I decided to soldier on with the hastings 1895 coverage as you are well aware, rather than post the rest of my games from teh WO. I may at some point, especially if the fan base persists.

 

Nice games, again, it was also nice to see you in person. I totally agree about the OTB experience being a different beast. I prefer it over internet.

mathijs, interesting idea. There's a way out of the double-attack... after 16...Qe4 there's 17.f3! and now 17...Qxf3 18.Qxe5+. But afterwards Black's position is still good so yes that would've been a better try for my opponent.

matzleeach, heh, Phase V! :)

In your game from the seventh round, isn't 16...Qe4,  threatening the rook and

Bb4, even stronger?

Don't foget about Phase V: GRAB YOUR TORPHY!

Great games

Dozy, lol. 

damourax, the beginning didn't go well for him, but he had an incredible finish and gained 40 rating points. Quite good considering how underrated his field was.

Pittacus, GreenLaser, thanks!

littleman> But all in all if u have the money and the time to enter its truly exciting and worth the effort to do....

Absolutely! When you're in a close battle with only seconds left on the clock against a Russian who flew in to beat you... when the game means something to the both of you... it's a real rush. I was often oblivious to the people gathered around my board as long as they remained silent.

Besides the games you have greats there like Ehlvest, Moiseenko, and Shabalov. And famous people like Dan Heisman and Elizabeth Vicary. And familiar faces like chessloser, blunderprone, ivan, and superknight42. And a thousand other chess enthusiasts in a place like Philly on the 4th of July. :)

Top five?  Way to go, forests!

Nice games!
It's pretty cool to see you doing this well! =]

I'll take a look at blunderprone's blog to find out if he did this well!

o/

 Your games are interesting mate. I played alot of OTB tournaments for about 5yrs and your right alot different then online or even against your pc at home. People can be rude and noisy and u get crowds of people when a good game is on because its interesting, plus u have to keep score/write the annotations down if it is G60+ sorts of games. And sometimes people dont show up the next day if its a 2 day or more and they had a bad first day. But all in all if u have the money and the time to enter its truly exciting and worth the effort to do....

thanks lf, i enjoyed the games.  and you're right ... it's a whole lot different to playing on the net.

and annoying habits?  one entrant in an oz tournament in january had the chess equivalent of the sharapova shriek ... she snorted and blew every time her opponent made a move she didn't like.  charming lady!

For folks who have maybe only played online or chess.com, ICC, coffee houses, or clubs... tournaments are a whole different ballgame. For example, on Saturday I began playing at 10:30am, but round 7 wasn't until 6:00pm. And the games don't wait for you to be rested, fed, sharp, in the mood, etc.

And for people who never play over the board, there are psychological elements at work, too. A crowd gathers around your board when it's close and time is short. An opponent decides not to play by the rules--perhaps you get upset, and forget to press the clock before calling over the TD for help.

In the round 7 game, 40.Kb1 does not need an exclamation point. Either 40.Kc3 or 40.e5 also win.

I sure was. Although he still had drawing chances, and if he hadn't given me a win that way, there were still minor pieces on-board to try other things.

That was lucky in your round 9 game that your opponent touched his king.