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| Action from the Open - R1 or R2 (I think). Sorry - don't know who the players are.  like Robin Grohowski.   I faced him in R4. In this photo he is playing Susan Ulrich (he lost). Susan finished in 28th place (out of 49) with 2.0. That's me at the back table.  this photograph? W.H. Burgin (white) and I (black) in our R4 game that I eventually won. See what I mean about him looking like Kris Kringle? But from the look on my face, I was out for blood, yikes! I'm scaring myself looking at myself! I need new glasses. That top makes me look fat. My chin has chins. EEK! |
Showing posts with label Hales Corners Chess Challenge XV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hales Corners Chess Challenge XV. Show all posts
Friday, April 27, 2012
More Photos from Hales Corners Challenge XV
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Hales Corners Chess Challenge XV - Photos!
These are from Ellen Wanek:
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| "Chess mom", Ellen Wanek, and Robin Grochowski, one of the TDs. I played a pick-up game with "Chess mom" who had a son (two?) playing in the Hales Corners Challenge XV and we drove her youngest boy up a wall with out teasing about "playing chess like girls." We actually had a lot of fun. She checkmated me but we had a do-over and eventually I queened a pawn and "won" the game during the "re-do." Such is the way "girls" play chess :) |
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| Ellen and Manisha Vootkur, who won some Goddesschess prize money in the Reserve section! |
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| Me bad - I know the young man in the yellow tee shirt is a player from the Sheboygan area, but I don't remember his name; Ellen Wanek (in blue) is next to him; in the back row, sorry, I don't remember the player's name, then there's me, and on the right is Life Master Sheldon Gelbart. |
Hales Corners Chess Challenge XV
Hola darlings! A post-tournament report, some amusing incidents and some musings.
Whew - I think I have nearly recuperated from yesterday's grueling tournament. My alarm is on auto and it goes off every day at 5:50 a.m. I was so exhausted when I finally hit the sack last night I slept straight through until my first "wake up" at 5:05 a.m. That's pretty rare these days -- the curse of being a post-menopausal woman is sleep disruption. Sigh. So, sleeping through like I did was a sign of utter exhaustion. I visited the bathroom and jumped back into my nice toasty soft bed, and snoozed until the alarm went off. Went downstairs, fetched the newspaper, had coffee and a big fat chocolate chip macademia nut cookie and at 7:15 a.m. I curled up in my favorite wing chair, put my feet up on the matching footstool, tossed my fashionable leopard-print afghan over myself and promptly fell asleep for nearly another 3 hours! I finally forced myself to get out of the chair just before 10 a.m.! Geez!
After game 4 yesterday, I stopped in the hallway for what was going to be just a minute or two to say my goodbyes and chat (I had said good bye to Ellen earlier, as I told her it was my intention to head out home immediately after I finished R4 because I take the bus -- I was hoping to make it home before dark). But then I started chatting with a mom who had a son playing in the Open (one of the higher rated players), and then Sandra Pahl was in the hall (she played in the Open) and I asked her how she did and we started chatting and then - geez, seemed I must have chatted with twenty people or so including Greg Reese who gave me a good tip about Chessmaster 10 and where to get it for real cheap, but I was so tired and bleary-eyed at that point maybe I'm conflating every single chat I had throughout the entire day into that last exit from that hallway outside the playing rooms! Anyway, Sandra and I were going to head to the skittles room and play a quick game but we chatted so long upstairs that when I next looked at my watch I had barely enough time to get to the bus stop to catch the 7:19 Layton Avenue bus. It's probably a good thing - what was I thinking? I had already played a pick-up game in the skittles room earlier in the day with one of the chess moms who is definitely good enough to play in the Reserve Section. And there I was, exhausted, head feeling like it was going to bust wide open like a water balloon at any second, agreeing to another pick-up game with a player who would wipe me over the board in about 10 seconds? Just goes to show you --
I'm totally insane...
