I know that those there are probably busy, but just curious about what it’s like for those who are there and might take the time to be reading.
The workshops for the Delegates (the up close and live version of these forums) starts today (Wed.). Let the politicking begin!
I’m here for the 6-day schedule, so I’m playing two games today. Yesterday was my first round game at 7:30 pm, and I had the whole day to bum around. I hiked around a nature preserve and went to the beach. The weather was really excellent, sunny but not too hot.
The playing conditions are great. I don’t get out to many big tournaments, so it is a sight to see a room with ~200 games in progress. Nice and quiet as well.
I was paired up in the first round and lost, as expected, but aside from that I’m having a great time.
Jim
The playing conditions are nice with one exception… the lighting is terrible.
MANY (not all) of the boards are noticeably dark, especially some of the ones in the corners and sides of the room. I can’t ever recall a tournament with lighting this bad. More than once I’ve seen the two players get up and move their game to a different board. And yet while some boards are too dark, others have very noticeable shadows over the board.
I recall reading many times that Fischer was always “complaining” about lighting conditions. Well, if the lighting of his games was similar to some of the boards I’m seeing, I can now sympathize with him.
Also, the bathroom is always a mess. The hotel staff need to clean it and maintain it MUCH more frequently than what they are doing now.
Other than that, everything else is fine. The pairings are up and posted in a timely manner, the games are starting on time, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.
It’s funny, I haven’t noticed a problem with the lighting, yet. It probably depends on which board you are on. I did notice that it was difficult to see the top games, which are being projected at the front of the room.
Jim
Thanks, Tim, Jim, and Edward!
I found the overhead-projector display for the top board games very difficult to see, between the color and the general lighting. Nice idea, didn’t really work. As for Irvine in general, well, it’s Orange County. That means a place which looks like it was designed by sentient cars later humans became extinct. On the “good” side, there was plenty of space (though the skittles room seemed to be somewhere in the next county), and the theater-type room for the Delegates’ Meeting worked well. I suspect there might have been fewer forfeits in the last round if the TD staff had posted the round times throughout the week.
What is Irvine like? I visited the club there in 2002 and was quite impressed with the facilities and the friendliness of several members there. Made a return trip back that Saturday to see first round play of the So. Cal Championship before catching my plane back home.
Update: The lightning for all of my games in the second half of the tournament was not nearly as bad as the lighting conditions that existed in my first few games. It appears now as just that one corner of the room had bad lighting.
It was nice seeing some old friends. For example, I was able to chat with Myron Liberman and his wife for a few minutes. I hadn’t seen Myron in many years, and I always enjoyed entering the tournaments he directed, back when I lived in Arizona.
This was my first U.S. Open. I probably won’t be able to fly all the way to Florida to enter it again next year, so I admire all of the many players who have found a way to play in so many consecutive U.S. Opens.