Hello all – Mr. Burke here again.
John Michael had a great day today, scoring wins in both of his games. After 4 rounds John Michael has 2.5 points out of 4. Currently he is in 45th place, out of 121 players. For those that are interested, you can follow the standings here: http://chess-results.com/tnr58150.aspx?art=0&lan=1&flag=30.
In Round 3. John Michael had white against Brayan Arley Polanco from Colombia. Brayan had no FIDE rating, but we assumed he was a talented player, as he scored 7.5 points out of 9 at the Pan American Youth Championships in Colombia in July, according to what we were able to research in Chessbase. As we suspected, Brayan played the Sicilian Dragon opening, and John Michael was able to win a pawn early, and then took advantage of a mistake by his opponent to get ahead by a rook. From there, John Michael cruised to an easy victory in a little under two hours. A nice workmanlike victory to start the day. It was good for John Michael to get a quick victory on a day where he had 2 games to play. We had several hours to kick back and relax before his Round 4 game at 5:00 PM.
In Round 4, John Michael had black against Curse Flavio Gonzales from Peru. Curse was rated 1715 FIDE, and had also played in the Pan American Youth Championships in July. We only had about an hour to research this opponent, but it was time well spent. From reviewing his opponent’s games, John Michael saw that he liked to play a lot of wild gambits in the opening, which was extremely valuable information to know. It is such a difference to know well ahead of time who your opponent is – much different than any of the tournaments John Michael has played thus far. True to form, Curse played a new gambit in the opening that John Michael had not faced previously. John Michael was able to dodge all the tricks that Curse was throwing his way, and then took control in the middlegame. John Michael played well and won his game fairly easily in about 3 hours.
Much different scene entering the tournament hall today. Parents were allowed into the hall to seat their children, which made things go much smoother. It appears that the organizers of this event are making favorable adjustments day by day to help things go smoother.
Overall it was a solid day for John Michael. 2 wins in 2 games to get him back in the hunt. Still a long way to go – 5 games left to play, with Monday a rest day and Round 5 starting on Tuesday at 3:00 PM Caldas Novas time. Looking forward to a rest day tomorrow – probably going to sleep in and lounge around the hotel. A trip to town or the water park may be in order. Will be back on Tuesday evening with results from Round 5.
Mr. Burke
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
More Pictures
"Welcome to the World Chess Championship" sign in front of hotel.
Mrs. Burke and John Michael in front of hotel.
Great action shot of John Michael flying out of water slide.
Ping-pong is always a good diversion from chess.
John Michael on the camera - he takes pretty good pictures!
"I am in Brazil and out of school for 2 weeks!"
"I hope the ice cream in Brazil tastes as good as it does in the United States."
The room we are staying in is small, but functional.
One of the many pools at Thermas DiRoma hotel.
Mrs. Burke and John Michael in front of hotel.
Great action shot of John Michael flying out of water slide.
Ping-pong is always a good diversion from chess.
John Michael on the camera - he takes pretty good pictures!
"I am in Brazil and out of school for 2 weeks!"
"I hope the ice cream in Brazil tastes as good as it does in the United States."
The room we are staying in is small, but functional.
One of the many pools at Thermas DiRoma hotel.
Round 2 - The Thrilla in Brazilla
Mr. Burke here again.
All I can say is – wow.
In an epic battle that lasted 99 moves and 5 hours and 30 minutes, John Michael played Albert Lu, the #2 seed (out of 121) in his section, to a draw. It truly was an incredible game. There was a little bit of everything in this game: time pressure for both players, interesting tactics, and a long endgame where John Michael had a rook and 2 pawns against Albert’s 2 bishops and 2 pawns. Albert had all the winning chances, and John Michael had to fend off Albert for about 50 moves in a very tricky endgame where one slight mistake could have cost him the game. John Michael showed me the game when we got back to the hotel room, and it was remarkable. To withstand that sort of pressure against the #2 player in his section is quite a feat. John Michael was tired but happy after the game was finished. Out of 550 or so games that take place in each round, his was the last one to finish! Great to see him get on the board with half a point – he earned it! It is always good to get your first points on the board in the tournament.