As it was (as I wrote to Ellen Wanek earlier this morning):
As it turned out, the bus was late! Funny story - there was a black kid dressed like a hip-hopper at the bus stop when I got there - I was going to ask him "how do you keep those pants from dropping to your ankles," you know, the kind where the butt is hanging down to the kid's knees. Instead I said oh, were you at the chess tournament? He looked at me like I was crazy! Then I put down my bag, pulled out my wool beret (because it was getting chilly out), my big Las Vegas sun glasses and put them on (because the sun was going down but it was still bright outside) and my gloves, and organized my game sheets, all the while telling this young man that he should start playing chess and come to the next Hales Corners Challenge right over at the Wyndham Hotel kitty corner from the bus stop. That poor kid - scared the crap out of him, I could see it on his face CRAZY OLD WHITE LADY. Oh, I had a good time doing that :) When the bus came, I sat toward the back. You know how teens are, they almost always gravitate toward the back of the bus. But I think this kid was so spooked by the CRAZY OLD WHITE LADY he sat near the front! Oh, it was sooooo funny.
Okay, maybe it's not politically correct to write such a thing, but it's the honest-to-Goddess truth. And I really do wonder how the heck those kids keep those droopy drawers up -- although I have seen at lest a couple of times dudes running downtown to catch a bus (hobbling along is more like it as they can't run unless they're holding up their pants, which is just too funny to watch!) and those pants just come flopping on down around their ankles tripping them up... Good enough to make this CRAZY OLD WHITE LADY laugh her butt off.
And, come to think of it, how on earth do they keep those droopy drawers off the floor in the bathroom if they have to - well, you know. Eeeewwwwwwuuuuuewwwwwww!
Of course, that has nothing to do with chess. Please ignore that.
While I was writing to Ellen this morning I had this brain storm to scan my game sheet and post it here, to brag about my win. Yes, I am nothing if I am modest. So, without further ado, here it is:
The first thing I realized when I tried playing through this game as I've recorded it - something like ten times - is that there is no way this is a real game. I pulled out my regulation size USCF cream and black playing board with the black and cream big plastic pieces, set them all up, and played through the moves. Over and over and over again.
I mean, darlings, it just could not have happened the way I recorded it. I did figure out that the move I recorded as 3 Black was Nf6, NOT Ng6. Duh! I also eventually deciphered move 20 White (which was actually MY move - see prior post for how I somehow ended up writing my moves under White rather than Black, so that I (black) eventually resigned with a Big Fat R written under Black move 23, rather than my opponent, Mr. Kris Kringle, but somehow I ended up winning the game anyway), which records Q to b2.
Got that?
Black's move (my move) 12 is totally illegal if my Knight was actually on f3, which it must have been, because even though I do not have a "check" mark next to the move, I had put White's King in check, I do remember that, and he had to do something. His move was K to f2 - why, I don't know. If it had been me I would have swapped Knights. But that didn't happen. Instead, after he played K f2, I played NxQd2. Except White's Queen was sitting on d1, not d2. There was a Bishop on d2. And none of this makes any sense to me at all! Except that if I DID make the move NxQd2 I actually took the Queen on d1 and left the Bishop sitting on d2. Totally illegal. Didn't even see it. Evidently, neither did my opponent, or else he was so freaked out by me actually making such a move (remember the Kasparov-Judith Polgar incident at Linares when she was 17 years old???) that he was petrified into inaction and played the rest of our game in catatonic shock. Come to think of it, I was pretty much catatonic myself by that point in the tournament.
There is another move that makes absolutely no sense to me as I recorded it: I have White on move 22 taking his own Bishop on g5 with his Rook. Then I took his Rook with a pawn. Now why would White take out his own Bishop? Obviously that did NOT happen! But that's what I recorded. And where was this mysterious pawn that I allegedly used to take out White's Rook on g5? Next move, White resigned. I wrote "R" underneath Black's (my) move 23.
Go figure.
Ohmygoddess! If I "won" this game by making illegal moves, then it's not really a win at all, it's a cheat. Oy, my head hurts now just like it was hurting yesterday. And I was trying to be SO careful writing down the moves, too. What did I do?
