It's one of the little pieces of the past still scattered around my house that I can't bring myself to get rid of.
I found it years ago, tucked in a side pocket. I remember when it was purchased. It was part of a set I bought at a chess tournament in which Trevor was competing. At the time Evan was a baby in a stroller. How many chess tournaments I dragged him and his sister to! We would hang out in hotel lobbies or malls or libraries while Trevor played, and I would do my best to occupy the non-chess players for the day. I don't know what happened to the rest of this set, but somewhere along the way this lone guy ended up in my suitcase. For years now that's where he has remained, a symbol of a time long past. He has gone on lots of trips with me over the years. I forget about him between trips, but when I go to pack I reach into the pocket and there he still is, and somehow there is comfort in his being, and remaining, there. I think he may stay there always, and some day accompany me when I pay a visit to Evan and his wife and children.
But for now, like the author of "The Last One," I will treasure these days of still having a boy who, even in his ten-year-old bigness, wants to crawl up on my lap, put his arms around my neck, lay his head on my shoulder, and whisper in my ear, "I love you so much, Mom." He's not quite grown up yet, Mr. Pirate Man. And somewhere inside him there will always be that little boy who repeatedly dropped you from his stroller and reached his arms up to me, begging to be lifted out. Together, we'll hold on to the memory.
It has been quite a weekend. One for the family history book, in fact. I spent most of it in Skokie, Illinois, where Trevor was making his fourth and final ever appearance at the Illinois state qualifying round of the national Denker high school chess championship. Trevor has been invited to the state round every year of his high school career. As a sophomore he won and represented Illinois at the national tournament, where he tied for fourth place. (My husband and I blogged our way through that amazing experience, which is why "Denker" has its own category in my sidebar!)
Well, history repeated itself this weekend as Trevor again won the Illinois state high school championship! Out of five games played he was the only player to score four wins, giving him a clear claim to the title, no tiebreaks necessary. Trevor will go on to represent Illinois once again at the national tournament, which will be held this year in Orlando.
I think the best word to describe this tournament is "tempestuous." It was quite a wild ride! Last year's Illinois Denker champion, junior Eric Rosen, was upset in the first round by freshman Sam Schmakel, who went on to upset Trevor in round 2. But both Eric and Trevor recovered nicely, however, and ended up playing each other in the final round. It was definitely a deja vu moment, as these two have sparred many, many times over the years. Sometimes Eric wins, sometimes Trevor, but it is always interesting! Here they are a few years back, getting ready to face off in another state championship tournament. I can't believe how little they used to be: Here they were yesterday before the final round on the top board. Some things never change, but obviously some things do. The game was quite a nail-biter. I did not watch for the first several hours. Chess makes no sense to me, so there is no point torturing myself. But finally I went back into the playing room to see how things were going. At the point I started watching, Eric had somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 minutes on his clock and Trevor had 1 minute. Yikes! (One way to lose a chess game is for your clock to tick down to nothing.) The time control for this tournament, however, also used a 30-second increment. What this means is that each time a player moves he gains 30 seconds, so if he has not used more than that amount of time to think, he will break even on time. If he has used less time than that to think, he will come out ahead. For something like an hour I watched Trevor's clock tick down as low as 25 seconds and go as high as a minute and a half as he alternately used up time and got it back. Talk about pressure! I don't know how he can stay so cool, much less how he can think in that situation. (Trevor is renowned among his peers for thinking for incredibly long periods of time and ending up in "time trouble"--short on time--at the end. Obviously, he was true to form in this game.)
As Trevor's clock was doing its manic depressive thing, Eric's clock slowly ticked down a little at a time, until he was in the 6-minute range. With the game dragging on, the tournament director joked to me, "These two players should never be allowed to play with increments." In other words, "We could be here all night." But we weren't. Finally, over four hours after the game started, Eric resigned and Trevor claimed victory. Here is a photo of the board and clock immediately following the game. It's hard to see, but I think Eric's time is 6:16 and Trevor's is :49. Phew!
