Idaho State Closed 2010 Pre-tournament

After a seemingly long day teaching all my classes and then sitting through a touchy, feely collaboration meeting aimed at bringing our staff closer together, the 2010 Idaho Closed was finally here and I am off to Boise with my daughter.  Des decided to stay with a friend and ski all weekend.  My goals were simple:  get my children to play in it, beat a >1500, and try to come home with a class prize.

During the previous week, I studied the Caro Kann and the Colle as much as I could between all of my other distractions.  On Tuesday, I was able to attend the Magic Valley Chess Club held at Barnes & Noble and play Barry  and Alexandr.  I certainly was feeling good about my games and looked forward to the challenges that lay ahead.

The Patterson's invited us to stay with them during the weekend so I was also hoping to play some games with the kids and with my friend, Kevin. As I had to be at the tournament early to register players, I went to bed early.  What a fine bed it was!  In fact, I bought some "memory foam" mattresses on the way home and would encourage everyone to get one.  I slept hard and well, but kept thinking about past tournaments on the way to oblivion.