Whew - I think I have nearly recuperated from yesterday's grueling tournament. My alarm is on auto and it goes off every day at 5:50 a.m. I was so exhausted when I finally hit the sack last night I slept straight through until my first "wake up" at 5:05 a.m. That's pretty rare these days -- the curse of being a post-menopausal woman is sleep disruption. Sigh. So, sleeping through like I did was a sign of utter exhaustion. I visited the bathroom and jumped back into my nice toasty soft bed, and snoozed until the alarm went off. Went downstairs, fetched the newspaper, had coffee and a big fat chocolate chip macademia nut cookie and at 7:15 a.m. I curled up in my favorite wing chair, put my feet up on the matching footstool, tossed my fashionable leopard-print afghan over myself and promptly fell asleep for nearly another 3 hours! I finally forced myself to get out of the chair just before 10 a.m.! Geez!
After game 4 yesterday, I stopped in the hallway for what was going to be just a minute or two to say my goodbyes and chat (I had said good bye to Ellen earlier, as I told her it was my intention to head out home immediately after I finished R4 because I take the bus -- I was hoping to make it home before dark). But then I started chatting with a mom who had a son playing in the Open (one of the higher rated players), and then Sandra Pahl was in the hall (she played in the Open) and I asked her how she did and we started chatting and then - geez, seemed I must have chatted with twenty people or so including Greg Reese who gave me a good tip about Chessmaster 10 and where to get it for real cheap, but I was so tired and bleary-eyed at that point maybe I'm conflating every single chat I had throughout the entire day into that last exit from that hallway outside the playing rooms! Anyway, Sandra and I were going to head to the skittles room and play a quick game but we chatted so long upstairs that when I next looked at my watch I had barely enough time to get to the bus stop to catch the 7:19 Layton Avenue bus. It's probably a good thing - what was I thinking? I had already played a pick-up game in the skittles room earlier in the day with one of the chess moms who is definitely good enough to play in the Reserve Section. And there I was, exhausted, head feeling like it was going to bust wide open like a water balloon at any second, agreeing to another pick-up game with a player who would wipe me over the board in about 10 seconds? Just goes to show you --
I'm totally insane...
As it was (as I wrote to Ellen Wanek earlier this morning):
As it turned out, the bus was late! Funny story - there was a black kid dressed like a hip-hopper at the bus stop when I got there - I was going to ask him "how do you keep those pants from dropping to your ankles," you know, the kind where the butt is hanging down to the kid's knees. Instead I said oh, were you at the chess tournament? He looked at me like I was crazy! Then I put down my bag, pulled out my wool beret (because it was getting chilly out), my big Las Vegas sun glasses and put them on (because the sun was going down but it was still bright outside) and my gloves, and organized my game sheets, all the while telling this young man that he should start playing chess and come to the next Hales Corners Challenge right over at the Wyndham Hotel kitty corner from the bus stop. That poor kid - scared the crap out of him, I could see it on his face CRAZY OLD WHITE LADY. Oh, I had a good time doing that :) When the bus came, I sat toward the back. You know how teens are, they almost always gravitate toward the back of the bus. But I think this kid was so spooked by the CRAZY OLD WHITE LADY he sat near the front! Oh, it was sooooo funny.
Okay, maybe it's not politically correct to write such a thing, but it's the honest-to-Goddess truth. And I really do wonder how the heck those kids keep those droopy drawers up -- although I have seen at lest a couple of times dudes running downtown to catch a bus (hobbling along is more like it as they can't run unless they're holding up their pants, which is just too funny to watch!) and those pants just come flopping on down around their ankles tripping them up... Good enough to make this CRAZY OLD WHITE LADY laugh her butt off.
And, come to think of it, how on earth do they keep those droopy drawers off the floor in the bathroom if they have to - well, you know. Eeeewwwwwwuuuuuewwwwwww!
Of course, that has nothing to do with chess. Please ignore that.
While I was writing to Ellen this morning I had this brain storm to scan my game sheet and post it here, to brag about my win. Yes, I am nothing if I am modest. So, without further ado, here it is:
The first thing I realized when I tried playing through this game as I've recorded it - something like ten times - is that there is no way this is a real game. I pulled out my regulation size USCF cream and black playing board with the black and cream big plastic pieces, set them all up, and played through the moves. Over and over and over again.