Serious players rarely immediately get up from the board. There is always something to talk about, and here are Trevor and Eric doing just that.
The thing that always impresses me about chess and those who play it is the absolute passion for the game as well as the camaraderie of the players. The above picture shows the 2010 Illinois Denker champion (Eric) immediately after losing to the 2009 Illinois Denker champion (Trevor). It had to be a tough moment for Eric. Nevertheless, he smiled, congratulated his opponent, and proceeded to join that opponent in some post-game debriefing. And I know if Trevor had lost he would have done the same.
This will be Trevor's last year to play high school chess. He starts college this coming fall. We are thrilled that he will wrap up his high school chess career with another shot at the national championship. Next year we will be rooting for Eric to have that chance again during his senior year. Trevor and Eric will not play each other again in high school competition, but I have no doubt that they will play each other again. The question is only, when?
I am in Ohio this weekend, keeping my son company while he competes in the 19th Annual King's Island Open. We have been here several times over the years--here's a blog post with photos from our 2007 trip. That blog post begins with a reference to my 15-year-old son. Well, guess what? That 15-year-old son is three years older now, and this will probably be our last trip together to King's Island. Next year at this time he will be just a few months into his first year of college, and I doubt that he will have time for a weekend chess trip to Ohio. (Or if he does, he won't need me tagging along.)
Not that he really needs me tagging along right now. He's gotten quite good at navigating these chess tournaments. What he hasn't gotten so good at is actually driving to them, which means I'm not quite expendable. Yay! So here I am, stuck at King's Island with time on my hands, having left the rest of the family at home. What am I going to do with my wistful, nostalgic, Janus-faced self?
The only thing I can do: make the most of it. Reading is on the agenda, and more reading, and while I'm at it, a little reading. I might even watch some mindless television (there is still such a thing, right?), all while babying my feet, which have been giving me trouble of late. And of course, there's simply enjoying staying at a resort hotel. The only problem is that it seems this resort has gone a little down hill over the few years we have been coming here. I was satisfied with our first few stays. We didn't make it last year--we had planned to come but my mother-in-law's death necessitated cancelling the trip. But so far this year our stay has been less than impressive. Upon arriving to our room last night we realized that it had not been cleaned and so had to return to the desk to get another room. The new room is acceptable but is showing its age: the dresser is missing a knob, the towels are old and worn, the non-slip strips in the bathtub are peeling, and there are stains on the carpet in the hallway. Trevor and I were short on time last night before his first board, so instead of going out for food we ordered takeout salads from the hotel bar. His salad--a chicken Caesar with romaine lettuce--looked fine; but mine, the signature house salad with iceberg lettuce, craisins, tomatoes, and pine nuts, was less than impressive, with old, brown-around-the-edges lettuce and less-than-fresh tomatoes. It was disappointing. And as I walk around the hotel, I see much neglect not only to furnishings and upkeep but also to cleanliness and service. It is sad to see an established, well-known attraction in decline, but I think that's what is happening here. I suppose that's why the chess organization running the tournament was able to secure a $62/night rate. In light of that, I guess I can't complain too much.
Today I will be seeing my maid of honor and best college friend, who lives not too far from here. We went a number of years without seeing each other but recently reconnected, and now here I am seeing her for the second time in as many years! It will be great fun. She is a wonderful, loving, joy-filled soul who blesses me with her spirit and amazes me with her work ethic. I can't wait.
And oh, yes, the report from chess central is that Trevor won last night! Four rounds to go, one of which is currently in progress. More to come.
Me and Trevor in December, 2000, at a Young Naperville Singers choir concert for which he sang and I played
Me and Trevor in October, 2010, following a Chicago Blaze chess team match in which his win helped secure the team's berth in the 2010 United States Chess League playoffs
Can someone please tell me where the years have gone?
