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Orchard Oriole and 2 and 1/2 out of 4
May. 30th, 2021 08:45 pmAfter work on Thursday, May 28, I walked in Oak Point Park in Plano. I saw a first-year Orchard Oriole and an adult female of the same species. These were my first Orchard Orioles of the year. Friday I worked a full day, walked in Schell Park in Plano, and then went home.
I played with the Michael's photo on-line framing website to see if I could DIY a frame for a bird photo without going in. But the on-line photo application was for example only, and one still had to go in. I still enjoyed playing with the matting choices.
Saturday morning I enjoyed watching a Twitch stream featuring my favorite chess streamer, Anna Cramling. Ms. Cramling (Bellon) is the daughter of two grandmasters. I have been a long-time "fan" of her mother the Swedish player Pia Cramling, because Pia Cramling plays in a style I would like to emulate--very solid but still aggressive. Her father, Manuel Bellon, was in his prime the strongest player in Spain. Anna is rated what we would call an "expert" in the US, very good but short of master strength. But at 19 she is more of a streamer for now than a tournament chess player. She has a kind of exuberance youth I enjoy.
Saturday I was amused by two parts of her stream. Her streaming day was a celebration of French things. She tried to learn the chess opening strategy called the French Defense. During one game she played against a similarly-strong opponent, she had an advantageous position. Suddenly, inexplicably, she moved her queen to a place where it was easy for her opponent to take . With her characteristic exuberance, she said "This looks pretty good to me,", but in fact she lost her queen. The reversal was so abrupt that she collapsed into laughter--and so did I. Later, she moved to the family kitchen to make crepes to maintain the French theme. At one point, she held out a large crepe for the camera on a spatula. But the crepe fell to the floor. I found this bit of slapstick funny, especially when she showed on her video this giant crepe on the floor. Later, she tweeted a picture of a serviceable crepe with nutella and strawberries.
Saturday afternoon I did not play in the on-line USCF chess tournament, as I was concerned that its time control (15 minutes, with a 2 second delay) would cause the tournament to run over into our time to leave to meet our friends.
Saturday evening we drove into Dallas and joined our friends Cathy and Rick for dinner at a restaurant called Al Bernati's. Al Biernati's is one of those expensive steakhouses that serves the same kind of meal as a chain place like Rockfish Grill, with an improvement in preparation of roughly 2X at a price increase of roughly 5X. Cathy used to work with my wife, and Rick used to work with Cathy, and now they share a place platonically. I had a Copper River salmon filet with a lovely pear salad. So often pear salad has the pear on one side of the plate and the garden salad portion on the other side. But this salad used very thinly-sliced bits of pear in a lovely setting.
I was disappointed to see little mask use entering or exiting the restaurant, though the relative distance between tables was more encouraging. But I would say something about how things will need to settle more before I return, but in fact I need not say that because this restaurant is probably a once-in-five-years place anyway I was impressed with the man who pulled up in his 1965 red Mustang convertible. He clearly got the "everyone is staring at this amazing car" look that one seeks when one pays a premium to own such a car.
That drive was a very Dallas-ish sort of drive because we saw things we rarely see in our suburb, like a Bentley SUV. Since a traditional Bentley used to look like a cross between a taxi and a limousine, an SUV Bentley did not look as out of place as one might think.
Sunday morning I took a walk in Green Park. I saw a Mississippi Kite there. At WW I found I had lost 2 pounds. That was good because I had been up a bit. Late Sunday morning I searched for my chess set, clock and board. I found them after some effort, in a place (an old cabinet) I had already reviewed. I found that my chess clock's batteries were literally held in with Scotch tape. I wondered why I had not either written the clock maker for a new battery cover, or simply bought a new clock.
I went on-line to North Texas Chess Academy and signed up for an in-person (OTB, they say, for "over the board") 4-round Sunday afternoon tournament. This was my first in-person tournament since 2013. I had roughly played in roughly a dozen USCF and ICCF webserver postal chess tournaments and,this year, in 10 rated USCF events on-line (so far). Postal chess and on-line chess are rated, but in distinct ratings. So this would be my first games live in person in 8 years. I have played several thousand casual blitz and bullet games during the pandemic, as well as watching videos and doing tactics puzzles at chess.com.
I drove to North Texas Chess Academy, which is within 20 minutes of my home in the nearby town of Carrolton. I know that area, because the same road (Josey Lane) for the academy is also very near the Dallas Makerspace, where I sometimes if infrequently go to Linux users group . Next time I got I will walk on the nearby Blue Trail, but this time I had lunch at KFC (grilled chicken with a biscuit and corn) and then went early to the chess place. While I waited for the tournament to begin, I bought a new chess clock.
