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Category: Tournaments

Watching a Major Chess Tournament, Live

Watching a Major Chess Tournament, Live

Published by Dawn on January 24, 2025

I splurged on a spectator ticket for the World Rapid and Blitz Tournament in New York!

I chose to attend on the last day, December 31, thinking that the final games would be the most exciting. But as you have probably heard, Magnus Carlsen did away with the excitement factor when it suited him, deciding–after three draws in overtime–that a “co-championship” with his opponent, Ian Nepomniachtchi, was the way to go. My ticket entitled me to attend the closing ceremony, but I skipped it: having watched five hours of exciting chess that was suddenly truncated for no immediately apparent reason, I was in no mood to celebrate the co-champions in the Open section. As for the Women’s section, I wouldn’t have minded seeing Ju Wenjun feted for a well-played match that went to its natural conclusion. She and her opponent in the final, Lei Tingjie, played to five straight draws, until Ju Wenjun finally won the second overtime game. 

Despite the unsatisfactory conclusion to the Open section, I enjoyed the day overall, although the spectator experience was unlike what I had seen in videos of some other tournaments (think the Speed Chess Championship in Paris, for example), in which the audience sits in a plush-looking auditorium with the players on a stage in a soundproofed area.

I said above that I had splurged, but my “hospitality” ticket was in the next category down from VIP. I spent most of my time on the second floor, one level above the action. I had discovered that when I was on the playing level, behind the velvet rope, it was exciting, but I couldn’t quite make out what was happening on the chessboards. The second floor had a balcony that overlooked the play. I watched the first games from there, and words cannot convey how exciting it was to see nearly all of today’s super grandmasters and other top players in one place. The last day was a good choice in that the women had played in a building across the street until then, but for the finals they were playing alongside the men, with the boards set up alternating by gender. I still couldn’t see what was happening on the boards from the balcony, though, so I went in search of an alternative. 

Earlier I had noticed a space labeled Commentary Room. The door was ajar, and the security person guarding it said I could go in. There were GM Maurice Ashley and GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko commentating! I sat in the front row of chairs for almost five hours, with a perfect sight line to the computer screen that was showing the action. At no time were there more than five other spectators in the room. My seat was directly across from GM Ashley, sitting only about six feet away, and our eyes met more than once. I was planning what I would say to him and how I would ask for his autograph during a break, but they never took one. For the most part, there wasn’t enough time for the commentators to do so between games, but even when there was a decent interval, they stayed put and continued to talk. They even interviewed a special guest during one of the breaks, Neil deGrasse Tyson, which was an utterly unanticipated thrill, especially from my front-row seat. GM Vishy Anand was sitting several rows behind me for part of the time, and on my way out for a break our eyes met as well. Were people wondering who this grey-haired woman was and what she was doing there?

GM Ashley did most of the commentating, and although I had already become a great admirer of his when I saw how he handled the task of emceeing the World Chess Championship, I have even more respect and appreciation for his work after my afternoon of intense exposure to it. In particular, he always chose to focus on the most interesting games, regardless of who was playing, rather than just default to the marquee matchups. Also, I loved his reaction to Magnus’ decision not to finish the tournament. We all saw Magnus start talking to Nepo after their third draw in overtime. The first assumption was that they were discussing the game, but then that didn’t seem to be the case. Everyone was puzzled, and then GM Ashley said that he would contact someone on the playing floor to find out what the story was. After he had listened intently on his earbud for a time, his normally impassive face clouded over, and then he relayed the news of the co-championship to us, his expression morphing into that of someone who had just eaten a lemon. That is the moment of the event that has stayed with me the most. 

[An Older Woman’s Chess Journey  is a proud affiliate of ChessGoals–if you use the link here to purchase from them and enter “dawn” as the coupon code, you will receive 30% off their courses, and I will receive a commission. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn’t cost you any extra, and I only recommend products and services I trust.]

My Second OTB Tournament

My Second OTB Tournament

Published by Dawn on November 13, 2024

In early November, I went to an ALTO (At Least Twenty-One) tournament at the Charlotte Chess Center! The experience lived up to the positive things I had heard about the event (The tournament winner, Nate Solon, has a great post about it.) It was wonderful to be in a silent room in which more than one hundred adults were concentrating over chess boards that had been set up for them in advance, with the clocks all programmed as well. All three of my opponents (I took two byes) were lovely people who were willing to discuss the game afterward. I lost all three, alas. I had really hoped that I would win just one game: the friend with whom I traveled did, and it was his first tournament. Still, I feel I handled the inevitably difficult emotions well and stayed focused on the positives. 

Until the Saturday night social hour. An experience I had there was much more trying than losing all my games. A participant approached me, shook my hand vigorously, and while laughing thanked me for having the lowest rating of all of the participants, so that he didn’t have to be in that position. 

Chess improvers: Be kind to one another. Because, as they say, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. We all navigate the adult-chess-improver world trying or pretending not to care about our ratings, which we are able to do to a lesser or greater extent depending on our psychological makeup and what is going on in our lives. But making fun of someone you don’t even know with a lower rating than you is not ok. Those of us who weren’t born in a barn know this, but my experience shows that it needs to be said. Now I feel even more self-conscious about my rating, which was 101 going into the tournament (my online ratings indicate that this number should be higher). It’s hard not to feel that I have to win a game at the next one. I’m also worried because I’m having trouble letting go of this jaw-dropping incident, and I know that that just hurts me, not the perpetrator. I’m going to try to make writing about it here the last time I talk about it or think about it.