I am in Milwaukee this weekend, serving as chauffeur/chaperone/moneybags/head cheerleader for my son, who is participating in the U.S. Amateur Team-North. Trevor is playing top board and serving as captain of his team, which settled on the team name "U-Knighted." There are four Amateur Team events this weekend, one each in the North, South, East and West. The winning team from each of the regional events will advance to the final round to play in the National Amateur Team Championship.
The Amateur Team tournament rules require that the average rating of the team not exceed 2200. What this means is that the ratings of individual players on a team can vary widely, since all that matters is the team average. Each team consists of four players whose position on the team is determined by their relative ratings (the highest rated player plays Board 1, the second-rated player plays Board 2, etc.). When two teams are paired, the players of the same team position are paired. Because the make-up different teams can be very different, this makes for some fascinating pairings. Several of the teams playing this weekend have Grandmasters sitting at the top board, and last night Trevor got to play one of them, GM Alex Yermolinsky, rated 2583 (Trevor is rated 2183). Here is a short biography of Yermolinsky, borrowed from a listing on Amazon for one of his books:
"Grandmaster Alex Yermolinsky is one of the strongest players in the United States. He was US Champion in 1996, and won the US Open Championship in 1995 and 1997. He has represented the USA in four Olympiads, and played board two for the team that won the World Team Championship in 1993. His credentials as a teacher are no less impressive. He assisted Irina Levitina in her bid for the Women's World Championship in 1982-4, while his former pupils include top-class grandmasters such as Alexander Khalifman and Vladimir Epishin. After his arrival in the United States in 1989, he continued coaching, with one of his pupils, Boris Kreiman, winning the US Junior Championship in 1993."
And here is a 30-second video of Trevor's round against Yermolinsky, a round that he went on to win!
If I were a betting woman (I'm not), my money would have been on Yermolinsky (sorry, Trevor). But I can't say I'm surprised to see my son beat a Grandmaster (his first time to do so in tournament play). It was only a matter of time (and hard work and study and determination, all of which Trevor demonstrates better than anyone I know). Trevor's victory has already garnered quite a bit of attention from those attending the tournament, and deservedly so. And what I have also noticed is what I have seen repeatedly in the past: people love rooting for Trevor because he is just such a gentleman. The mother of one of Trevor's teammates, also a young high school player, told me, "It couldn't have happened to a nicer person."
Sometimes it seems in fact that others are happier for Trevor than he is for himself. I suggested to him this morning that he should email his teacher (GM YuryShulman) to let him know about last night's round. He informed me that he would do so after the tournament is over. Typically, he is already focusing on the next round and doesn't want to be distracted. He also, in his characteristically humble way, eschews any sign of gloating or celebration. In fact, he confided to me that if there is any game that he has mixed feelings about winning, it is one against a Grandmaster. I think he is probably empathizing with his opponent, thinking about how he himself hates losing, but particularly hates losing to a significantly lower-rated player. It's hard on both the ego and the rating.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't do his utmost to defeat whoever is sitting across the board from him, Grandmaster or not! It's the way of the chess world, and I daresay GM Yermolinsky understands.
The World Team Chess Championship begins tomorrow in Bursa, Turkey. It will continue through January 14. You can cheer on the U.S. team (which includes my son's teacher GM Yury Shulman) and follow the tournament's progress at the United States Chess Federation website. Go Team U.S.A.!
This weekend I took my son to a chess tournament in Cleveland. We left Friday morning, stayed Friday and Saturday night with friends, and drove home Sunday night, finally hitting the sheets at about 2:00 a.m. Monday morning. It was a great weekend. I enjoyed some time with some of my homeschooling Lutheran friends, and my son tied for second place in the tournament! With the rating points gained he is inching ever closer to being a Master.
Yesterday was supposed to be my "re-entry" day--getting back into the routine, catching up on chores, etc., but with only five hours of sleep under my belt I had a hard time getting going. And I got sucked into a blog fight. I don't know if it was worth the time I put into it. But for inquiring minds who want to know, here it is.