I mean, darlings, it just could not have happened the way I recorded it. I did figure out that the move I recorded as 3 Black was Nf6, NOT Ng6. Duh! I also eventually deciphered move 20 White (which was actually MY move - see prior post for how I somehow ended up writing my moves under White rather than Black, so that I (black) eventually resigned with a Big Fat R written under Black move 23, rather than my opponent, Mr. Kris Kringle, but somehow I ended up winning the game anyway), which records Q to b2.
Got that?
Black's move (my move) 12 is totally illegal if my Knight was actually on f3, which it must have been, because even though I do not have a "check" mark next to the move, I had put White's King in check, I do remember that, and he had to do something. His move was K to f2 - why, I don't know. If it had been me I would have swapped Knights. But that didn't happen. Instead, after he played K f2, I played NxQd2. Except White's Queen was sitting on d1, not d2. There was a Bishop on d2. And none of this makes any sense to me at all! Except that if I DID make the move NxQd2 I actually took the Queen on d1 and left the Bishop sitting on d2. Totally illegal. Didn't even see it. Evidently, neither did my opponent, or else he was so freaked out by me actually making such a move (remember the Kasparov-Judith Polgar incident at Linares when she was 17 years old???) that he was petrified into inaction and played the rest of our game in catatonic shock. Come to think of it, I was pretty much catatonic myself by that point in the tournament.
There is another move that makes absolutely no sense to me as I recorded it: I have White on move 22 taking his own Bishop on g5 with his Rook. Then I took his Rook with a pawn. Now why would White take out his own Bishop? Obviously that did NOT happen! But that's what I recorded. And where was this mysterious pawn that I allegedly used to take out White's Rook on g5? Next move, White resigned. I wrote "R" underneath Black's (my) move 23.
Go figure.
Ohmygoddess! If I "won" this game by making illegal moves, then it's not really a win at all, it's a cheat. Oy, my head hurts now just like it was hurting yesterday. And I was trying to be SO careful writing down the moves, too. What did I do?
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Hales Corners Chess Challenge XV!!!!
I came, I saw, I fought through my first three games and beat off an Excedrin Headache Number 4,320, which is specifically reserved for female chess players (432 is the number of the Goddess, just ask historian, writer and myth-teller Joseph Campbell). I lost all three games. But I, even I, who am nothing if not brutally honest with myself, knew that I was playing "better" than during my pitiful appearance at Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIV last October. I was lasting more moves into the games, I was taking more time to make moves and not paying much attention to the clock, and I was trying to "see" the board -- not with so much success, unfortunately.
Ellen Wanek, everyone's favorite mom and chess coach, was there to prop me up and we cheered each other on. I even managed to write down most of the moves more or less correctly this time. I didn't have the guts to have Sheldon play through one of those games with me afterward in the Skittles Room, though. LOL! And so, even though I had not been even anywhere near a draw (leastwise, as far as I could tell), I felt not so bad about how I was playing. Yeah, I was making idiot dumb mistakes and - par for the course - recognizing moves I should have made one move too late! EEK! Always, always, always my opponent would see the threat AFTER I did, and recover. Damn damn damn!
I had McDonalds for lunch! It's been so long since I've had a Big Mac and fries, I can't tell you, darlings, how good they tasted! Yeah, 10,000 calories, I'm sure I gained five pounds just by sniffing the air while I was waiting in line to place my order.
And - Ellen had cacao 70% chocolate bars in her stash of goodies. We actually hid out in stairwells to eat it, it was that good and that forbidden...
Hmmmm, come to think of it, we shared a final cacao bar before our last game. I wonder...
Here is the only photo that turned out that was taken with my camera -- two other shots (one I took shortly after I arrived and my hands were shaking so badly I don't even know why I bothered!) turned out blurred. This one, taken by an obliging gentleman, turned out nicely - except I look absolutely GHASTLY, OHMYGODDESS - I look like I weigh 300 pounds and my eyes are so swollen and my face is so puff (and red) you can hardly even see that I actually have eyes! What the Hell! I'm amazed my looks didn't scare my opponents into giving me some wins, geez! And those glasses up on my forehead - sort of look like pointy little devil ears, don't they...
