Reflections of 2009 World Open

• staying with Norman Rogers and his family;
• meeting GM Vinay Bhat, a very pleasant person;
• playing Darrian Robinson and then having lunch with Darrian and her mother, Cenceria Edwards;
• seeing Kassa Korley compete for an IM norm;
• meeting Kassa’s mother (Kamala Red) who thanked me for coverage of her son;
• meeting Kassa’s grandmother at the computer station and showing her articles about Kassa on The Chess Drum;
• seeing my friend Dr. Okechukwu Iwu do well;
• having lunch with friend Dr. Kimani Stancil;
• meeting Kamanyola Bior of the Sudan who bought two t-shirts and was on 7.5/8 before drawing his last game;
• chatting with Hikaru Nakamura;
• chatting with Sunil Weeramantry and getting him to autograph his book for me;
• chatting briefly with award-winning journalist Macauley Peterson who was playing in the under-2000 section… yes, journalists do play chess(!);
• seeing Orrin Hudson of Besomeone.org telling his story at his booth;
• seeing Emory Tate wearing a Chess Drum t-shirt;
• Oladapo Adu showing me his game against Okechukwu Iwu… exciting(!);
• Meeting the Colas family again… the daughter is a sweetie 🙂
• seeing the Williams sisters in the final again;
• eating at the Raindrop Cafe;
• seeing residential area of Philly;
• Buying Chess Life on CD (1933-1975) and finding a picture of Walter Harris in a 1965 issue;
• playing Edsel Pena (losing) and finding out that he is a professor;
• seeing a blitz session between William Morrison and Farai Mandizha;
• hearing Michael Jackson on the radio;
• seeing Alex Lenderman dance after 3rd GM norm… he’s definitely no Michael Jackson, but I’m glad he’s a GM now;
• chatting with Susan Grumer about the rule changes at the 2008 Olympiad;
• an analysis session with player from Turkmenistan who was surprised I knew where he was from without any forehand knowledge;
• briefly chatting with Emory Tate who told me his father had passed at age 90. He always spoke highly of his father, a successful attorney and the person who taught him chess. This exchange was memorable due to personal conversations we’ve had about our fathers;
• watching Boyd Reed’s professionalism as a tournament director.

worst memories are…

• blowing my first round game after winning a piece. A couple of moves later, I lost my queen and my opponent offered me a draw(!);
• the amount of arguing during gambling sessions in the skittles room… bad vibes! Chess is meant to be enjoyed(!);
• watching a hustler upset Norman Rogers who playing a blitz match with Farai Mandizha;
• seeing a particular player walk away after asking whether sleeping on the streets was safe;
• the baba ghanouj I had at a diner… not good;
• not having a chance to chat with FM Kazim Gulamali ;
• leaving my eyeglasses in a restaurant and having to spend 30 minutes off my clock to get them… I won the game;
• running into road blocks on the way to the venue on July 4th;
• playing poorly in the blitz tournament and missing the action of top players;
• Delta airlines messing up my itinerary causing me to miss the flight out of Philadelphia.