My son was an entrant at the National Junior High Chess Championship Tournament this past weekend. Before you get too excited, it was an if you pay the entrance fee, you get to play kind of tournament (an open, not an invitational). So we drove down to Louisville Wednesday evening so that he could play in the Bughouse tournament Thursday morning.
Since we didn't find a partner until the week of travel, we spent the night in a motel in Corydon, IN that I found on the internet Tuesday night. I was so worried that since we sould be arriving at about 9PM they might give my room away I called the motel to make sure it was gauranteed for late arrival. When we pulled up Wednesday night, I found out why the clerk was so non-chalant: There were about six cars in the lot and the motel looked to have over a hundred rooms. I went with the cheapest hotel I could find, and by golly I found it. As I told my brother when he called, it was like one of those motels movie desparados hide out in while on the lam.
Thursday morning I checked in to the "Legendary" Galt House Hotel. It only took half an hour because a different Kevin Murphy had checked in the day before and somehow the clerk gave him my reservation. The perils of a semi-common name: common enough that mix-ups occur, rare enough nobody is on guard against them. But Michael Edwards, the man in charge, got it all straightened out and we did get a room. Shabby and without a view, but a room nevertheless. Fortunately, Kyle's bughouse partner and family arrived in the lobby just after us and since they weren't checking in until the next day (they were staying in a nice motel in Corydon) they registered for the Bughouse and starting playing - chess that is.
One of the odd things about national chess tournaments is that you seem to run into the same people over and over during the tournament. So before and during the bughouse tournament, Kyle and his partner played bughouse, mainly with these guys. I wondered why D, who was really good at Bughouse, didn't play in the tournament. Anyway, they did OK in the Bughouse tournament, well enough that afterwards my son wanted to play in the Blitz tournament that night. Last year's Blitz tournament was painful - not only was it a disorganized mess, but he lost some games because of the one illegal move = a loss rule, so if you don't notice you're in check (and tournament players don't tell each other), you lose. Kyle didn't want to play in the Blitz tournament this year. But when the Bughouse tournament really went smoothly - starting on time, pairings up in advance, the way a tournament ought to be - and he and his partner held their own in Bughouse against kids rated much higher than them, he changed his mind. He did better in this year's Blitz tournament, and managed to come in fourth in the U1000 section (i.e. his rating is udner a thousand), but sadly they only gave out trophies for the top three in a section.
Friday morning he played in a simul with Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov. Out of the 22 players opposing Kaidanov, one beat him and one drew him. Kyle, unsurprisingly, lost. Still, Kyle thought it worth the 25 dollars it cost to participate. And guess what -- also playing in the simul was one of the boys he played bughouse with for fun the day before. In fact, that's Kyle in the picture wearing the black shirt three boys down from D.
Friday night there was a lot of excitement. First there was a fire in the restaurant below the skittles room which evacuated. Just after the fire trucks pulled up, everybody had to evacuate the towers with the hotel rooms and take shelter in the meeting rooms because a tornado came to town. The sirens blared throughout the hotel. I evacuated the conservatory with, who else?, and found Kyle smiling in the Grand Ballroom where the tournament was held. Some of the kids were not used to tornados and were freaking out. The tournament was suspended during the excitement, and after what seemsed like forever especially with the sirens blaring, playing resumed. Kyle's opponent conceded during the break (Kyle was up a rook and two bishops) so we just went up to the room and watched TV.
Saturday and Sunday were filled with Chess - normal chess inside the Grand Ballroom, bughouse and blitz outside. Kyle didn't want to leave the hotel. Kyle didn't want to leave the exhibition area outside the Ballroom because you could always get a game there. We did go the the fancy revolving restaurant on top of one of the hotel towers, but that was as far as I could budge him. All things must come to an end, so Sunday afternoon following the last game we drove back home to our own beds and the funWife's cooking.