Sometimes when these things break out I can't help thinking of John Belushi in Animal House:
My oldest son, a 17-year-old nationally ranked high school chess player, has been giving weekly chess lessons to his little brother (now 5, going on 6 years old). It's a great situation all the way around, enriching little brother's homeschool "curriculum" (I put the word in quotation marks because I don't think kindergarteners need much in the way of a formal curriculum) and providing valuable teaching experience for his big brother. When we first tried chess instruction for Evan he didn't take to it, so we dropped it. But lately he has really been enjoying and looking forward to his lessons.
Evan had his chess lesson yesterday. This morning when he woke up the first words from his lips were, "Mommy, can I have another chess lesson today? I want to see what the next rule is." He then started rattling off some of his recently learned chess facts, i.e., "You can only castle one time. JUST ONE TIME."
Hmmm. Only time will tell, but I can't wondering if we may be in for another wild and woolly ride on the Scholastic Chess Train.
The 2009-10 season of the United States Chess League has begun! Chicago's team, the Blaze, played their first round Wednesday night against the Arizona Scorpions and unfortunately got pretty badly stung. But hey, it's early. There are nine more weeks remaining in the regular season. So stay tuned!
My son is honored to be a member of this year's Blaze lineup, especially since his chess teacher is also on the team! To see some photos and read the team blog, click here. The slide show starts as soon as you land on the site, so if you miss the first few pictures be sure to restart it and watch from the beginning. There are several great shots of Trevor. :-)
(For you observant ones who may notice and find yourself wondering why all the game shots show only one player, the answer is that USCL chess is played online. So each player has a computer on which he makes his moves electronically while his opponent does the same somewhere else in the country. Meanwhile, each player also keeps a physical board set up with the current position. That is why you can see both a computer and an actual chess board in front of each player in the photos.)
U.S. Open Update: Trevor ended with 6 out of 9 points, tying for 4th place in the Expert division. He has mixed feelings about that outcome because although it is quite an excellent finish, the pairings/results were such that he essentially came out even in ratings points, losing what he had gained in the Denker tournament. I guess that's the heart of a true competitor--never being quite satisfied, always looking to the future and wanting to do even better. And he will have that chance, as this fall is full of playing opportunities for him. The Chess-Mobile (also known as a Volkswagen Eurovan) is going to be on the road a lot the next few months!
One final note: Trevor's friend and fellow Illinoisan Eric Rosen had a barn burner of a tournament, first drawing one GM and then defeating another! Eric apparently decided it wasn't enough to merely walk through the gate to Master status; no, that gate is meant to be knocked down and flattened! Congratulations, Eric! We are all so proud of you!
Mr. RoundUnvarnished again here. Just wanted to keep our readers posted on yesterday's results: Trevor won both his boards! Woo-hoo!
This means Trevor now has 5 points (out of 7). Should he win tonight and tomorrow, he would finish with 7 points, repeating his performance in the US Open last year.
Currently, 7 players are tied for the lead with 6 points. Salvijus Bercys, who dealt Trevor that crushing loss in Round 3, has 5.5 points, along with - you guessed it - Robert Lau. The 5.0 pack that Trevor is in has 30 players, including Gordon Ruan, a fellow Illinois high school student, and, at the top of that pack, GMs Shabalov, Fedorowicz, and Kaufmann. Tonight will be a breakout opportunity for all of them.
Cheryl is at the US Open with Trevor and the kids - but no laptop! What does this mean? It means Mr. RoundUnvarnished has been asked to put up a quick post in Cheryl's stead to thank all the readers who followed the Denker action and to let them know that a photo gallery will be posted here next week.
Meanwhile, in US Open action, Trevor has 3 points out of 5. After a good start, he lost in the 3rd round to IM Salvijus Bercys (2503). "IM" stands for International Master, one step below Grandmaster. Bercys is currently tied for 1st, with 4.5 points in the tournament, so Trevor's loss to him certainly wasn't shabby. In fact, Trevor's teacher, Yury Shulman, wrote to me that Trevor had a good position against him, concurring with my assessment that Trevor was indeed ahead in the mid-game. (Trevor was up two pawns!) But for Trevor to get to that point, he had to *think, think, think* and so used up almost all of his clock by move 28. He hung in there for four more moves as the clock wound down, but as he began to have to play "blitz" style (quick chess) due to his clock, Trevor's position weakened. Then, a questionable move on move 33 sealed his fate.