The chess tournament turned out to be great fun. Mask use was mandatory and uncontroversial. Most players were kids and teens, though a good few adults were sprinkled in. I was probably the oldest player there. As almost always is the case in chess clubs in our area, the players came from a wide variety of ethnic groups. The gender diversity was less wide, as most of the players were male.
In the first round, I had white against Archit. He was rated 1040, whereas I was rated 1677. I played the Stonewall Attack, a somewhat crude white opening system which permits attacks. Archit tried to defend by sacrificing a knight for a pawn to try to open lines to attack my queen. But his attack was not perfectly calculated. Soon I was two pieces up with a forceful attack. He resigned, perhaps a bit soon, but he was clearly losing.
In the second round, I played black against Aarush. He played the London system. I transposed it into the Dutch Stonewall. But I blundered on move 13, leading to the loss of "the exchange," i.le, he took my rook and all I got was his bishop. I fought hard thereafter, but he capably simplified into an endgame and won. I was sorry to have blundered, but I enjoyed the game (and the lesson about watching for blunders). Aarush was only rated 1250, though in the tournament he scored 3 points against stronger competition.
In round 3, I played white in a Stonewall Attack against an unrated player named Tristan. He played well in the opening, and I was left with only a slight edge in the form of pressure on the kingside. But in his effort to assail my queenside, he blundered a pawn and allowed my to attack his queen with my bishop, such that if his queen moved, I would win his rook for my bishop. He played capably once he had made the error, and we traded attacking moves for some time. Finally, though, I launched an attack that would lead to checkmate if he had not resigned, But he did resign. I complimented him for his solid play in his first tournament.
In the 4th and final round, I played a 1450 player named Likith. He played 1 e4, to which I played 1...d5, the Scandinavian Defense. This was my first non-stonewall of the day. He played one of those d3 systems. I equalized, and thought I was winning for a moment. Then I came to see the position as a little worse than I first thought. He offered a draw, and I said "no." But a moment later I agreed to a draw after all.
I had a lot of fun, and felt pleased to play acceptably after a long hiatus. I will probably lose more rating points for the 1 1/2 games I did not win than gain rating points from the 2 1/2 games I did win. But if I played only not to risk my rating, I would never play. I am less strong than I was 15 years ago, but we'll see if I can recapture past glories someday.
North Texas Chess Academy is a good place to play. I hope to play there again someday.
After the chess, I drove to Allen Station Park. I saw 9 species, and got good pictures of a Northern Cardinal. The cool weather of the morning gave way to a warmer early evening.
I picked us up pollo bowls for dinner at El Pollo Loco. Now we are watching the PBS Memorial Day concert.
I will get work done and chores done tomorrow, as well as reading more of the novel I am reading "beforelife."
I played with the Michael's photo on-line framing website to see if I could DIY a frame for a bird photo without going in. But the on-line photo application was for example only, and one still had to go in. I still enjoyed playing with the matting choices.
Saturday morning I enjoyed watching a Twitch stream featuring my favorite chess streamer, Anna Cramling. Ms. Cramling (Bellon) is the daughter of two grandmasters. I have been a long-time "fan" of her mother the Swedish player Pia Cramling, because Pia Cramling plays in a style I would like to emulate--very solid but still aggressive. Her father, Manuel Bellon, was in his prime the strongest player in Spain. Anna is rated what we would call an "expert" in the US, very good but short of master strength. But at 19 she is more of a streamer for now than a tournament chess player. She has a kind of exuberance youth I enjoy.
Saturday I was amused by two parts of her stream. Her streaming day was a celebration of French things. She tried to learn the chess opening strategy called the French Defense. During one game she played against a similarly-strong opponent, she had an advantageous position. Suddenly, inexplicably, she moved her queen to a place where it was easy for her opponent to take . With her characteristic exuberance, she said "This looks pretty good to me,", but in fact she lost her queen. The reversal was so abrupt that she collapsed into laughter--and so did I. Later, she moved to the family kitchen to make crepes to maintain the French theme. At one point, she held out a large crepe for the camera on a spatula. But the crepe fell to the floor. I found this bit of slapstick funny, especially when she showed on her video this giant crepe on the floor. Later, she tweeted a picture of a serviceable crepe with nutella and strawberries.
Saturday afternoon I did not play in the on-line USCF chess tournament, as I was concerned that its time control (15 minutes, with a 2 second delay) would cause the tournament to run over into our time to leave to meet our friends.
Saturday evening we drove into Dallas and joined our friends Cathy and Rick for dinner at a restaurant called Al Bernati's. Al Biernati's is one of those expensive steakhouses that serves the same kind of meal as a chain place like Rockfish Grill, with an improvement in preparation of roughly 2X at a price increase of roughly 5X. Cathy used to work with my wife, and Rick used to work with Cathy, and now they share a place platonically. I had a Copper River salmon filet with a lovely pear salad. So often pear salad has the pear on one side of the plate and the garden salad portion on the other side. But this salad used very thinly-sliced bits of pear in a lovely setting.
