My world view and professional approach, as explained by Thor

‘They’re specialists, the whole lot of them, and they don’t believe in a method of work which cuts into every field of science from archaeology to botany. They limit their own scope in order to be able to dig in the depths with more concentration for details. Modern research demands that every special branch shall dig its own hole. It’s not usual for anyone to sort out what comes out of the holes and try to put it all together.’

Carl was right. But to solve the problems of the Pacific without throwing light on them from all sides was, it seemed to me, like doing a puzzle and only using the pieces of one color.

- Thor Heyerdahl, Kon-Tiki (1947)

USATE 2011: Round 6, results and wrapup

CROSSTABLE POSTED  (final update)

US Chess Federation has rated the tournament. I lost a whopping 14 points! How’d you do?

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UPDATE 3:  Misc quotes from the weekend

“Well his rating was 1400, but I’m telling you, that kid is no 1400!” – At least 100 different people, all talking about different opponents.

“You suck!” – How Matt motivates his teammates after a loss.

“What happened to Slater’s beard? It’s all white!”  -Anonymous.

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UPDATE 2: Well lookit, NJCF already has the prizewinners posted. Congratulations to winners West Orange Krush! That’s Zlotnikov’s team, according to the final writeup on uschess.org.

I don’t know what “Consuela and her Epic Lemon” means, but congrats to them as well (for a great team name) [SEE COMMENTS FOR EXPLANATION].

I think Daniel Zack deserves a shout-out here also. There’s a prize given each round to the player who scores the biggest rating upset. Mr. Zack won that award in three of the six rounds. His initial rating of 807 is likely to change in light of his wins over opponents rated 1596, 1739 and 1974!

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After the round 5 debacle (I walked into a knight fork in a winning position, and my team got wiped out by a lower-rated group, and they weren’t even little kids) we played the final round on Board 80. That’s the last board, the very last board, in the main ballroom. I beat a 1600 and hit the road. Matt will hopefully provide the final details.

On the opposite end of the cavern, Board One featured Team Zlotnikov (old Russian IM) vs Team Marc Arnold (little American kid). All the Massachusetts teams had played their way out of contention, although the defending champ Cambridge Springers had worked their way up behind the ropes.

Will update this post with results and crosstable links as I find ‘em.

Also I have some pix to post, including my potentially award-winning photoessay “Welcome to Parsippany”, but have to get caught up at work first.

So another great year is behind us. Lesson learned for me — no, I can’t walk in and play rusty and expect good results. Frequent naps and fresh food (that’s my wife’s awesome site myfreshlocal.com, check it out) can only take me so far. But I can play unevenly and still have fun. And that I did.

USATE 2011 round 5: The catastrophic oversight

Turns out the Knight moves in an L-shape.

USATE 2011 round 4: The edge of your seat

The pairings have heated up. The top seeded Ippolito team gave up a draw in round 3. Most of the Massachusetts teams have coughed up some points as well. Wouldn’t you know, the New England banner is being carried by IM David Vigorito’s team and Paul McIntyre’s team.

Vigorito beat NE Nor’easters teammate Robert Hungaski in round 3 and won again in round 4. Anybody ever won the US Chess League and USATE in the same year?

Round 4 saw all sorts of heavyweight individual battles. Kudrin v Norowitz, Hess beating Krush with Black, even some Schneider (Dmitry) on Schneider (Igor) violence. No IM draw that – it was a slugfest.

Winner of tonight’s Team Name competition: The Chilean Defense – No Miner Pieces Trapped. Pretty good!

For the first time ever, I had a USAT rematch. I first played expert Hana Itkis five or six years ago. Tonight I demonstrated once again why I have no business playing 1.d4, but after several hours of tense maneuvering to try to keep some compensation for a lost pawn, I made a draw in her time trouble. I think that was our only half-point so we’ll be paired down again tomorrow, maybe twice.

As my teammate Matthew Brown noted, I forgot how draining this tournament is. No matter how small the stakes – compared to the drama on the top boards - you spend 3 solid days on the edge of your seat.

USAT East round 3: We’ll always have Algonquin

If you are low-rated or low-scoring, you are punished by being demoted to the Morris Rooms. So out of the main ballroom we went for round three, playing a 1200-rated team. We won with a little drama. Board Four Kevin won in approximately 10 minutes.

(Title explained: The Morris rooms used to be called the Algonquin rooms, probably named after one of the tribes that used to live around here before they were offered valuable land in the West in exchange because Euro settlers liked this better. They can change the name of the hotel rooms, but I will always refer to the demotion as being “algonquinized”.)

Several top teams did indeed lose or draw in the first two round – Brutalizers (seeded 5th) got smoked 3-1 in round 2 and Pawn Storm (seeded 7th or 8th) lost as well. The top seed is Dean Ippolito’s 2199 squad featuring a GM on second board. They’re still cruising along, as is Greg Kaden’s  highly rated team.

Chess blogger note: Lo and behold, I had the pleasure of finally meeting DK Transformation, playing in his first USATE!

USAT chess day 1: Highs and lows

• Grandmasters at USAT East this year: Fishbein, Bisguier, Kudrin, Sagalchick, Hess, Charbonneau, Yudasin and I think at least one other. Plus you can’t swing a dead cat by the tail without hitting a handful of IMs and FMs.
• Teams rated over 2100: Thirty.
• Number of cars in overflow parking lots, a trudge away from the Hilton: At least 50.
• Approximate temperature in the playing hall at the start time: 58 degrees. Guess they’planned on heating it with methane.
• Occupancy rate Friday night at the Hanover Marriott across the street, where I stay for peace and quiet: 12%.
• Approximate time the floodwaters reached ankle-deep in the men’s room: Two hours into round 1.

Captain Matt was nice enough to revert to our old name, Simple Minds. We don’t have our eponymous board one Denys this year – the last two years we’ve been The Shmelov Fear and The Shmelov Money. Maybe this time we should have picked We Don’t Shmelov Anything.

We picked up two strays (which is also what they’re saying). Our fourth board, Kevin, is maybe 12 years old? He’s rated in the 1500s and announced upon meeting, with quiet sincerity, “I’m not very good.”  So far he’s 2-0 including a win over a 1900.

I drew Michael Thaler, a young 2300, with Black in round one. Great! I drew Jonathan Pagan, a young 1600, with White in round two. Ack! Trying to eat good food and sleep well, and maybe tomorrow I’ll play a little better.

Here endeth the accelerated pairings. Not sure which top teams might have gotten nicked on day one; will look at the wall charts tomorrow morning.

Say, chessplayers – doesn’t this sound fun? Why aren’t you here?

US Amateur Team East, AKA Dork Fest 2011: Prologue

As you know, I say “dork fest” with all affection :)

The time has come, the curtain will be raised at 1pm, and 1200 or so of us will sit down to do what (by objective measure) we all do so very poorly: Play chess.

As usual I’ll be posting updates and musings on my team’s results, the GMs in attendance, the charms of Parsippany AKA “The Framingham of New Jersey”, and the status of the bathrooms. Follow along with jealously and/or a tinge of nausea. Good times.

Now it’s almost 9am so I better figure out whether I’m playing e4 or d4.

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Two points (but no links) for honesty.