I had asked my friends and even my enemies to pray to the Goddess of Chess for me to give me at least one draw for Challenge XV. That's all I asked for - just one little draw. Guess what darlings - I GOT A WIN!
WOOOOOO WOOOOOO! Unfortunately, I got a win against a gentleman who looks like Kris Kringle. Take a look at that photo above - do you see the head of a white-haired, white-bearded gent in the background between Manisha and Teja? He was my final opponent for the day, in Round 4.
Round 4, when I was so tired and bleary-eyed I couldn't really even see straight and my brain felt so fried. But I was determined, absolutely determined, to keep on fighting until the bitter end. Just like the tag line in "We Are The Champions" by my most favorite band ever, Queen.
I knew things were going my way when I snaggged Mr. Kringle's Queen and he didn't have an adequate response.
Now really, who wants to beat up on a gentleman who resembles Santa Claus? I did think about that, I truly did. And then , well - I sort of beat him up anyway. I'm happy that I won a game - FINALLY - but I'm sad, too. Because winning means that someone else loses. And that is never a good feeling. At least, you know, unless your opponent is an absolute Schmuck whose heart you want to cut out and burn while still beating, it shouldn't be.
Here is part of the game. I was Black -- forgive the notation, it's not the best:
1. e4 e5
2. f3 Nc6
3. Nc3 Ng6
4. Ne2 d6
5. d3 Be7
6. Bg5 O-O
7. g3 Nf6 to h5
8. Qd2 Nc6 to d4
9. Ng1 c6
10. f4 Bg4
11. f4 x e5 Nf3
12. Kf2 NxQd2 Seeing/making this move was like - hearing the Heavenly Choir...
13. Be2 Qb6
14. Ke1 ??? for some reason I don't have a move written down - I may have fainted or something...
I'm not clear on the moves between 15 and the end of the game. I have moves written down, but I seem to have switched to moving the white pieces, at least, in my notation I did. Strange, very strange. I must have forgot to write down another move. Darlings, I WAS moving the black pieces on the board. Honest! I'm sure my opponent would have objected at some point if I'd started moving his pieces around in addition to my own...
What I can tell you is that the final three moves were Qx Nb1, Rx Bg5, px Rg5, white resigned, I have an "R" under Black at move 23 but I didn't resign, so it must have been Mr. Kringle resigning on White's move 24. Oy, some Chess Goddess I am, duh! But I still had my Queen, because I had taken Mr. Kringle's on move 12.
Maybe some day I'll sit down at a board and see if I can get it straightened out.
FLASH:
Before I sign off for the night, cuz I've got a steak sitting on the counter getting down to room temperature that is calling my name Jan....Jan..... here are the final round standings:
Open:
No. Name St Rate Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Score
1. Santarius, Erik (1)........... WI 2387 W9 W16 W17 W4 4.0
2. Burgess, Jon L (3)............ IL 2206 W19 W6 W10 W11 4.0
10. Ulrich, Rachel J (36)......... WI 1763 W54 W18 L2 W19 3.0 (Wins $120 Goddesschess prize money)
50. Pahl, Sandra R (53)........... WI 1373 L14 L47 L49 -B- 1.0 (I think Sandra should win some Goddesschess $$, it's not her fault so many people dropped out after R3 that she didn't have an opponent for R4)
56. Karimikonda, Teja (51)........ WI 1439 L41 L39 L27 L43 0.0 (We were rooting for Teja; she won Goddesschess prize money in Challege XIV playing in the Open Section)
Reserve:
No. Name St Rate 1 2 3 4 Score
1. Loomer, Xavier Mar (19)....... WI 1209 W7 W5 W4 W12 4.0
2. Ran, Eric M (26).............. WI 1109 W41 W10 W19 W9 4.0
15. Vootkur, Manisha (31)......... WI 856 W44 W14 L12 D18 2.5 (Manisha wins $50 Goddesschess prize money)
27. Ulrich, Susanna G (23)........ WI 1161 L13 L3 W49 W41 2.0 (Susanna wins $40 Goddesschess prize money)
38. Wanek, Ellen Ann (32)......... WI 852 W45 L22 L8 L24 1.0
42. Filali, Sara A (39)........... WI 597 L29 -F- W44 L28 1.0
43. Newton, Jan L (40)............ WI 575 L36 L11 L24 W49 1.0
It was such a pleasure seeing everyone again, and chatting chatting chatting, oy, I'm hoarse! Congratulations to all of the winners! Rachel Ulrich in the Open and Susanna Ulrich in the Reserve also receive free entry to Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVI, should they choose to play, courtesy of Goddesschess.