It was a little different entering the tournament hall for Round 2. Parents were not able to enter the hall to seat their children at their boards. Not a big deal for us, as we arrived 30 minutes early at the hall, and John Michael had no issues getting in and finding his board. Some other folks were not so lucky. There was a huge logjam at the door starting at about 15 minutes before the round, as there was no notification given to the delegations that players would have to enter without parents. Lot of confusion as parents were being turned away. Definitely going to have to get there very early before each round to avoid any issues.
Tomorrow (Sunday) will be the most grueling day of the tournament. It is the only day where there are 2 games. Round 3 is at 10:00 AM Caldas Novas time, and Round 4 is at 5:00 PM. Going to be a long and late day! No games on Monday, so we can sleep in as late as we want. Will report back tomorrow night with results from Round 3 and 4.
Thank you for all your emails – I have read them all, but haven’t had too much of a chance to reply. Will reply to everyone when we get back.
Mr. Burke
All I can say is – wow.
In an epic battle that lasted 99 moves and 5 hours and 30 minutes, John Michael played Albert Lu, the #2 seed (out of 121) in his section, to a draw. It truly was an incredible game. There was a little bit of everything in this game: time pressure for both players, interesting tactics, and a long endgame where John Michael had a rook and 2 pawns against Albert’s 2 bishops and 2 pawns. Albert had all the winning chances, and John Michael had to fend off Albert for about 50 moves in a very tricky endgame where one slight mistake could have cost him the game. John Michael showed me the game when we got back to the hotel room, and it was remarkable. To withstand that sort of pressure against the #2 player in his section is quite a feat. John Michael was tired but happy after the game was finished. Out of 550 or so games that take place in each round, his was the last one to finish! Great to see him get on the board with half a point – he earned it! It is always good to get your first points on the board in the tournament.
It was a little different entering the tournament hall for Round 2. Parents were not able to enter the hall to seat their children at their boards. Not a big deal for us, as we arrived 30 minutes early at the hall, and John Michael had no issues getting in and finding his board. Some other folks were not so lucky. There was a huge logjam at the door starting at about 15 minutes before the round, as there was no notification given to the delegations that players would have to enter without parents. Lot of confusion as parents were being turned away. Definitely going to have to get there very early before each round to avoid any issues.
Tomorrow (Sunday) will be the most grueling day of the tournament. It is the only day where there are 2 games. Round 3 is at 10:00 AM Caldas Novas time, and Round 4 is at 5:00 PM. Going to be a long and late day! No games on Monday, so we can sleep in as late as we want. Will report back tomorrow night with results from Round 3 and 4.
Thank you for all your emails – I have read them all, but haven’t had too much of a chance to reply. Will reply to everyone when we get back.
Mr. Burke
Round 1 Pictures
John Michael in United States uniform.
Waiting area for parents.
Waiting area for parents.
Entering tournament hall.
Mr. Burke staring down John Michael's opponent, looking for signs of weakness (only kidding - I am always very nice to John Michael's opponents).
Isn't the guy on the far right a little too old to be playing in the U10 section?
Mr. Burke staring down John Michael's opponent, looking for signs of weakness (only kidding - I am always very nice to John Michael's opponents).
Isn't the guy on the far right a little too old to be playing in the U10 section?
John Michael filling in scoresheet before the game.
View of the tournament hall from the balcony.
Ceremonial pre-game handshake with Nadar Anand from India.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Round 1
Hello all –
This is John Michael’s Dad again. It is 11:23 PM Caldas Novas time, and Day 1 of the 2011 World Youth Chess Championship is in the books. John Michael played his Round 1 game today against Nadar Anand from India. It was a 3 hour 45 minute struggle, and unfortunately John Michael came up short in this game. John Michael's coach said that he played a great game and didn't make any errors at all, but his opponent happened to play a great game as well and fended off all of John Michael's attacks. John Michael fought on to the bitter end like he always does – he has the heart of a champion and never gives in, but his opponent played well and secured the victory. I believe that John Michael is planning on posting his games on this blog when we get back home from the tournament. Round 2 is tomorrow at 3:00 PM Brazil time. In Round 2, John Michael is playing Albert Lu from the United States, a talented player from California. There are 11 United States players out of the 121 in John Michael’s section, so it is inevitable that United States players will face each other at some point.