Trevor was exhausted and did not play his best chess in the next round. He had a worthy opponent, former Oregon Denker champ Ethan Peake (1950), but certainly not one in the same class as Bercys. Still, you've got to be at 100% to play anyone at the US Open, and so Trevor wound up with another loss before rebounding with a win last night against David Witner (1850).
But there still is a lot of chess left: 4 more boards over the next three days. BTW, Robert Lau, whom Trevor drew in the last round of the Denker and with whom he shared 5th place is currently tied for first with Bercys and a few others with 4.5 points! (And, Trevor's friend Eric Rosen, who lost the Illinois Denker championship to Trevor only on a tie-break, is having a marvelous tournament so far: he has 3.5 points and drew Grandmaster Jesse Kraai in the third round. Go Eric! "Woo-hoo!")
I'm back! (Thanks for filling in this morning, honey.) I arrived in Indianapolis just in time to watch about the last five minutes of Round 6. For the last hour of the drive Phillip was giving me regular updates via cell phone, and for the last fifteen minutes or so we didn't hang up. We were interrupted at one point by the fire alarm going off in the hotel where the tournament is being played! It turned out to be a false alarm (I always kind of wonder about those "false" alarms in public places) and the game proceeded. As is so often the case, Trevor's game was the last one to finish. So I quickly found a place to deposit children and belongings and joined my husband and other onlookers in the board-side nail biting. By the time I got there Trevor was down to a rook and a pawn against his opponent's lone rook. Given that the rooks cancel each other out, it all boiled down to whether or not Trevor could get his pawn to the other side of the board, whence it would be promoted to a queen and he'd win the game.
Excuse me? Did you say something? Oh, you mean you would like to know how the game turned out?
It was a draw. :-) At the conclusion of the game Trevor and Robert exchanged handshakes and smiles as they each finished the Denker 2009 Tournament of High School Champions with 4 points each. And Miss Abby Marshall of Virginia (one of only two girls in the tournament) drew her last game, giving her clear first place. Abby, a senior, may now claim (if she so desires) a 4-year full scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas! Congratulations, Abby! Let's hear it for girl power (something that is statistically rare in the chess world).
The award ceremony is starting soon. We don't know Trevor's final position, but of course as soon as we do we'll post it here
UPDATE: Trevor tied for 5th place, and so was recognized at the awards ceremony. A nice finish to a wonderful tournament!
Can you believe this young man is not finished with chess this week? His first round of the U.S. Open starts TONIGHT!
Good morning, RoundUnvarnished readers! The final round of the 2009 Denker National Tournament of Champions is up and running. This morning we find Trevor playing Robert Lau on the third board. The winner of this match has a strong chance of coming in 3rd or 4th in the tournament, where Abby Marshall of Virginia remains undefeated on the top board. She's playing Michael Yang of Minnesota, who has 4.5 points to Marshall's perfect 5.0. Two players have 4 points: Jeffrey Haskel (FL) and Vincent Huang (CA). Currently Trevor is tied for 5th along with Lau, Deepak Aaron, and Steve Breckenridge of Oregon. (Special Note for Pastor Rossow: Matt Anzis of Iowa has 2.5 points with a group of 10 other competitors.)
As usual, the Champ spent time this AM on opposition research and game prep while Chess Dad fixed breakfast. Trevor is black this round, and so Lau will set the pace. Trevor explained over breakfast that he was wary of another closed Italian game, and hoped that Lau would play the Ruy Lopez. Fortunately for Trevor, he doesn't have a lot of games readily available over the internet, so unless Lau of Hawaii reads Illinois Chess Bulletin, the "opposition research" on Trevor actually shows a player with success against the Italian. So perhaps Lau will go with the Ruy Lopez - Trevor's best game - and play into Trevor's hands. So Dad will look for 3. B-b5 as the game begins.
