What a difference a day makes

When we were preparing for this trip in early October, I asked my dad what the weather would be like.  He said it would be a lot like home, but perhaps a bit cooler and wetter.  Well, it has been sunny and hot each day since we arrived.  That all changed last night when a giant storm passed through.  The wind was howling all night, and there was lots of thunder and lightning.  When we awoke in the morning, we found that the power had gone out and the road and soccer field were flooded.  I guess soccer is ruled out for the day...

We couldn't go to the field for exercise, so my Dad took me on a walk to the beach instead.  All kinds of debris had washed ashore.  The beach was littered with branches, bottles, and other junk, including this giant circular hay bale.  I wonder where it came from.

The rain had stopped, but it was still quite cool and windy so we didn't stay out for long.  The power didn't get restored until about 3pm, so we mostly just hung out in the room, reviewing my lines and doing homework.

My 9th round opponent was Jingyao Tin from Singapore.  He earned the FM title as the ASEAN Under-10 champion.  ASEAN means the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and includes the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philipines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.  With the power and Internet gone, it was difficult to prepare, but, fortunately, my Dad hasn't been able to sleep here and he got some games off the Internet before the power died.
  I was pretty excited about this round because it would be my first opportunity to play the black pieces against 1. d4.  Steven and I spent a significant amount of time reviewing these lines at his mother's house back in Los Gatos in the weeks preceding the tournament, and this was my chance to show what I had learned.  I got a decent position out of the opening, and the game was tough, but I finished with a nice endgame.  Coach Sam wants the game to be published on the USCF website because he liked the way I ended the game.  I now have 7 points from 9 rounds and sit in 4th place, just a half-point behind the leaders.  The last two rounds will determine who gets the medals.  Not surprisingly, my 10th round opponent is also an FM.  Out of six FMs in the section, I will have faced 5 of them.  Sometimes life just isn't fair :)

Side bet side-note:
Prior to the tournament, my coach, Steven, and I made a side bet: whoever scores more points at the World Youth gets $10 from the other player.  When we got to Greece, we decided to up the bet to 10 euros. With 5 Grand Masters (GM), 12 International Masters (IM), 21 FIDE Masters (FM) in Steven's section, I thought this bet would be easy money.  Boy was I mistaken.  Despite my strong performance, Steven is having an amazing tournament, and I'm one half-point behind with two rounds to go.  I'll keep you posted on who wins the cash...