Chess in the Schools Central Park Rapid Open 2023

Today I played in the Chess in the Schools Central Park Rapid Open. This is a unrated, 6-SS 10+0 tournament in the heart of Central Park, New York City. It features multiple sections including two for Unrated (non-USCF) players (Youth and Teen/Adult) as well as sections ranging from Under-900 to the 1700+ Open Championship - the later of which featured several titled players this year, such as NM Aiden Reiss.

A nice surprise this year was a visit by GM Hans Neimann, who met with fans and spoke about his new scholarship,

Below are photos from the event, as well as fragments from some of my games.

Photos

Right before I took this photo, a scholastic player (maybe 8 or 9 years old) - thinking he was Chess-in-the-Schools tournament staff - approached GM Neimann to ask him where to find his board ("Excuse me... where are the 200s?"). Very cute.

IM Yury Lapshun, Chess in the Schools coach and author of Play 1 b4!: Shock your opponents with the Sokolsky took on all challengers throughout the day.
https://everymanchess.com/products/play-1-b4-shock-your-opponents-with-the-sokolsky?variant=17966553432126

GM Joel Benjamin and Harold Scott
https://www.newinchess.com/world-open

The Fountain is a popular location for wedding photos, with a constant stream of happy couples posing on the stairs.

Quite a few chess enthusiasts turned out to spectate, including these two gentleman who are strong regulars at the Bryant Park chess tables: Andre Lopez (center) and Dari Castro (right). The later was an early mentor of GM Wesley So.

Game Fragments

Because these were 10+0 rapid games, there was no notation. However I reconstructed the openings of three of my games from memory, below:

I finished 3.0 / 6 with 2 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws. My chess coach said via email:

Wow, you're very brave playing in a that rapid ... kids have a big advantage when there is little time on the clock. (You know a lot of them don't use much of their time in the longer time controls).