I was asked to put my games on the blog, so I will oblige.
It was nice to take part in this tournament. It, indeed, was fighting chess time. Many mistakes were made, particularly when I tried to save time by playing fast in the crucial positions, but at the end I was lucky. This was true especially in the 4th game, where I had better position, then blundered into a losing position, then it was a drawing position but then finally my opponent both blundered and was running out of time.
I had no time to rest before each of the last 2 games. They followed one after another. It seemed that my games always were the last to finish and then it was time to start another.
I played the following players:
1.
Daniel F. Johnston 1338->1371 Game lasted only 17 moves. Losing tempi and a lack of development did my opponent in in this game.
2.
Master Laszlo B. Tapaszto 2297->2298
The final move was unnecessary. The move to play was 36.Nf5 and then it is an immediate draw because of the wrong colored bishop. Why I am mentioning that? The reason is: I played it to fast (in time trouble) to reach h1 with my K. But there was a danger. To my horror, I discovered later that if I played 36.Kf4??, I simplywould lose the game. We need to be careful even if everything looks simple.
3.
Fide Master Isay Golyak 2222->2200
Final position is a complete win (figure it out after 49.Ka1 or 49.Kxa3.), but this was not the end of the game. We were in big time trouble and white played 49.Kb1 (impossible move), which I did not notice at the time, and we continued. We did not write the moves at that time. Near the end, I had 20 sec. while white had just 2. This was a 5 sec. time delay, however. I had K, Q, and P, while white had just the K. We played fast to the mate. Notice how 47.Qxb4 was a mistake, although looked strong.
4.
Master Ben Dean-Kawamura 2156->2147
The last game. It was so tiring. My opponent just finished game with
FM Igor A. Nikolayev who was the highest rated in the tournament 2409->2412.
I was fine in our game until a big blunder on move 34.Kg2??. I had intended to play 34.Rd1 (maybe even better was 34.Nd4), but I was already in time trouble. Once I made this move I realized what I have done. It was too late. I had considered resigning, but as we all know, nobody won anything by resigning, so I played the best I could until move 51...Ba6?? Now I had my chance. On 54.Nd8+ black made impossible move 54...Nb4. He was already in big time trouble. We just continued. On 64.Kc6 black resigned in a completely drawing position but was in serious time trouble. So in the end, this game was pure luck for me to win.
All in all many blunders, but it was fighting chess.
Here's some things I learned from this past weekend's 129th NYS Chess Championships in Albany, NY:
1. GM's sometimes do say hello back to you when you kindly greet them first. ( There were 6 GMs there-Nakamura, Benjamin, Ibragimov, Ivanov, Kudrin, and Yudashin. I, however, will not tell you which ones do not respond nicely or at all. Actually there were 7 GMs who played as there was a single game in the third round played by GM Ronen Har-Zvi. Strange why only one game by him in the middle of the event?)
2. Marijan actually can wear a shirt that is not black! (The confirmatory picture by Wiliam Rich in which the good Rev. was sporting a light blue buttondown is seen above.)
3. A game in the open section can actually end in about 7 moves! (Mr. Mark Clark did submit his miniature win over the current NYS High School Champion for verification. You can replay it at the following link.)
http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspublisher/viewgame.php?id=1189053285
4. I did not win one of the "honorary" upstate directorships for NYSCA. There were a grand total of 20 votes cast from the entire NYS membership. I received 7 votes and finished 7th of 8. When asked why there was such a small number of votes cast, Bill Goichberg, NYSCA president said, " It is not surprising since the delegates to the USCF are chosen in a different way than it was before when the directors were also the NYS delegates to the USCF. And also there has been no meetings of the directorship for the past three years." It kind of makes me wonder what the value of NYSCA is, if the directors and officers are not actively doing things to promote over the board chess in NYS and what value is NYSCA membership other than receiving the quarterly Empire Chess and the ability to play in a few select tournaments?
5. Never ever play tournament chess when you have other things on your mind! I had no patience this weekend for 6 hour games. I moved too quickly and often did not care how I was playing. (There were a few interesting positions though from my games and I promise to post them as quizzes in the near future.)
6. The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile can really move fast! I saw it exceeding the speed limit on the NYS Thruway on the way back home.
7. Lastly how do you break the 5 way tie for the title of New York State Chess Champion from the 5 New Yorkers who finished in third place with 4.5/6 (Nakamura, Yudasin, Bonin, Benjamin, and Rochester Chess Center's Ben Dean-Kawamura)? The top two places were shared by Ibragimov and Ivanov with 5/6 but since they are from CT and from MA they are ineligible to the title. The full cross table is at http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200709032291.0-12304570
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