We have some turmoil getting here. We neglected to watch the weather this AM, and so were surprized by a fierce thunderstorm. We rushed to get out the door, knowing that it might take extra time to get to the site. The parking lot was already flooding and my Grand Marquis was only a couple minutes' rain more from not getting out of the lot. A little hail was felt, but I plodded on, saying: "This is why we have insurance!" Fortunately, the hail held off. Traffic snarls were fortunately on the other side of the freeway and we got to the tournament early.
Arriving early gave me a chance to soak in the hall one last time. I took a few pictures and listened to the TD (tournament director) give final instructions to the players. Six years of "Denker Dreams" in our household and now it is coming to a close. We've worked hard to get here and Trevor has done well in the tournament to get to this point. No matter how this board turns out, this has been a great experience. Time to bask. God is good.
Meanwhile, the tournament starts and so Dad watches the opening before heading off to blog and to read. Watch for that third move. White plays B-b5. The Ruy Lopez!
. . . another win! Those 2-1/2 points just became 3-1/2!
One round remains to be played at 11:00 a.m. EST tomorrow. Trevor and his dad are on their way back to the hotel to get as much sleep as possible. My other children and I will be departing Chicagoland tomorrow morning so as to make it to Indianapolis in time for the closing ceremony at 4:00 p.m. I think Phillip may need to hijack my blog entirely tomorrow since I will be on the road and unable to post.
It's hard to believe that by this time tomorrow Denker 2009 will be over. But there is still a lot of action and excitement to take place. Each round sees top players fall and, at this point, only Abby Marshall of Virginia remains undefeated. (An interesting aside: she is one of only two girls in the tournament.) She's playing Deepak, who defeated Trevor in the last round, on Board One.
Trevor fell from being tied for 3rd to being tied for 10th, with Robert Lau. Trevor's now playing on Board Six on the "strong side" against Joshua Bowman of Pennsylvania. In between the top board and Trevor's are some exciting matches, as favored players such as Jeffrey Haskel, Andrew Ng, and John Patrick Tae fight to get back on top. There are three players with 3.5 points and 5 players with 3 points, followed by Robert & Trevor leading the pack of 2.5's.
Anything can happen when so many state champions mix it up. Chris Andrews of Wyoming came in as the lowest-rated player (only a 1118), but has two points and is tied for 19th with Evan Sandberg of California (2131)! This puts him ahead of Richard Herbst of Colorado, a USCF Expert with a rating of 2052 who has had a rough start and will have to work hard to come out above .500 in the tournament. Biggest surprise so far: Felix Yang of Massachussetts may "only" be a 2033, but he has 3 points and is holding his own against Robert Lau.
On a personal note, I was very proud of how Trevor handled his loss today. Sure, we weren't expecting to win this thing. But it is still hard to watch a dream die. So we had some quiet time to absorb the loss and then went out for a cold, invigorating swim. And Dad's "bachelor food" seemed to provide just the right fuel to get us back on track. We got to the tournament site a little earlier than usual, so had a chance to enjoy meeting Trevor's opponent, Joshua. They are off to a good start and are both enjoying what we all came to do: play (or at least, watch) good chess!
If you read my huband's comments on the morning post you know that at some point while he was going for coffee the game took a turn for the worse (from Trevor's perspective, anyway). Phillip called at about 1:30 Chicago time to let me know that Trevor had lost. :-(
It's okay. Trevor has been here many times before. How does that old saying go . . . the "thrill of victory" and the "agony of defeat"? "Thrill" and "agony" are pretty fitting words for the roller coaster ride that is the typical chess tournament. This tournament in particular, pitting as it does a group of young players who are so similarly talented and equally matched, means that the ride is going to be even more harrowing than usual. There are slight ratings differences among the players at Denker, but they are slight, and any one player is capable of vanquishing any other player in any given game. Trevor was the underdog in this round, by virtue not only of his rating but of playing as Black. And yet the result could have easily gone the other way, and no one would have been surprised. Every competitor at Denker knows how amazing every other competitor is. That is what makes it so special.
