Mass Open 2006, Day 2

I didn't have a chance to update yesterday. It just didn't happen. I think it was partly because I was planning on spending the $10 for 24 hours of Internet Access from the hotel but in the end I just couldn't justify it. I knew I'd only have an hour or two and it really just didn't seem worth spending the money. I know, it seems unthinkable coming from me, but there it is. For me Sunday was a quiet day. That doesn't mean easy, but there's just something about drawing both of your games. It's like that big eraser from the sky just flew down and did it's think. In the blink of an eye, gone. It was just another day.

Interestingly enough, I did get to play James O'Dickson again. He and I played in the last tournament I played in late last year. So far we've drawn both games. He's rated 1949. My other opponent yesterday was Valentin Levin who is rated 1906. So a reasonable result. The game against James was pretty uneventful, so I'm excluding it. But the game against Mr. Levin was pretty exciting. I came out of the opening with a much stronger position, went through a series of exchanges that left me slightly worse, and due to doubled pawns in the endgame and his backward b-pawn giving him some dynamic potential when/if he needs a free move I had to be very careful. Here's that one:

[Event "Mass Open 2006"]
[Site "Hotel Marlborough"]
[Date "2006.05.28"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Edwin Borowski"]
[Black "Valentin Levin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1884"]
[BlackElo "1906"]
[ECO "D02"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c6 4. c3 e6 5. e3 Bd6 6. Bg3 Ne4 7. Bd3 Nxg3 8. hxg3 h6 9. Nbd2 Nd7 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Be7 12. Qe2 Nf6 13. Ne5 Bd6 14. f4 Nxe4 15.Qxe4 Bxe5 16. dxe5 Qd5 17. a3 Bd7 18. O-O-O Qxe4 19. Bxe4 O-O-O 20. c4 c5 21.b3 Kc7 22. Rd6 Bc6 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Bxc6 Kxc6 25. Rd1 Rxd1+ 26. Kxd1 a5 27. a4 f6 28. Ke2 Kd7 29. Kf3 fxe5 30. fxe5 Ke7 31. Kg4 g6 32. Kh4 Kf7 33. g4 g5+ 34.Kg3 Kg6 35. Kh3 Kh7 36. Kg3 Kg7 37. Kh2 Kg6 38. Kh3 Kf7 39. Kg3 Kg7 40. Kh2 Kg6 41. Kh3 1/2-1/2

Larry went on the rampage. After a tough loss Saturday night, where later we found a perpetual check that he misplayed, he had 1.5/2. So going into the final day he's even with me. We both have 2.5/4. He has 2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss and I have 1 win, 3 draws. The amazing thing about Larry's play is that he's been lost in almost all his games, yet he's managed to survive and even win.

I talked with the bookseller for a little bit yesterday as well. Randy Malcut. As most chess booksellers have learned, the poker books tend to sell better than the chess books so they always have a good selection of poker books at these tournaments as well. So we talked for a little while about poker, his new job working for the US Postal Service, and even blackjack. I felt bad because I've got to believe that the auction was killing his business. With people already having spent a bunch of their money on books, they probably won't be looking for more books.

Later that night Larry and I were going to head out to Wendy's for some dinner. While we were looking at the crosstables Patrick Sciacca stopped by to look at the Open section. I could tell that he didn't completely recognize me, so I said Hi. I told him that Sean would kill me if I didn't say Hi to him. It clicked. He said, "Borowski, right?". Then he asked me if I had more hair back when he knew me. Hair? I had forgotten those days. We all have our dark dirty secrets!

The final note for Sunday, and I say this in the nicest possible way, is the goop. I have no idea what this stuff was, but it was this freaky yellow goop that was all over the sink and the floor in the bathroom. I could tell you what it looked like, but it's just not possible. And neither Larry or I had anything with us that could have produced such a freakish spattering. I had to clean it off the sink, I just couldn't take it, but I wasn't about to get on my hands and knees for the floor, I was just careful to walk around its droppings. My curiosity finally got the best of me and I finally had to ask Larry... was that his goop? He said no, so the only logical alternative was that the cleaning people had a problem. I can't fathom, so I'm letting it go.

Oh - and this post was mostly written last Sunday at the tournament, but here I am finishing it up a week later. So if the tense gets a little odd, there you go.

Round 3 to follow soon!

Take Care, Ed.