The tournament hall is huge – it was fairly hectic getting to John Michael’s board when we got to the playing area, but things went well – no problems. The hall is air conditioned, but the waiting area is not – very hot. The tournament seemed to run smoothly today. The United States coaches are great – they really spend a lot of time with each player reviewing their games, which can only help them all improve. Going to try to get some sleep and get ready for another big day tomorrow!
I will try to get some more pictures up soon. Internet is really slow. Pairings just came out for tomorrow, so undoubtedly there are a ton of people accessing the Internet and doing research. I just tried to upload some pictures, but the connection froze. Technology is not the strong suit of Caldas Novas - we even had the power go out in our hotel twice (only for a few minutes each time).
P.S. – John Michael is going to be very busy for the remainder of the trip, so most likely I will be doing most of the posting. Monday is a free day (no games), so I am going to see if John Michael can put up a post then and share his thoughts on the trip.
Mr. Burke
This is John Michael’s Dad again. It is 11:23 PM Caldas Novas time, and Day 1 of the 2011 World Youth Chess Championship is in the books. John Michael played his Round 1 game today against Nadar Anand from India. It was a 3 hour 45 minute struggle, and unfortunately John Michael came up short in this game. John Michael's coach said that he played a great game and didn't make any errors at all, but his opponent happened to play a great game as well and fended off all of John Michael's attacks. John Michael fought on to the bitter end like he always does – he has the heart of a champion and never gives in, but his opponent played well and secured the victory. I believe that John Michael is planning on posting his games on this blog when we get back home from the tournament. Round 2 is tomorrow at 3:00 PM Brazil time. In Round 2, John Michael is playing Albert Lu from the United States, a talented player from California. There are 11 United States players out of the 121 in John Michael’s section, so it is inevitable that United States players will face each other at some point.
The tournament hall is huge – it was fairly hectic getting to John Michael’s board when we got to the playing area, but things went well – no problems. The hall is air conditioned, but the waiting area is not – very hot. The tournament seemed to run smoothly today. The United States coaches are great – they really spend a lot of time with each player reviewing their games, which can only help them all improve. Going to try to get some sleep and get ready for another big day tomorrow!
I will try to get some more pictures up soon. Internet is really slow. Pairings just came out for tomorrow, so undoubtedly there are a ton of people accessing the Internet and doing research. I just tried to upload some pictures, but the connection froze. Technology is not the strong suit of Caldas Novas - we even had the power go out in our hotel twice (only for a few minutes each time).
P.S. – John Michael is going to be very busy for the remainder of the trip, so most likely I will be doing most of the posting. Monday is a free day (no games), so I am going to see if John Michael can put up a post then and share his thoughts on the trip.
Mr. Burke
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Tournament starts on Friday
Hello all -
This is John Michael's Dad again. It is 12:44 AM Friday morning in Caldas Novas, Brazil. I have been wrestling with computer and Internet issues for the last 2 hours in an attempt to get online, so I will not be able to upload pictures on this post. Will try to get more pictures up tomorrow morning (technical issues permitting).
