US Open 2008 Dallas

Waldemar Schulz and I (Tony Boron) travelled to Dallas in early August to play in the 109th US Open. The tournament surprisingly had few GMs or IMs, but I was hoping that there were enough FIDE rated players amongst the 379 in attendance to enable me to get my final three required games (and a result) in order to have a FIDE rating on the next list (Oct 1, 2008).

I started out by playing the eventual winner,

IM Enrico Sevillano, in round 1. No points for guessing the result. In typical big swiss fashion, I alternated beating a lower rating player with losing to a higher rated player. I interrupted the pattern in rds 4 and 6 by drawing with a lower rated player and drawing a master, who happened to have a FIDE rating ! So, that was my third FIDE player and now I had a result. So, I should have a FIDE rating on Oct 1, but it will be terribly mediocre. I ended up with 5 points from 9 rounds; my 8th round opponent (who beat me) pointed out that all three of my losses were to Filipinos.

Waldemar lost to a master and expert, but finished strong with 5.5, which appeared to be .5 short of the prizes.

The tournament site was a Westin in the middle of a corporate park, with nothing especially interesting nearby. However, we did see the one must-see in Dallas (at least for folks of our generation) the site of President Kennedy's assassination. Very interesting, and although I already knew a lot about the assassination and the conspiracies and controversies surrounding it; actually having seen the site adds another perspective.

The Dallas World Aquarium was also nearby.

After seeing the fellow below, we joked that if we play something novel in the remaining rounds, it must be called 'the Penguin' a la Tartakower.