Oregon Open 2016

City of Roses

After Naomi's recent stellar performance at the Kings vs. Princes chess tournament -- where she defeated a Lifelong Master, a National Master, a FIDE Master; plus drew with another FIDE Master, and another National Master -- we thought it'd be good for her to show off in some neighboring states as well.

The Oregon Open chess tournament 2016 took place on September 3-5, in the same Hotel DoubleTree as last year's Oregon Open 2015, so we knew the location.  Last year it coincided with the Sasquatch Search fun fest, this year - with a homeschooling conference.  Last year we missed the DoubleTree booking window, this year we got a City View room on floor 13!

Photos from day 1: 2016-09-03 Oregon Open Portland

After arriving on Saturday morning, Naomi (white) won in Round 1 vs Konner Feldman, and then drew (black) in the afternoon Round 2 vs NM Anthony He, our local star.  On Sunday, in Round 3 Naomi (black) defeated the Canadian wonder Joshua Donkjas, and in Round 4 lost (black again!) to GM James Edward Tarjan, after pugnaciously rejecting a threefold-repetition draw.  On Monday, Naomi lost in Round 5, and Round 6 was a half-point bye.

As for us, the famous Portland Saturday Market (lasting all weekend), and the Art in the Pearl festival happened to be delightful tailor-made tourist experiences for the City of Roses fans.

Photos from day 2: 2016-09-04 Oregon Open Portland

Not even speaking about the actual roses in the International Rose Test Garden.

Photos from day 3: 2016-09-05 Oregon Open Portland

Oregon Open in Portland

In Portland, weirdness is an industry

The 65th Annual Oregon Open chess tournament was held on September 5-7, 2015 in the Lloyd Center DoubleTree Hilton hotel in Portland, Oregon.  As Naomi prepares for the coming World Youth Chess Championship in Halkidiki, Greece in October 2015, this Oregon Open tournament is a good opportunity to hone her battle skills.

At 7 AM in the morning of September 5, we drove 3 hours to Portland, OR.  Naomi played in the Open section (she's too strong for Reserve now).  There were 2 games every day, 6 games overall.  

On the first day Naomi lost the first game to a player with the USCF rating 2222, and won the second one over a 1820. On the second day she drew with a 2039 and won over a 2096!  On the third day she lost to a 2059 and drew with a 1956.  Overall Naomi got 3 points out of 6, and her rating went up from 1848 to 1885 as a result of her great showing.  (And 3 weeks later Naomi's USCF rating reached 1926!)

We've been to Portland before, so this time we mostly mopped up some places we missed on previous occasions.  The most memorable visit was the one to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), which hosted the Ripley's Believe It or Not! exhibition, and the adjacent USS Blueback, an old navy submarine.

Shrunken heads of defeated chess opponents

Take a look at some pretty interesting stuff we've seen there: https://goo.gl/photos/24FRA3jcGfc2qNHR9

We walked a lot along the Portland waterfront on both sides of the Willamette River, including the less-explored eastern one.  We re-visited the Pittock Mansion and the nearby International Rose Test Garden.  Lastly, we went for a very nice guided walking tour of the downtown from the Pioneer Courthouse Square.

per aspera ad astra

Naomi qualified for the World Youth!

per Portland ad Mondial

A Latin phrase “per aspera ad astra” means "Through hardships to the stars".  In our case, it should be “per Portland ad Mondial”.  

To qualify for the World Youth Chess Championship (Mondial) Naomi needed to reach USCF rating 1500 before March 31, 2012.  On March 16 she was just 10 rating points short of that goal.  This is after “the marathon sprint”, a crazy run of successful tournaments that increased her rating from 1150 to 1490 in just 3 months.

But the higher is the rating, the harder it becomes to increase.  Opponents become stronger, and a single loss can dash all hopes to reach 1500.

The 2012 Spring Open chess tournament in Portland presented an opportunity to skim those critical remaining 10 rating points from unsuspecting Oregonians.

Portland Chess Club

After our recent 2500 miles to San Diego and back, the mere 4 hour drive to Portland would feel like almost nothing, if not for the inescapable rush hour traffic here.  Thank DOT for HOV lanes!

Portland Chess Club shares the nerdy overcrowded look and feel with other chess clubs in the Northwest.  It’s not the outside appearance that counts here, but the inside of the players heads.

Posters on the walls of Portland Chess Club:

We stayed in the closest motel, just 1 minute driving or 5 minutes walking.  This proved to be importantly useful, since the kids could not reach us by phone (Oregon mobile coverage can be spotty).  So they just walked together to the room after a game.

Weird Portlandia

Or maybe we just missed the kids’ Google Voice message beep with all that noise at Portland Saturday Market:
picasaweb.google.com/115362530401264131812/2012_03_17Portland?authkey=Gv1sRgCKnRyeTviIrr9AE
See the first music band video in that album (pos. 52 of 82), named “Broke & Irish” -- it was St Patrick’s Day.

Sample craft art from that market:


The “Keep Portland weird” slogan looks strangely appropriate behind this hour-long line for Voodoo Doughnuts, with TV coverage:

ad astra

Naomi played very well against adult opponents with ratings near 1600.  She hasn't lost and even won.  This brought her the coveted additional 26 points, to USCF rating 1516!  

It means we're going to the World Youth Championship again, in Maribor, Slovenia this November.

We are a full-blown family sports team now: Luda is the manager; Naomi and Ethan are the players; Guy is the sponsor, driver, travel agent and reporter.