Hmmmm, seems I'm going to lose some ratings points, LOL! Go figure! Oh, this is just too funny! I started in 40th place and finished in 43rd, despite my win. Okay, let me at that steak...
Ellen Wanek, everyone's favorite mom and chess coach, was there to prop me up and we cheered each other on. I even managed to write down most of the moves more or less correctly this time. I didn't have the guts to have Sheldon play through one of those games with me afterward in the Skittles Room, though. LOL! And so, even though I had not been even anywhere near a draw (leastwise, as far as I could tell), I felt not so bad about how I was playing. Yeah, I was making idiot dumb mistakes and - par for the course - recognizing moves I should have made one move too late! EEK! Always, always, always my opponent would see the threat AFTER I did, and recover. Damn damn damn!
I had McDonalds for lunch! It's been so long since I've had a Big Mac and fries, I can't tell you, darlings, how good they tasted! Yeah, 10,000 calories, I'm sure I gained five pounds just by sniffing the air while I was waiting in line to place my order.
And - Ellen had cacao 70% chocolate bars in her stash of goodies. We actually hid out in stairwells to eat it, it was that good and that forbidden...
Hmmmm, come to think of it, we shared a final cacao bar before our last game. I wonder...
Here is the only photo that turned out that was taken with my camera -- two other shots (one I took shortly after I arrived and my hands were shaking so badly I don't even know why I bothered!) turned out blurred. This one, taken by an obliging gentleman, turned out nicely - except I look absolutely GHASTLY, OHMYGODDESS - I look like I weigh 300 pounds and my eyes are so swollen and my face is so puff (and red) you can hardly even see that I actually have eyes! What the Hell! I'm amazed my looks didn't scare my opponents into giving me some wins, geez! And those glasses up on my forehead - sort of look like pointy little devil ears, don't they...
 |
| Manisha Vootkur, Teja Karimikonda, Ellen Wanek, and Yours Truly, Ms. "I dont even recognize myself, geez!" |
WOOOOOO WOOOOOO! Unfortunately, I got a win against a gentleman who looks like Kris Kringle. Take a look at that photo above - do you see the head of a white-haired, white-bearded gent in the background between Manisha and Teja? He was my final opponent for the day, in Round 4.
Round 4, when I was so tired and bleary-eyed I couldn't really even see straight and my brain felt so fried. But I was determined, absolutely determined, to keep on fighting until the bitter end. Just like the tag line in "We Are The Champions" by my most favorite band ever, Queen.
I knew things were going my way when I snaggged Mr. Kringle's Queen and he didn't have an adequate response.
Now really, who wants to beat up on a gentleman who resembles Santa Claus? I did think about that, I truly did. And then , well - I sort of beat him up anyway. I'm happy that I won a game - FINALLY - but I'm sad, too. Because winning means that someone else loses. And that is never a good feeling. At least, you know, unless your opponent is an absolute Schmuck whose heart you want to cut out and burn while still beating, it shouldn't be.
Here is part of the game. I was Black -- forgive the notation, it's not the best:
1. e4 e5
2. f3 Nc6
3. Nc3 Ng6
4. Ne2 d6
5. d3 Be7
6. Bg5 O-O
7. g3 Nf6 to h5
8. Qd2 Nc6 to d4
9. Ng1 c6
10. f4 Bg4
11. f4 x e5 Nf3
12. Kf2 NxQd2 Seeing/making this move was like - hearing the Heavenly Choir...
13. Be2 Qb6
14. Ke1 ??? for some reason I don't have a move written down - I may have fainted or something...
I'm not clear on the moves between 15 and the end of the game. I have moves written down, but I seem to have switched to moving the white pieces, at least, in my notation I did. Strange, very strange. I must have forgot to write down another move. Darlings, I WAS moving the black pieces on the board. Honest! I'm sure my opponent would have objected at some point if I'd started moving his pieces around in addition to my own...