Wednesday and Thursday were relaxing days - hanging out by the pool, going on water slides, playing ping-pong, visiting the water park across the street from our hotel, and just generally relaxing. Good weather - 88 and sunny yesterday and today, and just one quick rain shower yesterday. We are definitely starting to shift into tournament mode. The teams have been arriving at our hotel from countries far and wide over the last few days - some teams even arrived as late as 7:00 PM tonight. We have seen teams from South Africa, China, Bolivia, Peru, and several other countries that escape memory right now. The United States coaches held a team meeting for the entire delegation this evening to go over the rules/procedures of the tournament. There are some differences between United States USCF tournaments and international FIDE tournaments. The coaches are great - 10 in all. The coaches have divided the players up - each coach is going to work with 6 players. The coaches will be holding individual preperation sessions for 30 minutes each day with each player to prepare them for their game that day. At this level of chess, there is a fair amount of time spent preparing for each individual opponent. The coaches will look up their opponents games from the past and help the players devise particular openings based on what their opponent is most likely to play. Pretty high tech stuff - lot of computer analysis involved in preparing for games each day. After each game, the players will do a "post mortem" with one of the U.S. coaches. The coach will review the game they just played, analyzing areas that can be improved for the next game. The coaches are going to be very busy, and the players are going to be working with very accomplished Grandmasters.
John Michael was very excited to find out tonight that his coach will be GM Joel Benjamin during this tournament! For those of you that follow chess, Joel needs no introduction. Among his many accomplishments, Joel is a 3 time U.S. Chess Champion, and was hired as the official Grandmaster consultant by IBM to help with the Deep Blue chess computer that defeated World Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. It is kind of like a Little League baseball player playing in the Little League World Series where his individual coach is Derek Jeter, and he has the ability to consult with 9 other Yankees players that are coaching the rest of his team! It is such a fantastic opportunity for John Michael to be able to spend this amount of time with Joel and the rest of the United States coaches. He will literally be getting counsel over the next 9 days from some of the most accomplished chess players in the world!
The competition is definitely going to be fierce. From meeting other parents from the United States and from other countries, it is clear that chess is much more of a huge deal in most (if not all) of these other countries. Some countries offer large cash prizes to players that win their division (up to $20,000 in some cases we have heard). A player from another country that wins this tournament can literally launch a career out of this event, and improve their families social status (entry to private schools, luxury housing for the family, etc.). In other countries, Grandmasters are superstars - every bit as popular as sports figures and entertainers are in the United States.
John Michael is ready to do battle - not intimidated in the least. He is very relaxed and confident - looking forward to seeing him battle with the best in the world!
Opening ceremony is Friday at 3:00 PM Brazil time (3 hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast) - first round is scheduled to start at 4:00 PM. Will hopefully be able to post results after each round, although the Internet has been very slow since the influx of all the teams.
Talk to you all soon!
Mr. Burke
This is John Michael's Dad again. It is 12:44 AM Friday morning in Caldas Novas, Brazil. I have been wrestling with computer and Internet issues for the last 2 hours in an attempt to get online, so I will not be able to upload pictures on this post. Will try to get more pictures up tomorrow morning (technical issues permitting).
Wednesday and Thursday were relaxing days - hanging out by the pool, going on water slides, playing ping-pong, visiting the water park across the street from our hotel, and just generally relaxing. Good weather - 88 and sunny yesterday and today, and just one quick rain shower yesterday. We are definitely starting to shift into tournament mode. The teams have been arriving at our hotel from countries far and wide over the last few days - some teams even arrived as late as 7:00 PM tonight. We have seen teams from South Africa, China, Bolivia, Peru, and several other countries that escape memory right now. The United States coaches held a team meeting for the entire delegation this evening to go over the rules/procedures of the tournament. There are some differences between United States USCF tournaments and international FIDE tournaments. The coaches are great - 10 in all. The coaches have divided the players up - each coach is going to work with 6 players. The coaches will be holding individual preperation sessions for 30 minutes each day with each player to prepare them for their game that day. At this level of chess, there is a fair amount of time spent preparing for each individual opponent. The coaches will look up their opponents games from the past and help the players devise particular openings based on what their opponent is most likely to play. Pretty high tech stuff - lot of computer analysis involved in preparing for games each day. After each game, the players will do a "post mortem" with one of the U.S. coaches. The coach will review the game they just played, analyzing areas that can be improved for the next game. The coaches are going to be very busy, and the players are going to be working with very accomplished Grandmasters.
