Tuesday, June 17, 2008

National Open - Las Vegas - June 6, 2008

Friday Noon - First round of the 3 day schedule
(Last year I played the 2 day schedule which was comprised of 3 G/60 games on Saturday morning followed by merging with the rest for the 4th round Saturday evening.)

My opponent - a reigning World Champion - under 12 Gold Medalist Daniel Naroditsky !
In the game, I thought he had missed something, but it was me missing that my knight no longer covers d4 when it is on e5. After defeating me, Daniel went on to draw with GM Erenburg in Round 2. Here is a short article about Daniel.

In Round 2, I faced well-known chess author Eric Schiller.
My anticipated counterplay did not materialize and I succumbed to an instructive attack. I chatted with Eric for a long time after the game. He is an interesting and personable guy with lots of interesting ideas.

So 0-2 after day 1 - but I played 2 FIDE rated players, one short of my goal.

I also met Ruth Haring, who some of you may remember as one of the strongest American women chess players of the 1970s. We were seated close by most rounds and I set her newly acquired clock for a couple of rounds (Boron - international clock setter). I asked her if she played Jeff Babb in the Canadian Open in Montreal 1974 - for some reason I vaguely remembered that. She confirmed that she had played Jeff. This was her first tournament in approximately 20 years !

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ruth Haring was (is?) married to Peter Biyiasis, Canadian champion and GM in the 1970's. Peter was a Winnipeger until he moved to Vancouver at age 17.

Chess Manitoba said...

was