What I can tell you is that the final three moves were Qx Nb1, Rx Bg5, px Rg5, white resigned, I have an "R" under Black at move 23 but I didn't resign, so it must have been Mr. Kringle resigning on White's move 24. Oy, some Chess Goddess I am, duh! But I still had my Queen, because I had taken Mr. Kringle's on move 12.
Maybe some day I'll sit down at a board and see if I can get it straightened out.
FLASH:
Before I sign off for the night, cuz I've got a steak sitting on the counter getting down to room temperature that is calling my name Jan....Jan..... here are the final round standings:
Open:
No. Name St Rate Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Score
1. Santarius, Erik (1)........... WI 2387 W9 W16 W17 W4 4.0
2. Burgess, Jon L (3)............ IL 2206 W19 W6 W10 W11 4.0
10. Ulrich, Rachel J (36)......... WI 1763 W54 W18 L2 W19 3.0 (Wins $120 Goddesschess prize money)
50. Pahl, Sandra R (53)........... WI 1373 L14 L47 L49 -B- 1.0 (I think Sandra should win some Goddesschess $$, it's not her fault so many people dropped out after R3 that she didn't have an opponent for R4)
56. Karimikonda, Teja (51)........ WI 1439 L41 L39 L27 L43 0.0 (We were rooting for Teja; she won Goddesschess prize money in Challege XIV playing in the Open Section)
Reserve:
No. Name St Rate 1 2 3 4 Score
1. Loomer, Xavier Mar (19)....... WI 1209 W7 W5 W4 W12 4.0
2. Ran, Eric M (26).............. WI 1109 W41 W10 W19 W9 4.0
15. Vootkur, Manisha (31)......... WI 856 W44 W14 L12 D18 2.5 (Manisha wins $50 Goddesschess prize money)
27. Ulrich, Susanna G (23)........ WI 1161 L13 L3 W49 W41 2.0 (Susanna wins $40 Goddesschess prize money)
38. Wanek, Ellen Ann (32)......... WI 852 W45 L22 L8 L24 1.0
42. Filali, Sara A (39)........... WI 597 L29 -F- W44 L28 1.0
43. Newton, Jan L (40)............ WI 575 L36 L11 L24 W49 1.0
It was such a pleasure seeing everyone again, and chatting chatting chatting, oy, I'm hoarse! Congratulations to all of the winners! Rachel Ulrich in the Open and Susanna Ulrich in the Reserve also receive free entry to Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVI, should they choose to play, courtesy of Goddesschess.
Hmmmm, seems I'm going to lose some ratings points, LOL! Go figure! Oh, this is just too funny! I started in 40th place and finished in 43rd, despite my win. Okay, let me at that steak...
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Hales Corners Chess Challenge XV
I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by! This Saturday is the XV Hales Corners Chess Challenge.
SIGN UP AND PLAY! It's a wonderful group of players and people and the playing venue is comfortable and convenient -- the hotel is a nice one and very close to the airport and to the interstate. Four games in one day is a LONG day (I know from personal experience, whew!), so if you want to stay over you can get a good rate at the hotel; there is dining on the premises and lots of restaurants nearby even within - gasp - walking distance!
Goddesschess is sponsoring prizes for the chess femmes:
Open: $40 for a win; $20 for a draw
Reserve: $20 for a win; $10 for a draw
Ladies, I put that in large print just so you can't miss it, ahem.
The Ulrich sisters are playing! We therefore expect to make pay-outs to them and other chess femmes and we're thrilled! I must remember to take my camera and I must remember to ask to take photos of the various chess femmes during the day. I must also remember to try the "model pose" which is supposed to make me look 20 years younger and 50 pounds lighter. Well - whatever.
