Life here in Greece is finally starting to fit a bit of a schedule:
- Because of the time difference, I'm still going to bed late and sleeping in as late as I can. When I wake up in the morning, my Dad has usually looked up my day's opponent and his games. I will make a quick study of the games to see how he plays, we'll discuss some plans and go grab some breakfast.
- After breakfast, I will usually try to get some of my independent study done for school, while my Dad does his work.
- At 11:00am, we meet with Coach Sam to do preparation for the match. Sam usually gives me some puzzles, tells me to walk on the beach and eat ice cream. These things are important for strong play :)
- After my session with Sam, we will usually do some sort of physical activity; sometimes we go for a walk, play catch with our baseball gloves we brought, or play soccer with my friends from Team USA.
- Next it is time for a quick lunch. The food here is much better than my Dad expected. Some people are growing a little tired of the "sameness", but I can eat pasta everyday, so I'm happy.
- After lunch it is time for some serious preparation. I usually go through my opponent's games again, to see what type of style he plays. Next, I review my lines and try to predict how he will play. Usually Steven will come by if he has finished his preparation and make sure that I have a good plan. It really helps to have your coach at the tournament.
- Once the preparations are complete, it is game time. Most of my games have been taking 3.5-4.5 hours. There are many strong players here and there are no "easy" games.
- After the game, we go downstairs to review our game (win or lose) with one of the Team USA coaches. Analyzing your games with a strong player or coach is one of the best ways to improve your chess.
- Finally it is time to eat dinner. All of our meals are taken much later than I'm used to back home, but my body clock is all messed up from jetlag so I don't really know what time it is. All I know is that when we eat at 9pm after a long day of study, preparation, game and analysis, I'M STARVING! Plus, if we win our games we get cake :)
- Time for bed and we do it again tomorrow
My independent study requires me to do some PE each day. It is also good for my chess to get some fresh air and exercise. Here, Team USA is having some fun together on a nearby soccer field. We even had a friendly match with Team Holland. As other players from different countries would arrive, they'd join sides. Even though we couldn't all speak the same spoken languages, we all shared the languages of soccer and chess.
Another requirement of my independent study is to complete a reading log. I like to read and it eases my mind. My Dad likes it because I'm quiet and he can do his work.
My opponent in round 3 was Hungarian Attila Czupor. We had a collection of his games and they were all 1.e4 e5 or 1.e4 c5, so I thought I'd give him a tasty serving of my French (fries) Defense. As predicted, he didn't have a lot of experience with the French and I was able to get a comfortable position and win the game to stay perfect on 3.0/3.0
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