May 9, 2008    Rounds 1 and 2 
 

After a very eventful and wet bus ride on Wednesday and Thursday, our team rolled into Pittsburgh at 10:00 Thursday evening. Job one was getting our players to bed and rested for rounds 1 and 2.  
 

Round 1- 
 

In spite of many warnings about the dangers of fast play, 10 of our players were back in the team room within 35 minutes of the start of Round 1, (time per game is 4 hours). Of those 10, eight were losses. This served as an object lesson for the rest of our team.

We finish Round 1 with 11 wins which drives our team score to 4.0, (the maximum), and put us in a tie for first place.

After a sound “talking to” and a great Italian dinner, we prepare for Round 2… 
 

Round 2 – 
 

Great recovery! 14 0f our 0-1 players end the day at 1-1, putting them in great position to make a move on Saturday. Our players settle down and take an average of 1 hour 20 minutes per game. Even our losses were what I call “quality losses” in that they are very instructional. Ida Freeman alumnus Casey Pride spends 2 hours Friday evening going over games with our players, pointing out problems and suggesting alternative moves in certain positions. We end day 1 with 5.5, (out of a possible 8), points. We finish day 1 in 17^th place out of  63 teams. Any forward movement is good on the first day. This is a good position for a team like ours. We have never lead from start to finish at nationals. While the titans begin knocking each other off on Saturday and Sunday, we are poised to make a very quiet move toward the top of the team standings. 
 

Golden Pawn Awards for Friday –  
 

Emily Brock – With a USCF rating of 588, Emily defeats 2 higher rated opponents with ratings of 877 and 821 to finish the day undefeated.  
 

Zach Junker – Plays a 3 hour slug- fest against a player from Arizona in Round 1. Although Zach ends up losing the game, he sets a standard of play for his teammates that rallies the troops. 
 

Tristan Ward - After a disappointing loss in Round 1, Tristan, (rated 415), defeats a 750 player in a long, intricate endgame. 
 

Saturday at nationals is “gut check day”. We have 3 rounds to play at 9:00, 2:00 and 7:00. 
 

Local Sports highlights – As I write, fireworks fill the sky outside our hotel windows in celebration of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference playoffs. 
 

The Pittsburgh Pirates were home tonight. They defeated the Atlanta Braves 3-2.  
 

Click on pictures to email

wishes to our team in Pittsburgh

Abby

Adison

Al

Ashlee

Brandon

Cera

Dakota

Darian

Emily B

Emily G

Emma

Haley

Isabella

Jamil

John

Joseph

Josh H

Joshua Wx

Joshua Ws

Kristian

Landon

Levi

Madison

Seth

Tarez

Taylor

Trevor

Tristan

Tristyn

Zach J

Zach M