Yes, I'm playing. Don't ask me why. In a fit of madness one day I emailed Ellen Wanek and said Ellen, if you come I'll come too and what's more, I'll stay for all 4 games. That means they'll have to carry me out on a stretcher, as I'll be practically dead from sheer exhaustion. Ambulance drivers, my address will be pinned to my jacket -- please roll me on to my lawn if you don't feel like carrying me to to the front door. Someone, please remember to shove a blood pressure down my throat at 8 p.m. It's the bottle with the blue capsules...
Thus far, there are 75 pre-registered player, including Olympic Youth Chess Championship Gold Medal Winner in his age group Awonder Liang! Not too often one gets to rub shoulders, so to speak, with an Olympic gold medal winner. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
My adopted chess club is hoping for a great turnout of 150 players this tournament!!!! Can we do it?
I'm not very good at picking out some of the chess femmes' names. You would think I would know the names of every single female player in Wisconsin (and Illinois, too), but I don't! I'll give it a go from the pre-registered list thus far:
Open:
26 Ulrich, Rachel J WI 1763
36 Karimikonda, Teja WI 1439
38 Pahl, Sandra R WI 1373
Reserve:
18 Ulrich, Susanna WI 1161
24 Vootkur, Manisha WI 856
25 Wanek, Ellen WI 852
29 Newton, Jan L WI 575 (LOL!)
SIGN UP AND PLAY! It's a wonderful group of players and people and the playing venue is comfortable and convenient -- the hotel is a nice one and very close to the airport and to the interstate. Four games in one day is a LONG day (I know from personal experience, whew!), so if you want to stay over you can get a good rate at the hotel; there is dining on the premises and lots of restaurants nearby even within - gasp - walking distance!
Goddesschess is sponsoring prizes for the chess femmes:
Open: $40 for a win; $20 for a draw
Reserve: $20 for a win; $10 for a draw
Ladies, I put that in large print just so you can't miss it, ahem.
The Ulrich sisters are playing! We therefore expect to make pay-outs to them and other chess femmes and we're thrilled! I must remember to take my camera and I must remember to ask to take photos of the various chess femmes during the day. I must also remember to try the "model pose" which is supposed to make me look 20 years younger and 50 pounds lighter. Well - whatever.
Yes, I'm playing. Don't ask me why. In a fit of madness one day I emailed Ellen Wanek and said Ellen, if you come I'll come too and what's more, I'll stay for all 4 games. That means they'll have to carry me out on a stretcher, as I'll be practically dead from sheer exhaustion. Ambulance drivers, my address will be pinned to my jacket -- please roll me on to my lawn if you don't feel like carrying me to to the front door. Someone, please remember to shove a blood pressure down my throat at 8 p.m. It's the bottle with the blue capsules...
Thus far, there are 75 pre-registered player, including Olympic Youth Chess Championship Gold Medal Winner in his age group Awonder Liang! Not too often one gets to rub shoulders, so to speak, with an Olympic gold medal winner. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
My adopted chess club is hoping for a great turnout of 150 players this tournament!!!! Can we do it?
I'm not very good at picking out some of the chess femmes' names. You would think I would know the names of every single female player in Wisconsin (and Illinois, too), but I don't! I'll give it a go from the pre-registered list thus far:
Open:
26 Ulrich, Rachel J WI 1763
36 Karimikonda, Teja WI 1439
38 Pahl, Sandra R WI 1373
Reserve:
18 Ulrich, Susanna WI 1161
24 Vootkur, Manisha WI 856
25 Wanek, Ellen WI 852
29 Newton, Jan L WI 575 (LOL!)
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| Shira Evans and I (I'm the short, gorgeous one on the left) survived Hales Corners Chess Challenge - what the heck was it - X? It was October 17, 2010, LOL! And it was my first - my very first ever - chess tournament. I didn't even know how to write down the moves or use the clock. Still don't, come to think of it... |
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| Ahhh! October, 2011 Hales Corners Chess Challenge. BobbseyTwins Ellen Wanek (the blonde) and I (the brunette) poking fun at each other (literally!), while the always calm with onlookers, the sedate Pat Foat (in light hoodie -- she had a son also playing) and the even calmer and more sedate (sedater?) can't recall her name -- shame on me! She whomped me pretty good. I blacked out the ugly memory... |
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