2011 Twin Falls Championship

Israel Flores (1st), Jeff Roland (2nd), Dan Looney (3rd)

It was a lovely day to play chess with my friends in Twin Falls at the Idaho Chess Union's TFC.  So lovely, in fact, I arrived without my usual competitiveness and resigned after thirteen moves against Jeff Roland (1679).  I needed a wake up jog which I neglected after the long drive.  All of my oxygen was withheld from my brain because all of my blood cells were in my butt!

After the game, I quickly went to the nearest coffee shop (Java) and downed a four-shot espresso latte and walked around the block before I faced Hugh Myers (1657).  The last time I played him, a few years ago at MVCC, I figured I lost on move 2 and resigned by move 14!  This game started out fairly and then I suddenly felt the heat and pressure of a collapsing game.  Deja vu?  Another coffee for me and relief in the bathroom and I was ready to look at the board with a fresh perspective.  I fought back, he played passively and defensively in the endgame, and he resigned with only 23 seconds left on my clock!  I really thought he would just run my time out like others before.  I really have a new respect for Hugh for being a gentleman and resigning a lost game on the board.  I only hope I would do the same.

My round 3 game turned out as bad as my first round and so I rolled over and let Dan Looney (1641) maul me like a bear, while secretly I tried to get a back rank mate (my only hope!).  But a player such as this would have nothing of it.  He ended in third place in the tournament and Jeff took second place.  My last game was against a highly rated player, Fred Bartell (1799), and I have never beaten him in a tournament game.  And this is still the case.  I played a much better game except when I ran into time issues again and lost an even position.  It certainly takes me longer to work through some of the problems faced on the board and I find G/120 much more comfortable.  I am happy with two of my games and felt that I learned some new things from the other two.

Israel Flores is a newcomer to the Twin Falls chess scene and won the Twin Falls Championship with a perfect tournament score.  Jeff Roland, 2nd place, and Dan Looney, 3rd place.  Nedzad Imamovic was another newcomer and ended in 4th place.  Glen Buckendorf donated three books from his library for 4th - 6th place.