournament was pretty fun. I got to the University of Utah around four hours before the start of the tournament, so I did some random stuff & walked around campus a bit. The tournament had a slightly rough beginning with room conflicts & people searching for the playing rooms, but overall, I thought the tournament was run acceptably. They used SwissSys for the pairings (I got a glimpse of the laptop while waiting for one of the rounds), which is also used in New York but not in New Jersey. NJ uses WinTD. What was strange for me was the open section finished before the other sections did.
There were roughly 27 players in the Open Section. For NJ players, this may seem small, but one has to remember that there aren't that many chess players in Utah, either.
My round results in order were loss, win, win, draw, & win. The person I lost to in Round 1 ended up jumping from B-player to A-player at the end of the tournament. My last opponent was at the 2014 US Open for one of the invitational tournaments (Denker?) & hopes to come back in Phoenix next year.
The Utah Chess Association was pretty nice. Gina kept in constant contact with me as I was setting up this trip, & Grant the Chief TD was solid. I won a trophy & some cash for my efforts as the top U2000 player.
So the tournament ended on Saturday, & I planned to use Sunday to go sightseeing in Salt Lake City. This did not work out too well. I did go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performance at Temple Square, & then I walked over to the Cathedral of the Madeleine. However, I opted to take lunch after the mass, which was a mistake. I ended up walking between an 60-90 minutes since most of the places I considered going to for food were closed or dodgy. Interestingly, between the Cathedral & Dim Sum House, you could count on 4 hands or less the number of people walking around. I thought I was in a ghost town rather than a big city.
I went to Dim Sum House, & Dim Sum was still open. However, since I was by myself, I ate a little too much & had to go back to the hotel. By the time I was done in the hotel, it was past 4pm Mountain Time & just not worth it to get to the Capitol Building, which closes at 6pm Mountain Time.
Side note on weather: Friday & Saturday, according to the locals, was 3 degrees higher than the previous record high. Wearing a sweater & the New York Giants jacket was a clear mistake.
So, on Monday, I had to travel home with the trophy. I get to the airport early, & ask the ticket agent if I was allowed to carry the trophy onto the plane. She redirects me to the TSA staff 100 feet to her right. They give me the okay on the trophy, & I'm in business. The flight path going home included a connecting stop in Dallas Fort-Worth. When I stopped in DFW, the odd thing about this airport was that there were not one, but two Dallas Cowboys apparel stores in Terminal C. I don't think I have seen even one sports apparel store in an airport before, & I see two of a rival team in one place. Luckily, at least 13 people between the first two airports stopped to ask questions or comment on the trophy, which drew attention away from the fact that I was wearing my Giants jacket so I didn't have to hold it. When I got to the final airport, I told my dad picking me up, "I'm holding my trophy. You shouldn't have a hard time finding me - I don't think there will be any other trophies visible at the airport."
First off, the link to the tip photos are above. Second, the pgn display of the third round game is above.
The tournament was pretty fun. I got to the University of Utah around four hours before the start of the tournament, so I did some random stuff & walked around campus a bit. The tournament had a slightly rough beginning with room conflicts & people searching for the playing rooms, but overall, I thought the tournament was run acceptably. They used SwissSys for the pairings (I got a glimpse of the laptop while waiting for one of the rounds), which is also used in New York but not in New Jersey. NJ uses WinTD. What was strange for me was the open section finished before the other sections did.
There were roughly 27 players in the Open Section. For NJ players, this may seem small, but one has to remember that there aren't that many chess players in Utah, either.
My round results in order were loss, win, win, draw, & win. The person I lost to in Round 1 ended up jumping from B-player to A-player at the end of the tournament. My last opponent was at the 2014 US Open for one of the invitational tournaments (Denker?) & hopes to come back in Phoenix next year.
The Utah Chess Association was pretty nice. Gina kept in constant contact with me as I was setting up this trip, & Grant the Chief TD was solid. I won a trophy & some cash for my efforts as the top U2000 player.
