On Saturday noon of the Presidents Day weekend, my dad and I arrived at Hampton Inn Parsippany, NJ to play in the chess Amateur Team East for the second time. This is a team tourney with four players per team. Our team's name (Fuzzy Kings and Logic Pawns) hasn't changed nor have our players (who are my friend Alex, his dad, my dad, and me). This time, I did significantly better than the first time scoring 2.5/6 instead of 1/6 on board 1.
Our first opponent was also a two dads and two sons team. The difference is that their two dads were on board 1 and 2 and our two dads were on board 3 and 4. They weren't very strong and the player on board one was only rated around 1200. I am rated 1660. We easily beat them 4-0. From our previous experience, we knew that we would move into the main playing hall next round and our opponent would be tougher. It did turn out to be a really tough round for us. My dad lost very quickly (only 13 moves) and we almost lost 4-0. But I tied a 2000 rated player to save our team from a total loss.
On the second day, we woke up fresh and ready to play. Once I saw the pairings, I was shocked. After losing in the second, we were going to play on a higher board. I could hold on to the draw if I didn't unwisely grab a pawn against a 2200 rated National Master. My dad and Alex tied their game. We lost by the score 1-3 in round 3. In round four we played a team whom we probably played last year. Some of their players were. My opponent was on the team that we played at the 6th round last year. His rating was 1300 at that time. Now he rated at 1800. What a big improvement in one year! I lost the games in the end. But I missed a chance to win a free pawn and missed the drawing opportunity in the end game (see the picture below, it is white's move to draw).
Last year Alex and I could not play the bughouse because we were staying at a different hotel. So we were really looking forward to it this time. However, it turned out to be a disappointment. It should start at 11:00PM. It did not until 11:30PM because of many late registrations. So it ended around 2:00 AM. The big disappointment was the prize. They only gave out cash prizes for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and a chess set for 1st place of U2000. There were many lower rated players (more than half of participants were under 1900). Many of them are young kids like me. We do not have any chances to win something. I doubt that I would play the bughouse again next year.
On the third day's morning, I played an 1800 rated player in the fifth round. Even though I did not have my routine 10 hours sleep last night because of the bughouse, my opponent wasn’t awake either. He lost a knight on the seventh move and I won that game easily. On the last round, I did not do well. I did not play the best move at the opening and then lost an isolated pawn. I lost the last game to a 1500 rated player.
So our team's final score was 2.5/6 which is the same as me. It was an exciting and fun tournament. I did not perform the best as I could. But it was definitely better than the last time. I need study more and do not make the same mistake again. I think that I will win even more games next year.
