Summer Tourney Draws to a Close

I returned to the Kenilworth Chess Club last night after a two week absence (and a missed weekend "chess party.") Work commitments have kept me busy of late and I look forward to the start of the new semester when, ironically, my load tends to get a bit lighter.

The KCC Summer Tournament is drawing to a close. I played a game against Joe Demetrick (the KCC under-1800 champ), where I gained the advantage out of the opening (which began 1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d6, as almost all my games as Black begin of late) and eventually won, but not before giving him a tactical chance (which we both had miscalculated the same way) to reach an equal position. Based on my performance in this tournament, I obviously need to work most at sustaining my attention to the game at hand, especially once I've gained the edge.

There were also several other games, some of which I managed to collect, and I took some photos. I hope to post those by this weekend. Next week, Mark Kernighan will play Greg Tomkovich since they are now tied for first going into the last round and far ahead of the rest of the field.

There was a lot of conversation later in the evening. Scott Massey and I discussed his planned lecture on Moscow 1925, and we looked at Bogoljubow's tournament book which he had brought. And several people wanted to talk about my review of Michael De La Maza's "Rapid Chess Improvement" (which someone said took him longer to read than the book itself). Mark Kernighan, who used to play in Massachusettes and was an occasional visitor to the Boylston Chess Club, mentioned in passing that he was likely among De La Maza's first opponents. I looked up De La Maza's tournament history online and, sure enough, they met in his second rated event.