It was a bit late for a solstice celebration but not for a winter solstice tournament sponsored by the Idaho Chess Union in Twin Falls. Eighteen players from Boise, Caldwell, Wood River, and the Twin Falls area competed in a G/20 round-robin quick chess tournament in two sections arranged by the Tournament Director, Barry Eacker. Our Wood River group consisted of me, Desmond, and Dylan. I also invited Kitt Conner, WRHS Chess alumni, and Riley Clark, an eighth grader from WRMS. Most of our usual players were at the funeral for Dexter Gannon, WRHS Chess Club alumni. Books were available for prizes including "Bobby Fisher goes to War." Barry Eacker and Gary Dugger both of the Magic Valley Chess Club win 1st place. Gary Dugger scored a perfect tournament (8.0/8 pts.).
Alan Gene Rambo
Gary Dugger scores Perfect!
It was fun playing faster than usual, but as it was as frustrating as a standard Blitz tournament for many, including myself. Nearly half the field were scholastic students and they offered many tense moments for the veteran chess players. Four students were from Twin Falls High School. The other players were all familiar, including the farting. Alan Gene Rambo was the only person I have never met that participated. Mr. Rambo is a contemporary of Glen Buckendorf and has played chess in Idaho just as long, as I understood him. I also believe that he was in contention for the Idaho State Champion on previous occasions.
Gene Buckendorf and Adam Porth
My goal for the tournament was to not get flagged, however, I was greatly disappointed in my games due to hasty decisions that created horrid positions. I did not lose one game on time . . . directly. There were many fundamental errors in opening practice, including the delaying of castling in three games that I would not have made in longer games. Note: when your gut says castle, you should probably do it! In my game with Barry, I dropped a piece from an elementary fork by Barry's pawn. I mean, really . . .when do you ever put your knight and bishop on the fourth rank with one square between them? Against Dan Looney, I dropped a piece by delaying castling and attacking with a lone knight. What the heck?. I lost a piece and put myself in a hellish position by not castling in my game against Hugh Myers. He certainly is not the person to do this with as his post-mortem analysis is grueling. He will flat out tell you what a dumb move h6 was! I did survive long enough to earn some respect, but when you are down a piece against superior forces and ratings, you stand little chance of winning. Only in the movies do fantasies of this sort end happily. My strategy was to try for perpetual checking against Dan Looney and Fred Bartell, but those guys were able to avoid it. They certainly were more awake than I was. I ended the tournament in seventh place and 3.0/8 pts.
Desmond and Katie play to a draw
Desmond and Dylan did much better than me. Dylan played well and earned 2.5/8.0 pts. In one game I observed her dropping a piece and then losing a rook to a bishop three moves later. After my games, what could I say to her? In that game she ended with a draw. Her game is similar to mine, sleepy and sloppy, but comes alive after the shock of losing a piece or position. Our creativity comes through against the odds. Desmond was playing very strong games and earned 5.5/8 pts.
Riley Clark plays in her second tournament
Riley Clark did a great job. She was certainly out-gunned, only being her second tournament - she is relatively new to the game. I am proud that she fought to the end in every game against much experienced players. I showed her how to win with two rooks and she got to apply the "ladder" or "guillotine" strategy to force a checkmate (see king & 2 rooks v. king). She was very excited about this.
Kitt did a great job (except in his game against me where he hung his queen). He caused some players great stress and Alan even talked about dropping out after his draw with Kitt. I also played next to Kitt, while he played Barry Eacker to a draw. I was next to them and playing Dan Looney. I was at the point where your pieces are floundering in bad positions and are struggling to protect the king. I kept wanting to resign my game so I could watch Barry's and Kitt's game. Never resign is my rule until mate is inevitable. Kitt wished he recorded that game with Barry. "That has to be my most favorite game," Kitt exclaimed later.
Kitt Conner and Barry Eacker
I really enjoyed the tournament because the kids really enjoyed it. All of the kids I brought looked forward to seeing Katie Patterson and they sure whooped it up in between rounds. Several times they had to be hushed by Barry for their frolicking, but it is hard to be harsh with smiling and laughing children. Kitt said how much fun he had several times.
Dylan and Desmond
Our adventure continued through Winco after the tournament. Then as we started to get comfortable for the sleepy ride home, a truck in front of me continued through a red light and nearly tipped a Dodge Ram pickup over in a scary accident that totaled one of the vehicles. I really thought I was going to find a dead man as I jumped out of my truck to help. I feel bad for the 911 operator I was talking to. I was trying to assess the victims in two different vehicles, make sure none of the passing cars were endangering my kids in my vehicle, watching for cars getting too close to me, explaining to the operator were the accident was located, and in the background kicking myself for not castling on move 7 against Dan Looney! I was shocked that nobody stopped to help! Thankfully, there were only minor injuries, however, Kitt and I spent the next hour-and-a-half filling out police reports.
Alexandr and Desmond
Section 1 Barry Eacker(1591) 6.5 Hugh Myers(1528) 6.0 Fred Bartell(1669) 6.0 Alan Rambo(1704) 4.5 Dan Looney(1493) 4.5 Kitt Conner(1136) 4.0 Adam Porth(1247) 3.0 Glen Buckendorf(1639) 1.5 (withdrew early) Jared Arp(1000) 0.0
Section 2 Gary Dugger(1225) 8.0 Desmond Porth(1000) 5.5 Katie Patterson(1000) 5.5 Kevin Patterson(1190) 5.0 Aleksandr Vereshchagin(1296) 5.0 Briten Perron(1000) 2.5 Dylan Porth(1000) 2.5 Tyler Perron(1000) 1.0 Riley Clark(1000) 1.0
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