Saturday - Rounds 1 and 2

The first day is quickly coming to a close, and I’m starting to get a headache. Because of the games I find it difficult to eat at normal times. Eric and I went out to the Macaroni Grill this afternoon after our first game. I had a Chicken Caesar Salad and some water. It was actually quite good, though it did have a bit of an aftertaste. What doesn’t? Hmm… Unfortunately the tables had a paper tablecloth on them. While eating I proceeded to give myself 3 paper cuts on my hands. I am not so pleased about that.

Eric was going to drive back and forth from Vermont if he couldn’t find anyone to room with. So, guess what? He’s playing in the Under 1600 section and doing very well. So far he has 2 wins after 2 rounds. As for me, well, I wish I could say I was doing so well.

I’ve been having a few problems. The biggest problem is that I’m moving a little too fast. The other is that I feel very stressed. I can’t get work out of my head. There’s just too much to do. I brought some work with me but I haven’t started any of it yet. So I also feel a bit guilty about that. The final issue, or at least the final issue that I’ll talk about, is that I feel I’m playing a bit too passively. I did a little better in the second game, but overall I’m holding back a bit too much.

Ok, on to my games!

[Event "2007 New York State Championship"]
[Site "Albany, NY (Mariott)"]
[Date "2007.09.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kordsmeier, Nolan"]
[Black "Borowski, Edwin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "1802"]
[BlackElo "1953"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Qb6 7.Rc1
Bg4 8.Ne5 Nxe5 9.dxe5 Ne4 10.Nxe4 dxe4 11.Qa4+ Bd7 12.Qxe4 Bc6
13.Qc2 Qa5+ 14.Qc3 Qxa2 15.e4 Qa4 16.f3 e6 17.Bd2 Rd8 18.Qc4
Qxc4 19.Bxc4 Be7 20.Ke2 Rxd2+ 21.Kxd2 Bg5+ 22.Kc3 Bxc1 23.Rxc1
Ke7 24.Rd1 Rd8 25.Rxd8 Kxd8 26.Kd4 Kc7 27.g3 Kb6 28.f4 Bd7 29.f5
g5 30.h3 Kc6 31.h4 gxh4 32.gxh4 b6 33.f6 b5 34.Be2 a5 35.Bh5
Be8 36.Be2 a4 37.Bd1 Kb6 38.b4 axb3 39.Bxb3 Bd7 40.Bd1 Be8 41.Bb3
Kc6 42.Bd1 Kb6 43.Bb3 Bd7 {Draw Agreed.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "2007 New York State Championship"]
[Site "Albany, NY (Mariott)"]
[Date "2007.09.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Borowski, Edwin"]
[Black "Marcus, Neil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "1953"]
[BlackElo "1845"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark ""]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 b6 4.e3 Bb7 5.Bd3 g6 6.Nbd2 Bg7 7.c3
d6 8.Qc2 Nbd7 9.e4 Nh5 10.Bg3 Nxg3 11.hxg3 Qe7 12.Nb3 O-O-O 13.Qe2
Nb8 14.a4 a6 15.Nbd2 Rde8 16.b4 f5 17.e5 d5 18.Nb3 Qd7 19.a5
b5 20.Nc5 Qc6 21.Nd2 h6 22.O-O-O Nd7 23.Ndb3 Nxc5 24.dxc5 Qd7
25.Nd4 c6 26.f4 h5 27.Rh2 Kb8 28.Rdh1 Bh6 29.Kb2 Ref8 30.Qf2
Rh7 31.Qc2 Rfh8 32.Qf2 Kc7 33.Rh3 Qf7 34.Be2 Bc8 35.Bd1 {Draw Agreed.}
1/2-1/2

After the game Neil and I went into the skittles room to take a look at it. Nothing definitive came out of that, but it was fun to look at other possible variations. After looking over it for a few with the computer I’ll hold to my initial assessments – I’m still playing a bit too passively.