I was disappointed to see little mask use entering or exiting the restaurant, though the relative distance between tables was more encouraging. But I would say something about how things will need to settle more before I return, but in fact I need not say that because this restaurant is probably a once-in-five-years place anyway I was impressed with the man who pulled up in his 1965 red Mustang convertible. He clearly got the "everyone is staring at this amazing car" look that one seeks when one pays a premium to own such a car.
That drive was a very Dallas-ish sort of drive because we saw things we rarely see in our suburb, like a Bentley SUV. Since a traditional Bentley used to look like a cross between a taxi and a limousine, an SUV Bentley did not look as out of place as one might think.
Sunday morning I took a walk in Green Park. I saw a Mississippi Kite there. At WW I found I had lost 2 pounds. That was good because I had been up a bit. Late Sunday morning I searched for my chess set, clock and board. I found them after some effort, in a place (an old cabinet) I had already reviewed. I found that my chess clock's batteries were literally held in with Scotch tape. I wondered why I had not either written the clock maker for a new battery cover, or simply bought a new clock.
I went on-line to North Texas Chess Academy and signed up for an in-person (OTB, they say, for "over the board") 4-round Sunday afternoon tournament. This was my first in-person tournament since 2013. I had roughly played in roughly a dozen USCF and ICCF webserver postal chess tournaments and,this year, in 10 rated USCF events on-line (so far). Postal chess and on-line chess are rated, but in distinct ratings. So this would be my first games live in person in 8 years. I have played several thousand casual blitz and bullet games during the pandemic, as well as watching videos and doing tactics puzzles at chess.com.
I drove to North Texas Chess Academy, which is within 20 minutes of my home in the nearby town of Carrolton. I know that area, because the same road (Josey Lane) for the academy is also very near the Dallas Makerspace, where I sometimes if infrequently go to Linux users group . Next time I got I will walk on the nearby Blue Trail, but this time I had lunch at KFC (grilled chicken with a biscuit and corn) and then went early to the chess place. While I waited for the tournament to begin, I bought a new chess clock.
The chess tournament turned out to be great fun. Mask use was mandatory and uncontroversial. Most players were kids and teens, though a good few adults were sprinkled in. I was probably the oldest player there. As almost always is the case in chess clubs in our area, the players came from a wide variety of ethnic groups. The gender diversity was less wide, as most of the players were male.
In the first round, I had white against Archit. He was rated 1040, whereas I was rated 1677. I played the Stonewall Attack, a somewhat crude white opening system which permits attacks. Archit tried to defend by sacrificing a knight for a pawn to try to open lines to attack my queen. But his attack was not perfectly calculated. Soon I was two pieces up with a forceful attack. He resigned, perhaps a bit soon, but he was clearly losing.
In the second round, I played black against Aarush. He played the London system. I transposed it into the Dutch Stonewall. But I blundered on move 13, leading to the loss of "the exchange," i.le, he took my rook and all I got was his bishop. I fought hard thereafter, but he capably simplified into an endgame and won. I was sorry to have blundered, but I enjoyed the game (and the lesson about watching for blunders). Aarush was only rated 1250, though in the tournament he scored 3 points against stronger competition.
In round 3, I played white in a Stonewall Attack against an unrated player named Tristan. He played well in the opening, and I was left with only a slight edge in the form of pressure on the kingside. But in his effort to assail my queenside, he blundered a pawn and allowed my to attack his queen with my bishop, such that if his queen moved, I would win his rook for my bishop. He played capably once he had made the error, and we traded attacking moves for some time. Finally, though, I launched an attack that would lead to checkmate if he had not resigned, But he did resign. I complimented him for his solid play in his first tournament.
In the 4th and final round, I played a 1450 player named Likith. He played 1 e4, to which I played 1...d5, the Scandinavian Defense. This was my first non-stonewall of the day. He played one of those d3 systems. I equalized, and thought I was winning for a moment. Then I came to see the position as a little worse than I first thought. He offered a draw, and I said "no." But a moment later I agreed to a draw after all.
I had a lot of fun, and felt pleased to play acceptably after a long hiatus. I will probably lose more rating points for the 1 1/2 games I did not win than gain rating points from the 2 1/2 games I did win. But if I played only not to risk my rating, I would never play. I am less strong than I was 15 years ago, but we'll see if I can recapture past glories someday.
North Texas Chess Academy is a good place to play. I hope to play there again someday.
After the chess, I drove to Allen Station Park. I saw 9 species, and got good pictures of a Northern Cardinal. The cool weather of the morning gave way to a warmer early evening.
I picked us up pollo bowls for dinner at El Pollo Loco. Now we are watching the PBS Memorial Day concert.
I will get work done and chores done tomorrow, as well as reading more of the novel I am reading "beforelife."