So the tournament ended on Saturday, & I planned to use Sunday to go sightseeing in Salt Lake City. This did not work out too well. I did go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performance at Temple Square, & then I walked over to the Cathedral of the Madeleine. However, I opted to take lunch after the mass, which was a mistake. I ended up walking between an 60-90 minutes since most of the places I considered going to for food were closed or dodgy. Interestingly, between the Cathedral & Dim Sum House, you could count on 4 hands or less the number of people walking around. I thought I was in a ghost town rather than a big city.
I went to Dim Sum House, & Dim Sum was still open. However, since I was by myself, I ate a little too much & had to go back to the hotel. By the time I was done in the hotel, it was past 4pm Mountain Time & just not worth it to get to the Capitol Building, which closes at 6pm Mountain Time.
Side note on weather: Friday & Saturday, according to the locals, was 3 degrees higher than the previous record high. Wearing a sweater & the New York Giants jacket was a clear mistake.
So, on Monday, I had to travel home with the trophy. I get to the airport early, & ask the ticket agent if I was allowed to carry the trophy onto the plane. She redirects me to the TSA staff 100 feet to her right. They give me the okay on the trophy, & I'm in business. The flight path going home included a connecting stop in Dallas Fort-Worth. When I stopped in DFW, the odd thing about this airport was that there were not one, but two Dallas Cowboys apparel stores in Terminal C. I don't think I have seen even one sports apparel store in an airport before, & I see two of a rival team in one place. Luckily, at least 13 people between the first two airports stopped to ask questions or comment on the trophy, which drew attention away from the fact that I was wearing my Giants jacket so I didn't have to hold it. When I got to the final airport, I told my dad picking me up, "I'm holding my trophy. You shouldn't have a hard time finding me - I don't think there will be any other trophies visible at the airport."
Friday, October 24, 2014
Quick Intro To State #7
It has been an interesting trip so far. I am blogging live at the University of Utah, site of the Utah Open, which starts at 5pm Eastern time, 3 pm Mountain time.
This is the first time I have entered a different time zone in over 7 years. Last night, my body & cell phone was telling me 1005pm while I was eating dinner, but the local time showed 805 pm. I had the same problem today, when I arrived here at 1pm eastern time, approximately four hours before the tournament.
It has been different so far, as compared to home. There are traffic signals that have 6 signal heads on one mast arm that is at least 72 feet long. Most of New Jersey doesn't have mast arms that long. The sidewalks are more offset from the road, showing at least 8 feet of grass buffer on the road by my hotel. I'll provide the link to some pictures once I get home. More posts to come soon.
This is the first time I have entered a different time zone in over 7 years. Last night, my body & cell phone was telling me 1005pm while I was eating dinner, but the local time showed 805 pm. I had the same problem today, when I arrived here at 1pm eastern time, approximately four hours before the tournament.
It has been different so far, as compared to home. There are traffic signals that have 6 signal heads on one mast arm that is at least 72 feet long. Most of New Jersey doesn't have mast arms that long. The sidewalks are more offset from the road, showing at least 8 feet of grass buffer on the road by my hotel. I'll provide the link to some pictures once I get home. More posts to come soon.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
New home for NJ Chess Articles
http://www.nj.com/inside-jersey/index.ssf/2014/10/chess_mate_a_new_beginning_to_the_game.html#incart_river
It should be noted that I forgot to mention last Sunday that the new chess column is on NJ.com under entertainment. Please put some welcoming comments so that they know people are there reading it.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Star Ledger Chess Problem
Pete Tamburro sent the following email this morning. I implore you, if you like reading the chess article in the Star Ledger, do something about it. In the meantime, I will continue to post NJ Chess news or links as I find them.
To friends of chess in NJ,
If you bought the Star-Ledger this morning, you will see that Steve and I have been replaced by the syndicated "Chess" column by Selby Lyman. If you want NJ chess news to appear in the newspaper again, it would be a big help if you wrote to the editor/publisher and the letter to the editor page about this. Some of you have had your games published or your kids' games published or just like to read state chess news. If you have a personal reference, please mention it. Form letters don't work. Please encourage your chess friends to write.
