Happy 4th of July

This is starting to turn into a tradition, my Dad and I drove out to Sacramento for their annual 4th of July Sacramento Chess Championship.  The tournament is hosted by the Sacramento Chess Club and run by TD John McCumiskey.  John can be seen here, sporting this patriotic shirt that only gets brought out for special occasions.  In my last 3 tournaments I have been "on fire"; winning a national championship and picking up nearly 90 rating points.  I was hoping for some "hot chess" this weekend, but my hopes were dashed in round 1 with a loss to a lower rated opponent.  I tried to play a new opening from white, and got a variation that I was unfamiliar with.  My opponent simply outplayed me after the opening and I never could recover.

While my chess wasn't too hot, the weather sure was.  On Saturday, my Dad's car said it was 109 degrees Fahrenheit.  I burned my hand just putting on the seat belt.  I decided I needed to change my fortunes, so on Sunday I sported a new hairdo and my bright orange Lincecum jersey. Apparently, this was just the trick as I beat an expert and drew against a strong master.

On Monday, I faced my future Kennedy teammate, Neel Apte.  Neel built up a strong attack and under pressure from his attack and the clock, I blundered badly and missed a mate-in-two.  Losing this game definitely took some wind out of my sails and I was contemplating withdrawing from the tournament (for the first time ever).  My Mom and Dad say, "Wheeler's aren't quitters".  After a nice meal and getting to watch both the Giants and the A's play, I felt like I had a little more energy.  I went back to the tournament hall hoping for a good pairing, and that is exactly what I got.  I was to play black against Philip Seitzer.  Philip crushed me at this very tournament last year playing the white side of the Chatard-Alekhine gambit against my French Defense.  I was prepared for a repeat of that game (I had learned a thing or two about the opening in the past year), but to my surprise, he played a different line.  I handled the opening well, and applied a lot of pressure in the middlegame.  Eventually I sac'd a pawn to rip open the protection in front of his King.  Despite being a pawn down, I had way too many threats for Philip to handle and I was able to recover material and head into a completely winning endgame.  Despite repeated draw offers, which were tempting because I had to catch my flight to go to the US Chess School in North Carolina, I pressed on and eventually ground out the win.  This was a very satisfying victory because I proved to myself that I can bounce back, even after some bad results and still play a nice game.