2017 Twin Ports Open - Anchors Aweigh

  After a reasonable night’s sleep I once again woke up in Superior, Wisconsin at 4am for the second and last day of the 2017 Twin Ports Open chess tournament. I woke up at 4am even though I was in a hotel room with my Troy (my roommate for the weekend) instead of at home with two beagles whose 6+ years of training made them insistent on eating and walking by 5am. Troy was still sleeping while I washed and spent a couple of hours doing some work on my side job of monitoring and maintaining the software I wrote for my previous job that interfaces with a government entity.

  Once I was done working I took a nap and reflected on my Saturday of chess. Even though I wasn’t seeing a lot at the chessboard I was still sitting at 2.5 points which was only a half point behind the three leaders: Brent Gudowski (who beat me in last year’s tournament), Alex Braun (who I drew in last year’s tournament), and my roommate Troy who was still fast asleep. The pairings posted the night before had me with the white pieces against Troy this morning. I could probably have asked not to be paired against my traveling companion but since I hadn’t known Troy 48 hours before I didn’t think it was a big deal. A bigger deal was that Troy was playing well above his provisional rating. I was sitting at the next table when Troy just destroyed my friend Destiny Jorenby in round 2 and talented youngster Uri Moon-Rosha in round 3 the day before.

Troy Curfman

  Before I could really focus on my morning game I had one task to attend to. Since it was Sunday I had 100 or so pet pictures to post onto Facebook like I have been for the past 6+ years. Normally this takes just a few minutes but the Barkers Island complimentary wireless internet had troubles posting to Facebook all weekend. I was only able to post the pictures five at a time using the very basic Facebook picture uploader so a task that should have only have taken a few minutes took over a half hour. Luckily the wireless internet was flawless in allowing me to log into my work computers which would have been more of a concern than an inconvenience in the realm of first-world problems.

  I figured I would just play the same way against Troy that I had been playing in the tournament which was to attempt to be aggressive and hopefully not make any mistakes of commission which I had avoided on Saturday although there were plenty of sins of omission in my first three games. I knew he would play the Benoni defense since he and Tim had been talking about it on the drive up before they had an idea we would be playing. I’ve never had good luck against the Benoni but as Troy and I sat down to play I reminded myself to try to play aggressively and be on the lookout to break open the center with e5.

pgn4web chessboards courtesy of pgn4web.casaschi.net

  A pretty gross loss and a well-deserved one. I once again left an hour on my clock and made most of my moves within a minute. By comparison Troy spent 30 minutes on the key moves Rac8 and Qa5. I was thoroughly outplayed and kind of annoyed that I didn’t put up a better effort. Most lower rated players that beat me in long games end up having much higher ratings than me after a couple of years so I’ll be keeping an eye on Troy’s progress as he balances his chess with his studies at Drake University.

York Marlowe

  Tim, Ty, Troy, and I had a breakfast\lunch at the hotel’s salad bar which also had a separate breakfast bar for Sunday brunch. My tournament was over as far as winning a cash prize was concerned and as it turned out I was the first of our foursome to lose a game. I took a quick rest after lunch and at 3pm it was time for the final round. There was no pressure and no hurry to finish because we were staying over Sunday night and driving home Monday morning. My opponent was York Marlowe, a late 20’s – early 30's EMS worker who was playing in his first tournament in a couple of years. I saw York play Destiny in the first round and he seemed to be a careful player. I had nothing to lose in this game and decided I was going to go all out for an attack.

  What a shame. If I had finished this game off the way I started it I could have had a Mt. Rushmore (top four) game. I took no more than two minutes on any of my moves. I had over an hour to find what York was trying to do but used none of it and allowed a draw. I had the same result in the 2017 Twin Ports Open and last year – 2 wins, 1 loss, and 2 draws but my play was so much worse this year. I missed chances all over the place and had no self-discipline to take my time even though I reminded myself before every game. It was a great tournament and I had every chance to get a better result than last year which was undone by my lack of training, practice, and patience.

  When I signed up for the tournament, organizer Dane Mattson promised me an anchor burger. I had never had an anchor burger and was looking forward to it. The Anchor Bar and Grill was featured on a food show called ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives’. Slowly my traveling companions finished their games but as I know all too well the tournament organizer has to stick around until the last game is over and there were still a few games left. Tim, Troy, and Ty were getting pretty hungry and I was too so we decided to head on over to the Anchor Bar and Grill and let Dane and the crowd catch up with us.

The Anchor Bar and Grill menu along with the famous $6.25 Anchor burger. After a photo of the Anchor Bar's Anchor with tournament organizer Dane Mattson, tournament winner Bryan Smith, and my last round opponent York Marlowe we headed to the VIP Pizzeria to close the place down...

  With the help of Google Maps we made it to the Anchor Bar and Grill which is located in what looked to be a pretty seedy looking section of Superior that was covered in seedy looking bars and the Anchor Bar and Grill fit in perfectly. There was a big bar full of memorabilia and a patio which smelled like stale beer with dozens of used food trays hanging out over the garbage cans. There was a classic 1942 video game in the bar so I played that for about 10 minutes, The rest of the group were figuring out what to order so it was OK if I spent some time at the video game because I knew what I wanted – an anchor burger. The anchor burger was just what I expected – a huge pile of meat and cheese on a bun. It was a great burger with lots of lettuce and onions and juicy but not greasy but at the risk of disappointing my friends from the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior it is not close to being the best burger I’ve ever had. That distinction belongs to the White Rose of Roselle, New Jersey (which is still in business) whose meat is as good as the anchor burger and overtakes it with their amazing Kaiser rolls! What the Anchor Burger has going for it is a low, low price of $6.25 which a super low price for 2/3 of a pound of meat and if you were really hungry there is the Galleybuster with a pound of meat for only a dollar more. With dozens of beers on tap I can see why the Anchor Bar and Grill is legendary.

  After we had all eaten (and eating a two thirds of a pound anchor burger is no small task) Dane arrived to tell us that there was a group of players meeting at a local pizza place called VIP Pizza (VIP standing for Vintage Italian Pizza). We left before Dane was able to tell us so he made a special trip to let us know and even paid for my anchor burger besides! We headed over to the VIP Pizzeria and the chess players were in a huge room in the back playing chess, telling stories, and mostly getting very much lubricated on the giant glasses of beer from the large selection of beer on tap that every place in Superior, Wisconsin seems to have. I’ll keep the details private since I believe that what goes on in Superior, Wisconsin should stay in Superior, Wisconsin but I will say it was the best chess after-party I’ve ever been to.

  It didn’t matter how late or early I got to bed. I was still up by 5am on Monday and worked for an hour or so monitoring my program. We left at 8am, were back in Marshalltown, Iowa by 4pm, had the rental car returned by 5pm, and was walking a pair of enthusiastic beagles by 6pm. It was a great mini-vacation even though I worked more than I wanted to and played chess less well than I wanted. After reading my 'Superior' posts and comparing it with my Duluth posts from last year's tournament it is obvious that one contributing factor to my subpar play was that I worked every single morning whether I was playing or traveling whereas last year I still got up early but napped the mornings of the tournament. The second job is great for 'making hay while the sun shines' since it is a temporary situation until the companies I work for find a more permanent solution but it was a mistake to think I would be as sharp as normal at the chessboard. Maybe I could get away with this burning the candle at both ends half a lifetime ago but it is clear that as I hurtle towards 57 years of age I need to make sure my responsibilities are at a minimum when I try to play in a long tournament.