I have just finished round 4 and I can truthfully say that I’m way too tired to play and that I want to just stay in the hotel room and watch the olympics. It seems as though when round 3 started, I was doing just that, coming 59 minutes and 32 seconds late to the game, 28 seconds from being forfeited. My round 4 game against Luis Belliard (2226 FIDE) was very satisfying after a hectic previous night and also because I got to sac material and attack. Back to the other story from round 3.

It all started when Shiyam Thavandiran and I decided to prepare at 6:05 pm after we had eaten with the round starting at 6 pm. Not listening to the advice of Raja (Panjwani) we prepared until 6:20 or so. I then called the taxi and the operator told me it would be around 10 minutes,so just to make sure we would make it we were at the front lobby around 6:25. The taxi had still not arrived at 6:35 and after a few minutes of debating if we should do the 10 minute or so walk or call another taxi, we made the foolish decision to call another taxi and demand that it be here immedietly. 6:45-6:50 the second taxi had not arrived either, and we were freaking out since the forfeit would be at 7 and we didn’t think we could run it. We started running around the busy highway that was nearby and then managed to flag down a taxi after briefly chasing it. “27 Main Street” was what we told him, that is the address of the tournament but we weren’t positive. 6:55p.m: After noticing right away that the driver was going the complete opposite direction of the tournament, we waited a few more moments to see if he was turning or doing a shortcut. To our horror, he wasn’t and we had to drive the 2 minutes back to our starting point then to the tournament site. We ran as quick as we could (I ran into some very large object as I was going up the stairs) and made a big entrance into the playing hall. I’m pretty sure that it was past 7 so I’m grateful for the round starting a minute or so late. Well, I learned a good lesson of not preparing past the round.

Until Next time,

Eric Hansen