Results after day 1 (of 3) at the 2004 Colorado Open

Day 1 is in the books.

Vibi and I met at the Starbucks by the playng site @ 8 AM. I ordered a lemonade and it cost me $3. $3??? Frickin' Starbucks. :-) Only NY Deli lemonade for me from now on!

We went over some openings for about 30 minutes. I reviewed some of my White repetoire and then I explained the French Tarrasch system which Vibi really liked. It's a good forshadow....

We strolled on over to the Glendale Community Center, nearly getting lost, and got registered. We met up with Mark Jimenez who is playing in the Open section. Tom didn't show up until during game #1 because he's doing the "Membership Open", a 3-round G/50 tourney which actually finished up before our round 2 started.

Round 1 matchups had me as white vs. Robert Herbst (Richard Herbst's little brother), Vibi as black against some dude with a flame-shirt on (rated about 1500), and Mark against a bald guy. :) Oh, by the way, I'm playing in the under-1400 section, Vibi is in the under-1800 section.

Robert played really tough, giving me a Siclian. The game lasted about 35-40 minutes and I won on a most sexy mate. :-D Here's the game:


Blanco,John - Herbst,Robert

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 g6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nde2 Nf6 10.0-0 Qe6 11.Nd5 Rc8 12.f3 Ne5 13.Qa4+ Nfd7? 14.Nd4 Rxc4 15.Nxe6!! Rxa4 16.Ndc7#


I hope it gets published, a two-knight mate is right sexy. ;)

OK, so I had only 41 hours in between rounds it seemed. Vibi's game was a doozy. He had to play against a d4/Nc3 opening, so it was all analysis from the get-go. He eventually had to resign down 4 pawns and about 4 hours into the game...a smart move to try to conserve some energy for round 2. Mark took a loss as well in the very competitive Open section.

After some Wild Oats for lunch and game analyses back at my cubicle where I work, we came out for round #2. Actually, the CSCA meeting was going on, so we got to vote on some officers. Nothing too exciting except that the 2006 National Scholastic Chess Tournament will be in Denver!

Round #2 pitted me as black against Louis Berman, an older gentleman. Vibi had to face some young guy, and I'm not sure who Mark played. The Berman game was brutal, 3 and a half hours and I went from a slight lead to a more-than-slight losing position and back to a lead, then an unexpected pin, but then I came back and won a pawn. :-) It was a great marathon of a game. In the end, Louis had a few minutes left on his clock and I forced a queening of my extra pawn and he resigned. I don't have time to post this game, but I will tonight.

But, I am *wiped* out this morning.

So, hopefully I can get a shorter game this morning. This whole tournament has been tough for everyone. As always, the competition is amazing and it's really saying something for Colorado chess.

I'll report on day 2, and post my second round game with Louid Berman, tonight!!!!!!