John Michael was very excited to find out tonight that his coach will be GM Joel Benjamin during this tournament! For those of you that follow chess, Joel needs no introduction. Among his many accomplishments, Joel is a 3 time U.S. Chess Champion, and was hired as the official Grandmaster consultant by IBM to help with the Deep Blue chess computer that defeated World Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. It is kind of like a Little League baseball player playing in the Little League World Series where his individual coach is Derek Jeter, and he has the ability to consult with 9 other Yankees players that are coaching the rest of his team! It is such a fantastic opportunity for John Michael to be able to spend this amount of time with Joel and the rest of the United States coaches. He will literally be getting counsel over the next 9 days from some of the most accomplished chess players in the world!
The competition is definitely going to be fierce. From meeting other parents from the United States and from other countries, it is clear that chess is much more of a huge deal in most (if not all) of these other countries. Some countries offer large cash prizes to players that win their division (up to $20,000 in some cases we have heard). A player from another country that wins this tournament can literally launch a career out of this event, and improve their families social status (entry to private schools, luxury housing for the family, etc.). In other countries, Grandmasters are superstars - every bit as popular as sports figures and entertainers are in the United States.
John Michael is ready to do battle - not intimidated in the least. He is very relaxed and confident - looking forward to seeing him battle with the best in the world!
Opening ceremony is Friday at 3:00 PM Brazil time (3 hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast) - first round is scheduled to start at 4:00 PM. Will hopefully be able to post results after each round, although the Internet has been very slow since the influx of all the teams.
Talk to you all soon!
Mr. Burke
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Arrived safely in Brazil
Hello all -
This is John Michael's Dad. We arrived safely in Brazil on Monday morning. Long journey to get here. Flight Sunday afternoon from Newark to Atlanta, followed by a 2 hour layover in Atlanta. Flight Sunday evening/Monday morning from Atlanta to Brasilia International Airport (8 hour flight). Arrived in Brasilia 9:00 AM local time Monday morning (3 hours ahead of the East Coast), and then took a harrowing 4 hour van ride from the airport to our hotel. Michele and I think that our van driver was trying out for the Nascar circuit! We are literally in the middle of nowhere - we drove for 4 hours through a very deserted part of Brazil. Lot of poverty outside of the major cities in Brazil. The main road we took to Brazil was the only paved road in sight - we found out that only 6% of the roads are actually paved in Brazil (compared to 59% in the United States). The hotel is nice - lots of pools and water slides. Room is small but functional. No American TV stations. No English of any kind here - we literally cannot communicate with 95% of the people that are here. Some hotel workers speak limited English, but not very many. We traveled with 2 other families from Atlanta - great people. They both have sons playing in the tournament - one is playing in the U18 section, and one is playing in the U12 section. Weather is nice - mid 80s, with stretches of rain each day for a couple of hours in the afternoon. John Michael has been having a great time - he has been playing chess with the boys he met, and played ping-pong this morning with some Brazilian kids! Food has been good - lots of meat, rice and fruit. Going to take a trip to state park with a waterfall on Wednesday. Met a couple of the United States coaches today (there are 10 U.S. coaches in total that will be here). Getting settled in and having fun before John Michael's tournament begins on Friday! Some pictures below. Will post again in a couple of days. Thanks for all your prayers and support!
Mr. Burke
==================Here are some pictures:
John Michael and Eric Rosen (fellow US team member) reading "Portuguese for Dummies" at the Atlanta airport.
John Michael and Eric getting in a game of blitz while waiting to board plane in Atlanta.
The Burkes in the middle of 4 hour van ride to hotel - we stopped for lunch.
This is what it looked like for the majority of our van ride to the hotel.
John Michael and Eric playing ping pong with a couple of Brazilian kids.
John Michael and Eric playing "blindfold chess" while the adults shopped in a local town mall. Blindfold chess is when you play a game of chess without a board and pieces - you just say the moves to each other. They actually played 4 entire games while we walked back and forth to town and did some shopping. Pretty amazing to watch!
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