One of the things I have come to deeply appreciate about the world of chess is the cameraderie of it. How many times have I watched as Trevor, after experiencing a dizzying win or a devastating loss, has left the tournament room with his opponent, only to immediately find an empty table or open spot on the floor where the board is rolled out yet again and he and his opponent set about analyzing the game they just finished? Sometimes it goes on for an hour, as the winner and loser consider together where the loser went wrong and how the game might have played out had he made another choice at this or that point. Does this sort of thing happen anywhere else? Maybe. But I don't remember the last time I saw two football, basketball, or tennis players spend an hour after their game going back through it step by step as they play out other ways the game could have gone.
The chess world is not large. One sees the same names at tournament after tournament after tournament. Trevor has repeatedly played many of his Illinois chess friends in competition. Right now in Skokie, Illinois, the family of the young man with whom Trevor tied at the Illinois Denker Qualifying Tournament is watching and cheering for Trevor as he gives this his best shot. (Although Trevor and his friend Eric each had the same number of points at the qualifying tournament, Trevor squeaked through on tie breaks.) If the shoe were on the other foot, we would be doing the same. Next year Trevor and Eric and the rest of the top-rated Illinois high school chess players will again contend for the Illinois Denker title, and each of them will give it his all, showing no mercy, playing to "kill." And yet after the dust has cleared, they will smile and shake hands and study their games together and play some "skittles" (chess for fun) while wishing the victor well as he moves on to Nationals.
So here we are, more than halfway through. Wow, it's going fast! No matter what happens, the memories that have been made and the things that have been learned will be a part of Trevor and will return home with him. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. There are two rounds left to be played. And I have a feeling Trevor is already looking to the future.
and we are up and running with Round 4 of the Denker National Tournament of Champions!
This morning Trevor is playing Deepak Aaron, a USCF Master (i.e. rating over 2200) from New York. Deepak is the third seed in the tournament, besting some stronger players along the way--no surprise, as New York is the strongest state for youth chess. Trevor would have played the former tournament leader, Robert Lau of Hawaii (who also drew his game last night), but this would have meant one of them playing as White for three games out of four. Thus, computer adjusted the pairings to keep things more even, resulting in this morning's battle: Aaron (White) v. Magness (Black).
Thanks to the tireless efforts of our tournament officials, who are doing a great job keeping things running smoothly and making everyone feel comfortable and well-informed, we were able to discover Trevor's pairing first thing this morning. So "opposition research" was intensely being pursued as Chess Dad cooked a high-protein breakfast (bacon, eggs, cheese, lo-carb bread). For those watching on MonRoi, expect Trevor and Deepak to play what is called "The Italian." The big question for Trevor is whether Aaron will make this an "open" Italian or a "closed" Italian. (Hint: look for move 4 or 5, to see if Aaron plays d3, to "close" the Italian, or d4, to open it up.)
What does this mean for the general spectator? An open game will move more quickly; a closed likely means a long match. As Black, Trevor will have more opportunities to gain an advantage with the open game. (Side note from Cheryl for those who like me are not chess "savvy": Black is always at a disadvantage because White moves first and determines the opening and pace of the game. Thus, a draw for Black is akin to a win because it means that Black was able to overcome his inherent disadvantage. If Black wins, it's probably because White made a mistake and Black was able to capitalize!). If the game is closed, black has to play very carefully and wait for white to make some sort of mistake. Trevor comments that this latter game is similar to a variation of the Ruy Lopez known as "The Spanish Inquisition."
Fortunately, Trevor does well with long games, and is strongest in the end game. It may be that Aaron will close the game, thinking that it will give Black fewer opportunities. But then, he may have done some opposition research on Trevor . . . . :-)