Chess improvers: Be kind to one another. Because, as they say, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. As it happened, I was widowed about ten days before the tournament. It was not a sudden passing, and I decided to make the long-planned trip to Charlotte with a supportive friend, hoping that it would provide some diversion from my intense sadness. As it did, for the most part. Chess is so absorbing that, even while anticipating the loss of my husband, I had hoped that it would eventually be a safe harbor amid the tumultuous waves of grief. I even joked that when I remarried, it would be to chess. At this early stage I can say that sometimes it has been that safe harbor, but my emotions have been interfering with my play and study (with everything, actually) more than I would like. I’m persisting, though, because I know that this rewarding pastime and its largely supportive community will help see me through. 

An Older Woman’s Chess Journey  is a proud affiliate of ChessGoals–if you use the link here to purchase from them and enter “dawn” as the coupon code, you will receive 30% off their courses, and I will receive a commission. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn’t cost you any extra, and I only recommend products and services I trust.

 

Three Losses, Many Wins

Three Losses, Many Wins

Published by Dawn on July 24, 2024

I’m no Tarot expert, but I do pull a card every morning, and I enjoy reading about its meaning and what it might signify about the day ahead. On the first day of my first over-the-board chess tournament, I drew The Fool, which immediately brought a smile to my face. “You’ve got that right. What am I even doing here, where I will probably be at or near the bottom of the lowest-rated section? I hate all those people who encouraged me to do this!” 

As the graphic shows, The Fool card depicts an utterly carefree young man eagerly setting off on a journey, not noticing that he is about to walk off a cliff. But the card is not a warning; instead it celebrates opportunities and beginnings, urging you to take a leap of faith, whether you think you’re ready or not.

Ok, universe. Here I come. 

[Scroll down to the end of the post for a link to ChessGoals and a coupon code for 30% off their courses.]

The first game was scheduled for 11 am in a time zone one hour earlier than mine. For this extreme lark, that meant a long wait from my wake-up time. It was agonizing. But not as agonizing as the first 10 minutes of the “game,” before my 12-year-old opponent showed up. He immediately went to the official and asked if he could leave the room to power off an electronic device (required). He did, but as soon as he returned that same device made some noises. I assumed—and, part of me, I admit, hoped—that he would have to forfeit the game. The rules about this appear to be quite strict. But the arbiter told him to take 10 minutes off his time and that it was up to us to watch the clock and enforce it. Really? I doubted that time off the clock would hurt the game of this high-rated kid, who would go on to place 5th in the tournament and win $167.

My hand shook each time I raised it to move a piece and write down my move. Before long I was down a minor piece, then two pawns, and so on. But I did hang in there until the 37th move, when I was checkmated.

But I didn’t feel sad, as I had expected. I had gotten something I had wished for since first seeing The Queen’s Gambit—to sit in a (nearly) silent room filled with people playing this marvelous game and studiously recording their moves and those of their opponent. The room was smaller than I expected—my division had only 30 players. But what a diverse crowd it was! Chinese and Indian children were the most numerous, including one who needed to sit on a thick book to reach the board! There was one other adult woman who was perhaps half my age. I think the number of females of all ages was about 10 percent. There were a couple of adult men, including one who was impeccably dressed, in a suit, tie, and suspenders. He turned out to be a software developer from Madison, Wisconsin, and I was paired with him in the second round.

This was my favorite game of the three I played. I didn’t win—he ultimately got a two-pawn advantage—but for the most part it was a long, competitive game with no distractions, except for the two little girls playing next to us, who had a touch-move dispute involving a king.

My third and final game was against another boy. He was punctual but fiddled with a pen/flashlight for the entire time. One time he started blinking the light on and off, until I glared at him. The worst was when he dropped it onto the board and it hit the pieces. I looked over at the arbiter, but I was losing at that point and didn’t want it to seem like I was looking for an excuse for my poor performance.

This whole game was a blunderfest by both sides. I captured one of his rooks early, which was cheering. Fortunately, he didn’t notice that one of mine was hanging for several moves before I rescued it. In the end I opened the door to victory for him by blundering a knight, which he did notice, and it was downhill from there.

Even though I fully expected to lose all my games due to my low rating, my fear had been that the losses might put me on the verge of tears, or worse. Instead, though, I felt happy and almost giggly. It made me laugh to think how shocked the kids I played must have been to find that their opponent was their grandmother’s age. And I had played in an over-the board tournament for the first time! By the second game I no longer trembled when I moved a piece, and my notation was improving.I also began to feel the love for playing over-the-board that I’ve heard expressed by many but hadn’t experienced myself because I have played hundreds of games online and only a few over the board. 

My other fears—of falling prey to a gambit and losing in fewer than 10 moves, of being the first game in the room to finish, of blundering my queen, of not realizing when I was in check—proved to be unfounded. Plus, I still loved chess and looked forward to analyzing the games and going over them with my coach. I had also had the privilege of being an advocate for the Women in Chess Foundation during the event. I introduced myself and the organization to the tournament personnel and let them know that I was available to any female player who expressed a need for support due to misconduct. Fortunately, no one did.

Regardless of the outcome, I know that my next tournament will be a much better experience, especially without all of the first-time baggage. I can’t wait!

An Older Woman’s Chess Journey  is a proud affiliate of ChessGoals–if you use the link here to purchase from them and enter “dawn” as the coupon code, you will receive 30% off their courses, and I will receive a commission. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn’t cost you any extra, and I only recommend products and services I trust.