MAXIMUM EFFORT!

Today was the final day of the 23rd Space Coast Open. I'll link to the full results when they become available, but I wanted to report that we had a pretty good turnout from club members. Club regulars included Garry Day (B), Todd Durham (B), Paul Leggett (A), Theo Slade (Open), and John Wolfe (D). (Letters after names denote the player's tournament section.) And Fernando Salvador (U1200), who has also started attending again, also played. Not bad!

I'll let the interested reader either look up the results for the others themselves, or better yet ask them when you see them at the club.

As for me... I've been working on my mental and physical approach to playing the game since the USATS in February. More on particulars later, after I have results and analysis from the tournament  written up, per Dvoretsky. My preparations proved completely successful through the first four rounds, and going into the final round I was on 3.5/4.0 points, a half-point behind the two leaders. As they were playing each other I could not win the tournament outright, but anything from a tie for first to a massive tie for third & fourth place were doable, as was the possibility of winning nothing. Unfortunately the game my opponent and I played was a total slop-fest. Fortunately, I managed to win it anyway, after 78 grueling moves. I wouldn't have been happy about losing, but I wouldn't have been upset either, as I simply ran out of mental energy in the fifth round.Physical training is something to add to future preparations!

But the final round win gave me clear second place, a nice check, and the satisfaction of having given maximum effort.

I've also got three or even four games of interest (I submitted one of them for the brilliancy prizes - because you can't win if you don't play), and one howler of a slop-fest guaranteed to make one scoff, if not laugh out loud, at the foibles of others.

Signing off.