The weekend of July 30 to August 1 I played in the 18th Annual Southern Open in Orlando, Florida. In Round 1 I lost to a 17 year old girl from Holland. I'll write more about her later.
In Round 2 I took a half-point bye and then withdrew from the tournament prior to the start of Round 3 because of insomnia. I can't play decent chess on only 4 hours of sleep.
I played in the Under 1700 Section along with Mike Hoffer, Robert Clark, Nathalie van der Lende, and Christine Fuller. Mike Hoffer won 4 out of 5 games, Robert got 3 points defeating Nathalie, and Nathalie and Christina each got 2 points. Christine told me that she is going to college in Maryland and only vacations in Florida now. Nathalie is from holland and has done well in tournaments there. Her family has a vacaton home in the Orlando area. Mike Mason got 3 points in the Under 2100 Section.
What I learned from this experiance is that if I can't afford to stay in the hotel room by myself for the length of an out of town tournament then I should just skip it. I also need to get my sleep cycle straightened out and get back on a day schedule so that the byes are not necessary.
The kids that are under 21 have an advantage over some guys my age in that they have much more endurance than I have and don't tire as easily as I do. It sucks to spend over 3 hours playing a game only to lose it!
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