Thanks,
Pete
The respective emails:
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
NJ Open Roundup
I apologize for the delay, but I am finally home to blog about the NJ Open.
First we have the obligatory links to games & results. The games were compiled by Pete Tamburro, the Star Ledger Chess Columnist.
NJ Open Selected Games
NJ Open Results List
This was one of the strongest NJ Opens I can ever remember. The Organizers wanted to invite two GMs to the tournament. They initially struck out on the second person, so they got a third person. However, the GMs might have a chess playing thread active, as after the first two accepted, 5 more GMs came! We had 7 GMs & 5 IMs, the most that I could ever remember, & over 1/3 of the Open Field was Master Level Strength (2200) or higher.
The only lowlight of the tournament was an outburst in the 5th Round. I was tucked away in a corner when all of a sudden a player on the other side of the room starts slamming pieces at his opponent. After he was escorted out, he yells even louder - so loud that you could hear him through the closed doors. I really hope that all the other players don't get scared off of this tournament by this guy. I have since been informed that he will be dealt with, as his behavior was extremely unprofessional & extremely childlike.
The Morristown Hyatt is a really nice site. There are places galore to eat within a mile walking distance. The hotel staff is very attentive, the playing room was nicely lit, & the parking situation is not problematic for the players.
I finished with 3 points out of 6 rounds. You can see some of my games, especially the losses to both IM Zlotnikov & NM Milovanovic in the first link above. I went up a piece against Zlotnikov, but there was really no choice but to offer a draw as he had perpetual check. I opted to press on & eventually lost the game.
Against Milovanovic, we played a deep main line of the King's Indian Defense. The game was very exciting, & both of us squandered at least one or two chances to take control of this game.
Pete was nice enough to help me out going over some games after a few of my rounds. He published a book earlier this year called Openings for Amateurs. I am about a third of the way through the book, & it's a really good resource for players 1300-1900. He's really instructive, & actively challenges you to find out what you did wrong, as well as ask you why you did what you did in the game.
That concludes my brief report.
First we have the obligatory links to games & results. The games were compiled by Pete Tamburro, the Star Ledger Chess Columnist.
NJ Open Selected Games
NJ Open Results List
This was one of the strongest NJ Opens I can ever remember. The Organizers wanted to invite two GMs to the tournament. They initially struck out on the second person, so they got a third person. However, the GMs might have a chess playing thread active, as after the first two accepted, 5 more GMs came! We had 7 GMs & 5 IMs, the most that I could ever remember, & over 1/3 of the Open Field was Master Level Strength (2200) or higher.
The only lowlight of the tournament was an outburst in the 5th Round. I was tucked away in a corner when all of a sudden a player on the other side of the room starts slamming pieces at his opponent. After he was escorted out, he yells even louder - so loud that you could hear him through the closed doors. I really hope that all the other players don't get scared off of this tournament by this guy. I have since been informed that he will be dealt with, as his behavior was extremely unprofessional & extremely childlike.
The Morristown Hyatt is a really nice site. There are places galore to eat within a mile walking distance. The hotel staff is very attentive, the playing room was nicely lit, & the parking situation is not problematic for the players.
I finished with 3 points out of 6 rounds. You can see some of my games, especially the losses to both IM Zlotnikov & NM Milovanovic in the first link above. I went up a piece against Zlotnikov, but there was really no choice but to offer a draw as he had perpetual check. I opted to press on & eventually lost the game.
Against Milovanovic, we played a deep main line of the King's Indian Defense. The game was very exciting, & both of us squandered at least one or two chances to take control of this game.
Pete was nice enough to help me out going over some games after a few of my rounds. He published a book earlier this year called Openings for Amateurs. I am about a third of the way through the book, & it's a really good resource for players 1300-1900. He's really instructive, & actively challenges you to find out what you did wrong, as well as ask you why you did what you did in the game.
That concludes my brief report.
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