From Cicadas to Storms

The 6th North American Amateur Open came and passed this weekend. With a field of 18 players (4 above 1550 and 14 above 1700) we enjoyed an 'eventful weekend'.  At the end of the day the winners of the prizes were: 1st place - Steven Szpisjak, 2nd place - Thomas Kaczynski, 3rd place - Joseph Zemgulys.

During round 1 of the event (which ended around 11pm) we had to deal with cicada's flying into the chess center when people would step outside for some fresh air. These loud and fast bugs proved as entertaining as the games did. However the entertainment factor quickly faded and I had to chase down the flying distractions. As much as I tried to get them to peacefully leave the way they came in, they refuse to cooperate so I had to do some chessboard baseball. I rolled up a chessboard and batted the cicada across the room (sorry to the portraits of Bobby Fischer that was on the receiving end of bug guts). Soon after that incident the round game to an end.

Round 2 on Saturday morning proved to be more eventful. During my weekly Saturday morning lessons to a dozen local children, a massive storm moved into the area. Mother Nature pounded on us for almost a half hour until she had her way which was to knock out all power. Undeterred though, all players chose to play by the natural light that came through the windows and door. We shuffled around some tables to give maximum exposure to sunlight and off we went. Around an hour into the round, the power came back online. However this incident has given me a new idea for a tournament to hold here - tournament by lantern light! Be on the look out for that!

Round 3 on Saturday evening we lucked out and the power stayed on even though we had some other issues with ComEd and Nicor going on in Skokie. It was an uneventful round but here is the game score from Kaczynski-Szpisjak:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. 0-0 Qc7 9. Bb3 a6 10. f4 Na5 11. Qe2 b5 12. Bf2 Nb3 13. ab b4 14. e5 bc 15. ef cb 16. fg Rg8 17. Ra2 Rg7 18. c4 Bb7 19. g3 Rd8 20. Rb2 Ba8 21. Be3 Qb7 22. Kf2 Bf6 23. Rd2 Qg2+ 24. Ke1 Qe2+ 25. Ke2 Rb8 26. R1-d1 Be7 27. Ra2 Bb7 28. f5 Bc8 29. fe fe 30. Rd3 Kd7 31. Nf3 Ke8 1/2-1/2

Round 4 was yet another uneventful round except for the single unfortunate forfeit that occurred. In the game Zumgulys-Qazi, Skokie chess whiz Rafeh Qazi left his cell phone on audible. He arrived after the round announcements were made which reminds players to turn off their cell phones. Under FIDE rules the game is forfeit if the cell phone goes off. So unfortunately Rafeh lost the game which is a rated forfeit as well.

Here is an interesting game from Round 4:

Phil Shields (1800) - Thomas Kaczynski (1993)

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 d6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. 0-0 Nc6 6. Nc3 e6 7. d3 Ne7 8. f4 0-0 9. g4 f5 10. h3 Rb1 11. Ng3 Nd4 12. Nc-e2 b5 13. c3 Nxe2 14. Qxe2 b4 15. Bd2 Bd7 16. gf ef 17. e5 de 18. fe Bb4 19. c4 Bc6 20. Bg5 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Re8 22. Qe3 Qc7 23. Bf4 Rb6 24. Ra-e1 Re6 25. Rf2 Qb6 26. Qf3 Nc6 27. Qd5 Kh8 28. h4 Nd4 29. h5 Rd8 30. h6 Bf8 31. Bg5 Be7 32. Bxe7 Rxe7 33. Re3 RxQ 34. cxd5 Qb7 0 - 1

Round 5

By the time round 5 rolled around many people were exhausted. Some had taken byes while one quick draw occurred. However seeing a quick draw gave new reason for Steven Szpisjak to continue pushing for the win as that would give him clear first over eventual second place finisher Thomas Kaczynski.

Now we did have three out of town players show up from Florida, Michigan, and Wisconsin. We regularly get players from Michigan and Wisconsin that play but the Florida player was a nice touch. Now of course he's up here visiting family and wanted to find a tournament to play in over the weekend.

Crosstable