Marchand Memorials etc. – looking back

It seems that I played in all Marchand Memorials. (Not sure though when the good doctor went for his eternal reward.) My best result was in 2004 when I lost 1 game and won the rest. ALEKS WOJTKIEWICZ was a real gentleman who gave me his autograph on the score sheet of our game, which I will always remember. May his memory be eternal. = Marchand 2004. 42 players 3 wins against: HALCOM RIDDLE (1826->1848), LIONEL L DAVIS (2295->2287), ERIC J LUCE (1980->1987) 1 loss to: ALEKS WOJTKIEWICZ (2666->2663) = Rating: 2115 ->2134 6-9 place with 3.5 points. Gained 19 points. = 27th Annual Marchand Open 2005. 35 players 1 win against: JAMES CLAGUE (1800->1800) 2 draws against: MATTHEW O GREGORY (1874->1875), BRIAN BAMBROUGH 1907->1903) 2 losses to: RONALD W BURNETT (2464->2473),EVEREST TUCKER JR (2023->2030) This time I played all games and it was really bad result. = Rating: 2126 ->2107 20-27 place with 2.0 points. Lost 19 points. = 28th Annual Marchand Open 2006. 40 players 1 win against: JAMES HILTUNEN (1860->1878) 2 draws against: JOSHUA OCHSE (1398P16->1414P20), BRIAN BAMBROUGH (1900->1910) 1 loss to: BEN DEAN-KAWAMURA (2191-2177) = Rating: 2106 ->2091 14-22 place with 2.5 points. Lost 15 points = 29th Annual Marchand Open 2007. 36 players 2 wins against: PATRICK R O'KEEFE (1932->1947), WALTER M BUEHL (1991->1998) 1draw against: DONALD STUBBLEBINE (1855->1873) 1 loss to: ALEXANDER IVANOV (2644-2627) = Rating: 2061 ->2069 10-13 place with 3.0 points. Gained 8 points. = What will the 30th Annual Marchand Open 2008 bring? * * * My worst tournament play was last year. I started the year with 2106 and went down to 2032 losing 74 points. Probably the worst tournament I ever played was 128TH ANNUAL NY STATE CHAMPIONCHIP 2006: 2 draws and 4 losses. I lost 36 points then. After that tournament I started to go up gaining 33 points out of 5 tournaments. It is very slow process to come back where I was after Marchand 2004, 2134 points. Now I understand why players quit the tournament if they play badly – not to lose unnecessary additional points. I wish I could just erase at least one bad result…