The 2024 Las Vegas International Chess Festival
Even the U1500 section, in which I competed, boasted a player pool of nearly 150...
Introduction
Until the first week of June, the largest event I ever participated in was the Colorado State Open; but then I played at the 2024 Las Vegas International Chess Festival. Even the U1500 section, in which I competed, boasted a player pool of nearly 150 participants on its own; but the event also hosted the US National Open and several other sections, resulting in a daunting first impression upon first setting foot into the playing hall. And then there was that juicy $3400 first prize to raise tensions even further...
In very truth the experience represents a major milestone in my career as an improving chess player—a milestone worthy to inaugurate my new blog.
Welcome to Las Vegas
One of the more remarkable features of the Festival was its location in the notorious Las Vegas Strip. Infamous for its "adult" attractions and bedecked with a legendary opulence, the streets outside the tournament venue (as well as the halls within!) were quite striking. Thankfully the Festival area was well secluded from the gaudiness below. (Speaking of which, the Flamingo Hotel and Casino—which hosted the entire event—holds a certain historical significance in the development of the Strip.)
As for me, I did not manage to secure a room at the Flamingo. I moreover decided to walk to the tournament from my hotel in order to save on gas and the stress of dealing with the local driving culture. Not only did I have the good fortune of enduring the oppressive Mojave sun during these hour-long commutes, but it gave me a unique perspective on the city life in and around the Vegas Strip. Not only did I have to reckon with its vibrant night life, but I also faced true city squalor only a few blocks away from the garish microcosm created by the Strip. The juxtaposition produced a sobering experience while traveling to and from the tournament area. To be honest, it made me glad that I was only there to visit and did plan on settling there.
New & Familiar Faces
Of course, everyone dreams of meeting famous chess celebrities at an event like this. I did notice one IM Kostya Kavutskiy, sensei of the online Chess Dojo, of which I used to be an active member. But since he was busy with a group interview, and since we didn't hit it off during my "Dojo days," I felt rather uncompelled to wait and introduce myself. (Of course it would have been a different story if it had been Pruess or Kraai...)
However, on the way out from my third game, I heard a slavic-sounding voice I thought I recognized. I stopped and did a double-take, as this voice was proceeding out of a face I thought I recognized. When he noticed me I asked him, "is this 'Big Mio' in the flesh?"
And indeed it was! I had the unexpected pleasure to meet the famous Serbian IM and coach Miodrag Perunovic at the tournament. Miodrag "The Butcher" Perunovic is one of my favorite ChessTubers, so it was a delight to find out that he is every bit as cool in person as he seems in his YouTube videos. (If you don't know what I mean, you can find out for yourself by checking out his channel here!
A couple of my opponents also became interesting acquaintances. I especially look forward to running into Aaron Araujo-Hernandez and Fabio Arciniegas again in the future.
Of course, other representatives from my home state were there as well: William "Wilf" Wolf and NM Daniel Herman of Colorado participated in the U1900 and Open sections, respectively. Since I am planning to move to Oregon after the Festival, I was gladdened to see these old friends again at the tournament. Wilf even gifted me an opening book to commemorate the send-off. I guess I am doomed to integrate the Accelerated Dragon and Benko Gambit into my repertoire!
The Rochester Chess Center
One of the conference rooms was converted into a bookstore, supplied by the Rochester Chess Center. Ready availability to a chess-focused bookstore as part of the tournament experience was indeed a nice touch. Even more pleasant was discovering that players who achieved more wins than losses were endowed with a fifty-dollar gift certificate to the bookstore. Many participants only earned their certificates in the last round (including Yours Truly), resulting in a mad rush and a long queue Sunday Evening to claim sought-after titles before the bookstore ran out of stock. I managed to snag The Practical Endgame Bible by Boroljub Zlatanovic and Who Dares Wins!: Attacking the King on Opposite Sides by Lorin D'Costa. I considered getting an interesting book on the Fischer-Sozin Attack in the Sicilian, but decided I would get more use out of a good deck of playing cards, seeing as I am already happy with my repertoire against the Sicilian. This lesser prize took the edge off of achieving a dissatisfactory result in the tournament.
The Tournament
I competed in the U1500 section on a four-day schedule, allowing me to play the long time control (G90 +30) in each of the seven rounds. I earned three wins, one draw, and two losses plus a half-point bye, landing me in the top third of the section. Normally this might represent an adequate result, but I was one of the higher-rated players in the section and therefore the result indicates that I underperfomed—especially since my friends were confident that I could win the section entirely. Even more frustrating was that most of the wins did not feel earned, and the losses felt a little shallow as well. I really prefer a true fight in my games, win or lose!
Nevertheless, it only makes sense to provide my annotated games from the event. For now annotations are provided via Lichess Studies, and the study for this tournament is available here. Of course, Stockish 16.1 was consulted in the formulation of these annotations.
Conclusion
Overall, I had a good experience at the 2024 Las Vegas Chess Festival, in spite of my disappointing tournament result. I definitely plan to participate again next year! Next time I will be sure to prepare myself better to avoid the mishaps I suffered this year. In the meantime, I look forward to using my newly broadened experience to continue the process of improvement!
† Glory be to God! Amen. †
This post was originally posted on the chess blog Eighth Rank Chess and has been re-published here on Lichess with the permission of the original author.
