Jack wins game 5

Maybe it was my pre game motivational speech, or maybe it was my rally cap, or maybe it was when Jack forked his queen! Either way the comeback has begun. After a series of 3 to 4 hour games Jack blitzed thru game 5 in a little over an hour like it was the old days at an Orrington Chess Club rout. A win tomorrow (or 2?) and we come home at least .500, against the toughest competition Jack has ever seen. And with the quick game we've got more time to shop for a souvenir for Betsy , go to the big bash at the nurse's convention get some rest for tomorrow's games.


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Location:Briley Pkwy,Nashville,United States

Game four = draw

Jack's dad with the update, jack is pretty drained, four long, close, demanding games. He'll get to a recap after he gets something to eat but he gave me the quick rundown - his opponent was white and played such a super safe opening that it almost always results in a draw. C'mon Jing Dai, this isn't even a money tournament, why come all the way to Nashville and play for a draw?!? Next game coming up after dinner, then two more tomorrow.


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Location:Briley Pkwy,Nashville,United States

UGH! we're 1-2

Well I never especially cared for New York before this tournament. And now I can't stand the place. Jack dropped his second game in a row to a NY whiz kid, don't those kids do anything but study chess?
A long and exhausting match, jack went off to analyze the game with some experts he knows, I'm sure he'll recap later. For now, let's cheer him up with a pic of my new best friend!



Say hi to a big goofy dumb looking stuffed something yeah! Me and Goofus are gonna go play! Next game at two.

Location:Briley Pkwy,Nashville,United States

Good morning

Jack's dad here, ready for round three and I gotta say the chess gods are not being very nice to our man Jack - for game three he drew yet another highly ranked NY kid. Not as strong as James last night (2200) but close, this mornings match is rated 2075 (vs Jack's 1744). I told him last night "I should have raised you in NY!", those kids are all so good. Anyway, jack's in good spirits, game time in about ten minutes, GO JACK!


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Location:Opryland Dr,Nashville,United States

Round 2 Results

Hello everybody it's Jack again. As I predicted earlier today I got paired against a top seed. I was the black pieces against James A Black Jr., the 7th grade chess prodigy straight out of New York, the chess machine. James is a 2196 rated player, fresh off his middle school championship. The only reason I know who he is is because he is all over the chess world. James is about to break all kinds of records and is the future of American chess. So going into this game I was a little bit intimidated, but of course I tried to crush him like anyone else. Well he opened with 1.d4, and we went into kings Indian. He played Rc1on move 8 which I had never seen or studied before which confused me enough to go down a pawn. Unfortunately my game wasn't the only thing I could focus on. Behind me a player unfortunately had a seizure. Yeah I know pretty crazy...but I wish the bet of luck to him. So anyways, I ended up creating counter play and made the game interesting, but James was able to calmly defend my threats because of his extra pawn. So in the end I lost, but I can't be that upset I mean he is probably going to be a future U.S. Champion. And for all my chess players, I will be doing videos reviewing my games when I get back so that we can all learn from them. Well I'm back to studying for round 3 at 9am tomorrow, but thanks for the support again and talk to you tomorrow.

Location:Opryland Dr,Nashville,United States

jamesblack

Still learning this app, hit the above link for article about jack's opponent

(sorry about the last link, it was 2 years old)

Next opponent

Jacks next opponent is one of the top kids in the tournament, and check this out - he's kind of famous. Here's a link to a recent article about him, in case the link doesn't come thru I'll tell you why he is so noteworthy, he's a seventh grader! One of the top high school players in the country and he's Cian's age, he's a 12 year old black kid from NY, jack knows all about him, I guess he's been a prodigy for awhile, jack says he's a cool kid, wears Jordans, plays hoops, jack wants to beat him now so he can tell the story when the kid becomes world famous
http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2011/03/04/black-ascends-toward-masterdom/


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Game 1 notation

Jack is playing white









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Round 1 Results

Hey everybody it's Jack Mallers. In round 1 I faced a 1500 from New York named Leutrim Rexjah. I was white and after my always first move 1.e4 Leutrim played the najdorf variation of the sicilian. This tournament I was preparing a new variation against the najdorf with my coach, and it worked out very well. I gained many tempos after his mistake of playing Qa5, which eventually turned into me up a pawn and about to win a piece, when he resigned. So I am 1-0 for now, but expect a top seed opponent next round at 7 because of how they are pairing the players. Well I'm going to my computer to study for round 2, but I will update my blog after the round. Thanks for all your support, talk to you soon.

Hotel atrium

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Location:Briley Pkwy,Nashville,United States

Ready to start

Tournament ready to start -
2 hours on each players clock, so games may last up to 4 hours
All grades combined. Jack thinks this is bad news because there are some very strong seniors here
Jack is starting on board 85
Tournament seems to be very well attended, higher quality than the last high school nationals in Orlando
(I just saw a 7 year old that is rated 2,000!?)

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Testing photos

Testing photos
Yes! I figured out how to post photos, as you can see I successfully posted this pic of a deranged homeless crack addict my beautiful stepdaughter Betsy


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Location:Briley Pkwy,Nashville,United States

We're here

A few travel headaches but we're here. And we're not leaving
Hotel is excellent, weather is gorgeous, I'll send photos as soon as I get out of the hot tub figure out how to do that from my ipad

Traveling sucks

Well maybe we should have taken the car instead. Flight delayed, the delays are only 10 minutes, but there's been 6 of them!!

Puzzle of the Day (4/27/11)

Hello everybody. Here is my first instructional video. This is a beginners puzzle, involving tempo and knight forks. I am open to all suggestion for videos. Beginner-advanced videos or opening study or me playing blitz or game review, I'm open to anything, just let me know. Thanks.